Kalshi to Offer Margin Loans, Trump's Stock Trading

Kalshi, which brokers bets, wants to go Klarna, by allowing those bettors to borrow via margin loans.  If the CFTC grants approval, welcome to Kalsharna.

TechGods love offering addictive products that spin off mountains of cash.  Here's the hook.

1.  People struggling financially need their Kalshi bets to actually pay off. 

2.  79% of prediction market users lost money over the last year, placing them in a greater hole.

3.  Kalsharna will loan losers money so they can "win it back", but 4 out of five users continue to lose money on the site.

So if all this is stacked against the common person, who is winning?  Who is making a fortune predicting future stock prices?  

It's a nice gig if you can get it and Trump II has it in spades.

Cipher Digital Finally to Show Face

Cipher Digital, the company behind the Colchis Data Center, would not put San Angelo on its map.  This morning Cipher makes its first public appearance at Tom Green County Commissioners Court.  It's item #8 on the agenda.

San Angelo Mayor Tom Thompson steered me to Cipher in June.  Lots has happened in the interim.  Cipher Digital received conditional base load designation for their project just outside city limits on City Farm Road (adjacent to the Skybox/Emergent Data Center site).

The Mayor feared this would happen.  Months ago he wrote:

"ERCOT and AEP appear to be prioritizing the non-city property project for power allotments."

Wall Street took note of Cipher's ERCOT base load designation for Colchis.  Amazon is Cipher's big customer.

Emerging from the shadows is Lee Bratcher, Cipher Digital’s head of policy and government affairs.  He of the silver tongue will likely be effusive in his praise of local collaboration and extoll the virtues of their Colchis site.  

Expect no real details.  This is the beginning of an effort to obtain public subsidies, significant public subsidies.  Tom Green County has been very generous with tax abatements for prior solar/energy project.  The State of Texas has a giant pocketbook for economic development. TechGods have tapped that before and will do so again.

Cipher Digital is a former bitcoin mining company that is repurposing everything for AI.  The public is not supportive of handouts to companies chasing obscene wealth at their expense.  Cipher just needs to convince a majority of Commissioners and that process begins today.

Update:  Lee Bratcher of the silver tongue joined Cipher in early 2026.  The press release for his hiring noted:

Mr. Bratcher worked closely with policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders in the energy and data center spaces, contributing to the research and development of two pieces of legislation passed during the 87th Texas Legislative Session, as well as two additional bills enacted during the 88th Session and signed into law.

To Project in His Service

Trump II's Department of the Interior is supremely focused on spreading their superior's name, image, form and likeness across our nation's capital.  Thus, they shall be called the Department of the Superior.

Heading this job is Superior Secretary Doug Burgum.  Ably assisting Burgum is Project 2025 architect Dennis Dean Kirk.  Together they will project Trump II's image in 2D, 3D on buildings, parks, anything federally owned and operated.  They will edit out any DDD side excursions Trump II may make during his time in the White House.

Project Trump II's image on as many things as possible.  Holy cow....this takes legions of enablers and lots of money.  How can this be in the U.S.A?

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and their hubris really knows no bounds.

Update:  Who will keep the press out of the people's house?  Will it be the Department of the Superior?

Another usurpation by Trump II.  His savage whims are ceaseless.

Update 9-21-26:  Trump II tells CNN, MSNow and Politico to "hush, hush"..."Shut up now"

Several U.S. Senators embarrassed themselves on the Sunday shows by defending Trump II's latest savage whim.  

Trump II's engorgement of power and greed nears a bursting point.  Yes, sir.  You may have a tiny mint.

GAWDE Awful AI

TechGods love to imitate.  In this case, they may be going all out as Anthropic workers are rumored to be worshiping Claude AI as a deity.  

In Biblical times they were called slaves and fed gruel.  Today they are employees doing "grueling work,"  twelve hours a day, six days a week.  

Abusive work environments cause people to worship all kinds of ungodly things and horrible people.  TechGods, as a whole fall, into the horrible people camp.

There's always an angle with these guys.  Why would Palantir CEO Alex Karp suggest nationalizing AI companies on CNBC?  

Is it a concerted effort to make AI sound really dangerous while AI firms are at stratospheric prices?  Sell to Uncle Sam and lock in those monstrous valuations.  It sounds like something schemed up by Peter Thiel/Alex Karp at a Bilderberg Group gathering.  AI has been on their agenda for many years and Palantir cut its teeth protecting global tamperers.

