“So many books, so little time.” — Frank Zappa
What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas:
My wife just got back from a hellish (other than getting to see Penn and Teller) business trip to Lost Wages. She hates the place with a passion.
But she’s not a gambler. I’m a poker player so I have a somewhat more nuanced view of the place. Heh. Last night I played in a Crazy Pineapple tournament at Canterbury Park (meh, busted out in the ninth round of blinds). At the table, people mentioned their Vegas experiences. One of the players had just gotten back from playing the Senior Event at the World Series of Poker. One of the dealers mentioned how much he likes visiting until he’s been there for seven or eight days and how the allure then vanishes. “The longest I was there was 15 days. I came back with empty pockets and a broken shoulder.”
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Another Sign Inflation Is Receding
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly declined in May by the most in seven months, another welcome development that will strengthen the Federal Reserve’s confidence in moderating inflation.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic
Fact Check: Study does not say COVID vaccines may have fuelled excess deaths
Politics:
Campaigns Can Now See What You Watch on TV
Streaming television is quickly becoming instrumental to campaigning, promising politicians the ability to reach more voters and target them with highly specific ads.
But campaigns’ ability to peer into the television habits of voters alarms privacy advocates, who say voters are not properly informed about what’s on their television… Lawmakers have debated for years how to regulate digital ads but have failed to come to an agreement.
Biden’s Most Likely Path Is the Rust Belt
President Joe Biden’s most likely path to re-election is a narrow one that relies on the same three states that gave Donald Trump the Oval Office in 2016 and then yanked it away from him in 2020 — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — along with a single electoral vote from an Omaha-based congressional district.
Put another way, if Trump takes any of the Big Three Rust Belt states in November, it is probably an indication that he has won back the White House. Less than five months from Election Day, they comprise the real battleground, according to many operatives in both parties.
Why So Many ‘Day After’ Plans for Gaza Amount to No Plan at All
A January 6 Rioter Is Leading an Armed National Militia From Prison
Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley approve this message: Trump Floats ‘All Tariff Policy’ to Replace Income Tax
The legal theory of Trump’s coup attempt, made explicit in argument before the Supreme Court, is that the chieftain is immune to law. There is magic around the chieftain’s person, such that he need respond only to himself. The words ‘presidential immunity’ are an incantation directed to directed to people in black robes, summoning them to act as the chieftain’s shamans and confirm his magical status.
Some of the people in black robes, Supreme Court justices, like being shamans. Our shamans are allowed to take bribes from those who support the chieftain, and also allowed to claim that as magicians, people unlike others, they are unaffected by them. If there is any doubt, our shamans tell us, they can be trusted to be judges in their own case.
Clarence Thomas raised him 'as a son.' Now he's facing 25-plus years on weapons and drug charges.
Serendipity:
Microrobots made of algae carry chemo directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatment
