Data Hating Trump Wants AI to Reign

 Trump II recently wrote "Let data reign" on Truth Social.

"If you want to pay lower taxes, if you want to create tremendous wealth, if you want your house to be more valuable and everything else, you're going to want a data center," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "If you want to go through poverty, crime and squalor, I would say don't approve data centers." 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick chalked up opposition to "propaganda by our adversaries" and said the benefits to communities are "obvious." 

Trump's former AI czar, David Sacks, asserted that "misinformation" was to blame for the  backlash and said "no one is trying to force these data centers down anyone's throats."

Actually a collection of someones is trying to just that, Mr. Sacks.  It's a combination of elected and unelected government officials, various TechGods and their financiers (private equity underwriters (PEU)),  Sacks knows them well. 

Surely data exists on home valuations in close proximity to data centers.  I can't imagine it supports Trump II's assertions (which often are not fact based).  That said, if homes across from data centers become unsellable then that data could be missing.  Abandoned homes often become magnets for poverty, crime and squalor.  

The benefits of data centers to billionaires Trump II, Howard Lutnick and David Sacks are obvious.  The investor class has multiple ways to profit from data center proliferation.  They can front run government policy and federal budget priorities.  Annual financial disclosures will indicate how these "public servants" are profiting from their private holdings.

Also, Mr. Lutnick's getting a multimillion dollar house from Jeffrey Epstein for $10 is not available to common folk.

Trump II and his kingly court want data to reign.

 

Data cannot be a sovereign power.  It should not be chief of state or have the authority of a monarch.

TechGods' social media usurped children's brains, their physical/emotional safety, social development and individual autonomy.  With AI they are shooting to distort whole societies.  

Data is incapable of reigning.  It's purveyors have shown their ability to feign to maximize their financial position and personal power.  "Everyone can have a penthouse" and "AI will cure cancer."  

Trump II, Lutnick and Sacks are selling something.  It's called their own book.  Normally, those come with disclosures but we are in a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) world.  Leon Black is telling us that very thing with his non-testimony.

The only data that rains is what they want us to see and that is very little in regard to their personal affairs.  AI cannot explore what isn't there, cannot mine areas where it lacks access.  

--cross posted at StateoftheDivision as three data centers may locate in the author's community

Two Flavors, One System

SHFT Holdings website states:

"Federal Bureau of Prisons purchasers: New users must register before ordering. If you have already registered, log in to place your order."

SHFT Holdings was formed in May 2026, one week after the Bureau of Prisons sought a supplier for nicotine pouches for federal prison commissaries.  The supplier was required to provide FDA approved products but SHFT's products currently lack that approval.  

A whistleblower raised concerns within the Justice Department and the contract is currently on hold.  

SHFT is part of a holding company, Ameribrands which is an affiliate of Little River Partners.  

It has a Trump I "slim suit crowd" feel to it as it echoes popup companies to provide masks and other personal protective equipment during the COVID outbreak.

But this is Trump II in the era of the fat shot and the ever ballooning waist of our Chief Executive.  So far there is no Trump offspring tie to this arrangement.  Time will reveal if SHFT Holdings accepts payment in USD1, WLFI token or $TRUMP.  

Investors love recurring revenue streams and nicotine addiction provides just that.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Two flavors, one system...

Worker's Share of Income Hits Record Low

The big money boys don't like to share.  Corporate executive compensation has far outstripped worker pay increases for decades.  

Private equity underwriters (PEU) grew like locusts in our economy, wielding inordinate political influence.  Their operating models add massive interest costs, deal and annual management fees to sponsor.  Headcount and benefits are usually reduced and wage increases become a footnote in corporate history.

TechGods rode those PEU coattails into political prominence but they've lacked the ability to use their influence behind the scenes, until Trump II.  The Tech/Crypto/PEU juggernaut has traded all sense for access to Uncle Sam's wallet.  

Trump II has no limitations (at least in his mind) and insiders feel likewise.  

Note how Leon Black thumbed his nose at a Congressional Committee by failing to show for his testimony.  Add that Black is actually suing them for asking for his non-disclosure agreements (NDA).  Leon's son Ben Black is Trump II's head of the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

They will take until there is nothing left.  It's the next step of the hollowing and occurs under Trump II, the Great Usurper of All Things.  

It is the Age of Mammon where politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that, many people suffer.

Update:  Jesse wrote about the preponderance of our elected officials and their PEU/TechGod sponsors.

The reckless disregard the power elite have for their own country is just astonishing until you realize that they do not consider themselves to be Americans, but a superior transnational class.

Trump II posted a Labor Day graphic on his Instagram account, nothing on WhiteHouse.gov or his Truth Social site.

