World
April week 1, Duerte arrested on ICC charges, US travel, Raids of foreigners, Israel/US
Former Phillipines leader Duarte was arrested in Manilla after arriving from Hong Kong, By Interpol, under warrent from the ICC for mass killings during his war on drugs.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire in limbo: What comes next? (youtube.com)
Trump weighs travel ban on dozens of countries, memo says | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Canada border crossings into US drop to pandemic-era levels (youtube.com)
New US border rules for Canadians.
Why I Would NEVER Start a Business in South America (youtube.com)
Latam could develop a separate business and regulation system for people from Anglo/Japanese/etc countries, so they could at least have some new businesses. Chinese are currently having success in Latam, because of dollar/general stores. The stores have a good selection, actually are attentive and get products you request, don't try to scam and only have one price for everyone and a decent price, are clean and organized, etc. These are not new businesses or products, but they at least make some products available in Latam countries.
China pushes back on BlackRock Panama Canal deal lauded by Trump (youtube.com)
Pentagon considers major cuts to top of US military (youtube.com)
‘I’ve never seen this many self-deportations’: Immigration lawyer | NewsNation Now (youtube.com)
US ends legal status for over half a million immigrants | DW News (youtube.com)
British tourist being held at Tacoma ICE detention center | FOX 13 Seattle (youtube.com)
Warnings for travelers headed to US | KTVU (youtube.com)
Have been cases recently where US customs and immigration have searched peoples' phones and denied them entry. There is a ‘border’ exception to the Constitutional rights against search and seizure. It's called ‘extreme vetting.’ 47k devices searched last year, up from 19k. US citizens also subject to forced search of their phones, the guy said. He recommended either not taking your phone to the US, or removing accounts (like bank account) from your phone. He talked about Trusted Traveller program where they do ‘pre-checks’ and you pay for them.
Read the comments. No one likes this.
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FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado
FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado | Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Does Trump Understand Basic Economics? (youtube.com)
[Netanyahu] has control over US foreign policy, and over domestic policy now. That's the fact. The US government is run by Israel, by the Israeli government. Why and how, it's a little hard to say, but it is the unbelievable fact that this brazenness, this recklessness, this cruelty, this arrogance, from this extremist Israeli government controls American policy vis a vis Speech in the United States now. It's shocking but true. Sachs.
‘No matter who you vote for you get John McCain. That’s what we have in Gaza.' Neapolitano. Fullon unmitigated blame of Palestinians, 100% blame, no blame for anything on Israel. ‘Quite frankly, you’re no longer listening to an independent American government. This is very much an Israel-first Administration. May as well come to terms with that, understand what it means, which is unconditional support for whatever the Israelis want to do regardless of whether on not that actually supports or harms our interests. It doesn't make any difference. That's the position, that's where we are.' Col. Macgregor.
Neapolitano: ‘If Netanyahu wants the Americans to bomb Tehran will they do it?’
MacGregor: ‘Yes.’
MacGregor noted that the US government has learned that you can't sustain casualties for a long time, the public won't accept it. But you can do longrange bombing, create genocide, and Americans will allow it and not even remember it.
COL. Douglas Macgregor : Will the US Attack Iran For Netanyahu? (youtube.com)
China is the largest fortress in the world. When the US landed in Germany, it was after destroying their equipment for 4 years. The Chinese coast is very far from the US.
What would happen if Europe and the US built 1m homes and Palestinians resettled? What would happen to Israel's control over the US? Would they have any further goals (besides ensuring their survival by not permitting nuclear weapons to nearby beligerants)?
Pammy Bruce, White House spokesperson, in condemining totally Palestinians, makes them appear like ‘the Palestinians really deserve the worst. They deserve to die. They deserve to be killed.’ That is the anti-semitisim Netanyahu says Israelis should applaud in Trump and ‘pressure other governments to do the same.’ Thesis by Macgregor.
March week2, Ukraine and Israel prolongation, Mexico visa applications, Blackrock's Panama Canal
BlackRock agrees to purchase Panama Canal Ports (youtube.com)
Sounds like they're saying basically it has nothing to do with with US politics recently.
You need more than a passport to get into Mexico now (youtube.com)
US Spring breakers need to fill out an immigration form (a travel visa) in order to cross into Meixco, which has created a line. They also have to pay $30. One couple wanted to do some cross-border shopping but were told it was a 3-4 hour wait and turned back around. Dual citizenship holders don't need a form.
Feb week4, Belize, spy balloons
Headlines questioning whether 50% of Belize will become part of Guatemala.
NEW: Chinese spy balloon contents revealed (youtube.com)
2 years after the balloon was shot down by US military. Contained cheap tech from 5+ US companies. Chinese at the time said it was a weather balloon.
ICE to Deport 600,000 Venezuelans... as NYC Migrants Panic (youtube.com)
Australia to Ban Foreigners From Buying Some Homes (youtube.com)
China: Why Is Xi's Meeting With Ma, Entrepreneurs Important? (youtube.com)
Feb week1, US border, Trump versus cartels, Colombia migrants returned, SNL, Canada trade goods to US, El Salvador offered prisons, tariffs, Palestinians relocation
It's an interesting and new sight to see US military forces actually doing military things, on US soil. Arranging their bases, using their high-tech vehicles, carrying arms and running.
Trump talked about taking down the cartels just as the US did with ISIS. In both cases (Taliban and original cartels), causing problems for the original version further caused splintering and reforming and some of the splinters were more violent. Drug demand hasn't changed, and ideological change combined with economic/material availability differences hasn't changed.
US attempted to fly Colombian illegal migrants back to Colombia aboard a US military jet, but Petro refused the jet and it had to return to the US. Petro said he'd allow or welcome any who came on a commercial flight, reportedly. There was a question of dignity in treatment. Apparently, Brazil took offense to Brazilians being flown back handcuffed or something, in other headlines.
Trump hits Colombia with retaliatory tariffs over deportation flights (youtube.com)
Immigrants deported from US arrive in Brazil by plane | AFP (youtube.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
US and Italy, perhaps, showing why we need to be insulted, why we need public criticism, satire and mockery. Aeschylus and Saturday Night Live 1978, where are you? Actually SNL might start having some decent material now.
Nope, SNL had a great setup with the Founding Fathers in a room, but the actor for Trump wasn't great (they could have tried to get Jost to do it, they have resemblance), and the jokes were really weak. Founding Fathers Cold Open - SNL (youtube.com) Only funny joke was ‘Makeup will be worn by women not men, unless you need it to be president.’ Even Jost and Che were not funny, although they have been the highlight of SNL in recent years YouTube (youtube.com) Funny comedians are irreverent, and this cast seems almost cuck reverent.
What are Canada's most irreplaceable exports to the US? (youtube.com)
Biggest trading partner for the US. Trump wants national security. Wants for US to become an energy superpower.
Nickel from Ontario, highgrade, for ammunition and batteries, and isn't replaceable (US is dependent on Canada).
US autosector would shut down without parts from Canada, he said.
Ontario is 50% nuclear power. That is interesting to Republicans.
Americans not happy with Canada's military spending and how Canada has run its border.
Tens of thousands make their way to devastated northern Gaza | DW News (youtube.com)
China doesn't want to fight wars that are damaging to them. They don't declare open war and do it head to head. They want to get to their objective, not suffer damage. There's also a tribute system, where you have more power and then you have more hierarchy, and everyone should know the hierarchy and the lessers should give tribute to the greater, and the greater should respect that and they should work together.
The Western Powers in history, when they fought the Chinese and the Japanese, were stronger at it because they had practice fighting.
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We can really contrst Thailand with Myanmar.
YouTube (youtube.com)
Canada deports B.C. climate activist (youtube.com)
To Pakistan.
‘This lawbreaking experience of nonviolent civil disobedience.’
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Vietnam’s workers leave cities for rural hometowns as economic woes increase (youtube.com)
Trump signs orders making major changes to US military | Unbiased Updates (youtube.com)
No DEI. Reinstating servicemembers who had been fired for refusing the vaccine.
The World Is Getting Rid of Birthright Citizenship | Ryan McMaken (youtube.com)
Can Trump Deport 30 million people? (youtube.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
‘Even with less sea ice, Arctic not a more accessible environment.’
US an El Salvador agree to unprecedented deportation deal (youtube.com)
Salvador will accept any illegal alien in the US who is a criminal, even Aragua or MS13, plus dangerous American criminals with US citizenship. Salvador will take a fee and put the people in Salvador's big new prisons.
The category might be too loose, and there's a question about US as a Rule of Law-based country, deporting illegal immigrants even to countries not their own. Currenly, US allows arresting even people suspected of being in a gang, like people with tatoos or people who hand out in gang areas. So there's question that they're even guilty of a crime.
El Salvador would be declared a ‘safe third country’ to deport them to.
Democratic party could find a cause here.
"Troubling": Panama Agrees to Anti-Migrant Collaboration After Trump Threatens to Retake Canal (youtube.com)
There already was an ICE office in the US embassy in Panama. But this seems to be about going after migrants you cross through the Darien.
So far, we've seen not really any tariffs (only tariff threats and sort of insulting behaviour from Trump versus neighbors) but we've seen a lot of action on illegal migrants, in many countries.
Rubio doesn't look very happy in any of this footage. Apparently there was protests against Rubio in Panama, putting swastikas over Rubio, a country which is very friendly toward the US and the threats from the US may have strengthened the previously-not-strong Left to maybe push through some legislation. Some see it as a return to mid-20th-century imperial encroachment that Panama had confronted over the last few decades.
The lock system and pilot system is a company which is sort of like a little country inside Panama, so logisitically it would be impossible for the US to really ‘take back’ the Panama Canal as Trump seems to have been threatening.
President Trump: Gaza Strip could be the 'Riviera of the Middle East' (youtube.com)
120 mexican national guard troops arrive in Juarez (youtube.com)
President Trump: "The U.S. will take over Gaza Strip." (youtube.com)
Actual speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPmqUXR77c AJ
6 nations of the Arab League have said they won't accept this.
Lol. You think Palestinians won't accept this, on an individual level? Once they see a really nice new house and property just waiting for them. And even the holdouts, once they see other Palestinians settling into nice new homes. 2m people isn't that many. 500k houses.
‘It means Trump will oppose the rebuilding of Gaza for Gazans,' the Arab League interviewee said. There has been an argument that countries just take the little pieces of land they have claims to, Russia over Eastern Ukraine, China over Taiwan, Israel over Gaza.
How much does the US like having Taiwan as an ally? Is it a strength or weakness? I mean, if we consider Taiwan without the chip factories, imagining that they built more factories in the US or someplace.
‘What [Trump] is saying is totally illegal.’
The Arabs maybe will be outraged by this. The forcefulness of the interviewee maybe shows. He uses the word ‘idiot' quite a bit, turning beet red. They consider Israel's actions in Gaza as crimes and humanitarian crimes, genocide, etc. Which is what everyone concludes (except US government). Perhaps Trump can think of something to give these countries to make them sweeten to the idea? Also, I can't imagine how arrogant groundlevel Israelis are going to be now, considering how arrogant/insensitive/irresponsible they seemed to so many people over recent years.
Jan week4, China/Taiwan, Ukraine war benefits Europe?, Trump/Middle East, Israel violent? Japan bouldering
Palmer Lucky talked about how there might be window for Xi in 2027 and a few years after that, for a possible world power struggle.
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Trump's first hours: Mass deportation raids set for major cities (youtube.com)
Border changes seen ‘immediately’: Texas DPS spokesman | NewsNation (youtube.com)
Special forces may target Mexican cartels after Trump order | On Balance (youtube.com)
Arrests made in Mexican mafia crime ring (youtube.com)
Trump administration allows ICE to arrest migrants in schools, churches (youtube.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
The benefit of Ukraine war continuing, for Europe, is that US has to stay in Europe, when it seems Trump would prefer to pull out of Europe.
Ukrained would have to not join NATO ever, accept annexations Russia has done, and Ukraine would probably not agree to that.
Territorial swaps? Can argue that Putin didn't get all that he wanted.
‘The Europeans tend to cave all the time.’
‘Trump is ... destined to lose in Ukraine’ because Russia will continue, and Trump either has to be the president in office when Ukraine is lost (thanks to Biden, they analysts seem to say), or he has to make a deal with the Russians now, but he can't accept the terms of the Russians (NATO and annexations).
‘The imperative for [USA] to pivot to Asia is not going to go away.’
Trump would also like to get out of the Middle East. Are Europe and Middle East both places with not much economic prosperity prospects? However, Europe is the most mature place in the world, perhaps even more than Japan, when it comes to decisions of maturity, which we see in their laws protecting privacy etc. Even their attempts to take care of the climate, although they don't seem to be able to pay for their decisions through their own labor. They still have good cities and towns and high skill levels, good factories (those that remain) for high quality products, even despite having worn all this down with immigration. ... The Middle East, we have yet to see what global role they'll play. But maybe there will be a new resurgence with a different (from ours) philosophy.
The Middle East is peaceful because the US makes it peaceful, is the idea these days. The main issues right now are Iran and Israel. How much force can the Israel Lobby put on Trump to attack Iran?
Israel seems to look for more and more problems, some think.
Is the ceaesfire that Israel just signed an acknowledgement of defeat in Gaza. They said they'd decicively defeat Hamas, at least as an effective fighting force, but Hamas has reconstituted and is doing fine. Israel agrees to withdraw from Gaza and allow the Palestinians to go back to it, so giving up ethnic cleansing. Food, medicine, water, are now going to be transported into Gaza. The situation will not be much different from before Oct7.
‘The more problems [Israel] accumulates, the more it’s predisposition seems to be to look for evermore grandiose and violent solutions to those problems. There's already talk about war with Turkey...'
Violence is useful, big stick, but most of the problems we face are political problems, and there has to be a political solution. ... The Israelis just want to use the big stick, they're not interested in a political solution with the Palestinians or the Iranians. Point by Measheimer. Iran, therefore, could beat Israel by mastering political solutions with others. ‘The idea you can use military force and destroy Iran’s nuclear power forever is delusional.' ‘It’s not going to solve the problem.'
Israel wouldn't need a lobby if Israel was a strategic asset. Mearsheimer.
