Manchin Rewarded for PEU Service

Former West Virginia Blue Team Senator Joe Manchin told CNN's Michael Smerconish that the filibuster enabled the Senate to produce better legislation by including the minority.  

Smerconish credited Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema for saving the filibuster under the Biden administration.  The filibuster specifically saved private equity underwriters' (PEU) preferred "carried interest" taxation for what feels like the tenth time.

Weeks after retiring from the Senate Manchin landed several plum PEU positions.  Manchin became an advisor for Apollo, a PEU giant and joined the board of Athene, a massive capital pool controlled by Apollo.

A month after exiting public service Manchin joined Bondi Partners, a D.C. based strategic advisory firm which markets itself as connected to PEUs and even has its own 1941 Fund.

Bondi's founder noted:

Washington DC is the modern day Rome, it’s the epicentre of politics, and Joe Manchin has been in the middle of it for more than two decades....

The Manchin decades saw the meteoric rise of PEUs, whose founders learned how to steer government policy while mining Uncle Sam's wallet.

Three months after leaving the collegial U.S. Senate Manchin joined the Ramaco Resources Board of Directors.  Ramaco is 25% owned by Yorktown Partners, an energy focused PEU.  A Ramaco proxy statement from April 30, 2025 noted:

Joseph Manchin III, age 77, has served as a director of our Company since April 18, 2025. He has served on the Board of Athene Holding Ltd. since February 2025 and is a member of Athene’s legal and regulatory committee. Senator Manchin has served as an adviser to Apollo since February 2025.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Manchin chose "the public servant to PEU advisor" route at the age of 77.  Others choose to bring their greed and leverage skills to the federal government.  

If the filibuster is being used to keep this power dynamic in place I would have to disagree with Manchin.  It does not produce better legislation for the common citizen, who they ostensibly are there to serve. 

TechGods: The New Code

TechGods went from bit players in the political influence game to Masters of the PEUniverse.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) had been the billionaire influencers driving government policy under Red and Blue political administrations over the last 25 years.  

Senior TechGods got one if their own installed as Vice President, Junior TechGod and relatively new PEU (Narya Capital) J.D. Vance.  

Vance has the personality of a seasoned TechGod apprentice, i.e. he talks like a machine, moves like a robot butler and wears makeup like most of the men and women in the Trump II White House.  Makeup cannot cover a hollow heart and his Thiel programmed brain.

TechGods have been stealing intellectual property, a la China, for years.  They openly admit it.  I believe that is called criminal intent.  

There's a new push from TechGods.  It's called "Code is Law."  The phrase is inane in and of itself.  A criminal can write or use code to steal, defame, defraud, purloin, sexually predate or harass, incite violence, facilitate the movement of drugs, stolen funds and/or humans being illegally trafficked.  

"Code is Law" is merely a front for "TechGods are Law."  Code already spies widely.  It steals wages and mileage reimbursement from workers.  

It took people's bank accounts in the horrific case of Synapse, a fintech that marketed those accounts as "having FDIC coverage."   TechGods walked away from Synapse's corpse, only to set up a Washington, D.C. office to ensure true accountability remained elusive.  

Fintechs claim to have automated risk management to the point nobody checks anything.  When the code falls apart and the TechGods walk away, all the King's horses asses and all of his henchmen will gather at the Executive Branch for some fine dining and Cabinet level jousting.  There are no financial cops on the beat.  They've all been dismissed.

Big financial houses responsible for due diligence have fallen prey to fintech scammers.  First Brands fraud smacked Jeffries.  Carriox Capital thumped BlackRock and BNP Paribas for over $550 million.  

Trump II opened your 401(k) to such investments, private equity, private credit and crypto.  Many have fallen to the temptation to garner outsized returns.  Nobody warned us those outsized returns were already baked into the product by enterprising scammers.  

The public was promised due diligence and investment grade quality.  More lies from fintechs and TechGods.  They will get theirs, even if it is at your expense.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  The petulant, greedy lot needs to be tossed out and taxed mightily.  

BlackRock's Private Credit Arm Got Tricked in Massive Fraud

Carriox Capital conned HPS Investment Partners, the private credit arm of BlackRock, and BNP Paribas for $553 million.  Carriox ditched its website, an understandable move but some of its promotional slides remain available on World Telemedia.  Early on Carriox sold itself as "relief from credit risk" when it was the epitome of credit risk.    

The office address for Carriox in their slide deck is a Lincoln Park Studio apartment:

The New York state entity search showed three companies with Carriox in the name.  Two had a Long Island address while the other showed Queens.  

Carriox had a due diligence slide, but none of that happened in that studio walkup:

"Due Diligence" was in reality "Do Shill-igence."

