Toast Taylor Swift with Mountain Water!

Taylor Swift shared her joy of being free from private equity underwriter (PEU) ownership of her early music, first The Carlyle Group and then Shamrock Capital.  People reported:

"I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made... now belongs... to me. And all my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era,  My entire life's work."

Swift had the resources to buy back her first six albums and material related to those works.  Most people are not so lucky to separate from PEU control in such a manner.  Many are fired after new PEU owners take over the company.  Others endure the crap sandwich until they can find another job or retire.   

Bravo for Taylor.  Like refreshing Mountain Water, it's great when a star or city can get their desired Carlyle owned assets.   In December 2019 Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein promised a resolution, only to flip Swift's music to another PEU.  The City of Missoula, Montana endured the same carrot dangling and yanking as Taylor Swift.  It too, eventually got ownership of its local water utility.    

Star performers and municipalities have seen PEU greed and duplicitousness up close, as have many workers in PEU owned companies.  Today, let's celebrate Ms. Swift's win.  They are few and far between.

Ben Black Needs Senate Approval

Trump II, the digital Caligula, nominated Ben Black to head the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).  Ben is the son of Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo (a private equity underwriter -PEU).  Father Leon paid serial child sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein $170 million for tax advice.  Ben worked for his father's firm early in his professional career.  

His Milken bio is below as is the news headline on his political appointment.

Ben's Harvard bio shows multiple degrees from that esteemed institution, currently targeted by Trump II.

Ben founded Fortinbras and is the Managing Partner.  Fortinbras has both private equity and private credit funds.

Father Leon can't shake his Jeffrey Epstein connections and the public cannot understand how a tax advisor would get $170 million.  Epstein used his ties to Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner to trap underage women for his sexual exploits and sex trafficking.

Ben has a tie to the company where Victoria's Secret models work out.  He serves on its board.

Ben serves on the board of Huddle House and Phaidon, in addition to Dogpound.  

Senate approval is needed for Ben to step into his new role.  However, he has someone from Fortinbras already installed in the agency.  That person is Conor Coleman, Head of Investments at DFC.

Ben has it all going for him, billionaire father, PEU founder, board member where hot models exercise but his last name is dark and his new job might be.  Ben will be charged with taking bigger risks and doing more ambitious deals alongside Wall Street targeting defense, energy, critical minerals and infrastructure.  

The Sons of PEU Legends and Tech/Crypto Gods have their base wealth and are ready to serve public dollars up to politically connected private enterprises.

Dicktopia: Crystal Ball

It's 2030 and financial crime is a thing of the past.  Financial crime ceased to exist once the enforcers were eliminated, wealthy fraudsters pardoned and everybody got the freedom to have our money in whatever form the marketers decided, the Tik Tok influencers pushed and the enterprising conmen executed via AI.  

Bitcoin - the Swiss Army knife of crypto as it does it all; digital gold, political hedge, currency of the end times (where we still have lots of electricity and computers to hold those wallets) - hit it's maximum 21 million float.  People ask how can 21 million of anything change the world, a question my wise friend asked in November 2024?  Change is here and it's not for the better, not for most of us.

The world has more Gazas, where violence has permeated to the point that humanity is nearly gone.  More inhumane things happen on an hourly, minute and second basis than humane.  All for something, someone, land, buildings, treasure, resources, power, ego or simply because they can and have that desire.

Words mean nothing anymore, definitions twisted far beyond those silly, past conventions.  Racists implement racist policies under the guise of anti-racism.  Religious freedom is the freedom to believe what the people in power are pushing, nothing more.  

Five years ago elected officials chose to throw millions of poor people off government health insurance, requiring those who remained to work.  Bad timing, as AI killed off millions of jobs.  People in power huddled the starving masses into specific areas.  These became the "more Gazas."

We drove past our little Gaza yesterday.  It's out past the Stargate Data Center and it's new natural gas fired power plant, all subsidized with local, state and federal money.  I told my grand daughter, "that's the place that stole all the jobs, took the health insurance money from the poor and enriches the wealthiest people on the planet."  

She said, "What do you call that?"

"Dicktopia," I replied.

Update 5-31-25:  TechGod Joe Lonsdale is a major funder of the new Dicktopia.  His CNBC interview revealed his outrage over Chinese intellectual property threat, something AI does regularly and Joe has a new AI venture, Thorin.  TechGods love to name things after J.R. Tolkien characters.  

Londsdale shared Thorin's focus.

