Odds and Ends — 10 August 2025

Why, yes, we did visit the Minnesota Fishing Museum and Hall of Fame yesterday.

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

Harvard Reports $116M Stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF in Latest Filing

Crypto debanking is ‘still occurring’ as banks stick to Chokepoint policies

CrediX Team Vanishes as Stability DAO Preps ‘Legal Report’

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Gunman in Deadly C.D.C. Shooting Fixated on Covid Vaccine

The shooting in Atlanta, which killed a police officer, followed the spread of false information around Covid vaccines and animosity directed at the agency, public health workers say.

Trump admin orders federal agencies to scrub all worker COVID vaccination records

Politics:

The Permanent Stain

The one thing we didn’t really know before now is that in the face-off between this man’s will-to-power and liberal democracy, liberal democracy would just … fold.
Looking back at the resilience of the Constitution, the reaction of the other branches of government, the behavior of civil society, and the response of the public over the last decade: well, when I worried that the US was ‘ripe for tyranny’ in 2016, I was obviously wildly understating the case…
Meanwhile, America is one-man rule. Resist and he’ll ruin you. He’ll destroy your law firm’s business; he’ll stop that corporate merger you want; he’ll put a tariff on your company; he’ll launch a DOJ investigation into you; he’ll get you fired for doing your job in government faithfully; he’ll sue you if you print something true about him; and if you’re a federal judge and rule against him, he’ll sic an online mob, and maybe a real mob, onto you. He has done all these things this year — and openly celebrated them.

IRS, White House clashed over immigrants’ data before tax chief was ousted

The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses.

For decades now, the IRS has repeatedly told immigrants that their data was private and would not be shared with other agencies. Promises made, promises broken.

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

Trump avoids discussing Epstein survivors as fallout grows

New lawsuit on Epstein case seeks records of Trump administration communications

Trump’s Vile Take on Teenager’s Rape Goes Viral as Epstein Woes Deepen

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Does America Get It Yet?

Do we — by which I mean citizens, institutions, and former guardrails — understand the full scope of what is happening? Do the courts, businesses, law firms, universities, media companies get it yet?

https://twitter.com/DilanianMSNBC/status/1953525021571178719

Brutal Day On The Investigate The Investigators Front

Note the avoidance of Senate confirmation for the hacks enlisted to do the dirtiest retribution work.

https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/status/1953824546080866647

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1954189047116521825

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/TheFl0orIsLaVa/status/1954218479466274850

https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1954164757285544024

https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1953809582830104585

Russians cheer Putin’s Alaska invitation, envision no concessions on Ukraine

Analysts noted Alaska was once part of the Russian Empire, and some nationalists believe it should be returned.

https://twitter.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/1954318660048240970

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Layoffs? Price Increases? Companies Make Hard Choices as Trump’s Tariffs Set In.

Businesses that had been in a holding pattern during President Trump’s evolving trade war are starting to plan ahead with more conviction.

———— Melon Husk ————

Elon Musk's America Party is nowhere to be seen 1 month later

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

Defense Secretary Hegseth considers reversing Army ban on aggressive 'shark attack' training

———— Mors Imperii ————

Not Your Father’s Republican Party

But it’s not just that Trump wants more power over the federal government. He is also trying to give the federal government more power over society itself.
Since Monday, the Trump administration has moved to assert new power over institutions like colleges and banks. He has ordered a surge of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., a city that ostensibly has home rule. He has dialed up pressure on state lawmakers across the country to further shore up his power through redistricting — a goal he is also pursuing with his efforts to redo the census in pursuit of a count that would be more favorable to Republicans.
It’s presidential maximalism in action. It’s also an extension of his efforts to punish companies for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to crack down on law firms and universities.

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1954331349726515521

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