Odds and Ends — 18 February 2026

preparedwombat(78)
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Adventures in Round Number Bias:

Yesterday, I passed the 100,000 Hive Power mark.

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

Bitcoin's plunge signals coming AI crisis, but massive Fed response will drive new record high: Arthur Hayes

The great computer science exodus (and where students are going instead)

California Begins Enforcing State-Level Crypto Licensing With DFAL

Flash Fiction:

”Preparations are on schedule. All systems are nominal.”

”Um, why are you talking like someone at NASA’s Mission Control?”

”Ten, nine, we have ignition sequence start. The engines are on. Four, three, two, one.”

”Well guess what! The grill is ready for steaks.”

”We have commit. We have liftoff!”

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

FDA reverses course and will review Moderna’s mRNA flu shot

Politics:

Trump's immigration approval hits new low, according to Reuters/Ipsos poll

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

ICE officials knew use of force was rising well before Minneapolis shootings

Internal agency emails show a surge in reports of ICE officers using more force going back nearly a year, but DHS leadership did not see it as a concern to be addressed.

———— Jesse Jackson ————

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

———— Palantir ————

———— Lindsay Graham ————

———— Concentration Camps————

Trump’s Deportation Goals Collide with Reality

Trump campaigned in 2024 on overseeing ‘the largest deportation in the history of our country.’ He has frequently said that his Administration is deporting ‘the worst of the worst criminals.’ Yet those two goals have proven to be incompatible.
In reality, tens of thousands of people with no criminal record or pending criminal charges have been being pulled off the streets by immigration agents and put into detention centers. If that pattern were to stop, the Trump Administration’s deportation stats would likely plummet.

———— Autocracy R Us ————

The cruelty is the point:

ICE Expands Watchlist Effort

Angry Trump Humiliated as Effort to Prosecute Dems Backfires Again

A grand jury laughed Trump’s prosecutors out of court—but new details about these nakedly political prosecutions reveal serious abuses of power that are no laughing matter.

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

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

Even Stevie Wonder can see that Russia has no interest in peace: 'Difficult' Russia-Ukraine peace talks end without breakthrough

North Korean POWs stuck in Ukraine as Seoul hesitates

———— Iran ————

———— Melon Husk ————

Elon Musk says it's 'highly likely' humans figure out how to reverse aging — but there's 'some benefit to death'

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

———— Mors Imperii ————

Europe and Canada Are Like the Kids in an Ugly Divorce

Europe and Canada seek “strategic balance” between Washington and Beijing but often just get caught in the middle.

Serendipity:

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Badge thanks to arcange@arcange

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Odds and Ends — 18 February 2026 | Ecency