Odds and Ends — 10 February 2025

in #oddsandends12 days ago (edited)


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

Figure AI Dumps OpenAI Deal After 'Major Breakthrough' in Robot Intelligence

Humanoid robotics company Figure AI promised to show "something no one has ever seen" within 30 days, after breaking from OpenAI.

Trump to Announce Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum

…Trump said he will announce 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum on Monday, adding that he would also kick off reciprocal tariffs in the days after.
Trump said that the steel and aluminum tariffs would impact ‘everybody’ when asked what countries would be affected.

J.D. Vance Says Judges Can’t Overrule Trump

It’s almost as if Vance was asleep at law school when Marbury v. Madison was discussed.

Inside the House GOP Clash Over Tax Cuts

Prominent House Republicans are privately warring over how to advance tax cuts that are expiring and President Donald Trump’s long list of other tax demands — with Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and deficit hard-liner Rep. Chip Roy locked in a struggle against Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans.


An efficient way to prompt rating agencies downgrades: Trump Says Musk Found ‘Irregularities’ in Treasuries

President Donald Trump suggested that Elon Musk’s government efficiency team has found irregularities in US treasuries, and intimated that may lead the US to disregard some.
Trump didn’t elaborate on what might be disregarded.

Trump Stiffs Farmers After He Freezes Funds

Farmers report missing millions of dollars of funding they were promised by the U.S. Agriculture Department, despite promises from the Trump administration that a federal funding freeze would not apply to projects directly benefiting individuals.

Trump Euphoria Is Fading Fast for CEOs and Bankers

It took less than a month for the second Trump administration to cool the enthusiasm of chief executives and dealmakers.
Consumer sentiment is down and inflation expectations are rising, driven in part by worries about the impact of a threatened trade war. The deals market just ended its quietest January in a decade. A Justice Department that was expected to wave through acquisitions instead sued to block a big technology merger.

China Imposes Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods

China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US, its embassy in Washington said on Sunday — hitting about $14bn worth of goods and dashing hopes that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies could be avoided.

Trump’s Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum

Media lawyers scoffed last year when President Trump sued two news organizations for producing journalism that, he claimed, violated laws meant to protect consumers from things like deceptive advertising.
They’re not laughing anymore.
First Amendment experts still believe that Mr. Trump’s cases, against CBS News and The Des Moines Register, lack legal merit. But they now also realize that the lawsuits are proving effective at harassing the press — and that more of them are probably on the way.

Trump Sparks Christian Backlash

…Trump “signed an executive order to open a White House Faith Office to be led by Paula White, his longtime spiritual adviser.
But the move sparked fury from Christian leaders who believe that White, a megachurch pastor from Florida, preaches an interpretation of the gospel that critics argue exploits the most vulnerable.
White teaches followers that God will reward them if they donate to her church, going as far as to suggest precise sums over a thousand dollars to ensure their ‘salvation.’

Serendipity:

Sri Lanka nationwide power cut

A nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a monkey that intruded into a power station south of Colombo.
Power is gradually being restored across the island nation of 22 million people, with medical facilities and water purification plants being given priority.
”A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system," Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters.

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Some monkey!

Prominent House Republicans are privately warring over how to advance tax cuts that are expiring and President Donald Trump’s long list of other tax demands — with Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and deficit hard-liner Rep. Chip Roy locked in a struggle against Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans.

There is hope in that