...  hard problems like: 

- Mapping and automating complex, recurring workflows across entire companies 

- Real-time orchestration between people and AI systems at massive scale 

- Delivering lightning-fast, cost-efficient inference in production

Per usual, TechGods are going after the money not solving hard, long standing social problems, poverty, hunger, joblessness.   Joe does want to dismantle state medical boards, certificate of need laws and health information privacy.  TechGods have to destroy what is and that includes usurping medicine, already damaged by private equity underwriter (PEU) corporate ownership.  

Our community is excited about future data centers.  The local CBS affiliate ran a special video segment on why San Angelo is attractive to the AI crowd, cheap and plentiful land, available power, city services....

Carlyle's Dainese Seeks Credit Break

The Carlyle Group made huge profits from European luxury goods makers Moncler and Golden Goose.  Dainese is breaking that trend, so much so that Carlyle is seeking a break from creditor three years before its debt matures.  Bloomberg reported:

Dainese received a €15 million equity injection from Carlyle in December, which helped it comply with loan covenants

Private equity underwriters (PEU) hate throwing good money after bad.

Last October, it handed over the keys of End Clothing, a luxury streetwear and sportswear online retailer, to creditor Apollo Global Management Inc. 

It's the creditors turn to put Dainese on a better footing.  Who are those private bondholders?  Are they Carlyle's peers in the lofty private equity/private credit atmosphere?  Yes.

The private equity firm bought Dainese in 2022, tapping private credit funds to finance the deal.

That means write downs and losses on both sides of Dainese, equity and debt.  Just in time for retirees to add these alternatives to their 401k's.

Surely Carlyle can get some cross branding opportunities.  Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein could equip Baltimore Orioles outfielders with Dainese airbag vests for any potential collision's with the Red Sox' Green Monster, a 37 foot wall in left field.

The time for the great PEU affiliate shuffle nears.  They should just make up a card deck of troubled affiliates, get the PEU Legends and current CEOs in a room and get that Liar's Poker game over with.

AI/Crypto Czar Offers Sack of Dookie at Bitcoin 2025

White House Crypto/AI Czar David Sacks spoke at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas.  He put the onus for a Bitcoin Reserve on the Treasury and/or Commerce Departments.  This is typical under a leader like Trump II, the digital Caligula.  Underlings jostle to place themselves in the best light while throwing peers under the bus.  

Queue up Commerce Chief Howard Lutnick to rapidly gush Trump love while pitching Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent under that Bitcoin reserve bus.  Coming up from behind is Trump's Labor Secretary with her removal of government warnings on crypto in 401k's.  Retirees can now join the Bitcoin lunar landing!

We get the idea that a Bitcoin reserve is coming and the Trump sons, Don Jr. and Eric, are poised to cash in on it via American Bitcoin.  Trump doesn't really do anything other than bark orders, absorb adulation and insult anyone he perceives an obstacle or is slightly irritating.  

In the last week Sacks offered two other saviors (besides Bitcoin) for the U.S. financial house, stablecoins and AI powered robots.  

One should consider the fast talking Venture Capitalist is now in a government role, likely egged on by his digital Caligula boss.  Sacks did break the party line about how great it will be to toss 7 million people off Medicaid.

Yes, the government is setting all those poor, many elderly, free from coverage.  I'm sure the TechGods have it figured out how much propulsion is needed to get that wheelchair airborne.  Fly, fly free from the burdens of healthcare insurance.  We have lift, keep your feet on the pedals...oh, that was a bad landing.

As TechGods are all knowing, Sacks tracked the source of Biden's autopen to the U.S. Senate, with the possible help of Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard and Elon Musk's Grok.

For these guys to be so smart, they say the stupidest things.  It's all part of the job under Trump II, master of the savage whim.

Update 5-29-25:  Bill Gross wrote:

Trump is making money for himself and family (via crypto) but risking financial stability in the future.

Update 6-12-25:  Blue Teamer David Plouffe joined Coinbase's Global Advisory Council as two crypto/stablecoin bills advance in the House and Senate. A 401k specialist called opening up retirement accounts for crypto investments an "absolutely awful decision."  

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

TMTG to Lever Bitcoin

 FT reported Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) will raise $3 billion to invest in cryptocurrencies. 

The SEC filing indicates a private $1.5 billion equity raise and a $1 billion debt offering. The other funds intended for Bitcoin purchases are already on hand.

The Company intends to use the proceeds for the creation of a Bitcoin treasury. One of the largest Bitcoin treasury deals of any public company, the move closes Trump Media’s previously announced special acquisition fund (which held cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $759.0 million).

