| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a Mr. Creosote feast of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda  TFW you're in the news again. Photographer: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images MBS Did WHAT to WHO Now? Elon Musk says we're living in a simulation, and the news keeps proving him right by getting weirder by the hour. And I'm not just talking about how his girlfriend Grimes used a CG rendering of their unborn baby to warn of the apocalypse. No, the truly bananas news story of the moment is that Saudi Arabia, allegedly with the direct personal involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, allegedly hacked the phone of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos. Oh, and it possibly allegedly used what it found on the phone to feed dirt about a Bezos affair to the National Enquirer. Probably not coincidentally, Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which employed Jamal Khashoggi, the columnist who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — allegedly at the behest of the aforementioned crown prince. Apparently the kingdom had some issues with the Post's coverage. This is, Bobby Ghosh writes, yet another bad, bad look for MBS and Saudi Arabia. MBS denies involvement in Khashoggi's murder and in any Bezos hacking. But the kingdom's response to each of these incidents has been furious denial, followed by equally furious backpedaling in the face of new evidence. If MBS wants the world to take him seriously as a reformer — in a year when Saudi Arabia is increasingly in the spotlight — then he must come truly clean about this incident. Bezos, meanwhile, began his revenge campaign with a tweet. Because, again, none of this is real. Impeachment 2020: First Thing, Let's Shame All the Lawyers Meanwhile, we're impeaching the president of the United States, in case you'd forgotten that bit of news. The Senate trial kicked off yesterday with many, many hours of debate over procedure. The president's lawyers, which he found on Fox News, apparently cobbled together their arguments out of random things they'd heard in the green room there, and the result was a turducken of inaccuracies and conspiracy theories, writes Jonathan Bernstein. That may work for the Fox audience (read: Trump) but won't change any changeable minds. Although the Democrats haven't handled this perfectly either, writes Ramesh Ponnuru. Part of the defense's case includes a memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which used still more legally dubious arguments to defend Trump's refusal to cooperate with the House investigation, notes Noah Feldman. Whatever thin veneer of independence the OLC once had is all gone now. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, is doing all he can to acquit Trump as quickly as possible, and he's willing to make himself look bad in the process, writes Jonathan Bernstein. Trash Senate norms? No problem! Force dead-of-night votes on matters of constitutional importance? Sure! Most politicians avoid fighting this ugly, but that has never been an issue for McConnell. Even after the inevitable acquittal, Trump's legal woes won't be over. Campaign-finance laws may yet be his undoing, writes Francis Wilkinson. If the evidence Lev Parnas has been throwing around is true, then this may be a bigger threat than the Ukraine thing. Maybe Not Such a Great Future in Plastics One of the most famous lines in cinema is "Plastics," spoken by Mr. McGuire to Benjamin Braddock, the titular graduate in the movie "The Graduate." His meaning, exactly, was that there was "a great future" in the stuff. That movie came out in 1967, but the energy industry is taking these words to heart today, investing heavily in plans to produce more and more plastic, notes David Fickling. They see the developing world needing much more of it, which would help solve the problem of sinking demand for fuel oil. But the trend in plastics demand may actually be moving against Big Oil. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently vowed to end single-use plastic by 2022. And China just announced sharp restrictions on plastic bags. That may not make a huge dent in total plastics demand, but it adds to the uncertainty dogging everything the oil industry produces, writes Liam Denning, making it that much harder to raise capital from the BlackRocks of the world. Telltale Charts We hear a lot about the enduring strength of the American consumer. But the trends are going the wrong way, warn Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji, raising recession risks.  Netflix Inc.'s latest results showed the first rumblings of a herd of rivals trying to catch up to it, threatening its ability to raise prices and keep subscribers, writes Tara Lachapelle. Still, these rivals aren't its biggest threat. Its own giant debt pile and cash-burning are.  Further Reading Boeing Co.'s latest 737 Max delay was necessary but will lead to even more widespread pain. — Brooke Sutherland Negative interest rates are hammering European banks at a particularly bad time. — John Authers The ECB's strategy review may ease political tensions, but won't solve its underlying problems. — Mohamed El-Erian Italy's next prime minister will probably be the right-winger Matteo Salvini. — Ferdinando Giugliano Elizabeth Warren is right: We should cancel student loans, moral hazard or no. — Joe Nocera Solving this country's rent problem will require cities to embrace housing density. — Noah Smith Regulators are right to resist BlackRock and Pimco calls for bond-trade opacity. — Brian Chappatta Vladimir Putin apparently wants a strong president to succeed him, raising many questions. — Leonid Bershidsky Democracy is not the panacea it has long been cracked up to be. — Pankaj Mishra ICYMI A low-cost iPhone is coming. Meet the Tesla Inc. shorts. RIP Terry Jones. Kickers Cold weather has Florida iguanas falling from the trees. (h/t Alistair Lowe) Scientists find dozens of new viruses in a Tibetan glacier. U.S. drinking water is widely contaminated with "forever chemicals." Pop culture's rate of change may mirror organic evolution. Note: Please send wafer-thin mints and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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