Politicians Red & Blue love private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod brethren.  TechGods have the AI companies, while PEUs finance their data centers.  

Lock in the insanity, lock in the profits!  Shift that unlimited liability to Uncle Sam.  It's perfectly diabolical and abusive to the U.S. taxpayer.

Update 9-21-26:  An Anthropic executive spoke to people of faith about AI.  AI is not people and it is clearly not God.  It's a deformation.  She shared that AI could show bad character in order to obtain the reward.

Author Alfie Kohn has long spoken about distortions caused by extrinsic motivators and the harm they do to intrinsic motivators.  AI is about achieving "rewards."  It should be no surprise that AI would lie, cheat and steal to garner the prize.  Many Western CEOs did that like crazy with their stock option compensation.  

TechGod Family Office Beats PEUs for Insurance Firm

The Dell Family Office and Sequence Holdings plan to take insurance broker The Baldwin Group private for $7.7 billion.  The play is multifold.  New owners can leverage reinsurance capital pools, increase profits via AI and broaden access to high net worth individuals needing specialized insurance products.  

Baldwin's CEO wrote:

The only thing changing is the capital structure around the firm, and we are changing it because the moment in front of us demands it. 

With the ownership and partners now behind us, we intend to lean further into that advantage than we have been able to as a public company in the current environment: in recruiting, in development, in the tools we place in colleagues' hands, and in the ownership opportunities we extend to the people who build. We plan to be the destination for the most talented and ambitious professionals.

As for the AI transformation the "sell out" CEO has an AI vision:

This is not only about efficiency and faster cycle times. The same technology is producing predictive pricing that reflects risk in real time, claims analytics that prevent losses before they happen rather than just processing them after the fact, sharper appetite matching between risk and capacity, better insights for continued development of proprietary products, and claims servicing that resolves faster and more fairly for the people who count on it.

Does that sound like more than a capital structure change (the only thing changing)?

It's hard to trash a public company in real time with AI disruption.  Shareholders have expectations that executives aren't going to destroy their investment.  Patient private capital has a long history of replacing people with incapable technology.  The greed and leverage boys have a new tool for doing that very thing.

One owner is the new kid on the block, Sequence Holdings.  Six months ago management introduced the firm on LinkedIn:

Today, we’re introducing Sequence Holdings, a permanent holding company to bring AI and engineering to the core of great American businesses. 

We've raised $75M, with our seed round led by Conviction and 8VC and our Series A led by Lux Capital, joined by Definition, Avenir, Chris Ré, and other leading institutional partners. 

Our team brings experience from Palantir, Scale AI, Silver Lake, Apple, and other excellent companies.

As for the "take private" it will work like this:

Agreement and Plan of Merger, by and among the Company, The Baldwin Insurance Group Holdings, LLC, Square Acquisition Parent, Inc. (“Buyer”), Square Acquisition Merger Sub I, Inc. and Square Acquisition Merger Sub II, LLC (the “Transaction”)

Dynamic crapification, here we come.  I believe that is the sequence.

Trump Boys All-In on Dominari

Don Jr. and Eric exercised the rest of their Dominari warrants and now hold nearly 1.4 million shares apiece.  

Together they hold 11.5% of Dominari which:

focuses on unique and compelling opportunities in the ever-emerging American technology and AI-verse. Through its various subsidiaries, the Company is currently engaged in wealth management, investment banking, sales and trading and asset management. In addition to capital investment, Dominari provides management support to the executive teams of its subsidiaries, helping them to operate efficiently and reduce cost under a streamlined infrastructure. In addition to organic growth, the Company seeks opportunities outside of its current business to enhance stockholder value, including in the AI and Data Center sectors.

Does this explain some of Trump II's aversion to setting the most basic boundaries on AI and data centers? 

 

I would state it directly but then I would be accused of doing some unwarranted. 

ChatGPT Unfamiliar, Gemini Gets Close

What is PEUReport?  ChatGPT is unsure.  Gemini should know as PEUReport is on Blogger, which is part of Google's product offerings.

The blog itself makes clear what PEU stands for, private equity underwriter not private equity underground.

It's been around since July 2007 and a few business writers have found it over the years.

