I saw this old Chevy pickup in a grocery store parking lot. It had different 1946 license plates front and back but no current plates. Which is weird because Minnesota issues “classic vehicle” plates.

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

Bitcoin ETF Issuer VanEck Has Huge Crypto Growth Goals in Europe

Binance to cease all Nigerian naira transactions by March 8

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Severe COVID-19, death lowest by far among vaccinated Canadians

Politics:

The Supreme Court’s “Unanimous” Trump Ballot Ruling Is Actually a 5–4 Disaster

https://twitter.com/secretsandlaws/status/1764746874219643022
https://twitter.com/ProfMMurray/status/1764678233734148467

A Russian Dissident’s Remarkable Courtroom Speech

Following a grim tradition, a brave Russian human-rights advocate speaks out before being sent to prison.

The apocalypse we choose

In four months as Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson has given Russia a chance to win its war in Ukraine, and thereby turn the world towards tyranny…
Around the world, Johnson's behavior is seen as betrayal and weakness. We tend to focus on the details of Johnson's various excuses, rather than seeing the larger pattern. Johnson's success in making the war a story about him exemplifies the American propensity to miss the big picture.
…The great American capacity is to take others for granted, and our specific form of hubris blinds us to the great services others perform for us.

Netanyahu Trying to Undermine Gantz’s U.S. Visit

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz landed Sunday in the United States in what senior Israeli officials said was a calculated move by the White House designed to strengthen the moderate wing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Gantz is scheduled to meet with senior officials, including White House meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday. He will also meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, and pay a call to Congress.
The trip has created tensions between Gantz and the prime minister, who had refused to authorize it. Netanyahu instructed Mike Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, not to assist Gantz during the visit and not to join the meetings.

https://twitter.com/djrothkopf/status/1764736846221791604

France Makes Abortion a Constitutional Right

France voted to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution Monday, becoming the first country in the world to offer full protection for terminating a pregnancy in its basic law.
Members of both the lower and upper houses of parliament gathered at the Palace of Versailles in southwest Paris, where a supermajority of 780 to 72 voted in favor of the amendment, which states that an individual has a “guaranteed freedom” to abortion in France.

Something like this is very unlikely to happen in the U.S. any time soon. It’s much harder to modify the American Constitution than it is to modify France’s. Even if Democrats retain the Oval Office and control of the Senate and regain the House in November, they’d probably have to “just” abolish the filibuster to be able to pass legislation codifying abortion rights. An Amendment would be a tall order.

https://twitter.com/Intellect_Vids/status/1763949664796082329

Trump’s White House Was ‘Awash in Speed’ — and Xanax

As one former senior administration official puts it: “You try working for him and not chasing pills with alcohol.”

https://twitter.com/DavidPriess/status/1764829840434159739

Trump Allies Target Blacks with Fake AI Images

Donald Trump supporters have been creating and sharing AI-generated fake images of black voters to encourage African Americans to vote Republican.

https://twitter.com/SethMacFarlane/status/1764410707729420550

FBI Hunts for Suspected Iranian Assassin

The U.S. government is intensifying a manhunt for an Iranian intelligence operative whom the Federal Bureau of Investigation believes has been plotting to assassinate current and former American officials, including one-time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Iranian government has repeatedly vowed over the past four years to avenge the 2020 death of Major General Qasem Soleimani – a commander of Iran’s elite Qods Force – whom the Trump administration assassinated in Baghdad using a drone strike on his convoy.

https://twitter.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/status/1764623802057560241

No idea if that’s real. I’m guessing not, since the map doesn’t use Cyrillic. But it does pretty match up with pro-Russian propaganda, even if the supposed new border with Romania seems really odd. And a real Kremlin-approved map would likely include Transnistria. Yeah, I’m a geography nerd.

SCOTUS Blocks Texas Law Allowing Arrests of Migrants

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily put on hold a Texas law that would allow local authorities and judges to arrest and deport immigrants suspected of illegally crossing the U.S. border.

https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1764667883211129036

The Supreme Court Must Be Stopped

The court is fundamentally antidemocratic—and the only way to limit the damage it can do is to reduce its power, budget, and lack of accountability.

Serendipity:

Estimated 2.5 million people displaced by tornadoes, wildfires and other disasters in 2023 tell a story of recovery in America and who is vulnerable

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

^{Want a free Hive account? Join Hive using my referral link.}

What is Hive?