Odds and Ends — 3 March 2026
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Visa and Stripe’s Bridge plan stablecoin card expansion to over 100 countries
The Banks Are Coming for Crypto Custody
It's no longer a matter of if major banks will custody crypto but a matter of when, with Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Barclays all lining up.
Flash Fiction:
”I have to discourage you from giving your money to that charlatan. Just because he’s skilled at spouting garbage doesn’t mean you should break down and give him what he wants. His pitch is simply not representative of the facts.”
”But he’s on our side. You’ve seen the photo. It’s proof that he’s right.”
”What I’ve seen is that he knows how to use Photoshop.”
Written for this prompt.
Coronavirus and Public Health:
New research ties COVID-19 to a recent increase in heart failure deaths
Politics:
Minnesota launches investigation that could lead to charges against immigration officers
https://twitter.com/TheWorthyHouse/status/2028628978429292878
———— Iran ————
https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/2028427597105774914
https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/2028469156916371622
https://twitter.com/JamesWebb_16/status/2028486734993088683
https://twitter.com/RenzTom/status/2028474262110003627
A War No One Wants, Started by a Man No One Trusts
There have been a bunch of polls done since the first bombs dropped on Friday night/Saturday morning. They all ask the question a little differently, and wording affects the results, but they paint a similar picture. The majority of Americans don’t want war with Iran…
Trump has made basically zero effort to sell this war to the American people, before or after the strikes — and even if he had, it likely wouldn’t work. Voters do not trust Trump on national security…
People don’t like the war, they don’t like the person who started it, and they don’t trust him to see it through.
https://twitter.com/SKMorefield/status/2028488488782348763
https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2028511226255348209
https://twitter.com/calvinfroedge/status/2028509205687083253
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2028736708099866701
https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/2028620437890945213
https://twitter.com/Haqiqatjou/status/2028611198036414633
Maybe, just maybe, the Trump Administration does not know what it is doing in Iran.
The main thing I’d want to get across to people about Donald Trump and his administration right now is that however unprepared you might think they are for war, the chances are very good that it’s much worse. Much, much worse.
https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/2028515409662448078
https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/2028515723195150734
https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2028519289712496873
US 'stonewalling' requests by Gulf states to replenish interceptors, sources say
https://twitter.com/glcarlstrom/status/2028345531798364571
https://twitter.com/JoePostingg/status/2028512228744265919
https://twitter.com/Jesse_Brenneman/status/2028473233679536417
US embassy in Riyadh targeted by two drones, Saudi defense ministry says
https://twitter.com/yaboynyp/status/2028348215461106142
Can Donald Trump Win a War with Iran If He Can’t Explain Why He Started It?
In the two and a half days since Donald Trump unleashed a new war in the Middle East, the President and his Administration have come up with an astonishing array of different, even contradictory, rationales for the American military attack on Iran.
By my count, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few, these include outright regime change, assistance to the oppressed peoples of the Islamic Republic, stripping Iran of ‘the ability to project power outside its borders,’ stopping future Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks while exacting revenge for past ones, preëmptive action against an imminent Iranian threat to attack U.S. forces, preëmptive action to block Iran from building ballistic missiles that could hit the U.S. mainland, and preëmptive action to stop the Iranian nuclear program that Trump had, as recently as last week, claimed was ‘obliterated.’
Many of these explanations are based on false premises; some already seem to have been abandoned.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/2028579108070817939
https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/2028599032063644093
US strikes on Iran triggered by Israel’s plan to launch attack, Rubio says
Secretary of state says Trump ordered pre-emptive strikes out of concern about Tehran retaliation after Israeli attack
https://twitter.com/RyanMcCubbinTX/status/2028637085297516881
Rubio’s War Remarks Blow Open MAGA’s Israel Divide
MAGA’s ascendant ‘America First’ wing erupted after Secretary of State Marco Rubio effectively blamed Israel for drawing the U.S. into war with Iran.
Rubio’s remarks were the first time a Trump official had so explicitly acknowledged Israel as a driving force behind the war — landing at a moment when Americans’ public support for Israel has hit historic lows.
What goes around comes around:
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/2028599146462982609
https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/2028533903263150172
https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/2028590991674953920
https://twitter.com/mmjukic/status/2028411208034914341
———— The Epstein Coverup ————
https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/2028624829864087990
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/2028629812445630840
———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————
https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/2028611207201169830
———— Autocracy R Us ————
https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/2028629013963342155
———— The Picture of Health ————
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2028527544782270471
https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2028549767849013640
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/CathFawr/status/2028420196575088843
https://twitter.com/FuriousManiati/status/2028479089519026330
https://twitter.com/fellaraktar/status/2028549664924983340
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/2028523737688014957
———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————
https://twitter.com/svdate/status/2028473961466515708
https://twitter.com/OfTheBraveUSA/status/2028495775525740760
https://twitter.com/gloefflmann/status/2028478263668916431
https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/2028623601256259614
https://twitter.com/HarttandSoul/status/2028468098219606369
https://twitter.com/BigMeanInternet/status/2028534873288274010
———— Mors Imperii ————
https://twitter.com/jbhenchman/status/2028573254844100931
https://twitter.com/CartoonsHateHer/status/2028566922258735372
https://twitter.com/rabbitholebot/status/2028787475980656893
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/SketchesbyBoze/status/2028208631154639241
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I want to write about the war, but can't get started. Just too upsetting. Besides all the other issues...the legality, for example. The way Trump and Hegseth talk about killing people. There is such a lack of empathy, of understanding the suffering that this war is bringing to people. Enemy, friend. It's a terrible thing and they don't seem to grasp that it's a terrible thing to kill. No empathy. No understanding.
I know where you stand, so I'm saying this in a friendly place. It's nice to know you're here, plugging away every day.