Trump did post a Labor Day message on Truth Social in 2024, when he was running for President.

Leon Black Shows Congress Who Reports to Who

Apollo co-founder Leon Black slapped Congress with a lawsuit over not revealing his various non-disclosure agreements (NDA).  Black did not show up personally to deliver the message before the House Oversight Committee expecting his testimony.  

For decades elected officials did the bidding of the private equity underwriter (PEU) class.  Leon is used to giving them orders, not taking them.

As for attorneys, they exist to enact the will of the PEU class.  NDAs have been front and center as citizens try to find out the most basic information on data centers wanting to locate in their backyard.  Many of those data centers are being developed by PEU affiliates and/or financed by PEU private credit.

The PEU class knows full well how to protect their rights to the detriment of yours.  It's an old game but this version started in the 1980's and ramped up decade after decade.  

TechGods have joined the party.  They've learned well from their PEU forefathers how to keep the most basic information from public eyes.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Like all abusers, Leon believes power only goes one way.  It's time for that to change.  Congress?  DOJ?  The Supremes?  Your job is far more than protecting the insider class.  

There are days where common folk need protection from those very people.  Thus, the term survivor.

Pentagon Pete's Drone Purge Starts at the Top

Army Chief Dan Driscoll left office today with many things officially unsaid.  At least one Senator took umbrage to the ceaseless firings of top brass under Pentagon Pete Hegseth.  

One story listed the military leaders let go under Trump II.  All had ties to the military's drone warfare development, a space recently targeted by the Trump boys, Don Jr. and Eric.

 

General CQ Brown was no longer good enough for Trump II but worked out fine for drone maker Powerus (a Trump/Dominari investment) and tech focused Shield Capital.

TechGod Eric Schmidt is also in the military drone space.  There may be room enough for both the Trump boys and various TechGods and there may not.

Changing leaders in order to change programs that changes contractors to benefit the Trump boys, now that would take AI to track.  Or would it?  Trump II claims to be transparent and accessible.  

Will Dan Driscoll head back to Flex Capital or will another Washington, D.C. based private equity underwriter (PEU) land his services?  John Phelan went back to Rugger Management LLC after his Navy Chief stint under Trump II.  

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

Their sons shall be far richer than their fathers in today's PEU world, where all the lines are blurred.

Update 9-4-26:  Axios wrote about the tech side of Driscoll's resignation and other personnel moves.  The former Army Chief of Staff now works at Snowpoint Ventures.  They have a drone affiliate, Shield AI, that is achieving success in Ukraine.

NYT noted the pattern of military chiefs going to work for investment firms.

The Pentagon gave 3 million military associated people access to ChatGPT and GrokAI.  

Update 9-6-26:  The Daily Beast reported on Hegseth's firing of Chris Donahue.

Image Makers Beat Profit Takers in Trump II's World

Who fires their top service leaders in the middle of a military excursion?  Trump II did for the Navy less than one month into his war of choice on Iran.  Six months into the conflict he axed the Army chief.

Both men are private equity underwriters (PEU)

John Phelan - Rugger Management, MSD Capital

Dan Driscoll - Flex Capital

Trump II said Phelan did an "outstanding job" and gave him "special thanks."  He called Driscoll "highly effective" and a disrupter and change agent.

Neither man would be gone unless Trump wanted it. 

Phelan returned to the firm he started.  The Aspen Security Forum had this in his bio:

Following his government service, John returned as Founder and Chairman of Rugger Management, LLC, a private investment firm in Palm Beach, Florida.

Phelan spoke to his termination in his July 2026 interview at the Forum.

It remains to be seen which PEU lands Dan Driscoll. 

The Pentagon is still chock full of PEUs.  I imagine they will be far more conscious of any rub points with the White House which views image as everything.  

Backstage Trump II wants his name plastered everywhere and his family obscenely enriched.  Yes, sir!!!

White House Ditches PEU Driscoll as Army Chief

The "highly effective" disrupter and change agent Head of the U.S. Army is leaving by year end, according to the White House.  Dan Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to then Junior TechGod J.D. Vance (now Vice President). 

Fox News noted the Army's drone program underwent extreme strategic change recently:

....pulling the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had heralded. An Army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before (that unit was) directed to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion.

And who is in the drone development business?  The Trump boys.  There is considerable margin difference between supplying parts and selling the whole shebang.

Powerus, a US autonomous-systems firm, just locked in a $22.3 million contract to install a counter-drone detection and tracking system at an undisclosed energy facility in the Middle East. It’s one of the largest commercial deals for aerial threat protection at oil and gas infrastructure in the region.

