Odds and Ends — 5 January 2022
I opened another Chaos Legion pack yesterday. I suppose that two Rare cards is “better than average” but a Legendary would have been better than better than average. Oh well, if wishes were horses…
In an almost evenly balanced Splinterlands match, a small advantage makes all the difference.
Hmmmm…in a battle with the Noxious Fumes rule set yesterday, neither tank was poisoned at any point throughout the battle. Is that normal?
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Bitcoin holdings of public companies surged in 2021
General Motors 90-year streak as top US car seller ends
Garry Kasparov: Crypto Means Freedom
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
U.S. Struggles to Avoid Widespread Shutdowns
Officials across the United States, from President Biden on down, have been insisting that they are no longer in the shutdown business, and will not order any closures to contain the latest surge in coronavirus cases.
But Omicron may be taking the decision out of their hands. So many workers are testing positive or calling in sick that businesses, schools, government agencies and more are being crippled by staff shortages that may force them to close some operations anyway.
Governor Hogan Declares Covid State of Emergency for Maryland
…a 30-day state of emergency that mobilizes the National Guard to assist state and local health officers at testing and vaccine sites and authorizes the state Department of Health to take steps to increase staffing at overwhelmed hospitals.
Just last month GOP activist and Orange Country Deputy DA Kelly Ernby was speaking at an anti-vaccine rally put on by local Turning Point USA chapters in Irvine. “There’s nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now,” she told the small but enthusiastic crowd, “Our government for the people and by the people is not going to exist without action of the people.” In 2020 Ernby had run unsuccessfully for a State Assembly seat as a Republican.
This week Ernby died of COVID19 at age 46.
Politics:
Pay attention on Jan. 5, 2022: While this will not be a barn burner the fact that he is speaking says volumes. He will be measured, and judicious. The fact he is doing it reassures that he understands DOJ’s responsibility, and that they are on the case! https://t.co/qfv49RnnGc
— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) January 4, 2022
Navarro Details How He And Bannon Lobbied Trump To Subvert The Election In The Run-Up To Jan. 6
Where Things Stand: Hate When One Coup Gets In The Way Of My Other Coup
…a reasonable conclusion to draw about the purpose of Navarro’s latest press tour is a relatively simple one: He’s attempting to signal that Trump and his team couldn’t possibly be blamed for the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection because that attack actually scuttled their plans for a different, friendlier coup.
If you don’t think Donald Trump will end up in prison, remember, nobody thought he would end up in the White House either.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) January 4, 2022
Capitol rioter compares attacks on her to treatment of ‘Jews in Germany’
Ex-National Archivist Thinks Trump Is Hiding His Records to Avoid ‘Prison Time’
One of the biggest travesties of the Trump presidency was how America’s business elites stood silently by him in order to secure billions in tax cuts.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 2, 2022
This is how fascism takes hold.
Facebook Was Critical In Spreading False Information
Facebook groups swelled with at least 650,000 posts attacking the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory between Election Day and the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, with many calling for executions or other political violence.
The barrage — averaging at least 10,000 posts a day, a scale not reported previously — turned the groups into incubators for the baseless claims supporters of President Donald Trump voiced as they stormed the Capitol, demanding he get a second term. Many posts portrayed Biden’s election as the result of widespread fraud that required extraordinary action — including the use of force — to prevent the nation from falling into the hands of traitors.
Navarro Details How He And Bannon Lobbied Trump To Subvert The Election In The Run-Up To Jan. 6
Trump cancels Jan. 6 press conference
“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona – It will be a big crowd!” he said.
Serendipity:
Mapped: 30 Years of Deforestation and Forest Growth, by Country
two rares not bad at all!