Odds and Ends — 10 February 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Figure AI Dumps OpenAI Deal After 'Major Breakthrough' in Robot Intelligence
Humanoid robotics company Figure AI promised to show "something no one has ever seen" within 30 days, after breaking from OpenAI.
https://twitter.com/mcsquared34/status/1888340069536420240
CZ admits Binance token listing process is flawed, needs reform
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Women Face Much Higher Risk of Long COVID, But Why?
Politics:
https://twitter.com/NAFORaccoon/status/1888435301669892440
Trump to Announce Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum
…Trump said he will announce 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum on Monday, adding that he would also kick off reciprocal tariffs in the days after.
Trump said that the steel and aluminum tariffs would impact ‘everybody’ when asked what countries would be affected.
https://twitter.com/ArtCandee/status/1888625569543119201
J.D. Vance Says Judges Can’t Overrule Trump
It’s almost as if Vance was asleep at law school when Marbury v. Madison was discussed.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1888579870520688838
Inside the House GOP Clash Over Tax Cuts
Prominent House Republicans are privately warring over how to advance tax cuts that are expiring and President Donald Trump’s long list of other tax demands — with Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and deficit hard-liner Rep. Chip Roy locked in a struggle against Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans.
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1888605553900782004
https://twitter.com/jimcraddock/status/1888590952660353498
https://twitter.com/LuxFella/status/1888697405257699701
An efficient way to prompt rating agencies downgrades: Trump Says Musk Found ‘Irregularities’ in Treasuries
President Donald Trump suggested that Elon Musk’s government efficiency team has found irregularities in US treasuries, and intimated that may lead the US to disregard some.
Trump didn’t elaborate on what might be disregarded.
https://twitter.com/thejackhopkins/status/1888497444188549141
Trump Stiffs Farmers After He Freezes Funds
Farmers report missing millions of dollars of funding they were promised by the U.S. Agriculture Department, despite promises from the Trump administration that a federal funding freeze would not apply to projects directly benefiting individuals.
https://twitter.com/DailyRapFacts/status/1888762509907153232
https://twitter.com/PrincessBravato/status/1888756249468309924
Trump Euphoria Is Fading Fast for CEOs and Bankers
It took less than a month for the second Trump administration to cool the enthusiasm of chief executives and dealmakers.
Consumer sentiment is down and inflation expectations are rising, driven in part by worries about the impact of a threatened trade war. The deals market just ended its quietest January in a decade. A Justice Department that was expected to wave through acquisitions instead sued to block a big technology merger.
https://twitter.com/stacycay/status/1887989986219401712
China Imposes Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods
China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US, its embassy in Washington said on Sunday — hitting about $14bn worth of goods and dashing hopes that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies could be avoided.
https://twitter.com/woofknight/status/1888401349139689980
Trump’s Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum
Media lawyers scoffed last year when President Trump sued two news organizations for producing journalism that, he claimed, violated laws meant to protect consumers from things like deceptive advertising.
They’re not laughing anymore.
First Amendment experts still believe that Mr. Trump’s cases, against CBS News and The Des Moines Register, lack legal merit. But they now also realize that the lawsuits are proving effective at harassing the press — and that more of them are probably on the way.
Trump Sparks Christian Backlash
…Trump “signed an executive order to open a White House Faith Office to be led by Paula White, his longtime spiritual adviser.
But the move sparked fury from Christian leaders who believe that White, a megachurch pastor from Florida, preaches an interpretation of the gospel that critics argue exploits the most vulnerable.
White teaches followers that God will reward them if they donate to her church, going as far as to suggest precise sums over a thousand dollars to ensure their ‘salvation.’
https://twitter.com/DrewPavlou/status/1888409183021937090
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/AfricanArchives/status/1888288821986340873
Sri Lanka nationwide power cut
A nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a monkey that intruded into a power station south of Colombo.
Power is gradually being restored across the island nation of 22 million people, with medical facilities and water purification plants being given priority.
”A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system," Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters.
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Some monkey!
There is hope in that