Odds and Ends — 20 October 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
New film ‘Code is Law’ explores moral quandary behind crypto hacks
BlackRock Launches Bitcoin ETP for UK Retail Investors
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Cancer patients who got a COVID vaccine lived much longer
Politics:
Civil Resistance Confronts the Autocracy
Donald Trump has not yet consolidated anything like absolute political power. But parts of our society — the Republican Party and a number of supposedly independent institutions like, say, CBS — are in effect living inside a bubble in which they operate as if he has.
Within that bubble, a cult of personality around Trump has been built, a cult of personality worthy of Kim Jong Un. And to show their fealty to Dear Leader, Republicans must engage in bizarre rhetoric.
Why Americans Should Care About Trump’s Boat Strikes
The precedent he is setting threatens the rule of law and everyone’s rights.
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1979972103416738089
Ceaușescu had a similarly high opinion of himself: Trump calls ‘No Kings’ protests a ‘joke’: ‘I work my ass off’
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1980028416607805500
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/1980040037346787662
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1980037120715845688
https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1980066252027511278
———— The Epstein Coverup ————
DOJ silent on Epstein files since start of the shutdown
https://twitter.com/Chesschick01/status/1979700538720866700
———— Autocracy R Us ————
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1980040786478809312
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1979905088849326202
Fired Justice Department Lawyer Says He Refused to Lie
Erez Reuveni, a fired Department of Justice lawyer who’s now blowing the whistle, says he witnessed a disregard of due process and for the rule of law at the DOJ.
Reuveni previously won commendations for his work and was so effective defending President Trump’s first-term immigration policy that he was promoted quickly in Mr. Trump’s second term. But he says he was put on leave and then fired after refusing to sign a brief in the mistaken deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1979881414456668603
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/Billbrowder/status/1979958645430555031
https://twitter.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/1979971770091294830
https://twitter.com/NAFOvoyager/status/1979883554806120804
https://twitter.com/Oksii33/status/1979978507301142810
https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1979960230911115360
———— Mors Imperii ————
https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1979701659694776768
Trump’s Claims About ‘Drug Boats’ Don’t Match Reality
Claiming the power to summarily kill traffickers as though they’re enemy troops, Trump has authorized the U.S. military to strike at least six speedboats the administration has deemed suspicious, killing dozens of people since the beginning of September. At least half of the strikes and 21 of the killings, locals say, have transpired in the waters between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago — nations so close that on clear days they’re within eyesight of each other.
But records and interviews with 20 people familiar with the route or the strikes, including current and former U.S. and international officials, contradict the administration’s claims. The passage, they said, is not ordinarily used to traffic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, present in 69 percent of drug overdose deaths last year. Nor are the drugs typically headed for the United States.
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1979946477201011196
Serendipity:
No, ‘One Battle After Another’ Is Not a ‘Left-Wing’ Movie
Even “diet” soda may be quietly damaging your liver, scientists warn
Want a free Hive account? Join Hive using my referral link.