Odds and Ends — 23 June 2023
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
NFL Rivals Scores 1M Downloads for NFT-Based Mobile Game
Bank of England hikes borrowing rates more than expected
Benchmark interest rate hiked to a 15-year high, raising fears that the UK is headed for a recession.
Gosh, ya think? Banning crypto ‘may not be effective in the long run’ — IMF
Meta to follow through on Facebook, Instagram block in Canada after content bill advances
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Moderna requests FDA authorization for updated COVID shot
Florida Man:
DeSantis sues Biden administration over university accrediting system
Does DeSantis like wasting his time on doomed lawsuits?
Politics:
Despite Repeated Vows Not To, House GOPers Are Again Proposing Social Security And Medicare Cuts
Trump Prosecutors Focused on Bedminster Club Early On
Federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s retention of national security material were examining evidence within weeks of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last year that he might have handled classified documents at his Bedminster club in New Jersey.
The indications of classified documents at Bedminster so alarmed prosecutors that they focused part of the investigation on whether Trump might have transported the materials or disclosed their contents there in addition to refusing to return them to the government.
An open question then is whether Jack Smith will also indict Trump in New Jersey for the Bedminster documents as he did in Florida for the MAL documents. And then there’s quite likely going to be DC indictments too, for the insurrection.
Employees angry after Toyota’s Kansas City office serves only watermelon for Juneteenth
Election Workers Targeted by Trump Are Cleared
Years after their lives were turned upside down by conspiracy theorists, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye ‘Shaye’ Moss, were officially cleared by Georgia authorities on Tuesday.
The fraud claims were ‘unsubstantiated and found to have no merit,’ the investigation concluded, reporting on the work of the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and investigators from the Secretary of State’s office vetting the alleged fraud.
Britain’s mortgage crisis could destroy Rishi Sunak. Why won’t he act?
Ethics Committee Releases Unusual Statement on Santos
The House Ethics Committee released an extraordinary statement today regarding embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
The Ethics Committee announced it was looking into Santos’ behavior back in early March, and it has continued with its investigation despite the fact that the Justice Department and other law-enforcement agencies were conducting criminal probes. Usually, Ethics will defer while a criminal probe is underway. But not in this case.
This once again demonstrates how badly Republicans want to move against Santos. There’s no effort inside the Ethics Committee to protect him, or there doesn’t appear to be. As much as the panel tries to avoid partisanship, it’s often a huge factor in what happens internally at the Ethics Committee. Not here.
RFK Jr.’s Conspiracy Theories Go Way Beyond Vaccines
The discreet US campaign to defend Brazil’s election
The fact that the election was not seriously challenged is a testament to the strength of Brazil’s institutions. But it was also in part the result of a quiet, year long pressure campaign by the US government to urge the country’s political and military leaders to respect and safeguard democracy, which has not been widely reported.
The aim was to drum home two consistent messages to restive generals in Brazil and Bolsonaro’s close allies: Washington was neutral on the election result but would not stand for any attempt to question the voting process or the result.
Legal experts: John Durham made false statements to Congress about Trump-Russia probe
Dobbs Turned Abortion Into A Huge Liability For Republicans
Texas Is Now Plurality Hispanic
…the U.S. Census Bureau updated its official population estimates. In new figures released Thursday, the bureau confirmed Latinos have made up the largest share of the state’s population since at least July 2022. The new population figures show Hispanic Texans made up 40.2% of the state’s population last summer, barely edging out non-Hispanic white Texans, who made up 39.8%.
Serendipity:
Global sperm counts are falling. This scientist believes she knows why
Since the late 1930s, sperm counts around the world appear to have dropped significantly. While the decline was initially observed in western countries, there is evidence of the same phenomenon in the developing world, and it seems to be accelerating.
That doesn't seem like it is roadworthy! :D
Sometimes yes:
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Sometimes no:
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