Odds and Ends — 2 February 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Stablecoin Giant Tether Reports Record Profits Ahead of Bitcoin Rollout
Network states will one day compete with nation-states — Web3 exec
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Early adult deaths rising in US: COVID-19, drug overdoses major causes
Politics:
https://twitter.com/bdquinn/status/1885438527179034896
Senior FBI Official Resisted Trump’s Firings
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll on Friday refused a Justice Department order that he assist in the firing of agents involved in Jan. 6 riot cases, pushing back so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed.
The Justice Department ultimately did not dismiss Driscoll. He sent out a memo to the workforce Friday night explaining that he had been ordered to remove eight senior FBI executives and turn over the names of every FBI employee involved in Capitol riot cases.
Any federal judge should know a bit about contract law. Pretty sure this is blatantly illegal: Trump moves to cancel recent union agreements with federal workers
https://twitter.com/SenAdamSchiff/status/1885501704453431633
https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1885704958328147971
https://twitter.com/HeatherThomasAF/status/1885699545830678837
Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin elected next DNC leader
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1885715312185614505
On Friday morning, the staffers at a half dozen U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan who care for severely malnourished children had a choice to make: Defy President Donald Trump’s order to immediately stop their operations or let up to 100 babies and toddlers die.
They chose the children.
https://twitter.com/OhRick4/status/1885538156872716328
https://twitter.com/jaycjackson/status/1885535269522120996
President Trump’s ambition has been sweeping and muscular in the first days of his new term, producing less of a transition in government than a takeover. Congress, by contrast, has all but forfeited the match.
The result, if Trump’s assertions of power survive the courts, would significantly rebalance power in Washington, centralizing unprecedented authority over federal spending, executive-branch personnel and a range of policy subjects in the Oval Office at the expense of Congress—the branch that the nation’s founders envisioned would have the more direct connection with voters and their interests.
https://twitter.com/David_Leavitt/status/1885572833025171609
Trump Orders Schools to Ease Sex Assault Rules
https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1885682712205316582
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1885689395715391657
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1885832386660741564
WSJ: The Dumbest Trade War in History
None of this is supposed to happen under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that Mr. Trump negotiated and signed in his first term. The U.S. willingness to ignore its treaty obligations, even with friends, won’t make other countries eager to do deals. Maybe Mr. Trump will claim victory and pull back if he wins some token concessions. But if a North American trade war persists, it will qualify as one of the dumbest in history.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1885875456290816063
https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1885800746312192227
https://twitter.com/RodKahx/status/1885818389270069448
Surprise, surprise: Canada announces $155B tariff package in response to unjustified U.S. tariffs
What the Anti-Trump Coalition Needs to Do
Donald trump threatening to annex Canada? It was an absurd situation. I briefly considered recycling an old joke of mine about merging all of the High Plains states into a single province of South Saskatchewan. But as I toyed with it, the joke soured. The president of the United States was bellowing aggression against fellow democracies. The situation was simultaneously too stupid for serious journalism and too shameful for wisecracks.
In this second Trump presidency, many of us are baffled by how to respond. The former Trump strategist Steve Bannon memorably described Trump’s method as “flood the zone with shit.” Try to screen all the flow, and you will rapidly exhaust yourself and desensitize your audience. Ignore the flood, and soon you’re immersed in the stuff neck-deep.
https://twitter.com/RepGwenMoore/status/1885469325219201210
Well, now it’s more than wants: Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Full Access to Treasury’s Payments System
https://twitter.com/RepJayapal/status/1885456943784804526
Elon Musk’s Friends Have Infiltrated Another GovernmentAgency
Elon Musk’s minions—from trusted sidekicks to random college students and former Musk company interns—have taken over the General Services Administration, a critical government agency that manages federal offices and technology.
Already, the team is attempting to use White House security credentials to gain unusual access to GSA tech, deploying a suite of new AI software, and recreating the office in X’s image.
https://twitter.com/CheriJacobus/status/1885853453118808304
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1886052928080793969
https://twitter.com/preparedwombat/status/1884641039169749429
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1885471627627938110
From breakbeats to the dance floor: How hip-hop and house revolutionized music and culture
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Skipping over the dark and dire....thank you for the article on Hip Hop and House music. I lived through that era with my daughter. She was a Hip Hop professional. Actually toured the world and appeared in videos with top professionals. She came from a middle class background but was in rebellion, I think. Fortunately, her rebellion took a form that was artistic and in the end enriched her life (although there were bumps in the road).
Anyway, I feel close to that music and that culture because of her. What nice way to end your Odds and Ends.
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