Odds and Ends — 23 August 2026

@preparedwombat 79

about 15 hours ago

oddsandends

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

https://x.com/mikenelson586/status/2090975207993360520

A Third of the Post-ChatGPT Web Is AI-Written, Pew Finds

https://x.com/Nguyen_anime3/status/2091185698107781433

Coronavirus and Public Health:

The real covid-19 scandal is still unfolding

For all the zeal Congress has shown in investigating America’s response to the covid-19 pandemic, it has been strangely uninterested in exploring a basic question: why did so many Americans die relative to the numbers who succumbed to the virus in other rich countries? Understanding the answer would seem relevant to guarding against the next, inevitable pandemic.
Many countries were slow to react, but as they learned about the transmissibility of the virus, and as vaccines became available, they rapidly cut their death rates. Not so America.

Iran:

https://x.com/ChaseMadar/status/2090926360969535726

https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2090872120926404705

https://x.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/2091042547388788918

Politics:

https://x.com/hell_line0/status/2091142748447662469

‘Mom, are we OK?’ Children worry their families can’t afford food after Trump’s SNAP cuts

https://x.com/AzPetrich/status/2091205369351815323

Mike Rogers Tells AIPAC to Stay Out of His Senate Race

Allies of Mike Rogers, Michigan’s GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, have asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf, triggering a rupture with the powerful but polarizing pro-Israel group.
The extraordinary tension underscores how far AIPAC’s political standing has fallen amid voters’ anger over the war in Gaza. Even Rogers — a staunchly pro-Israel Republican — fears the group’s public support could be a liability in the Nov. 3 election.

https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/2090919375796666646

'Vapid depravity': Rudy Giuliani ordered to prepare for 'sordid' sex trial

https://x.com/BarbMcQuade/status/2090811314079707408

https://x.com/theboywizard_/status/2091024324149026881

Years before Natalie Harp became a key White House aide to President Donald Trump, she flooded her Twitter feed with posts demonstrating extraordinary devotion to him on January 6, 2021.
Harp posted more than 150 tweets that day, urging Republicans to ‘FIGHT FOR TRUMP’ as he began his speech near the White House. She echoed the president’s talking points that the election was stolen, and amplified rhetoric of his allies, who also sought to undermine the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election win. Harp’s X account appears suspended. It’s unclear when her account was taken down, and whether she or the platform removed her posts.

https://x.com/CoffinItUp/status/2090834177382056053

https://x.com/BillKristol/status/2091168509896040706

https://x.com/Catzies/status/2090776716176433471

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://x.com/Timodc/status/2090784886978232458

Trump Threatens Suit Over Report He Doesn’t Like, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic

President Trump has opened a new front in his campaign to intimidate political foes, threatening a prominent liberal think tank with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit over a report concluding that his deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country has had little effect on reducing violent crime.
The threats against the think tank, the Center for American Progress, were Mr. Trump’s latest effort to use the legal system to punish critics for voicing unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.

How Trump’s Corruption Makes Everything DOJ Does Suspect

https://x.com/propublica/status/2090997394347339886

Trump: Sabotaging America So That Autocracies Can Prosper

I also wanted us to have the right language to convey this exceptional moment in American history. I came up with four concepts that describe the qualities and operations of Trump’s government: Engineered Incompetence, National Sabotage, Plunder and Shakedown Operations, and Leader Self-Enrichment.

https://x.com/CarlosEGates1/status/2091150487496040575

https://x.com/jimstewartson/status/2091234672303132903