Odds and Ends — 10 May 2026

preparedwombat(78)
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Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

South Korea crypto holdings halve in a year as investors turn to stock market

Banking Industry Says Clarity Act Stablecoin Proposal Would Enable 'Evasion'

Flash Fiction:

”My examination into the incident at our monthly sales results meeting yielded some surprising results.”

”More surprising than Mike from accounting suddenly grabbing the microphone from Kathy and singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ like he was Freddie Mercury come back to life? I’d like to hear you beat that!”

”Well, I spoke to Mike’s wife. He’s got a brain tumor that’s in his cerebral cortex that’s making him think he IS Freddie Mercury. He’s going in for surgery tomorrow.”

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Reinfection Raises Long COVID Risk in Children and Adolescents

Iran:

Checkmate in Iran

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition. The initial failure in Iraq was mitigated by a shift in strategy that ultimately left Iraq relatively stable and unthreatening to its neighbors and kept the United States dominant in the region.
Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be ‘open,’ as it once was.

Trump calls US strikes on Iran a ‘love tap’ after destroyers targeted in Strait of Hormuz

Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started

Trump is tired of the war, which has proved far more difficult and lasted far longer than he had expected. His party is warily watching rising gas prices and falling poll numbers. He doesn’t want to be bogged down in a Middle East conflict like some of his predecessors were. He doesn’t want it to upend his high-stakes summit next week in China. He is ready to move on.
But Iran, it seems, does not want the war to come to a close. Or at least not with any sort of outcome that could be acceptable to American negotiators. Trump is now in a bind. The president, five aides and outside advisers told me, is convinced that he can sell any sort of agreement as a win.

Politics:

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

———— Voting Rights Act Fallout ————

Samuel Alito Cited Fudged Data in His Ruling Gutting Voting Rights Act

Virginia Democrats to appeal ruling against redistricting to U.S. Supreme Court

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

———— Autocracy R Us ————


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

Grand Theft Oil Futures

At this point it’s almost routine: Almost every time Donald Trump makes a major announcement about the Iran War, that announcement is preceded — sometimes by only a few minutes — by huge and hugely profitable bets in the oil market…
What’s truly remarkable is that this keeps happening even though the pattern has become familiar. This tells us two things: The Trump administration is making no real effort to crack down on whoever is trading using inside information, and these inside traders are operating with a complete sense of impunity, assured that they can get away with it.

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

Appellate court appears skeptical of Arizona Sen. Kelly's censure by Hegseth

———— Mors Imperii ————

National Debt Has Soared Under Trump

You probably missed an obscure but important milestone our country hit last week: America’s debt passed 100 percent of our gross domestic product.
So what, you say? That sounds boring and technical. It’s actually really fucking important. It means that America’s accumulated debt — our impulse to borrow from other people to pay for the things we want and need — is now larger than the total size of the American economy. It shouldn’t take an economist to recognize this as bad and definitionally unsustainable.
The last time our deficit passed 100 percent of GDP, it was World War II. But when countries pass this milestone in ordinary times, it is a formula for decline that has accompanied the fall of republics and empires alike.

Trump's insane pet project shows he knows the end is imminent

Serendipity:

This post (and many of the comments to it) is a hoot:

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Badge thanks to arcange@arcange

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Odds and Ends — 10 May 2026 | Ecency