Odds and Ends — 25 May 2025

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

The Bitcoin hum that is unsettling Trump's MAGA heartlands

7 Ways to Protect Yourself From Violent Crypto Attacks (Without a Shotgun)

Trump Approves ‘Partnership’ of U.S. Steel and Nippon

Trump heralded the deal that would keep U.S. Steel in America and its headquarters in Pittsburgh… The language of ‘partnership’ as opposed to ‘acquisition’ harkens back to Trump’s comments earlier this year when he sought to reframe the relationship between Nippon and U.S. Steel.
Nippon, for its part, has not wavered from the structure of the original deal.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

FDA picks a new strain for fall Covid vaccines. Here's what it means for your next shot.

The agency said it would prefer drugmakers to update their Covid vaccines to the LP.8.1 strain, a move that would likely limit access to the shots.

How Trump Aims To Slash Federal Support for Research, Public Health, and Medicaid

Politics:

Republicans Snuck a Provision Into Their Megabill That Would Let Trump Defy the Courts

The Big, Beautiful Republican Shrug

Republicans routinely criticized Democrats for rushing bills through Congress. Now that they’re in power, they don’t seem to mind.

https://twitter.com/BlackKnight10k/status/1926321094878777847

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Harvard Digs In for Battle

As President Trump escalated his attacks against Harvard University, its board resolved to fight.
Trustees discussed whether to sue or pursue deal talks after Trump first targeted the university in March. But as the president lobbed bomb after bomb at the school—pulling billions in federal funds, threatening its tax-exempt status, and now trying to block it from enrolling international students—the group stood firm.
By Friday, the school had filed two lawsuits against the administration, the latest to regain its foreign students.

”Not with a bang, but a whimper”: Experts say charging NJ Democrat will backfire on Trump DOJ

The charges brought by Trump's former personal attorney are unlikely to hold up in court

How Trump Defeated Columbia

The inside story of an unconditional surrender.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1926323094232224057

Australian woman, 25, urges travellers to avoid the United States after she was detained, stripped and forced to spend the night in a federal prison for a ridiculous reason

———— It’s not easy being green. ————

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1926296634616426799

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1926319808049496367

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1926375064649290015

https://twitter.com/GregScott04/status/1926293806221008980

https://twitter.com/marlene4719/status/1926348821740528099

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://twitter.com/drdave1999/status/1926332631215468558

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/JBThinkin/status/1926384177898754268

Ukraine's Zelenskyy denounces U.S. silence after massive Russian drone-and-missile attacks

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1926456805351162010

———— Mors Imperii ————

The Elephant In The Room: Trump Is Senile

Let's stop lying about his dementia.

EPA Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits

In its proposed regulation, the agency argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels ‘do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution’ or to climate change…
But in the United States, the power sector was the second biggest source of greenhouse gases … The proposed regulation is part of a broader attack by the Trump administration on the established science that greenhouse gases threaten human health and the environment.

The Revolt Against Expertise

It used to be progressives who distrusted the experts. What happened?

So Much for Fighting Communism

Trump sends Cubans and Venezuelans to torture and death.

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/historydefined/status/1926337790100279525

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