Odds and Ends — 8 August 2022
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
The Most Americans Since 2008 Say Economy Is Getting Worse
FWIW, Elon Musk: US ’past peak inflation’ after Tesla sells 90% of Bitcoin
Data Provider DeFiLlama De-emphasizes Double-Counted Crypto Deposits After Saber Revelation
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
COVID Lockdown Turns Chinese Tourist Hotspot Sanya Into Nightmare for Stranded Tourists
Two-thirds of UK’s top restaurants in the red after Brexit, Covid and inflation
Politics:
”All the data points currently align with a cover-up”
Schumer Dares Republicans to Vote Down Insulin Cap
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to dare Senate Republicans to knock out a popular $35 monthly cap on insulin prices from the party’s big bill under consideration.
The $35 limit on insulin co-pays is one of the most popular elements of the legislation that Democrats want to pass using budget reconciliation… But the insulin cap has always been at risk of falling out of the bill since it may not comply with its strict procedural rules.
Well, that didn’t take long: Senate Republicans Kill Effort to Cap Insulin Prices
Biden Gets Massive Health Care Win
President Biden is on the verge of his own crowning health care achievement to call, in his words, a BFD.
After two decades, Democrats are finally on track to break the firewall between the pharmaceutical industry and the Medicare program. Soon, the U.S. government will be able to use the full brunt of its leverage to negotiate discounts from drugmakers, like the governments in many other high-income countries.
North Korea Offers Russia 100,000 ‘Volunteers’ for War on Ukraine, Russian State TV Says
A challenge for antiabortion states: Doctors reluctant to work there
New rocket strike on Ukraine nuclear plant, as UN watchdog warns of ‘disaster’
Florida Prosecutor Vows to Fight DeSantis Suspension
A Florida prosecutor vowed Sunday to fight his suspension from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis over his promise not to enforce the state’s 15-week abortion ban and support for gender transition treatments for minors.
New Zealand considers changing its name to confront its troubled colonial past
Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach
Serendipity:
Inside the brains of aging dogs
In a citizen science project, thousands of pet dogs are helping scientists to understand what happens to memory and cognition in old age
Image credit: initially, a public domain photograph, then modified with Deep Dream Generator.