Trump II needs not a solid reason to send someone packing.  Thus, people who have his ear are the ones influencing day to day "whim making."  The scramble is on for large chunks of Uncle Sam's war budget, growing more obese and obscene by the day.

It's Flex Capital's former COO Dan Driscoll vs. Dominari's Advisory Board (chock full of Trumps and Trump Organization executives).  It's a PEU (private equity underwriter) vs. TOE (Trump org executives) battle.  

Daddy or Trump II appears to be the decider as to how the Army's drone business develops.  He is advised by Pentagon Pete Hegseth, an expert in image generation.  That may be part of winning any war, but clearly far more is needed.

Trump II rails at profiteering military suppliers while positioning his boys to do same.  Eric and Don Jr. have access and their coddling is transparent.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren and increasingly, more are one.  Occasionally, they fight within their respective political teams.  Red on Red in the Pentagon.  Prepare for more such battles.

Saudis Sports Rinse LIV Golf

FT reported LIV Golf may be headed to bankruptcy.  Players who opted for outsized contracts found LIV ready to renege.  Star golfers reportedly received offers worth pennies on the dollar of their remaining remuneration.  

BC Partners private credit arm may fund the operation and Liberty Strategic Capital (Steve Mnuchin) may enter on the equity or debt side.  

The easy, fun big player money is gone as the Saudis decided not to throw more good money after bad. 

Flashback four years to the formation of LIV Golf:

... admitting the SGL was nothing more than what he called “sportswashing” by a brutally repressive regime. “They’re scary motherfuckers to get involved with,” he said. “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I’m not sure I even want [the SGL] to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour.”’

Who knew sportswashing had a rinse cycle?  Who besides the players will be hung out to dry?

 Professional golfers will get an up close look at their new private equity/private credit owners.  I doubt they like what they see.  

Welcome to the world of the average worker over the last fifteen to twenty years.  They thought they were part of something until they were told they weren't.  Workers thought they would be fairly compensated, pay and benefits, for their hard work and contributions.  Executives nickeled and dimed them on pay while slashing benefits.  Workloads became absurd and quality suffered.  The system optimized returns to owners and executives, as that was the design.

Trump II expects LIV Golf to survive and keep booking tournaments at his courses.  The man tends to get his way, like all rich scary motherf'ers.

The Saudi royals killed a U.S. reporter because they did not like what he wrote.  I'd hate to be a key person in the golf league that cost them billions, especially one that used LIV Golf to "get things done with the PGA Tour."

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

Mr. O'Leary's Demotions

The Chief Financial Officer of New America Acquisition I Corp, George O'Leary,  resigned recently.  

New America Acquisition I hit the newswire in August 2025 with its recruitment of the Trump boys to its Advisory Board.

In the multi "full time job" world of insiders Eric and Don Jr. have few peers.  After the boys joined New America Acquisition I Corp, George O'Leary lost his board slot (February 2026).  Then he lost his CFO slot (August 2026).  

Nearly three years ago George O'Leary expressed a desire to sit down with fellow Palm Beacher Trump II to discuss solar energy and the important role it could play going forward.  

I'm pretty sure that meeting never happened.  Did George's invite begin the long series of demotions and terminations from New America Acquisition Corp I?  Or did he do something different to piss off the boys or their old man?  We may never know.

PEU Jed York Sought "Full Service" Sexual Activity

San Franscisco 49ers owner and Aurum Partners CEO Jed York was caught prior to pulling his pants down.  

East Palestine Police arrested York at a planned paid sexual meetup in an Ohio trailer park.

York is a venture capitalist/private equity underwriter (PEU) with Aurum and previously worked with Guggenheim Partners. 

Fellow sports team owner Mark Walter is under a different kind of investigation for his insider dealings at TWG Global and Guggenheim.  

New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft dealt with charges for hiring trafficked sex workers several years ago.  Kraft was not the trafficker of those women.  He was just the billionaire john.

What prevents some people from keeping their dick in their pants or avoiding blatant conflicts of interest in their billions in assets?  It could be that PEU aura.  They are used to getting their way.

Note that York got off light.  That's because politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

LIV Golf Gets PEUd

Professional golfers may soon go through the same grinder federal workers faced under DOGE and corporate employees experienced after a PEU (private equity underwriter) buyout.  

Investors have their operating model and it generally comes with lots of pain for staff and new crappy technology.  

Players' "buy in" means significantly less compensation or no contract at all.  The stars may get to roll their former pay into an equity stake but then again, they may not.

PIF is selling on the very cheap or giving away their equity in LIV.  When will the mystery investor(s) reveal themselves?  Might there be political connections to the political Red Team?  Trump II would love to keep hosting their tournaments at his golf courses.

