Odds and Ends — 27 April 2026

@preparedwombat 78

about 22 hours ago

oddsandends

With my son at his birthday party. Clearly, he’s the handsome one in the family.

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

French authorities charge 88 in 12 crypto wrench attacks

Money Launderer Sentenced to 70 Months Over $263M Crypto Social-Engineering Scheme

Flash Fiction:

”I understand that you’re reluctant to provide the information, but I must insist on it.”

”I can’t. I just can’t. My wife would never forgive me.”

”You’ll find that I can be very persuasive. My ways of extracting the truth can be subtle. Or not.”

”Do your worst. Her recipe has earned her three blue ribbons at the State Fair. My lips are sealed.”

”We’ll see about that. Let’s begin, shall we?”

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Inosine Pranobex Linked to Lower Mortality Risk in COVID

Practicing today for tomorrow’s emergencies – WHO convenes countries and partners to simulate response to major disease outbreak

Iran:

Trump Cancels U.S.-Iran Peace Talks

…Donald Trump has called off planned meetings between his envoys and Iranian counterparts in Islamabad, Pakistan, where the parties were supposed to work toward a ceasefire deal to end the ongoing US-Iran war.
The sudden and unilateral move comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently departed the Pakistani capital, where he had been engaging with officials on the matter.

Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known

American military bases and other equipment in the Persian Gulf region suffered extensive damage from Iranian strikes that is far worse than publicly acknowledged and is expected to cost billions of dollars to repair.
The Iranian regime swiftly retaliated after the Trump administration attacked on Feb. 28, hitting dozens of targets across U.S. military bases in seven Middle East countries. Those attacks struck warehouses, command headquarters, aircraft hangars, satellite communications infrastructure, runways, high-end radar systems and dozens of aircraft.

The billions of dollars to repair bit assumes that the bases will be rebuilt. How likely is that?

German Chancellor Says Trump Being ‘Humiliated’ by Iran

Politics:

National Science Board Members Dismissed by Trump

Multiple scientists who serve on an independent board established to guide the nation’s nearly $9 billion basic science funding agency were terminated from their positions Friday by President Donald Trump.
Members of the National Science Board, which helps govern the National Science Foundation, were dismissed in a message from the Presidential Personnel Office thanking them for their service.

How is this legal? It’s an independent board. Yes, Presidents appoint members to the board, but they serve six-year terms specifically to avoid even the appearance of political interference. Have any members ever been dismissed before?

https://twitter.com/tlow/status/2048005353330393282

———— White House Correspondents’ Dinner ————

https://twitter.com/crunchyrugger/status/2048216679730069933

https://twitter.com/BonkDaCarnivore/status/2048220342678597688

https://twitter.com/DTM_Woodworks/status/2048229042105541102

https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/2048209143278776358

Dinner Lacked Highest Security Level

The Trump administration provided a lower level of security for the White House correspondents’ dinner than it has for other gatherings of high-ranking officials, even though the president and many Cabinet members were in attendance.

https://twitter.com/tommysantos14/status/2048414241737310395
https://twitter.com/Tazerface16/status/2048408102836601203

https://twitter.com/mark_slapinski/status/2048342969363701905
https://twitter.com/BonkDaCarnivore/status/2048462111219794051

https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/2048508039326769291

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/2048551697937477797

To build his mammoth White House ballroom, President Trump last summer chose Maryland-based Clark Construction. Since then, Mr. Trump has repeatedly sung the company’s praises, even saying he wanted it to refurbish projects all over Washington.
In January, government documents show, the Trump administration secretly gave the company a no-bid contract to do another job at a sharply inflated price.

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/2048096911723262266

Russian Troops Raped and Tortured Children in Ukraine, U.N. Panel Says

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/lanechanged/status/2048262934044807202

Trump may be temporary. The damage he is doing isn’t

…Trump didn’t just happen to America. He was elected, twice – the second time after attempting a coup. That alone should tell us that something fundamental has changed in American society, that it is so broken that one half of it could knowingly put a degenerate lunatic in the White House just to spite the other half.