Odds and Ends — 16 May 2025
One of my brothers went down a rabbit hole on FB and found this photo of Kamala Harris holding a Steve Almaas album. It’s a small world. Steve has gone on to a solo career but was in The Suicide Commandos, a huge part of my life in the late seventies. I’ve no idea how many times I attended one of their live shows. Lots. Burn it down.
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Bitcoin hitting $220K ‘reasonable’ in 2025, says gold-based forecast
https://twitter.com/unMaskedRogue/status/1922819772586098978
'Internet Capital Markets' Explode as Companies Launch Products on Solana
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Long COVID Brain Fog Linked to Inflammation and Stress Markers
How The Proposed Medicaid Cuts Could Affect Public Health
Politics:
How does The Onion compete with stuff like this? We live in the stupidest timeline: Kristi Noem is backing insane reality TV show where immigrants compete for fast-tracked citizenship
FEMA Head Admits in Internal Meetings He Doesn’t Yet Have a Plan for Hurricane Season
Two weeks from hurricane season, agency staff are worried FEMA isn’t prepared
Outside of President Donald Trump, no White House official has accumulated more influence in this administration than Stephen Miller, the 39-year-old anti-immigration crusader whose brain and bare-knuckled tactics have been deployed to drive the agenda for the commander in chief.
Not Vice President JD Vance. Not chief of staff Susie Wiles. Not anyone else.
It is Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, who loaded up scores of executive orders for Trump to sign in his first months back in office — on topics ranging from the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border to dismantling diversity programs in the federal government and withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization.
https://twitter.com/SenTinaSmith/status/1923012940451414248
Ed Martin Announces He’s Under Investigation
Justice Department official Ed Martin, whose nomination to serve as U.S. attorney in D.C. stalled in the Senate, is under investigation by an ethics office that handles attorney discipline in Washington, D.C., he said in an office-wide goodbye email Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/IanMartinezC/status/1922995171890794858
Kristi Noem Won’t Acknowledge Doctored Photo
https://twitter.com/JaredRyanSears/status/1923067814878830961
———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————
Trump Wants His Corruption to Be Public
…Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended President Trump against charges of wrongdoing by arguing that it was fine, because he was doing it all out in the open.
The reason that many people refer to the Bidens as the ‘Biden crime family’ is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains, in the back rooms. They were trying to conceal it. . . Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open. They’re not trying to conceal anything. . . . President Trump has had nothing to hide. He’s very up front about it.
This defense is an admission. Johnson is correct that Donald Trump’s open corruption and lawlessness is fundamentally different from run-of-the-mill corruption and furtive law-breaking. The difference is that it is far more dangerous.
Trump’s Critics and Supporters Unite Against Plane Deal
In his eagerness to accept a plane from Qatar, Donald Trump has achieved a remarkable feat, uniting many partisans across America’s bitter political divide. The problem for the White House is that unity is happening in opposition to it.
Predictably, Trump’s opponents in the Democratic Party slammed the president after he indicated he would accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.
More noteworthy – and potentially more troubling for the president – is that some of his strongest supporters also have serious reservations about the deal, even as it’s yet to be finalized.
How Trump Has Made Billions as President
———— Om wit te wees is nuttig. ————
https://twitter.com/DrewPavlou/status/1922904417432371415
———— Autocracy R Us ————
https://twitter.com/themaxburns/status/1923032363958726943
https://twitter.com/AaronParnas/status/1923029707378815031
This is amazingly stupid. Anyone who’s ever worked in hospitality knows exactly what “86” means and it’s got nothing to do with violence: Trump administration officials say Secret Service is investigating Comey's '86 47' social media post
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says federal law enforcement is investigating a social media post made by former FBI Director James Comey that she and other Republicans claim is a call for violence against President Donald Trump
Oddly, MAGA had no problem with 86 46.
How Trump Is Disappearing Migrants
From CECOT to domestic jails, the Trump administration is engaging in incommunicado detention to cut migrants off from legal protections.
DHS requests 20,000 National Guard troops to help with mass deportations
https://twitter.com/KremlinTrolls/status/1922943168015724755
https://twitter.com/thetonymichaels/status/1922996732071227422
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1922967955437981833
https://twitter.com/DVKirichenko/status/1922726283357691931
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
Trump Will Set Tariff Rates for Other Nations in Weeks
…Donald Trump said he would set tariff rates for U.S. trading partners ‘over the next two to three weeks,’ saying his administration lacks the capacity to negotiate deals with all of its trading partners.
Trump said Friday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ‘will be sending letters out essentially telling people’ what ‘they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.’
Lacks the capacity?
———— Melon Husk ————
What in the World Just Happened With Elon Musk’s Chatbot?
The day Grok told everyone about “white genocide”
Voters promised $100 by Musk PAC say they weren’t paid
———— Signalgate ————
GOP blocked Hegseth Signal probe because he is 'indefensible,' says Rep. Adam Smith
———— Mors Imperii ————
Trump’s Real Secretary of State
How the president’s friend and golfing partner Steve Witkoff got one of the hardest jobs on the planet
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1923065357092241580
Trump is betraying the very voters who put him back in power.
https://twitter.com/0liviajulianna/status/1922829298743787589
’Most Transparent’ White House In History Keeps Majority Of Trump’s Remarks Secret
Trump's aides released just 20% of the transcripts of his speeches and interactions with the press over his first 100 days, excluding many of his most unhinged comments
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/TheExtremeMusi1/status/1922917365685407758
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