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

Lonsdale's Push to Criminalize Homelessness

TechGod Joe Lonsdale and his wife formed a think tank to address societal problems.

He wants the homeless off the streets, at least at night.  Exactly how this "saves capitalism" or deals with the myriad of root causes of homeless is unclear.

Cicero pushes forced addiction treatment for homeless persons.

Lonsdale stands to profit from addiction treatment through at least two 8VC affiliates, Tempero and Ritten.

A third stands to gain. Halo Health which addresses primary mental healthcare, both in person and virtually.

Also, 8VC has Galileo which delivers mental health services to underserved persons with complex and chronic conditions as part of its healthcare model.  Hopscotch Primary Care does as well in its focus on rural communities.

Joe believes in stewardship to limited partners, which is definitely not the homeless or other little people.

He believes in patriotism but may side with the widespread position that criticism of Israel is automatically anti-Semitism.  

When the colonists arrived in the free world didn't they have to camp outside? 

Gotta love the liberty loving TechGods who suckle up to Uncle Sam's bank account in venture after venture after venture.  

Add their getting government to make it a crime to sleep outside or criticize the State of Israel, as well as force people into addiction treatment, and they seem even further from their libertarian roots.

TechGods and the LP class enjoy superior influence on elected officials as today's landed, equity holding gentry.  AI is going to unemploy people and Joe wants them jailed once they lose their home.  

The greatest irony might be TechGods made billions from leveraging addiction.....and they may make billions more from that treatment.

The AI Dongularity Encroaches

AI will "cure cancer" and give everyone "a penthouse."  These are the promises of TechGods.  

The reality may be far different.  

As for the quality of TechGod leadership...it is clearly lacking:

Rushing crappy tech to market has a rich long history for those who've experienced vapor or error-ware.

We now have slop-ware.  Customer support!  Face cleanup on page 7.  

China has nothing to do with my wish to not have a data center nearby.  Actual communications from Beacon Data Centers executives are the cause.  Vague and ever changing answers arose from Canada, not Beijing.

TechGods and their private equity underwriter (PEU) financiers control corporate strategy and steer government attention away from their money making ventures while directly facilitating their further enrichment (already at obscene levels)..

Democracy is supposed to reflect the majority.  That has not been the case for some time.  People have long wanted healthcare costs to go down, for the wealthy to bear a greater tax burden, for the U.S. to not intervene militarily across the globe and for leaders to be honest and not manipulate voters.

The workplace is not a democracy but people expect to be treated decently.  Workers don't like seeing output quality disrupted or incapable processes put in place.  AI does both.  Bonus, it's addictive.  It becomes even more tiresome as TechGods lurch from one priority to another.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that the common person suffers.

Update:  Business Insider noted:

Is it a Chinese psy-op? Are Americans ignorant? Or are tech bros just completely out of touch? 

Tech leaders across the country are full of ideas about why Americans are in a furor against data centers, positing theories on social media that range from practical to patronizing.

Maybe we don't like insufferable people who lie, manipulate and deceive.

  

That PEUs, TechGods and elected officials are coalescing into one could be the dongularity.  

Update 8-24-26:  Time ran a piece by a Northeaster University professor showing TechGods are all over the place and "disinterested in philanthropy or profit sharing" while avoiding taxes and taking huge government subsidies.

the future isn’t something we build together. It’s something they get to build on our behalf. 

What makes this eschatology dangerous is that it is held by the people with the most resources to act on it. Musk, Altman, and Thiel aren’t theologians speculating about the end times. They’re building the thing their theology tells them is coming, funding the politics that protects their ability to build it, and treating anyone who asks them to slow down as a luddite or Antichrist rather than a citizen with a legitimate concern. A belief that the present doesn’t matter, held by people with the power to shape it, doesn’t stay a belief. It becomes policy, product, and precedent, with tech bros deciding the future on behalf of everyone else, without anyone else’s consent.

And a pox on all their corporate houses and lobbying firms...

Trump II Clueless & Careless

When PEU executives change an affiliate's operating model, chaos ensures and quality plummets. It's the price of disruption and many U.S. workers have lived through such efforts where tech replaces people.

TechGods imitated the PEU model on behalf of Trump II.  They called it DOGE.  I called it DOUGEBAG.  That stands for Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased Against Government.

Much has been destroyed.  It can be seen in NOAA with less accurate weather forecasting, the Center for Disease Control with environmental surveillance dismantled and various diseases running amok,  as well as our National Parks which serves as the slush fund from which Trump II reshapes Washington, D.C.