There are other places within BlackRock where money is flying around.  CEO Larry Fink is having his well deserved sphincter moment and investors would be wise to re-evaluate any investments in private equity, private credit and crypto.

AI should be avoided in its entirety, for use or investment.  That is if you want to keep your mental faculties about you.  

If the pros can bomb this badly, do you really need their help?  It's a question worth asking.

Update 10-31-25:  My wise friend wrote:

You need to carry oxygen when you go through the portfolios of private capital car wrecks. No one wants to search this junkyard. But hey, let's garage them in the 401(k)s of the M - ASSES! 

Let me correct you, Marc Rowan is a suspect! The only letters he should be writing are to the parole board 

I am not sure the private credit investors will get nervous with Paul Atkins and the banking regulators told to look the other way with the current crop of thieves in the administration. Maybe if we brought back Bill Black or Neil Borofsky. 

But we have and have had an economy expanding on fraud and all the beneficiaries KNOW it can only continue if you have the King of Fraudsters ruling with his mighty scepter (his middle finger). 

Both sides are controlled by the same fraudsters.  Trump's mendacity and corruption is the sinkhole for all their pilfering with the people picking up the tab again. 

Thank you for chronicling the misallocation of everything. Happy Halloween! The ghouls are everywhere

His words were in response to this message:

Carriox Capital was a con from beginning to end..... 

Marc Rowan (Apollo) and his "investment grade" quote regarding private credit was suspect at the time, even more so now. BlackRock got taken!!!! 

Once the private credit investors get nervous, crypto should follow. 

Trump's enforcement regime is more interested in licking their boss' ball sack and flying around the country for entertainment on the taxpayers dime. 

Trump's arrogance and incompetence will engender rage once the people gain an understanding of the depths of his malfeasance and the sheer idiocy of his attendants.

 One female CEO had a disappointing interaction with ChatGPT's fake male executives in suits:

Yes, workslop....

DJT's Devin Nunes Loves Cayman SPACs

Former Red Team Congressman Devin Nunes earned $47.6 million as Chairman, CEO and President of Trump Media and Technology Group (ticker symbol: DJT) in 2024.  2025 has seen Nunes appointed to the boards of three different SPACs, all incorporated in The Cayman Islands. (not a good look for the MAGA crowd).

Trump Media's latest proxy statement states the following regarding Nunes: 

Devin G. Nunes, 51, TMTG’s Chief Executive Officer and a Director since 2022 and Chairman since April 1, 2024, previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2022. He was the Republican leader and former Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”), a senior Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, and the Republican leader of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. Mr. Nunes was a vital contributor to the 2017 tax system overhaul, authoring a key provision to allow same-year expensing of all business investments for entrepreneurs and businesses. He also championed telemedicine to improve healthcare in underserved, rural areas. In his role on HPSCI, Mr. Nunes spent extensive time overseas working with U.S. military personnel, Central Intelligence Agency officials, and world leaders while promoting freedom and democratic values around the globe. During his time in Congress, many regarded Mr. Nunes as the House of Representatives’ preeminent investigator of government malfeasance and corruption; he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, in 2021. Mr. Nunes was appointed to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and has served as its Chair since February 2025. Mr. Nunes graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and a master’s degree in agriculture. He is the author of “Restoring the Republic” and “Countdown to Socialism,” and was an early and prominent critic of big tech censorship.

Nunes spoke recently with a podcaster regarding Trump Media and one of the SPACs.

Surely the preeminent investigator of malfeasance and corruption can get his former colleagues to take on the big tech monopolies.  That is if his comment is anything other than a throwaway line.

It could've been a lead in comment before the hard sell:

Red Check....check

The opportunities are not only limitless...we don't even know what they're going to be!  Wow!!!!!  This second tier TechGod and first tier political hack just bowled me over with schmooozeee.

But what about the three Cayman Islands incorporations?  Doesn't that work against a MAGA priority to produce jobs for Americans?  The proxy statement included:

We paid $25,620 in legal fees towards (TMTG's Chief Technology Officer) Mr. Novachki’s  permanent residency application.

And that application was advanced by a fellow Red Team Congressman.  

Vladmir Novachki, the Macedonian whiz kid, has accumulated 650,000 shares in DJT in a few short years.

It appears Devin Nunes is using his knowledge of malfeasance and corruption to undertake, well malfeasance and corruption.  SPACs are generally bad for public investors as they steer excessive benefits to insiders.  

The interview closed with several hedges for a company boldly going into crypto:

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards. It's sad that so many are so talented in a profession that debases and debauches its very foundation.

Update:  Possible Trump Fed nominee James Fishback went after companies employing highly skilled foreign workers, like DJT's CTO.  

