Odds and Ends — 4 January 2025

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

FDIC Took Issue With Banks Using Public Blockchains Like Ethereum, FOIA Docs Reveal

Nazi Ties to Credit Suisse Ran Deeper Than Was Known

A cache of client files stamped ‘American blacklist,’ a designation for those financing or trading with Nazis or Axis partners, was recently found by independent investigators probing Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland’s biggest banks and now part of UBS.
The investigators, who studied dusty ledgers and pored over microfilm that hadn’t been part of earlier reviews into the dark chapter, found something else, too: signs of a coverup.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Oh, joy. My wife just tested positive for Covid.

Covid surges across US after holidays amid low booster uptake

Politics:

Honduras Threatens to Expel U.S. Military

Honduras’s president threatened to push the U.S. military out of a base it built decades ago in the Central American country should President-elect Donald Trump carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants from the United States.
Said President Xiomara Castro: “Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military arena.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1875256438123332087

The Coming Storm on Capitol Hill

Washington is geared up for a big debate over trillions of dollars in tax cuts. It’s going to be long, slow and messy.
As the utter chaos that erupted as lawmakers struggled to write a year-end bill to fund the government demonstrated, the GOP has a tenuous grip on the House. President-elect Donald Trump has a penchant for chaos. And Republicans are at odds over a long list of issues, beginning with whether they should take up tax first this year or immigration.
After weeks of negotiations, it looks like they’ll begin with the border.

Narendra Modi’s Populist Façade is Cracking