For the CDC deterioration Fortune noted: 

Led by then-adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, the cuts affected researchers, scientists, doctors, support staffers and senior leaders, leaving the government without many of the key experts who long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues.

  

In the case of NOAA Forbes cited:

Experts told Forbes that there are simply fewer weather monitoring instruments being used today than before agencies like the NOAA suffered cuts under the Trump administration. 

According to the report there are fewer buoys measuring wave conditions than in 2024, and fewer weather balloons being launched to collect data on air pressure, temperature, humidity, and windspeed. That data feeds weather models, which is then used to build forecasts by weather apps and local forecasters. 

One program, enacted 20 years ago to measure arctic ice, was recently cut by the Trump administration. 

Plans for a next-generation weather satellite meant to replace two older, faltering structures that may begin to fail in the next several years have been scrapped.

As for National Parks its conservancy stated:

“A cut this massive would be catastrophic. After a year of deep staffing cuts, dwindling resources, and attacks on history and science, park staff are already at the brink. Park maintenance needs are growing, protections are eroding, and visitor experience is declining. This proposal would only accelerate the damage, putting our national parks at even greater risk and further cutting the park staff needed to care for our national treasures. 

“At the same time, the administration appears to be prioritizing a vague set of new construction projects across Washington, DC, proposing $10 billion for this program alone, which is more than three times the annual budget of the National Park Service. We support efforts to modernize and repair park infrastructure but not when it’s paired with massive cuts to Park Service operations."

Trump II's arrogance and incompetence will not be stemmed up by AI, robots or other items paraded about by his PEU supporters and the TechGod cabal who look the other way in return for political power, low taxes, government subsidies and access to Uncle Sam's wallet.

People, i.e. voters, don't like what they see.  

A majority of young adults are now more worried than enthusiastic about the growing role artificial intelligence (AI) has in their daily lives, according to a Pew Research survey released Tuesday. 

Among adults ages 18 to 29, 55% said they were more concerned than excited about AI, while just 11% said they felt the reverse.

We've seen the impacts of Elon Musk's major tampering of government which saved no money and caused actual harm.  

His dangling of AI's ideal future feels like a TechGod manipulation.

We seek Trump II spending like there is no tomorrow on wars and reshaping our nation's capital in his image ad nauseam.  

We see the PEU/TechGod club getting their way (over and over and over) while cretins and creeps "run" federal government operations into a symbolic Death Valley (the lowest place in the U.S.).

Lord help us.  Lord protect us from Old Testament Kings, their Centurions and the many usurpers of your realms.  Hear our prayer.

Update 8-25-26:  A Florida weatherman lamented the destruction of weather data collection that serves a the basis for forecasts.  He is not the only concerned scientist.

One would be wise to remember TechGod sales talk can turn into a "puffery" defense, a skillfully executed by The Carlyle Group after Carlyle Capital Corporation imploded in early 2008.

TechGods are doing a whole lot of huffing and puffing...

Update 9-1-26:  Former USAID staffers wrote about the decimation of their department under Trump II's DOGE headed by Elon Musk.  The piece described the U.S. as aspiring to be "generous, admired and strategic in solving global challenges."  Sorry, that's not Trump II or his TechGod/PEU coterie.

Ringing the Alarm on PEUnnuities

Bloomberg wrote about Leon Black before he stepped down as head of Apollo due to "health reasons" (translation:  his long term relationship with Jeffrey Epstein).  Their story included:

Apollo was busy building Athene, the insurer that would become its main source of cash. Apollo helped fuel its own growth by funneling Athene’s money into Apollo funds and collecting management fees on the investments. The arrangement drew the two companies even closer together. As Athene assets swelled at the end of 2013, it became clear to Apollo executives they were sitting on a gold mine. Rowan pushed a measure through the insurer’s board to double the fees it paid Apollo, raising them to more than triple what a typical manager would get, according to people familiar with the matter. (Apollo says it has delivered significant value to Athene and that the insurer benefits from its support, including tax, legal, and financial services.) The insurer has made Apollo the envy of Wall Street. Athene now generates a quarter of Apollo’s fee-related income, but it’s also drawn scrutiny from officials. The relationship between the companies is so intricate, says one former employee, that it would take regulators a year to understand it.

Private equity underwriters (PEU) cut their teeth packaging funds for endowments, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices.  It's much easier when the PEU owns the capital pool, as is the case with insurance companies.  

Many corporate pension funds have outsourced their pension liabilities to PEU owned life insurance companies via the purchase of annuities.  This shifts the liability for guaranteeing that pension from the employer to the state regulated life insurance company (PEU owned).  

Government regulators at the state and federal level are OK with the switch and apparently have no concerns about the quality of investments backstopping those contracts.  

