Odds and Ends — 20 May 2025

11 days ago

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

Kraken Rolls Out Regulated Crypto Derivatives in Europe

Senate Advances Major Crypto Regulation Bill

The Senate advanced a major cryptocurrency regulation bill Monday on a bipartisan vote two weeks after every Senate Democrat united to block it.
The procedural vote on the GENIUS Act — which would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar — was 66-32. Sixteen Democrats voted with the majority of Senate Republicans to advance the bill.

Citi CEO: Something 'deeper' is going on in financial markets right now

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Trump officials set new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children

Politics:

UK suspends Israel trade talks and summons ambassador over 'intolerable' Gaza offensive

Trump’s Pick to Lead IRS Promoted Fake Tax Credit

Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri whom President Trump has tapped to lead the Internal Revenue Service, encouraged people to claim a tax credit that the IRS has said does not exist.
Mr. Long’s effort to promote the tax credit, along with his peddling of a separate, fraud-ridden pandemic-era tax break, will be under close scrutiny on Tuesday when he appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing.

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Trump Is Tired of Hearing He’s Breaking the Law

Beneath the technical arguments at the Supreme Court last week was an effort to take away one of the only really effective legal tools for reining in the executive branch.
The Trump administration’s relentless assault on the rule of law is a kind of arson: It is setting so many blazes that the fire department is having trouble putting them all out at once. Last week, Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to cut off the water.

https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1924497788894646300

Congressional Black Caucus rallies around McIver after ‘bogus charges’ brought for ICE visitation

https://twitter.com/maddenifico/status/1924516918217601481

Appeals Court Orders Return on Man from El Salvador

A federal appeals court has left in place an order requiring the Trump administration to seek the return of a Venezuelan man deported in March from the U.S. to a prison in El Salvador.
A panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 Monday to deny the administration’s request to block the order a federal judge in Maryland issued after concluding that the man, Daniel Lozano-Camargo, was deported in violation of a legal settlement involving asylum seekers who entered the U.S. as minors.

https://twitter.com/cwebbonline/status/1924659432266596372

https://twitter.com/rshereme/status/1924628373315125276

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Trump Berates Companies for Warning About Tariffs

…Trump is telling some of the nation’s largest companies that they should eat the cost of his tariffs, as a growing number of businesses signal that they must raise prices to blunt the impact of a persistent global trade war.
As a result, the man who ran for the presidency by boasting about his business acumen is now openly sparring with corporate America, seeking to dictate how Walmart, Mattel, and other retailers and manufacturers respond to some of the highest levies seen in decades.
Since the spring, the United States has imposed a 10 percent tariff on nearly every nation, with steeper duties reserved for specific products and countries, including a minimum 30 percent tax on Chinese imports.

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1924548720353214472

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

Trump Backs Off Demand That Russia Declare Cease-Fire

…Trump on Monday backed off his demand that Russia declare an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, instead endorsing President Vladimir Putin’s call for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
It was a shift from Mr. Trump’s recent threats of more pressure on Russia, such as when he raised the prospect of new banking sanctions in April because Mr. Putin may not ‘want to stop the war’ and ‘has to be dealt with differently.’

https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1924723616496697812

———— Mors Imperii ————

Trump is trying to COVID hack the economy

The White House prepares to falsify data and cook the books in order to sell their schemes to the American people

Trump Is Dismantling Domestic Violence Nonprofits by Banning Certain Words

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1924562367746126019

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1924635430533611862

Trump Brings Back His Most Toxic Officials

At least four people from Donald Trump’s first term who were deemed too extreme or politically toxic to win Senate confirmation – or even keep their jobs – are now back in the fold and in some cases with more power than before.
All of them were in some way demoted or removed from their jobs in Trump’s first term but have now been reappointed or renominated – part of a pattern in Trump’s second term to bring back figures once rejected for promoting conspiracy theories or inflaming racial and gender tensions.
In 2025, they’re no longer fringe – they’re in charge.