Odds and Ends — 16 July 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
California Forms Tech Task Force With Ripple, Coinbase Participation
Bond Traders Boost Bearish Bets
A bearish tone is taking hold in the Treasury market amid worries over the risk of tariff-fueled inflation and increased government spending in some of the world’s biggest economies.
The 30-year Treasury yield climbed above 5% for the first time since early June, and there were large flows seen in options bets costing a combined premium of about $10 million that target a jump to around 5.3% within roughly five weeks. The rate on the long bond hasn’t been that high since 2007.
Yesterday’s CPI report looked fairly tame on the surface, but if you look at the details it showed clear signs that Trump’s tariffs are starting to drive up prices.
And private surveys suggest that there’s a lot more inflation in the pipeline. For example, look at S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing, which shows the percentage of firms reporting higher prices. A higher number almost always points to higher official inflation ahead, and right now it’s definitely telling us that tariffs are about to hit hard.
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Measles, rubella and polio: The return of preventable diseases
Politics:
Power prices are expected to soar under new tax cut and spending law
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
———— The Epstein Coverup ————
https://twitter.com/RuffCrim/status/1944603637189136545
Fox News has taken President Trump’s plea for his allies to stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein almost literally. The network didn’t mention Epstein at all yesterday until a panel discussion in Bret Baier’s 6 p.m. hour. Questions about the admin’s handling of the ‘files’ were totally absent from primetime, a stark contrast from last week.
https://twitter.com/MikeNellis/status/1944848553097965608
Pockets of Donald Trump’s most loyal base are increasingly angry at what they view as the administration’s failure to fulfill its promises.
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1945179028572217350
Trump’s Brainwashing Powers Are Finite
The president is trying to change the narrative on Jeffrey Epstein. The MAGA faithful aren’t buying it.
Donald Trump’s ham-fisted reversal on his promise to release a secret list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, and the revolt it has sparked among the MAGA faithful, has pulled off something long considered impossible by virtually everybody, including Trump himself: He has finally underestimated his followers’ intelligence.
The president reversed himself on a matter so crucial to his base, and offered an excuse so flimsy, that it raised questions within perhaps the most gullible movement in American history.
https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1944960011320315917
https://twitter.com/jefftimmer/status/1944826478723580131
Trump is Calling Friends to Tell Them to STFU About Epstein
Trump Takes Charge of Epstein Cover-Up
Donald Trump has moved decisively to bury the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Pam Bondi Responds to MAGA Uproar Over Epstein Files: ‘Today Is About Fentanyl’
https://twitter.com/TomJChicago/status/1945146988452045300
https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1945222729906409887
———— Autocracy R Us ————
Immigrants in ICE Detention Complain of Hunger
Immigrants being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in at least seven states are complaining of hunger, food shortages and spoiled food, detainees and immigration advocates say.
They say some detainees have gotten sick; others say they have lost weight. In one facility, an incident involving detainees reportedly broke out in part because of food.
https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1944827074214019117
ICE declares millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond hearings
https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1945096607789121749
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1945101883158274197
Trump Threatens Russia with ‘Secondary Tariffs’
Said Trump: “I’m disappointed in Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there. So based on that, we’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. It’s very simple. And they’ll be at 100 percent. And that’s the way it is. It can be more simple. That’s just the way it is.”
Behind Trump’s Tough Russia Talk
Experts doubted the credibility of Mr. Trump’s threat to impose 100 percent tariffs on Russia’s trading partners if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia did not agree to a cease-fire within 50 days.
The scale of China’s mutual trade with Russia — nearly $250 billion per year, including huge oil imports — means that delivering on the threat would throw Mr. Trump into a showdown with Beijing. Analysts said it was unlikely that Mr. Trump would risk a renewed confrontation with the world’s second-largest economy over Ukraine, a country whose fate he has long said is not vital to the United States.
Mr. Trump is also notorious for setting deadlines that he does not enforce, raising questions about whether he will act if the 50-day timer he has set for Mr. Putin expires.
https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1944787421901537327
https://twitter.com/joni_askola/status/1944809733673918905
The real reason the president suddenly sounds tougher on Russia
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
Inflation heats up in June as President Trump's tariffs start to bite
———— Melon Husk ————
Musk’s AI Company Secures Pentagon Contract
Elon Musk’s xAI announced Monday it secured a $200 million ceiling contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
The move is a part of the Pentagon’s adoption of advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to address national security challenges.
———— Signalgate ————
Mike Waltz Faces Brutal Confirmation Hearing
Mike Waltz, the former national security adviser who left his position in May in the wake of the Signal chat controversy in March, will face a confirmation hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill for his nomination as United Nations ambassador.
Waltz came under intense scrutiny in March for inadvertently adding a journalist to a Signal chat with top Trump officials discussing a U.S. military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
———— Mors Imperii ————
https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1944793522629914703
CIA historian Tim Weiner: ‘Trump has put national security in the hands of crackpots and fools’
How Texas Bullied Big Banks Into Dropping Their Climate Commitments
Big banks are “all deathly afraid of being sued,” a top deputy to Texas A.G. Ken Paxton told conservatives in secret audio obtained by Rolling Stone
