Odds and Ends — 14 July 2026

1 day ago

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

DeepMind CEO Says AGI Will Be Bigger Than Electricity or Fire

Trump Takes Equity Stakes in Dozens of Firms

Over the past year, the Trump administration has made deals to acquire equity stakes in more than two dozen firms, an unusual practice that has extended the government’s influence over industries including semiconductors, nuclear energy, minerals, quantum computers and steel.
Artificial intelligence executives are increasingly wondering if they will be next.

IBM Shares Crashed 25% In Worst Day Ever—Here’s Why

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Lettuce or salad greens may be culprit in Michigan cyclosporiasis outbreak, health officials say

Iran:

Trump’s “Ceasefire” with Iran Effectively Collapses

…Trump’s much-touted ceasefire with Iran effectively collapsed on Monday as he ordered the reinstatement of a naval blockade and announced that he will impose tolls on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, despite his own administration’s position that such fees violate international law.
As the ceasefire that he once hailed dissolved, Mr. Trump dismissed its importance, saying in a radio interview that such agreements ‘don’t mean much,’ while outlining no new strategy for how to resolve the conflict.

Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Run’ the Strait of Hormuz

https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2076676057525100919

But wait, it’s Taco Tuesday: Trump reverses himself on charging a 20% toll for transiting cargo

https://x.com/FrankenforIowa/status/2076690507518898549

Trump formally informs Congress of Iran war resumption

Politics:

https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2076787500677321146
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2076804354166665379
https://x.com/MilesTaylorUSA/status/2077051126927511866

https://x.com/thejackhopkins/status/2076504357944594928

Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad

The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.

https://x.com/HunterBiden/status/2077010545643852254

https://x.com/middleageriot/status/2077064122215084494

At its heart, the otherwise complicated and multi-stage Teapot Dome affair of the 1920s, which until Watergate was considered the greatest federal government scandal of all time, was about secret bribes to an administration official that lubricated lucrative regulatory outcomes.
In 1921, Interior Secretary Albert Fall clandestinely accepted $404,000 ($7.6 million in today’s money) in cash and no-interest loans from two oil executives, who then became recipients of no-bid leases to exploit oil fields in California’s Elk Hills and Wyoming’s Teapot Dome. As part of the scheme, Fall had previously convinced the secretary of the Navy to transfer authority over those lands to the Department of the Interior. The no-bid contracts were legal (at the time, anyway); the bribes were not, and the secrecy exploded upon revelation.
Fast forward a century. Four days before Trump’s second inauguration, a company called Aryam Investments 1 signed a deal with the president-elect’s son Eric to buy a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial for a reported $500 million, half of it in cash up front. The Trump family received $187 million overnight, and the family of World Liberty Financial co-founder Steve Witkoff, who by then was already conducting sensitive Middle East diplomacy on behalf of the incoming president, received an additional $31 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amazingly, the transaction was made in secret, revealed only one year later.

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2076700736654659667
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2076698136894976473
https://x.com/harrylitman/status/2076711908237877302
https://x.com/AaronParnas/status/2076705239919661537

Massive giveaway to Trump donors buried in obscure government document

The administration quietly delivers a huge win to corporate poultry processors, who have donated tens of millions to Trump and his allies, at the expense of family farmers.

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://x.com/Ringo6/status/2076279701685887254

How Putin Turned Japan Into a Den of Spies

Soon after troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western leaders expelled hundreds of Russian spies from their capitals and blacklisted companies with ties to the Kremlin.
The coordinated effort was intended to make it harder for the Kremlin to collect intelligence and buy equipment like microchips, transmitters and the machinery used to make weapons.
Since then, officials say, dozens of those banished spies have turned up in an unexpected place: Japan.
The country’s weak espionage laws and flourishing high-tech industry have made it a crucial piece of the Russian war effort. Ninety percent of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese components, according to Ukrainian government estimates.

Not really all that surprising. Vienna was central to Soviet spying during the Cold War. The Third Man was based on its milieu.

https://x.com/mhmck/status/2076648680082313456