Odds and Ends — 16 November 2021
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Barbados to Become First Sovereign Nation With an Embassy in the Metaverse
The Caribbean nation is working with multiple metaverse companies to establish digital sovereign land.
China warns state-owned enterprises to cease involvement in Bitcoin mining
Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think The Economy Is Awful.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Texas doctor’s privileges suspended for ‘spreading dangerous misinformation’ about COVID-19
Health workers in China are killing pets while their owners are in quarantine
Politics:
If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies—communism, fascism, virulent nationalism—the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.
Trump Called the Insurrection a ‘Very Beautiful Time’
Alex Jones Guilty In Sandy Hook Defamation Suits
A superior court in Connecticut granted a sweeping victory to the parents of eight people killed in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., suing the far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet for defamation.
The same people who think Democrats are Socialists think Donald Trump is a Christian.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) November 14, 2021
Trump Lawyer Outlined Detailed Plan To Pence On Overturning Election Results
Fox News Zaps ‘White Nationalist’ From Story On White Nationalists
Biden Signs $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Deal
Trump had repeatedly tried and failed to secure a bipartisan infrastructure deal.
How Inflation Could Take Down Joe Biden
Left unspoken was a chilling reminder from history: Inflation has a unique power to kneecap a presidency. Incumbent presidents and their parties do not do well at all when inflation (and attempts to cure it) are on voters’ minds come election time. The gas pump, the supermarket check-out counter, the heating bill, the sticker on the windshield, provide — or seem to provide — powerful indictments against the party in charge.
If that’s not enough to unsettle the White House and its allies, consider this: Presidents have almost no power to ease the pain of inflation, and the voting public cuts presidents no slack at all because of that impotence. Look into the toolbox of our country’s chief executive and you’ll find it empty of effective tools, filled instead with devices now obsolete or laughable or meaningless or politically destructive.
Serendipity:
’Every Breath You Take' is the ultimate all-round song (according to science)
New Delhi's air pollution is so bad, officials are calling for a citywide lockdown
Meme credit: BeowulfPage (source)