Odds and Ends — 25 June 2026

14 days ago

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

https://twitter.com/KellyScaletta/status/2069489528818290986

The Death of Cheap Money: Inside the 2026 Bond Market Trap

With Treasury yields hitting their highest levels since 2007, the repricing of American debt is about to collide with a $30 trillion federal dark hole.

https://twitter.com/shanaka86/status/2069440130222534940

AI Model Breached NSA Classified Systems in Hours

Anthropic’s flagship Mythos AI model reportedly infiltrated nearly all of the National Security Agency’s classified systems within a few hours during an authorized red-team evaluation on June 11.
This incident now seems to be the main reason for a broad U.S. government directive on export controls issued the following day.

https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/2069513045064220799

Coronavirus and Public Health:

https://twitter.com/irishrygirl/status/2069442731642871949

Iran:

Trump is making big claims about the Iran talks. Iran keeps contradicting him.

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2069398209575661958

Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam

A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington.

https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/2069105869569323274

Politics:

https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/2069257053357388144

U.S. Attorney Drops Three Cases over Grand Jury Issues

The US attorney’s office in Chicago is in a five-alarm fire after problems with recent grand jury presentations resulted three dropped criminal cases.
The recently discovered problems have prompted Andrew Boutros, the Trump-appointed and judge-endorsed US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to do his own review of more than 100 transcripts of confidential grand jury sessions, putting a close eye on cases that have been charged in the last year.

‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza

https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/2069663698872852948

The BBC Stood Up To Trump And Turned His Defamation Lawsuit Into His Worst Nightmare

The BBC is using the discovery process of Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against them to set up a trial of the president for the 1/6 attack.

The U.S. Constitution was designed to protect the rights of the people against the rise of a would-be tyrant. The founders understood they were embarking on a rebellious project that had never succeeded before. As John Adams scowled, ‘There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.’ Their aim was to build a structure that could withstand the forces that destroyed democracies in the past.
That’s why the founders explicitly warned about the dangers of a demagogue, the poison of hyperpartisanship, the corrosive effects of corruption and foreign influence, the politicization of religion, and the erosion of the separation of powers.

Welcome Bags Planned for White South African Refugees

In the coming weeks, the United States plans to provide a welcome gift to white South Africans entering the United States as refugees.
They will get an Android tablet, an American flag and copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. They will also receive a packet of literature that provides a sanitized, Trump-approved view of American and South African history, one that criticizes racial equity and civil rights laws and promotes claims of discrimination against white people.
The welcome bags include a report commissioned by Mr. Trump during his first term that downplays the role of slavery in the country’s founding, and a children’s book accusing South Africa’s government of ‘favoring the Black population.’

https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/2069493896627814657

Justice Department Backs Down on Reporter Subpoenas

The Justice Department took the extraordinary step of seeking to force reporters for The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal to testify before a federal grand jury — but withdrew the subpoenas earlier this month after they were challenged by the news organizations.

https://twitter.com/cecelou18/status/2069518347641786506

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/2069415549445054695