Gomer Rubs It In

Just when you thought Congress might be growing a spinal disc in a shuttered NIH lab, Red Team Congressman James Comer declared disclosure equals ethics.  My wise friend said this of Comer: 

It's a legitimate question and Comer doesn't give a flip because there is no way that you're ever going to find the sources of funds in crypto land to LLCs in various tax jurisdictions with business activity invoicing and expensing various cryptocurrencies.  You will never find it so stop jacking with the American people and just tell the news anchor that it's OK by you. Maybe we should knock down the White House and just make it a latrine because they're pissing on everyone

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod/CryptoBros brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and their sons shall be far richer than their fathers.

There are plenty of checks given to Congress which they use to increase their personal fund balances.  Otherwise it's a lickspittle, foot rubbing, cankle massaging crew of millionaires aiming to further enrich billionaires.

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards.  It's sad that so many are so talented in a profession that debases and debauches its very foundation.

The foundation of democracy should be more than Bronx Colors Nutmeg WPF06 and a spineless Roundtable.

These people are not pouring money into coffers of the Trump family business because of the brothers’ acumen. They are doing it because they want freedom from legal constraints and impunity that only the president can deliver. -- Kathleen Clark, law professor at Washington University

Gomer goes to ground in the fealty position....

Trump Media to Offer Predilection Markets

Trump II, the digital Caligula, found another way to separate the little people from their money.  Followers can soon make losing bets on Trump II's antisocial media site.

"The House" controls the odds and that's not the little people facing eviction after forking over their hard earned money.  Trump, a longtime financial parasite, opened the door of his platform for Cryptobros and Red Team oriented TechGods to usurp your personal funds.

Trump's predilection markets will compete with Polymarket, where 85% of wallets are losers and a mere 15% winners (mostly whales, big betters with deep pockets and deep conviction).  

In light of that fact check out this blather from Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes:

For too long, global elites have closely controlled these markets - with Truth Predict, we're democratizing information and empowering everyday Americans to harness the wisdom of the crowd, turning free speech into actionable foresight."

With Trump Predilect one can enjoy such bets as "When will the rest of the White House come down?"  "Which Medical School will award Tylenol Trump an honorary medical degree?" and "Will pictures of Trump and Epstein with topless underage girls ever be released?"

I offer a few potential questions in the image above, but I'm pretty sure they would not make the cut.  For larks, I'll add "How many hours has Treasury Chief and former hedge fund giant Scott Bessent spent on a tractor working his soybean crops?"

Social media sites are about manipulation, addiction and abuse.  Cryptocurrencies are the air you can't breathe.  They have no substance and are a pure exercise of faith in something earthly and illicit.  Prediction markets are heavily weighted house bets, designed to separate you from your money, not build knowledge.  

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  And for that, we pay and pay and pay.....

Update 10-29-25:  Just when you thought Congress might be growing a spinal disc in a shuttered federal NIH lab:

A Red Teamer offers disclosure as ethics.  What a Gomer....

The SEC filing on this matter appeared today.

Trump Usurps Reagan

Trump II usurped yet another Red Team member, this one posthumously.  President Ronald Reagan believed in free trade and the political Red Team followed this mantra for decades.  The cheap goods "dollar extender" line was sold to Americans while industry leaders and private equity underwriters (PEU) shifted jobs to China and other Asian countries.  

I have seen so many people -- particularly those in their 50s - 70s -- taken apart by what has happened in their industry as greed has hollowed out the economy. These are people took pride in their jobs and held themselves to this invisible standard that we all just took for granted, but is being wiped out.

Fifteen years later a different kind of wiping out is occurring.  Health insurance costs more and more while covering less and less.  Technology is a black hole for anyone needing a job or desiring real human relationship.  

Trump II wants the U.S. to become like Argentina and is applying the same economic mojo as Javier Milei.  It's not going well for the people of Argentina, just as it is not going well here at home.  

The few factories being built are high tech production lines with few human workers.  These projects come with massive economic subsidies and tax abatements so investors can meet their ROI hurdle rates.

Trump is taking everything apart by subsuming and incorporating it into his personal sphere.  The initial attraction is like a wiggling worm on a hook.  The target (fish) thinks it is going to get a treat.  Yank!  Out of the water and unable to breathe.  It takes no time for the life force to dissipate.  

Ronald Reagan is simply the latest to be usurped by Trump II.  A whole Congress won't do a BLANKING thing without his formal nod.  

Of course, it is easier to defile the dead, just as it is easier to defile the economically fragile and underage girls.  Usurp and defile, that is the essence of Trump II, his PEU legend and TechGod supporters.  

Together they will rule the world and the world will rue the day they made any compact with these parasitic, pathetic excuses for human beings.  They are soulless human doings, repeating at scale the scams (AI, social media, crypto and other soul destroying addiction applications) that fill their pocketbooks while harming their brothers and sisters in humanity.