Odds and Ends — 6 March 2024
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Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Bitcoin/Euro Suffers Flash Crash on Coinbase
MicroStrategy set to raise $600M via convertible notes to buy more Bitcoin
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
A man deliberately got 217 Covid shots. Here’s what happened
Politics:
The Supreme Court Just Delivered a Rare Self-Own for John Roberts
The Supreme Court’s unsigned majority opinion in Trump v. Anderson, ending Colorado’s attempt to disqualify Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot as an insurrectionist, is a remarkable self-own. It simultaneously turned what could have been a short, sweet (if weakly reasoned) unanimous holding about states not having the individual power to disqualify presidential candidates from their ballots into a bitter 5–4 dispute over the scope of Congress’ power to disqualify candidates.
And if the majority felt that it needed to take the heat from the court’s liberals and from Justice Amy Coney Barrett because it wanted to provide clarity that Congress cannot try to disqualify Trump if he appears to be reelected when Congress counts Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2025, it made a mess.
Leading scholars and lawyers reading the opinion already disagree over what Congress can do and how, keeping the door open to potential chaos. It’s a rare miss by a usually strategic and savvy Chief Justice John Roberts.
Supreme Court Inadvertently Reveals Confounding Late Change in Trump Ballot Ruling
The Court did not absolve Trump of insurrection. That feels important. But despite that, this decision feels like it’s more about practicality than partisanship; it is the Court doing exactly what the conservatives so frequently say they must not do, supplanting the intent of the Founders, or in this case, the post-Civil War drafters of the 14th Amendment, with their own judgment about what the law should be…
The phrase ‘oathbreaking insurrectionist’ appears four times in the concurrence. It seems to be a synonym for Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/CraigDMauger/status/1765182287468003478
Bob Good Wants a Government Shutdown This Fall
…to prevent Democrats from achieving any policy victories before the election…
Trump takes bizarre turn as he ratchets up racist rhetoric against migrants
Trump-allied election groups burned through millions with no evidence of widespread fraud
Several groups founded by allies of former President Donald Trump to combat alleged ‘voter fraud’ now have little money or results to show for their efforts.
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1765210447836336166
Maddening New Poll: Voters Are Unaware of Trump “Dictator” Threats
A small percentage of voters surveyed are familiar with Trump’s most overt authoritarian outbursts. That’s frightening. But it’s also an opportunity.
https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1765010758834749725
US Announces New Zimbabwe Visa, Economic Sanctions
Trump requests a new trial in E. Jean Carroll defamation case
Yeah, good luck with that.
Library cuts and teachers quitting: Texas’s takeover of Houston schools
Serendipity:
The surprisingly complicated history of the croissant
https://twitter.com/RyanRadia/status/1764868263903723874
The weight-loss effects of GLP-1 drugs have little to do with the gut.
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