Odds and Ends — 19 May 2026

Just a lazy-ass “Decline Payment” post today:

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

Wallet cluster earned $2.4M with 98% win rate on Polymarket military bets

Bubblemaps’ investigation found a cluster of nine accounts that generated $2.4 million with a near-perfect win rate on Polymarket contracts tied to major US military operations.

Japan’s Ruling Party Pushes On-Chain Finance Plan to Protect Yen

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Early antiviral use may lower risk of long COVID in mildly ill patients, aid recovery from infection

Iran:

Trump Bashes Media for Suggesting Iran Is Winning War

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2056502039513813036
- RadioFreeTom

https://twitter.com/dougboneparth/status/2056412002084671884
- dougboneparth

Politics:

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2056323047376761023
- RonFilipkowski

https://twitter.com/malonebarry/status/2056362681624314271
- malonebarry

https://twitter.com/VaTechPhiDelt/status/2055645081441292476
- VaTechPhiDelt

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

ICE Agent Charged in Shooting of a Venezuelan Immigrant in Minnesota

The agent is the second federal officer to face felony charges in Minnesota stemming from Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————

https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/2056460854061637737
- SpencerHakimian

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Trump Is Pressuring John Thune to Fire the Parliamentarian Over Ballroom Funding

The nonpartisan Senate adviser determined that the ballroom funding, as written, could not be included in the party-line budget bill.

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2056445468519834023
- RonFilipkowski

https://twitter.com/ScottGreenfield/status/2056431271866180043
- ScottGreenfield

Trump’s Slush Fund

It may not be the worst Trump story of the last 24 hours… There’s increasing evidence that he’s been purchasing stocks and then using the presidency to increase their value. Then there’s his incoherent Iran actions – let’s not call his impulses a ‘strategy.’ And then there’s how his incoherent China ‘policy’ has been hurting the US and endangering Taiwan. The slush fund might be worse than those, but I’m not really sure.
Yes, this is Trump essentially stealing money from the US treasury to give out to his friends, allies, or perhaps just to himself. That’s what this is.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2056491058360635838
- Acyn

The Looting of America

So the Trump administration is creating a $1.776 billion slush fund — 1776, get it? — to pay off victims of ‘lawfare and weaponization.’ Just to be clear, if you’re a U.S. taxpayer, this action means that almost $1.8 billion of your money will be handed out to whomever a panel appointed by Donald Trump decides to reward. The beneficiaries are likely to include January 6 insurrectionists, as well as Trump, his family, and his allies.
Few things shock me these days, but this development — in which a Justice Department that works for Trump is paying a vast sum to ‘settle’ a lawsuit brought by Trump himself — is a new nadir in self-dealing, further revealing Trump’s utter contempt for the American people.

https://twitter.com/JamieBonkiewicz/status/2056494879060918596
- JamieBonkiewicz

https://twitter.com/Fritschner/status/2056410299691827541
- Fritschner

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2056494462248059382
- Acyn

Treasury Lawyer Resigns Over ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’

The top lawyer at the Treasury Department stepped down on Monday in the wake of the creation of a $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund’ that could soon make payments to President Trump’s political allies.
Brian Morrissey, the Treasury’s general counsel, resigned from the position seven months after he was confirmed to it by the Senate and just hours after the Trump administration announced the fund on Monday.