Rick Scott's Whining? Pardon He

Red Team billionaire Senator Rick Scott pulled out the persecution violin and played it up a storm.  It sounded like the "Devil Went Down to Florida."

Surely, this guy deserves a pardon or commutation for all his trials and tribulations.  Not needed?  Scott was never charged with a crime.  None of his personal assets were confiscated by the Justice Department.

Scott left Colombia/HCA with $300 million in stock, a $5.1 million severance and a $950,000-per-year consulting contract for five years.

I got the message that Trump II believes he is the law so therefore whatever he does is sacrosanct and deserves judicial blessing and celebration.  I was not aware that trickled down to Congress, the people who generate actual laws. 

Scott's history rewrite has been long underway.

Flipping shape shifters.....

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards.

Politicians & Sons Power TechGods as Little People Pay

Fortune reported:

Backed by former U.S. energy secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry, AI power startup Fermi went from nonexistent to an October IPO with a mammoth $16 billion market cap in less than a year without any announced customers or construction—or even a single dollar of revenue.

It's a Texas political insider family affair.  

Founder Rick Perry's son Griffin is an executive and fellow founder Toby Neugebauer is the son of former Congressman Randy Neugebauer.  

Neugebauer ran a conservative fintech that imploded.  Red Team TechGods backed him before blaming Neugebauer for bankrupting Glorifi.  Neugebauer countersued.  WFAA.com noted "a spokesman for Ken Griffin called Neugebauer's allegations 'fabricated nonsense.'"

Fermi America's Matador Project is on a 5,236 acre site leased from Texas Tech University.  It will use both local water and power.  Initial water use is up to 2.5 million gallons per day, increasing up to 10 million as the project advances.

The tax abatement zone has been set up by the county.  It remains to be seen the size of tax breaks given by the City of Amarillo, Carson County and local school districts.  Tax breaks are generally massive, 80-90% of the project's taxable business assets.

Initial electrical power will be met by gas turbines and the local electrical utility.  The State of Texas granted preliminary approval for 6 gigawatt natural gas generated power.  

Fermi's SEC filing noted:

Through a combination of natural gas turbine purchases, a focus on procuring other long lead-time equipment, and negotiations with Southwestern Public Service Company (“SPS”), the local utility, we expect to secure approximately 1.1 GW of power for our operations by the end of 2026 (including an expected 200 megawatts (“MW”) from our expected contractual arrangement with SPS).

Fermi will need 18.2% of its power to come from the same source as Amarillo residents.  That is all new demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected Texas energy "demand will rise another 14% in the first nine months of 2026."

The SEC filing said this about water:

Project Matador’s groundwater lease with the Texas Tech University System (the “Groundwater Lease”) includes dual-aquifer fresh and salt water rights, which provides a resilient, scalable water supply for cooling and other operations. Project Matador is located directly above the Ogallala Aquifer. Within Groundwater Management Area #1, which includes eighteen of the northernmost counties in Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer had an available volume of 3.19 million acre-feet per year as of 2020 and is expected to have approximately 1.99 million acre-feet per year availability in 2080 according to the Texas Water Development Board Groundwater Division.

Add aquifer depletion to the AI "public cost" list.

Another interesting interlock is Rick Perry's role as Fermi America co-founder and Board position with natural gas pipeline company Energy Transfer.  Energy Transfer is supplying the gas to Fermi per an October 2025 announcement.

Fermi America™, developing the world's largest, behind-the-meter artificial intelligence private grid campus with the Texas Tech University System, has secured an agreement with Energy Transfer, one of the largest and most diversified midstream energy companies in North America, to deliver firm natural gas supply to Fermi's HyperGrid™ campus located outside Amarillo, Texas.

The press release did not mention Rick Perry's conflict of interest in this deal.

Conflicts of interest are so yesterday.  They are the fabric of today's PEU world, occupied by private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.