Many financial experts have become concerned about PEU firms loading up their insurance affiliates with their own offerings.  Owner sells to owned insurance company its packaged investment offerings.  There is only one very strong arm in this deal.  Nothing is arm's length.  

Bond guru Bill Fleckenstein of Fleckenstein Capital noted the size of these conflicting relationships: 

Apollo has placed $227 billion of its deals into Athene US Life, its captive life insurance company; KKR has placed $163 billion of its deals into its Global Atlantic; Blackstone has put $209 billion into its Fidelity & Guaranty, Everlake, and Resolution Life; Brookfield has placed $90 billion into its American National, and so on."--Dan Oliver of Myrmikan Capital

Carlyle has Fortitude: Re "to sell" into.  

Their most recent 10-K states:

Carlyle FRL owns a controlling interest in Fortitude and has the right to appoint a majority of its board of directors. As a result, there may be real or apparent conflicts of interest with respect to matters affecting the Company, Carlyle-managed funds, and their portfolio companies and Fortitude, including with respect to the fiduciary duties that our employees that are board members owe to Fortitude in addition to the duties that they have to the Company. In addition, conflicts of interest could arise with respect to transactions involving business dealings between the Company, Fortitude, and each of their respective affiliates. The foregoing conflicts of interest may also arise with respect to subsidiaries of Fortitude.

Recall that this is what got former Lakers owner Mark Walters in trouble.  Walters loaded up his captive insurers with his affiliates' debt, while misrepresenting the size and scope of those holdings.  

Walters is connected so it will be interesting to see how his situation plays out given that politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one. 

Update 8-24-26:  Bill Fleckenstein summed it up with:

The PE industry really is despicable in so many ways.

Coming Soon: Trump II's World Liberty Trust Bank

 CBS News reported:

The Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday granted preliminary approval to World Liberty Trust Company to establish a bank charter, a move that would allow it to issue and manage its own stablecoins without relying on a middleman.

Trump II co-founded World Liberty Financial in fall 2024 as he ran for a second Presidential term.  

"This creates the awkward situation of the OCC needing to police World Liberty, which has an affiliation with the president's family," said Austin Campbell, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It is pretty unprecedented."

The Guardian noted: 

World Liberty's bank will not be allowed to pay its depositors, the companies and individuals who buy its stablecoins, any interest. 

The bank, however, can earn interest for itself by putting the cash it collects from those depositors into high-quality liquid investments – US government-backed treasury bonds.

So the Treasury is incentivized to approve a future buyer of its bonds.  Right now Treasury Chief Scott Bessent needs help pressing down interest rates.  Eric and Zach to the rescue.

Trump II's family holds 38% of World Liberty.  A UAE sovereign wealth fund owns 49%.

Banking Dive reported:

The bank will be governed by a five-member board which will include CEO and Chairman Zach Witkoff; Scott Alper, president and chief investment officer at Witkoff Group; Robert Witkoff, former co-chief investment officer of insurance firm Chubb Co.; Jeffrey Weiner, former CEO of accounting firm Marcum LLP; and Erin Baskett, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s board of governors. 

World Liberty Trust will issue and redeem USD1, manage the reserve backing USD1, and conduct digital asset custody services for institutional customers.

The major users of USD1 are also Middle East sovereign wealth funds.   Reuters reported in May 2025:

A stablecoin launched by Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for its $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance, one of World Liberty's co-founders said on Thursday.

Fortune added: 

When first launched, the company had no products—except for a cryptocurrency that it sold to investors for $550 million. In March, the company launched its own stablecoin, or cryptocurrency pegged to underlying assets like the U.S. dollar. 

The coin got an immediate bump in market capitalization after MGX, another venture firm tied to the Abu Dhabi royal family, invested $2 billion into the crypto exchange Binance with USD1, the stablecoin.

Maybe they can name it Phoenix Bank as it is rising fast towards the sun.  When that Co-founder Emeritus hairpiece catches fire things may get very ugly.  Until then party like its the late 1920's under the Great Trumpsby.

Update:  Reuters found a concerning use of USD1 as payment currency for Chinese AI models identified by the Trump administration as a threat to national security.  

Their review:

... found that 43 of the 90 models available through WorldClaw’s website, or nearly half, were developed by Alibaba, Baidu, Z.ai and other Chinese technology companies the Trump administration says pose risks to national security and intellectual property.

One could go insane looking for consistency under Trump II.  World Liberty's Head of Growth Ryan Fang is an advisor to WorldClaw.  The insider money funnel is spinning cash to connected individuals.

