Odds and Ends — 25 June 2025

@preparedwombat 78

7 days ago

oddsandends

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

Coinbase Is the Most Misunderstood Business in Crypto, Says Analyst With Highest Wall Street Price Target

‘Buckle Up’—Bitcoin Price Suddenly Soars As Crypto Braces For A Huge Fed Flip

Anthropic Scores Partial Victory in Copyright Case Over AI Training Data

Coronavirus and Public Health:

The Covid ‘lab leak’ theory isn’t just a rightwing conspiracy – pretending that’s the case is bad for science

https://twitter.com/quinneverett/status/1937600643448914400

Politics:

Zohran Mamdani wins NYC’s Democratic mayoral primary as Cuomo concedes

https://twitter.com/peterproctor/status/1937536717482791052

———— Israel/Krasnov/Iran ————

https://twitter.com/PatRyanUC/status/1937558051327995910
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1937596611175022596
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1937646165664666100

Iran Strike Briefing Is Abruptly Cancelled

A highly anticipated classified briefing for members of Congress on the United States’ surprise bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities was abruptly rescheduled on Tuesday morning, infuriating Democratic lawmakers and fueling suspicions that the White House is withholding critical information—including early assessments suggesting that the strikes may have only modestly delayed Iran’s nuclear program.
The result was a day of visible disarray in Washington. As Trump vented on social media and to reporters, Democrats expressed alarm at his strategy. By day’s end, many were still seeking basic answers: Was the ceasefire truly in effect? Had the strikes achieved its intended goal? And why, after risking regional war, was the Administration refusing to provide them with answers?

https://twitter.com/marinadovexo/status/1937287190608023903

https://twitter.com/Andie00471/status/1937484585161621604

Black is white and white is black: Mike Johnson says law requiring congressional approval to involve the US in foreign wars is unconstitutional.

https://twitter.com/joelcardwellX/status/1937478565022564666

The True Impact of Trump’s Strike on Iran

In the 48 hours since the strikes, Trump’s top advisers have given differing answers about the fate of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium, which, satellite imagery suggests, Iranian authorities may have relocated prior to the strikes.
Iranian leaders, meanwhile, have given no indication that they are ready to surrender the nuclear program. Facing the likelihood of ongoing U.S. and Israeli attacks, they may be more likely to make the long-feared decision to try to race toward a bomb.

https://twitter.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/1937885080694685945

This Dog Won’t Wag

In 2002 and 2003 I was one of the few people writing for a major media organization willing to say that we were being lied into war in Iraq, which was obvious to anyone willing to face the facts. Management was not happy, but to their credit allowed me to keep writing.
What I learned from those days was never to trust people who obviously want a war. Don’t trust what they say about the justifications; don’t trust what they say about how it’s going. This was true even for the Bush people, who were models of honesty compared with the current crew.
This time even mainstream media more or less acknowledged that the intelligence didn’t support claims about Iran’s nuclear program. And it took only days rather than years to acknowledge that the attack appears to have been basically a failure.

https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1937332567943831894

Trump Hits ‘Scum’ for Revealing Bombing Was Botched

…Donald Trump lashed out at ‘scum’ who revealed his much-championed strikes against Iran were likely far less effective than he claims.
Said Trump: “CNN is scum, MSDNC is scum, the New York Times is scum. They’re bad people, they’re sick.”
He added: “What they’ve done is they’ve tried to make this unbelievable victory into something less. The generals and all of the people who did a good job, they get demeaned by these idiots at CNN, who can’t get ratings. The place is dying, nobody even wants to waste their time going on any of their shows, so they form what The New York Times, which is dying also. Without Trump, you wouldn’t have a New York Times.”

https://twitter.com/Sketchy0j/status/1937885845446435071

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1937583504159608958

File this one under Pot, meet Kettle: Trump administration accuses judge of 'unprecedented defiance' of Supreme Court in immigration dispute

Trump Judicial Nominee Proposed Defying Court Orders

Emil Bove, who has been nominated for a federal judgeship, suggested to colleagues that the administration would defy court orders in order to carry out President Trump’s aggressive plan for mass deportations.

Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, one of the first technologists hired as part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is no longer working for the federal government, according to multiple sources.