Jonathan Nicholson

New: Grassley just noticed a markup on Todd Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday “Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe,” spox says

It’s starting. The New York Mets are the first MLB team to have an official prediction market partner.

i mean look at this!

Getting that August 17, 1998 Déjà vu when the Russian government devalued the ruble, defaulted on domestic ruble debt (GKOs), and announced a 90-day moratorium on foreign debt payments. Was living in Moscow at the time and we were expecting the devaluation, but didn’t know when it would happen so every day I transferred the allowed limit from my Russian savings account to an account in Europe. The bank tellers did not like to see me each day transferring my savings out of Russia and complained that I had no faith in them. Then it happened. Oddly the price of toilet paper shot up but precious porcelain and antiques seemed cheap because they hadn’t adjusted their prices. The news showed how safety deposit boxes in banks, which had nothing to do with the devaluation, were broken into and the contents stolen by disreputable bankers. I packed a go bag in case I had to leave quickly. Then I went outside, people were strolling, eating ice-cream, and there was no sense of panic. I flagged down a car/taxi and I’ll never forget what he said when I asked him about the devaluation and the run on the banks. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “We Russians, we are like cockroaches. You can step on us, but you can’t kill us.” I had transferred about 75% of my savings before the bank disaster. ATMs didn’t work in Russia and a rumor circulated that you could use your bank card outside of Russia. We had plans to visit family in Italy and tried an ATM there and it gave out cash—but only one time. We spent the rest of the holiday trying different ATMs and none seemed to work with our Russian bank card. After wasting so much time and effort we only learned later that there was a one off disbursement from the banks for a little over the equivalent of about $100. When I returned to Moscow, whenever I passed the bank which was located in my building, I would feel very angry that they had seized my money. I had lost about 25% of my savings but local Russians lost everything. After the economic Armageddon, recall seeing old women standing on corners of busy streets trying to sell wooden hangers—they had previously sold the uniforms and medals that used to hang on them. They had nothing left, and in a few months, these babushkas also disappeared.

To be clear I've enjoyed all the Spider-Man movies. But for my money, this latest iteration feels most authentically Peter, and Spider-Man. So many comic movies have fallen into MacGuffin plots, looking for the code, the stone, the box, the sword...this one is all about what --