Trump II's Regulatory Pot Boils for Some, Cool Drink for Others

It's getting harder to know a number of things as the globe fractures into continental alliances.  The U.S. is backtracking on corporate ownership disclosures as it facilitates corporate hacking of global entities.  Trump II refers to such hackers as "cyber privateers" and they are to fight:

"any foreign group that conducts cyber-enabled crime against the United States Government, a United States person, or United States interests, and that is not an institutional part of a foreign government or wholly operated under a foreign government’s direction"

Additionally, the Pentagon plans to crack down on the transfer of technology and intellectual property theft.   Once again, this is not a domestic taking of intellectual property without permission, a foundational practice for most AI models.

The former Defense Department is focusing on foreign appropriators of U.S. technology/intellectual property.  Elected officials have long used the military as our global police force.  For the last few decades it took only the President to start or enter an international conflict.

Private equity underwriters' (PEU) political influence soared over that period as they flipped affiliates doing big business with Uncle Sam, hired former public servants in non-lobbying, lobbying roles and preserved their highly unpopular preferred "carried interest" taxation.

TechGods noted and copied the PEU playbook, albeit a bit more brashly.  

The Pentagon identified "suspect entities" in China, Russia and Iran and published a list.  

Pete Hegseth must have used a Ginshu knife when it came to Tsinghua University in Beijing.  Their Master of Global Affairs is OK while their Center for International Security and Strategy is verboten.

Might Blackstone co-founder Stephen Schwarzman have influenced Trump II's thinking?  Schwarzman is the Founding Trustee of Tsinghua University's Schwarzman Scholars.

Trump II disdains knowledge, thus his propensity to attack universities.  He disdains responsibility, accountability and consistency as they interfere with his ability to launch his signature "savage whims."

Trump II does things in each and every present moment that maximize his image and reflect his greatness.  He wants to protect his crony friends and loyal members of the Red Team.  This creates a Swiss Cheese framework to those paying attention.  It's cheese in this instance and a hole in another.

If he can break their minds then Trump II has them.  

To sum up:

Global affairs, supporter/friend/neighbor/PEU - OK  

International Security and Strategy, lacking political Red Team heavyweight - Not OK

And that's why so many tune him out.  This simply adds to the danger as politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one in a marriage of dark forces.

Offending "Epstein-Junkermann" Post

Google sent a notice that one of my blog posts violated copyright laws in a specific country.  No country was identified.  

The offending post is titled "Epstein's Junkermann PEU."  I posted it in February 2026. 

The piece dealt with the Epstein files and the child sex predator's relationship with Nicole Junkermann, a European private equity underwriter (PEU).  

The communication stated an offending URL but provided none below that line:

Affected URL(s): 

 -----------------

A review of the post showed no remaining links.  The communication included the name of the person filing the complaint against PEU Report.  

I searched for a reporter, author or writer by that name and found none.  A photographer had a similar name but differed in the spelling of their first name.  I did find a trainee solicitor with that name at a London law firm.

I wondered if an image was the source of the problem as I used a photo from a Business Magazine (UK) article and added images of Jeffrey Epstein, NJF Capital and NJF Private Equity.

I also included a graphic with an e-mail communication between Nicole Junkerman and Jeffrey Epstein.  This e-mail was at one time included in the DOJ's Epstein files release, which is how I obtained it.

The content of the post is below (all my words):

(introductory image - compliation as described above)

The Epstein Library has curious functionality.  Yesterday I could search the last name Junkermann and see 4,000 results.  Today it shows zero.  

A search on that person's first name, Nicole, produced over 5,000 results.  I'll venture most belong to Junkermann but there is another Nicole that works for Deutsche Bank.  

Nicole Junkermann founded NJF Capital which invests in various transformative tech ventures.  It also has a sister firm, NJF Private Equity.  That makes her a private equity underwriter (PEU).  There aren't many who can pull off a TechGod/PEU combo.

In January 2014 TechGoddess Nicole Junkermann informed Jeffrey Epstein that she had "split up with mario."  

Junkermann experienced the creep in Jeffrey Epstein.  He lorded over her as ungrateful and ungiving, but she gave it right back.

(image of their communication) 

Jeffrey and his wingman, Donald, missed the part about insiders not speaking badly about other insiders.  Either would trash you in a heartbeat. 

The DOJ's Epstein Library is another window into politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren where increasingly, more are one.

Google informed me that I could appeal the decision.  I began the "counter notice" form but was quickly stymied as it required a reference number and none was provided in the e-mail. 

I deleted the introductory photo, which is the only thing that included copyright material.  The post remained hidden from public view.

Google has enabled me to share my thoughts on multiple blogs over the years and for that I am grateful.  But I must say their technology enabled, non-customer service is unparalleled in its complexity and near undecipherability.  

