Odds and Ends — 17 May 2022
Here’s me losing in Bronze because I clicked too fast and entered a brain dead lineup.
In the recently concluded season, I took part in 273 battles and had 190 wins, a nominally insane 70% win rate. But I’m pretty sure it had little to do with my strategic skills and more to do with me now having a decent deck (at least by Silver league standards) where many players are routinely using level 1 and 2 summoners and starter monsters.
From my EOS Silver II loot box, I got five alchemy potions, a legendary potion, three Rares (Exploding Rats, Venari Bonesmith, Venari Seedsmith), three Commons, and 32 DEC. Meh. Probably not this season, but likely next, I’ll have the CP to move up to Silver I. Gold III in a few months?
Also, a weird little battle in Silver where I only use magic dragons (23 mana, Back to Basics and Keep Your Distance rule sets).
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
80,000 Bitcoin gone: What’s left in Luna’s reserve wallet?
Why the Fed Will Go Back to Easy Money
Digital euro could come as soon as 2026 — ECB official
This assumes, among other things, that the ECB (or the EU for that matter), will be extant four years from now.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
The federal government is offering another round of free COVID tests
Superspreader military parade blamed for deadly North Korea outbreak
Politics:
A couple of days ago I said
Let’s start the countdown until wingnuts start claiming that this was a false flag operation. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…..
Well, it didn’t take long.
In related news, Tucker Carlson and the Buffalo Shooter, Compared
The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022
Trump Ally Out with Children’s Book on Russia Probe
Kash Patel, a former Republican aide on the House intelligence committee who Donald Trump weighed installing as deputy CIA director, is publishing a children’s book that perpetuates the false claim the Steele dossier sparked investigations into Russian collusion.
Russia’s thwarted Ukraine river crossing was so bloody, pro-Russia war bloggers are publicly griping
Sweden to Join Finland in Applying to NATO
Sweden will jettison 200 years of military non-alignment and apply to join Nato alongside its neighbor Finland, a move that would change the geopolitics of Europe and underscore the unintended consequences of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey’s Erdogan is playing the speed bump card but that won’t last.
Russian Allies Get Tongue-Lashing at Putin’s Ultimate Pity Party
DeSantis Signs Law Banning Protests at Private Homes
It’s almost as if he’s never heard of the First Amendment. Oh well, at least DeSantis will get to whine to his base and use that whining for fundraising after the law gets tossed out in court. But isn’t that the whole point?
Russian Failures Fueled by Putin’s Meddling
Russian President Vladimir Putin is making low-level tactical decisions that would normally be decided by an officer in charge of as few as 700 Russian troops.
The leading GOP candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano, is so batshit bizarre that GOP leaders launched an eleventh-hour attempt to derail him and avert almost certain defeat in November… only to have Trump endorse him.
The GOP is also panicking about the Senate primary, as fringe candidate Kathy Barnette has been surging in the polls. Her rise has even rattled and divided the party’s entertainment wing. On Fox, Sean Hannity is savaging her as an unelectable extremist, while Laura Ingraham continues to give her air cover.
Republicans Unleash Ad Blitz Aimed at Transgender Rights
Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which runs the ‘Truth Social’ app, plans to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., raising something like $1.3 billion. Today TMTG and DWAG filed the registration statement for their merger, a key step in actually making it happen.
You can read it — here it is — and of course I will discuss it, because it is funny and because that is what I do for a living. But in a sense there is no point in reading it. It will not tell you much about TMTG’s business, because TMTG doesn’t have much of a business.
Doug Mastriano Aide Was at Capitol on January 6
A staffer with Doug Mastriano’s Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign who helped block media access to an event over the weekend was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, where he appeared to smile and laugh as rioters smashed media equipment on Capitol grounds.
Serendipity:
Jury sides with woman’s claim of Baker Act misuse, awards $500K+ in damages
Why Has the Second Coming of David E. Kelley Been Such a Quiet One?
