Odds and Ends — 3 February 2022
Dragon/Life vs. Dragon/Life with both teams utilizing a Chaos Dragon (Earthquake rule set, 42 Mana).
I got cocky and took a screenshot of a win streak:
And then, of course, got crushed in my next battle.
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
White House reportedly preparing executive order on crypto
We’re from the government. We’re here to help.
#bitcoin continuous upward momentum (4 year perspective), the rest is mere volatility pic.twitter.com/4V9A1Tosi8
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) February 2, 2022
Blockchain Bridge Wormhole Suffers Possible Exploit Worth Over $326M
The popular bridge for connecting Ethereum, Solana and more is now attempting to negotiate on-chain with the hacker.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate
Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic.
Some of the reasons for America’s difficulties are well known. Despite having one of the world’s most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the country has failed to vaccinate as many people as other large, wealthy nations. Crucially, vaccination rates in older people also lag behind certain European nations.
The United States has fallen even further behind in administering booster shots, leaving large numbers of vulnerable people with fading protection as Omicron sweeps across the country.
New Study Finds Lockdowns Did Little to Limit Deaths
Democrats Are Losing the Vaccine Culture War
A pandemic Republicans have eagerly prolonged has pummeled Joe Biden’s presidency and he can no longer fight depravity with good will. There are no more marginal vaccine holdouts to be wooed. No more lives of people who just don’t know any better to be saved.
It’s time for Democrats to stop worrying about alienating the unvaccinated and start explaining to the rest of the country how the unvaccinated—and the Republicans who coddle and truckle to them—have screwed the rest of us.
Army to Begin Discharging Unvaccinated Soldiers
GOP Rep. Chip Roy twice promotes false online rumor about Canadian PM fleeing to the US
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, has twice in the past three days promoted a fictional online rumor that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fled to the United States because of a protest in Ottawa by a group of truck drivers and others opposed to vaccine mandates, Covid-19 restrictions and Trudeau himself.
Roy even called for Trudeau, who was not in the US, to be deported.
Politics:
Trump Seriously Weighed Pardons For Capitol Insurrectionists Before Leaving Office
The previously unreported conversations show that Trump wasn’t simply musing when he told supporters at a Texas rally last weekend that he would consider pardoning people prosecuted for their role in the Jan. 6 attack if he runs for president again in 2024 and wins. Even in the immediate aftermath of the riot, Trump was expressing sympathy for those involved and weighing how he could shield them from legal consequences.
Key Impeachment Witness Sues Donald Trump
A series of new remarks by Donald Trump about the aftermath of the 2020 election and new disclosures about his actions in trying to forestall its result — including discussing the use of the national security apparatus to seize voting machines — have stripped away any pretense that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were anything but the culmination of the former president’s single-minded pursuit of retaining power.
The restraint crowd facepalms over Biden’s Ukraine threats
I hate to be so personal, but Hawley is one of the worst human beings, and a self egrandizing con artist. When Trump goes down I certainly hope this evil will be layed in the open for all to see, and be ashamed of. https://t.co/3LirLgeuMz
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) February 2, 2022
A Few Layers Of Intrigue To This Conservative Event Gorsuch Is Headlining
U.S. Threatens Russia with Chip Blockade
Biden administration officials say they will cut Russia off from its vital supply of semiconductors if it invades Ukraine — a broad sanction without precedent.
Stemming the flow of microchips to Russia would be a blow to the country’s economy, but the novel move could have long-term repercussions for U.S. companies.
The Untold Story of the Ukraine Crisis
Great wars sometimes start over small offenses. A murdered duke. An angered pope. The belief of a lonely king that his rivals aren’t playing fair. When historians study why armies began gathering in Europe during the plague of 2021, their interest might turn to a teenage girl, the goddaughter of Moscow’s isolated sovereign.
Her name is Daria, a young Ukrainian with a shy smile and big brown eyes. When she was born in 2004, her parents asked their friend Vladimir Putin, then a few years into his reign in Russia, to christen her in the Orthodox tradition they all share. The girl’s father, Viktor Medvedchuk, has been close to Putin for decades. They holiday together on the Black Sea. They conduct business. They obsess over the bonds between their countries and the Western forces they see pulling them apart.
Medvedchuk was charged with treason in May and placed under house arrest in Kyiv.
Psaki accuses Hawley of ‘parroting Russian talking points’
FBI Admits Testing Spyware for Use In Investigations
The FBI tested Pegasus spyware made by the Israeli company NSO Group for possible use in criminal investigations, even as the FBI and Justice Department were investigating whether the NSO software had been used to illegally hack phones in the United States.
January 6th committee member @RepPeteAguilar says former President Trump is "absolutely" tampering with witnesses by promising pardons for those charged with crimes related to the insurrection. pic.twitter.com/2hLVmFijxv
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) February 2, 2022
Serendipity:
Why 1922 was literature’s greatest year
A Mount St. Helens ecologist spent his life researching the volcano. Science is reaping the rewards.