Political Red and Blue Team supporters should be prepared to shoulder the financial burden for former elected officials and their sons with Fermi America as they purloin water, power, land and avoid their tax responsibilities.  Subsidies are required for the wealthy and connected.  Texas politicians know how to deliver for their brethren and their children.

Eventually the four nuclear plants referred to as "the Donald Trump Generating Plant" will produce electricity and toxic waste.  I thought Trump II was already at maximum toxic production.  Wrong again...

Blackstone Chief: One Teeny Bite at a Time

Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman "enjoyed" a microdose of a Jersey Mike's sub in a company video.  

It's hard to see the man took any of the sandwich.  Was that because:

1.  The company dining room had steak and lobster and he did not want to ruin his real meal.

2.  His GLP-1 took away his desire for a Jersey Mike's sub.

3.  He likes his sandwich bites to be the same proportion as his tax bites (miniscule)

4.  Schwarzman is modeling how to get through the government shutdown for SNAP recipients.  "Look, one teeny bite and I am full!"

5.  He's headed over to the White House for McDonald's with Donald and needs to show eating gusto

The irony is four out of five could be true as only two are mutually exclusive.  

When the PEU boys and their TechGod/CryptoBro peers get hungry enough, then maybe the furloughed and fired get to go back to work.  Until then, prepare for lean days.  

PEUs Not Out of Trump II Mix

The Carlyle Group's Vantive funneled money to Trump II's planned $200 million ballroom that ballooned to $300 million.  Vantive is the former kidney care division of Baxter International.  Carlyle bought it in January and renamed it Vantive.

Cerberus, another politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) like Carlyle, got a boost from Trump II's deal tour across Asia.  A Lone Star Funds affiliate, Vigor Marine, also got named in Trump's deal a-la-poolza.  Lone Star bought Vigor from Carlyle and another PEU owner.

Another venture named by Trump II, ReElement Technology, is part of American Resources Corporation.  American Resource's CEO/Board Chair and President/Director founded a "fundamentally-orientated private equity style investment fund, T Squared Partners" in 2007.

Business Insider Africe recently ran a story on Mr. Jensen.  It included:

So how did T Squared Partners do with the private equity style investment fund?  They ran Fund 1 into the ground.  Major investor Hull Capital sued alongside other investors in 2014 for damages.  A portion of the civil suit stated:

During operation of the Fund, Defendants breached the Fund’s Operating Agreement in several critical ways causing substantial losses to the Fund, including by: investing fund assets in at least three fraudulent investments; failing to perform even minimally competent due diligence as to those investments; refusing to provide Plaintiffs access to a complete set of books and records of the Fund; charging excessive annual management fees; reimbursing themselves for out-of-pocket expenses in excess over the reimbursement amount permitted under the LLC Agreement, including start up fees and personal tax benefits achieved by moving operation of the Fund to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands; and failing to manage the business and affairs of the Fund, including maintenance of the books and records of the Fund, in an honest and competent manner.

The Court allowed some of the causes of action to go forward in 2019.  

The Plaintiffs rely on certain deposition testimony by Mr. Jensen that purportedly concedes that he and Mr. Sauve "may have" spent more than 1000 hours per year working for entities other than Fund 1 (Jensen Dep., pp. 344-48), and the fact that Mr. Jensen admitted that he, Mr. Sauve and the Managing Member had established or acquired at least nine companies other than Fund 1, and that he and Mr. Sauve occupied high-level roles at each of those nine companies.

T Squared Partners marketed itself as full time devoted to the fund.  It also cited due diligence.  

