Odds and Ends — 11 December 2025

1 day ago

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

Norway’s central bank says CBDC ‘not warranted,’ cites strong payment system

Something Ominous is Happening in the AI Economy

The last time so much wealth was tied up in such obscure overlapping arrangements was just before the 2008 financial crisis.

A divided Federal Reserve cuts interest rates for a 3rd straight time

Gemini Gets CFTC Approval to Launch Prediction Markets in US

Coronavirus and Public Health:

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1998880427902149088

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1998955053189865885

Politics:

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1998565151587577935

John Roberts’s Dream is Finally Coming True

The chief justice has been working to neuter the Voting Rights Act since the beginning of his career.

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1998755734574834102
https://twitter.com/JeremyKonyndyk/status/1998867032826327283

Trump made a quiet admission that his tariffs aren’t working as intended: he rolled out a $12 billion bailout for farmers.
The irony is hard to miss. This is a president who loves the word ‘tariffs,’ but ‘socialism’ is one of his harshest insults, second only to communism. Yet here he is, redistributing wealth from one group of Americans to another because his voters, farmers, are hurting.

———— Melon Husk ————

https://twitter.com/jimstewartson/status/1998534303303741749

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

The military’s new AI says ‘hypothetical’ boat strike scenario ‘unambiguously illegal’

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/girldrawsghosts/status/1998815666514608293

None Dare Call It Treason: The Republican Party Is Compromised

Republican Senators understand the grave threat Russia poses. Yet they refuse to uphold their oath of office due to their fealty to Trump.

https://twitter.com/theophilus367/status/1998950227802468389

https://twitter.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/1998834672726585493

U.S. May Be Drastically Overstating Jobs Numbers

Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed on Wednesday to a job-market risk that economists have been worried about for months: Official statistics could be drastically overstating recent hiring.
Powell said that Fed staffers believe that federal data could be overestimating job creation by up to 60,000 jobs a month. Given that figures published so far show that the economy has added about 40,000 jobs a month since April, the real number could be something more like a loss of 20,000 jobs a month.

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1998875453600252109