The Iranians wouldn't develop nuclear weapons if they didn't have these threats from the US and Israel. The Iranians won't get rid of their enrichment capabilities. But it is not that difficult to prevent Iran from building a bomb. M
Donald Trump is going to have his hands full [in the Middle East].
Why US doesn't put tariffs on Australia (steel and aluminum). How Will the World Navigate Trump’s Return? | Foreign Affairs Interview (youtube.com) America already has the best deal, free trade, no barriers to investment, big surplus. Could not improve, so putting tariffs on Australian exports would be self-defeating.
Is talking about military force in Greenland, Panama, Canada, a means to tell China and Russia it is OK if they take their claimed territories and then have things calm down?
Europe has been opportunistic for a very long time, in terms of military. And it has now woken up, thanks to Putin.
Without America there is no balance of power in Asia. There's no substitute, it's indispensible. Even those who pretend to be non-aligned know it.
Singapore decided long ago, and continues, to side militarily with the West, with the US, but on other matters it will not, such as the assertion by the West and the US that certain moral ideas gives them the right to interfere in other countries. In this, Indonesia and Singapore agree more with China.
US military orders thousands more troops to the southern border (youtube.com)
BREAKING: ICE raids underway against violent offenders (youtube.com)
10 years ago, we looked at the US as a high-fertility country. Today, it's known to have Europe level, 1.6 or 1.7 rates not counting immigration, which allows the population to grow.
Israel is on a similar but slower trajectory, perhaps just the last trailing datapoint, outlier.
US troops sent to secure southern border (youtube.com)
Although Army has been deployed to the southern border, there's a limit to what they can do, since army is not permitted by the constitution to act on US soil. There are some loopholes, like executive emergency orders or whatever, so we'll see if those are invoked.
I got schooled by 7x World Cup winner Tomoa Narasaki (youtube.com)
Japan dominates boldering. Other countries are physically stronger than Japanese, so they try to find other ways, such as thinking about small details, speculated Tomoa Narasaki. ... It's also possible they have a low center of gravity, are lighter and more agile, and the sport may attract Japanese, being non-confrontational and requiring a lot of personal involvement but little social stress, compared with something like basketball which seems to be popular in China. 
Jan week2, Chinese leave for the south, DEI metrics, US is Right
Singapore, Malaysia to Launch Special Economic Hub (youtube.com)
In reversal, Mexico may accept migrants from other nations deported by Trump (youtube.com)
Greenland vows independence from Denmark following Trump’s offer to buy (youtube.com)
Chinese gold mining threatens protected UN heritage site in DR Congo (youtube.com)
The 'new China' in Thailand: ‘if you want hope, you have to leave’ (youtube.com)
Like Westerners, leaving strong economies for more pleasant lifestyles. Prosperity lost its appeal? or is it just already checked off? In China, doing the types of things they're doing in Chiang Mai would be ‘harder, there’s a lot of regulations' and competition. Seeing so many people who own way way less than her, but being so much happier. In CM there are some shops and places mainly for Chinese, like a Chinese bookstore, where they sell books on Chinese feminism, the Tienmen Square protests, etc, things that can't be talked about in China, meeting place for likeminded people, it's hard to gather as people in China, subject to strict surveillance. Chinese artists that feel unsafe working in China. One mature man who quit his official job in China said ‘We were once filled with hope, and a generation of people made great sacrifices and effort, but ultimately failed. In the coming era, the youth will lose their jobs, there will be an existential crisis. This will include their rights as human beings being reduced little by little.'
‘Chinese artists can be divided into traditional artists and real artists. Real artists are artists with an international vision, who do not care which materials or languages they use. If you just paint pretty pictures, those people just use their art to flatter dictators and tyrants. They are tools, not people, and even less artists.’
‘I don’t dare say anything about China, so let's talk about North Korea. It's not possible for North Korea to produce a single artist. North Korea cannt have entrepreneurs, mathmeticians, writers, thinkers, philosophers, it is impossible. That is a unique kind of slave society.' You must just leave as soon as you have some money.
'Only those who can afford to are relocating to Thailand.'
#China #Thailand
Bradley: No U.S. port ranks in the top 50 due to union resistance to technology (youtube.com)
‘I don’t think that the mission of any public service organization should be to meet DEI metrics. I think the mission of that public service organization should be to serve the public. And I think that those DEI metrics should not be a priority when serving the public is the objective.' Friedburg
Is opt-in imperialism a different thing from conquest imperialism.
The US 'has shifted to the right.'
Jan week1, AI killing civilians?, Argentina health care, mass tourism, FBI seizes weapons, 'simplified' attacks, China goods
... and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.”
Is this the first instance of AI killing civilians outside a battle zone?
The Brutal Truth: NYC is Only Good if You're Rich Now (youtube.com)
Argentina immigration crackdown: Foreign residents face new fees and restrictions (youtube.com)
‘Argentina can no longer afford what it could in the past.’ Things that taxes paid for, but foreigners came to use. Drug trafficking into Argentina from Bolivia (residents blocking roads themselves to prevent it.)
Preocupación en Guatemala por deportaciones masivas de EE.UU. (youtube.com)
Italy cracks down on self check-ins for short-term vacation rentals • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
‘The social fabric is disappearing in our neighborhoods.’ Mass tourism, half the rentals are airBNBs. Some have had to move away because it's too expensive.
CHINOS INVADEN MÉXICO y DESPLAZAN COMERCIO LOCAL - Ruido Social (youtube.com)
FBI says it seized biggest cache of explosives in its history from Virginia farm (youtube.com)
‘appears to be an anti-government extremist’ because he was using photos of Biden for target practice, and talked to a neighbor about bringing back political assasinations. Pardon my freedom of speech. A neighbor secretly recorded him and gave it to the Feds. Initially a judge ruled he could be released with electronic monitoring, because there was no evidence he was an extremist, but the prosecutor urged the judge who acquiesced to keep him locked up.
A new investigation has revealed how Israeli military utilised "oversimplified" ways to generate targets and used "undisclosed" methods to spy on Palestinian families and assassinate them in real time. TRT. ‘Harrowing details on Israel's use of AI in war revealed in new report.'
Philippines faces economic challenges from falling birth rate and aging population (youtube.com)
Why Spain's Socialists are U-Turning on Immigration (youtube.com)
“Everyone Who Can Exit The UK Is Leaving” - Konstantin Kisin (youtube.com)
There should be some benefit to living in a country, for having lived there, a decade or a century.
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How I Find $10M Winning Products in China EVERY TIME (and you can too) (youtube.com)
The guy goes to Shenzhen to find products to sell in the US (online). Can you tell the difference between these two products? That's why Chinese people have or can have if they want, an advantage, being in China. If you're shopping for the product in order to resale, you might buy the worse one. There, you can also build relationships with vendors, build rapport.
Chinese Coast Guard ‘monster ship,’ underwater drone enter Philippine waters (youtube.com)
Dec week4, BRICS, Chinese EVs
BRICS expands with 9 new partner countries. Now it's half of world population, 41% of global economy (youtube.com)
40% of GDP in the world. Half the population. 1/3 of oil produciton. Lots of minerals and cereals and meats. They have some big economies, although not any successful economies yet. A good market for China's products though, maybe. Sanctions like the US liked to use against Russia (settling payments) won't work as well if there are alternative global payment methods. A project started by the 2 biggest populous countries is starting to gain traction.
In the video he talks about how GDP is calculated, not always a good measure of economic prosperity (a large part is corporate beurocracy, not just production).
Why Mainland Chinese lack manners? The cause of Chinese tourists uncivil actions when traveling ? (youtube.com)
Yet another ‘Why Mainlanders lack manners’ video'.
China to hit 50% EV sales a decade early, leaving others to catch up (youtube.com)
Curious what this means for maintenance and long-term. In 10 years, does EV cost Chinese (particularly non-rich people) more? How long do these cars last? What is the energy/mineral/waste? Will the EV ‘advantage’ benefit them in the global market?
China achieved their target early by having the Chinese supply chain, so they offered very inexpensive EVs (cheaper than gas cars). Infrastructure also better than other places, with 10m charging stations. You can find a charging station almost anywhere, with 2.5 cars to a charging station.
China did 75% of global sales of EVs or something. Meanwhile Europe and US make super expensive EVs with all kinds of unneccesary electronic technology to comply with regulations, making them expensive or impractical to fix. Probably, both could compete well if they changed this.
Dec week3, Home schooling, Turkey/Syria, mercs, merkel rewrite
Asad
Incoming border czar warns Tren de Aragua: 'Don't get too comfortable' (youtube.com) (Fox)
Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother jailed for life for her murder | BBC News (youtube.com)
‘The dangers of home schooling.' Is that a valid statement?
Trump: 'Turkey Did An Unfriendly Takeover' Of Syria (youtube.com)
‘Turkey’s the one behind it.'
Commenter: 'Look! A real press conference. No notes! No bumbling! Incredible isn't it?'
Colombian Citizens Caught In Africa Doing The Unthinkable (youtube.com)
Mercenaries fighting in the paramilitary groups. Not sure why Colombia would ‘apologize,' can they control what their citizens do overseas?
Why Germany's economic fortunes changed | DW News (youtube.com)
A real re-writing of German opinion of her, and perhaps of themselves. Revisionist?
Dec week2, Syria fell to rebels, abandoned palace, Israel invaded southern Syria, Georgia new president, Spain's happy immigration
Biden Says the Fall of Assad Presents Opportunity for Syria (youtube.com)
Syrian rebels broadcast first news bulletin on state television (youtube.com)
Is it AI?
Frontline report: Inside Damascus as rebels seize power and Assad flees | BBC News (youtube.com)
Assad fled to Moscow where Putin gave him asylum, reportedly, but no reliable source has been able to confirm who was on the plane or where it was going, the 2am plane that departed Damascus during the taking of the capitol. The plane's radar-tracked path was unusual. It headed to one place, then another (Homs, which had been taken by rebels recently), then makes a sudden 2-minute U-turn then the plane records an altitude anomaly (20k to 1600 feet) and disappears at 2:40am. Reuters initially reported that Assad may have died in a plane crash, but removed the report, and Reuters later published a more cautious report noting that the transponder could have just been shut off so the plane could go to a private location.
Some less-than-dilligent news, like India Today, published an image of a plane on the ground in flames, but image search showed that image was from an Indian plane some time ago.
There is no plane wreckage that's been reported around Homs.
TASS and other authoritative Russian news reported Assad and family had arrived in Moscow, citing the Kremlin. Later, other news published an image of Assad and his wife and reported that it was the first image of the family in Moscow, but image search showed it was an old image. Funny they use old images rather than AI images, so far, to get clicks and spread false info.
24-year rule.
After 8 years of not fighting (after Assad regained control of Damascas in 2016), Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, who had been refuged in the north of the country, took over Aleppo November 30 and quickly advanced on Damascus. Russian aircraft bombed rebel-held areas, trying to combat them. Iraqi forces were sent to help Assad, and US bombed these groups in Syria.
In Syria, ‘the difference between real and fake is determined only by the authority telling you which is which.’ CaspianReport, who practices left-right-bias news analysis (to combat bias).
Footage of Syrian rebels releasing prisoners after capturing jails in Syria (youtube.com)
Syrian rebels discover Assad's luxury car collection in Damascus (youtube.com)
Reports Russia strikes deal with rebels to keep Syrian bases | ABC NEWS (youtube.com)
Footage of Syrian rebels releasing prisoners after capturing jails in Syria (youtube.com)Syrian rebels discover Assad's luxury car collection in Damascus (youtube.com)
Burkina Faso launches $12 million tomato factory (youtube.com)I-Team: Amazon counterfeit warnings (youtube.com)
Nashville sees major decreases in rent (youtube.com) Reports Russia strikes deal with rebels to keep Syrian bases | ABC NEWS (youtube.com)
Assad's secret underground prison found, more than 70,000 prisoners were there (youtube.com)What we know about Bashar-Al Assad’s escape from Syria • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
HTS' record in Syria ‘not a liberal democracy', analyst says • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Syrian History: Why Bashar Al-Assad Was Overthrown (youtube.com)
‘In a landscape of contending tribes, history is shaped by the use of force more than any other factor.’ Millions of Captagon pills have been discovered in warehouses across Syria after toppling of regime (youtube.com)
Russian forces retreat as celebrations fill Syria’s streets (youtube.com)
Russians exit Syria?
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Israel unleashes wave of devastating airstrikes across Syria (youtube.com)
Israel acting to keep rebels from getting hold of Syria's military equipment. Military bases and naval fleet, chemical weapons. The surge in uranium mining: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
AI Demand Fuels Nuclear Demand (youtube.com)
Georgia's turmoil deepens as ex-footballer named president | BBC News (youtube.com)
Lots of pro-EU protests (some signs ask for US and EU to introduce sanctions against their country), reported BBC, so the country seems quite politiclaly divided. ‘They believe this government is turning its back on Europe.’
Colombianos y venezolanos, entre los líderes del empleo extranjero en España • FRANCE 24 Español (youtube.com)
3m are there in Europe's fourth-largest economy which still needs laborers, low birth rate, immigrants with the same language, similar culture, often with families in Spain, easy asimilation, Latin migrants ‘loved because of history, and very well accepted, and rapidly join the labor market.’ But they're not the majority. Most in Spain 5 years ago came from Rumania, Morocco, Italy, China, and then Equador. But now after Rumania and Morocco, it's Colombia, Italy and Venezuela. Workers from countries are measured by Social Security registrations.
They arrive from South America with a regular visa (easy to get for latin countries) for 90 days, and then get a job easily which gives them a card that has an offer of work, then they can quickly get a temporal acceptance with the government to work. Then starts a simple process of becomming a legal worker, a process that is purely administrative (not demanding hoopjumping from the applicant). There's almost no problem of illegality with Latinos migrating and working in Spain.
Foreign workers (all) do 44% of domestic labor jobs in the country, 33% of agriculture, and 29% of hotels work.
Latinos are generally likened to other European migrants (Rumania and Italy), and contrasted with Subsaharan migrants who don't really want to work, enter illegally, and work in the informal economy in Europe.