One can see how little information Google shared with me (light yellow boxes) relative to what they provide to Lumen. 

I have no idea how to inform Google that I removed the offending picture which included a portion of copyrighted material (potentially considered fair use for an anonymous, no-revenue blog).  

Why would Google or a London law firm be interested in my post on Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann?  I have not a clue.  The post had 299 views, so it was not widely read.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and the globe rotates around their axis, maximizing their status, enrichment and pleasure.

Update 8-19-26:  FT noted the rise of the PEU/TechGod class:

Update 8-22-26:  I found a way to submit a "counter notice" informing Google that I had eliminated the offending picture and to please restore the post or inform me of what other copyrighted information remained.  

Update 8-26-26:  I noted that the initial image had been removed due to a copyright complaint in the body of the original post, which remains unpublished.

Update 9-4-26:  I contacted the complainant at a British law firm for clarification regarding the offending material.  That person is yet to reply to my communication and Google/Blogger has not acted on my appeal.  

Batshit TechGods Free Wheeling with Uncle Sam's Backing

The U.S. government once served as a counterbalance to abusive worker treatment.  It now facilitates it.

I watched private equity underwriters (PEU) abuse hospice workers after our takeover by TPG and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe.  

Nurses were made salaried and their work hours exploded due to purposeful understaffing, inefficient computer software and hard (unreasonable) productivity targets.  Nurses donated their personal and family time to the corporation in order to complete visit and admission documentation.  

The new "all organization" software (business and clinical) stole mileage reimbursement from workers.  It took hours each week to investigate and correct the shortfall in miles and worked hours. I wrote the Department of Labor in San Antonio.  Crickets.

TechGods took the PEU playbook and ran with it.  They paint a pastoral human future under AI with new free time, everyone having a penthouse and robots doing menial tasks.  

Their present is very different.  Many espouse the Chinese 96 hour workweek and workers are subject to ever changing priorities and irrational management demands.  A Meta worker was recently belittled for asking about the possible return of a former time off benefit called Meta Days.

There is no body of knowledge that they can't ignore or corrupt.  Kalshi's CEO doesn't care about management theory or laws as his gambling site parades around as a "derivatives" play.  

OpenAI's Sam Altman knows "secrets" about all human beings.  All they need to do is "stay busy." This also ignores the tenants of what brings pride in work.  

The model for insane management is Palantir CEO Alex Karp, who has the full throated backing of the U.S. government.  The Pentagon has a $244 million line item simply stating "fund Palantir."

It is a dangerous time with so many powerful people chasing massive returns so cavalierly.  The dangle of an ideal future or the need to beat China is the excuse for them to flout management practices, laws and basic human decency.  

There is no group to hear opposition given politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that, many suffer.

Lakers Get Quick PEU Flip

ESPN broke the news of Thrive Capital's purchase of Mark Walters' LA Lakers ownership stake.   

SB Nation noted the short time period of Walters' franchise ownership through TWG Global.

Not even 10 full months since Mark Walter officially acquired the franchise, he sold it to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner on Wednesday. If Walter’s purchase of the team was shocking, it’s hard to find a word to describe this transaction. 

 The sale of the team, though, came at the same time as Walter is being investigated by the FBI for loan fraud.

My wise friend had already made this connection:

"What a convenient way to bypass Walters' prosecution by having Bob Iger and Josh Kushner buy a majority stake in the LA Lakers at $12.5 billion valuation. Sometimes you go to jail for violating federal and state regulations, other times you just have to share the bounty.  "JUST - US" is alive and thriving."

Walters may have misrepresented the value of TWG/Guggenheim Partners holdings in a $10 billion investment deal with Mubadala, a Dubai based sovereign wealth fund.

An interesting aside will be the fate of former UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett, known for his ethical principles and squeaky clean image.  The Lakers named Bennett their Draft Advisor. in February 

Walters said he sold because the opportunity came up to flip the team and make a quick $2.5 billion.  Really?  A cash grab outweighed the opportunity to own a rich, storied pro basketball franchise?  

Flashback to his statement in October 2025 at the time of purchase:

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, defined by a history of excellence and the relentless pursuit of greatness.  Few teams carry the legacy and global influence of the Lakers, and it’s a privilege to work alongside Jeanie Buss as we maintain that excellence and set the standard for success in this new era, both on and off the court. - Lakers new owner Mark Walter

It was a privilege to briefly and barely work alongside....

This era of greed and the quick flip is brought to you by questionable PEUs and their TechGod brethren.  Both groups' political connections provide regulatory advantage, preferential legal treatment in times of trouble and a tax code all their own.  That deal is not for you.