Odds and Ends — 19 October 2025
My local suburban No Kings event was bigger than the one this summer. No “official” crowd estimate, but if I had to guess, I’d say circa 700. At a busy intersection with lots of horn honking and thumbs up from passing vehicles. Zero counter-protesters.
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
John Bollinger says to ‘pay attention soon’ as big move could be imminent
Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Bleed as Traders Weigh End of 4-Year Cycle
Coronavirus and Public Health:
The next cancer-fighting mRNA vaccine may already be here
Politics:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1979738245195055163
https://twitter.com/BMeiselas/status/1979755512112783782
Rubio Promised to Betray Informants
In the days before the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador, the president of that country demanded something for himself: the return of nine MS-13 gang leaders in U.S. custody.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a March 13 phone call with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, promised the request would be fulfilled, according to officials familiar with the conversation. But there was one obstacle: Some of the MS-13 members Bukele wanted were ‘informants’ under the protection of the U.S. government, Rubio told him.
And further insults him by misspelling the name of his country: Trump labels Colombia president ‘illegal drug leader,’ cuts subsidies
The Depth of MAGA’s Moral Collapse
———— No Kings ————
https://twitter.com/vincempls/status/1979659502355100144
https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1979594998627860936
https://twitter.com/jimstewartson/status/1979652079166935238
https://twitter.com/CalltoActivism/status/1979680477192868169
'No Kings' protests draw huge crowds as anti-Trump rallies sweep across US
https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1979694195242836437
———— The Epstein Coverup ————
Epstein Had Dinners with Top Prosecutor on His Case
Jeffrey Epstein had multiple appointments, phone calls and dinners with Matthew Menchel — the Miami U.S. Attorney’s office chief criminal prosecutor who spearheaded Epstein’s sweetheart deal in 2007.
A tranche of over 8,500 pages of records from Epstein’s estate — released by the House Oversight Committee Friday — show that Epstein’s calendars and emails reflect that Menchel, who left the DOJ in 2007, had multiple meetings or dinners with Epstein in 2011, 2013 and 2017. Lawmakers also referred to a photograph of Menchel on a ski trip with Epstein sometime in the 2000s, but didn’t produce the photo.
———— Autocracy R Us ————
https://twitter.com/GregTSargent/status/1979515422299852958
Unfettered and Unaccountable: How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force
Current and former national security officials describe the legions of masked immigration officers operating in near-total anonymity on the orders of the president as the crossing of a line that had long set the United States apart from the world’s most repressive regimes.
https://twitter.com/KellyScaletta/status/1979554747557593325
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1979636361243275776
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/nicolange_/status/1979556071187284147
The Ghost of Finlandization Is Haunting the Ukraine Debate
A 1944 armistice that traded land for peace is a poor precedent for ending Russia’s war.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1979346706371351047
https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1979746194663555370
Putin Demands Ukraine Surrender Land
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call this week with President Donald Trump demanded that Kyiv surrender full control of Donetsk, a strategically vital region in eastern Ukraine, as a condition for ending the war.
Putin has tried and failed to conquer the territory for 11 years, repeatedly repulsed by Ukrainian forces who are deeply entrenched in an area they believe is a major bulwark against a speedy Russian advance westward toward their capital.
https://twitter.com/berlin_bridge/status/1979555235879383084
———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————
https://twitter.com/MeachamDr/status/1979377431522726181
Serendipity:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets
With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data — including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications — sent by satellites unencrypted.
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