Odds and Ends — 23 January 2026

Our air temperature this morning is -17°F or -27°C. A -37°F windchill is -38°C windchill. Fun fact: -40° is the only place that Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same.

It would be a shame if a bunch of our ICE invaders got frostbite today. A damn shame.

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

Binance applies for MiCA license in Greece as EU deadlines loom

Former FTX crypto executive Caroline Ellison released from federal custody

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Solving Long COVID: How Decades of HIV Research Paved the Way

U.S. Formally Withdraws from World Health Organization

Politics:

https://twitter.com/JakobSkouboe/status/2014263114653405379
- JakobSkouboe

Kash Patel Ousts More FBI Agents

FBI Director Kash Patel has carried out another purge of the bureau’s senior ranks, forcing out field office leaders and other senior agents connected to the two criminal investigations of Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/DaniMayakovski/status/2014224027464634801
- DaniMayakovski

———— JV Comes to Town ————

Good luck with that: Vance Says He’ll Try to Calm Tensions in Minneapolis

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/2014356880273912298
- lrozen

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/2014400189583241630
- cmclymer

https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/2014433099980157385
- jonlovett

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/2014428085173485632
- WedgeLIVE

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2014430132342047105
- atrupar

https://twitter.com/ReneeLibby95084/status/2014440492306469048
- ReneeLibby95084

https://twitter.com/BrianaRoseLee/status/2014450498724589870
- BrianaRoseLee

https://twitter.com/BulwarkOnline/status/2014429395599983030
- BulwarkOnline

———— Minnesota Under Siege————

https://twitter.com/D_Farmer/status/2014094647476232582
- D_Farmer

https://twitter.com/NortonMpls/status/2014344764326371351
- NortonMpls

https://twitter.com/KSTP/status/2014442156245581862
- KSTP

https://twitter.com/MikeNellis/status/2014472735850643890
- MikeNellis

Why Conservatives Defend ICE

The president has unleashed something akin to an occupying army that feels entitled to brutalize the population and routinely ignore the law. For those communities quaking in terror, simply waiting three years for a new president is not sufficient. Violence is not the answer, but calling out Trump for fomenting it, and advising Minnesotans to record agents on the streets, seems like a measured response.
Conservatives are making the same error they made during the civil-rights era, when outlets such as National Review dismissed protesters as criminals. It is fair enough to give law enforcement some benefit of the doubt, but treating its actions as presumptively legitimate even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary gives license to the sort of despotism that is staring us in the face.

https://twitter.com/RuthHay64857104/status/2014494284058124477
- RuthHay64857104

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/2014204718227112279
- rgoodlaw

I am taking part in this general strike: Minnesotans strike to protest ICE surge in state: ‘No work, no school, no shopping’

https://twitter.com/lydiakauppi/status/2014476986911965425
- lydiakauppi

https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/2014432818898862245
- morninggloria

———— Jack Smith ————

https://twitter.com/AhmedBaba_/status/2014359112759279868
- AhmedBaba_

Jack Smith makes first public defense of Trump indictments

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/2014385690344059339
- krassenstein

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/2014396437186908259
- kylegriffin1

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2014398901315383801
- atrupar

'I will not be intimidated': Jack Smith says he'll stand up to Trump despite attacks

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2014420185558528470
- RonFilipkowski

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2014381352808742922
- TheMaineWonk

https://twitter.com/OurShallowState/status/2014393976200298678
- OurShallowState

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/2014379548452819351
- WUTangKids

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2014416164630434239
- Acyn

———— Lying with A.I. ————

https://twitter.com/BMeiselas/status/2014390332784574831
- BMeiselas

https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/2014447783625842898
- KlasfeldReports

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/2014480077514248408
- RVAwonk

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/2014495110256279879
- SethAbramson

https://twitter.com/adgirlMM/status/2014525735508312101
- adgirlMM

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/2014129395217088525
- JonLemire

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/2014372605449416780
- justinamash

https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2014404871449964615
- ReichlinMelnick

https://twitter.com/SeidelContent/status/2014464885397029354
- SeidelContent

Officers at Texas immigration detention facility accused of beatings and sexual abuse

https://twitter.com/RYP__/status/2014139472124993744
- RYP__

Trump Demands Ilhan Omar Be Investigated for ‘Political Crimes’

https://twitter.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2014141112592617549
- DarrigoMelanie

———— Bored of Peace ————

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2014343144691642609
- covie_93

https://twitter.com/Dispropoganda/status/2014325221625336318
- Dispropoganda

https://twitter.com/Daractenus/status/2014300469946966315
- Daractenus

https://twitter.com/allenanalysis/status/2014352062427889724
- allenanalysis

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/2014473716407927089
- donwinslow

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2014173655991800255
- covie_93

Watching a Superpower Die By Suicide

Across the first three weeks of 2026, and especially yesterday, President Trump’s Mad King rantings about Greenland have accelerated into something far more stunning and alarming: We are watching in real-time as a superpower dies by suicide — an all-but unprecedented choice to self-immolate and torch the country’s remaining global trust and friendships.
The entire world order we built across eighty years, a never-before-seen geopolitical success that has been tended and fostered by Republican and Democratic administrations across a dozen presidencies, has been sacrificed this week on the altar of Donald Trump’s legacy-mad narcissism.