Bitcoin is one of the cryptocurrencies targeted by corporate treasuries.  Others include Trump's memecoin and his USD1 stabelcoin via World Liberty Financial (another Trump crypto entity).  World Liberty just did a $2 billion deal with a United Arab Emirates company sponsored by the country's sovereign wealth fund.

TMTG's majority shares are held by DJT Revocable Trust managed by Don Jr, who alongside brother Eric have stakes in American Bitcoin.  So Don Jr. could have TMTG buy its Bitcoin from American Bitcoin and make double bank.

It's important to remember the lengthy history crypto has as a tool for scammers, grifters, thieves, cheats and all around terrible people.  Was that who our President referred to as scum in his Memorial Day blathering?

How long before Trump Media expands it treasury from Bitcoin to $TRUMP or USD1?  

Artificial Dependence Will Feel Very Familiar

TechGod Mark Andreessen's a16z's podcast on country specific Artificial Intelligence starts with a disclosure.  It begins with:

Views expressed in “posts” (including podcasts, videos, and social media) are those of the individual a16z personnel quoted therein and are not the views of AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) or its respective affiliates.

The speakers noted how countries want the ability to control what AI produces for their population.  Let's look at their current positions

Anjney Midha is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he invests in AI, infrastructure, and open source technology. He serves on the boards of Black Forest Labs, Luma AI, Mistral AI, and Sesame AI. 

Guido Appenzeller is an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on AI, infrastructure, open source technology, and silicon. 

"I thought he should join Andreessen Horowitz and help the next generation of founders as an investor and also help us achieve our full potential as a firm. That’s why I am so pleased to announce that Erik Torenberg will be our newest general partner." - Marc Andreessen

These are a16z GPs/investors doing an a16Z podcast in their area of specialization and their thoughts are just opinions?  Just like Trump II's memecoin dinner party was on his personal time.

"Silicon Valley gone to Washington" types talk about how their life is consumed by their work.  It's 24/7 according to fellow TechGod Elon Musk.

Social media destroyed real relationships by metering them and steering people to self destructive content.  AI will do likewise by turning off learning, replaced by the convenient dispensing of instant information.  Thanks to elected officials it will be delivered in a familiar manner, unique to one's culture.  

If we could only find leaders with manners and a propensity to work with and not against others, especially in protecting citizens against foreseeable harms before they rise and prosecuting those that cause damage.

Update 5-29-25:  AI is notorious for its brazen theft of intellectual property.  China bad for doing the same.  TechGods good, "just hire a bunch of lawyers to clean it up if the product makes."

Carried Interest Saved, Millionaire Tax Avoided!

Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founder David Rubenstein gave CNBC's morning anchors his usual refrain on carried interest, private equity underwriters (PEU) preferred taxation.  It's just "not much money." 

Flashback fourteen years ago:

"Not much revenue", "Not serious money."  Really, Mr. Rubenstein?

Rubenstein has been a "policy making billionaire" with carte blanche to powerful D.C .politicians.  

One of the anchors asked "Was it You?" regarding carried interest's removal not being in the bill (even though Trump asked for it).  Rubenstein assured the interviewers that it was another group with political punch.  

Trump's suggested millionaire tax (at levels considered Communist under Obama) also failed to make the President's big, contra-Jesus bill.

The top 0.1% have $22 trillion in wealth, the bottom 50% have $4 trillion and the middle class have $12.7 trillion (8% of the total wealth).  The top 10% have $58.3 trillion in wealth and that's clearly where the money is.  It's a shame they don't see value in funding government operations to a level that reduces the deficit.

Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz made 813 times the average paid Carlyle employee in 2023, according to S&P Global.

The greed and leverage boys know better than to take their outsized rewards in taxable pay.  The system has been designed over decades by and for the financially wealthy and politically powerful.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  TechGods and DOUGEBAG (Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased against Government) copied the PEU playbook, executing it more openly and brashly.  The public didn't like it as it brought back bad memories of past PEU takeovers of their workplace.  

How will the public react to the Red Team's leaving PEU preferred carried interest taxation in place and not instituting a millionaire's tax?  There is serious money with the top 10% and Trump II and his compliant Congress are not only leaving it on the table, they are giving that group bigger tax breaks.

It's Trump's Big, PEU-tiful Bill!  

Update 5-28-25:  WaPo did a story on the Red Team's dropping the millionaire tax.

Where oh Where Will the Secondaries & Internationals Go?

Carlyle's AlpInvest is putting together a collateralized fund obligation and including secondary private equity stakes, which many investors are also hot to sell.

University endowments are dumping their PEU stakes in the resale market.  Yale pioneered the use of private equity and made it a sizeable chunk of their endowment holdings.

