Allegheny County judge allows testimony from ‘expert’ conspiracy theorists (Update #2)

benfell

Updates

  1. Originally published, January 30, 2021, 9:56 am.
  2. January 30, 2021, 10:36 am:

Allegheny County

In the ongoing saga of the Crack’d Egg restaurant in Brentwood,[1] just a little over two miles from my apartment, a judge will rule next week on whether the establishment may remain open despite openly defying state and county COVID-19 mitigation orders. The restaurant argues that the orders exceed executive authority and, relying on so-called ‘experts’ who are nothing more than conspiracy theorists, that masks don’t work and that case counts are inflated. The judge allowed their testimony and the owner is determined not to violate her customers’ alleged ‘freedom’ to spread disease.[2]

Paula Reed Ward, “Judge to rule on Crack’d Egg restaurant closure order next week,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 29, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/judge-to-rule-on-crackd-egg-restaurant-closure-order-next-week/

GameStop Squeeze

It should be no surprise that while hedge funds shorting GameStop and some other targeted stocks took a bath, indeed to the tune of nearly $71 billion,[3] as “retail investors” motivated by the unfairness of capitalism[4] colluded to try to beat Wall Street at its own game,[5] a lot of other big Wall Street players have done quite well,[6] undermining the utility of this strategy as some sort of insurrection against the rich. But it might be interesting to see how they manage to realize their gains by selling without precipitating a crash in what are now likely[7] to be wildly overvalued shares.

Ross Kerber, “Analysis: How Wall Street gains from ‘populist’ trading movement,” Reuters, January 29, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-funds-analysis-idUSKBN29Y0I4

Zachary Warmbrodt, Kellie Mejdrich, and Victoria Guida, “Wall Street faces Washington crackdown after GameStop rollercoaster,” Politico, January 29, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/29/wall-street-washington-crackdown-gamestop-463935

Roman Catholics

Christopher Wells, “Pope Francis: Catechesis is the echo of the Word of God,” Vatican News, January 30, 2021, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-01/pope-francis-catechesis-is-the-echo-of-the-word-of-god.html

  1. [1]Paula Reed Ward, “Crack’d Egg flouts shutdown as deputies quarantined for dining, taking photos with owner,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 14, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/crackd-egg-flouts-shutdown-as-deputies-quarantined-for-dining-taking-photos-with-owner/; Paula Reed Ward, “Allegheny County argues Crack’d Egg can’t hide from covid restrictions under bankruptcy filing,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 5, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/allegheny-county-argues-crackd-egg-cant-hide-from-covid-restrictions-under-bankruptcy-filing/; Paula Reed Ward, “Judge rules against Crack’d Egg, health department case can proceed,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/judge-rules-against-crackd-egg-health-department-case-can-proceed/; Paula Reed Ward, “Judge to rule on Crack’d Egg restaurant closure order next week,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 29, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/judge-to-rule-on-crackd-egg-restaurant-closure-order-next-week/↩
  2. [2]Paula Reed Ward, “Judge to rule on Crack’d Egg restaurant closure order next week,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 29, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/south-hills/judge-to-rule-on-crackd-egg-restaurant-closure-order-next-week/↩
  3. [3]Sujata Rao, “Losses on short positions in U.S. firms top $70 billion – Ortex data,” Reuters, January 28, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-shortbets-idUSKBN29X1SW↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “The GameStop Squeeze,” Not Housebroken, January 29, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/01/29/the-gamestop-squeeze/↩
  5. [5]Matt Phillips and Taylor Lorenz, “‘Dumb Money’ Is on GameStop, and It’s Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game,” New York Times, January 27, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/business/gamestop-wall-street-bets.html↩
  6. [6]Ross Kerber, “Analysis: How Wall Street gains from ‘populist’ trading movement,” Reuters, January 29, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-funds-analysis-idUSKBN29Y0I4↩
  7. [7]Kevin Stankiewicz, “Leon Cooperman on GameStop Reddit speculators: ‘I’m not damning them’ but it will ‘end in tears,’” CNBC, January 28, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/leon-cooperman-on-gamestop-reddit-speculators-im-not-damning-them-but-it-will-end-in-tears.html↩

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