Odds and Ends — 6 August 2025

@preparedwombat 78

9 days ago (Edited)

oddsandends

Hiroshima, 80 years ago today.

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

SEC Gives Crypto Staking The Green Light

American Students Are Increasingly Using AI for Learning, Raising Concerns About Its Impact on Critical Thinking

Trump Tests Wall Street’s Need for Government Data

Investors have long parsed economic reports on the labor market or inflation to help determine prices for stocks and bonds. But after weak jobs data on Friday prompted President Trump to fire Erika McEntarfer, the top Bureau of Labor Statistics official, the sacrosanct importance of U.S. government data to investors suddenly came into doubt.
Banks have fielded calls from clients, anxious that they may need to rethink how they invest if inflation and employment statistics tied to U.S. investments can’t be trusted

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Where the summer COVID-19 infections are hitting hardest

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development

Politics:

Trump Says Migrants ‘Naturally’ Do Farm Work

“These people do it naturally — naturally. I said, what happens if they get it to a farmer the other day? What happens if they get a bad back? He said, ‘They don’t get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.’ I said, that’s interesting, isn’t it? In many ways, they’re very, very special people.”

https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1952742066858987855

https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1952785060282736777

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

House Panel Subpoenas Epstein Files

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s part of a congressional probe that lawmakers believe may show links to President Donald Trump and other former top officials.
The Republican-controlled committee also issued subpoenas for depositions with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials. The committee’s actions showed how even with lawmakers away from Washington on a monthlong break, interest in the Epstein files is still running high.

https://twitter.com/johnastoehr/status/1952362030637474281

Epstein Prosecutor Left Off Subpoena List

President Trump’s former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was not one of the former government officials subpoenaed Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee over the Jeffrey Epstein probe.
As a federal prosecutor in 2008, Acosta approved a highly controversial non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to serve minimal time in prison and shut down the federal investigation into his alleged sex trafficking ring.
The sweetheart plea deal, which Acosta negotiated without consulting Epstein’s victims, also shielded his alleged co-conspirators from future prosecution related to his sex crimes.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1952780985306685852

Prison Officials Decry Ghislaine Maxwell’s Transfer

Not long after it was first reported that Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to one of the cushiest federal detention facilities in the country, a private Facebook group dedicated to current and former federal prison staffers erupted in shock and outrage.
The federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, is one of seven minimum security, dormitory-style federal security facilities that do not typically hold inmates like Maxwell who are convicted of sex crimes and serving lengthy sentences.
Said one prison employee: “Since when are sex offenders allowed at the camp? I don’t care who she snitched on, she’s a damn human trafficker.”

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1952730335491371140

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1952864051043729907

https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1953187587021259046

Awarding superlatives in the Donald Trump era is risky. Knowing when one of his moves is the biggest or worst or most aggressive is challenging—not only because Trump himself always opts for the most over-the-top description, but because each new peak or trough prepares the way for the next. So I’ll eschew a specific modifier and simply say this: The past five days have been deeply distressing for the truth as a force in restraining authoritarian governance.
In a different era, each of these stories would have defined months, if not more, of a presidency. Coming in such quick succession, they risk being subsumed by one another and sinking into the continuous din of the Trump presidency. Collectively, they represent an assault on several kinds of truth: in reporting and news, in statistics, and in the historical record.

Trump Bends the Criminal Justice System to His Will

…Donald Trump is bending the U.S. justice system to his personal purposes in a way that is unprecedented in American history, prompting significant questions about how a system built on independence will fare in the months and years to come.
Trump’s team has mounted a direct assault on all three pillars of the justice system, attacking judges whose rulings he dislikes, firing prosecutors for doing their jobs and taking revenge on law firms for having clients or partners he considers hostile.

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1952626548357407228

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Trump Demands Investment from Trading Partners

President Trump’s tariff threats have turned into a play for cold, hard cash as he tries to leverage U.S. economic power to cajole other nations to make multibillion-dollar investments in order to maintain access to America’s market.
The financial promises give Mr. Trump the opportunity to flex his negotiating prowess in relatable terms and show off the splashy sums he is pulling into America, adding to the reality show intrigue of his trade agenda.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1952706732750155978