...the Managing Member permitted Fund 1 to pay what may be "excessive fees" of $6,000/month to Greg Jensen, Mark Jensen's brother, as a consultant. Greg Jensen served as Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination, investment monitoring, and portfolio maintenance" (Feder Aff., Ex. 6, Jensen EBT, p. 110). However, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen admitted that prior to being hired by Fund 1, he had no professional investment or finance-related experience whatsoever, and that prior to his hiring, he had never conducted due diligence on a prospective portfolio investment (id., pp. 87-89, 103-105). Greg Jensen could not name a single individual in Fund 1's purported network of 13 due diligence professionals in China - notwithstanding that he was Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination" (id., pp. 115-118). Put another way, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen was hired as a favor to Mr. Jensen and not because he was competent to perform his duties and the payments to him were, therefore, improper and excessive. This also cannot be resolved at this stage of the proceeding.

This echoes recent abject due diligence failures amongst private credit offerings.  

CEO Mark Jensen, President Tom Suave and Chief Financial Officer Kirk Taylor took over American Resources Corporation in 2017.  

They are also executives and board members for Royalty Management Holding Company and its predecessor.  Their 2025 proxy statement showed Related Party transactions:

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Transactions with Related Persons, Promoters and Certain Control Persons. 

Land Resources & Royalties LLC, Wabash Wings LLC, and Wabash Enterprises LLC The Company currently, and may at times in the future, leases property from Land Resources & Royalties LLC (“LRR”) and has entered into various other agreements with LRR and/or its parent company, Wabash Enterprises LLC, an entity managed by Thomas Sauve and which Kirk Taylor is part beneficial owner. The Company has in the past, and may in the future, leased use of an aircraft owned by Wabash Wings LLC, another wholly owned subsidiary of Wabash Enterprises LLC and an entity managed by Thomas Sauve. Furthermore, on October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, Wabash Enterprises LLC and LRR became an owner of Class A Common Stock of the Company and several leases and agreements exist between LRR and the Company, for which LRR receives income. 

Land Betterment Corporation The Company currently, and may at times in the future, has agreements with Land Betterment Corporation, an entity in which Kirk Taylor is a director, President and Chief Financial Officer and Thomas Sauve who was a director and Chief Development Officer. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had entered into a contractor services agreement with Land Betterment Corporation for environmental services personnel. The contract called for cost plus 12.5% margin. 

American Resources Corporation The Company may at times enter into agreements with American Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries, an entity in which Thomas Sauve is a director and President, and Kirk Taylor is the Chief Financial Officer. 

First Frontier Capital LLC The Company may at times enter into agreements with First Frontier Capital LLC, an entity managed and beneficially owned by Thomas Sauve, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company. On February 1, 2022, First Frontier Capital LLC invested $10,000 cash into the Company in the form of the Round A Convertible Note and 385 warrants issued under Warrant “A-7.” On October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, the notes and warrants held by First Frontier Capital LLC were converted into Class A Common Stock of the Company.

Royalty Management Holding Company's major shareholders are an interlocking group of LLCs controlled by Jensen, Suave and Taylor.  

The SPAC that turned into Royalty Management showed the interlocks in a SEC filing:

PEUs remain at the political table.  It's the insider money funnel and only a select few participate.  

The lug nuts are loosening from all directions, inside (fraud, conflicts of interest), outside (little to no due diligence, regulatory evaporation) and all actively encouraged by Trump II.  

"Loosen the nuts" has arrived simultaneously with "Let the Nuts Loose."  Anything goes under Trump II, the digital Caligula.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  They will be saved.  The rest of us are clearly on our own.

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.

Don Jr.'s Unusual Machines Has Same Roots as Bad Bunny

It took less than a year after Don Jr. joined the Unusual Machines advisory board for the firm to land a Pentagon contract.

An Unusual Machines SEC filing from April 2024 stated:

the Company as it currently exists as a corporation organized under the laws of the government of Puerto Rico is sometimes referred to as “UMAC–Puerto Rico"

 It has since reorganized in Nevada.  

The 2026 Super Bowl features Puerto Rican musical star Bad Bunny.  Both Bad Bunny and Unusual Machines have had meteoric rises from their modest beginnings.  In Trumpworld one is glorified and the other vilified.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren. Increasingly, more are one and their sons are slated for wealth far greater than their fathers. It's a grand time to be in charge for the taking is unfettered.

