Odds and Ends — 13 September 2024

in #oddsandends5 days ago


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A Poker Hand:

This won’t mean anything to those who don’t play poker, but last night I won a (small) pot with a pair of sevens. Against four opponents in a game of Pot Limit Omaha. They had 16 cards between them and nobody could beat sevens?

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:

Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy Purchased 18.3K More Bitcoins for $1.1B

Grayscale to launch US XRP trust, paving way for potential ETF

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain

Politics:

Whoa. I didn’t think it was possible, but he’s gone even further off the deep end:

Trump’s Repetitive Speech Is a Bad Sign

Although I am a psychiatrist, I am not offering any specific medical diagnoses for any public figure. I have never met or examined either candidate. But I watched the debate with particular attention to the candidates’ vocabulary, verbal and logical coherence, and ability to adapt to new topics—all signs of a healthy brain.
Although Kamala Harris certainly exhibited some rigidity and repetition, her speech remained within the normal realm for politicians, who have a reputation for harping on their favorite talking points.
By contrast, Donald Trump’s expressions of those tendencies were alarming. He displayed some striking, if familiar, patterns that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline.


Well, That Was Fun

At least it was if you’re the sort of person who is into watching Donald Trump get humiliated — a club of which I am a proud member. And why not be? If you weren’t enamored with either candidate in the first place (though Momala is growing on me as a capable knife-fighter, who is at least temporarily doing a passable impression of a moderate Democrat), but you regard Trump as a metastatic case of ass cancer in the body politic, well then watching him get poleaxed on a debate stage might be one of your few remaining political pleasures.

Putin Warns NATO of War with Russia

By now, we should all know that he’s just bloviating. And, also, we’re already at war.

Harris Challenges Trump to Another Debate

At her first post-debate campaign events, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly challenged former President Donald Trump to a second onstage clash and sought to use her opponent’s erratic performance as a springboard into the race’s final stretch.

He’s already said no but since he has the attention span of a flea, that could change to a yes.

Smartmatic Case Against Newsmax Heads to Trial

A major defamation case against Newsmax will proceed to trial later this month, a judge ruled Thursday, dealing a blow to the right-wing network and setting the stage for the 2020 election to be relitigated during the final stretch of the 2024 race.

Serendipity:

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Badge thanks to @arcange

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