Odds and Ends — 24 May 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs Add More Than $1 Billion Combined in a Single Day
I’ve Got That 2008 Feeling Again…
https://twitter.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1925628996886106126
More than a soupçon of FUD, but worth a read: Crypto Is About to Cause the Next Great American Financial Crisis
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week?
https://twitter.com/DrNeilStone/status/1925877262206824760
Canada achieved measles elimination status in 1998. Now, it could lose it
Politics:
The Debt Is About to Matter Again
When interest rates outpace growth, very bad things can happen.
Undoing Trump’s Actions Is Hard
…Trump has suffered a string of court losses in recent days, as federal judges ruled that his administration broke the law on a number of matters, including firing officials, shutting down organizations and deporting migrants.
But if the decisions all point in the same direction — Mr. Trump and his team have acted lawlessly in egregious ways, judges emphatically said — the real-world consequences may vary.
That is because even assuming all those rulings were to be upheld on appeal, some of Mr. Trump’s actions would be easier to undo than others. And the slow pace of litigation means the judiciary is often many steps behind and in some cases, unable to catch up.
The Long War That Ended Last Week
The PKK is disarming. Can Turkey keep the peace?
A Problem with Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’
…Donald Trump left out a key detail this week when he outlined his plans for a massive missile and air defense shield over the continent: He can’t build it without Canada.
And it’s not clear America’s northern neighbor wants in.
Canada would need to play a pivotal role in Trump’s signature, potentially $500 billion effort to build the so-called Golden Dome, according to U.S. officials and experts, with Ottawa providing radars and airspace needed to track incoming missiles in the Arctic.
https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz/status/1925958342452682775
Report of a U.S. troop drawdown stirs alarm in South Korea
A report that the Trump administration is considering pulling out thousands of its military personnel stationed in South Korea has sent waves of anxiety rippling through the country, which is facing a snap presidential election next month.
Republican Bill Would Limit Judges’ Contempt Power
The sprawling domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House on Thursday would limit the power of federal judges to hold people in contempt, potentially shielding President Trump and members of his administration from the consequences of violating court orders.
Republicans tucked the provision into the tax and spending cut bill at a time when they have moved aggressively to curb the power of federal courts to issue injunctions blocking Mr. Trump’s executive actions.
———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————
https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1925802363849232886
———— Autocracy R Us ————
Trump Takes Another Page from the Strongman’s Playbook
Those who worry that Trump is taking the country down an anti-democratic path had more reason for anxiety Thursday when he used two more staples of the strongman’s playbook.
Trump aimed his most stinging shot yet at higher education — a rival source of authority, free thought and facts that often clash with his version of reality. And he fueled fears he could enable the kind of corruption that rots democracies with an event that looked a lot like a move to profit from the presidency.
Judge Blocks Trump’s Latest Attack on Harvard
A U.S. judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students.
https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1926016251433795661
Judge Strikes Down Another Big Law EO
U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C. just awarded summary judgment to Jenner & Block, finding President Trump’s executive order against it unlawful and declaring it null and void.
This is remarkably strong language from a George W. Bush appointee who served on Special Counsel Ken Starr’s team…
Four major partners exit Paul, Weiss after Trump deal
https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1925897592644276399
U.S. citizen with REAL ID handcuffed and held in immigration raid
———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————
At Trump’s $148 million meme coin dinner, ‘the food sucked’ and security was lax, attendee says
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/status/1925890007308304800
https://twitter.com/JustinWolfers/status/1925893811684716798
…Donald Trump promised he could cut more than 50 trade deals in just 90 days when he pressed pause on high tariff rates in early April.
But as the administration closes in on the halfway point for talks, it has little to show for it.
According to conversations with ten foreign officials, U.S. business leaders and others familiar with the talks, disagreements are mounting in many of those talks and foreign governments are digging in, even those eager to cut deals, like some in Asia — a reminder of just how slow and complex traditional trade negotiations can be.
https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1925952168336453826
Trump Gets Little Pushback on Tariff Threat to Apple
We in the media normalize a lot of Trump’s extreme behavior, but this is a truly extraordinary statement. He’s openly warning the leader of one of the most important companies in the United States — which has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on its Chinese manufacturing operations — that they can’t avoid tariffs by shifting production to India. Its factories must be based in the United States, Trump said, or Apple gets hit with the tariffs.
Now imagine any other president saying something like this and the backlash it would’ve caused. Congress has left town, but it’s still stunning how little pushback the president has gotten over such a direct threat.
https://twitter.com/actatumonline/status/1926002146819875227
Trump’s Trade War De-Escalation Is Over
With a blast of early morning social media posts Friday, President Trump escalated the trade war that the White House had spent weeks reducing to a low boil.
It was a reminder that there will be no permanent trade peace in this administration, only trade war lulls of uncertain duration. That reality could keep financial markets on edge.
———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1926085094420213770
———— Mors Imperii ————
Millions Could Lose Food Assistance
Millions of low-income Americans, including families with children, could lose their food stamp benefits under House Republicans’ newly passed tax and spending cuts package, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.
https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1917916917018374402
Thank you, Memory Hole! National Parks Urge Visitors to Flag Negative Depictions
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered all national parks to post signs asking visitors to report any information that tells a negative story about the site or its history.
Burgum’s order implements President Donald Trump’s executive order called ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ which aims to remove any stories or information that ‘inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)’ from national parks and monuments.
https://twitter.com/EastEndJoe/status/1925861405741166859
Investors Are Sending a Warning to Congress
As Republicans haggled this week over a tax bill that would add trillions to federal deficits, the long-term cost of financing the national debt surged. That wasn’t a coincidence — it was a warning. And it was as gently as the bond market is going to warn the U.S. that the path of the national debt is a problem…
In conversations with investors this week, I heard a new level of focus on the sheer volume of debt that Washington is set to pump out and, in some cases, real concern about how it will play out in markets. It was a shift from the perennial elite conversation, where the consensus has generally been that the debt is a worry, but not an immediate one. … Congress is not known for heeding gentle warnings.
https://twitter.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1926013426481995793
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1925766639137522161
https://twitter.com/TheStingisBack/status/1925889423175979313
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