Parkinson’s may have gut start: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/parkinsons-may-start-from-bacteria-in-the-gut . I lost a lifelong friend to this horrible disease. As to prevention, eating yogurt to maintain the gut and rigorous dental health are two things I already practice. This article gives me a strong additional incentive to continue.
WSJ: Diagnosing Alzheimer’s through the eye: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/is-the-eye-the-window-to-alzheimers-cc52f9fd . The claim of predicting Alzheimer’s 20 years before it appears is surprising. However, it does suggest AI can find connections that would otherwise remain unknown.
WSJ: Opioid settlement just shrunk by $1 billion: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mallinckrodt-bankruptcy-plan-gets-approval-will-wipe-out-1-billion-in-opioid-payments-3413be64 .
Wage pressure from healthcare strikes: WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/healthcare-strikes-threaten-to-prolong-wage-pressure-on-hospitals-280549fb . Again, we can expect wage pressures to keep inflation going.
WSJ: Canadian autoworkers settle with GM: https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/canadian-autoworkers-reach-tentative-deal-with-gm-8cf13911 . This does nothing to settle the UAW strike in the US against the Big Three, which is becoming increasingly painful for both sides.
China’s Country Garden tilts toward default: WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/finance/chinas-country-garden-succumbs-to-debt-crisis-after-sales-drop-84c85a79 . This agrees with our reporting yesterday.
WSJ: Ireland sets up sovereign wealth fund to future-proof its economy: https://www.wsj.com/economy/global/this-country-won-the-global-tax-game-and-is-swimming-in-money-57c3c70 . Ireland “won” the global race to the bottom in corporate taxation. That’s not really great news for the rest of the developed world.
Iraq threatens to intervene against US in Israel: https://www.reuters.com/world/senior-iraqi-political-figure-threatens-target-us-interests-if-it-backs-israel-2023-10-10/ . We already heavily back Israel. This threat seems to be a diplomatic threat. In other words, President Biden told other countries to stay out. Iraq is pushing back, but on something neither side expects the US to do. Of course, this Iraqi government owes its existence to the US toppling of Saddam Hussein. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-readies-for-all-out-war-in-gaza-ef1899c3 .
War crimes committed by Hamas invaders: https://www.aol.com/news/least-40-babies-beheaded-found-154607254.html . Because Hamas embeds within the Palestinian population in Gaza, Israel is also killing civilians (and committing war crimes) in striking Hamas. However, the brutality of Hamas’ murder of civilians is not an “average” war crime; it shocks the senses.
WSJ: A primer on Hamas: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-militant-group-palestine-israel-attack-58738d3f .
Musk and X are in trouble with the EU for disseminating false content from Hamas: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/eu-warns-elon-musk-potential-investigation-hamas-content-rcna119783 .
WSJ: Terrorists raise funding from crypto: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/militants-behind-israel-attack-raised-millions-in-crypto-b9134b7a . Crypto seems to have no future as a long-term investment, for many reasons.
SBF’s lawyers are increasing his problems: https://slate.com/technology/2023/10/sam-bankman-fried-trial-lewis-kaplan-mark-cohen-gary-wang.html . In a jury trial, when the judge gives you a direct instruction, follow it. The judge of course is an authority figure to the jurors. When he repeatedly tells the lawyers to move on, they simply must do so because of the jury impression; they lose credibility. Once again, Rule No. 1 is, Don’t piss off the judge. This is one of the most obvious aspects of practice; it amazes me how many times lawyers ignore it.
Meanwhile, SBF’s ex-girlfriend fingers SBF in the fraud: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sbfs-ex-girlfriend-he-directed-me-to-steal-billions-from-ftx-105146381.html . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/caroline-ellison-lays-blame-on-bankman-fried-for-ftx-fraud-failure-8a2bb2dd .
New federal charges for George Santos: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-santos-charged-with-conspiracy-wire-fraud-and-more/ . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/rep-george-santos-is-hit-with-new-indictment-alleging-credit-card-fraud-249a1f1e . Among other things, Santos ran up unauthorized charges on the credit cards of people who had contributed to his campaign. What a swell guy … and he’s still in Congress …
OJ Inc. CFO admits OJ signed acknowledgement that his apartment was 10,000 (not 30,000) square feet: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-letitia-james-fraud-new-york-71df7b5f1e4d3c89937efa77e2922914 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/former-trump-finance-chief-in-testimony-says-penthouse-assets-were-overvalued-7cedc1a0 . Weisselberg had to sign off on the avalanche of lies here. The prosecutor will prove OJ knew of the deceit, which means the fraud was intentional.
WSJ: We refuse to face the deficit facts; we’d rather just write insane crap for our MAGA readers: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-america-needs-from-the-republican-party-92c2296f . Here is the US public debt by year since 1990: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187867/public-debt-of-the-united-states-since-1990/ . The government fiscal year closes September 30. As Joe Biden took office in January 2021, OJ is basically responsible for the four fiscal years October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2021. The public debt was 20.2449 trillion at the start of this period, and 28.4289 at the end, an increase of 40.42% in 4 years. Interest rates were low in this period, or the increase would have been much worse.
There were two huge reasons for this. First, OJ and the GOP passed a massive tax cut primarily benefitting the rich in late 2017. The tax cuts for the rich are permanent, while those for everyone else expire in 2025. That is, right after the 2024 elections, so the GOP could get re-elected before the base figured out how badly they were screwed.
Second, there was massive COVID relief under OJ. As readers know, the US had the worst per capita results in the world from the pandemic, due in significant part to misinformation and mismanagement from OJ and his minions. Additionally, there was an utter lack of financial controls on the GOP COVID relief, leading to massive fraud.
In short, OJ and the GOP massively overspent in their budgets. What America needs from the GOP is a complete purge of the crooks at the top, even it means there’s nothing left of this corrupt party.
And PS to Mr. Freeman (PS as in PiSs off): Your comments about Ireland’s surplus are moronically uninformed, as I explained above. It’s a tax haven for US companies, which cheats the rest of the developed world of higher tax revenues.
WSJ: We try to explain the House GOP Speaker race, but we still can’t count: https://www.wsj.com/politics/house-speaker-gop-factions-explained-d4fcdbaf . The data here is correct, but the analysis is ridiculous. By any count, the Freedom Caucus is less than 25% of the House GOP. Eight Republicans sank McCarthy only because the Democrats joined them. Jim Jordan is a joke and a jerk. I can’t see that he can receive 218 votes from the GOP caucus, and the Democrats will never help him. Scalise is the leading candidate almost by default, so the question is how long the Freedom Caucus loons will tie up his election as Speaker.
At best, Scalise is just in the job temporarily, as the Democrats look well-positioned to retake the House. So how long will these lunatics tie up governance while the world has two wars going on and a government shutdown looms? It had better not be very long, because each day they delay shows the public the bankruptcy of the GOP. “More”: https://www.wsj.com/politics/steve-scalise-jim-jordan-to-make-pitches-for-house-speaker-as-gop-worries-grow-25cae8e6 .
104-year-old skydiver dies the next day: https://apnews.com/video/ottawa-chicago-illinois-national-national-9b4eee67cf2a4f709a32880cf4db62cf .
Living your dream in France: https://www.cnn.com/travel/us-couple-bought-house-france-changed-lives-carjarc/index.html . Twenty years ago, these folks bought a small home in Cajarc, about 70 miles north of Toulouse. They spend summers in France, winters in California. This would not be my choice, but I could see doing this in southern Italy, spending winters there and summers in Oregon.