Odds and Ends — 20 September 2025

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

Coinbase rejects banks’ $6tn stablecoins warning

https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1968891509580722400

Paul Atkins is laying the groundwork for a major regulatory overhaul that could tilt the balance of power between public companies and their shareholders in favor of corporate America. In his first year as Securities and Exchange Commission chair, Atkins is acting quickly to pull back on how much information Wall Street giants, gadflies and the public at large may get about a company’s financial health as well as their ability to take those companies to court.

Why Publicly Traded Caliber Is Building a Chainlink Treasury

Coronavirus and Public Health:

CDC advisers weaken COVID vaccine recommendations but stop short of requiring prescriptions

Politics:

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/1969076944734941598

A Rogue Nation on the High Seas

Trump is treating the military like his personal mercenaries.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1969077037567475867

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/TheReelRandom/status/1969114513635975341

https://twitter.com/EastEndJoe/status/1969086660148167030

———— Charlie Kirk ————

https://twitter.com/DerekNeverFails/status/1969041438814937125

https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1969134661256262008

This Is It

If you were writing a hackneyed novel or film about an authoritarian America, it would go exactly like this: a figure close to the regime is assassinated, a massive shrill and sanctimonious hue and cry rises over the martyred dead, hysteria is whipped up about terrorism and public disorder, leaders in the regime and movement promise vengeance, private citizens are mobbed and lose their jobs for expressing anti-regime sentiments at the encouragement of regime officials and regime-aligned demagogues, and, then, the power of the state is brought to bear against public figures who oppose and criticize the regime. This is exactly what’s happening now.

https://twitter.com/TalbertSwan/status/1968750438804533732

https://twitter.com/JeffreyASachs/status/1969053454778675621

———— Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee ————

https://twitter.com/DemocraticWins/status/1969024685682643415

Ted Cruz is an asshole but even assholes sometimes get it right: Ted Cruz Calls FCC’s Actions ‘Dangerous as Hell’

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1969024042926547421

https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1968809055750705612

‘Andor’ Writer Dan Gilroy On Disney Suspending Jimmy Kimmel & Hollywood Facing “Venomous Evil”: “This Isn’t A Skirmish. It’s A Siege”

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1969041422641938851

https://twitter.com/PaulRudnickNY/status/1969131009498087557

———— Autocracy R Us ————

https://twitter.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/1968834269301596207

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1968812997167435982

Trump Says Critical Coverage of Him Is ‘Really Illegal’

…Trump said Friday that news reporters who cover his administration negatively have broken the law, a significant broadening of his attacks on journalists and their First Amendment right to critique the government. A day after asserting that broadcasters should potentially lose their licenses over negative news coverage of him, Mr. Trump escalated his condemnations of the press, suggesting reporters were lawbreakers.

https://twitter.com/Victorshi2020/status/1968799109759820112

Trump Takes a Page From the World’s Autocrats

A comedian steps onto the stage and makes a joke or barbed comment that offends a powerful leader. Or maybe it’s a cartoon or television program that pushes buttons. Regardless, the targets and their ilk accuse the creators and their bosses of violating moral standards and national virtues. Then the state cracks down. The authorities issue threats, exert financial pressure and hint at shutdowns, as the humorists hire lawyers, executives cower and everyone learns the obvious: Nothing negative or embarrassing will be allowed about the government or its friends. Those who live in China, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela are familiar with this scenario. Each is governed with various levels of authoritarianism; all have seen comedians, broadcasters, journalists and cartoonists squeezed toward silence.

https://twitter.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1969065571233710329

https://twitter.com/matthewamiller/status/1968881901805969485

David Letterman’s Jimmy Kimmel Reaction: ‘We All See Where This Is Going, Correct?’

https://twitter.com/preparedwombat/status/1969091042583396657

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1968881446791074024

———— Jerk Gonna Jerk ————

https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1969153891359981959

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1968852898235797939

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1969046231327351035

https://twitter.com/WarMonitor3/status/1969096562769813709

https://twitter.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/1969084394167042490

15 Reasons Why We Know Trump Supports Putin

There’s been a lot of speculation about Trump’s special relationship with Russia’s autocratic leader. The best way to understand it is simply to examine what Trump says and does.

https://twitter.com/albafella1/status/1968952971384741931

https://twitter.com/GicAriana/status/1968915519148273927

https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1968983591502635265

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

https://twitter.com/maziehirono/status/1968753509462954010

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1968787084438536311

The U.S. Is Quietly Pausing Some Arms Sales to Europe

Pentagon Demands Journalists Take Pledge

The Trump administration unveiled a new crackdown Friday on journalists at the Pentagon, saying it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey.