Odds and Ends — 14 May 2026

I’m becoming more and more convinced that our economy (the USA’s specifically, but the rest of the world by extension) is not all that far away from descent into something that will make the word recession seem quaint. And not just because of the macro environment of the Iran war (petroleum, fertilizer, sulphuric acid, helium, et cetera), rampant inflation, corruption, and deficit spending. Also, because of anecdotal hints from my own little micro environment. My credit rating has been steadily rising and is now well within what credit reporting companies consider to be Excellent. I get offers of new credit cards almost daily. Just yesterday, one of the cards that I currently have offered to increase my credit limit. Excellent? Have they met me? I can only guess that the financial industry is in the process of having a psychotic break at least on the scale of the 2007–2009 Great Recession.

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

Nearly 50,000 Lake Tahoe residents have to find a new power source after their energy source looks to redirect lines to data centers

Charles Schwab Begins Offering Bitcoin, Ethereum Trading to US Users

https://twitter.com/Zalmoxes11/status/2054677512517546285

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Scientists develop a dual action strategy to destabilize the COVID virus

RFK Jr. Spokesman Resigns in Protest

The chief spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resigned on Wednesday in protest over the administration’s push to allow major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes that appeal to children.
His departure came one day after the head of the Food and Drug Administration quit for the same reason.

Iran:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2054262313788768765

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2054301373320077801

Pentagon considering renaming Iran war ‘Sledgehammer’ if ceasefire collapses

The discussions about possibly replacing “Operation Epic Fury” with “Operation Sledgehammer” underscore how seriously the administration is considering resuming the war started on Feb. 28, and could allow Trump to argue that it restarts the 60-day clock that requires congressional authorization for war.

Oh, he could argue that all he wants. But nobody with a three-digit IQ would fall for it.

https://twitter.com/WeaponScientist/status/2054278842274009137

The True Cost of War

The Iran war is ripping across the US economy at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars in lost output, as soaring fuel prices, rising borrowing costs and supply chain snags erode Americans’ prosperity.
While early estimates by the Trump administration have put the direct price tag to US taxpayers at $29 billion, economists foresee a far larger toll once the full military bill and higher financing costs are considered.

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/2054319735622508879
https://twitter.com/matt____rice/status/2054312160054964395

Politics:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2054653994790981646

Gov. Kemp signs law making many metro Atlanta races nonpartisan

The measure’s Republican supporters crafted it to make it harder for Democrats to retain power in the state’s most populous region, though they framed it as a path to depoliticize local government offices.
Still, they did little to distance the overhaul from their disdain of Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who led the unsuccessful election-interference case against President Donald Trump and his allies. Several co-sponsors referred to her during debate over the measure.

‘Irresponsible’: backlash as Utah approves datacenter twice the size of Manhattan

Facility would require more power than entire state uses and suck up vast amount of water in drought-stricken area

Alberta judge tosses out petition for province to separate from Canada

https://twitter.com/Kurt_Steiner/status/2054239892264349989

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

https://twitter.com/redheadranting/status/2054380519563870545

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/2054326664297939254

———— Theresienstadt in the Everglades ————

‘Failed experiment in human suffering’: Alligator Alcatraz immigration jail to close

———— Autocracy R Us ————

An Overwhelming Rebuke of Trump’s ICE Policies

Ten thousand losses. That’s the Trump administration’s track record in court as federal judges grapple with the way ICE agents have swept through major U.S. cities and detained thousands of people in support of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
More than 10,000 times, judges have said those detentions, typically carried out with no opportunity for detainees to plead their case, were illegal. That’s roughly 90 percent of all cases — a staggering rejection of a core piece of Trump’s immigration agenda.

Trump to Withhold Medicaid Payments to California

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

https://twitter.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2054383158246662330

https://twitter.com/adgirlMM/status/2054603686555619767

https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/2054634089332850714

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/NaturalHierarch/status/2054203781860958556

https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/2054468671242670094

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/2054204154747175044

China Views Trump’s America as an Empire in Decline

China increasingly casts itself not as a fading civilization trying to catch up to the West but as a superpower poised to surpass it. Chinese nationalists and state-linked commentators say they have Mr. Trump to thank. America under his rule, they say, validates Mr. Xi’s worldview centered on ‘the rise of the East and decline of the West.’
For decades, many Chinese viewed the United States with a mix of admiration, envy and resentment. America represented wealth, technological sophistication and institutional confidence. Even critics of Washington who reviled the American system often assumed that it worked.
Mr. Trump’s ascent and his volatile second term shattered that image.

A Failing, Flailing President Supplicates Xi

China has many significant problems of its own. It faces a demographic crisis: Its working age population has been shrinking for more than a decade. Its economy is deeply unbalanced, relying on unsustainable trade surpluses and unproductive investment to make up for inadequate consumer spending. Its economic growth is slowing. It suffers from high youth unemployment. Discontent is rising, held in check by autocratic, police-state measures.
But despite China’s domestic troubles, in geopolitical terms China is on the ascendant. Trump’s visit to Beijing is a field trip by a failing, flailing would-be autocrat pleading with a real strongman, who leads a much more serious country, to bail him out of the mess he’s made.

https://twitter.com/cordeliers/status/2054259484566888708

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/mike_slugs/status/2053945606905778632

https://twitter.com/simongerman600/status/2054509501890380257

https://twitter.com/modernhistory/status/2054159027370709267

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