Odds and Ends — 28 October 2026

preparedwombat(78)

Published in

#oddsandends

Words

596

Reading

3 min

Listen to this post

~4 min

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

Ripple wins final US approval for national trust bank

Goldman, BlackRock Alumni Raise $4 Million to Put Farm and Apartment Loans Onchain

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Study suggests gut microbiome determines vaccine reaction

Iran:

Iran sees only unacceptable ideas in latest mediation to end war, official says

https://x.com/davegreenidge57/status/2114767639583010827

Politics:

Murkowski Endorses Democrat for Alaska Governor

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

The ‘Big-Ass Truck’ Vote

Donald Trump won big in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley in 2024—but now Latino voters are turning on him.

https://x.com/NowTheEndBegins/status/2114806803858968877

Ken Paxton’s ‘October Surprises’ Are Pure Disinformation

As polls for the Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico remain tight, right-wing influencers, media outlets, and Paxton campaign surrogates have taken their shot at ginning up an ‘October surprise‘ by spreading at least two extraordinary stories aimed to discredit Talarico.
The first was that Talarico, who was taking time off the campaign trail early this month to recover from the flu, had actually checked into a psychiatric hospital in Ohio due to a mental breakdown. The second, which unfolded as early voting kicked off, involved unsolicited text messages and mailers sent to Texan voters regarding resources for transgender youth—a topic that Paxton has said is his best line of political attack and that his campaign’s largest financial backer, Elon Musk, has hammered Talarico on in recent weeks.
But both stories turned out to be disinformation, spread maliciously or recklessly in many cases by amateur-ish ‘influencers’ whose shoddy work was easily exposed.

https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2114530824905212083

https://x.com/IbbetsonRoss/status/2115150012304802040

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump restricting voting by mail in ways that could have thrown the upcoming midterms into chaos. But the White House originally had far more disruptive plans.
According to several people knowledgeable about the discussions, the administration initially floated an idea that would have virtually shut down mail voting: requiring all ballots to be delivered exclusively through certified mail. The proposal — which would have required voters to be home and sign for delivery of their ballots — was ultimately abandoned, after vehement Postal Service objections that it would have been impossible to execute.

https://x.com/SarahBurris/status/2115162527034175836

The US Government Is Hiding a Secret Court Ruling About How It Spies on Americans

Two Democratic senators who have long overseen U.S. intelligence say the Trump administration is illegally withholding a secret court’s findings from Congress until lawmakers renew a program that lets federal agents read Americans’ communications without a warrant.
Seven months ago, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court objected to search filters that let intelligence analysts pull Americans’ messages from intercepted data without the approvals, written justifications, or records the law requires. The court approved another year of surveillance anyway. The ruling has never been made public, and Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Adam Schiff of California say the administration’s own deadline for releasing it passed in September.

Documents support claim ICE has detained a mentally ill US citizen since January

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2115195606394392843

https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/2115163371385327826