Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Wyoming highway patrol union mulls adding Bitcoin to balance sheet
South Korea to Start Lifting Ban on Corporations Trading Crypto
Coronavirus and Public Health:
The ascendancy of the anti-vaxxers may ultimately prove fleeting. But if the forces of science and health are to stage a comeback, it’s important to understand why those forces have gone into eclipse.
AI Uncovers Hidden Genetic Clues That Challenge COVID-19’s Origins
Politics:
The Path to American Authoritarianism
Donald Trump’s first election to the presidency in 2016 triggered an energetic defense of democracy from the American establishment. But his return to office has been met with striking indifference. Many of the politicians, pundits, media figures, and business leaders who viewed Trump as a threat to democracy eight years ago now treat those concerns as overblown—after all, democracy survived his first stint in office. In 2025, worrying about the fate of American democracy has become almost passé.
The timing of this mood shift could not be worse, for democracy is in greater peril today than at any time in modern U.S. history. America has been backsliding for a decade: between 2014 and 2021, Freedom House’s annual global freedom index, which scores all countries on a scale of zero to 100, downgraded the United States from 92 (tied with France) to 83 (below Argentina and tied with Panama and Romania), where it remains.
J.D. Vance Snubs German Chancellor
Vice President J.D. Vance will not meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference, marking a serious diplomatic rebuke to the leader of the host country at a time of heightened transatlantic tensions over a potential Ukraine peace deal.
Said one U.S. official: “We don’t need to see him, he won’t be chancellor long.”
Russia asks Elon Musk to hand over names of dissidents
Judicial Branch Swept Up In Trump-Musk Lease Termination Spree
Elements of the judicial branch, including public defender offices, have been caught up in the Trump administration’s headlong rush to terminate thousands of leases of government office space, TPM has learned. Unlike the vast majority of federal workers whose office leases are under review for termination, public defenders are not executive branch employees. They work for the judicial branch.
The prospect of President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE infringing on judicial branch operations and prerogatives raises the constitutional stakes as the new administration sidelines Congress and unilaterally shutters agencies, purges federal workers, and imposes spending freezes.
This is some serious projection: As judges block broad actions, White House says courts causing constitutional crisis
Trump opens the door to Putin’s grandest ambitions
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling
NATO allies are in a state of anger, denial and despair after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth effectively declared an end to America’s role as the primary guarantor of European security, particularly over Ukraine.
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Trump Sells Out Ukraine to Putin in Oval Office Surrender
Donald Trump’s press conference today was one of the most disgraceful moments in U.S. history, signaling a complete surrender to Vladimir Putin.
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The conflict isn’t over, but its fate now appears clear.
Ukraine’s president fears Donald Trump is keeping him out of the loop
We Served in the Military. Trump Has No Idea How Much Damage He’s Just Done to It.
Agency Fires Staff, Calls It an Error, Fires Them Again
…Donald Trump’s Small Business Administration told probationary staff members it had mistakenly sent them termination notices, and then informed some of them the next day that they were fired after all.
Stark raving mad:
Trump Threatens To ‘Look At’ Judges Blocking Musk’s DOGE Actions
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Why federal courts are unlikely to save democracy from Trump’s and Musk’s attacks
Blatant corruption: Trump administration set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas
MI5 lied to courts to protect violent neo-Nazi spy
Trump and Musk Hunt Selectively for Corruption
In this second incarnation as president, Mr. Trump is presenting himself as a born-again corruption fighter rooting out waste, fraud and abuse from all corners of the federal government — even as he is dismantling the government’s mechanisms for fighting corruption, as it has been traditionally defined.
The president is boasting that he and Elon Musk, his partner in the efficiency drive, have found ‘billions and billions of dollars’ of corrupt spending, although they have yet to provide evidence.
At the same time, his administration is dropping corruption cases against political figures with ties to him, firing inspectors general who actually search for abuse and pledging not to enforce a signature anti-corruption law against major corporations.
Serendipity:
Celebrities Protest Kanye West in Fake AI Video; Scarlett Johansson Makes Statement
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Freedom House referenced in "The Path to American Authoritarianism" was not a source I was familiar with so I went to there webpage and pulled up their Form 990.
https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/FH_2022_DISCLOSURE_WEB.pdf
Freedom House was a recipient of numerous Federal Grants, including from the now notorious "USAID".
https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/824260e8-8ada-fc2b-7a7c-cb10bc101106-R/latest
I continue to appreciate the breadth of topics you cover each day, it's an excellent resource.
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