Trump's tampering with universities includes possible tax changes which is adding to the pressure to monetize PEU stakes.  That and avoiding future capital calls associated with their PEU fund portfolio.

Harvard got a bonus Trump tampering with a federal order to stop educating international students. Homeland Security Kristi Noem,  jealous that foreign students actually knew the definition of habeas corpus, cited Harvard's "fostering violence, anti-semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party."

Noem's Department of Homeland Impunity is merely an extension of Trump II's savage whims.   A bunch of international Trump meme-coin holders are attending a special dinner tonight and the top 25 are being afforded a private tour.  Apparently, that's not a tour of Harvard or Yale.  It's a shame because those crypto billionaires could have gotten a good discount on some secondaries and maybe seen distant relatives packing up their college dorm rooms.

Harvard international students now have to turn to their second choice.  I wonder how many will pick a Chinese university.  Knowledge knows no borders and ignorance is rampant among the Trump cabinet.  Many didn't have much knowledge to begin with, but definitely are not paid to think.  Blind loyalty comes with a blank check nowadays.  

Congress?  Representatives?  Senators?  Most of y'all went to an Ivy.  Wake up and put some shackles on your attack dog who never sleeps.  Commander.....Commander.....Commander in Chief.

Update 5-23-25:  Pershing Square's Bill Ackman helped lead the donor revolt for major universities just after the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack.  He spoke with Niall Ferguson on the precarious position university endowments are in due to their PEU holdings.  Ackman is one of the greed and leverage boys of the hedge fund variety.  

Update 5-29-25:  The sales push is on for PEU secondaries and private credit.

Just Us Creeps & PEUs,

Thomas Neuberger wrote regarding Palantir CEO Alex Karp:

If he were your neighbor, he’d get himself put away, to a home, an asylum, a cell. But because he’s rich, American, and pretends to aim his guns outward, he’s praised, rewarded and cheered.

Karp said this in a recent speech:

Americans are the most loving God-fearing, fair, least discriminatory people on the planet. And they want to know that if you’re waking up and thinking about harming American citizens, or if American citizens are taken hostage and kept in dungeons, or if you’re a foreign power sending fentanyl to poison our people, something really bad is going to happen to you — and your friends and your cousins and your bank account and your mistress and whoever was involved.

Asia Times made the same assessment recently.  

Trump II's White House included Karp and Palantir on his "trillions in great deals" posted after his tour of three Middle East monarchies.  

Karp's Palantir is helping the Saudis with "AI and defense."  Had Palantir's suite of products been in place in October 2018 would it have known the various cellphones inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey?  Would it have intercepted texts/calls from journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancé just outside the building while "something really bad" occurred inside?

Decades of strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia includes turning a blind eye to undemocratic acts (the Khashoggi killing, the Crown Prince's shakedown prison in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton, the killing of nomads for the sparkling city of Neom).  

Palantir products enable such actions by accumulating information and identifying potential targets.  Alex said that very thing on tape, including "friends, cousins and mistresses" as deserving of the "really bad" actions.  Your bank account?  That can be taken too if you are "waking up thinking about how to harm" America.

A new way to harm America is to advocate for the starving babies and children of Gaza.  This one position alone characterizes a person as a terrorist lover, a Hamas supporter.  The Heritage Foundation's Project Esther put in place strategies to stifle dissent over the poor treatment of Palestinians after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.  

Curriculum it believed to be sympathetic to a “Hamas support” narrative would be taken out of schools and universities, and “supporting faculty” would be removed. Social media would be purged of content deemed to be anti-semitic. Institutions would lose public funding. Foreign students who pushed for Palestinian rights would have their visas revoked, or be deported.

One of the authors of Project Esther worked for a Jared Kushner founded nonprofit focused on the Abraham Accords.  Kushner is a private equity underwriter (PEU) with billions in Middle East investments.  His father Charles, pardoned by President Trump, is undergoing hearings for Ambassador to France.

Former Ambassador Chas Freeman has characterized Israel's obliteration of Gaza as meeting the definition of  genocide.  

PEUs Marc Rowan (Apollo) and Bill Ackman (Pershing Square) were front and center in squashing university protests calling for Israeli asset divestment.  

My wise friend recently wrote:

They used the October 7th massacre to have someone in private equity write an editorial about the University of Pennsylvania leadership regarding the Palestinian protests to introduce this project to dampen all of our freedoms to protest and speak out under the constitution.  Yet all these same businessmen were in the Middle East to broker a deal with Jared Kushner and Donald Trump? 

