Odds and Ends — 31 October 2025

about 12 hours ago

Our grumpy-old-man cat Bootsie lets me know that, why yes, he would like some of what I’m cooking for the humans’ dinner.

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

The EU’s two-tier encryption vision is digital feudalism

Here’s How the AI Crash Happens

The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.

Connecticut Senator Says Binance 'Greased the Wheels' for Trump's Crypto Deals

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack

’Catastrophic’: Hennepin Healthcare Expects to Lose $1.5b With Medicaid Cuts

This one hits close to home. The medical professionals at Hennepin County Medical Center saved my son’s life when he was five minutes from death.

Politics:

https://twitter.com/Mpolymer/status/1983842319985266704

Early Voting Surges in New York City

New York voters are turning out early in high numbers for a mayoral race that’s captured the country’s attention.
After six days of early voting, 398,477 ballots have been cast, according to the New York City Board of Elections. That’s more than double the total of early voters in the 2021 general election and already higher than the 384,338 early votes during June’s primary.

https://twitter.com/allenanalysis/status/1983890170970579085

https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1983926170555912243

Give Donald Trump this much: He has never tried to hide his malice, his lawlessness, or his desire to inflict pain on others. These were on vivid display when he engaged in a multipart conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and stood by as a mob of supporters sought to hang his vice president. These were displayed, as well, every day during his 2024 vengeance campaign. Yet more than 77 million Americans decided that he was the man with whom they wanted to entrust the care of this nation.
For more Americans than not, and for many more evangelical Christians than not, Trump is the representative man of our time. His ethic is theirs. So are his corruptions. And for those of us who, in our younger years, revered America as a shining city upon a hill, a nation of nations, the ‘last, best hope of earth,’ this is quite a painful period. America has lost its moral bearings; as a result, it has also lost its moral standing in the world.
A curtain of darkness is settling over our nation. And it’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots.

https://twitter.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1983655663411851720

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1983860343899050165

https://twitter.com/pjaicomo/status/1983918592602071376