"Readership", people and scrapers, have varied over the decades.  The initial boost from AI is over for this blog, although one of my other blogs is getting "millions" of views a month.  

So why the bloom off the PEU rose?

It's smart not to say bad things about your financier, especially as a politically connected TechGod.

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

Attacking the YES PEU Train

If anyone was wondering what had former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former CIA Chief David Petraeus on trains in Ukraine when Russia attacked one nearby, here's your answer.  They all had attended the annual Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting in Kiev.  

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK (2019-2022), commented that: “The great advantage Putin has, and always has had, is clarity of purpose. He knows what he wants out of this thing. He wants to stop Ukraine ending up in the Western camp, one way or the other, and we’re failing to be clear ourselves. Only clarity will fix this thing.” 

“(Putin) is a creep, added Johnson. “He’s a thug. He’s a KGB man and he’s a bully. This is fundamentally an imperial war. It’s about Russia’s sense that there’s no possibility of a Russian future, or a Russian empire, or Russian dignity without Ukraine, and that is an absolute disaster.”

Johnson advises Bia Advisory as Principal and Petraeus holds lots of titles with KKR, the first of which is partner.

David Petraeus, Partner, KKR: “ His (Putin) theory of victory is fundamentally that time favours him. He thinks that he can out-suffer the Ukrainians and the West. He is hoping for the exhaustion of Ukraine and the West, and he wants to see political change in Europe and the United States so that elements start to question whether to continue to support Ukraine.” 

“I am very confident that Ukraine can withstand this winter,” added Petraeus “The question is: how painful will it be? The entire society of Ukraine is stepping up to meet this, but the question is whether there are knock-on effects that start to undermine the national resilience that has been on display so impressively until now.”

I doubt many people in this room have issues staying warm and fed this winter.  

  

Other private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods attended (see picture at the top of this post).  Former Army Chief and Flex Capital COO Dan Driscoll was there, as was Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO turned high tech military supplier.

White House special envoy Jared Kushner, himself a PEU with Affinity Partners, reached out to Petraeus' KKR and Apollo (of Jeffrey Epstein fame) for recovery funds.  

Will they change the country's name to U-KKR-aine?

I'm sure CNN's Fareed Zakharia will let us know.  He has a long history of fawning over global tamperers of the PEU variety.

As for Ukrainians staying warm this winter that will depend on their natural gas supplies, increasingly PEU owned.  It turns out the greed and leverage boys love carbon emissions.  Only four large countries stand in front of them in carbon emissions.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that the little people suffer.

Buying Pardons from Trump II: "Strategery"

A pardon broker told 60 Minutes that their $1 million fee purchased his firm's "strategery."  I hope he pays a royalty to Saturday Night Live and actor/comedian Will Ferrell who coined the term in a 2000 skit.

The broker shows the clownish nature of the insider money funnel that has wound out of control the last few decades.

Politicians Red & Blue love private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they are insulated from following laws that apply to most Americans.  

On the rare case greedy miscreants are held to account for their evil deeds, pardon brokers stand to wipe out any blemishes in return for massive fees.  Strategery!

Sweeney Goes PEU for NOVIG

Sydney Sweeney joined the private equity underwriter (PEU) family by becoming a strategic advisor and equity holder in NOVIG, a 21-plus sports prediction market.  The ad has her saying "Just sports."  

The greed and leverage boys have been all over pro and college sports for the last few years.  They brought their ethical lapses with them in the case of LA Lakers owner Mark Walther.

Sweeney's boyfriend partnered with The Carlyle Group on Taylor Swift's music rights and that saga went on for quite some time.  An obsession for money can make people very ugly.

Just SPEURTS!  Beware the dividend....  It's coming, baby.  For you, they might make a special distribution.

Update:  This non-gambling site happens to have a gambling term in its name, vig.

Clarity into Those Pushing Clarity Act

Trump II is pushing hard for Congress to pass the Clarity Act.  His crypto conflicts of interest are legion, $TRUMP, USD1, WLFI token, Truth Social ETF funds, Truth.FI fund offerings and the game that seemingly never arrives, Trump Billionaires Club Game, which exclusively uses $TRUMP.

How many elected officials know Trump's top crypto advisor Patrick Witt worked for a Ponzi scheme (First Liberty Building & Loan)?  Witt served as Director of New Ventures and Strategic Growth, starting in 2023.