So you can't protest the inhumane treatment of the Palestinians without the fear of being lumped into a category of supporting terrorists? And then what is the next step? You cannot protest the way you are being treated at a corporation? Where does this end? It doesn't. 

You know what ends all your rights under the constitution according to a FASCIST regime that all the guys from MAGA keep supporting. A blending of Tech Titans with Wall Street oligarchs consolidating the Middle East with U.S. military might to accept a genocide of the Palestinian people.  Whoever follows Alex Karp and Palmer Luckey have a dream, but it will turn out to be our nightmare. Incoming.

The Boss Bruce Springsteen eloquently said:

“In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.” 

“A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.” 

A majority of our representatives have long chosen the moneyed interest over public will.  It's time for our friends in the Congress to provide a counterbalance to their TechGod and PEU Legend sponsors.  

Elected officials have allowed the distortion of our Constitutional Republic and usurpation of citizen rights.  Restoration is in order, not further backsliding.

Update 5-30-25:  Trump taps Palantir to compile data on Americans.  More DOUGEBAG, Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased Against Government (the kind that ensures rights vs. trampling them)

Update 6-2-25:  FT reported:

Moody’s reports default rates for private equity-backed companies nearing 17 per cent, more than double non-private equity firms.

Marks Ahoy! PEU Yachts Ready to Offload

Trump II, the digital Caligula, is ready to spread "We the PEUple" into retirement accounts.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) have offered multiple products in the past for regular investors.  Most were received with yawns and disinterest.  

But like crypto, the sun is rising on the pristine luxury vessels of private equity and private credit.  Hint: if they are actively selling to the little people that's a setting sun folks.  

Fire up the bucket shops, the PEU boys got secondaries to sell.  Think of them as leftovers, the ones hidden in the back of the fridge.  

Don't load up your retirement dingy with moldy PEU stakes or termite infested private credit.  It's a long way back to shore.

Update 5-21-25:  Another article from WSJ on the topic.  

Update 6-2-25:  FT reported:

Moody’s reports default rates for private equity-backed companies nearing 17 per cent, more than double non-private equity firms.

Big, PEU-tiful Bill

Trump II, the digital Caligula, watches as his financial enema for the world is incorporated into an official budget.  Trade is currently backed up with pressure ever building.  When Trump's tax bill is enacted and regulatory mechanisms halted, watch out.  

The economic forces unleashed will be geologic in scale once that enema medicine takes effect.  Dr. Trump indicated his enema was chockfull of 200 trade deals, each working to loosen up an outpouring of robot jobs in automated factories.  

Won't that hurt when it all goes spurting out?  No, Virginia.  These are tiny, well lubricated robots, so tiny, you can't see the screws.

It turns out the medicine being administered is 18 trade deals over a ninety day period.  

Will the lesser dosage over three months impact the results?  No, Virginia.  Remember it's Trump's big, beautiful bill, not yours.  Virginia, just as you can live with 2 or 3 dolls vs. 30, your family can go from $17,000 to $16,000 as long as my billionaire buddies score another $390,000.  That'll get them a new Doroni (flying two seater, think The Jetsons).

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  TechGods employed the PEU playbook, only more publicly (but with the same paltry concern for basic ethical considerations).  It's Donald Trump's Big PEU-tiful Bill and for that the little people suffer.  

Doroni's Flying Two Seater to be Made in Saudi Arabia

The White House included Doroni on its list of Great Deals Trump II secured in his recent travels to three Middle East monarchies.  The verbiage from CEO Doron Merdinger is light on any actual deals coming from the visit.  

Doroni already had Saudi funding, the first in February consisted of $30 million from Kingdom Aero.  The second came in March, an additional $150 million from a Saudi investor for Doroni to manufacture their product in Saudi Arabia.

It remains to be seen how Trump's visit made Doroni a "great deal secured for America."  Thus far it looks like a Saudi funded, likely Saudi manufactured product.  

I'm sure the White House will let us know, just like they did with those DOUGEBAG savings. (Department of Greedy Executives Biased Against Government).  

Dealmaker Trump deserves deal fees.  Might a H1-X eVTOL be on the White House lawn soon?  Candy apple red to match his TESLER?

Day in the Life of Scott Bessent

The man with Washington D.C. largest shovel is Treasury Chief Scott Bessent.  Bessent has the challenge of spinning Trump II's "savage whims" as rational policy, then defending the digital Caligula's self aggrandizing.  

Trump's done "over 200 trade" deals but Bessent recently prioritized 18 for completion by the end of the 90 day suspension.  Plop!  

