Life vs. Life with the Super Sneak rule set. Granted, nothing particularly exciting about this Bronze II battle. I’m just a noob trying to make my way through the not-always-obvious strategic landscape of Splinterlands. Life and Water were the only splinters to choose from here.

I used to have a “feel” for Water when Alric Stormbringer was the “free” Level 1 Summoner, but Kelya Frendful for now at least seems like a bit of a wuss to me. At least so far, in the new Chaos Legion environment, I’m most comfortable with the Death and Earth splinters. Or really, least uncomfortable.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Crypto Is the Biggest Thing to Change Culture Since Hip Hop

A ‘90s kid reflects on seeing how iconoclastic rappers changed the world. And how that energy is now in Web 3.

From the Altai Mountains to the Gobi Desert: Tokenizing the history of nomadic horse riders through Mongol NFTs

Hmmm… FWIW, I find this interesting. The bid/offer spread for LBI tokens (Leo Backed Investments) has been fairly wide on Hive-Engine for several months but has tightened significantly in the last few days.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

’It is embarrassing’: CDC struggles to track Covid cases as Omicron looms

Covid’s deadly trade-offs, by the numbers: How each state has fared in the pandemic

One state that performed fairly evenly across the board was Minnesota, which has the fifth highest average score and and had no score in any policy area lower than 48. In an interview, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said that was a deliberate choice, that his team worked hard to “make sure we were looking at all of the unintended consequences, not just from a health outcome but also social implications and the economy.”
Throughout, state officials could not avoid the political consequences of their decisions, and that played out differently in different states. For his part, Walz said he knew that shutdown orders and other restrictions would be unpopular, but he still made the call to impose them.
“I got to the point where I was saying ‘Please, just wear the mask so you live long enough to vote against me,’” Walz said.

Outgoing NIH director says Trump and other Republicans pressured him to endorse unproven Covid-19 remedies and to fire Fauci

The outgoing director of the National Institutes of Health said Sunday that he faced political pressure from then-President Donald Trump and other Republicans to endorse unproven Covid-19 remedies such as hydroxychloroquine and to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Trump met with boos after revealing he received Covid-19 booster

Boos from Trumpists. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch.

Politics:

Select Committee Weighs Possible Criminal Referrals

When the House formed a special committee this summer to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol assault, its stated goal was to compile the most authoritative account of what occurred and make recommendations to ensure it never happens again.
But as investigators sifted through troves of documents, metadata and interview transcripts, they started considering whether the inquiry could yield something potentially more consequential: evidence of criminal conduct by President Donald Trump or others that they could send to the Justice Department urging an investigation.

Trump sues NY attorney general, seeking to stop investigation into his company

Yeah, good luck with that. Oddly, gangsters don’t get to control investigations into their crimes. Go figure.

Theocrats are coming for the school board — but parents are starting to fight back

Right-wing Christians launch an assault on public school, starting in Colorado. Parents find a secret weapon: humor.

GOP Lawmaker Told to Preserve Records
“The House Select Committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 sent a letter on Monday to Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) requesting he provide information that could be crucial to the panel’s examination of efforts to overturn the election,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “To date, the panel has been reluctant to issue subpoenas for information from sitting members of Congress, citing the deference and respect lawmakers in the chamber are supposed to show one another.”

Pelosi Plans ‘Solemn Observance’ of January 6

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated there will be a ‘full program of events’ to mark the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the confirmation of President Biden’s electoral college win, a siege that resulted in five deaths and left some 140 law enforcement officers injured.

Trump Flew More Often on Jeffrey Epstein’s Jets

Donald Trump appears to have flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets six more times than was previously known, according to flight logs released as evidence in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial.

Serendipity:

The NFL had a ban on Black players. Why don’t we remember the man who broke it?

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

^{Join Hive using my referral link}