Η Σοφια Ζαχαράκη μιλάει για το δημογραφικό στην εκομπή της Karen Gilchrist στο CNBC (youtube.com) (English, CNBC)
During the financial crisis, all the vibrant, educated, modern, younger workers left Greece to go to Germany, the US, etc. Almost half this type of person left, she says. Stable population as a requirement for a strong economy. Can anyone blame Greece for not being as strong as Germany when Germany benefitted from influx of GDP production, benefitting from the crisis that sapped Greece? Now in Greece there's no infrastructure, low birth rate, schools are abandoned, whole regions recently empty. Greeks used to be big families, very close, but you can't start families during economic crises. People now prioritize their careers. Greeks also saw exoduses during the crisis 50s and 60s, and again in the economic downturn in the 80s. The PM in Greece was talked about existencial population collapse, is that possible?
But those rural communities will perhaps get Starlink and modern conveniences once technology improves to distribute goods and maybe services.
#Europe
Uyghur fighters in Syria vow to come for China next (youtube.com)
Dec week1, Korean emergency politics, UNRWA, France government
South Korea's parliament votes to block martial law | BBC News (youtube.com)
Some people are chanting to ‘bring down the dictatorship’ and ‘arrest president Yew’.
'President Yoon Suk Yeol had declared emergency martial law in the country in a surprise late night television address, calling it necessary to protect the country from North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements.'
‘The resolution requesting the lifting of martial law was passed with 190 of 300 members in attendance, with all present in favour.’
What would the military do if forced to chose between president and parliament?
South Korea's president rescinds martial law order (youtube.com)
Less than 24 hours later.
Should We Get Rid of UNRWA? (youtube.com)
France's government collapses | New crisis for Macron (youtube.com)
Nov week3, Tarifs and competition, Immigration hosts
Japan finally fights back 😳 (youtube.com)
97% of clothing Americans purchase isn't made in USA. In Bangladesh, workers on clothes make like $150 a month. If a 10% tariff is applied, will clothing just be 10% more expensive, since Americans still can't compete with $150/month plus 10% more? India has few environmental regulations, which is cheaper.
So is it a ‘tax on a foreign country’ on a country that ‘is ripping us off and stealing our jobs'?
70% of Walmart is imported.
A Kirby vacuum made in USA costs $500. A Hoover costs $180.
In 2024 USA collected $5t in taxes, and a 10% tarif is expected to add $400b.
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In Europe, immigration is mainly a cultural issue (people don't assimilate), but in the US that's less an issue, but it is economic, but immigrants can grow the pie, but it creates winner/loser demographics.
Overseas visitor numbers top 30 mil. at fastest pace everーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, Peru, Fake Jobs
Oct pt2, Israel/Iran, N Korea/Russia, Mexico's prehistoric cities everywhere
Usually top leaders seem to be exempt from attacks during war, but I guess he has been attacking top figures.
‘North Korea could be fighting for the first time of its existence in Europe’ • FRANCE 24 (youtube.com)
News reports have it that N Korea has send thousands of soldiers to fight with Russia in Ukraine. Reports have had it over the past months that there are also Westerners fighting for Ukraine there, perhaps in small numbers, and no official Western military has entered.
Hong Kong's expat exodus - and the influx of mainland Chinese (youtube.com)
Expats went to Singapore.
How Singapore Got So Crazy Rich (youtube.com)
Young Koreans giving up on finding jobs (youtube.com)
Turkey retaliates with airstrikes on PKK targets in Iraq and Syria | DW News (youtube.com)
Ancient Mayan city discovered in Mexico jungle by accident | BBC News (youtube.com)
15 minutes from a busy road. ‘Valeriana.’
Student accidentally uncovers lost Mayan city hidden in Mexico’s jungle | ABC News (youtube.com)
These cities weren't uncommon. They're finding them all over. From 1200 years ago.
Operating at environmental capacity, engineered environment for population.
Oct pt1, Mearsheimer's Iran, Trump/Israel, Britain
The only way to shut down the Israel-Hezbollah war is to somehow shut down the war in Gaza, some sort of agreement, he said, which won't happen while Netanyahu is in office. So he won't reach a ceasefire in Gaza, he'll continue to murder Palestinians, tear the place apart, and therefore Hezbollah will stay in the fight.
Hezbollah, with 150k missiles, will just oversaturate the Iron Dome above their specific targets, M considered, if an all-out war happened.
Israel tells US it plans to launch limited ground incursion into Lebanon - US official | BBC News (youtube.com)
Is this the first instance of a aggressive international war (by a non-African/Balkan country) since WWII?
Is Trump the only possible candidate who can oppose Israel? being the only non-internal candidate?
Max Blumenthal : What was the point of the pager attack? (youtube.com)
Did Israeli's really show ‘glee’ after the pager 'terrorist' attacks? which did not just target top leaders, just blowing up everywhere.
A friend of mine noted how over-guilty today's citizen Germans feel regarding their military past, overkill probably. Do citizen on the street Jews express gulit over their war actions?
Do Jews really want to go it so alone? I mean, they're basically turning the entire international community and everyone against them, except institutitonal politicians in the US and to some degree institutional politicians in Europe? I travel internationally, and everywhere I go I hear strenuous diatribes by random people of all types against Israel. Don't Israelis want to be able to have international relations or commerce? or do they feel that the USA (on paper, through politicians) is all they need? If you read the Old Testament, it's not particuarly what the West would call ‘moral’. It's perhaps more asian in morality, or more tribal. Is this the culture of the Jews today, or are their leaders acting rogue, the same way UKs and Canada's act completely independent of the will of the citizens of those countries?
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How Israel Spies On America (youtube.com)
JUST IN: Israel's Netanyahu Addresses Iranian People In Social Media Post Amidst Rising Tensions (youtube.com)
When warmongers speak of bringing peace ... ‘finally there will be peace’.
If you scroll down and read the comments, you can see how information falsification is conducted. To see actual opinions of real people, read the responses to any of the top-voted comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_USzVCWzh10
Would Israel have done this if US had currently ok relations with China, Russia? If US didn't have so much political disunity (basically contention and segregation only)? If US's main issue wasn't immigration but rather had some confidence in itself as a coherent nation? If there wasn't a risk of recession? Or if US had some kind of at least possible relationship with Iran and other basically-enemy nations? ... However, this might just be the issue needed to unify or to ‘unify’ under the Democrats.
Israel's unpopularity is the US's unpopularity.
When you have a kid in the school who's tied to some of your group by existing relationships, and he goes around actively causing problems and picking fights, depending on his friends, who are also your friends, to join the fight with him.
Iranian attack on Israel is over, Iran's mission to the United Nations says (youtube.com)
Pentagon chief described Iran’s missile attack as an ‘outrageous act of aggression’ (youtube.com)
The Booming Demographics of Kazakhstan (youtube.com)
Religeon plays a role (but not extremist or fundamentalist much). Endogamous clan family type culture. Cousin marriages widely practiced. Family-oriented culture, politics encourage childbearing, families help with children. Some kind of balance that works.
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‘last piece of colonization in Africa’
Britain could sense it was losing the room, it was losing support, at the UN and other places. Negotiations have been happening (to give the islands back to Mauritius) for years.
They were to be kept until the US didn't need the islands any more for military reasons.
They are far from anything else, except Diego Garcia Island (lots of secretive US and British military, bombers, subs, refuelling, rearming), and DG will remain as it is now. They're uninhabited, sometimes yachts visit them.
There were people who had been evicted from living there. It would be difficult to turn the islands into habitable places.
This shows how the current international system functions, and how it's not like the previous Cold War order.
Britain has to protect its credibility in particular, for its institutions.
Britain isn't part of the EU anymore, so doesn't have that automatic support. They have to rely more on international, more on Africa and other countries than before.
With more time, Iran can move centrifuges etc. Iran now has more incentive to develop nuclear.
If the strategy to make Iran so scared to develop nukes because of fear of action, that they don't do so, is now undermined by Biden's statements against Israel considering nuclear sites as targets, said Albright.
Iran might be ‘running scared’ after ‘ring of fire’ which they'd depended on, with Hezbollah etc, ‘failed’.
‘They’ve had a policy based on ‘Let’s avoid a crisis' but you can't do that in the Middle East, you encourage our adversaries.' Albright. If you encourage them, they feel they can make these incremental progresses.
‘Both hands are being forced’ Irans and Israels. CNBC
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‘You can’t wage a war or conflict when you can't appeal to your own population at home, internally.' Goinar Motevalli. Iran has had this role for the past 50 years almost, of being this quite formidable bulwark against US Western NATO-aligned, Israeli-interests. It’s now manifesting in these violent terms. We have very slowly walked into this situation. The 2015 nuclear deal, how it was negotiated, who was included, who was excluded. The way rhetoric on the Western and European side, and sanctions on the nuclear plan going back to 2007. The 2002 George Bush Axis of Evil speech, at exact time Iran was starting a backchannel effort to work with US against Taliban in Afghanistan. It all kind of leads to this war scenario. That missile strike, Iran felt it had no choice, because of this perception of this loss of credibility, weakness, given the amount of domestic unpopularity it's facing. It couldn't just sit back.
There was an unidentified explosion near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen. There's a suggestion they might take some of the retaliation offshore, hitting diplomatic Israeli assets, something they've done in the past.
They're in a competitoin that involves assasinations and bombing strikes.
Iran and Russia are planning to enter a defense pack in a few weeks.
;There's no appeasing US or Israel.' Mearsheimer. What this means is you have to play hardball, so Iran and Russia are coming closer together.
‘The decapitation of Nasrallah is not going to produce any positive effects on the outcome from Israel’s perspective.' Israeli has been doing this to Hezbollah's leaders for a long time, and it doesn't have any meaning, it doesn't do anything of consequence.
Hezbollah's not going away. Hamas is not going away.
'This is a poor set of policies that Netanyahu is pursuing, and we're going along with them.'
Could Iran be another proxy battleground?
Some people think US is controlling Netanyahu, not the other way around. Such as Chompsky.
Israel seeks to humiliate Iran and undermine its feeling of safety, analyst says • FRANCE 24 (youtube.com)
Israeli Soldiers Aren't Hiding Their War Crimes - They're BOASTING About Them w/. Richard Sanders (youtube.com)
Israel’s Netanyahu warns Lebanon could face destruction ‘like Gaza’ (aljazeera.com)
First phone call between Biden and Netanyahu in 2 months, it was reported.
‘Is it US lying to Netanyahu or is it Netanyahu lying to the US?’ she asked.
Netanyahu is known to be a lyer, everyone has agreed on this, and he doesn't hide it, the expert said. Does it matter to anyone? It seems telling the truth has almost no importance.
Only when the US feels their interests are really being compromised, the really put the pressure on Israel as a client. Why should US do leverage with Netanyahu, he asked, when there is not really even anyone in the Middle East who is asking for it. The Muslim countries don't really seem to be vocal on this.
It's been rumored and reported in news that behind closed doors Biden or the US has labelled Netanyahu as a ‘bad guy,’ while doing staunch support for Israel in public.
Israel is on a high, and has an emboldened posture, and US also. Israel currently willing to take more risks, and US willing to let Israel take more risks.
Could the Middle East be heading for a new era? | Inside Story (youtube.com)
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It will be pretty difficult to call any future African or Balkan country a war criminal after this.
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If Israel does air strikes using jets, it has chose which country to go through, requiring getting air permission, or it can sail all the way around the Arabian Peninsula and just go from their boats (and tanks). If they use F-15s or F-16s they can stay away from the Iranian MES (surface to air), whereas if they launched from Israel they would have their missiles possibly defended against.
Iran was fairly successful using ballitics launched from Iran last week.
What are Israel’s goals in Iran and Lebanon? | BBC News (youtube.com)
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Less controversial than other nominees like pro-Palestinian groups.
Lots of talk of nuclear weapons. Ukraine gave up its nukes after Soviet breakup in return for supposed security guarantees from the West. Other countries now see the leverage Putin has over the West and regarding Ukraine.
Countries increasing and talking about increasing their weapons. Countries openly talking about using them.
This year, two countries with nuclear weapons have invaded or three countries/peoples without.
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Gamblers keep going as long as they're winning.
Civilian Joint Task Force aids Nigerian military in routing Boko Haram, restoring stability (youtube.com)
15 years doing the civilian task force. They also do spot checks and search operations to stop weapons entering residential areas.
A vigil ante group that emerged to block asymetric (terrorism) groups that started up before 2013.
Membership from local communities, and understand culture, routes, and somewhat dynamics better than offical federal forces. They can guide official forces.
The JTF over it's 15 years has had negative allegations of recruiting child soldiers, abusing rules of engagement, heavy handedness. But UN system has engaged with them and given them some governance systems, and Nigerian military has trained them a bit, and state has supported them.
They're paid by government and the military.
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Nasa spacecraft blasts off to hunt alien life on a distant moon | BBC News (youtube.com)
Under Europa's icy surface there is lots of water.
5 years later, results will be garnered.
It's not going to land. It's going to investigate from the air whether Europa can sustain life. With radar (power hungry).
Has enormous solar arrays, 35m long.
Israeli soldiers document their own war crimes online: Why? | ICJP Panel (youtube.com)
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Can the US Say NO to Israel? (youtube.com)
‘Vulgar’ was the word Sachs used for Israel's killing, including attacking UN workers.
September, Israel attacks, Honduras
Globalization of classes?
Exploding Pagers in Lebanon, Fingers Pointed at Israel (youtube.com)
Blinken (SoS) visiting the area for the 10th time in a few weeks or months, but this time not even visiting Israel. He's in Egypt.
Hundreds of Hezbollah pagers explode across Lebanon in unprecedented attack (youtube.com)
hundreds of seriously wounded, some dead. Fairly indescriminate, right? They just set them off wherever the person happened to be, in markets and stores, etc. It seems they want attacks that can't be proven-traced to them, other they would use operatives.
Some commenters say that this is so embarrasing to Hezbollah, they have to respond, and it will cause an escalation, in a violent way, maybe a different way.
Hezbollah was using pagers to avoid Israel's well-understood ability to monitor smart devices.
Pager attack on Hezbollah will have psychological ramifications: Tracy Walder | On Balance (youtube.com)
Now everyone's going to think Israel might set off explosions in the market? What is the US definition of terrorism?
What is the purpose of this attack though? The damage is minimal, it will just cause Hezbollah to check their pagers for explosives, and it'll bring international condemnation.
