Odds and Ends — 25 January 2026

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

Colombia’s second-largest pension fund to offer Bitcoin exposure

Why Silver's Surge Echoes Crypto Altcoin Season

Coronavirus and Public Health:

CDC Calculates Continuing Burden from COVID-19 Illnesses

Politics:

Far-Right European Populists Seek Distance from Trump

European populist champions are turning away from a U.S. president they once openly admired.
As Donald Trump escalates his attacks on the continent, his scorched-earth approach to transatlantic relations is becoming a political liability — even for leaders who previously benefited from their association with him.

Trump Claims ‘Discombobulator’ Used to Capture Maduro

Trump Vows to Stop Canada-China Trade Deal

President Donald Trump is vowing to stop America’s northern neighbor, Canada, from finalizing a trade deal with Communist China, predicting to me in a brief phone call this morning that it won’t come to fruition.
The president took to Truth Social Saturday morning with a threat to slap Canada — a top U.S. trading partner — with a 100 percent tariff if they become a ‘drop off port’ for Chinese goods. I phoned him to follow up, asking if he views a Canada-China trade deal as a threat to the U.S.

Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost assaulted at Sundance Film Festival event

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/2015102261194616932

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/2015119794006114527

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2015116529499509003

https://twitter.com/IngleWitch/status/2015172109161701837

Live: Minnesota reels after latest fatal shooting by federal agents

https://twitter.com/allenanalysis/status/2015204286158786806

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2015117721722028466
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/2015141572069953885
https://twitter.com/johnpavlovitz/status/2015234366822113693

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/2015272132788232276

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/2015120518043598864

https://twitter.com/aliabdi/status/2015108531972620631

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/2015233171592303027

Letters From an American

After he was dead, the agents walked away, apparently making no effort to preserve the crime scene, which people on the street later tried to secure by walling it off with trash bins.
As journalist Philip Bump noted, administration officials didn’t even pretend to wait for more information before jumping straight to “the opponent of the state deserved it.”

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/2015241321166877101

https://twitter.com/AnnaBower/status/2015122419153854479

https://twitter.com/SashoTodorov1/status/2015159612622741579

https://twitter.com/sam_d_1995/status/2015138953821618264

https://twitter.com/artwithinpod/status/2015270316277215597

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

Probably unlikely, but an interesting point:

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2015166951832629396

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2014868148269285527

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2015216385983479894
https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/2015250868237443376

Senate Democrats Will Block ICE Funding Bill

https://twitter.com/sofiakinzinger/status/2015204577256046847

https://twitter.com/gardengirl125/status/2015132121518760018
https://twitter.com/carriecoon/status/2015192859276705941

https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/2015207563466244193

Police and ICE Agents Are on a Collision Course

After another fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, the rift between local police and federal agents is becoming a rupture

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/2015189764073283870

https://twitter.com/SammyObeid/status/2015172127776018669

https://twitter.com/barbarismcrit/status/2015137996337549352

Monsters and their enablers are accessories to murder

It has been clear for a long time, to anyone willing to see, that the people running the federal government — Trump, Miller, Noem, Bovino and more — are monsters. It has been equally obvious that ICE and the Border Patrol are now filled with sadistic thugs. Yet many people — almost the entire GOP, everyone serving in the Trump administration, some Democrats, a significant part of the media — were too cowardly to admit the obvious.
At this point, however, there are no more excuses. In a way the cowards and opportunists enabling Trump are more to blame for where we are than Trump and company themselves: monsters are monsters and can’t help themselves, but the enablers have a choice. And they have chosen, again and again, to accommodate and facilitate evil.

https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/2015179338950320589
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/2015200926831649009

———— Mors Imperii ————

‘I’m Struggling To Keep Up!’ Trump Wears Out CNN Fact-Checker With Falsehood-Riddled Marathon Weave

https://twitter.com/JohnMitnick/status/2015158725791613045

Serendipity:

Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’

The National Institutes of Health failed to protect brain scans that an international group of fringe researchers used to argue for the intellectual superiority of white people.

'Somebody perhaps decided to test us': How a Norwegian weather rocket almost sparked a nuclear war

https://twitter.com/soigomaa/status/2015108999449108754

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