Odds and Ends — 7 April 2021

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Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Hundreds of tourists turned back from German state over COVID restrictions

Paris police probe 'secret luxury dinner parties'

RNC Will Require COVID Test for Donor Retreat. These same folks complain about even the possibility of “vaccine passports”?

Why I have no political home: pic.twitter.com/NkmHzbGTC7

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) April 4, 2021

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

In Europe, Football NFTs and Tokens Are No Fantasy

After breaking $100 billion TVL, DeFi is now the equivalent of a top 40 U.S. bank

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wants to Halt Foreclosures This Year

Politics:

NEWS: The Trump operation refunded $122 million — more than 10% — of what it raised online in 2020.

Prechecked boxes withdrew $$$ weekly from unwitting supporters. Scores were ensnared. Fraud claims to banks soared.

My investigation into what happened:https://t.co/vu10yWJaEs

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 3, 2021

Senate Parliamentarian Allows Use of Reconciliation Again

The Senate parliamentarian ruled on Monday that Democrats can use special budgetary rules to avoid a GOP filibuster on two more pieces of legislation, setting the stage for President Biden’s infrastructure agenda to pass in two packages with simple-majority votes.
It’s a win for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) that allows him to pass Biden’s $2.25 trillion package by revising the fiscal year 2021 Budget Resolution. A second budget resolution can be passed this year to do the second half of Biden’s infrastructure agenda. Or the fiscal year 2021 budget could be revised a third time to set up a third reconciliation package.

“You have 51 or 52 corporations of the Fortune 500 that haven’t paid a single penny in taxes for three years. Come on, man. Let’s get real.”
— Joe Biden

Only Congress Could Give Us a Matt Gaetz

If these scandals seem to demand an explanation for how a member of Congress, entrusted to hold power in Washington, could behave in such a way, the reality may be the opposite: Only a member of Congress could behave like this and get away with it.
Whether Gaetz’s alleged behavior rose to the criminal is yet to be seen, but if true, it would have gotten him fired long ago in any conventional gig. Congress is no normal gig, though. It is, almost by design, a hostile workplace.

Republicans Love Infrastructure, Unless It’s Paid For, or Not Paid For

He’s hiding his Diet Coke bottle behind the phone a day after telling everyone to boycott Coca-Cola! https://t.co/K2is5hpl7o pic.twitter.com/idDtVtkBeM

— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) April 5, 2021

Netanyahu trial: Editor ‘told to drop negative stories about Israel PM’

Mike Huckabee tweets anti-Asian “joke”

GOP Voters Heard More About Dr. Seuss Than Relief Plan

This finding is a testament to the power of the issue and massive indictment of America’s information ecosystem. Dr. Seuss’s books weren’t banned. It’s a completely fake issue driven by blow-dried blowhards on cable and MAGA grifters on Facebook. Yet, it received as much attention as the passage of a historic piece of legislation that will put checks in people’s bank accounts and shots in their arms.

McConnell says the quiet part out loud, tells corporate America to 'stay out of politics,' but clarifies he's 'not talking about political contributions'

Serendipity:

Beverly Hills store let criminals stash guns, drugs and cash in vault at strip mall, prosecutors say

Beth Colgan, a UCLA law professor, called the dispute “fascinating,” saying the big question is whether the sealed search warrant shows there was probable cause to believe evidence of criminal wrongdoing could be found in virtually all of the safe deposit boxes.

How Much Do We Still Owe to Ernest Hemingway?

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Badge thanks to @arcange

Meme credit: Dont_click_this_its_a_trap (source)

oddsandends coronavirus leofinance politics covid-19 neoxian palnet ctp archon
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Haven't been reading your blog as much as I like but filled with a lot of stuff here.

  1. I wonder if there is a hell deeper than the Ultrainferno? Super Ultrainferno lol?
  2. In this day in age its true, can't really stay neutral or won't survive. Need to pick a side. The virus has proven there is a great divide in our great nation of the United States. When we unify is when we will thrive again. I honestly on the side of wearing a mask, not because I want to give up my rights but to protect my well being.
  3. NFT and Defi are hot when in the world of crypto. This is great news for crypto as a whole as it is proving there is demand for its utilization. I am long NFT and Defi. Just started CUB Finance a couple of days ago. Wish I done it sooner.
  4. What happen to the other 90% of the donations? This is business man Trump we are talking about here, reoccurring payments. As evil as it may seem its been corporate America's way of making a ton of money. We see it in cell phone bills, monthly payments on phones, to subscriptions to tv channels or even HP printer monthly subscriptions.
  5. If I read this story correctly it means the democrats can pass a $2.2 trillion transportation bill. But can't the republicans do like a fella-buster to stop this? Bottom line spending for the country's needs was long overdue. Unfortunately past few decades spending was at things that did not benefit the country such as the wars in the middle east. My opinion is get a bill passed that is paid by the top corporations of America. S&P top companies have been profiting from the average American long enough.
  6. President Trump publicly supported Goya for Latino votes. To say he try to bad mouth Coca-Cola while drinking it is so minor relative to other things he did.
  7. Just want to mention anti-asian is really a hate against what United States stands for. Black lives matter movement is based on the premise of discriminating people of color, now it only gotten worse. How awful this is all turning out to be. On the day none of this has to be discussed is the day America is united as one. I know I am being naive but United States really succeeded in the past due to the melting pot of all ethnicity. We can not be divided because each of us look different.
  8. Really thought the Dr. Seuss ban was for real. People with those specific books really made out like bandits then. Lol got to love capitalism.
  9. Criminals stashing away what ever they please is frowned upon but corporations hiding billions away from the United States is considered acceptable. Maybe if all that money came back to the United States there would be more jobs for people to do instead of becoming criminals.
  10. I do not know a lot about Hemingway but read one of his works, Old Man and the Sea. I do not read a lot but able to speak one of his works out of tip of my tongue should be enough to say how much I like his book.
    Dang I probably wrote more here than I blogged daily lol.
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If I read this story correctly it means the democrats can pass a $2.2 trillion transportation bill. But can't the republicans do like a fella-buster to stop this?

You’d think so but the Senate parliamentarian recently ruled that they can basically amend the recent reconciliation again and again. This opens up the floodgates to any 50+1 legislation that has Manchin and the other Blue Dogs on board.

And it begs the question why didn’t McConnell think to try asking the parliamentarian about this when Republicans had a slim lead in the Senate?

The beauty of it is that there’s no possible SCOTUS appeal. The Constitution says nothing about a filibuster, it’s merely a Senate rule.

Have a !BEER

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Basically they were in it together. Both parties made up rules to act as if congress is stuck one day and then not so much the next. I think I know why Republicans did not need the 50+1, it was because they did not intent to spend more, but it maybe all a ploy since Biden took office and the bill got pass afterwards. This made the democrats look like heroes to average Americans for getting the $1.9 trillion through. POTUS, SCOTUS... they may all be very well just manipulating the public here.

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they may all be very well just manipulating the public here.

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was…

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