Odds and Ends — 12 August 2025

@preparedwombat 78

3 days ago

oddsandends

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

Crypto helps emerging economies bypass legacy financial constraints

Solana Meme Coins Slump as Investors Rotate into ETH & ‘Quality-Focused’ Altcoins

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Why Young Children May Not Get Covid Shots This Fall

They Cleaned Subways During Covid. Now They’ll Get Millions in Back Pay.

Politics:

The President’s Police State

For years, prominent voices on the right argued that Democrats were enacting a police state. They labeled everything—a report on homegrown extremism, IRS investigations into nonprofits—a sign of impending authoritarianism. Measures taken by state governments to combat the spread of COVID? Tyranny. An FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The weaponization of law enforcement.
Now that a president is actually sending federal troops and officers out into the streets of the nation’s cities, however, the right is in lockstep behind him.

Millions Are Ignoring Their Student Loan Bills

Some borrowers say they are prioritizing essentials such as housing or groceries, while others refuse to pay as a form of protest.

Trump Plays the Carnage Card

Ever since that latest weak jobs report, Trump has been frantically trying to convince the American public that the economy is doing great. He is failing, and predictably so. Experience shows that trying to talk up the economy when people don’t perceive it as good never works, even if the data are favorable. It’s even less likely to work when the data actually aren’t good, and calling people who point out economic weakness BUMs isn’t likely to help.
On the other hand, telling people things are bad even when they’re actually good can work. This is sometimes true when it comes to the economy. It’s definitely true when we’re talking about crime.

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/BlackKnight10k/status/1954938698295845055

Epstein Issue Is Unavoidable In Many GOP Districts

A Republican consultant conceded to Puck “that he’s unnerved by how much the Epstein issue has seeped into the political conversation beyond the Beltway—not just on Reddit and X, but even in the heavily screened virtual town halls that Republican members tend to prefer these days.”
Said the consultant: “It’s an issue the fringes care about. The same fringes, by the way, who voted for Donald Trump last cycle and did not vote for the Republicans downballot, and whose votes we need.”

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1954948234079834573

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1955234187558129751

https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1955246273725915244

They’re building the machine now to meddle in the 2026 midterm elections 15 months from now.
And those machinations are built on two lessons learned from 2020: Attack the election with everything you have before it happens, and stock the Trump administration only with officials who will do exactly what he says on elections, no matter what the law says.

https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz/status/1954947152834077007

———— The District ————

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1954987649124446507

https://twitter.com/ChrisVanHollen/status/1954943274717716523

https://twitter.com/samprkr/status/1954948509141967135

This Isn’t About Crime

Donald Trump’s plans for Washington, D.C., are a warning to us all.
Donald Trump is famously reluctant to commit troops abroad but salivates at the prospect of using them against Americans at home. That is the context in which one must understand his takeover of the Washington, D.C., police force; his deployment of the National Guard; and his threats to occupy other cities.
Trump claims that he is acting to quell a spike in violent crime. And although he might very well feel sincere concern about crime, this does not explain his actions any more than concern about fentanyl smuggling (which he no doubt also genuinely opposes) motivates his trade restrictions against Canada.
The most obvious reason for skepticism about Trump’s desire to fight crime is that he is the most pro-criminal president in American history.

https://twitter.com/allenanalysis/status/1954932135535747356

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1954920083702366423

https://twitter.com/harryjsisson/status/1954985940490788904

https://twitter.com/johnpavlovitz/status/1954923979451605088

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

Summit of Stupidity

I basically suggested that Witkoff was underqualified. And possibly rather dim. That he simply does not grasp the goals and subterfuge of the former KGB agent residing in the Kremlin since 1999. That Trump’s golf and business buddy was being played. Just like his boss has been for the past seven months.
Some of my readers thought that was too harsh. It turned out that, if anything, I was being too nice.
Steve Witkoff and his boss have consistently displayed an impressive lack of knowledge of even the most basic tenets of international relations and the war in Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1954997706407264622

———— Mors Imperii ————

Trump’s Tax Law Will Hurt the Poorest

The CBO estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts.

Mamdani Holds Big Lead in New York City