Odds and Ends — 16 March 2025

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

Decentralized science meets AI — legacy institutions aren’t ready

Which AI Actually Is the Best at ‘Being Human?’

Trump’s New World Order Tests the Dollar

…Trump has launched an unprecedented challenge to a geopolitical order that has prevailed for decades. One potential victim: the U.S. dollar.
In just weeks, a steep increase in tariffs and uncertainty over trade have sparked fears that U.S. growth will slow. At the same time, major shifts in U.S. foreign policy have led to a surge in optimism about the European economy—driving the dollar down sharply against the euro, sending stocks in Europe to records and spurring the biggest jump in German bond yields since just after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Trump is torching his greatest political asset

Through all the chaos, voters thought he’d do a good job on the economy. Not anymore.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

The Covid pandemic was catastrophic. But don’t overlook what went right.

The World’s Deadliest Infectious Disease Is About to Get Worse

Politics:

Why Senate Democrats Folded

No plan, no strategy, and no attempt to communicate honestly and forthrightly with the base. At no point did we know what Dems were fighting for or what victory would look like. Schumer and some Senate Democrats wanted to be seen as ‘fighting’ up until the moment the fight was set to start.
Everyone hoped that Johnson would fail to get the votes in the House, which would force them into negotiations with Democrats. But that didn’t happen; and there was seemingly no plan for what Senate Democrats would do if Johnson did get the votes.

Well, that’s one way of looking at it. Here’s a more cynical (and more accurate?) way: The Perfect Opposition

If you were designing the perfect opposition to facilitate the consolidation of executive power—one that provides the appearance of resistance while ultimately enabling its advance—what would it look like? It would likely make forceful statements about the threats to democracy. It would marshal righteous indignation in speeches and press releases. But when confronted with moments of consequential choice, it would invariably find reasons why resistance is too risky, too politically costly, or simply impossible.
It would train its supporters to expect and accept defeat as the prudent choice.
The genius of this approach is how it transforms surrender into a form of responsibility. Those who advocate for more forceful opposition are cast as naive, reckless, or politically unsophisticated. The language of pragmatism becomes a shield against the charge of complicity.

https://twitter.com/doctor_cabral/status/1900712196122005624

The Kind of Thing Dictators Do

The decision to deport Mahmoud Khalil is most remarkable for its pettiness, its insecurity, and its failure to grasp the spirit of America and of academia at their best.

https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1900735841363747135
https://twitter.com/dlippman/status/1900927796966215793

Trump invokes 18th century law to speed deportations, judge stalls it hours later

A federal judge barred the Trump administration Saturday from carrying out deportations under a sweeping 18th century law that the president invoked hours earlier to speed removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1900981925604368436

Judges Become Targets in Combative Environment

Having taken the White House and captured the Congress, President Trump’s movement is unleashing its fury on the one branch of government it doesn’t fully control: the judiciary.
As more judges have blocked or slowed some of Trump’s initiatives, the president’s surrogates have been increasingly strident in their responses, casting adverse rulings as not only incorrect but also illegitimate.

Serbia's largest-ever rally sees 325,000 protest against government

FWIW, I’ve seen even larger estimates of the crowd size.

https://twitter.com/SSWorks/status/1900640364735910295
https://twitter.com/solomonmissouri/status/1900724747643580672
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1901043903656001913

Green card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated' at Logan Airport, detained

https://twitter.com/ArtCandee/status/1900917801671376980
https://twitter.com/PawlowskiMario/status/1900624334118666294
https://twitter.com/akihheikkinen/status/1900928964094202028

Trump Admin Nixed Contract Helping Kidnapped Ukrainian Children

The fate of abducted Ukrainian children is a white-hot issue for peace negotiations—and it looks like the State Department may have just undercut the cause.

https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1900715037162897803
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1900872287630311788
https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1900940644454924680

Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.

https://twitter.com/JohnFugelsang/status/1900738087543509071

IRS in Turmoil at Height of Tax Season

As DOGE has set up shop inside the IRS over the past month, the agency has fired thousands of workers and auditors and set out to shutter more than 110 taxpayer assistance offices across the country. Widespread layoffs are in the works, with plans to cut nearly 20% of all IRS employees by May 15.
The barnstorming, which has played out at multiple agencies, has thrown the IRS into turmoil at the height of tax season. While the business of processing returns and issuing refunds has been ongoing, sources say these DOGE actions could undermine the long-term operations of the IRS, which handles nearly all accounts receivable for the federal government.

The Unchecked Authority of Greg Abbott

How Trump Shook the World in 50 Days

The system America took 80 years to assemble proved surprisingly fragile in the face of Trump’s assault, a revolution in how the country exercises power across the globe.

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/DannyDrinksWine/status/1900873109252517977

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