Odds and Ends — 3 September 2022
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Strong Dollar Threatens Debt Crisis in Emerging Countries
The dollar is approaching heights not seen since 1985 as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to combat historic inflation, squeezing emerging economies that face soaring costs to service their dollar-denominated debts.
The USD is the best looking horse in the glue factory.
Designer Drug Markets Get Boost From Crypto
Novel psychoactive chemicals with names like 2C-B, AMT and 5-MeO-DMT are freely available at online marketplaces and digital currencies help facilitate the global trade.
Gazprom Won’t Reopen Pipeline in 11th Hour Blow
Russia’s Gazprom said its key gas pipeline to Europe won’t reopen as planned, moving the region a step closer to blackouts, rationing and a severe recession.
It’s a massive blow to Europe, which is scrambling to cut its dependency on Russian gas before winter and has been waiting for Moscow’s next steps in the energy war. As the continent tries to implement measures to get through the winter, the indefinite closure of the pipeline is an escalation that threatens more economic turmoil.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
As Americans ditch Covid measures, pandemic worsens for the vulnerable
Biden administration is preparing for the end of free COVID-19 vaccines as funds run dry
Politics:
Why Did Trump Keep the Top Secret Documents?
…there is mere industrial-scale venality. The man will seemingly do anything for sex (Stormy Daniels, Billy Bush); money (Deutsche Bank, Trump Foundation); or power (the Zelensky call, January 6). The Russia scandal, the Mueller report suggested, fell under the heading of ‘power’: Trump was willing to rely on the assistance of his own country’s foreign adversary if it helped him get elected. And then he tried to hide that eagerness from federal investigators.
If his official and political sins are tied to his outsized human vices, though, how to explain the zealousness with which he clung on to hundreds of pages of the US’s most highly-classified secrets — including, it appears, the identities of clandestine foreign sources that were feeding intelligence to the CIA? Keeping hold of those documents doesn’t immediately suggest a way to make money, or regain power, or attract women.
Top Secret Documents Were Mixed with Trump’s Items
US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court.
The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored.
Trump Had Empty Folders Marked ‘Classified’
FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month found empty folders marked with classified banners.
The inventory shows that 43 empty folders with classified banners were taken from a box or container at the office, along with an additional 28 empty folders labeled as ‘Return to Staff Secretary’ or military aide. Empty folders of that nature were also found in a storage closet.
It is not clear from the inventory list why any of the folders were empty or what might have happened to any of the documents inside.
“I frankly am skeptical of the claim that he declassified everything. You know, because frankly, I think it’s highly improbable… If in fact he sort of stood over scores of boxes, not really knowing what was in them and said I hereby declassify everything in here, that would be such an abuse and — that shows such recklessness — it’s almost worse than taking the documents.” — Former Attorney General Bill Barr
The Most Alarming Case On The Supreme Court’s Docket You Haven’t Heard Of
Cases against arrested voters on shaky legal ground. Florida issued them voter IDs
Two weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top election officials stood in a Broward County courtroom and announced the arrest of 20 people for voting illegally, the state’s case is starting to fall apart.
Trump Now Fully Embracing Conspiracy Theories
Republicans: "We are all domestic terrorists."
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) September 2, 2022
Also Republicans: "How dare Joe Biden call us domestic terrorists!" pic.twitter.com/6mVE4JPsy1
Veterans Affairs to Provide Abortion Services
The Department of Veterans Affairs, for the first time in its history, will provide abortion services and counseling to veterans in cases of health dangers, rape and incest, even at federal facilities in states that have outlawed the procedure.
Man Who Bragged of Voter Fraud Arrested for Voter Fraud
China’s median line violations suggest Taiwan ‘decapitation’ rehearsal
Surging incursions from Chinese jets are rewriting the status quo in the Taiwan Strait — and leaving the U.S. with few good options.
CNN to the GOP: Please Love Us
What the Founders Would Say About Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardon Threat
Bill Barr Blows Up Every Trumpy Defense of the Mar-a-Lago Docs in Brutal Fox News Interview
Serendipity:
Earthquake rocks Liechtenstein Parliament during earthquake debate
Oddly, her name is not Karen, it’s worse than that: Pregnant woman who claimed her fetus was an HOV lane passenger gets another ticket
There is a lot going on in the world.
Thank you.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta