Odds and Ends — 8 October 2024

@preparedwombat 77

about 1 month ago

oddsandends

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

AI can compose good music, but humanity still holds the creative baton

North Carolina’s Coming Run on Electric Cars

More than 1 million Americans are still without electricity. EV owners are using their cars to keep the lights on.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Trump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says

Florida Man:

DeSantis Threatens to Prosecute Airing of Pro-Choice Ads

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is threatening TV stations that air ads in support of an abortion rights ballot initiative with criminal penalties, including jail time.
DeSantis and his allies are already spending large sums of taxpayer dollars to fight Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution if voted into law in November. His ‘election police’ have interrogated and intimidated residents who signed petitions to put it on the ballot. His administration created a publicly funded, state-run website condemning the amendment, and has run ads promoting the current law, which bans abortions after six weeks.
Now, however, DeSantis is escalating the battle: On Oct. 3, his Department of Health sent a letter to at least one local NBC affiliate suggesting that prosecutors could bring criminal charges against the TV station for airing ads that encourage residents to vote for the amendment.

https://twitter.com/IvanasStairCam/status/1843375828853502321

Politics:

Ukraine strikes oil depot in occupied Crimea

https://twitter.com/SykesCharlie/status/1843314398489981100

Democrats Dominate Political Ad Spending — Except on Twitter

Democrats are massively outspending Republicans on internet campaign ads but one social network is a notable exception: X, owned by Elon Musk, who has increasingly used the platform to elevate his chosen candidate, former president Donald Trump.
Accounts backing Republican candidates spent three times as much on political ads on X than those backing Democrats from March 6 to Oct. 1 — $3 million to $1 million.
The biggest political ad buyer on X is the official account for Trump, who has formed a close political alliance with Musk in recent months and was joined by the entrepreneur on stage at a rally Saturday. Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has not bought a single ad on the platform.

https://twitter.com/rustbeltenjoyer/status/1843383929623196060

Supreme Court Lets Texas Bar Emergency Abortions

The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate the law in Texas, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans.

https://twitter.com/gregolear/status/1843320746741027244

How 60 Minutes found out Donald Trump would not participate in an election special

https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1843222785943826736

‘That son of a bitch’: New Woodward book reveals candid behind-the-scenes conversations of Biden, Trump, Harris and Putin

https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1843310828268990729

Hurricane Loan Program Low on Funds

Only $1.6 billion remains in a federal program to help small businesses impacted by hurricanes and natural disasters — enough funding for only a few more weeks without emergency intervention by Congress.
The Small Business Administration has received at least 3,000 applications every day since Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast.

https://twitter.com/RickLenzie/status/1843319767819857989

FBI probe of Kavanaugh constrained by Trump White House

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1843087248545518006

Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers' neighborhoods have everything but Mr. Rogers

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has used two different addresses since moving back from Florida, raising questions about where he really lives — and if he's broken the law.

https://twitter.com/MalteseAnna/status/1843110061574652018