Odds and Ends — 16 October 2025

@preparedwombat 78

15 days ago (Edited)

oddsandends

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

Wealth managers must adapt to the greatest capital transfer in history

Big Oil forced to confront some tough choices as ‘monster profits’ fade into memory

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1978540939166568489

Printing Money: Paxos Mints, Then Burns $300 Trillion in PayPal Stablecoins

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Study finds no link between mRNA COVID vaccines early in pregnancy and birth defects

Politics:

Supreme Court Could Hand the House to Republicans

Republicans have been redrawing congressional districts this year at President Trump’s behest, but so far it hasn’t seemed to be enough to deny Democrats a reasonable path to control of the House.
That might change if the Supreme Court strikes down Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act… Without Section 2, which has been interpreted to require the creation of majority-minority districts, Republicans could eliminate upward of a dozen Democratic-held districts across the South.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1978494131195293725

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1978505810490667166

Trump May Launch Missiles from Warships into California this Friday and Saturday as Part of “Vanity Parade”

Sources tell MeidasTouch the White House will shut down portions of the I-5 for Vice President JD Vance’s Marine Corps spectacle during No Kings Protests, triggering chaos, gridlock, and outrage amid the government shutdown.

https://twitter.com/ThirdWayMattB/status/1978271057887826305

Trump Plans IRS Overhaul to Enable Pursuit of Enemies

The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily.
A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations… The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Meanwhile, Trump critics shared this video of JD Vance warning last year this type of IRS activity would mean “we don’t live in a free country any more.”

https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1978655944226504927

———— The Politico Bombshell ————

https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/1978464057591009434

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1978328021464400210

https://twitter.com/chrisjollyhale/status/1978532351064838538

https://twitter.com/CattardSlim/status/1978545364840927687

https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1978579649992032737

https://twitter.com/theserfstv/status/1978323545294823737

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/1978498472971005976

https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff/status/1978475963378769948

https://twitter.com/KyleKulinski/status/1978300620663562428

———— The Trump Shutdown ————

Mike Johnson’s Shutdown Strategy Is Corruption in Broad Daylight

Federal workers go unpaid, premiums are set to spike, and Congress is on a paid vacation—all to protect Trump from the Epstein files…
Typically, a government shutdown is the story in American politics. It dominates the conversation, with wall-to-wall coverage of the impacts and political stakes. Past shutdowns have been treated as cataclysmic clashes between the two parties over issues of massive consequence.
But with Trump sending troops from red states to occupy blue ones, masked ICE agents shooting civilians in the streets, the political prosecution of opponents, and a major ceasefire deal in the Middle East, this shutdown hasn’t grabbed the nation’s attention in the same way…
It’s a statement about life in the Trump era that a government shutdown is the most normal thing happening in politics.

https://twitter.com/SaraForTexLege/status/1978517519158722896

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the king’s brother

In an extract from her posthumous memoir, Virginia Roberts Giuffre remembers the day an ‘apex predator’ recruited her from Mar-a-Lago, aged just 16; how she was trafficked to a succession of wealthy and powerful men, and how everyone knew what was going on

Members of Congress are growing concerned over a lack of information from the Trump administration about the intelligence and strategy underlying its strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have left briefings about the strikes frustrated with the lack of information, said these people: five congressional sources and an additional source with knowledge of the matter. Some have asked for unedited video of the strikes, reflecting the kind of basic information they seek, but the administration has so far refused to provide it.

https://twitter.com/Ronxyz00/status/1978448667930444143

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1978429834758901920

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/rooster_ohio/status/1978517287654068611

https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1978199989823357221

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

The Trump administration is considering a radical overhaul of the U.S. refugee system that would slash the program to its bare bones while giving preference to English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration.
The proposals, some of which already have gone into effect, would transform a decades-old program aimed at helping the world’s most desperate people into one that conforms to Mr. Trump’s vision of immigration — which is to help mostly white people who say they are being persecuted while keeping the vast majority of other people out.

https://twitter.com/Logically_JC/status/1978523337283273173
https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1978533839401005197