Odds and Ends — 26 April 2024
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to restore ‘net neutrality’ rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others.
The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first issued in 2015 during the Obama administration. In 2017, under then-President Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules.
UK Law Enforcement Agencies Can Now Seize Crypto More Easily as New Rules Take Effect
Law enforcement agencies will no longer need to wait for an arrest to seize crypto.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Fractured U.S. Response to Bird Flu Has Echoes of Covid
Federal agencies with competing interests are slowing the country’s ability to track and control an outbreak of highly virulent bird flu that for the first time is infecting cows in the United States.
The response has echoes of the early days of 2020, when the coronavirus began its deadly march around the world. Today, some officials and experts express frustration that more livestock herds aren’t being tested for avian flu, and that when tests and epidemiological studies are conducted, results aren’t shared fast enough or with enough detail.
Politics:
https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1783540325987868876
Dreeben was okay. Sauer was awful. Alito is the worst.
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1783539434425655696
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1783539071454745041
Macron Says Europe Can No Longer Rely on U.S.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the American security umbrella is a thing of the past and that the continent needs to build its own credible defense strategy if it wants to survive.
In a speech setting out his vision for Europe, six weeks ahead of European Parliament elections, Macron said the continent may need to produce its own anti-missile shield, long-range surface missiles and other items to sufficiently defend itself in the present geopolitical context.
Trump Snatches Final Shred of William Barr’s Dignity
Having apparently learned that former attorney general William Barr has endorsed his candidacy, after having previously described him as childlike and unfit for office, Donald Trump accepted Barr’s submission with characteristic grace. For Trump, this meant a social-media post ridiculing Barr.
If the insult is too wry for you, allow me to translate: Trump is calling Barr fat. And, of course, Barr is rather hefty. So, too, is Trump. But one of the rules of bullying is that the bully does not need to follow the same standards as his targets.
It may seem bizarre that Trump feels compelled to gratuitously insult a man who has just endorsed him. But it is fully consistent with the method Trump uses to dominate his subordinates. Barr wished to escape his relationship with Trump with at least some tiny scrap of dignity. For Trump, it is important not to allow this to occur.
Elon Musk's X pushed a fake headline about Iran attacking Israel. X’s AI chatbot Grok made it up.
The AI-generated false headline was promoted by X in its official trending news section.
https://twitter.com/KristenhCNN/status/1783510509934780566
U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low
The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from a year earlier, federal data released Thursday showed. It is the lowest rate recorded since the government began tracking it in the 1930s.
The decline reflects a continuing trend as American women navigate economic and social challenges that have prompted some to forgo or delay having children. A confluence of factors are at play. American women are having fewer children, later in life. Women are establishing fulfilling careers and have more access to contraception.
At the same time, young people are also more uncertain about their futures and spending more of their income on homeownership, student debt and child care. Some women who wait to have children might have fewer than they would have otherwise for reasons including declining fertility.
https://twitter.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/1783478075948245165
'Wreak havoc': New GOP head urged staffer to inundate Black group with Trump calls in 2020
https://twitter.com/Tazerface16/status/1783288848568697123
David Pecker and Others Around Trump Feared His Wrath
A recurring theme in the testimony of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been how people around Donald Trump lived in fear of his wrath.
At least three times while testifying in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, Mr. Pecker described Michael Cohen, the former president’s fixer and lawyer, as warning him that ‘the boss’ — Mr. Trump — would be angry if Mr. Pecker did not follow through with whatever had been asked of him in that moment.
Notably, Mr. Pecker kept his eyes locked on exhibits and prosecutors while discussing Mr. Trump’s temper, not once glancing over at the former president in the courtroom.
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1783553895874035766
Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before
The Founding Fathers planted a bomb in the Constitution. Donald Trump lit the fuse.
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/cstegman/status/1783517714809528495
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
https://twitter.com/JordynneGrace/status/1783603773203497279
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