Foreign capital is "flying" to our shores to build new factories or "fleeing" to offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands.  Splat!

The $400 million Qatari flying palace is for the U.S. government or it's a memento for the Trump library, as if one will ever be constructed.  

"Equalization"....Splurt!

"Groceries"....Phhhrrrpppp!  Plapp! 

Imagine if Scott Bessent's financial knowledge were used to foster economic growth instead of Trump "whim cleanup" and persistent backside kissing.  Blind loyalty is the job of Trump II cabinet member.  That and arse smooching with lots of saliva.

The PEU class has noted the reduction of one of their own.  I never thought the privileged would have to rise up.  So far they've been a compliant group.

As my father-in-law told my wife when she was younger.  "When you tire of eating shit, you'll stop."  Surely, Bessent is nearing his limit.

Update 5-20-25:  Semafor reported on a mini sell America trade.

Obitcoin2025: Vance Headliner

Vice President J.D. Vance holds bitcoin in his portfolio, so he'll be talking his book when he keynotes Obitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas.  MAGA Inc. is holding a dinner fundraiser in Vegas during Obitcoin starring VP Vance.  The price?  $1,000,000 a plate.   

Trump II, the digital Caligula, requires $500,000 more than J.D.  NYT reported two weeks ago:

President Trump is speaking on Monday night at a $1.5 million-a-head fund-raiser for his MAGA Inc. super PAC at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia. The “crypto and AI innovators” dinner is the latest in a series of high-dollar fund-raisers that MAGA Inc. has held in recent weeks.

Cryptobros and TechGods are far freer with their money than private equity underwriters (PEU).  The MAGA Inc. perpetual handout would not be well received by PEU legends.  PEU strategy involved giving insiders "base wealth" so they could in turn run for office/have a political appointment and keep the system humming in their favor.

The middle aged Trump boys have three crypto ventures, two family meme-coins, the USD1 stable-coin (WLF) and a new D.C. membership club selling access to the Trump cabinet.  The club's name?  Executive Branch.

The Legislative branch is supporting the real Executive Branch on crypto.  Speakers at Obitcoin2025 include:.

In the land of Jim Justice, every Babydog needs their own coin.  It's on the buyer to know they have the real Babydog.  

A fake Eric Trump meme-coin went from $160 million to $30,000 in an instant.  That should qualify for a coin obituary.  

My wise friend wrote regarding Bitcoin and some of the recent go public deals (Nakamoto-KindlyMD, American Bitcoin-Gryphon Digital Mining):

I have never seen a concerted effort by so many to push so hard to make the case to buy something most people have no use for other than the fear of missing out on something no one can tell you what it is OTHER THAN it's the future.

Bitcoin and the Crypto ecosystem is just a digital Ponzi scam that promises future price gains over a dividend. The holding on forever is just the means to keep the supply off the market while they raise more money through various forms under various guises to create the flow necessary to keep price floating higher. Go back in history and read similar setups. We have raised the sophistication but not the Dupe. These little frauds Like KDLY Are like a fractional reserve system in that they multiply the potential balances to place the object of the scam. This narrative gives the visual of growth and creates the fear of missing out and justification for more legitimate companies to create a place on their balance sheet for said scam object, i.e. Bitcoin and other cryptos. How much natural demand would there be for these digital pony rides without sundry financings? Where would the natural demand come from? These are liquidity plugs to create speculation and other nefarious activities for a select inside group.

Former TechGod, now Vice President J.D. Vance is plating millions for Trump's MAGA Inc. SuperPAC.  That money has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?  Hopefully, Babydog Justice will cover that in her presentation.

Update 5-19-25:  The crypto Swiss Army Knife keeps adding applications:

Somebody has to buy our downgraded debt.

Update 6-12-25:  Blue Teamer David Plouffe joined Coinbase's Global Advisory Council as two crypto/stablecoin bills advance in the House and Senate. A 401k specialist called opening up retirement accounts for crypto investments an "absolutely awful decision."  

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

Eric is Chip Off Gold Block

In three months time Dominari Holdings added the middle aged Trump boys to their advisory board, formed a new high tech venture focused on artificial intelligence data centers, sold/gave a sizeable chunk of their firm to Eric Trump, switched from AI to bitcoin mining and then announced a go public scheme via a money losing bitcoin miner with a medical marijuana history.

That's reason to celebrate and do some promoting.  Dominari reminded the public that 90 day founder Eric is staying on as Chief Strategy Officer and that Dominari will hold 32% of 98% of the new venture.  That's roughly 31.4%.

