Odds and Ends — 15 May 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Bitcoin to $1M by 2028 as Hayes tells Europe to ’get your money out’
Russian economy in worse shape than Moscow says, report for EU shows
Coinbase Turns Tables on Would-Be Extortionists, Offers $20M Bounty for Information
The attackers sent a ransom note demanding $20 million in Bitcoin, threatening to publish stolen customer data if Coinbase didn’t pay.
Coronavirus and Public Health:
COVID-19 spikes in Hong Kong, Singapore as new wave spreads
WHO vaccine leader on eroding trust in public health
Politics:
Republicans Worry Their Legislation Could Collapse
The last time one party tried cramming all of its priorities into one bill was four years ago, when the Democratic ‘Build Back Better’ plan sank under its own weight.
Some Republicans are starting to worry that their own BBB — President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ — could face the same fate.
One week away from a possible House floor vote, the GOP’s massive tax and spending bill is facing opposition from enough lawmakers to defeat it and criticism from senators eager to rewrite it.
https://twitter.com/JamesTate121/status/1922752121327309033
https://twitter.com/blacklionking73/status/1922700162528322002
https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/1922768214347428047
———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————
https://twitter.com/pinidunner/status/1922699253140554155
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1922721986767212563
We Still Don’t Know What Kash Patel Did as a Consultant for Qatar
“I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom.” — Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)
https://twitter.com/TheRomanoReport/status/1922636850730004824
Bone Saw Arabia buys big boy preznit his own happy meal
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/1922628934157398150
Trump-Kushner Hotel Project in Serbia Hits a Snag
The Trump family’s $500 million luxury hotel project in Serbia, slated to be built on the site of a bombed-out Defense Ministry building, has run into an embarrassing complication.
A key document the Serbian government has relied on to deliver this deal was forged, officials there said this week.
The leader of the Serbian agency charged with protecting cultural monuments admitted to the authorities that he had forged a government document allowing the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense headquarters in Belgrade to be demolished and replaced with the Trump hotel.
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/1922818303677845785
———— Om wit te wees is nuttig. ————
https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1922684971342270482
———— Autocracy R Us ————
https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1922790004457148512
The End of the Rule of Law in America
The 47th president seems to wish he were king—and he is willing to destroy what is precious about this country to get what he wants.
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1922718737687585162
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
Vladimir Vladimirovich approves this message: Tulsi Gabbard Fires Two Senior Intelligence Officers
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council, the senior most analytical group in the intelligence community whose job it is to understand and assess the biggest threats facing the United States.
https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1922543467177115764
https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1922676057838096422
France May Put Nuclear Weapons in Other Countries
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ‘ready to open a discussion’ with European allies about stationing France’s nuclear weapons on their soil, in an effort to beef up defenses against Russia.
https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1922657913853632592
———— Joe Biden ————
https://twitter.com/Weinsteinlaw/status/1922451917151613408
https://twitter.com/AnnYonan1/status/1922329356254233098
https://twitter.com/TrueFactsStated/status/1922640474008956969
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
Pam Bondi Sold Stock Before Tariff Announcement
Attorney General Pam Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares of Trump Media the same day that President Donald Trump unveiled bruising new tariffs that caused the stock market to plummet.
Trump Media, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, fell 13% in the following days, before rebounding.
———— Melon Husk ————
https://twitter.com/SmithSuelsmith/status/1922700778080281045
Elon Musk’s Power Play at Copyright Office Backfired
What initially appeared to be a power play by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to take over the US Copyright Office by having Donald Trump remove the officials in charge has now backfired in spectacular fashion, as Trump’s acting replacements are known to be unfriendly — and even downright hostile — to the tech industry.
When Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden last week and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter over the weekend, it was seen as another move driven by the tech wing of the Republican Party — especially in light of the Copyright Office releasing a pre-publication report saying some kinds of generative AI training would not be considered fair use. And when two men showed up at the Copyright Office inside the Library of Congress carrying letters purporting to appoint them to acting leadership positions, the DOGE takeover appeared to be complete.
But those two men, Paul Perkins and Brian Nieves, were not DOGE at all, but instead approved by the MAGA wing of the Trump coalition that aims to put tech companies in check.
———— Mors Imperii ————
Trump’s New Tax Cuts Are Only Temporary
The strategy is an old one for Republicans: Cut taxes for a few years, avoiding the need to account for their cost over the long term, and bet that the reductions become popular enough that Congress will later vote to continue them.
The tax bill that Republicans are now putting together on Capitol Hill takes the gambit to a whole new level.
Almost all of the new tax cuts that Republicans have included in the bill, which could evolve over the coming weeks, will last only until the end of 2028, just days before President Trump is set to leave office.
https://twitter.com/WIRED/status/1922698471405986001
…Trump has long reveled in his reputation as a maximalist, issuing a huge demand, creating a crisis and setting off a high-pressure negotiation.
But increasingly often, he ends up backing down and simply declaring a win. His opponents appear to be catching on, sharpening their tactics based on Mr. Trump’s patterns and his unapologetically transactional attitude toward diplomacy.
The dynamic has played out repeatedly in recent weeks as Mr. Trump backed off, to varying degrees, on his plans to transform Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ turn Canada into the 51st state and beat China into submission with tariffs.
GOP Senator Introduces Bill to Make All Porn a Federal Crime, Following Project 2025 Playbook
Serendipity:
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that’s stronger than steel
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