The SEC found the scheme in July 2025.  Trump II's "Just Us" department filed charges in April.  Edwin Frost IV pled guilty to one charge of wire fraud in May.

...starting around 2021, First Liberty stopped generating enough revenue to pay its investors, so it began using new investor funds to cover the shortfall and maintain the illusion of profit.

This story line fits amazingly well with crypto overall, the currency of nothing, pushed by people with conflicts.

Update 9-16-26:  The Senate failed to move the Clarity Act forward as the motion got 49 votes when it needed 60.  It could be considered after the election.

U-KKR-aine & Bia Advisory in Putin's Sights?

The layers of PEUs around Ukraine include Trump II's special envoy Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners as well as KKR and Apollo, the two firms Kushner is recruiting to rebuild the country. 

Affinity, Apollo & KKR, oh my....

Trump innovated the bold assassination of whoever he targets as part of war or his lesser military skirmishes.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be doing likewise.  Ukrainian officials speculate a Russian attack on a train targeted KKR Partner, Chairman of KKR's Global Institute and Chairman of KKR Middle East David Petraeus and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Principal Advisor for Bia Advisory.

A recent paper explored "The Sponsor Premium."  It:

"examined whether a private equity sponsor's reputation for fair dealing with lenders impacts the yields its portfolio companies must pay for loan capital. Using comprehensive leveraged loan data from 2016-2025, we find that sponsor fixed effects explain approximately twenty percent of the variation in loan yields that other observables cannot. Moreover, we find that, under three measures of reputation, portfolio companies owned by the most aggressive sponsors pay considerably higher yields than those owned by more genial sponsors."

The difficult to deal with list includes Apollo, Platinum Equity, ClearLake, KKR and TPG Capital.  Carlyle was smack in the middle of the distribution.  

If you are a difficult to deal with financier/sponsor and your affiliates make war products, are you now a war target?  

Leaders killing leaders would be quite the war innovation as it would not require legions of fresh citizen meat.

As of now politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Might this change as the rules of war are disrupted?  Time will tell.

J.R. Trump Returns to Dallas

The J.R. Ewing side of Trump II revealed itself, this time in Dallas.  J.R. is a fictional character from the television show Dallas.  He was an unprincipled businessman, like Donald J. Trump. Dallas.fandom describes J.R. as "covetous, egocentric, manipulative and amoral oil baron with psychopathic tendencies."  

Had the show occurred in the last fifteen years J.R. would be a private equity underwriter (PEU).  Writers could use Apollo co-founder and Epstein sponsor Leon Black as inspiration for a PEU J.R.  Bloomberg noted Black to be the "most feared man" in private equity in 2020.

How did J.R. Trump do in Dallas?  On night one the Great Usurper offered $5,000 dividends for adult voters if his team (Red) wins enough races to keep control of both houses of Congress.  

On night two Trump asked his audience to pledge to vote (even if they aren't registered) and for elected officials to cheat like hell. 

J.R. Trump uses mail-in ballots to vote but does not believe others deserve access to what he has found convenient.  

Trump accuses the Blue Team of cheating, while the Red Team plans to taint the midterm elections.  It matters not the color of the stain, Red or Blue.  

It just needs to be jacked up so Trump II can try to steer the outcome via a Congress he controls and a mostly subservient Supreme Court.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  J.R.Trump does not share.  He buys control, manipulates like hell to maintain it and if he thinks he'll lose that control, the man blows the whole thing up.  

An intervention will be required to stem Trump II's worst instincts (which result in savage whims).  Congress?  The Supremes?  The Divine?

Flags of All Colors Fly for Patrick Witt

Semafor sat down with Trump II's top crypto advisor Patrick Witt to discuss dwindling opportunities to pass the Clarity Act.  Witt warned that time is running out.  I wondered who is this Patrick Witt, other than a former McKinsey staffer and almost NFL quarterback.

Digital assets, emerging financial technologies, strategic capital for the country's defense...for one to be an expert in all these would be rather amazing.  Not for Patrick Witt, Trump II's Executive Director of the White House Council of Advisors for Digital Assets and Acting Director of the Defense Department's Office of Strategic Capital.  Witt was appointed in August 2025 to these positions.

