Odds and Ends — 18 May 2026

I recently decided to get around to reading some of the classics I’ve just never gotten around to. Finished The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday and now getting started on Moby-Dick. I’m woefully under read for the great Russians. I read War and Peace 30-some years ago but other than that and some Chekhov short stories, I’ve got many to get to. And one of these days, I want to tackle Ulysses but it’s daunting and I might have to ease into Joyce with Dubliners. If memory serves, I’ve yet to read anything by Jane Austen.

“So many books. So little time.” — Frank Zappa

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

https://twitter.com/OrevaZSN/status/2055993046261448991
- OrevaZSN

Saylor’s Strategy scoops $2B Bitcoin, holdings reach 843,738 BTC

https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/2054726915609489516
- FrankConniff

China’s economy loses steam in April as retail sales hit 40-month low

https://twitter.com/CostaKapo/status/2055647181676126390
- CostaKapo

Bitcoin Slides Under $77K as Crypto Liquidations Top $672M Amid Bond Sell-Off

Analysts flagged that geopolitical shocks no longer "hit crypto directly" thanks to institutional transmission via ETF flows.

https://twitter.com/k1rallik/status/2055750533986836883
- k1rallik

Coronavirus and Public Health:

‘We’re not ready’: US lags on pandemic preparedness after Covid

Iran:

https://twitter.com/Menergyfuture/status/2055917770961785240
- Menergyfuture

https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/2055188936377385437
- thatdayin1992

U.S. Commander Dismisses Reports of Civilian Deaths

The senior U.S. officer overseeing combat operations in Iran told the Senate on Thursday that the military had identified only one potential incident in which Iranian civilians were mistakenly killed out of about 13,600 U.S. airstrikes, a statement that human rights groups and some lawmakers said was not remotely credible.

https://twitter.com/andrewperezdc/status/2055037763100041348
- andrewperezdc

Politics:

https://twitter.com/JoshEakle/status/2055105128361857407
- JoshEakle

https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/2055207403503669356
- PhillipsPOBrien

Xi Jinping Was Only Humoring Trump

In Beijing, a lame-duck president personified the decline of American power.

https://twitter.com/ItsTheEnforcer/status/2055763314014069210
- ItsTheEnforcer

https://twitter.com/ItsTheEnforcer/status/2055076101979070523
- ItsTheEnforcer

———— Tina Peters ————

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/2055401303963013125
- cmclymer

https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/2055411877811818851
- theliamnissan

https://twitter.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/2055675251074486563
- Needle_of_Arya

https://twitter.com/jimstewartson/status/2055468712929734866
- jimstewartson

https://twitter.com/hissgoescobra/status/2055434618397159650
- hissgoescobra

https://twitter.com/crunchyrugger/status/2055470437962768778
- crunchyrugger

https://twitter.com/DeepNotShallow/status/2056199990511558750
- DeepNotShallow

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

https://twitter.com/CentristMadness/status/2055376450627494117
- CentristMadness

———— Cuba ————

https://twitter.com/slayerofhate444/status/2056077762482274396
- slayerofhate444

https://twitter.com/AlabamaBobbycue/status/2056143411153879183
- AlabamaBobbycue

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Trump-Ordered Citizenship Lists for Voting Are Not Reliable

Citizenship lists that the Trump administration has ordered be compiled and shared with state election officials this year are likely to be incomplete and unreliable for determining voter eligibility, the Justice Department told a federal judge on Thursday.
The admission, in Federal District Court in Washington, came in a lawsuit challenging an executive order President Trump signed in March that would create state registries of citizens using federal data, and require the U.S. Postal Service to regulate mail-in voting.