Odds and Ends — 12 December 2025

@preparedwombat 78

about 2 months ago

oddsandends

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

Australian regulator eases rules for stablecoins and wrapped tokens

https://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1998936705014067441

Do Kwon Gets 15 Years for $40B Terra Luna Fraud

https://twitter.com/JustinWolfers/status/1999295779282841925

Coronavirus and Public Health:

FDA intends to put its most serious warning on Covid vaccines, sources say

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans, the latest move by President Donald Trump’s health officials to undermine a vaccine that was a standout victory of his first term. The plan shocked outside experts, who said there was no basis for the warning.

Politics:

Grand Jury Again Refuses to Indict Letitia James

For a second time in a week, a federal grand jury in Virginia has refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud, again rejecting the Department of Justice’s attempt to refile the case after a federal judge dismissed an earlier case based on the unlawful appointment of the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1999215689920336211

Election protests in Honduras as Congress panel vows not to validate result

https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1998815283822395732

Indiana Republicans Rebuff Trump on Redistricting

In a monumental rebuke of President Donald Trump’s wishes, Indiana’s supermajority Republican state legislature became the first to formally reject his push for mid-decade redistricting.
The Senate’s 19-31 vote caps months of anticipation and pressure from the White House and its allies, placing Indiana at the center of national intrigue and ire.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1999179323069083895

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1999260898301554870

Trump’s Choice

Not only did Trump’s push for mid-decade redistricting lose in the Indiana state senate on Thursday, but it got clobbered, with a majority of Republicans voting with all the Democrats against it. That will (presumably) save two House Democratic seats in 2026.
It also means that Trump now has a choice: Make good on his threats to go to war against Indiana, a GOP state, risking turning more Republicans actively against him there and perhaps elsewhere…or Don’t go to war against Indiana, revealing that it was a bluff and convincing even more people he’s a paper tiger.

https://twitter.com/DcrInYYC/status/1999233371063689459

Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Tanker Seizure May Not Be What It Seems

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1999189390040371651

https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1998915964918972448

———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1999270118543753727

Put a Fork in Him. Trump, 79, Is as Cooked as His Well-Done Steak

https://twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1998824587711127808

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1999191184229695581

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/LongTimeHistory/status/1999198829279641844

https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1999150257708425300
https://twitter.com/rparloff/status/1999142980007923991

https://twitter.com/BulwarkOnline/status/1999150810064728081

Trump’s Attack on Somali Americans Is Vile Fascism

He’s testing our country’s tolerance for ethnic persecution. And we’re failing the test.

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1999063723663606201

https://twitter.com/SykesCharlie/status/1998792292761739367

https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1999106956171350252

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1999153982036725827
https://twitter.com/JessicaTarlov/status/1999162685385052528

https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1999201413272920143

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

Trump’s Family Is Helping Saudi Royalty Buy CNN

Imagine if Hunter Biden were helping assemble billions in Saudi and Qatari financing so a progressive media owner could take over Fox News while quietly assuring the White House that he planned to replace hosts and reshape the network’s direction.
The national reaction would be immediate. Congressional hearings, emergency ethics panels, a weeklong media frenzy.

The CNN Sacrifice

Once upon a time, a chief executive openly signaling that he’d reorient a newsroom to appease a sitting president would be a five-alarm corporate scandal, the sort of fire that would send the company’s public relations teams sprinting through the hallways to extinguish.
Indeed, the notion that Ellison would assure the president that he would overhaul the news network’s editorial posture to be more obedient to him and his administration should be a downright scandal that Paramount would seek to address. As one veteran media executive confided to me, ‘This is Pravda style stuff’—the playbook of Russian oligarchs, not aspiring Hollywood moguls hoping to buy themselves a sprawling entertainment conglomerate that houses an iconic global news network.

Under Former Chemical Industry Insiders, Trump EPA Nearly Doubles Amount of Formaldehyde Considered Safe to Inhale

https://twitter.com/1zzyzyx1/status/1998520421990404428