Odds and Ends — 25 December 2024

in #oddsandends23 hours ago (edited)


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

Turkey introduces stricter crypto AML regulations

The Walmart Effect

New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer—even taking into account its famous low prices.

Santa's Crypto Naughty List 2024

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

A million US taxpayers to get pandemic-era stimulus checks worth up to $1,400

DenyDefendDepose:

Luigi Mangione Judge Married to Former Healthcare Executive

Politics:

Trump’s Housing Pick Has Opposed Efforts to Aid the Poor

As Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner may soon oversee the nation’s efforts to build affordable apartments, protect poor tenants and aid the homeless. As a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, Turner voted against those very initiatives.
Turner supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance. He opposed a bill to expand affordable rental housing. He voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against two bills that called merely to study homelessness among young people and veterans.
Behind those votes lay a deep-seated skepticism about the value of government efforts to alleviate poverty, a skepticism that Turner has voiced again and again.

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Denmark Bolsters Greenland Defense

Denmark is increasing defense spending in Greenland, said a Danish official Tuesday who called the announcement’s timing with President-elect Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. should own the territory an ‘irony of fate.’


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US Considers New Russia Oil Sanctions to Weaken Putin Ahead of Trump

The Biden administration is weighing new, harsher sanctions against Russia’s lucrative oil trade, seeking to tighten the squeeze on the Kremlin’s war machine just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Details of the possible new measures were still being worked out, but President Joe Biden’s team was considering restrictions that might target some Russian oil exports, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

The Big Companies Funding Trump’s Inauguration

Four years ago, dozens of companies denounced the invasion of the U.S. Capitol and pledged to withhold support from those who disputed the 2020 election results. Now, many of those companies are lining up to fund Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Wall Street Journal has identified at least 11 companies and trade associations that are backing the inauguration, which is on track to be the most lucrative ever, after earlier pledging to suspend or reconsider political-action committee donations after Jan. 6.

Serendipity:

An AI system has reached human level on a test for ‘general intelligence’

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Badge thanks to @arcange

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