Odds and Ends — 7 May 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Bhutan Partners with Binance Pay for Its Tourism Ecosystem
The small Himalayan country has adopted strongly pro-crypto policies in recent years, stockpiling Bitcoin for a national reserve.
First In The Nation: New Hampshire Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
U.K. and India Strike Trade Deal
The United Kingdom and India struck a bilateral trade agreement Tuesday, lowering tariffs on key exports such as U.K. whisky and cars, amid a global trade war initiated by the United States.
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Scientists estimate higher rate of new-onset diabetes after COVID than in general population
https://twitter.com/rbisrb/status/1919816983664795714
Politics:
India Launches Military Operation Against Pakistan
India said early Wednesday it had launched a military operation against Pakistan, hitting ‘terrorist infrastructure’ in both Pakistan and Pakistan administered-Kashmir, in a major escalation of tensions between the two neighbors.
https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1919880546114519385
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1919736148877840457
USA Urges Stockholm to Cease Diversity Initiatives
The USA's ambassador demands that the Stockholm City Planning Office does not work for, among other things, diversity and equality, reports Dagens Nyheter.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1919713171213865247
https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1919861825715233051
———— Kalaallit Nunaat ————
Intelligence Agencies Step Up Spying on Greenland
The U.S. is stepping up its intelligence-gathering efforts regarding Greenland, drawing America’s spying apparatus into President Trump’s campaign to take over the island.
Several high-ranking officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a ‘collection emphasis message’ to intelligence-agency heads last week. They were directed to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and attitudes on American resource extraction on the island.
———— Autocracy R Us ————
Trump Finally Drops the Anti-Semitism Pretext
The latest letter to Harvard makes clear that the administration’s goal is to punish liberal institutions for the crime of being liberal.
https://twitter.com/danielluo_pi/status/1919607148436234717
JD Vance Jokes About Deporting Tourists Attending 2026 World Cup
https://twitter.com/Suzierizzo1/status/1919770287471485071
Trump to Send Migrants to Libya on a Military Flight
The Trump administration is planning to transport a group of immigrants to Libya on a U.S. military plane, another sharp escalation in a deportation program that has sparked widespread legal challenges and intense political debate.
The nationalities of the migrants were not immediately clear, but a flight to Libya carrying the deportees could leave as soon as Wednesday.
Sweet Jeebus. This is even worse than sending them to a concentration camp in El Salvador. At least El Salvador isn’t a failed state.
https://twitter.com/SenChrisLarson/status/1919765002958819574
———— O Canada ————
https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1919781291857207679
https://twitter.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1919839048941879624
https://twitter.com/TheoMoudakis/status/1919846221234991105
———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————
Scott Bessent Tells Congress the Trump Admin Has NOT Held Any Negotiations With China Over Tariffs
https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1919775493231927389
Trump’s Movie Tariffs Could Crush Studios
President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on film imports to the U.S. could risk retaliatory actions in international markets, where American film studios make the bulk of their box office revenue.
Studios are already reeling from a weakened box office following the pandemic. Tariffs could send the industry into a tailspin.
Trump Tariffs Set Off Doubts in the Rust Belt
Almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of tariffs, and a lasting backlash could be especially consequential for Republicans in areas such as the Lehigh Valley, a perennial Rust Belt battleground where Trump’s campaign pitch resonated with many voters.
Trump’s tariffs have put pressure on some of the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbents in Congress — including the local congressman, freshman Ryan Mackenzie — as they try to defend Trump’s agenda while also acknowledging their constituents’ concerns.
Officials here are doubtful that any tariffs, no matter how drastic, can recreate the economy of the past, when one steel company’s facilities in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, alone employed 30,000 people.
Mattel CEO says toy manufacturing won’t come to America, but price hikes will
Ships now pulling into U.S. harbors from China are the first to be subject to the massive tariffs that America is imposing on most Chinese imports. That means, in a matter of weeks, consumers will face higher prices and shortages of certain items…
The drop-off in imports from China on the boats now coming into port is more than 50%… Many importers have canceled previous orders because U.S. businesses aren’t interested in paying the steep tariff, which can more than double the price of Chinese goods.
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/WIRED/status/1919836625497923661
Well, she should finally get around to changing her password to iamarussianasset since that’ll be an easy one to remember.
https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1919797804807159816
https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1919952874697552001
———— Melon Husk ————
DOGE Aims to Pool Federal Data
The U.S. DOGE Service is racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents, a campaign that often violates or disregards core privacy and security protections meant to keep such information safe.
———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————
https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1919712758888534259
———— Mors Imperii ————
https://twitter.com/votevets/status/1919799340861669817
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1919606132634423304
https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1919596609295253902
Trump Plans to Shut Down Energy Star Program
The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate two key Environmental Protection Agency divisions focused on climate change and energy efficiency, including its consumer-facing Energy Star program.
The agency is planning to shutter its climate change division and climate protection partnership division, both of which sit within the agency’s office of air and radiation… The moves will impact several climate programs including the greenhouse gas reporting program and EPA’s partnerships on methane – a super-polluting, planet-warming gas emitted from oil and gas, agriculture and landfills.
https://twitter.com/Matthewtravis08/status/1919505140773445694
https://twitter.com/middleageriot/status/1919741289433612433
Far-Right Coverage Will Fuel Voice of America
Senior presidential adviser Kari Lake appears to have resolved any doubts about what she wants to do with the Voice of America.
Lake seeks for it to look and sound a lot like the far-right One America News Network: on Tuesday night she announced that she had struck a deal to serve up the pro-Trump outlet’s news reports for Voice of America’s foreign audiences, at no taxpayer cost.
https://twitter.com/McNally4Indiana/status/1919560537731441015
https://twitter.com/Idontevenn11923/status/1919758780926935232
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1919542784349950361
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