Odds and Ends — 17 March 2026

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

The $265 billion private credit meltdown: How Wall Street’s hottest investment craze turned into a panic

https://twitter.com/calvinfroedge/status/2033526985276756028
- calvinfroedge

Decentralized compute has failed, so far

https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2033650722890543445
- TheMaineWonk

Flash Fiction:

It might never be as well-known as Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, but our town’s annual carrot eating contest is a lot more fun to watch because it’s really two contests in one, Most Eaten (measured by weight) and Best Rabbit Costume (as judged by the members of our Ladies of the Abundant Carrot Fields chapter). For the last 17 years, the two categories had different winners but this year Gus Merriwen took both first place awards. Unfortunately, the man has become insufferable. The honor has gone to his head.

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Judge Strikes Down RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policies

In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.

Iran:

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2033517137604546797
- RonFilipkowski

https://twitter.com/HQNewsNow/status/2033539067992744116
- HQNewsNow

https://twitter.com/shanaka86/status/2033660103375856059
- shanaka86

https://twitter.com/AaronParnas/status/2033672178567086250
- AaronParnas

Top Counterterrorism Official Resigns

Joe Kent, one of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the Iran war and what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

https://twitter.com/GoUncensored/status/2033911506052534469
- GoUncensored

https://twitter.com/NuryVittachi/status/2033487227196707052
- NuryVittachi

https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/2033536506971959521
- HeerJeet

https://twitter.com/DeeOneAyekooto/status/2033592212915716418
- DeeOneAyekooto

Trump Upset as Key U.S. Partners Shun His Call for Help

“Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”

https://twitter.com/20committee/status/2033530805037789268
- 20committee

https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/2033611810989859004
- NotHoodlum

Iran Will Define Trump’s Legacy

Two weeks in, it appears to be a stalemate. Devastating airstrikes have not broken the mullahs’ will to resist. The effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the global turmoil in energy and stock markets haven’t shaken Mr. Trump’s resolve.
For the president, the question is whether he pulls back or dives deeper in. The answer will define his place in history. If the U.S. pulls back from the new Gulf war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz and achieving goals like securing Iran’s nuclear materials, the consequences for Mr. Trump’s power and prestige, at home and abroad, will be profound. ‘Trump always chickens out’ won’t merely be an insult his enemies hurl at him. It will be carved on his tombstone.
Yet to advance further into the chaos of an escalating and widening war holds other risks. Unless American forces can break Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the economic consequences of the war will inexorably grow.

https://twitter.com/FrankenforIowa/status/2033522629106155832
- FrankenforIowa

https://twitter.com/eakenbor/status/2033582857487102172
- eakenbor

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/2033676854561780210
- shashj

Baghdad Don

There’s a real Baghdad Bob feel to pronouncements from the Trump administration these days. The war is going great! We’ve been totally victorious! Also, other countries — including China! — must immediately send ships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. Navy isn’t doing because it’s too dangerous.
But this has been the pattern ever since Trump returned to power. Despite repeated failures to deliver on his campaign promises — remember how he was going to cut energy prices in half? — he and his minions have continually insisted that everything is wonderful, that everything they do is a triumphant success story. And he’s still doing it.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2033657590715191394
- RonFilipkowski

https://twitter.com/BladeoftheS/status/2033655754620588542
- BladeoftheS

https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/2033566389978423382
- ilangoldenberg

https://twitter.com/ArmstrongEcon/status/2033313493877743786
- ArmstrongEcon

Politics:

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/2033584263673598066
- samstein

https://twitter.com/NiallStanage/status/2033590134944182438
- NiallStanage

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/2033656363734221249
- atrupar

Trump Loses One Battle After Another

President Donald Trump is increasingly at the mercy of forces he unleashed but can’t control — so he’s taking aim at the umpires.
Gas prices surging. Unemployment climbing. War with Iran threatening to engulf his presidency. The fracturing of his political coalition. The collapse of his signature trade-negotiations-by-tariff strategy. Relentless scrutiny of the Epstein files. A public backlash to his agenda that could swamp Republicans in the midterms. Failure after failure to criminalize the conduct of his political adversaries.
So it was, in a fit of Sunday night fury that set Washington’s armchair psychoanalysts ablaze, that the president channeled his rage at the few functioning checks on his power: the media, independent regulators and — most pointedly — the federal judiciary.