$90 Bln Plan to Bring Electricity to 300 Million Africans Gets Underway (youtube.com)
‘Existential Threat to US Interests’: Behind the Latest Coup Attempt in Honduras (youtube.com)
Right wing gaining power in politics there. Honduras was a ‘US colony’ and now they've elected a leader in opposition to US and in favor of national sovereignty. Honduras hosts large US military base. She revoked those venture capital special economic zones. Meetings with Venezuela and Cuba. Presenting some existential threat to US, the interviewee says. There have been US-backed threats to stability in Honduras. Honduran press largely controlled by Right wingers. US has slapped charges of drug trafficking on many high ranking Hondurans, and then Honduras suspended extradition treaty with US (so they don't have to extradite their citizens for US drug charges).
Honduras was a lilypad for coordinating counterinsurgency during Nicaragua and Guatemala civil wars. Has bananas and resources, has cheap textile labor. You can take their resources without really paying them much. Is a neighbor to a country considered to be in stark opposition to US, Nicaragua.
Xiomara Castro toma medidas ante injerencia estadounidense en Honduras | NOTICIAS BÁSICAS LATAM (youtube.com)
July pt2, N Sea route
July pt1, Population, Carbon-free cement
Cement companies are transforming the $410 billion industry with carbon-free cement (youtube.com)
$87m grant from Fed government (Dep of Energy). Carbon zero. Costs more, but expected to be competitive when at scale. Does have customers.
Politics
April week 1, Musk's Tesla and attacks, Carney PM, Republicans have slogans, We need a MSM liberal news study, Europe markets outpreforming USA, Will Europe militarize themselves?, Question about effect of deportations, Hegseth, Lutnick, SpaceX and the youth, Signalgate, Sadism in office?, LePenn barred from running
Are there workers who hate Musk now working at his companies? Are they as behind his success as ever?
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He says that he predicted the 2008 crisis, and tried to testify at Congress about why it had happened, but that they didn't want him there and they only wanted people who had been blindsided by the crisis and who blamed a lack of regulation for it. Too much greed on Wall Street. Whereas he blamed the government, getting money from the Fed, from Fed policy, which inflated that bubble, insuring mortgages that would never have been written but for government guaranteeing them. Instead of houses being bought by Americans because they're cheap, the government wants the mortgage to be cheap, so they have to borrow a lot to buy them. Banks don't have to compete for customers based on the credit quality of the institution, but since the government guarantees the deposits the banks can take any risk that pleases them. They've never been stress-tested for stagflation, and will be bailed out again probably, he said. Because in 2008, not all the banks got drunk off the Fed's liquor (and they would have survived), but some did (a lot of the big banks), and they never had to pay for it. ‘They should have failed, they weren't too big to fail. Because they were big they needed to fail. And we needed sounder bankers to come in and pick up the pieces.' But instead they were rewarded, and they are way bigger now.
Fraud with government is so much easier than with individuals or private companies, because they're so vast, you can steal from them and they don't care, or they don't even know, but an individual if you steal from him he's going to know. Peter Schiff.
HP sent an update out to printers that bricked them from using HP cartridges, reportedly. Never buy HP. Buy an old Brother (the ones that take the same TN-620 cartridge for the past 10 years, manufactured by them and a dozen other companies) or an Epson ecotank. The way HP is even still in business must be the research how much price undercut they have to do, and what features they have to print on the label, to be customer preferred. Everything they make is garbage. Also, buy old or security-reviewed printers (which do exactly the same thing as the new ones, despite any claims), which plug in with a USB2, and can be drivered just using regular CUPS (don't install a 300mb driver they provide, filled with bloat/malware), don't use the bluetooth ones unless you have to on a non-important computer or phone, because they are not secure.
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So Trump removes ban on US aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine ceasefire deal now awaits Putin's response | Ian Bremmer's Quick Take (youtube.com)
Full Mark Carney speech tackles Trump tariffs after becoming new Prime Minister of Canada (youtube.com)
A guy maybe noone has ever heard of. Is Canada becomming UK? Obliged, unemotional applause. As exciting as a shirt hanging outside to dry.
TRUMP TRIES TESLA: President takes the driver’s seat in support of Musk (youtube.com)
Photo op of the pair in a red Tesla. Do you think a photo op will be enough to substitute for actually having a CEO present at the company?
Ontario suspends electricity surcharge after Trump doubles Canada tariffs (youtube.com)
From 25% to 50% on steel.
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Uh huh. That was easy.
Gavin Newsom (D) launched a podcast, and he actually talks about issues, and it's the first time some people have seen a politician actually listen to other people. Usually in US politics it's binary. If my party says yes, you are a no, and lets argue from different sides.
Democrats think people just fell in love with Trump, but actually it was rejectionist, they rejected what Democrats were about. Usually Democrats condescend to everyone. You say that, but we know better, because we went to college and know.
Trump threw out large numbers in his tariff talk. Just numbers he was playing with, probably, to negotiate down to a real number. That may have worked to get him a good bargain, but what may have happened after a few weeks of this is that people just don't take him seriously when he says a number or anything. Does the forum, which is politics, not lend itself to this type of bargaining the way some other forums do? Because his numbers are public. Because when he says them, they're televised and headlined all over the place, so the headlines that follow after are that he caved or he was bluffing or whatever.
One issue with tariffs is that it centralizes power. Anyone can go to Trump and say give me a deal, I need an exception, everyone goes to him, gives a donation. Bribes. It looks bad. And that's the rule-based system Americans like. Jcal.
Democrats don't have slogans and things that ‘tap into core beliefs’ like ‘Build the wall.’ ‘We want Greenland.’ Doesn't matter if they're going to do it or not. Andrew Schulz. It can't just be money. Everyone in the US thinks they're going to be a millionaire. If you make them feel like that's going to happen anymore. ‘No tax on tips' (going right for Nevada). Bernie Sanders did it, going after rich people.
People who own stocks have over-benefitted for 15 years. Chamath. Under Obama they took rates to 0 and anyone with assets could borrow a ton.
Trump connects with and listens to people well. Jcal.
NBC News poll: President Trump job approval at his highest ever, but concerns over economy loom (youtube.com)
Despite a lot of attempts by the MSM. It's actually surprising to see feedback from the actual people, because by just watching MSM or reading headlines you would think his approval was negative. Strong almost unanimous support from Republicans, modest Independent support, and little from Democrats. His current support is at 47% ‘approve.’ His ‘economic approval rating’ went down to 44% (from 54% in his last term in 2020). His support is 90% from Republicans (more than just his base) and only 4% from Democrats.
More Americans rate economy as only fair or poor.
Musk only has a 39% approval and DOGE has 41%.
Democratic party is 27% (all-time low), and only Putin had a lower approval rating.
‘You can’t tell people about how the economy is for them... People know.'
A study needs to be done on what MSM liberal media is really doing, because I know people who only watch liberal news (for news) and never watch an actual interview or speech or question period with Trump or Vance, and they hate them absolutely. They can't even watch them, they can't listen to them for a second, it causes and extreme reaction physically. Since they've actually never listened to them, and the only exposure they have to them or a sort of avatar or representation of them is on MSM, that can be the only source of whatever has caused them to have this reaction (without ever actually knowing anything directly about the people). ... I've met enough people like this, who are normal, regular, responsible people (although perhaps a bit lazy in intellectual areas) to confidently say that the Liberal media is an enemy of society.
‘OpenAI calls DeepSeek ’state-controlled.' calls for bans on ‘PRC-produced’ models.
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'No accountability': Tensions rise amid DOGE's attempts to slash government (youtube.com)
MSNBC. They're doing everything they can to make it uncomortable or punishing to cut government waste and cut off using public money to pay private interests of politicians or beurocrats. I don't think there's actually any way this could happen smoothly. Maybe if it was from the Democrat party, but that party would never do it (they would talk about it though and let people ‘believe in them’ as they recently did in Canada yet again, with someone I know telling me they were ‘talking about reducing cross-province tariffs’ because they ‘want to’ have inside-Canada things, but without even weighing that against the fact that that is the source of the policians and beurocrats money and power and it is only increased by the US trade war. ... It seems almost impossible to fix US graft, then, which was the assumption before DOGE, and when DOGE started I was surprised and thought, maybe they can do it afterall, but now it seems the LiberalMedia/Democrat party will just destroy Musk or anyone who tries to do it. He seems alone doing it too, I don't see that many politicians coming out and voicing support (although perhaps it's just not televised).
Trump fired 2 FTC commissioners. Dems say it’s illegal. What has SCOTUS said? (youtube.com)
LIVE: Canadian PM Carney Warns Donald Trump To Stop "Comments" Before Bilateral Talks Start | N18G (youtube.com)
Usually Canada elects a leader that is aligned with whoever is in office the States. In this case, perhaps, Trump is ‘adversarial’ against Canada and perhaps the response will be an adversarial leader for Canada.
Amtrak CEO forced to resign by Trump administration amid talks of privatization (youtube.com)
Stepping down to ‘ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration.’
Jeffrey Gundlach: Trump's rhetoric will continue to make Europe bullish compared to the S&P (youtube.com)
Europe can't depend on US to militarize them, anymore, they are thinking.
US markets have stopped outperforming. Europe and even EM are outperforming US now.
We don't yet know the effects of deportations. We don't yet know the effect of tariffs, and don't even yet know what the tariffs will be.
‘Inertia’ is the Fed word now (Powell).
It's been ‘don’t fight the Fed' for a long time, but this time, the Fed spoke and it didn't effect markets. The markets did like what he said, and things were green for a while, but closed neutral.
EU to curb steel imports in bid to protect industry • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
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Hegseth.
Howard Lutnick, Commerce leader at White House, said software companies could build something for the government for free, and then they'd be the standard which would give credit to that software where they could sell it more easily everywhere else. Also, if it's free the government doesn't need to go past Congress. So the company probably gets benefits, just not in transactionally immediate cash, so it will complicate things if this is permitted to be done without Congress.
Regulatory capture and backroom deals, a possible Democrat issue. Affordable homes. Rich people paying more taxes. Health care universal.
SpaceX rescued 2 astronauts, and the capsules, when they landed in the ocean, had dolphins breaching around them. Did not see this in my YouTube or Facebook feeds (heard about it on All-In Podcast). Bias against Musk much? I did have regular anti-Musk headlines in my YouTube.
The astronauts were supposed to be there a couple weeks and have been there months, and when they landed they apparently weren't able to really walk or something. SpaceX offered earlier to help when Boeing couldn't do it, but it was turned down by Biden Democrats.
Moon Landing equivalent. Kids watching this, watching Musk, are thinking what a private company owner and engineer can do.
SpaceX charges way less than competitors like Boeing. Why does SpaceX charge so little? They could raise their prices, but Musk doesn't do that.
SF school banned AP math, inequal because smarter kids get special classes. Actually this happened to me in middle school, where parents complained a small number of kids were put in a special class and they ended the program half-way through. ‘
Math is racist, reading is racist. SF. They had a spreadsheet and every kid had to memorize everyone else's pronoun.
The Far Left doesn't love America. They hate America and are vocal about it.
Woke Madrasas. Chamath.
‘Tesla Takedown’: Celebrities, politicians join movement against Elon Musk (youtube.com)
Nouriel Roubini Says US, Mexico, and Canada Should Form a New Economic Union (youtube.com)
Canada's PM Mark Carney calls snap election | BBC News (youtube.com)
NEW: Trump admin deports nearly 200 migrants to Venezuela (youtube.com)
LIVE: Intel Chiefs Testify Amid War Plans Group Chat Fallout (youtube.com)
Apparently, when you leak war plans in a messenger group chat, you have to appear at Congress. They're trying to claim the info wasn't classified. Plans to bomb a country?
"There was no classified information as I understand it." (youtube.com)
Quote by President. Definitely some motivation for a new Democratic party with new causes here. Seems to be some flouting of law and order, of respectable and reliable system. Trump has developed in some things, but I haven't yet seen any evidence he's developed in the areas of law, constitution, rights, security, privacy, the values that are valued by the small percentage of people in a society who are responsible and care about rights.
FBI launches task force targeting attacks on Tesla: ‘This is domestic terrorism’ (youtube.com)
What isn't these days?
John Bolton reacts to war group chat leak (youtube.com)
Bolton commented that punitive action by Trump (against cabinet members or whoever) is not based on if they do wrong but if they do wrong to Donald Trump, and then he often will take action against them. At this point, there might be damage to Trump from his perspective, from the messages and from the story, and he might do something.
Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements (youtube.com)
Smear campaign continues.
Elon Musk and DOGE team give behind the scenes look at their mission (youtube.com)0" target="_blank">YouTube (youtube.com)
Good move, I think. All 7 guys on the team in an interview with Fox.
They're trying to reduce spending $3b every day, until they cut $1t of $7t spending and without government abilities.
They could have structured the interview differently though. This is not the right group to have 7 people all facing forward in 2 rows like a movie house. They should have a circle or arc shape, one row, so everyone can see everyone, and they should have had some people come in a for a few minutes and had people filter in and out of the room for a few questions.
Musk, in wanting to make sure the right thing gets said, and also the political (doing right by Trump) thing gets said, talked more than would have been ideal. It would have been good if everyone in the boyband got to answer at length.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7kQNwJ4H_w
‘They’re being propaganda by the far left, and they believe it,' Musk answered on why people were violently attacking Tesla dealerships. I think this is correct. The ideas don't come from nowhere, and neither Musk nor Tesla has actually done anything wrong, but you woudn't know that by watching headlines, which are mostly and dominated by Liberal media. I wrote about this before how normal people watch the news and are extremely biased against Trump, Musk, etc, how they can't even listen to these men actually answer questions themselves, and attack people who support them in public, and feel righteous about it.
BREAKING NEWS: Las Vegas Sheriff Announces Arrest In Fire Attacks On Tesla Dealership (youtube.com)
License plate readers, drones, digital forensics for phones and investigative geneology DNA, public safety cameras, looking on social media. Bro, wouldn't you rather not catch this guy if you could not have all these invasive things?
Turkey deports a foreign journalist as protests grow | DW News (youtube.com)
JD Vance, wife travel to Greenland despite island pushback (youtube.com)
Trump sends military to reinforce border security: 'A show of force' (youtube.com)
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Holds Swearing-In Ceremony For Alina Habba To Become US Attorney For New Jersey (youtube.com)
Trump swears in Habba, and this is a good example of his style of handling people (and a lot of people at once), in how he talks to her children, husband, parents, Bondi, etc.