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards. 

Don Jr.'s attachment to so many ventures monetizing political connections are grandiose and grotesque, not only in their conception, but in their ceaseless demolition and obliteration of ethical norms.  Lord, help us all.

"Brain Breaking" PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro News

Trump II, the digital Caligula, announced a crackdown on drug trafficking while he simultaneously pardoned a CryptoBro who facilitated the financing of such drug deals.

It gets better.  A United Arab Emirates SWF affiliate recently invested $2 billion in Binance.  The currency for the deal was not dollars, the dirham or widely used cryptocurrency.  It was the yet to be issued stablecoin from World Liberty Financial, where Trump II is Co-founder Emeritus.  

The very small print on WLFI's website states as of today:

DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump and certain of his family members, owns approximately 38% of the equity interests in WLF Holdco LLC, which holds the only membership interest in World Liberty Financial, Inc., a Delaware non-stock corporation and developer of the WLF protocol and operates the WLF governance platform. 

WLF Holdco LLC holds all of the rights to net protocol revenues from the WLF protocol (other than net proceeds from the sale of $WLFI tokens) pursuant to the terms of agreements with World Liberty Financial, Inc. 

None of Donald J. Trump, his family members or any director, officer or employee of Trump Organization or of DT Marks LLC is an officer, director or employee of, WLF Holdco LLC or World Liberty Financial, Inc. 

DT Marks DEFI LLC along with certain family members of Donald J. Trump also holds 22.5 billion $WLFI tokens, and DT Marks DEFI LLC is entitled to receive fees from World Liberty Financial, Inc. pursuant to a service agreement, equal to 75% of $WLFI token sale proceeds after deduction of agreed reserves, expenses and other amounts. 

Any references to or quotes or imagery attributed to or associated with Donald J. Trump or his family members should not be construed as an endorsement or representation or warranty with respect to any product or service offering. 

$WLFI tokens and use of the WLF protocol and governance platform are initially offered and sold solely by World Liberty Financial, Inc. or its affiliates. 

WLF Holdco LLC, DT Marks DEFI LLC, World Liberty Financial, Inc., the WLF protocol, the WLF governance platform and $WLFI tokens are not political or associated with any political campaign.

And that is today's brain breaking Trump II/PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro news.  

The PeepHoles Money

The U.S. Government has become a pass through entity for the enrichment of Trump II, the digital Caligula.  The gilded White House renovation-ballroom addition ballooned from $200 million to $250 million and then to $300 million.  Did Trump hire an auctioneer?  Do I hear $350 million, $350 million, $350 million...

The Blue Team Senator from Pennsylvania referred to this as small stuff.  Trump II may use his $230 million restitution/prostitution payment from the "Just Us" Department to fund his East Wing redo and Ballroom addition.  Then again, he may not.  

Trump II could use some of his family's over $1 billion in  2025 profits from crypto ventures, which means he needs tax deductions.  How might a $230 million "taxpayer funded" pass through donation help relieve that tax burden?  Surely he has some fine art he can donate to the new wing and ballroom. That's another billionaire tax dodge.

Trump already has a $400 million plane lined up courtesy of the United States military.  The government has become a "pass through entity" for the personal enrichment of Trump II, courtesy of increasingly indebted citizens.  Trump added $1 trillion to the U.S. deficit in just over two months.

Dealmakers earn deal fees, directly or indirectly.  Every American must do their part to ensure Trump II reaches his goal of over $200 billion in net worth by January 2029.  Hell's gold card comes with a very hefty price.  Billionaires like Trump never pay.  They collect.  So, it's our toll to bear, especially as "the process is fluid."  

Army Secretary Knows His PEUs

Semafor reported:

The US Army has turned to private equity to fund an infrastructure overhaul. Two top White House officials met Wall Street investors last week, part of a Trump administration effort to enlist the $13 trillion private capital industry into public financing. 

