Odds and Ends — 10.10.2024

@preparedwombat 77

29 days ago

oddsandends

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

Stablecoin Use Booms in Argentina as Inflation Skyrockets

FTX says Caroline Ellison to give up ‘all of her assets’ in settlement

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

FDA authorizes over-the-counter combined COVID-19 and flu home test

Politics:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1844062175125701034

The Boundless Destruction of Donald Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan

His solution to the housing crisis is the perfect distillation of Trumpism: It’s mind-blowingly evil, and it has no hope of working.

https://twitter.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1843674350404436406
https://twitter.com/AVindman/status/1843670906238849160

Arizona Girds for Poll Chaos

A new wrought-iron fence wraps around the Maricopa County office where votes will be counted next month. On Election Day, there’ll be concrete barriers too, along with plainclothes officers and mounted police.
Layers of security including cameras have been added to protect ballot machines, and no one without clearance is allowed into the rooms where ballots are counted. Arizona and its most populous county are leaving nothing to chance as they seek to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 2020 election.

https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1843727550801162613

How Trump’s Lies Undermine Democracy

To the extent a party just makes up stuff, it tends to undermine the most minimal claims about democracy.
There are lots of answers to the question of how democracy works, and some of them are very complicated. But the simplest one, and in a way the most basic, is that democracy “works” by giving the in-party strong incentives to produce good policy outcomes and the out-party strong incentives to find and exploit bad policy outcomes, and even to formulate alternative policies.
That doesn’t work if one of the parties flat-out lies about things. It’s less about what voters believe than what politicians believe. Trump when he was in the White House acted as if it didn’t matter what he did because he would just say everything was perfect; when Trump has been out of office, he has rarely bothered to make reality-based criticisms, and as the campaign goes on he seems less and less anchored by actual events.

https://twitter.com/ammarmufasa/status/1844036547324399659

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1844015058311123026
https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1844076723484361221

Von der Leyen attacks Orbán’s support for Russia in fiery speech to European Parliament

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1843871006731186514

Of course they are: It turns out Trump’s ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles were made in China

https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1844010768192372924

What Trump Will Do If He Wins

Donald Trump has threatened a campaign of retribution if he returns to the White House, signaling that he will seek to prosecute rivals and enemies while stocking a second administration with loyalists who will carry out his wishes.
To underline the point, he has posted pictures on social media of political rivals like Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wearing orange jumpsuits.
Legal experts are deeply worried that he will follow through on these promises… His allies say that it’s all bluster and that he won’t try to carry out campaign-season threats if he were to gain control of the Justice Department and other government agencies.
The truth is, though, as president he demanded investigations of his enemies and often got them.

‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy

https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1844018054180835402

Even Supreme Court’s Right Wing Expresses Skepticism Towards Proposed Ghost Gun Free-For-All

https://twitter.com/GirlKW77/status/1843956716351918381

Georgia Election Board Wants Deniers to Monitor Voting

The fight between the Georgia Election Board and Fulton County took dramatic twists Tuesday, with the county suing the state over an attempt to install election skeptics as monitors and the board voting to subpoena the county’s records from the 2020 presidential election.

https://twitter.com/JanetMillsforME/status/1843726592620802358

Trump Ramps Up Personal Attacks on Harris

Donald Trump rallied a raucous crowd here Wednesday as he seeks to halt Kamala Harris’ gains in the polls on handling the economy, launching a wave of insults at her and painting a dark vision of the future if he loses the election.
Said Trump: “I don’t want to be nice. Somebody said, ‘You should be nice sir, women won’t like it.’ The women want safety.”
He then described an apocalyptic America if he loses.

https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1843872469045703129

Back in the day, this was called blatant racism: Trump’s Remarks Illustrate His Obsession With Genes

With the presidential race in its closing weeks, Donald Trump’s language has grown increasingly strident on the issue of immigration. But as he continues to demonize undocumented migrants as violent criminals, the former president is also reviving another old habit: invoking his long-held fascination with genes and genetics.
For decades, including long before he became a political figure, Mr. Trump has been publicly obsessed with bloodlines and his stated belief that genetics are the best predictor of a person’s success. He has repeatedly commented on what he described as his, his family’s and his supporters’ good genes, and on others’ bad genes.

https://twitter.com/MeachamDr/status/1844094270657241535

Living at the Edge of Civilizational Risk