Odds and Ends — 16 October 2021


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I guess it really is a small world. Wikipedia’s “today’s featured article” might be about anything, and is always worth a look, particularly if you’re in the mood to fall down an internet rabbit hole following link after link. Today’s happens to be for a place I’ve visited, the ghost town of Manganese, Minnesota. The “overgrown site” photo from Wikipedia shown here is much overgrown from when I visited the site 30 years ago. Back then, empty streets laid out in a grid and building foundations was all there was. But according to Wikipedia, there’s since been a mini-renaissance there with a primitive “Manganese Base Camp” having been established by new owners. Might have to stop back for a visit one of these years.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Bitcoin gets green light for price discovery with ‘almost no supply’ on exchanges above $59K

U.S. middle class now holds a smaller share of wealth than top 1%…middle 60% of households by income have combined assets at 26.6% of national wealth as of June, lowest going back 3 decades…top 1% are at 27%
@federalreserve⁩ ⁦@federalreservepic.twitter.com/hHUbeqcgCz

— Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) October 11, 2021

The Rich and the Rest of Us: Income inequality keeps getting worse.

This is bad. But it’s important to state why it’s bad. I would argue that it’s bad morally, in that increasing the leverage of capital relative to labor is unfair. But let’s leave morality aside.
It’s bad practically. Because the stress this disequilibrium puts on a society is significant. It contributes to social conflict, which then translates into political conflict.

Valve removes blockchain games, tells users not to publish content on crypto or NFTs

Video game corporation Valve has informed users no content related to cryptocurrencies or nonfungible tokens will be allowed through its Steam marketplace.
As reported by game developer SpacePirate on Oct. 14, Steam has updated its guidelines for what content creators are allowed to publish on the platform. According to Steam, no applications built on blockchain technology that “issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs” are permitted in its onboarding process for partners. The rule appears alongside guidelines prohibiting hate speech, sexually explicit images, and libelous or defamatory statements.

SEC Approves Bitcoin ETF, Opening Crypto to Wider Investor Base: ProShares is set to launch trading of its bitcoin futures ETF next week.

Canadian city plans to supply residents’ heat using Bitcoin mining

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Navy sets guidelines for sailors who refuse COVID-19 vaccine

Mayor Fights Chicago’s Largest Police Union Over Vaccinations

Thousands protest as Italy's Covid pass becomes mandatory for workers

Politics:

The Trump Presidency Is Still an Active Crime Scene

The bottom line is that the story of the Trump Presidency still has important unanswered questions that the forthcoming pile of books cannot answer. And they have an urgency about them that unanswered questions about past Administrations usually don’t, given the ongoing threat to our democracy: Trump is not only preparing to run again but is determined to mold the G.O.P. into a single-issue Party, the ideology of which consists solely of disputing the legitimacy of the election that turned him out of office.
The Trump Presidency is not yet, alas, simply a matter for booksellers and book writers; it’s an active crime scene.

Anti-CRT Hysteria Leads To Requiring Teachers To Find ‘Balance’ On The Holocaust

Journalists Are Failing with Both-Siderism

American politics has changed dramatically since my post-Watergate generation of journalists began covering the story. Political journalism hasn’t kept up.”
For years it was easy to cover ‘both sides’ — Republicans and Democrats — as equally worthy, and blameworthy, partners in democracy. While we reporters had come of age as witnesses to the unprecedented resignation of a Republican president who’d tried to corrupt the institutions of government to affect an election — imagine! — what remained was a Republican Party still capable of a creditable role in a healthy two-party system. After all, Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign when congressional leaders of his party began abandoning him. Again, imagine that, Kevin McCarthy.
Now, when reporters or pundits use the words “both sides” in regard to some political problem, I stop reading or listening.

Bennie Thompson not ruling out subpoenaing Trump

Where Biden Is Most Vulnerable

Just how competent, really, is Biden? Just how knowledgeably and confidently in charge? I don’t mean neurologically, which I hasten to clarify, lest right-wingers suffering from Biden Derangement Syndrome disingenuously repurpose my comments. I mean administratively, legislatively, politically. And voters’ misgivings about that could be disastrous for him and for America — which cannot afford another go-round with Donald Trump or any of his coddlers — because they concern and corrode the very case that Biden made for his presidency.

Another enthusiastic Trump endorsement of Glenn Youngkin last night in Richmond—at a rally featuring (gulp) Steve Bannon. Very helpful development for Democrats in a state where Trump was solidly rejected twice.

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) October 14, 2021

Serendipity:

Can America Cope with Demographic Decline?

Well, we could decide to not follow Japan’s road to demographic decline and instead embrace increased immigration.

Hackers targeted US drinking water and wastewater facilities as recently as August, Homeland Security says

Grocery store shelves bare? These products may be hard to find due to supply chain issues

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Badge thanks to @arcange

Photo credit: DrGregMN • CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)

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I think the trend of the world's wealth being concentrated in fewer hands due to the pandemic is repeated in many countries around the world.

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