The army secretary told the Financial Times that he wanted $150 billion in capital expenditure over the next decade, but only had a budget of $15 billion, so needed outside investment. Military spending is growing across the West, and private firms are benefiting.

Mint reported:

The US Army has invited major private equity groups, including Apollo, Carlyle, KKR, and Cerberus, to pitch strategic projects

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll is also Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.  Last week he crudely informed the Army that their future is in silicon and software.

Driscoll worked as a private equity underwriter (PEU).  Firms include Flex Capital where he was Chief Operating Officer:  Flex Capital counts a number of PEU Legends and TechGods as limited partners.

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

Ingraham Has PEU Heart & Brain

Laura Ingraham sold an equity stake in her Ingraham Media Group in 2014, according to an SEC filing.  At the time Ingraham had 6 investors.  There have been no follow up filings for this company but there have been several news reports.

The Wrap reported in 2017:

The CEO of conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s website, LifeZette, has made employment difficult for female staffers by constantly referring to his desire for sexual activities, according to a recent story by The Daily Beast. 

Citing seven sources that have worked for LifeZette, the Beast on Thursday reported that co-founder and CEO Peter Anthony often makes crude remarks “within earshot of those female staffers.” Anthony runs day-to-day operations for the site. 

A former IT staffer told the Beast that he remembers Anthony “talking about other women’s boobs, butts… how he would desire sexual activities with [female colleagues] and stuff like that… All kinds of inappropriate talk about women in the office.”

Six of the seven sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they feared retaliation for speaking out.

Ingraham went on to join Fox News, legendary for its sexual harassment and abuse of female staffers, and become a strong supporter of Donald Trump, another legendary sexual predator.  

A former Ingraham employee filed a lawsuit in 2018:

Former executive assistant to Laura Ingraham, Karolina Wilson, filed a complaint today in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia alleging discrimination and retaliation against Ingraham and her company, Ingraham Media Group, known as LifeZette. 

Ingraham and LifeZette fired Ms. Wilson within one day of her return from pregnancy-related leave, treated her adversely after learning of her pregnancy, prohibited her from taking more than three weeks of full maternity leave, terminated her health insurance coverage while she was on leave without informing her of the change, and failed to provide her a place to express breast milk when she returned. Due to discrimination and retaliation, 

Ms. Wilson lost her income and health insurance at the exact moment she needed it most, depriving her of health insurance within a month of her first-born child and her family’s primary income within three months of adding a new member.

Lifezette's reviews on Glassdoor are mostly excoriating.  Her overworking staff is worthy of a venture capitalist or private equity underwriter (PEU).  The stiffing of freelancers and vendors has a Trump like feel.  Ingraham has degrees from Dartmouth and the University of Virginia (law) so she has the intellectual horsepower to follow basic employment law.  

A prospective Lifezette employee shared:

I interviewed with two men who seemed enthusiastic about my work. They asked me to do a "try out" piece and said they'd pay me quite well for it. I wrote the piece - they told me to make it fit their political alignment. I did so as much as I could without sacrificing accuracy. I didn't hear back from them for awhile. I check the site, and lo and behold, my piece has top billing under the byline of one of the interviewers! I brought it to his attention and he put it under my name. They then asked me to do another test piece, which like a fool, I did (thinking if nothing else, they'll pay me for these pieces!) Sure enough, they never paid me and stopped responding to my emails.

My wise friend wrote:

I didn't realize Laura Ingraham worked at Scavenging Ops (a cut on Skadden Arps). It fits her high and mighty demeanor, proclaiming righteousness on every subject to denounce and EXORCISE LIBTARDS even though she stews in a conflict of interest.   Hypocrisy is a skill you learn...at some point flies will pour out of her mouth because she's dead inside.