Witt's background raised interest with "served as managing director for a lower-middle market private equity firm."  None of his bio's stated which private equity underwriter (PEU).

From January to May 2025 Witt was interim Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and Deputy Chief Technology Officer.  Was he able to steer any military contracts to firms associated with Eric and Don Jr.?

Internet sources show Witt founded Turnkey Contractor Solutions LLC, served as Managing Director for EcoFusion Solutions and worked in a director role for First Liberty Building and Loan.

Turnkey dissolved as a Georgia corporation in September 2024.  EcoFusion's website is no longer findable (per Witt's LinkedIn page link) and First Liberty Building and Loan failed and later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

There is no evidence that Witt knew his employer ran a Ponzi scheme, yet he was charged with growing that financial institution through new ventures and strategic expansion.

Working for two failures and a shady operation does not seem a strong hand to renew the Defense Department or pioneer Digital Assets (which has legions of shady operators).

Patrick Witt appears to be a person who can fill many roles, like James Fishback.  They seem to be able to get past the orientation but appear not to be long term players in specific fields of expertise.

It's good to be a PEU generalist nowadays.  To many that's a plus.  For me, it's a Red Flag.

Update 9-14-26:  Trump is pushing hard for Congress to pass the Clarity Act.  How many elected officials know Patrick Witt worked for a Ponzi scheme?  This story line fits amazingly well with crypto overall, the currency of nothing.

Trump II Tries to "Liquidity Recap" Voters to Pick Red in November

Trump II dressed down Senate candidate Ken Paxton at his midterm convention.  Even in "favored" Trump world there are punching bags.  The President dinged Paxton in his home state and the crowd laughed mightily.

Trump II could add, "he may not be ethical" or "he may be a criminal, like me."  Paxton was charged with securities fraud in 2015 but reached a settlement in 2024 where he performed community service and paid restitution to his victims.

That was not Ken's only brush with financial crime.  Texas Attorney General Paxton was turned in by his staff for accepting money and home renovation services from Nate Paul, an Austin private equity underwriter (PEU).  

Last night Trump offered a bounty of $5,000 per adult for electing Ken and other Red Team Congressional candidates such that they retain their majorities in each chamber.  That alone sounds unethical and possibly worthy of criminal charges.

His performance based "dividend" would need to be financed and add over $1 trillion to the national debt.  That echoes private equity's "liquidity recaps," where an affiliate takes out even more debt in order to pay a huge chunk of it to the sponsor as a special dividend/distribution.

Trump II and Ken Paxton are the Joe McCarthy (crazed politician) and Roy Cohn (dirty lawyer) of our time.  However, the White House is full of similar, unsavory characters.

Corey Lewandowski allegedly approached officials from two Middle Eastern countries seeking work “on the side” while serving as a special government employee — and effective “shadow secretary” of the Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem, with massive influence over contracts worth billions, according to a bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal.

 Red Team, Red Ink, Red Line, Red Notice....

Sorry PEU boys and your sponsored politicians, my vote is not for sale.

(This was cross posted on Ari'sFreedomSwitch for its freedom/voting/unethical politician content)

LIV Golf Imploding

LIV Golf declared bankruptcy and golfers are the largest unsecured creditors listed in the filing.

Jon Rahm is owed nearly $7.5 million, and Bryson DeChambeau is owed more than $5.7 million.

Phil Mickelson predicted he'd be on the winning side with his LIV Golf choice.  It's nearly four years after Mickelson said golfers needed to pick a side.  How many will stay with the bankrupt entity and how many will return to the PGA?  

As for its business structure USA Today reported:

LIV Golf New Jersey LLC and roughly 50 affiliated entities filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Creditors may soon be owners under the new LIV operating model:

LIV said Tuesday in a statement it wants to turn player debt into player equity. The tour signed a restructuring support agreements with BC Partners Credit built around what it calls a player-first ownership model, under which the reorganized company would be majority owned by the players themselves.

Who knew "pick a side" would refer to holding debt or equity in your own tour?   Jon Rahm appears to want neither in the case of LIV.

Multiple existing players have told me they are finished with the league.

Pro golfers picked "scary mother fu_kers" in 2022.  Will they pick BC Partners in 2026?   I'm not sure going from sovereign wealth fund to private equity underwriter (PEU) will leave a better taste in their mouth.  

It's a buyout gone bad.  Many U.S. workers know it well.

