Crypto Bust: Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed crypto currency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas to face federal charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.

  Bankman-Fried presided over a spectacular rise and fall in the ethereal business of crypto currency, the money that exists only in computer accounts. FTX last month suffered a loss of confidence by investors and a run on its accounts, exposing an $8 billion hole in the company’s finances.

  “We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” SEC chair Gary Gensler, said in a statement.

  The company owes at least $3 billion to its creditors, according to bankruptcy filings.

  Bankman-Fried was sheduled to testify before Congress today about the collapse of FTX, instead, his indictment will be opened. He had been a major donor to the Democratic party and bought naming rights to what is now the FTX Arena, an event space in Miami.

  Bankman-Fried is expected to be brought to the US for arraignment. Let’s see if he tries to post bail in crypto. 

Power Play: Researchers working with lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California are expected to announce a development in fusion power that could become a climate-saving source of energy.

  Fusion is the thermonuclear reaction that joins hydrogen atoms into helium, creating a burst of heat. It’s what powers the sun and stars. 

  The trick is to get more energy out of the process than you put into it. Fusion produced under control could create an energy source without the greenhouse gases of carbon fuels, or long-lived radioactive waste.  It’s the Buck Rogers future of energy production.

Drugged: The CVS and Walgreens drugstore chains have agreed to pay more than $10 billion to several states to settle lawsuits that accused them of feeding the opioid crisis. CVS would pay nearly $5 billion over 10 years, while Walgreens would pay $5.7 billion over 15 years.

The Long Count: In her fight to overturn her loss of the election for Arizona governor, Republican Kari Lake said that, “Up to 130,000 ballots will turn out to be fake mail-in ballots. They don’t have a real voter behind them because the signature verification is not there.

  Lake tweeted, “My team has filed one of the strongest Election Lawsuits in history.”

Trump World:  Special counsel Jack Smith  subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation of the Capitol insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. State and local officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have received similar subpoenas.

  The Republican Raffensperger is the most prominent among them because of the recording of  a phone conversation in which Donald Trump urged him to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat in Georgia.

Tweet This: With misinformation and nasty speech returning under the company’s new owner, Elon Musk, yesterday announced that he dissolved the social media platform’s Trust and Safety Council. That was the advisory group of 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations that the company addressed hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and damaging and dangerous postings on the platform. 

Cat’s Cradle: The Los Angeles mountain lion known as P-22 was captured yesterday in the back yard of the hilly Los Feliz neighborhood. The 12-year-old big cat was found after a report that he’d been hit by a car.

  Wildlife authorities are talking vaguely and ominously about care, rehabilitation, or what to do with P-22. He was hunted because he recently killed a leashed Chihuahua in the Hollywood Hills and attacked another dog in Silver Lake. In his defense, who hasn’t wanted to kill a Chihuahua?

Heavy Weather: A coast-to-coast winter storm is bringing deep snow, high winds, thunderstorms and thundersnow across the US. Some western states, including Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, are expecting up to two feet or more of snow. 

  Southern states face a potential tornado outbreak. 

The Spin Rack: The Supreme Court declined to block a California law banning flavored tobacco, clearing the way for the ban to take effect next week. The Court gave no reason. — With cases of Covid rising, medical experts say Covid could become an ailment endemic to winter just like the flu. — Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday skipped his annual press conference, dodging what may have been embarrassing questions from the press about his failed war in Ukraine. It’s the only time in the year when reporters outside the Kremlin pool, including foreigners, get to ask questions. — Georgia rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said yesterday that she was only joking when she said she would have won if she and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon had been in charge of the January 6^thinsurrection. — A re-count in Colorado has confirmed the re-election of firebrand member of Congress Lauren Boebert.

Below the Fold: It’s the last tango in Paris. 

  A ballroom dance teacher at the French university Sciences Po Paris quit after she was reprimanded for calling dance students “men” and “women,” rather than using non-gendered language. 

 “I say women on one side and men on the other because in dance there is a role for the man and a role for the woman,” the former teacher Valerie, told AFP. She asked to be identified by her first name only.

One student told AFP that Valery had made students feel “uneasy” using the terms “men” and “women.” The university described it as “discriminatory language” and  demanded that she  use the words “leader” and “follower” instead of “men” and “women.” 

  The teacher said, “Forget about being politically correct. What’s next? Swan Lake with a hairy swan?”

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