A close-fought battle, but mess with Kitty at your peril (silver league, 99 mana, Reverse Speed and Noxious Fumes rule sets, all splinters except Life available).

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Extreme heat is slamming the world's three biggest economies all at once

3 cloud providers accounting for over two-thirds of Ethereum nodes

The data suggests that DeFi apps running on mostly centralized cloud providers may make Ethereum vulnerable.

South Korea's Money Laundering Watchdog Flags 16 Crypto Firms for Operating Without Registration

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

CDC Director Walensky to reorganize agency after admitting Covid pandemic response fell short

Half of People With Omicron Don’t Know They’re Infected, Study Says

Politics:

The Moment When The ‘2,000 Mules’ Folks Admit Their Supposed Evidence Is Nonsense

All the Ways Donald Trump Is Legally Screwed

A Decisive Blow to the Fading GOP Establishment

The resounding defeat of Liz Cheney was more than the rejection of a brave and principled individual. It was the repudiation of values and a worldview that have shaped the Republican Party for well over a generation,” Mark Barabak writes.
It was also a thickheaded denial of reality and the stone-cold fact that President Trump lost the 2020 election and schemed and lied to deny it, sacrificing safety and the country’s stability on the altar of his infinite ego.

In summary, Republicans in Wyoming rejected the daughter of a war criminal because she had too much integrity.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) August 17, 2022

Oh, tell us what you really think: Lula Says Bolsonarro Is ‘Possessed by the Devil’

The MAGA Hypocrisy Around 1776

The MAGA adherents who bedeck themselves in the symbols of the Revolution imagine themselves to be zealous patriots, modern-day Sons of Liberty and Minutemen at Lexington and Concord, standing against tyranny. The MAGA fanatic who died in a shootout last week after he attacked the FBI field office in Cincinnati said as much, referring to ‘patriots’ in his postings to Trump’s Truth Social website and replying to MAGA superstar Marjorie Taylor Greene that ‘the next step is the one we used in 1775.’
The irony here is that the real-life American revolutionaries were avowed enemies of monarchy, while today’s wannabe revolutionaries have as their leader and hero Donald Trump, the most arrogant, monarchical president in U.S. history, a man who truly imagines himself to be beyond the law that applies to everyone else.

Nearly All Pro-Impeachment GOPers Officially Purged

Trump Crime Family
Donald J.Trump
(Godfather)
|
Rudy Giuliani
(Consigliere)
|
@MarkMeadows
(Underboss)
|
— Lev Parnas (@levparnas) August 16, 2022

Americans Approve of FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago

Biden to Give Millions of Student Borrowers a Fresh Start

The Biden administration has created a plan to bring 7.5 million Americans in default on their federal student loans back into good standing, restoring their eligibility for financial aid and removing the incident from their credit history.
Anyone now in default on a federal loan made directly by the department, Perkins loans held by the agency and old bank-based debt held by the department or private companies, is eligible for the program. Their eligibility for federal Pell grants, work-study and loans will be reinstated.

John Thune and Mitch McConnell have created a Badland in the heart of America. Do you have what it takes to survive? Watch and share our epic new video! pic.twitter.com/Ck1jHKirii
— Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate (@BrianBengs) August 16, 2022

Ron Johnson Defends Man Who Illegally Sought Ballots

In other Ron Johnson news, Mandela Barnes Widens Lead In Wisconsin