The AI Cold War, Signalgate, CoreWeave IPO, Tariff Endgames, El Salvador Deportations (youtube.com)
Jal seems to be catching on to the composition of the Trump party, which I wrote about here a month or two ago, where it's basically a Democratic party (all the members, including Trump, and all the supporters, originally were or wanted to be Democrats, and that Trump's party never really tried to be a traditional Republican party). Jcal said he's staying Independent, unlike the others on the All-In, because he will continue to criticize things he doesn't like about what Trump does. He likes 70% of what they're doing and doesn't like 30%, on human rights grounds. This is pretty correct. I think Sacks would have been about the same, if he hadn't joined the team, after which it was no longer possible to oppose anything.
Friedburg doesn't think everything the government does should be FOIAable (and recorded). Lol, he's so off despite being so smart on hard sciences. If you can decide what things go on the record and which not, within 5 minutes everything they just don't want to be public will fall into the ‘don’t record' category.
But again, Jcal is the lone voice when it comes to any opposition to anything that happens in the Trump party, and the lone voice in defense of human rights, journalism, etc.
‘I believe there is a sadistic nature to this administration, it is an achilles heel for them. And when you see them doing videos from these prisons and saying, “This is going to happen to you,” and this prison is known for torture, and this prison is known for the most abhorent issues in the world... and people care deeply in this country about human rights and process, and there is a Constitutional issue right now... Trump and this administartion is disobeying the court when they say say “Hey, let’s slow down here.” There is no cost ... in American sending these people to a weighstation, and investigating each of these cases to make sure we don't send the gay hairdresser to El Salvador, to another country to be tortured in prison, if that is in fact the case. And it is against all American principles to not have due process and have innocent people potentially go to jail."
Chamath seemed pretty OK and nonchalant with a 4 or 5% error rate (accidentally sentensing that amount of innocent people to get a safer country ‘like El Salvador’). Friedburg cares about the foundations of the US system, though, but was less reactionary/'passionate' than Jcal.
'We must have Greenland': Donald Trump vies for Arctic nation | LBC (youtube.com)
‘JD Vance: The world’s worst diplomat'. LBC.
Data Says We Haven't Had a Recession: Mike Green on the Hidden Metrics That Tell a Different Story (youtube.com)
Mike Green on Trump, policies aimed at competing with China.
He sees Ukraine as a pawn, stirring up things between China and Russia, and also a garbage dump to process rare earths.
He drew parallels between Trump and those that preceeded Cesar. Trump may destroy norms the way they did, and pave the way for a Cesar, a tyrant that broke from the republican political system.
We treat the poor as not meritocratic, while the younger generation is poorly prepared (civics, why we have a republic, capitalism's value, electronics and SM, recreational drugs) for leadership. They're frustratted [as if the youth weren't always].
He's writing on the impact of passive-owned markets (where investment happens mechanically, not by choice).
Musk to go to Wisconsin ahead of judicial race, hand out $1M checks (youtube.com)
Circuses for the masses, please.
Protest over Hwy 101 swastika flag ends in unexpected understanding | KTVU (youtube.com)
Lol, if that flag was a Democratic Op/FBI/CIA Op, it backfired, becaues it didn't end up causing what they want, which is discord and violence. How? The people talked.
Rubio has to appear to ask questions after each student or alum is detained by ICE or detainee sent to El Salvador or whatever. We'll see how he holds up for the term.
Marco Rubio's Argument COLLAPSES As Horrifying ICE Disappearances Intensify (youtube.com) (Damage Report)
How long can you keep your job when it demands publicly defending something you know is wrong?
John Dean reacts to Trump saying he's 'not joking' about seeking a third term (youtube.com)
Trump executive order aims to eliminate ‘improper ideology’ at Smithsonian (youtube.com)
Anti-DEI, some are saying?
All the statues that were removed or altered since 2020 after George Floyd riots, they're ordering to be put back.
Trump doesn't want things in the Smithsonian that focus on race or dividing people by race, reportedly.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — March 31, 2025 (youtube.com)
Secretly revoking immigration status of students, without notifying the students or the universities, which ‘allows’ ICE to seize them without notice. Mostly Middle Eastern students.
State Deparment emailed hundreds of students asking them to self-deport, reportedly, after they participated in campus activism.
Vance in Greenland (though not in Nuuk, seemingly because of opposition to the visit), in his speech seems to be pushing more his own take on things than the Presidents, seemingly bowing to Trump out of being required to.
Le Penn sentenced to 4 years in prison for embezzling EU funds to fund her campaign and is banned from running in elections for 5 years, and she's the leading candidate. She was jailed? Will there be a revolution in France?
Secondary tariffs. Trump mentioned that if Russia doesn't make a deal with Zelensky as he's ‘supposed to’, Trump may well put secondary tariffs on them, ie put sanctions on India and China for receiving Russian oil (which was permitted by the US as a way to keep oil prices reasonable when they sanctioned Russian oil originally after the Ukraine invasion). So sanctions are not really working or are extended, and now we're going to see if we can make secondary tariffs also not work?
Musk the big loser as Democrats win in Wisconsin court race • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Idaho lawmaker's family farm raided by ICE (youtube.com)
Grain of salt.
March week2, Hegseth military, Scandal info but nothing useful, Musk and politicians, Vance sicks Zelensky and fallout?, Ukraine, Europe, Musk interview, Vivek, DOGE
Peace through strength, the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, re-establishing deterrence.
This isn't like politics as we've seen it. Maybe in the 50s or something a version, but maybe not then even.
He said there were 3 things that the media was misreporting and they would then speak to the public when they're misrepresented and clear things up as quickly as possible. ‘With DOGE, we’re focussing as much as we can on headquarters, and fat, and redundancies and topline stuff that allows us to invest elsewhere. ... Finding those inefficiencies is how we save taxpayer dollars. That is a good that of course is being distorted in the media, their hypreventillation, and it just goes entirely unreported for the most part.'
‘During the process [of re-making the military] we’re gonna communicate with you directly, and it's not going to be through the filter of media outlets.' ‘...Ensuring you get the real info in realtime.’
'We're not going to get everything perfect, but we're going to do it earnestly.'
Also, the comments are pretty excited.
Funny, I've stopped watching any politicians speak. Since they never say anything valuable, it's better to just listen to trusted experts and commentators about the subjects instead of the politicians. I pusposefully change the channel when a politicians speaks because it's basically always misleading (as its purpose), and it's better to not have heard the misleading information they want to put in your news. But now everything I've seen from Trump, Musk, Hegseth is good and valuable. So I guess I'll have to purposefully watch them when I see them come up for a while to get into the habit. With these guys, watching them is more valuable than watching a commentator, who becomes a mere filter for their clear information.
Google Informed Him the FBI was Spying on Him for 5 Years (youtube.com)
Patel.
BREAKING: Comey’s ‘Honeypot’ Scandal Investigation Details Leaked (youtube.com)
‘Likely not to get info about a crime, but to find a crime to use against Trump.’
This is the head, to be clear, of the FBI. The Justice Department involved?
Tulsi Gabbard on NSA chatrooms: This is an ‘egregious violation of trust’ (youtube.com)
Is she going to be able to hold this position?
How Did Samantha Power’s Net Worth Reach $30 Million as USAID Administrator? (youtube.com)
CIA Spy Exposes MKUltra’s More Sinister Twin Experiment | John Kiriakou (youtube.com)
'Left’s dark money network...': Tyler O’Neil exposes USAID’s ‘long history’ with George Soros (youtube.com)
Daily Signal #journalism senior editor.
Soros and OpenSociety, Tides Foundation, Arabella Advisors network.
‘Silencing the opponent of [Albania’s] socialist PM.'
Rising anti-Tesla sentiment in Seattle leads to protests, vandalism | FOX 13 Seattle (youtube.com)
At one point in the First Cabinet Meeting, Musk, not really part of the wall behind Trump (his department heads I guess, I didn't recognize most of them) but he stood up at the end of the long table when called on. He seemed very unsure of his position or security in how he spoke. I don't think I've heard Musk speak like that in 10 years of listening to his interviews. At one point he said the I will do what the President asks or something. Trump interrupted him at one point, when he was talking about how some of the heads might not like what he's doing, and said they're here lets ask them and asked them, but then Trump made a joke like ‘If anyone doesn’t like what he's doing we'll throw him out right now,' and they laughed, some of them, and clapped. It wasn't clear if they were clapping in appreciation, or reluctant appreciation, of Musk, or of the joke to throw him out if any of his ‘real’ cabinet didn't want him there. I thought Trump could have stood up for Musk a lot more at that point and said 'Hey he's doing what I asked and if anyone has a problem tell me. Tell me.' And might have said that if anyone has a problem with Musk, they'd throw that person out right now. I couldn't tell if Trump just didn't handle it prefectly, which was possible, or if he enjoyed that Musk was in a defensive, unsure position. Most of the things said, replies to questions, everything, I've seen from Trump have been flawless, but still, either possibility could have been.
AG Pam Bondi drops DEI lawsuits against, police, fire departments (youtube.com)
Tate brothers, facing human trafficking charges in Romania, arrive in the US (youtube.com)
youtube.com
He doesn't look like an anybody. Maybe Trump and US can just walk all over all other countries who don't think they need to elect anybody really to their leadership role, and so permit just regular nobody politicians with no impressive skills. That's all that is allowed to move up the beurocratic party lines. But the demand to deal with a real competitor might force them to restructure.
UK flatters Donald Trump with invitation from King for second state visit | BBC News (youtube.com)
Bezos reveals major Washington Post opinion page shakeup, editor resigns (youtube.com)
Is WP a practical tool? #journalism
BREAKING NEWS: Trump, Zelensky, And JD Vance Have Shocking Explosive Argument In The Oval Office (youtube.com) is the last 10 minutes of a 45 minute conference youtube.com
Whoa, breakdown from a public meeting to what would be a real backroom argument. Was this planned by the White House? or was it that Zelensky didn't speak politely. Certainly Zelenzky loses authority as seen by his citizens. Vance acted like your friend at the bar who just, fixatedly perhaps, pushes for what he maybe even sees as a just or favorable (for his side) admission (which is not possible to give), but really just pushes the other his the two guys into a fight. It seems like it was not planned, though, because Trump also lost his cool a bit and said things just in passion. President Trump winds up yelling to a journalist about past greivances, appearing not presidential, the first time I've seen him slide out of being really presidential in months.
One thing that might demonstrate that it was a set-up is that Vance spoke forcefully pretty suddenly. I'm not sure he would have done so without the president's OK beforehand.
‘With us you have the cards, but without us you don’t have any cards.'
‘It'll be a tough deal to make, because the attitudes have to change.'
At one point Trump says 'I empowered you to be a tough guy,
Trump spoke for a while making a point about how Putin went through a lot of garbage, accused of all kinds of things by Democrats and their media, and he did go through it and bore it, and it turns out that it was all a scam, it all came from Hunter Biden's (disgusting) bedroom and laptop. The ‘Russia Hoax,’
‘[Putin] might’ve broken deals with Obama and Biden, but he didn't it with me. He wants to make a deal. I don't know if he can make a deal. The problem is I've empowered you [Zelensky] to be a tough guy, and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. Your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal, or we're out. And if we're out, you'll fight it out, I don't think it's going to be pretty. You don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position. But you're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing.'
A commenter: ‘Instead of fake smiles and phony handshakes actually getting a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes’
Another: ‘This is the first time in history that the public has been able to listen in on a real conversation that usually takes place behind closed doors.’
Forbes is getting a lot of credit as a news source for just publishing raw footage. #Journalism . I see people commenting on this. Note, this is acclaim for what they're doing on raw material, not for their journalism.
Zelensky did make a point that if Ukriane didn't fight as they did, Russia would have taken more.
Trump said ‘my whole life that’s all I do, I make deals.' ‘I do it pretty good.’
Trump: Zelenskyy disrespected the U.S., can come back when he is ready for peace (youtube.com)
Reportedly after the meeting, Zelensky was in the normal post-conference holding room, and Trump made a TruthSocial post about Zelensky can come back when he's ready for peace, and then the SoS Rubio and National Security Advisor Walsh came in to tell Zelensky the day was over and he could leave.
The TrutSocial post said, ‘I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not read for Pace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. [Isn't that what the value of any deal with the US would be?] He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.'
People talking about whether this was a set-up to do something like this to Zelensky. So, no minerals or peace deal for now.
Later, speaking to the public, Trump said, ‘I think he very much overplayed his hand. We’re looking for peace. We're not looking for somebody that's going to sign up a strong power, and then not make peace because they feel emboldened, and that's what I saw happening. We're not looking to go into a 10 year war and play games. It was just my feeling that, if we do that, if we sign up, he's looking for something that I'm not looking for. ... He doesn't have the cards. When we sign up then he's got all of the cards.'
‘He didn't want to do a ceasefire. A ceasefire could take place immediately. A contract if you wanna end the war, an agreement.'
‘You saw what I saw today. That was not a man that wanted to make peace.'
And after the meeting, Zelensky went on Fox News.
Zelenskyy asked whether he owes Trump an apology (youtube.com)
Right at the start, he said he was thankful to Americans and to Trump, for helping them survive this, the invasion for 3 years.
About the televised spat, he said, ‘This is not good for both sides anyway, and I will be very open. But I can’t change our Ukrainian attitude toward Russia. This is very clear, that Americans are our best friends, and Europeans are our best friends, and Russia are our enemies. And this doesn't mean that we don't want peace, we just want to recognize the reality.'
‘We want just and lasting peace. It’s true, we want security guarantees.' He said Ukraine wants to go to the peace table but with a position of strength, that they are there with a strong military and there with their allies.
Everyone remembers the first days of the invasion, and how many people were killed, and nobody will forget it, Zelensky said, and if you just say OK, Putin is a great guy, now, there might later be another invasion or occupation.
Fox showed a clip of Senator Lindsy Graham, who has been a ‘big proponent of Zelensky and of Ukraine’, saying ‘I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance, standing up for our country. We want to be helpful. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again. ... He either needs to resign and send over somebody that we can do business with, or he needs to change.' Well, if he really was a proponent of Zelensky before, that's pretty light stuff on the scale to make him switch completely. I mean, Zelensky did appear to not speak completely diplomatically maybe, but it wasn't that bad either.
