Odds and Ends — 2 September 2025

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

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Nine Former CDC Directors Say RFK Jr. Endangering Everyone

“This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.”

Politics:

OFCOL: Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Push for Compensation

In the past several weeks, the rioters and their lawyers have pushed the Trump administration to pay them restitution for what they believe were unfair prosecutions. On Thursday, one of the lawyers, Mark McCloskey, said during a public meeting on social media that he had recently met with top officials at the Justice Department and pitched them on a plan to create a special panel that would dole out financial damages to the rioters — much like the arrangement of a special master to award money to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In windy Iowa, a GOP lawmaker faces a reckoning over Trump’s clean energy war

President Donald Trump’s bid to kill wind power is straining the clean energy industry — and imperiling GOP lawmakers whose communities have seen wind as an economic boon. !Few of those lawmakers are more endangered than Iowa’s Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Hailing from a state that gets nearly two-thirds of its electricity from wind turbines while paying some of the lowest power bills in the nation, Miller-Meeks has been a leading GOP champion in the House for an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy supporting the growth of renewables alongside fossil fuels. But she also cast a crucial vote for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which wiped out billions of dollars in wind’s economic incentives — throwing Iowa’s 50-plus wind-related companies into uncertainty.

A Spectacular Diplomatic Disaster

America has spent decades trying to cultivate good relations with India, which could be a useful counterweight to China. Now we have a nearly complete rupture, with India actually cozying up to China. And what was that about? Apparently Trump, in his bizarre pursuit of a Nobel peace prize, tried to bully Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, into giving him undeserved credit for a cease-fire between India and Pakistan. The two men haven’t talked since.

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/L_Toczylowski/status/1962362191581266310

U.S. Sliding Towards 1930s-Style Autocracy

Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio has warned Donald Trump’s America is drifting into 1930s-style autocratic politics — and said other investors are too scared of the president to speak up. Said Dalio: “I think that what is happening now politically and socially is analogous to what happened around the world in the 1930-40 period.” He added: “I am just describing the cause and effect relationships that are driving what is happening,” he said. “And by the way, during such times most people are silent because they are afraid of retaliation if they criticize.”

———— Where’s Donald? ————

https://twitter.com/morgfair/status/1962313376576700908

https://twitter.com/TotaLinsanity1/status/1962520713924858364

It’s time to have a serious conversation about Trump’s health

After he was glimpsed from a distance by the White House press pool leaving to golf on Saturday, social media Carrie Mathisons picked apart his golf photos wondering whether the White House was circulating old photos of the president on the links. Uncharacteristically, during the golf outing, he never even wandered up to the press pool to rant or rave about recent world headlines. Illinois governor JB Pritzker trolled Trump by demanding a proof-of-life photo. On Sunday, group chats around the capital lit up with a 31-tweet-long thread by a crypto investor named Adam Cochran alleging that Trump was in ill health. This morning, the press corps was kept about 100 yards from the president.

https://twitter.com/Mteuzi/status/1962418060025102534

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1962608890505212101

———— Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. ————

https://twitter.com/AntiTrumpCanada/status/1962491146296291624

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1962574467529421074

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/1962631363825189289

———— Gaza ————

Scholars Say Israel Committing Genocide

The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

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

Trump Hints at Shaking Down ABC News for More

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/ArturRehi/status/1962438152158671092

https://twitter.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1962679214202823028

Weapons Buildup More Potent Than Security Guarantee

Ukraine is pursuing a multibillion-dollar arms buildup that would be funded by Europe, seeing it as the best chance of ensuring the country’s long-term survival as American assistance dries up and Western security guarantees remain uncertain. Kyiv wants not only to sustain its army through the current war but also to make it the backbone of any postwar settlement, with the goal of deterring Russia from invading again. As Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, recently put it: “Ukraine must become a steel porcupine, undigestible for potential invaders.”

https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1962745559720026607

https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1962755292115898405

———— Melon Husk ————

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1962507852251046338

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

The Enemy That Hegseth and Trump Insist on Honoring

The U.S. won the Civil War. So why is the administration so keen on the Confederate side?

———— Mors Imperii ————

U.S. Population Could Shrink for the First Time Ever

The math is straightforward. Population growth has two sources: natural increase (births minus deaths) and net immigration (arrivals minus departures). Last year, births outnumbered deaths by 519,000 people. That means any decline in net immigration in excess of half a million could push the U.S. into population decline. A recent analysis of Census data by the Pew Research Center found that between January and June, the US foreign-born population fell for the first time in decades by more than one million. While some economists have questioned the report, a separate analysis by the American Enterprise Institute predicted that net migration in 2025 could be as low as negative 525,000. In either case, annual population growth this year could easily turn negative. This would be a historic first. For nearly 250 years, America has only known growth.

Serendipity:

Sheriff Who Inspired ‘Walking Tall’ Movie Killed His Wife, Inquiry Says

Buford Pusser, who was portrayed in the 1973 hit movie, led people to believe that his wife was ambushed by his enemies, cold-case investigators in Tennessee said.