Clearing Out The In-Box -- Saturday Morning -- June 24, 2023

Locator: 45036MISC.

To say the least, after Wes Anderson and Asteroid City it's hard to return to the real world, but return we must. 

"They" say the Russian "mutiny" will fail but "they" don't give us their definition of "failure." [Later, same day: it’s over. Putin appears to have won. Prigozhin “exiled” to Belarus. Back to where we were.]

But even for Russia, this Russian invasion seems bizarre. Interestingly enough, but ironic, I suppose, "nukes" are not an option. LOL. Unless Putin wants to be the first commander-in-chief to do above-ground nuclear testing in his own country.

Time to learn a little bit about the history of Rostov. Seems like an important city, historically. 

Rostov-on-Don.

• at the mouth of the Don River; where the Don empties into the Sea of Azov;
• the Sea of Azov is an internal Russian sea with passage to the Atlantic Ocean going through the Black, Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
• 1917: major contested city between Reds and Whites in Russia's civil war

I've never seen so many construction sites on a major highway.

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Get Out The Popcorn

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Another EV

Link here.

I would have absolutely no interest in this story except I am building a position (as they say on CNBC) in Ferrari. LOL.

Price: $200,000.

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Wuhan: An Inconvenient Truth

Just when you thought you had it all figured out: no, Virginia, there was no Covid-19 virus at Wuhan before the pandemic: The WSJ.

There is no evidence a Chinese laboratory at the center of the debate over Covid-19’s origins conducted genetic engineering on viruses related to the one that caused the pandemic, or held such viruses in its stockpiles before the 2019 outbreak, U.S. intelligence agencies said Friday.

In a report required by Congress, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it remains unable to pinpoint the pandemic’s origins, with spy agencies divided on whether the virus passed to humans via an infected animal or a laboratory accident. The report is a summary of findings by major U.S. intelligence agencies.

The report acknowledged publicly for the first time the assessment of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Energy Department that a “laboratory-related incident” was most likely responsible for the pandemic that has killed nearly seven million people worldwide, while other agencies believe natural infection was the cause. The Central Intelligence Agency and another unnamed agency say they are unable to pinpoint the cause, the report said.

Another story Tucker won't cover. If he does, it won't be reported accurately.

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