Democrats, however, made posts saying the White House ambushed Zelensky etc.
Zelensky asked, when all these criticism are said by big politicians in the US, that the feeling in Ukraine will be, ‘Where is our friendship between Ukraine and US?’
‘It’s not a good way, between partners and friends.'
He said that the spat happening publicly, was ‘not good.’ That things should happen behind closed doors.
Zelensky did speak frankly and honestly though, not politically, even when maybe he should have. He doesn't talk at all like a politician.
‘You're people have to save our people. First, human rights. This is very important.'
Treasury Secretary Bessent 'Shocked' at Trump, Zelenskiy Argument: Full Exclusive Interview (youtube.com)
He seems to say that the American people will or should feel harmed by something, I guess something Zelensky did. ‘President Zelensky blew that up today. I’m not sure what he was thinking.'
‘We were scheduled to have lunch afterwards, and that perhaps he could have brought up some of the points, but instead he chose to let things go into a downward spiral on live television.’ BBC reported that the scheduled lunch was a working lunch, and they were supposed to sign the agreement that had already been agreed to allow America mineral access to Ukraine. ‘Instead, Zelenzky was instructed to leave the White House.’
Bessent kept saying Zelensky did something insulting or harmful to the American people.
‘Economic security becomes military security’ and Ukraine's economy would benefit from the minerals deal, it would have been an accelerant to Ukrainian growth, he said. ‘Ukraine has a lot of potential. We hope to unlock it.’
We'll see what opinions of the public and of integrity voices is.
'You Don't See All The Things That Led Up To This': Rubio Defends Trump After Clash With Zelensky (youtube.com)
Rubio said that the US being in Ukraine is already a sort of guarantee, and that the deal was ready 5 days ago, and that Ukraine ‘insisted’ on coming to Washington, and had been there for days and in all their meetings with Zelenzky and with Zelensky’s public statements, ‘there have been problems' with the issue of security guarantees, Rubio said.
Rubio said that they had told Zelensky to not make it about ‘lecturing us about how diplomacy isn't going to work, President Zelensky took it in that direction, and it ended in a predictable outcome...' ‘That’s the path he chose.'
‘We are trying to bring it to an end. The way that you bring it to an end is that you get Russia to the table to talk. And he understands that attacking Putin, nomatter how anybody feels about him personally, forcing the president into a position where you’re trying to goad him into attacking Putin, calling him names, maximalist demands about Russia having to pay for the reconstruction, all the things that you talk about in a negotiation. When you start talking about that aggressively, and the president's a dealmaker ... you're not going to get people to the table.' Maybe Zelensky doesn't want a peace deal, although he says he does, suggested Rubio. The efforts to undermine the peace process is deeply frustrating for everyone involved. He should apologize for wasting our time.
The points Zelensky raised at the news conference had aleady been discussed numerous times, and then in the conference he said those things which seem deliberately ‘geared toward making the argument that peace is not possible.’
The Biden strategy was funding a stalemate, the continuation of war, just sending Ukraine anything it asks for with no goals, he said.
‘The point now is, it has to end.’ ‘You don’t get people to a negotiating table when you're calling them names, and you're accusing them of things, because at the end of the day this is not a political campaign. This is high-stakes international diplomacy in an effort to bring about an end to a very dangerous war.'
‘Right now the only leader in the world who can even have a chance to bring an end to this war is named President Donald Trump, and we need to give him the opportunity to try and do that. When you tell someone, don't say, let's not talk about these things, let's not go in this direction, because it makes it harder for us to engage, and they insist on doing it anyways, you start to wonder ...'
The war has been going 3 years, and there's no exit strategy. The EU doesn't have a strategy. The only one who's trying to bring an end to this conflict is Trump, he said, and we should be helping him to do it.
They wouldn't even have a chance to negotiate without the current White House, he said.
He related that he'd heard that Biden got into a shouting match with Zelensky over not being thankful. He referenced NBC News.
He said that Trump called the day off because it wasn't going to be productive anymore, and let Zelensky come back when he wanted to do peace.
He said it was fine for anyone else to talk tough and criticize, even Congress people, as he had done as a congressman, countries with no real skin in the game can do it, commentators can do it, and that might play well in the public sphere, but not in diplomacy, when you're the president you trying to bring about peace, the only way to do it is to try to create space for people to come to the table and talk.
Rubio was very sharp. He handled all the questions, even tricky ones, strongly, and even corrected misleading or misdirecting questions. He's growing up, I guess, and he seems really competent at least in talking and sorting out and organizing facts and material.
‘This is the point you resign’: Former U.S. National Security Advisor calls on Marco Rubio to resign (youtube.com)
His statements from a couple years ago are pretty, um, republican democratic. ‘There’s no other way to describe him.'
Bolton refers to Ukraine as a country defending itself from an unprovoked aggression. Ukraine as volleyball? Bolton says Rubio has an up-until-now really good reputation and he should resign to preserve it.
They play some pretty contrasting support then opposition from Graham, recorded 2 weeks apart.
Bolton talks about how Churchil and Roosevelt like de Gaulle much.
...
European leaders back Zelensky after Trump clash | BBC News (youtube.com)
Yeah, that conference strikes me as something that Europeans wouldn't appreciate much.
‘Zelensky has shown himself to be not only a hero, but to be someone who does the best for his people and his country. And if that means making up with Trump in order to get the support he needs, he will do it, however unlikely that is at the moment.’ Benjamin Tallis.
It showed that Ukraine is not willing to sell out for a peace at any price, it wasn't willing to Russia and it's not going to do that with Trump's US, he said.
‘I hope all the European leaders watching this know it could have been them. This is a fickle president and an impetuous president who is basically only looking out for number one.’ Talk of what Europe can do without US, which would be better for Europe to be strong, he said.
‘A produced moment.’ ‘Premeditated.’
‘The intervention of JD Vance in this was is, to be frank, highly irregular.’ ‘Without the explicit, predetermined permission of his boss.’ ‘Embassador for the bad cop side of the administration.’ Reminds me a little of the VP at my high school.
Zelensky showed he had fortitude, and that Ukraine was not going to just do anything anyone asks in order to get US support. What the US has done and what Trump has said is that ‘You are now at a weakened negotiating position. You are not in a position to ask for concessions in any kind of ceasefire. And that seems to indicate that Trump is biasing himself in the peace negotiations on the side of Putin.’
European leaders came out ‘in force’ after the conference to re-affirm their support for Ukraine. ‘It was EU flags that Ukrainians were waving’ at Maidan protests in 2014.
Seems we have the second possible cause New Democrats can take up. Was Trump being responsibly pragmatic, or was it an attempt at a shortcut?
‘Donald Trump started his day confident he was about to sign a very adventageous deal with Ukraine.’ BBC.
'Zelensky knows he needs American backing to fight the war, he needs American support to get what he wants in any peace deal. Right now he's made an enemy of the one man he really needs as an ally.'
Zelensky ‘still thanking America after that extraordinary exchange.’
‘It increasingly feels that this had less to do with a mineral deal. For Zelensky this was about trying to entice America into a deeper level of cooperation, and clearly this proposal wasn't as enticing to Kiev as perhaps the White House was suggesting.'
‘The people you speak to here in Kiev... they were pleased. They thought president Zelensky had no choice.’ Some thought he ‘could have been more tactile in the face of the verbal attack by the president and vice president of the United States, but broadly speaking there’s a rule in Ukraine, there's a pattern. Whenever the country's under threat, be it an invasion or Zelensky himself, it feels a political unity... because the country does not want to appear divided.'
Publicly, the leaders of UK, Canada, France, Poland make statements in support of Ukriane. Hungary's leader Orban and Putin supported Trump after the meeting.
Elon Musk Cold Open - SNL (youtube.com)
Very Democrat propaganda, not funny but entertaining to see what they'd do. But the JD jumping part was probably satirically apt.
...
Musk went on Joe Rogan.
If you have a government-funded, non-government organization, it's simply a government organization. Musk, saying the whole NGO thing is a mess. It's a way to do things that would be illegal if it was the government, but are somehow made legal if it's sent to a so-called non-profit. But these non-profits are cashed out and people become wealthy. Just stand up a small NGO for very little money (Soros is good at it, a genius of arbitrage, then lobby the politicians to send a ton of money to it, so you can take a $10m donation and leverage that into a $1b operation, and give the organization a nice-sounding name like the Institute for Peace or whatever, then get the government to continue funding it every year. Really, it's a graft machine. No requirements at all for what they do with that money. You have to follow the money to see where the money is all funnelling down to.
It's not 0% good work. If it was, it would be easier to attack. So there's gotta be some good they do in there. Like 5% or 10%. Is there a way to audit it?
Some things were set aside, like Ebola prevention, which DOGE isn't going after. Musk noted that these can be scams as well, though.
Canadian PM candidate warns Americans will be 'astonished' by Canadian response (youtube.com)
Canada just has no one who is in the league of people who could become leaders that could be effective.
On All-in this week, they talked with general scorn about Elizabeth Warren, when she came up as an opposer or something to someone else they were talking about. ‘She’s not relevant anymore' was one take. While she has seemed a negative contributor in basically all news I've seen her in for years, I did see some clips from 30 or 40 years ago where she was taking up a popular political cause and maybe somewhat original, and she appeared quite effective. ... When we have someone like that, who gets great attention for a popular cause everyone wants her to succeed in, we should really broaden the interview to challenge her on other items, to really get a feeling for her actual attitude and opinions.
...
Hamas REJECTS Israel's ceasefire extension proposal | LiveNOW from FOX (youtube.com)
Vivek Ramaswamy - Why I Left the DOGE Project (youtube.com)
Vivek was focussed on legal and constitutional issues, and that you have to do it through laws and regulations. He wanted to use the Constitution to remove regulations. Most of the regulations that limit people's activities aren't passed by Congress through laws, they're just regulations made by beurocrats, like the amount a fisherman has to pay for a license to be able to fish, the registration requirement before a bank or asset manager is allowed to do business, or the procedural hoop a biotech company has to go through to get from stage 1 to stage 2, or the premission a coal or nuclear plant has to get from the government before they build a new plant. None of these were passed by people who were elected, by Congress, they were written to law (they call it ‘rules’ but it is law) by unelected beurocrats. These are more like edicts than laws in a ‘democracy’, Ramaswamy said. Often laws are needed but he wants that at least they be written by elected representatives so that when they don't work, they can vote that person out.
Second Set of Books.
Ramaswamy talks over a lot. He doesn't seem relaxed enough to wait while the other person talks. Maybe too young.
DOGE is technology-focussed in the approach.
...
Watch Trudeau speak directly to Trump during blistering speech (youtube.com)
Not good at this either.
When you're afk for a few days, and all you have time for is pasting headlines...
🚨Trump Considering Israel ANNEXING Judea & Samaria & REPLICATING Gaza Plan (youtube.com)
The World Is Slowly Moving From the Dollar as Reserve Currency, Says Rabobank’s Foley (youtube.com)
The Real Reason Tech Is Swinging to the Right & It Isn’t What You Think | Peter Thiel (youtube.com)
LIVE: Meloni Shuts Down Paris & London’s Ukraine Troop Plans—"Not With My Soldiers!" | CLRCUT (youtube.com)
US Is 'Destroying' the World Order, Ukraine Envoy Zaluzhnyi Says (youtube.com)
Trump to revoke legal status of 240K+ Ukrainians who fled to the US: Report (youtube.com)
Fox
Losing the 'war'? Trump backs down in 'trade war' as markets slump, bankers say 'no' (youtube.com)
msnbc
Trump signs executive order lifting tariffs on Canada and Mexico USMCA-compliant goods until April 2 (youtube.com)
Adjusting tariffs to apply only to goods not compliant with USNCA. 50% of Mexico and 30% of goods from Canada will be exempt from the 20% tariff. Energy from Canada is 10% tariff.
"Pissed off": BC premier delivers angry message to Americans over Trump tariffs (youtube.com)
President Zelenksy thanks Europe for 'staying with' Ukraine | BBC News (youtube.com)
US President Donald Trump ‘strongly considering’ large-scale sanctions on Russia | BBC News (youtube.com)
‘Yeah right.’ is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe this is to ‘prove’ he's not too aligned / influenced by Russia?
Trump threatens new 'large scale' sanctions on Russia for 'pounding' Ukraine (youtube.com)
DOGE reported this week on paid software licences. 36k ServiceNow licences on 3 products with only 84 people using them, 11k Acrobat licences with 0 users.
The new kleptocratic movement, some say, is Silicon Valley installing their friends and favorites into government and beurocratic positions.
Chamath suggested that the way to get to the transparency that would be required to have a system of government grants that was not corrupt (as it is now with giant established companies writing the terms of the grant and then getting it quickly while other companies fight for years for 1/10th the grant, or outcompete but still can't get the contract), is that the companies can publish everything. There’s an incredibly detailed set of data that you should be publishing in. And you can review that. And it can be escalated if someone else gets it because of preference. ‘Publish every RSP. Publish every spec. Publish every evaluation criteria. Make these things as mechanistic as possible.’
Chamath talked about how a lot of people voted for what Trump wanted to do, in November, which is what a lot of people were talking about and wanted to do, which in his words was not continue with the liberal program of continued blurriness on differences (gender, whatever) and go to focus again. However, now we're seeing how difficult that might be to actually implement.
‘Double standard’: Rep. Al Green responds to getting censured (youtube.com)
Was he censored? Did anyone interfere with his right to speech? Or was it just a point of order in Congress? CNN.
...
'He's not a warmonger, he's a peacemonger, in this case.' Mearsheimer.
Mearsheimer characterized the minerals deal as US getting $500b in critical resources and the Ukrainians get nothing. The Ukrainians thought the $500b in minerals would get them a security guarantee but US is decidedly not offering that. ‘I can’t understand why Zelensky would sign it.' It would be foolish to sign it, said M.
It's not 0% good work. If it was, it would be easier to attack. So there's gotta be some good they do in there. Like 5% or 10%. Is there a way to audit it?
Some things were set aside, like Ebola prevention, which DOGE isn't going after. Musk noted that these can be scams as well, though.