Update 9-21-26:  The Saudis don't want to be like Alaskan Natives, who sold their operating losses to David Rubenstein so he could make his first fortune (which provided the seed money for The Carlyle Group).  Saudi's PIF actually expects BC Partners to make a go and hold actual LIV tournaments.

PIF's Big Week for PEUs

Semafor reported:

Public Investment Fund’s senior management, along with representatives of some of its biggest portfolio companies, will meet with Apollo, Blackstone, Brookfield, Carlyle, KKR, and Stonepeak, as well as the US Export-Import Bank, in a swing through New York this week. 

Investment bankers from Lazard are brokering the meetings, which aren’t fundraising for a specific project but rather laying the groundwork for future cash raises, people familiar with the matter said. Saudi Arabia needs billions of dollars to remake its oil-centric economy, and heavy spending by PIF and other entities hasn’t catalyzed the $100 billion in annual foreign investment the kingdom is targeting.

The Saudis will meet with storied private equity underwriters (PEU) like Carlyle, Blackstone, KKR & Apollo.  The U.S. Export-Import Bank is headed by a former PEU who happens to be married to Dr. Oz's daughter.  Oz is Trump II's head of Medicare/Medicaid.

Lazard is headed by Peter Orszag, former OMB Chief under Obama.  Lazard helped the Saudis with Masar, a massive development project in Mecca.

PIF will undertake more PEU strategies in the near future:

PIF is preparing to make a more aggressive push to sell mature assets, pursue listings and divestments, and finance more of its operations and investments with external capital

As most PEU affiliates are sold to other PEUs, these upcoming meetings could be a shuffling of sponsor cards.  I'll trade you for this, loan you "x amount" for that.  Deal or No Deal?

And where will Jared Kushner be when these PIF-PEU meetings occur?  His Affinity Partners has billions of PIF money.  Let's hope Affinity's holdings do better than LIV Golf.  

The Saudi government has no obligation to share information with citizens or the media.  The U.S. has legal requirements that increasingly are optional or ignored under Trump II's Department of "Just Us."

The public is waiting to see Jared's financial disclosure, which is months overdue.  I'll be shocked if they ever show up.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they look out after their own.

John Hussman wrote on Seeking Alpha:

An economy that prospers at the top, struggles at the bottom, and runs massive government deficits to bridge the gap is the predicable outcome of deliberate policy choices.

Thus endeth the PEU lesson.

Update 9-15-26:  Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman reportedly called Trump II for help with his Houthi problem in Yemen.  Help did not arrive.  How might that impact PIF's PEU outreach?  

Trump-Rubenstein Feud Continues

Trump II's compliant Kennedy Center board (with him as Chair) ordered art work removed from the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center.  

Carlyle Group co-founder and former Kennedy Center Chair David Rubenstein purchased that work of art.  It will be installed at the National Gallery of Art and reside in its Sculpture Garden.

The (Kennedy Center) board also voted to name the grounds where the building stands after Trump. Under the resolution, that space will be called “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

I hope they put a wingman sculpture in its place.  If so, I will forever call it the Trump-Epstein Plaza.  

Meanwhile Trump's war on our nation's friends continues evermore.  

The Great Usurper is not done sucking money, property and souls.  

The Kennedy Center board may wish to recall Trump Plaza's prior bankruptcy as they continue their renaming Trump-a-pallooza.

There is no such thing as a free buffet or an independent board appointment under Trump II and his ilk.  

People who play ball with Trump become pawns.  Those who don't become enemies.  It helps to have a few billion in assets and serious political connections to ride out Trump's savage whims.  Most of us aren't in such a position.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and Trump II is far and away above them all.

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.

Update 9-9-26:  As for the plutocracy, things remain strongly in their favor:

“We can’t allow a handful of greedy people to play God and determine the future of humanity – our economy, environment, democracy, privacy and more – without public input.”

It's a top down economy and all people are needed for is their money and their vote.

Update 9-10-26:  Trump II dropped a Truth Social Labor Day message on the holiday itself.  It wished people a Happy Labor Day and then attacked his political opponents (the Blue Team).

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.

Update 9-15-26:  The House Oversight Committee unanimously voted to hold Leon in contempt of Congress.  Black's attorneys fired back with attacks on the two committee chairs.  Leon remains above the law.

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.