Odds and Ends — 12 March 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
https://twitter.com/dougboneparth/status/1899201152991854619
How Trump provoked a stockmarket sell-off
https://twitter.com/Strandjunker/status/1899521760313098269
Coronavirus and Public Health:
The whole system of finding, diagnosing and treating tuberculosis — which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease — has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia since President Trump ordered the aid freeze on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.
The United States contributed about half of international donor funding to TB last year and here in Kenya paid for everything from nurses to lab equipment. Trump administration officials have said that other countries should contribute a greater share to global health programs. They say the administration is evaluating foreign aid contracts to determine whether they are in the national interest of the United States.
While some of the TB programs may ultimately survive, none have received any money for months.
Politics:
The Abduction of Mahmoud Khalil
I believe it’s appropriate now to refer to the present government of the United States not as an “administration” but as a “regime,” with all of that word’s dark and ugly connotations…
Here’s the most important thing about this whole affair: The state cannot make it up as it goes along. It can’t seize people in the night and invent flimsy pretexts later. And if it does, then we no longer live under the rule of law, we live under a police state. And don’t kid yourself: They will not stop at non-citizens.
https://twitter.com/lionel_trolling/status/1899512919995351199
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1899579959363989681
A Key Official Is Trying to Weasel Out of Testifying About Trump’s Mass Firings. Good Luck!
https://twitter.com/frontlinekit/status/1899325631701110903
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1899548626395058677
https://twitter.com/esjesjesj/status/1899551050333352175
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1899628828328095851
https://twitter.com/herotimeszero/status/1899565946571833696
Trump Guts Public Corruption Office
The Trump administration is gutting the Justice Department’s unit that oversees prosecutions of public officials accused of corruption.
The unit, the Public Integrity Section, has overseen some of the country’s most high-profile and sensitive prosecutions. Now, though, only a small fraction of its employees will remain, and the unit will no longer directly handle investigations or prosecutions.
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1899245503893909589
https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1899454013411643494
https://twitter.com/CaptMarkKelly/status/1899512499164033531
https://twitter.com/cspotweet/status/1899485829355192631
https://twitter.com/Daractenus/status/1899490524836368508
https://twitter.com/damintoell/status/1899463400050110468
Trump Doubles Tariffs on Canada
…Donald Trump said Tuesday he has ordered his administration to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports by an additional 25%, bringing the total duties to 50%.
The new policy will go into effect Wednesday morning, Trump said in a Truth Social post that also repeated his calls for Canada to be absorbed into the U.S. as the ‘Fifty First State.’
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1899490984125173963
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1899466500274016577
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1899469222792798631
It used to be common knowledge — not just among policymakers and economists but also high school students with a grasp of history — that tariffs are a terrible idea. The phrase ‘beggar thy neighbor’ meant something to regular people, as did the names of Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis Hawley. Americans broadly understood how much their 1930 tariff, along with other protectionist and isolationist measures, did to turn a global economic crisis into another world war. Thirteen successive presidents all but vowed never to repeat those mistakes.
Until Donald Trump. Until him, no U.S. president has been so ignorant of the lessons of history. Until him, no U.S. president has been so incompetent in putting his own ideas into practice.
Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Growing Desperate for a “Win”
As America turns against DOGE and its assault on the government, its staffers are hoping for a public relations win to change the narrative.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1899421191770710219
https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1899469325368775042
https://twitter.com/SundaeDivine/status/1899312364547166417
Greenlanders Back Party That Pushed Hard Against Trump
Greenlanders voted for a party that has never held power but which took a strong stance against President Trump’s bid to control the mineral-rich island in the final weeks of the campaign, which became dominated by the U.S. leader’s covetous comments.
https://twitter.com/EastEndJoe/status/1899441273875918885
Armour plates for US army vehicles never passed quality control tests, Russian firm falsified data
https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1899506430404633017
Serendipity:
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