Odds and Ends — 12 March 2026

@preparedwombat 78

3 days ago

oddsandends

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

https://twitter.com/Tushar15/status/2031759109973066099

JPMorgan sued over alleged role in $328M crypto Ponzi scheme

https://twitter.com/GrainsGorilla/status/2031763344470761689

New BlackRock Staked Ethereum Fund to Pay 82% of Rewards to Investors

Flash Fiction:

Monica’s claim to fame was winning the Fourth Place ribbon in the Minnesota State Fair crop art competition in 2009. Several other times, she’d taken Sixth or Seventh and other years, to her shame, she hadn’t ribboned at all. But the Fourth, she was still living with that glory years later.

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Trial finds vitamin D supplements don't reduce COVID severity but could reduce long COVID risk

Iran:

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2031772598246248920

https://twitter.com/chrisbrunet/status/2031848113351102698

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2031901954452885891

Iran Is Exporting More Oil Today Than Before the War

Iran is exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war, showing it is in control of a strategic waterway that it has closed off to the rest of the region’s oil producers.

https://twitter.com/academic_la/status/2031842733443465241
https://twitter.com/jimstewartson/status/2031860314208419866
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2031880664706937090

Targeting Iran’s Fragile Water Infrastructure Puts the Whole Region in Danger

For decades, the world has viewed conflict in the Middle East through a familiar lens: the price of oil, the range of missiles, and the sterile language of deterrence. But the most dangerous threshold in the current war may lie elsewhere. The infrastructure that keeps civilians alive by providing water, power, and sanitation is now a target of American airpower.

https://twitter.com/NickKristof/status/2031747124573143320

https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/2031695971436929506

https://twitter.com/MikeNellis/status/2031778400621281332

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2031914794589040704

Why does a president who loves selling not want to pitch this conflict?

He has now made one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency: launching a war against Iran. The conflict, which is well into its second week, has widened throughout the Middle East, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and caused tumult in the financial markets. Yet Trump has not sold the war. In many ways, he hasn’t even tried.
The absence of a sales strategy is all the more confounding when you consider the political stakes.

https://twitter.com/Swedensky/status/2031836426568859763

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2031801041620959321

https://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/2032065664144244752

World-class trolling:
https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/2031768360866677240

Politics:

V.A. Begins Drive to Put Some Homeless Veterans Into Guardianship

Witkoff and Kushner Get an F in Diplomacy

Inexperienced and overextended, Trump’s envoys have failed on three fronts.

Strictly speaking, they’d only get an F if it’s assumed that the USA is their actual client.

https://twitter.com/RezaNasri1/status/2031780509701787982

https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/2031709726979838432

Canadian PM Nears Majority With Fourth Defection

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is closing in on a majority in Parliament after a fourth opposition lawmaker joined his ruling Liberal Party.
New Democratic Party representative Lori Idlout, the sole representative for the vast Arctic territory of Nunavut, has defected to the Liberals. The series of so-called floor crossings is helping Carney consolidate power, less than a year after the former central banker and his party came up just short of winning a House of Commons majority in a national election.

https://twitter.com/davematt88/status/2031865279240888831

Congressional Democrats are opening a probe into millions of dollars private companies pledged to President Donald Trump’s planned presidential library, asking what happened to the money after the original fund was dissolved last year.

https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2031717210746446029
https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2031739873409863715
https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/2031935274159136976