Niccolo Leo Caldararo (SFSU): Bitcoin: Rube Goldberg Machine, Gigantic Distraction, Entertainment, Ripoff or Money? North Korea wants to talk to the US; that’s a big deal — but don’t get too excited just yet. Cory Doctorow on persuasion, adaptation, and the arms race for your attention. Michael J. Ryan on his book A Taste for the Beautiful: The Evolution of Attraction. Outraged by the attacks on Yazidis? It is time to help. Mona Charen: “There is nothing more freeing than telling the truth. And it must be done, again and again, by those of us who refuse to be absorbed into this brainless, sinister, clownish thing called Trumpism”. Are Mona Charen and Michael Steele “woke” now? No. Ninety percent of Rohingya population ejected from Rakhine.
From Lawfare, Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes on takeaways from the House Intelligence Democrats’ memo. The Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes memo tears it apart. The Nunes memo is fake and the Russia scandal is very real. A look at how Skadden, the giant law firm, got entangled in the Mueller investigation. Paul Manafort’s fate is sealed: For the past decade, Rick Gates was fiercely loyal to his risk-taking boss — not anymore. Attorneys general expand lawsuit against Trump, going after him as a private citizen.
