Odds and Ends — 24 September 2024

7 months ago

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

Shares of Trump Media on Monday sank to their lowest price in over a year, days after majority owner Donald Trump and other company insiders got the green light to start selling their stakes in the Truth Social maker.

How Elon Musk Rigged Twitter

What really concerned Musk, however, was that people weren’t retweeting him enough. Teams of engineers were assigned to solve the problem of reduced engagement with Musk’s tweets. Matters came to a head during the 2023 Super Bowl, when he obsessed over the fact that a tweet by Joe Biden received several times as many likes as his own.
Nobody dared suggest that the world just found their boss easy to ignore. Engineers were summoned from their Super Bowl parties to headquarters to fix the problem, which they did with a new line of code: ‘author_is_elon’, a tag that forced everyone to pay even more attention to the richest man in the world.

Inside the “very, very guarded” agreements that dictate what’s sold in grocery stores — and the cost

The crypto bros who dream of crowdfunding a new country

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Poll: Only 45% of older adults will get updated COVID vaccines

Politics:

https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1838020325675512116

J.D. Vance Turns to Tom Emmer for Debate Prep

Sen. J.D. Vance has recruited Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) to help prepare for his debate next week with Gov. Tim Walz, enlisting a Minnesota Republican to play the role of a Minnesota Democrat.

Tom Emmer? Tom Emmer?!? Tim Walz is prepping with Pete Buttigieg. Sweet Jeebus. Vance is going to be eaten alive in the debate.

https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1837746823559368741

Woman Charged with Murder After Losing Her Pregnancy

A South Carolina woman had a miscarriage and was charged with murder, a direct consequence of the Republican abortion ban in the state…

https://twitter.com/NYinLA2121/status/1838085935579410617

Trump Promises Immigrants He Wants to Deport Will Get Serial Numbers

https://twitter.com/sandibachom/status/1838354245340561694

To Understand JD Vance, You Need to Meet the “TheoBros”

…a group of young pastors hope to spearhead a Christian nationalist glow-up as they eagerly await a ‘Christian prince’ to rule America. These often bearded thirty- and fortysomethings have suits that actually fit. They are extremely online, constantly posting on myriad platforms, broadcasting their YouTube shows from mancaves, and convening an endless stream of conferences for likeminded followers. Let’s call them, as one scholar I spoke with did, the TheoBros.
For all their youthful modishness, this group is actually more conservative than their older counterparts. Many TheoBros, for example, don’t think women belong in the pulpit or the voting booth—and even want to repeal the 19th Amendment. For some, prison reform would involve replacing incarceration with public flogging. Unlike more mainstream Christian nationalists, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who are obsessed with the US Constitution, many TheoBros believe that the Constitution is dead and that we should be governed by the Ten Commandments.

https://twitter.com/KGreenberg_/status/1838281128462991591

Senate GOP privately predicts 52-seat majority

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1838386085564387790

Israeli air strikes kill 492 people in Lebanon

https://twitter.com/MontyBoa99/status/1837665503264801052

California lawsuit accuses Exxon Mobil of misleading the public about plastic recycling

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1838242626937762080

Labelling Trump’s lies as ‘disputed’ on X makes supporters believe them more, study finds

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1838370584880611802

Koch Network Quietly Backed Mark Robinson

The political network largely funded by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has been quietly touting North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for his policy positions despite a litany of controversies.
The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity ran digital advertisements supporting Robinson as recently as this month. It’s also funded pro-Robinson door knocking, launched a website that encouraged voters to thank him for his work as lieutenant governor, interviewed him on a podcast and hosted him for an April event featuring Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC).

Robinson rejected offers of tech help to investigate posts on porn site. I guess he’s going to roll out the Fake news! strategy, as he now Says He is Suing CNN. Good luck with that.

https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1838318297156104532

https://twitter.com/marlene4719/status/1838294545089331679

11th Circuit Rules In Favor Of Forced Trans Sterilization For Correct Drivers Licenses In Alabama