Head's up to all the MAGA, crypto, defi focused ETFs and separately managed accounts searching for places to put new capital  Dominari may fit your investment criteria.

Interesting that Trump themed capital was birthed at Mar-a-Lago.  Noted investor Grant Williams observed that Trump has not been a magnet for non-MAGA investment.

Russell Napier encouraged podcast listeners not to underestimate the power of Donald Trump in frightening capital from his shores.  

I wonder how the Cayman Islands crowd is reacting to the Trump boys seemingly endless ventures, capable of rapid shape shifting.  What happens to the U.S. if there is less capital and the remaining capital goes into the Wild Wild West of digital currencies?

Even worse, consider yesterday's scamming via a fake ERICTRUMP meme-coin:

A fake meme coin based on Eric Trump underwent a massive rug pull today, falling from a $160 million market cap to $30,000 almost instantly. The token displayed several dubious characteristics ahead of time. 

The scammer tried to launch three failed Eric Trump tokens before this one started trending. One breakout success is more than enough to reward this duplicitous behavior.

Now that is some capital destruction.  Will the real Eric Trump weigh in given his "commercial acumen, capital markets expertise, and commitment to positioning the United States as a global leader in the advancement of decentralized financial systems?"  Stay tuned.

Gold glitters but so do the crypto glitterati.

Update 5-18-25:  MAGA Inc. is holding a $1 million per plate fundraiser with VP JD Vance in Las Vegas.  The fundraiser is in conjunction with the Bitcoin2025 conference where Vance is the keynote speaker.  Vance is a bitcoin holder, so he'll be speaking his own book. 

Inflation hit the political influence dinner circuit as it's now $1.5 million a plate for crypto-bros to dine with Trump II, the digital Caligula.

A Bitcoin logo was projected onto the night sky in Austin, Texas.

U.S. Government a Pass Through Entity

Trump II, the digital Caligula, returned home after a whirlwind trip to three rich Gulf nations, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.  The main lesson learned?

1.  Trump makes deals, in this case Boeing planes.  

2.  Dealmakers make fees/receive gifts, one $400 million "pimped out" Boeing luxury 747 jet.  

3.  The U.S. government is now a pass through entity as Trump's library will eventually receive the plane.

Trump is all about self service.  Anthony Scaramucci believes Trump intends to accumulate over $200 billion in wealth by the end of his second term.  He's going to have to pick up the pace as $1 billion per month won't cut it, especially as Trump II is easily distracted.  

GD Culture Group to Buy Trump Meme Coin

Yet another obscure money losing company with an evolving mission announced it would start a Trump meme coin and Bitcoin treasury with the backing of a British Virgin Islands accredited investor.

Oddly, GD Culture Limited has a British Virgin Islands subsidiary, Citi Profit Investment Holding Limited.  

It's not clear if the accredited investor ponying up $300 million for $TRUMP or Bitcoin is internal or external.  The company had multiple equity raises, $9.5 million in 2023 and $5.5 million yesterday.

GD Culture was formerly known as Code Chain New Continent Limited.  A SEC filing indicated its interest in Bitcoin mining.

Code Chain New Continent Limited (the “Company”) entered into an asset purchase agreement with Sichuan RiZhanYun Jisuan Co., Ltd., (the “Seller”) on February 23, 2021, which was amended and restated on April 16, 2021 and further amended on May 28, 2021 (the “Agreement”). Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company purchased, and the Seller sold, a total of 10,000 Bitcoin mining machines (the “Assets”) for a total purchase price of RMB 40,000,000 or US$6,160,000 based on the exchange rate as of April 8, 2021 (the “Purchase Price”), payable in the form of 1,587,800 shares of common stock of the Company. In addition, pursuant to the Agreement, the Seller agreed to cause revenue and any other source of income from the operation of the Assets to be paid to the Company, payable in cryptocurrency to be deposited into a cryptocurrency wallet held by the Company on a daily basis. The Company agreed to issue to the Seller or its designees certain bonuses, payable in the common stock of the Company upon meeting certain milestones. On June 1, 2021, the Company issued to the Seller’s designee 2,513,294 shares of common stock (the “Shares”), consisted of (i) the Purchase Price in the form of 1,587,800 shares of common stock and (ii) 925,494 bonus shares for meeting and exceeding certain milestones.

China outlawed Bitcoin mining so this deal "never occurred," despite the mention of meeting and beating milestones.  

Because the Assets were never delivered to the Company and the Company has not received and is not able to accept cryptocurrency from the operation of the Assets, the Company and the Seller agreed to rescind the Agreement and cancel the Shares.

