Odds and Ends — 23 July 2021
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
New DeFi futures to enable hedging against Bitcoin mining difficulty
BlockFi Is Pursuing Plans to Go Public – Even as Regulators Close In
Will asset-price bubbles burst and tear down the economy? Here’s what leading luminaries say. How do you get a job as a luminary? And if you manage to do so, does it look good on a résumé?
Asia’s Former Richest Man Faces Escalating Debt Crisis
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Why a 19th-century Russian anarchist is relevant to the mask and vaccine debate
White House Debates New Masking Push
Top White House aides and Biden administration officials are debating whether they should urge vaccinated Americans to wear masks in more settings as the delta variant causes spikes in coronavirus infections across the country.
The talks are in a preliminary phase and their result could be as simple as new messaging from top White House officials. But some of the talks include officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who are separately examining whether to update their masking guidance.
Why the Delta Variant Spread So Quickly
Researchers might now know why Delta has been so successful: people infected with it produce far more virus than do those infected with the original version of SARS-CoV-2, making it very easy to spread.
Covid Is Not the Country’s Only Health Crisis
Even before the pandemic, the U.S. was mired in an alarming period of rising mortality. It had no modern precedent: During the second half of the 2010s, life expectancy fell on a sustained basis for the first time since the fighting of World War II killed several hundred thousand Americans.
It’s hard to imagine a more alarming sign of a society’s well-being than an inability to keep its citizens alive.
YouTube pulls videos by Bolsonaro for spreading misinformation on the virus.
More Hospitals Are Requiring Workers to Get COVID Vaccines
Meet the Young Adults Sneaking Behind Their Parents’ Backs to Get Vaccinated
Politics:
If Pelosi gave McCarthy a gift for his own base Wednesday, McCarthy handed the speaker one in return for hers: His announcement that he would withdraw all his members from the panel unless she reverses course is exactly what a lot of Democrats were hoping for.
Now, Democrats (plus Rep. Liz Cheney) can subpoena whomever they want, whenever they want, without any protest. If they decide to have closed-door depositions with Trump White House officials, the former president will have no spies in the room to report back. And the public hearings will be free of GOP complaints. In that regard, perhaps, Pelosi may say the move was worth it.
Pelosi Gives McCarthy A Good Ol’ Thumping And The DC Press Is Very Confused
It is just mindboggling that there was a partisan attempted coup within minutes of murdering legislators, there has been no public investigation of any but the doofus footsoldiers, its leader is just hanging out at his golf club, and we're blithely talking about debt ceilings.
— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) July 22, 2021
Sparse Voter-Fraud Cases Undercut Claims of Widespread Abuses
The Select Committee Doesn’t Need to Be ‘Independent’
To pick on one pundit, CNN’s Chris Cillizza immediately declared that Pelosi’s decision ‘dooms even the possibility of the committee’s eventual findings being seen as independent.’
But ‘being seen as independent’ isn’t the same thing as coming up with accurate findings, which seems like a more important standard to set — and one that is by no means undermined by restricting the committee to those who sincerely want to get to the truth. The success or failure of the committee will mostly depend on whether it’s able to access the information it needs, and not on spin or interpretation.
Russia says Ukraine blocking water supply to Crimea in European lawsuit
Mississippi Explicitly Asks Supreme Court To Repeal Roe v. Wade
Arizona’s sham audit rumbles on but could it backfire on Republicans?
FBI says it got more than 4,500 tips on Kavanaugh, providing 'relevant' ones to Trump White House
North Korean Food Shortage Turns Into Crisis
Serendipity:
As extreme heat becomes more common, ERs turn to body bags to save lives.
Australia's Male Olympics Chief Lectured A Female Premier. It Didn't Go Over Well.
The Stunning New Dune Trailer Is Begging You to See It in Theaters
Image credit: LePhoque (source)
Your meme of the day got me. 😂
I'm not clear on what David Atkins is referring to by "within minutes of murdering legislators." I must've missed something here.
You haven’t seen the chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” or read any accounts about those “hunting” for Nancy Pelosi? There’s a reason why Ashli Babbitt was shot.
Thank you for clarifying, I really did think with straight faced talk of murdering legislators that I'd fallen out of the loop. But no, it's beyond mischaracterization — it's a brazen lie.
A necessary element of murder is the unlawful killing of another. I am aware of five deaths connected with the Capitol unrest.
Babbitt's death is the only homicide above and none of the deceased persons are legislators. There were also at least two suicides shortly afterward among the responding police officers.
Yes, and Atkin's tweet is ridiculous. Even a sorry rag like TPM should be embarrassed to have repeated that.
I think you’re missing Atkins’ point that murders of legislators were prevented.
Look at history. A frenzied mob loosed against its perceived enemies has often killed those perceived enemies.
Whatever point the tweet is trying to make it's doing so by misstating the facts. It's not my role as a reader to rehabilitate lies into plausible interpretations.
It's a debatable conjecture whether murders of legislators were prevented. It's demonstrably false that any such murder occurred.
It’s hard to watch this in its entirety and not end up thinking that the imminent murder of legislators wasn’t a very real possibility.
I think I see what you're saying; that the word within can be taken in the anticipatory sense. That would be reckless authorship at best. Looking at his work and bylines though, I believe it was very likely a lie with an escape clause.