Odds and Ends — 1 January 2026

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

For Hive Power Up Day. I staked 122.383 HIVE.

https://twitter.com/Barchart/status/2006497168455250199

Can Solana shed its memecoin image in 2026?

https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/status/2005776981577580666

All of Trump’s Pardons of Prominent Crypto Figures—So Far

https://twitter.com/VeryBadLlama/status/2006244051440267348

Coronavirus and Public Health:

U.S. Vaccination Rates Are Plunging

Vaccination rates among kindergarten students have plunged across broad swaths of the United States since before the pandemic, exposing children and families to increasing health risks as many school districts pull back from their traditional role as a bulwark against infectious disease.
The accelerating decline reveals the lasting medical consequences of a political backlash against public health efforts during the pandemic, which radicalized many against long-standing vaccine mandates.

U.S. Measles Cases Hit 30 Year High

The number of recorded measles cases in the U.S. during 2025 has exceeded 2,000 for the first time in more than 30 years.
This year’s surge in cases and prolonged outbreaks could cause the U.S. to lose its globally recognized measles ‘elimination status’ for the first time in decades by the end of January 2026.
The outbreaks come amid Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to downplay the risks of measles and spread misleading claims about the vaccine, while suggesting other alternatives without evidence.

Politics:

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/2006178022903398668

https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/2006050432402002402

The Show Won’t Go On

President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow.

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/2006039339617177698

https://twitter.com/Stateof05310007/status/2006029838293864783

Most of Iran Shuts Down as Government Grapples With Protests and Economy

https://twitter.com/Denver4VA/status/2006315625829044259

———— Jack Smith’s Testimony ————

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/2006446886073356534

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/2006454227980501358

https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/2006527520674324800

7 takeaways from Jack Smith’s congressional testimony

The New Year’s Eve transcript release buries details from the former special counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump.
House Republicans decided to publicly release the transcript of special counsel Jack Smith’s Dec. 17 closed-door deposition on New Year’s Eve — while most of Washington was tuned out for the holiday.
Smith used the day-long grilling before the House Judiciary Committee to mount a robust defense of his investigation into Donald Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election. He forcefully rebutted claims that his work was tainted by politics and delivered a granular defense of his office’s tactics and prosecution strategy — all while repeatedly restating his view that Trump was guilty of a historic crime.

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/2006512613165801886

———— Gaza ————

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/2006038758479581656

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/2006410761959096628

Epstein Videos Raise Questions About Jail Footage

A recently released cache of surveillance video from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City is raising new questions about the prison cameras at the facility where Jeffrey Epstein died in his cell in 2019.
The videos were among a huge cache of materials released on Dec. 23 by the Department of Justice as congressionally mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Rather than clarifying events surrounding Epstein’s death, the footage appears to complicate the official narrative, and contradicts some prior statements about the prison’s surveillance system.

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/2006190913341599832

https://twitter.com/melodymercadotv/status/2006103990581276871

https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/2006067477852111350

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/2006167183806595434

Many Filipino healthcare workers in the US live in fear of ICE

https://twitter.com/broadwaybabyto/status/2005781156739068258

Trump’s War on Immigration Alters the Face of America

In just 11 months, about 500,000 people would be deported in an unrelenting campaign celebrated by those who saw it as long overdue and lamented by those who saw it as inhumane.
Over the year, the deportations forced Americans, even those who welcomed the stepped-up enforcement, to reckon with the human consequences of rounding up and expelling people from their streets.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2005996018526310653

https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2006487687159800051

https://twitter.com/daviss/status/2006222998760505730

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://twitter.com/MikeLevin/status/2006420639448449320

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/A_SHEKH0VTS0V/status/2005951437411385656

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/2006037423927542094

https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/2006327841806504421

https://twitter.com/OlenaRohoza/status/2006161811968594416

https://twitter.com/Suzierizzo1/status/2006431171547103588

https://twitter.com/NatalkaKyiv/status/2006424738210717764

https://twitter.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/status/2006402788691935286

———— Melon Husk ————

https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/2006149930327367865

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/2005918740886725022

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/2006012180068438196
https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/2006007622080840121

Scandal Is Just Noise Now

If there’s one thing 2025 has made clear, it’s that in today’s Washington, scandal is just noise. The people who survive it are the ones who learned from President Trump that endurance—not accountability—is the real strategy. Ride out the shame long enough and it eventually fades.
This year alone, a series of old allegations resurfaced around some of the president’s allies. There was reporting about border czar Tom Homan allegedly accepting a $50,000 Cava bag stuffed with cash in exchange for government contracts, only to have it brushed aside by FBI Director Kash Patel, who has reportedly been using FBI Boeing aircraft like a personal jet to visit his country singer girlfriend.
Then there are the lingering and newly revived scandals involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who seems largely immune, perhaps because he presents as a Ken-doll version of a war secretary, untouched by consequences.

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/2006507050734334324

Social Security Has Gotten Worse Under Trump

The Social Security Administration — the sprawling federal agency that delivers retirement, disability and survivor benefits to 74 million Americans — began the second Trump administration with a hostile takeover.
It ends the year in turmoil. A diminished workforce has struggled to respond to up to 6 million pending cases in its processing centers and 12 million transactions in its field offices — record backlogs that have delayed basic services to millions of customers, according to internal agency documents and dozens of interviews.
Long-strained customer services at Social Security have become worse by many key measures since President Donald Trump began his second term, agency data and interviews show, as thousands of employees were fired or quit and hasty policy changes and reassignments left inexperienced staff to handle the aftermath.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2006403102543356081

https://twitter.com/JenniferEValent/status/2006376138403406070

Donald Trump’s Golden Age of Awful

A damage assessment of the President’s first year back in the White House.
No matter how low one’s expectations were for 2025, the most striking thing about the year when Donald Trump became President again is how much worse it turned out to be.

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/2006086617543704652

———— Minnesota ————

https://twitter.com/medickimw/status/2005726378566840663

https://twitter.com/esjesjesj/status/2005900328256831672

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/2006046792001970264

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2006039265835151463

https://twitter.com/harryjsisson/status/2006166503641555410

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/2006141826701430837

https://twitter.com/aaronnarraph/status/2006334071648256012

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/Gabino_Iglesias/status/2006396898379210959

https://twitter.com/TheCinesthetic/status/2005813587827384700

https://twitter.com/SketchesbyBoze/status/1994519133904580968

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