Odds and Ends — 6 February 2025

@preparedwombat 77

23 days ago

oddsandends

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

Robinhood halts Super Bowl bets a day after launch on CFTC request

Presearch Rolls Out Privacy-First Chatbot PreGPT 2.0 to Challenge Big Tech

The Dangerous AI Nonsense Trump and Biden Fell For

It was never going to be possible to contain the spread of this powerful emergent technology, and certainly not just by placing trade restrictions on components like graphic chips. That was a self-serving fiction, foisted on out-of-touch leaders by an industry that wanted the government to kneecap its competitors.
Instead of a futile effort to keep this genie bottled up, the government and the industry should be preparing our society for the sweeping changes that are soon to come.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Nasal COVID-19 vaccine based on WashU technology to enter U.S. clinical trials

Cows Have Been Infected With Second Form of Bird Flu

Politics:

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1887070907530633338
https://twitter.com/Scaramucci/status/1887028919280316432

Bank of England Cuts Interest Rates

The Bank of England cut interest rates on Thursday for the third time in about six months, amid signs of weak economic growth in Britain and an unexpected slowdown in inflation.

https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1887148289713180932

Elon Musk’s Team Takes on Veteran’s Affairs Next

Elon Musk’s surrogates at the Department of Government Efficiency may have been at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, a key Democratic senator said, raising concerns about their access to the private records of both veterans and agency employees.

https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/1887140575805075550

The Constitutional Crisis Is Here

Sometimes a constitutional crisis sneaks up on you, shrouded in darkness, revealing itself gradually. Other times it announces itself dramatically.
Elon Musk, to whom Donald Trump has delegated the task of neutering the congressional spending authority laid out in Article I of the Constitution, could hardly be more obvious about his intentions if he rode into Washington on a horse trailed by Roman legions.

https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/status/1887143915104428163
https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1887211981477708011
https://twitter.com/RepCarbajal/status/1887145590259134962

Watch the Credit Ratings Agencies

That brings us to the present—the Trump administration’s claim of unchecked power to honor or disregard its payment obligations, its lawless and opaque meddling with the payment system the Treasury Department uses to honor American spending commitments, and the swift erosion of the rule of law.
If ratings agencies were able to detect political instability by watching contentious or irresponsible legislative fights play out, you’d think they’d be able to draw some conclusions based on the fiat transformation of the U.S. system of government from a democratic republic into whatever this is.

https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1886907609770549570

CIA Sends Unclassified Email Listing Employee Names

The CIA sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries.
One former agency officer called the reporting of the names in an unclassified email a “counterintelligence disaster.”

https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1887066203296047452

https://twitter.com/David_Moscrop/status/1886844525303247134

Frustrated Democrats Want the Senate to Fight Harder

Senate Democrats are struggling to deal with a rising tide of anger inside their party as President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk run roughshod over federal agencies, with House members seething and activists demanding they ‘shut down the Senate’ in response.
Instead, it has in many ways been business as usual in the Senate over the first two weeks of Trump’s second term. Republicans have ground through procedural obstacles to confirm nearly a dozen Cabinet nominees, a pace that alarms a broad swath of Democrats.

https://twitter.com/DanLamothe/status/1886980197607485930
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1887186640025575630
https://twitter.com/cooltxchick/status/1887299560961085820

U.S. Blindsides Panama

The U.S. and Panama issued dueling statements Wednesday over access to the Panama Canal, with the State Department saying all fees would be waived for American vessels and the waterway’s authority firing back that no deal had been reached.

https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1887299232727536104

Ex-Coast Guard Leader Evicted with 3 Hours Notice

Donald Trump’s administration evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice on Tuesday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects.

https://twitter.com/rothschildmd/status/1886932787430875569

Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order

A federal judge in Maryland has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1887279368134909993

Pam Bondi Issues Flurry of Orders

…Donald Trump’s attorney general issued a flurry of orders Wednesday just after she was sworn in, releasing 14 ‘first-day’ directives.
Among them, Bondi ordered the department to set up a task force to examine the ‘weaponization’ of the Justice Department and rein in investigations into foreign influence. She also warned career lawyers at her agency not to try to thwart Trump administration policies.

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1887162396734607521