Odds and Ends — 30 May 2025

@preparedwombat 78

1 day ago

oddsandends

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

Japan’s Debt, Now Twice the Size of Its Economy, Forces Hard Choices

The New York Times Strikes AI Content Licensing Deal With Amazon

Some signs of AI model collapse begin to reveal themselves

Whatever theory lets you sleep at night: Digital euro, not MiCA, key to manage crypto risks: Bank of Italy chief

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Prior COVID vaccination produces immune response against new SARS-CoV-2 strains, study finds

Kennedy said a ‘team’ is in Milwaukee to help with lead contamination. The city says that’s not true

RFK Jr.’s Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Commission report harnesses ‘gold-standard’ science, citing more than 500 studies and other sources to back up its claims. Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions.
Seven of the cited sources don’t appear to exist at all.

My dog ate the report: White House blames 'formatting' for errors in RFK Jr.'s MAHA report.

https://twitter.com/smalls2672/status/1928065241436360726

Politics:

To Take on Trump, Think Like a Lion

…acquiescence is futile. Keeping one’s head down is stupid. As the historian Timothy Snyder noted in his book, “On Tyranny,” appeasement is how people cede their power to would-be tyrants.

Right Wing Populists Target Poland’s Election

Poland’s knife-edge presidential race has become the latest battleground for the global populist right, with Donald Trump’s allies warning that defeat in Warsaw could sap Trumpist momentum across Europe after recent election losses to moderates in Romania and Canada.

Karoline Leavitt Gives Wild Defense of Trump’s Attacks on Harvard

Judge Rejects Trump Effort to Block Harvard

A federal judge in Boston said on Thursday morning that she would issue an order blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students.
The ruling was a win, at least temporarily, for the university in its ongoing confrontation with the White House, which has waged an all-out battle to undermine Harvard’s finances and global influence.

Pot, meet Kettle: Trump Slams Leonard Leo and Federalist Society

…Donald Trump leveled unusually pointed criticism of a prominent conservative legal activist and organization Thursday as he railed against a ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs.
The president, in a post on his social media platform, slammed Leonard Leo, the former chair of the Federalist Society, calling him a ‘sleazebag’ who ‘probably hates America.’
It was a striking characterization of Leo, who played a key role in working with Trump to shape the conservative Supreme Court.

https://twitter.com/JD_Cashless/status/1928104150677496195
https://twitter.com/adgirlMM/status/1928124981088588140

Trump Has Let Allies Avoid Centuries of Prison Time

Comparing their original sentences with the dates of sentencing and clemency, I calculate that Trump has wiped away more than 700 years of prison time that convicted individuals were otherwise slated to serve. That includes more than 600 years of prison time to which Jan. 6 rioters had been sentenced — including a number of the most violent actors and individuals affiliated with extreme right-wing groups.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1928075452251299846

———— Autocracy R Us ————

The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1928433884452081681

Trump Officials Intensify Attacks on Judges

Even by the judge-bashing standards of the Trump administration, the White House’s sharp reactions this week to court decisions curtailing its agenda appeared to intensify a strategic effort to undermine confidence in the judiciary…
Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor and expert on constitutional law, said that while there was a long history of presidents unhappy with the courts, “there’s something particularly corrosive about the Trump administration’s rhetoric.
”Personalizing attacks on individual judges, publicizing who they are in ways that suggest action should be taken against them, that’s deeply concerning,” he said.

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1928088960275784034

Steve Bannon Calls on Trump to Suspend Writ of Habeas Corpus

Judge Used 26 Exclamation Points to Strike Down Order

The president’s attack on Big Law is so outrageous that it’s made at least one judge raise his voice, even on paper.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1928144009601454556

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

https://twitter.com/tokitaeII/status/1927856593913401597

———— TACO ————

https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1927872486290395565

TACO has the potential to hurt Trump.

It’s simple. Trump Always Chickens Out. You can put that phrase anywhere, apply it to anything, and everyone knows what it means…
It hits at something deep inside Trump. It’s about his soul. It’s about his weakness.

https://twitter.com/JamesTate121/status/1928081350914920623

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Tariff Ruling Creates Chaos on Top of Chaos

An obscure federal court blew up the cornerstone of President Trump’s economic agenda … unleashing more chaos on the global economy and all but wiping out his negotiating leverage with trading partners.
At least for now, it turns out the legal system — not the bond market, nor weak economic indicators — is the biggest restraint on Trump’s trade agenda.

https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1927882441596850350

Court Ruling Upends Trump’s Trade Strategy

One day after a federal court declared many of his tariffs to be illegal, President Trump and his top aides rushed on Thursday to resuscitate the centerpiece of the administration’s trade agenda, seeking to restore their ability to use the threat of eye-watering import taxes to force other nations into submission.
Shortly after the ruling, the administration petitioned two sets of judges to allow it to continue imposing its tariffs, reflecting a growing fear throughout the White House that a legal defeat could severely undercut its capacity to wage a global trade war.

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1928128475241566655

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/PolymarketIntel/status/1927999753985348087

———— Melon Husk ————

‘Dozens Upon Dozens’ Of Unsold Teslas Are Taking Over A Detroit Suburb’s Parking Lot

Most of them are Cybertrucks. The city isn’t thrilled about the situation.

Rumors swirl as Stephen Miller's wife leaves White House to work for Elon Musk

———— Mors Imperii ————

Senate GOP Launches Probe Into Biden’s Cognitive Decline

Senate Republicans plan to launch their own investigation next month that delves into the alleged “conspiracy” behind former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.
The lawmakers are still gathering witnesses for the probe, which would be the first full congressional committee hearing on the subject.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the current President is Stark. Raving. Mad.

https://twitter.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1928143328236949769

https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1928128029370294568

Harvard Fight Illustrates Trump’s Worldview

The president’s framing of his administration’s aggressive pressure campaign speaks not just to how he sees his efforts to dominate Harvard and what it teaches and who it admits, but also how he views opposition more broadly. It’s a constant in Mr. Trump’s worldview: If he goes after someone or something, it is their fault, not his. They are responsible for his actions. Not him.

https://twitter.com/UnrealBluegrass/status/1928081080436875653
https://twitter.com/smalls2672/status/1928065993252712639

https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1927820599650345269