Thursday, February 12, 2026

Trump Appoints Another PEU


Trump II appointed a former tech CEO whose company had billions in private equity investment.  William Hague is the former CEO and Vice Chair of Tillman Infrastructure.  In 2022 Tillman got $1 billion from Carlyle.


The company took on more private equity loans in 2024.


Hague worked for a private equity underwriter (PEU) funded outfit until he joined Trump II's administration.  

Hague knows Carlyle, Apollo Oak Hill, HPS and Northleaf so he's a good fit for any modern administration.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

TechGod Vance Pops Off at Olympians


Former TechGod, now Vice President J.D. Vance informed Olympians they are "not there to pop off on politics."  In other words, Vance does not want or need citizen feedback.

Olympic values are Excellence, Respect and Friendship.  Vance and his boss fail at all three.  As a role model Trump II shows Olympic level lying, cheating, rudeness, insolence, impropriety, arrogance, unceasing need for ceaseless compliments from underlings and cruelty.  J.D. is the Chihuahua at his master's feet.

That Olympians are asked to reconcile the games values with Trump II's incompetence, insults and bullying, should not be a surprise.  

TechGods gave us abysmal customer service, so they've long proven their inability or lack of interest in feedback.  Vance comes from this cloth. 

Trump II's disintegration occurs before our very eyes and is due in part to his surrounding himself with sycophants like Vance and his clown car cabinet.  

J.D. and his creep boss think they can tell independent voters what to think and what to do.  Not happening.  

Insiders may not listen to the little people but many voters are tired of incumbents who can't seem to pass legislation, i.e. perform their actual job.  We'll see how many get sent home this November.  

Votes are feedback, VP. Vance so get ready to listen because an Italian Alps avalanche may be headed your way.  Get that beacon device in your backpack for you may get snowed under and need rescue.  

Recall Trump II's standing while the pharmaceutical executive fainted in the Oval Office and Health Secretary Robert Kennedy's fled the scene.  How good are you at self-rescue, Mr. Vance?  

Can you dig yourself out of a hole you placed yourself into?  

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Lonsdale Excited about Erebor Launch


8VC Founder Joe Lonsdale celebrated the launch of Erebor Bank, recently given a national charter by Trump II's administration.

Erebor is an online bank located in Columbus, Ohio, the location of Anduril's new giant manufacturing plant.


Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey, has $850 million in economic development subsidies for their plant.  

I hope local banking is not included in the economic development impact analysis.  If it is, someone should remove that contribution.  TechGods prefer to pay fees to themselves while avoiding taxes.

Erebor is effectively the captive bank of Anduril and its more than 4,000 future employees.  Anduril sells military hardware to Uncle Sam.  Erebor was just approved by the feds.  How long before they visit the Fed or Treasury window?  

TechGods can churn taxpayer money as good as any New York City boiler shop can separate retirees from their bank accounts.

Stablecoins, anyone?  Erebor plans to have them in spades at their digital bank in Columbus with a secondary office in New York City.  Please Lord, let it be in an old boiler shop.

Trump Is


Trump II's loud, terrifying cries over the Jeffrey Epstein files include "hoax", "move on" and "you are the worst, you never smile."  

The "Just Us" Department fulfilled his two wishes, protect Trump and protect his wealthy friends.  Staff know what the boss wants, especially those who served as his personal attorney.

The White House issued a bizarre news piece yesterday "Don't be a Panican."  It is the kind of propaganda a disintegrating chief executive issues as his political ship sinks closer to the ethical bottom.  When you think Trump II cannot go any lower, he does just that.

I can see Trump II at the apex of Little Jeff's island yelling:
"Man the ego stabilizers.  Throw Kristi Noem overboard!   Prepare the pardon punch for Ghislaine.  Get the TechGods on the phone, I need more money!  Everybody's gone bananas, Obama, Obongo, Bongino....!"
Trump II is yet to recognize the fork in him.  He chose long ago who to serve and it is becoming more clear every day.  The days of blind allegiance are over for more people as each day passes.
“I think people are realizing it was all a lie. It was a big lie for the people. What MAGA is really serving in this administration, who they’re serving, is their big donors. 
“Those are the people that get the special favors. They get the government contracts, they get the pardons, or somebody they love or one of their friends gets a pardon.”” 
And those people are private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods and other captains of industry.  Many of these people are in the Epstein files and thus need protection.  

The Lords frown upon ungrateful children who should be delighted that they were chosen for special attention.


Epstein could afford lawyers highly skilled at intimidation.


We'll see how many Lords in the files end up needing a pardon.  

Monday, February 9, 2026

Erebor: Captive Bank of Anduril

There's a new national bank in the U.S. courtesy of Trump II's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  It's Erebor Bank.

Erebor Bank has no physical branches.  It was founded by TechGods Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey, in part to serve Anduril's banking needs relative to their giant new Ohio manufacturing plant.  Fees, even bank fees, need to be kept within the TechGod family.    

Banking Dive reported Erebor Bank will cater to:

start-ups and high-net-worth individuals within the cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, defense and manufacturing sectors.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), now bankrupt, catered to:

technology, life science/healthcare, and venture capital industries, serving as a specialized financial partner for startups, private equity firms, and their founders (wealthy).
Add a smattering of crypto to that SVB client mix.  Sounds like Erebor is targeting the same clientele.  

Peter Thiel wouldn't make a run on his own Bank of the TechGods.  Would he?  

Masking "advanced autonomous banking" with Hobbit lore should make any financial professional nervous.  

From SVB to Synapse, TechGods don't have a sterling reputation in the banking sector.  They do know how to convince politicians to give them new lanes of business to disrupt.  Erebor Bank is one of these.

Before one makes an Erebor deposit one should consider the source and who you might be banking alongside:


Evil is as evil does in the hallowed halls of power.

Iozzo Zings Manufactured Credit Events to Epstein


Renowned hacker Vincenzo Iozzo sent Jeffrey Epstein an article about Blackstone's manufactured default strategy.  Their fund would buy a credit default swap on a company and then pursue providing capital to that very company.  In the borrowing provisions Blackstone's fund would specify terms that would trigger a credit default.  Zing, the ticking credit default swap blows and becomes money in the bank.

The opposite is happening today.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) like Blackstone are avoiding credit events by gating redemptions and packaging stale assets in continuation funds.  

Sell to self (sister fund) at non-arm's length valuation avoids that credit event where the PEU might have to hand over the affiliate's keys to creditors.

A different Iozzo email to Epstein offered the serial sexual predator a chance to take an equity stake in crypto mining manufacturer Bitmain prior to its planned Hong Kong IPO.  It turns out Vincenzo Iozzo is a private equity underwriter.

The Epstein files are a great window into our PEU world.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Dominari Advisory Board Pay Spanks Director Compensation


Trump Organization Executive Vice President Ronald Lieberman's Dominari Advisory Board pay was roughly eleven times (11x) his director compensation in 2025.   Total compensation, Advisory and full board, came in over $1.1 million.   

Lieberman also received dividends for his Dominari stock, which grew significantly in 2025 from $924,000 in stock compensation.

The SEC filing did not show compensation for other Advisory Board members, which include Don Jr. and Eric Trump.  

Advisory board slots and corresponding compensation are one of the tools in the insider money funnel where powerful, connected people shovel obscene amounts to one another.   

The average citizen is struggling to get by while young people faced a depleted jobs future.  Neither can comprehend a part time job paying $1 million a year, something commonplace in U.S. power circles.