Odds and Ends — 18 March 2026

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

Crypto industry ties were a liability in Illinois primary

https://twitter.com/infosec_fox/status/2034027270965240047
- infosec_fox

PayPal Expands PYUSD Stablecoin Globally as Supply Tops $4 Billion

https://twitter.com/FT/status/2033929762079375598
- FT

Flash Fiction:

”The staff here at Mistress Ayesha’s Temple of Pain and Pleasure provide discrete services to our clientele so that they all feel that this temple is theirs alone. They all strive to provide customized experiences. How can we tailor your time here, detective?”

”Listen lady, this is not my temple. Never was, never will be. Just answer my question. Who found the body?”

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Young people particularly vulnerable to cults post-COVID

https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/2034085028284584122
- KlasfeldReports

Iran:

https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/2033731887953547351
- donwinslow

https://twitter.com/hippyygoat/status/2033647783899500577
- hippyygoat

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2033660492493857197
- covie_93

Not just energy: How the Iran war could trigger a global food crisis

https://twitter.com/saletan/status/2033966656746070521
- saletan

https://twitter.com/shanaka86/status/2033918272819638407
- shanaka86

Russia Is Sharing Imagery and Drone Technology With Iran

Russia has been expanding its intelligence sharing and military cooperation with Iran, providing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to aid Tehran’s targeting of U.S. forces in the region.
Russia is trying to keep its closest Middle Eastern partner in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might and prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically.
The technology provided includes components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication, navigation and targeting… Russia has also been drawing on its experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in operations and what altitudes they should strike from.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2033926674178339173
- atrupar

https://twitter.com/radigancarter/status/2033961136899690759
- radigancarter

https://twitter.com/MikeNellis/status/2033964111931802037
- MikeNellis

Iran’s Regime Is Consolidating Power

Despite more than two weeks of relentless airstrikes, U.S. intelligence assessments say, Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control.

https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/2033996554894274997
- ejmalrai

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2033976956606202088
- covie_93

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2034084410249658464
- RonFilipkowski

Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done

Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.
He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses—he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.
For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States.

https://twitter.com/IlhanNiaz/status/2033949682775335243
- IlhanNiaz

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2033834737286914420
- Maks_NAFO_FELLA

https://twitter.com/kejamieson_/status/2033914764766625975
- kejamieson_

Politics:

Belgian court sends ex-diplomat, 93, to trial over 1961 murder of Congo leader

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2034034303613509891
- RpsAgainstTrump

China Is Not Going to Bail Trump Out

Wars, AI drama, even the odd peace prize — the world had plenty on its bingo card for 2026. But it did not include Donald Trump urging China to send ships to the Middle East. The US president’s request for Chinese help is a black swan moment.
In an age of great power rivalry, the hegemon is inviting its main challenger to help extract it from the world’s most combustible region. Read that again. Then ponder where China’s incentive lies. Why interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake?
That China has no intention of sending minesweepers to the Strait of Hormuz is clear. The question is whether Xi Jinping wants to see Trump backed into a corner. It is one thing for China to gain a diplomatic edge over the US; quite another to test whether Trump is Dr Strangelove.

'Greenland was a breaking point': EU allies say Trump dug his own grave

https://twitter.com/kurimero2000/status/2033474828745708017
- kurimero2000

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2033961203400110109
- TheMaineWonk

———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/2033715447053287572
- TheRickWilson

Trump Floats Venezuela as the 51st State

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

Comer subpoenas Attorney General Pam Bondi over Epstein files

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/democraticbear/status/2034030066569531472
- democraticbear

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/2034035878654304666
- TimothyDSnyder

Judge Ejects Federal Prosecutor From Court

A federal judge threw a top prosecutor from the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office out of his courtroom during a sentencing hearing this week and demanded that the office’s leadership testify about who had authority over their actions.