Odds and Ends — 19 April 2025

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

South Korean crypto emerges from failed coup into crackdown season

Trump Is Flirting With Economic Disaster

The Capital One merger with Discover just cleared a major hurdle

Coronavirus and Public Health:

The Trump Administration overhauled the Covid.gov website which now claims the virus was man-made in Wuhan, China and that Dr. Athony Fauci covered up its origins.

https://twitter.com/Travon/status/1913289216634630446
- Travon

https://twitter.com/DrNeilStone/status/1913187329944023205
- DrNeilStone

Politics:

Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Harvard Confrontation

Harvard University received an emailed letter from the Trump administration last Friday that included a series of demands about hiring, admissions and curriculum so onerous that school officials decided they had no choice but to take on the White House.
The university announced its intentions on Monday, setting off a tectonic battle between one of the country’s most prestigious universities and a U.S. president. Then, almost immediately, came a frantic call from a Trump official.
The April 11 letter from the White House’s task force on antisemitism, this official told Harvard, should not have been sent and was ‘unauthorized.’

Governor Can Lock In 400-Year School Funding Increase

The Democratic governor of Wisconsin’s creative use of his uniquely powerful veto can lock in a school funding increase for 400 years, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The split ruling from the liberal-controlled court affirms the partial veto power of Wisconsin governors, which is the broadest of any state and has been used by both Republicans and Democrats to reshape spending bills passed by the Legislature.
Wisconsin is the only state where governors can partially veto spending bills by striking words, numbers and punctuation to create new meaning or spending amounts. In most states, governors can only eliminate or reduce spending amounts.

https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1913002145798103222
- caitoz

Judge ‘Astounded’ Florida Cops Violated Her Order

A federal judge on Friday said she was ‘astounded’ that Florida authorities violated her order blocking them from enforcing a new state law that targets undocumented immigrants who enter the state.
During a hearing in Miami federal court, it was disclosed that many as 15 arrests have been made by Florida law enforcement officers over the past two weeks in violation of her April 4 order.

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/ConLawWarrior/status/1913194616607617123
- ConLawWarrior

Supreme Court Blocks Alien Enemies Act Deportations

The order came early Saturday after lawyers for the migrants asked the justices to step in on an emergency basis to halt their deportations as reports came that immigration officials began loading the detainees onto buses for deportation under the Alien Enemies Act.

https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1913281017349099784
- JoyceWhiteVance

The Bukele Playbook

In some ways, the core character of the Trump administration can be seen in two Oval Office press conferences with two young, informally-dressed foreign leaders. The first was with Volodymyr Zelensky, president of a country invaded and now partly occupied by Russia, who has courageously kept his country free from total Russian domination.
The second was with Nayib Bukele, a man who governs in a permanent emergency, has seized 83,000 people with no due process and put them in brutal gulags, strong-armed his Supreme Court to gain an unconstitutional second term, and is one of the worst human rights violators in Latin America.
So it’s obvious which one Trump and Vance prefer, isn’t it? They humiliated Zelensky while lavishing Bukele with encomiums for his collaboration in providing an extra-territorial, extra-judicial, concentration camp for whomever in America Trump wants to grab off the street, bundle into an airplane, and get Stephen Miller to call a terrorist. What’s not to like?

https://twitter.com/Strandjunker/status/1913352324275126448
- Strandjunker

https://twitter.com/Tyler_A_Harper/status/1913076140194893860
- Tyler_A_Harper

US judge halts Trump plan for rapid deportations to third countries

https://twitter.com/ArmandDoma/status/1913087809893863862
- ArmandDoma

It’s the Definition of Tyranny

We can talk endlessly about whether we’re still in a democracy or whether Trump wants to be or is acting like a dictator. We can debate words such as ‘fascism’ that were unknown before a century ago. But what we are seeing right now is the definition of tyranny, a half-archaic concept the founders of the American Republic were very familiar with.
Trump’s rule is both lawless and arbitrary. He has taken the bundle of powers the Constitution provides him to govern and defend the Constitution and turned them to an entirely different and corrupt purpose: using them as weapons to attack the people and institutions he deems his enemies.

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1913261629753418095
- itsJeffTiedrich

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1912916854248534422
- TheOnion

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

https://twitter.com/FreightAlley/status/1913035787634901263
- FreightAlley

Xi Jinping Is Ghosting Trump

The global economy hinges on a phone call that hasn’t even been scheduled.
As the Trump administration escalates its trade war, and as China retaliates, the American president and his aides say they are expecting Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, to call.
But Mr. Xi is ghosting Mr. Trump. He has flown instead to Southeast Asia this week to meet with leaders there to try to persuade them to stand with China in the trade war.

https://twitter.com/ClaudetteGGibs1/status/1913075468342882474
- ClaudetteGGibs1

https://twitter.com/cafreiman/status/1913188999977463881
- cafreiman

———— Musk and DOGE ————

Tesla speeds up odometers to avoid warranty repairs, U.S. lawsuit claims

https://twitter.com/akafaceUS/status/1913050481544614228
- akafaceUS

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

Trump ranted to aides about washing his hands of Russia-Ukraine

US will abandon Ukraine peace push if no progress soon, Trump and Rubio say

https://twitter.com/NijhuisClaretta/status/1913214202421837854
- NijhuisClaretta

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1913318302740267324
- Angry_Staffer

Administration’s Dubious Trustworthiness Permeates Hearing On Trump Election Order

https://twitter.com/ferald_gord/status/1912927490026185019
- ferald_gord

The Movement to Prosecute Women Who Have Abortions Is Growing

Long considered a fringe belief in the anti-abortion movement, “abortion abolitionist” bills that would criminalize ending a pregnancy have been introduced in at least 13 states.