A company press release indicated 10,000 Bitcoin mining machines were purchased from Chengdu RiZhanYunJisuan Co., Ltd.  StreetInsider reported on 3-18-21:

Code Chain New Continent Limited (the "Company" or "Code Chain" or "We") (NASDAQ: CCNC), a leading eco-technology company, today announced that it completed the previously announced purchase of 10,000 Innosilicon T2T Bitcoin mining machines with Chengdu RiZhanYunJisuan Co., Ltd. 

The miners are expected to be immediately deployed to provide an estimated 240 PH/s of Bitcoin mining hash rate capacity. To ensure regulatory compliance with mining machine delivery, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, Auditor, local legal counsel, and a third-party evaluation advisor supervised and diligently guided the proper delivery procedure of the 10,000 miners at several locations in Xinjiang, China from March 2 to 5, 2021.

GD Culture has been all over the map strategically.  The company is a consistent money loser.  That makes the latest cryptocurrency treasury company similar to other recent converts to Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor.  KindlyMD-Nakamoto and Gryphon-American Bitcoin have medical marijuana in their history as well as big operating losses.

It will be interesting to see if the mysterious British Virgin Islands accredited investor is revealed and if they are trying to curry favor with Trump II, the digital Caligula.  Might they really be from the PRC?  If so, what's China's strategy?

ABTC Coming to NASDAQ

The Trump boys' American Bitcoin is going public! The company will merge with Gryphon Digital Mining and then the combined entity will trade on the ticker ABTC.

Gryphon's latest 10-k has its history which includes:

Gryphon became a publicly held entity in February 2024 upon the completion of a reverse merger transaction (the “Merger”) with Akerna Corp.

Akerna provided software as a service (“SaaS”) solutions within the cannabis industry that enabled regulatory compliance and inventory management through several wholly-owned subsidiaries.

The cannabis history is in line with another recent bitcoin treasury merger, KindlyMD and Nakamoto.

It raises the question as to the quality of people rushing into the latest, hottest trend, cannabis (hash) turned into crypto (hash rate).  Compliance hardly seems like a strong suit for either industry.

Why American Bitcoin?  Eric.  Eric's Dad wants to build a Bitcoin Reserve within the Federal Treasury and American Bitcoin wants to help with that.

Why now?  Money is pouring into MAGA, crypto, and defi ETFs or separately managed funds.  Those vehicles need publicly traded stocks that qualify.  Thus the rush to form bitcoin treasury companies and for other listed firms to announce Trump memecoin treasuries.  

Even the Trump's TruthFi is selling that stuff.  So what does one get from buying American Bitcoin stock after the deal is completed in Q3?

A high leverage bitcoin mining pure play (that is merging with same).  Gryphon lost $17.7 million from operations in 2024, a slight improvement from 2023's loss of $19.1 million.

CNBC reported:

Existing stockholders of American Bitcoin, including the president’s two eldest sons, will own about 98% of the new entity.

That speaks to the power of relationships, especially father and sons.  

The Sons of Monarchy enrichment train is barreling full speed ahead.

Trump Memecoin Party Guest List is Set!

Reuters reported:

Buyers of U.S. President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin spent an estimated $148 million in the contest to win the opportunity to dine with the president at his private golf club outside of Washington, D.C. on May 22.

And the top 25 are:

Guests should know not to pull President Trump's extended index finger.  They may get a different kind of deposit.

Update 5-23-25:  The dinner happened and to date the White House has not released a guest list for the event.  CNN reported on some of the attendees.  CBC reported meme-coin buyers spent $148 million for a seat at the Trump dinner table.

the four largest investors also received a limited edition Trump Tourbillon watch that sells for $100,000

Bitcoin Meets Medical Marijuana

Strategy CEO Michael Saylor shared the news of a new publicly traded conglomerate devoted to buying and holding Bitcoin.  It's an odd combination of KindlyMD, which already trades on NASDAQ, and Nakamoto, a bitcoin treasury company.  

KindlyMD operates a handful of clinics in Utah, some as small as 300-500 square feet.  It's latest 10-k showed a highly unprofitable venture (where losses more than doubled in the last year).  

KindlyMD's CEO once worked for the Steward Health System in Utah.  Senator Mitt Romney called Steward "reprehensible" for their mismanagement, which began under private equity underwriter (PEU) ownership (Cerberus, the hellhound).

Kindly has some PEU like arrangements, the mixing of debt and equity by owners and executives.

Anything goes, nowadays and that's why a money losing, medical marijuana clinic is becoming a bitcoin treasury.  

Invest only what you can afford to throw in the trash or watch go up in smoke.