Odds and Ends — 9 August 2025

@preparedwombat 78

6 days ago

oddsandends

The Mississippi River, as seen from the back deck of our AirBNB weekend getaway.

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

These three catalysts will help Bitcoin break $122K

XRP Army Celebrates Being on 'Right Side of History’ as SEC’s Ripple Lawsuit Ends

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Once ‘Very Pro-Vaccine,’ Trump Shrugs Off Kennedy’s mRNA Cuts

Trump’s laissez-faire approach is notable, given that the development of the Covid vaccine was seen as one of his first term’s most notable achievements.
Said Trump: “That was now a long time ago, and we’re onto other things.”

Police believe, after speaking with shooter's family, that CDC was the target

After speaking with the suspected shooter’s family members, police are operating under the theory that he was either sick or believed that he was sick and blamed the illness on the Covid-19 vaccine…

Politics:

Trump Seeks $1 Billion Settlement from UCLA

The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities.

Why doesn’t UCLA just tell Trump to enroll at FU? What am I missing?

Trump Is Replacing Billy Long as IRS Commissioner

…Trump is removing Billy Long from his job leading the Internal Revenue Service just two months after he was confirmed as commissioner.
Mr. Long, a former Republican congressman and staunch ally of Mr. Trump, is expected to be nominated to an ambassadorship, the people said. It is unclear who will next lead the IRS, which has had six different people in charge this year.

“The Senate spent weeks confirming Long, who had no qualifications for the job. And he was pushed out almost immediately.” — Taegan Goddard

A memo written by the Pentagon’s policy chief last month gives the Defense Department the option to divert certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine back into US stockpiles…

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1953837758830518710

https://twitter.com/RealJakeBroe/status/1953957294833823939

Zelensky Rejects Trump’s Proposal

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Saturday flatly rejected President Trump’s proposal that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia could include ‘some swapping of territories’ — a plan that would in effect mean ceding land to Moscow.

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Trump Warns Courts Against Knocking Down Tariffs

Said Trump: “If a Radical Left Court ruled against us at this late date, in an attempt to bring down or disturb the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen, it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor.”

White House to issue order ‘clarifying’ tariff on gold bars

US gold futures hit a record high on Friday after the US blindsided the global bullion market by imposing tariffs on imports of one-kilo and 100-ounce bars.

———— Is there a doctor in the house? ————

So Much for the ‘Best Health-Care System in the World’

Here’s a piece of Republican rhetoric that used to be ubiquitous but that you never hear anymore: America has the best health-care system in the world.
Republican politicians liked this line because it helped them dismiss the idea that the system needed major reform. American health care at its finest offered the most advanced treatments anywhere. Democrats wanted to expand coverage, but why mess with perfection?
In Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans haven’t given up their opposition to universal coverage—far from it—but they have mostly stopped singing the praises of American health-care innovation. Indeed, they are taking a meat axe to it, slashing medical-research funding while elevating quacks and charlatans to positions of real power. The resulting synthesis is the worst of all worlds: a system that will lose its ability to develop new cures, while withholding its benefits from even more of the poor and sick.

Obamacare Sticker Shock Could Jolt Republicans

Pressure on Congress to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies is likely to ramp up this fall as notices of 2026 premium increases go out and consumers get their first warnings that huge rate hikes could be coming.
Backers of renewing the enhanced tax credits, which expire at the end of this year, hope the sticker shock could motivate Republicans to get behind a short-term reauthorization to avoid an uproar over premium increases in an election year.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1953889132595310959