Canadian PM candidate warns Americans will be 'astonished' by Canadian response (youtube.com)
Canada just has no one who is in the league of people who could become leaders that could be effective.
On All-in this week, they talked with general scorn about Elizabeth Warren, when she came up as an opposer or something to someone else they were talking about. ‘She’s not relevant anymore' was one take. While she has seemed a negative contributor in basically all news I've seen her in for years, I did see some clips from 30 or 40 years ago where she was taking up a popular political cause and maybe somewhat original, and she appeared quite effective. ... When we have someone like that, who gets great attention for a popular cause everyone wants her to succeed in, we should really broaden the interview to challenge her on other items, to really get a feeling for her actual attitude and opinions.
...
Hamas REJECTS Israel's ceasefire extension proposal | LiveNOW from FOX (youtube.com)
Vivek Ramaswamy - Why I Left the DOGE Project (youtube.com)
Vivek was focussed on legal and constitutional issues, and that you have to do it through laws and regulations. He wanted to use the Constitution to remove regulations. Most of the regulations that limit people's activities aren't passed by Congress through laws, they're just regulations made by beurocrats, like the amount a fisherman has to pay for a license to be able to fish, the registration requirement before a bank or asset manager is allowed to do business, or the procedural hoop a biotech company has to go through to get from stage 1 to stage 2, or the premission a coal or nuclear plant has to get from the government before they build a new plant. None of these were passed by people who were elected, by Congress, they were written to law (they call it ‘rules’ but it is law) by unelected beurocrats. These are more like edicts than laws in a ‘democracy’, Ramaswamy said. Often laws are needed but he wants that at least they be written by elected representatives so that when they don't work, they can vote that person out.
Second Set of Books.
Ramaswamy talks over a lot. He doesn't seem relaxed enough to wait while the other person talks. Maybe too young.
DOGE is technology-focussed in the approach.
...
Watch Trudeau speak directly to Trump during blistering speech (youtube.com)
Not good at this either.
When you're afk for a few days, and all you have time for is pasting headlines...
🚨Trump Considering Israel ANNEXING Judea & Samaria & REPLICATING Gaza Plan (youtube.com)
The Real Reason Tech Is Swinging to the Right & It Isn’t What You Think | Peter Thiel (youtube.com)
US Is 'Destroying' the World Order, Ukraine Envoy Zaluzhnyi Says (youtube.com)
Trump to revoke legal status of 240K+ Ukrainians who fled to the US: Report (youtube.com)
Fox
Losing the 'war'? Trump backs down in 'trade war' as markets slump, bankers say 'no' (youtube.com)
msnbc
Trump signs executive order lifting tariffs on Canada and Mexico USMCA-compliant goods until April 2 (youtube.com)
Adjusting tariffs to apply only to goods not compliant with USNCA. 50% of Mexico and 30% of goods from Canada will be exempt from the 20% tariff. Energy from Canada is 10% tariff.
"Pissed off": BC premier delivers angry message to Americans over Trump tariffs (youtube.com)
President Zelenksy thanks Europe for 'staying with' Ukraine | BBC News (youtube.com)
US President Donald Trump ‘strongly considering’ large-scale sanctions on Russia | BBC News (youtube.com)
‘Yeah right.’ is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe this is to ‘prove’ he's not too aligned / influenced by Russia?
Trump threatens new 'large scale' sanctions on Russia for 'pounding' Ukraine (youtube.com)
DOGE reported this week on paid software licences. 36k ServiceNow licences on 3 products with only 84 people using them, 11k Acrobat licences with 0 users.
The new kleptocratic movement, some say, is Silicon Valley installing their friends and favorites into government and beurocratic positions.
Chamath suggested that the way to get to the transparency that would be required to have a system of government grants that was not corrupt (as it is now with giant established companies writing the terms of the grant and then getting it quickly while other companies fight for years for 1/10th the grant, or outcompete but still can't get the contract), is that the companies can publish everything. There’s an incredibly detailed set of data that you should be publishing in. And you can review that. And it can be escalated if someone else gets it because of preference. ‘Publish every RSP. Publish every spec. Publish every evaluation criteria. Make these things as mechanistic as possible.’
Chamath talked about how a lot of people voted for what Trump wanted to do, in November, which is what a lot of people were talking about and wanted to do, which in his words was not continue with the liberal program of continued blurriness on differences (gender, whatever) and go to focus again. However, now we're seeing how difficult that might be to actually implement.
‘Double standard’: Rep. Al Green responds to getting censured (youtube.com)
Was he censored? Did anyone interfere with his right to speech? Or was it just a point of order in Congress? CNN.
...
'He's not a warmonger, he's a peacemonger, in this case.' Mearsheimer.
Mearsheimer characterized the minerals deal as US getting $500b in critical resources and the Ukrainians get nothing. The Ukrainians thought the $500b in minerals would get them a security guarantee but US is decidedly not offering that. ‘I can’t understand why Zelensky would sign it.' It would be foolish to sign it, said M.
Feb week4, USAID, political pardons, DOGE, brave Leftist criticism needs no morality, RFK, Gabbard confirmed, Ukraine, Europeans not invited to negotiations, paper ballots
USAID had a budget of $20something billion under Trump 1.0, and that doubled under Biden. USAID has programs in like 130 countries. The news organization Politico was receiving like $1.3m a year but under Biden they started receiving $8m, people have noted. Apparently BBC got a few million a year. NYT received like $300k a year ($100k a year before Biden). However, I think that without the doubling of the amount under Biden, if this had been uncovered in 2019, the amounts paid then would have been a scandal under Trump. I don't, however, see any reason to think Trump would have been in favor of USAID even then, as he seems pretty steady in wanting to ‘clean the swamp.’
'NYT. Getting paid. Politico. Getting paid. Bill Kristol, perrenial war monger. Getting paid. Ukraine, like 11 out of 12 publications in Ukraine, getting paid. Victor Orban, the PM of Hungary, his political opposition, funded by USAID. In Poland, the leftwing political opposition funded by USAID.' Sacks. ‘Every leftwing organization in the world seems to be getting paid by this slush fund USAID, which disperses $50b a year.’ Sacks noted that he wondered how much support there really was for any of these leftwing goals in any of these countries. Chamath noted that a lot of the issues which are undertaken by charity and aid organizations, they might actually be inflated and perhaps not as serious a problem as Americans and others believe.
How USDAID got to the top of DOGE's list, was on January 21, Trump signed executive orders including pausing foreign aid for 90 days, part of his mandate for Trump 2.0. ... A few days later the White House noted that this agency (which isn't even really well known in America among citizens) called USAID was going to circumvent this order and try to just continue their payments. That alerted the DOGE team (Musk tweeted that ‘all DOGE did was check to see which federal organizationwere violating the POTUS executive orders the most.’ USAID tried to prevent DOGE employeees from accessing secure USAID systems, or even getting into their building. DOGE got access though and that's when we got the funny stories about things USAID was spending on.
Australia scrambles after Trump announces steel, aluminium tariff | ABC NEWS (youtube.com)
I wonder where initially Trump got this tariffs idea? Did he read that someone did it or something?
Buffy Sainte-Marie stripped of her Order of Canada by Governor General (youtube.com)
Had a stamp.
Buy Canadian movement having ripple effect on retail market (youtube.com)
Trump Suggests Musk's DOGE found ‘Irregularities’ at US Treasury (youtube.com)
Trump pardoned Rod Legoyavich, who tried to sell a senate seat under Obama. Another ally in debt?
Tump ordered that the US stop making pennies.
Market Talk: Tesla's stock tumbles amid Elon Musk's 'divided attention' | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Because his divided attention caused China to produce tons of cheap, quality EVs starting 10 years ago.
Trump says he believes Hamas won't make Saturday hostage return deadline | BBC News (youtube.com)
Maybe because they never agreed or even participated in talking about such a thing?
LIVE: Demonstrators gather in Washington for ‘Defy DOGE’ protest (youtube.com)
‘I don’t trust president Musk' sign on the thumbnail image. A lot of both people sensing this, and people politically trying to push this message. But all are vague, just saying they don't trust him or having doubts. None actually put anything specific that Musk might have done wrong on their signs and statements.
Another one these days is that Trump is an ‘unwitting agent of Putin.’
RFK and Gabbard both confirmed. The betting markets had it right, yet again.
If a senator during a confirmation hearing, the purpose of which is to test the suitability of a person for a top job, asks a totally normal question, and the interviewee says he or she is offended by that question, is that person the kind that will certainly result in beaurocracy? because it shows they will respond better to people who treat them nice than those who have the most solid offerings.
JD Vance goes after European allies in Munich Security Conference speech | DW News (youtube.com)
Canadian man sells both Teslas, cancels Cybertruck order to boycott Elon Musk (youtube.com)
Tom Homan: AOC is teaching migrants to ‘evade’ law enforcement (youtube.com)
?
President Zelensky rejects Trump’s bid for $500bn of Ukraine’s natural resources | BBC News (youtube.com)
If US keeps providing arms to Ukraine, Ukraine can give US its resources. Ukraine is a ‘critical mineral superpower.’ $26t of not developed or partially-developed resources, a lot of that in Russian-held areas.
Ukraine wants further entanglement with US, so US would protect and give guarantees of protection to Ukraine, but it would take hundreds of billions to build an industry in Ukriane that US would be so serious about protecting.
This seems a little war-creation debt-slavery.
European leaders meet as US-Russia talks on Ukraine leave them scrambling | DW News (youtube.com)
Ukraine peace talks: Kyiv and EU sidelined in talks between US & Russia (youtube.com)
China hits back as US changes statement on Taiwan independence | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Trump triggers emergency meeting in Europe: 'Status quo vs. disruption' (youtube.com)
US has ‘signalled that Europe will not be included in the negotiations.’
If the Europeans got to that table (in Saudi Arabia, the fist meeting), like they want, what would they try to do there?
‘We are not at the table, so what can we bring to the table?’ They're seen as ‘begging’ according to one analyst.
Europe might change tactic, since US and Russia are now negotiating a settlement without them.
Sweden said it would be willing to send peacekeeping soldiers to Ukraine.
Might have 100k European troops on a border between Russian and Ukrainian Ukraine. European leaders had avoided talking about numbers of troops for years.
US goes into a room, without any plan, make a big splash, confuse everyone to the maximum, and then see how people react. And that completely worked, Europeans running around. Russians playing it ‘very cool.’
End of complacency for Europe? or just a bump on Complacency Road?
Trump tells Ukraine 'you should have never started the war, you could have given up land' | BBC News (youtube.com)
No, he didn't, #BBC. #Journalism
Trump Praises Musk, May Give Some DOGE Savings to Citizens (youtube.com)
Elon Musk Makes HUGE DOGE Predictions! (youtube.com)
Sunglasses, black cap, all black clothing? Why the sunglasses? If he didn't have cosmetic surgery or something, he shouldn't be wearing shades on public interview.
He made a point that importing illegals, and pay to fly them to swing states, because they will vote Democrat, is funding a Democrat policy to buy/import votes, is working against the will of the Americans, and is therefore treason.
noun
1. a crime that undermines the offender's government
2. disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
3. an act of deliberate betrayal
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Speaks To Governors At The White House, Takes Multiple Questions (youtube.com)
Trump said the US needs double the energy it has, because AI needs the amount the US currently has at least. So he's having them build their own energy plants. That way, they can make them good and not have to be subject to a bad grid, and can make them secure against possible attacks, whatever. Powered mostly by natural gas, some with coal and some with nuclear.
Paper ballots cost 8% what voter machines cost, and same day voting (not 64 days like California), with voter ID and proof of citizenship. To not have voter fraud. ‘Any time you have mail in voting you’re going to have fraud.'
If you have a close election and you still have 63 days of voting left, how would you ever know who won? Trump asked. I guess because since the powers that control that area can manipulate things, they have a couple months to do so.
At 57:30 he finishes talking about not allowing men to compete in women's athletics, and called out Maine. This shows how Trump approaches conflict with governors who oppose this type of policy.
He's turning education back over to the states, noting how the US has gone from 37 out of 40 nations (the nations that actually matter on this metric) to 40th, last, despite paying the most in costs.
Same day, a judge extended the block on DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems ‘responsible for trillions of dollars in government payments.’
Maybe all the people who the Democrats (formerly liberals) stood up for are already completely accepted in society. It used to be gays had a hard time around Conservatives. Now gay is everywhere. Blacks got the presidency like 16 years ago or something. Women have more legal priveleges than men.
So far, Trump is impressing everyone, I think. Biden took no risks and did nothing for the people, only for the establishment and for the powers that controlled. Trump is taking risks and doing things for the people, and not for the establishment. He is also being humble, letting other people do great things and even outshine him, like Musk. His presidency will be remembered, and it's only a month in. If he keeps going, he'll be considered a great man and a great American, which the States hasn't even had in how many decades? Obama also stands out, but more perhaps as a show (and for being a ‘minority’ and ‘outsider’ sort of, but his policies and effects were largely negative, and he didn't protect human or civil rights and didn't stand up to power. He persecuted or permitted to be persecuted people who worked for freedom and rights, like Assange. Even his Kennedy impersonation wasn't high quality. University prof.
Trump fires top US general and Navy chief in purge of military leadership (youtube.com)
US halts plan to house migrants in tents at Guantanamo amid concerns over conditions (youtube.com)
Germany’s likely next chancellor: Europe must seek to 'achieve independence' from US (youtube.com)
Feb week1, MAGA racist?, is a cartel a 'terrorist organization'?, podcaster loyalty, discovery versus claiming things, RFK confirmation, Singapore declining?, oligarchy, government spending cuts, DOGE, Musk, buyouts, 'retaliation clauses', trade war or paper tigers
Trump SUPERFAN Podcaster INSTANTLY Regrets It (youtube.com)
Is MAGA racist, and will never accept a person who isn't white American (such as Patrick Bet-David)? as this vlogger says. Trump will never call out those people, he says.
Some people are also saying Vivek is out because of the color of his skin.