One employee noted this nearly a decade ago: 

The company has no integrity or culture. It's quite clear Laura Ingraham and affiliates are out to make some quick, clickable money. The company doesn't invest in its employees: should you mess up, you will not be offered no real constructive advice to move on, but instead will be fired. 

You will be expected to work nights, and weekends. The work will not be fulfilling. The entire operations runs off of the premise of hiring younger professionals that are unfortunately being used for their naivety and ability to pull all nighters, over and over again. 

Ingraham is impossible to work for, and her word is god: you will have no decision rights or support. Your paychecks will be late. The contractor's paychecks will be late.

Ingraham was ahead of her time, going further than the "996 schedule" loved by TechGods (12 hour days for six days work week).

Big MAGA money is headed her way with her in at 1789 Capital and partner Don Jr.  Ingraham is a new board member for Cayman Islands incorporated Colombier Acquistion Corp III.  She will received stock and other compensation for her board and committee (audit, compensation, nominating and corporate governance) work as she "Makes the Caymans Great Again."

Ingraham can not only be on her evening Fox News show, Laura can be in commercials selling the plethora of MAGA investment opportunities in which she has a direct and indirect financial interest.  Churn, baby, churn...

The Billionaire Compact for Education

Face the Nation cited one private equity underwriter (PEU) behind Trump II's assault on higher eduction:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Professor Seidman, in terms of where the Trump administration's compact came from, there were a lot of influences. But one of them, according to the man himself, is billionaire Mark Rowan, the CEO of Apollo Global Management. And he said he helped write the compact because "without government involvement, reform at universities will be difficult," he argues. He says there have been "government mandates" on things like "diversity, on discrimination and student discipline," so why view these at any different? 

Why is he wrong? 

JERI SEIDMAN (Professor, University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce):: We were talking about academic freedom. And I think in our ability to search for the truth in research, we also have responsibilities in the classroom that are different than you would experience in a corporate setting. And so, I read the compact differently than he does. I think the thing that I struggle with the most about the compact is the idea that it rewards loyalty as opposed to focuses on advancement of the truth. 

 As a cancer survivor, I want federal research funds to go to the universities and the professors who have the best ideas to cure cancer. That's the way to advance knowledge. And academics, that's really – we are truth seekers. The compact says, you know, truth seeking is a core foundation of institutions of higher education. And I completely agree with that portion of the compact, it's just the implementation of that truth seeking that I think we differ on.

The McIntire School of Commerce is one of the top undergraduate business schools in the country.  Professor Sidman weighed in on the recent forced resignation of President Jim Ryan. 

"...it feels like there's a couple people who are managing everything, and nobody else is really involved.”

Rowan is not alone in his quest to have the world he prizes pushed on others.  Billionaires Bill Ackman and Leon Cooperman have been rather vocal on this issue.

The billionaires bullied a relative few college students on behalf of America's 51st state.  How did that turn out?

Several Israeli nonprofits and a Holocaust scholar might point to the protestors' prescience.  Trapping innocent women and children in a war zone, where conditions for living become horrific, ensures a very predictable outcome.  

So how good are these billionaires at their day job as they seem suspect in other areas?

Two years ago Apollo CEO Marc Rowan espoused the relative safety of private credit, implying extra risk was not there.  He said not to think of it as levered credit but as investment grade debt.  

The landmines began exploding in private credit, mostly due to fraud, which these guys are supposed to detect.  Did dust from rigorous fee generation block the view through the due diligence microscope?  

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon referred to private credit blowups as cockroaches.  One investment advisor referred to private assets in retirement funds "as only asking for trouble."

The government doing what PEU billionaires want is nothing new.  Fourteen years ago they coined a term for it, "policy making billionaire."  And that's why their highly unpopular preferred "carried interest" taxation remains firmly in place.

Those with eyes to see and ears to hear can detect patterns over time.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but only a select few are entitled enough to push their opinions on whole universities.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  History has shown us that they push their own book to exclusion of others.