I've been thinking about this a little as well this week, not provoked by anything in particular. The cabinet is white, mostly. We have a question here. Do we want just the most talented people? If so, maybe they are going to be mostly white. Do we want inclusion even if it means less competence? At what level and to what degree do we want to afford inclusion at the cost of competence (and harmony, since diversity also means internal nonalignment)? Can we have it at the teacher level? The school administrator level? The government agency leader level? At different times maybe we can afford more or less compentence. In a democracy you can vote for one 4-year team who allows more or less incompetence for the benefit of inclusion or diversity. What is the benefit of diversity? What do we gain or lose when we have other voices in the room? We've had a couple decades of purposeful (forced) diversity now, and how has it really worked out? Is a nation like the US or Canada or the UK better because of it? Does it work better to include diverse people and try to form something together, or does it work better for the majority, who in this case is also the more successful group, to build the society and then for others to be able to join it? We have white neighborhoods and diverse neighborhoods and hispanic ones and black ones, and can look at them. There's also the question of, even if you prefer a competent leadership even if it's not diverse, what is the effect going to be on people who don't see themselves that way, will they want to try to participate or will they view that as futile? Or will the opposite happen? Will a competent, comfortable leadership be more open to anyone joining? Or will the superficiality of it, that everyone is white or mostly, cause a belief that whites are somehow superior, or empower that kind of belief in enough of a significant part of the population that they have a harmful effect on everyone?
MAGA Christian Extremists Learn Trump's Kids Are Jewish (youtube.com)
Student Visa Holders Can No Longer Support Hamas (youtube.com)
Because they're ‘terrorist’ supporters? If this is true, seems dangerous. If you outlaw people's ability to support what they believe and feel is truly right, you're kind of asking for it. ... Further support for the claim that either A, governments should not be legally permitted to use words in ways that are outside their accepted definition, the way it uses ‘terrorism’ (which now applies to cartels, who have no ideals except money and success, ie violent capitalists), and certainly don't try to change policy more than lobbyists, for example, or B, we have to readjust the dictionary definition of words when governments misuse them, for example, redefining terrorism to mean ‘a group that does something unpopular with the government or the special interest groups that have influence over the government'). ... Also, if this is true, we will see the first cause a new Democratic party can lead, and will be broadly popular.
When Bill Gates is featured in interviews for ‘what impressed him about Trump’, is that a pretty glaring warning sign?
Bill Gates on Trump, Musk, U.S.-China and More | WSJ (youtube.com)
Patrick Bet-David gets exposed, tries to gaslight the internet (youtube.com)
It makes sense that obviously-other-than-original-ethnicity-Americans OOTOEAs would reflexively appeal to Musk, since he is not an American by birth or upbringing. What will Musk's response be to such people?
I wonder how long before the podcasters, currently in a state of Trump support, reacting to the harms of the Democrats and Woke, reluctantly at first but now energetically and enjoying it in support of Trump, how long before they pass from reticent hesitant criticism to opposition again? if harms start coming from the Trump party? If they start happening, I'd guess 2 months.
Keith Rabois Called Florida, GDP Growth Wall, Crime in Cities (youtube.com)
America: Canada’s Invitation (Excluding California) (youtube.com)
United Eh.org
Poilievre says Canada should "deport" any temporary resident committing violence or hate crimes (youtube.com)
‘What is a hate crime’?
The renaming of the Golf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the claims on Panama, the threat to just ‘take’ Greenland or Canada, the throwing around tariffs on allies, it seems to be not really so far an era of accomplishment but just of assertion. A new gulf wasn't discovered, it was just newly claimed.
In US politics, now as much as ever, candidates tell their constituents, I'm going to get you this, I'm going to get you that, and they do that, and all these things increase government spending.
Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada to take effect this weekend (youtube.com)
LIVE: RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing for health secretary resumes (youtube.com)
RFK's confirmation now in its second day. I guess there might be some resistence to health direction that doesn't involve doing whatever BigPharma says.
I watched at least a few minutes. Because RJK is not a typical interview subject for Congress. He knows what it's like to be a senator. He has experience with difficult, controversial subjects (conspiracies) and with subjects that have political opposition (restrictions on BigPharma and government freedom to implement health policy on citizens). He's also really sharp and also really sincere-seeming. And he's mature.
Senator Blunt Rochester during the RFK confirmation hearings took up diversity really strongly, prefacing with RFKs statements that he wants more diversity but then accusing with the end of DEI programs, which raises another point of DEI programs in government, which is that without special programs, no higher up is responsible, really for any lower official, because the lower official was either the best for the job or had a special individual mutual-advantage relationship. However, with any special program like DEI, it is more likely the case that people will hold offices who really just owe it to their higher-up, and that person often shares a tribal identity with that person, a further disincentive to popular benefit. If a DEI hire (who is not a top candidate otherwise) were to lose their job, they can't go find another one at the same level. This would make them more loyal to their boss.
'I'm offended by your question…': Tulsi Gabbard's heated exchange with Sen. Moran at Senate hearing (youtube.com)
Generally, when a person says they're offended by a question, when the question was not personal and totally normal, is not a good sign. Usually it's an attempt to manipulate a conversation. Most sophisticated people know that it is such an attempt and know others perceive it that way, so don't say things like that in such situations.
TRAINWRECK! Tulsi Gabbard’s DISASTROUS Confirmation Hearing (youtube.com) (Headline value only, the Bulkwark)
'Tulsi Gabbard EXPOSED Jake Sullivan's Al-Qaeda Email During Senate Hearing': Aaron Mate (youtube.com)
Really emotion and not large in perspective.
"Extraordinarily Dangerous": Chip Gibbons Warns Kash Patel Would Turn FBI Powers on Trump's Enemies (youtube.com)Is Singapore, which is somewhat a beaurocracy, declining already? Suggested Samo.
100 Singapore-like city states would give people a lot of options for migration.
Maybe the Congress is the oligarchy and the presidency is one of the last remaining vestiges of democracy. The Congress, does it even have a democratic mandate? ‘Local democracy has already been defeated by beaurocracy.’ National democracy is on a test currently to see if it can defeat beaurocracy.
DARPA is maybe the most well-functioning part of the US government, but people don't really even understand why it works so well. Samo.
It would be possible for the Pentagon to spend 50% and do exactly what they do now. It would be possible. But how could anyone get there, to that efficiency? Politics and its financing has a lot to do with ‘retirement.’ Samo.
Kash Patel will 'open the books' on FBI corruption, Sen. Josh Hawley says (youtube.com)
That would be quite surprising.
DOGE. They want to reduce the workforce in government, and are offering a buyout of 8 months for ‘deferred resignation (September I think). But on the other side, we're not sure how much they can legally cut, since jobs are required by the legislation Congress has passed, to carry out those laws. ... The courts will decide.
They could make it harder to hire people, sort of fight beaurocracy with beaurocracy, said Kalanick on the All-in. Would that work in that direction? You can see how beaurocracy can want to create jobs, ie create allegiances through the management of money, but how could beaurocracy slow down those things? But maybe some friction, like reviews, competency tests, buyouts.
Who has leases for government offices right now? They're all on one-year leases, Jcal said.
DOGE said they reduced spending $10b per day.
At the center and nucleus of each DOGE Team will be one engineer, one HR specialist, and one attorney. Systems of record and tracing where the money is going.
DOJ charges former senior Fed official with conspiracy to commit economic espionage (youtube.com)
Honeypot?
Trudeau Says Canada to Impose 25% Tariffs Against C$155 Billion of US Goods (youtube.com)
Yes, it's several years since he used the full force of violent law to violate Canadians' rights, and yes, it's months since he resigned. Still in office, following demands and resignations wanting that.
U.S. to increase tariffs if Canada retaliates: sources (youtube.com)
'Legalization protects kids': PM Trudeau on marijuana laws (youtube.com)LCBO to remove American brands from shelves: Ontario Premier Doug Ford (youtube.com)
Trump's FCC says Landlords Can Force Tenants to Pay for Bad Internet & accept bribes from ISPs (youtube.com) (Louis Rossman)Trump Tariffs Trigger Retaliation from Canada and Mexico (youtube.com) (ClearValue, who offered to work free for Trump, when the party put out the word they were looking to hire competent people. His main thing was to make tax policy better.)
The reason for the tariffs (against Canada and Mexico, although Mexico also have the reasons of gangs, immigrants and drugs especially Fentanil) is ‘the massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and Mexico in the form of deficits.' You can't just not give that, then?
Trump put a ‘retaliation clause’ in the ‘deal’ (one-sided) with Canada and Mexico for the tariffs, that if, after he put on a tariff, the other country responded with any counter-punitive measures like putting tariffs on the US, he would ‘retaliate’ by escalating the situation with more tariffs. How can that not be the instigation of a trade war? So it might be a trade war with US+Israel+maybeJapan+maybeLikeColombia versus maybe everyone else. Or it could just be a negotiating tactic, like the US politicians do with shutting down the government every once in a while by not approving a budget or whatever, something almost everyone said should not be permitted, or that politicians should be personally penalized (economically) when they do it, since currently it's basically encouraged that they do it.
It could also be part of a Trump plan to create more inflation using tariffs, which the working class won't be able to afford without wage increases, but businesses won't be able to afford wage increases, since there won't be money to pay for their goods and services, thus breaking some things, which is the only way so far known to end an inflation cycle. This could serve as the opposite of moneyprinting, and could cool the economy. Then when it's cooled, they can reduce or remove tariffs, which would pump the stock market and make room for new businesses to start.
The Monday morning after Trump actually imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and markets went down in Asia stock markets and pre-market, and experts speculated but didn't really know, it might be a bargaining tactic, but that he needs to actually put the tariff on to make it really effective, and then later he can scale it back. Similar with Greenland, at first it was a more frivolously-taken comment and then later it started to become more real.
Trump no longer listens to when people say You can't do that. That's not how that's done. He no longer believes that. Mike Allen.
Musk at Twitter fired a bunch of people (kept only thoes he knew he needed) and then later hired some back. Now Musk is inside the Fed treasury system, and the government might do the same thing. Fire a bunch of people.
Musk had called USAID a criminal organization. It distributes funds around the world for charity organizations and such. It's agents have security clearances. He said it funded the Covid lab or someting. So they go into organizations, claim fraud, make allegations, and then clean house.
Just going through outflow payments from the Treasury and saying, Let's cut that one, Let's cut that one, etc.
Questions about executive branch's authority to legally do these things (if done by previous White House, and not by Congress signed into law which it was). But they're just doing it by executive order anyway.
Elon Musk companies targeted in tariff retaliation (youtube.com)
Unions Sue to Block DOGE's Access To Treasury Payments | NPR News Now (youtube.com)
Protests held across the US over Trump's mass deportation plans (youtube.com)
youtube.com
Six young computer engineers, age 19-24, tied to Musk and Thiel companies. Not sure what they're doing or how they're being payed. Wire said they'd continue to investigate what these men are doing in these agencies. Employees are submitting oneSheets, reportedly, to review their productivity.
#Journalism
Pretty interesting that people who would have no ability to understand the things they're reviewing, in many cases, or a real moral development, tested and subject to public audit. Young men make good soldiers and are energetic.
Some pointed out that ‘if you want to do this, go and get appointed by Trump and then go to Congress and get confirmed and then do it.’ If Musk was an elected politician, could he do the same? Musk is ‘a special government employee’ working on a part time basis. Since the government is limited by the Constitution, is Musk?
Warren Sounds Alarm on Threat Elon Musk Poses to Government Payment Systems (youtube.com)
‘We don’t know what safeguards were pulled down.'
We might hope Musk has put safeguards in place, like no possibility for them to exfiltrate data, but this is a safeguard you would want to have been in place for all the (?)thousands of people who already had access to all citizens very sensitive payments data.
Elon Musk reveals handpicked DOGE team of young engineers (youtube.com)
Within hours, the six young men were publicized with their photos on Fox.
California Secession Would be Great for the Rest of America (youtube.com)
‘Absolutely necessary’: McCabe reacts to FBI employees’ class-action lawsuits against DOJ (youtube.com)
‘For violating the Constitution and privacy laws.’ Blackest kettle I've seen in a while. Apparently DoJ is giving them a form to fill out, and they don't want their names released because if they were working against Trump before, they'll get doxxed and there are safety threats. IE before there was no accountability except from their higher-ups, I guess.
Patel said agents wouldn't be punished for cases they were assigned, though, who slowed things down.
For the things FBI (and other organizations) have been doing for a while, if they weren't directed by the government, would they be classified as domestic terrorists? Commenters raised this question.
Some commenters just said that the Swamp was being drained.
Can an executive order eliminate the Department of Education? (youtube.com)
Trump withdraws from the U.N. Human Rights Council: 'It's not being well run' (youtube.com)
Trump holds press conference with PM Netanyahu (youtube.com)
We should consider USA/Israel one political unit, right? Might be ok if the Constitution was applied in Israel.
Edmontonians ready to shop local despite U.S. tariff pause (youtube.com)
That can happen.
Canada seeks new chief medical officer after Tam’s pandemic fumbling (youtube.com)
5 years later? Can we safely assume this is just regular Canada aligning their steps with whatever government enters the White House?
CIA sends ‘buyout’ offers to entire workforce (youtube.com)
Lol perhaps because they all have so many secrets they don't want them carried over?
Rep. Al Green (D-TX): "The movement to impeach the president has begun." (youtube.com)
James Risch: Chinese Citizens At US Colleges Are Agents Of The CCP 'Whether They Like It Or Not' (youtube.com)
Could say this about anyone with an iPhone or GoogleAndroid phone, right?
Musk’s 25-year-old DOGE staffer resigns after racist posts emerge: report (youtube.com)
LIVE | White House Press Secretary Slams Politico, Cuts Off $8M in Federal Payments Over Media Bias (youtube.com)
‘Politico receieved $8m in USAID funding’
Jan week4, Trump 2.0 Inauguration, J6 'hostages' pardoned, signed many executive orders, pauses Tiktok ban, birthright citizenship, southern border with US military presense, Musk, Altman, Skygate, Masa $500b, open discussions in the US again
Conan Negotiates With Greenland's Parliament | CONAN on TBS (youtube.com)Conan, on behalf of Trump, went to Nuuk to facilitate the agreement with the Parliament there, 5 years ago. The parliamentarian said they hadn't actually listed the property anywhere yet, and the parliamentarian wasn't won over by Conan's offers.
Conan threw out an opening $1t, which would have been a $60b commission.
Are Greenlanders as ‘insulting’ as Danish? Both Conan's spots have these citizens insulting him pretty frankly.
A citizen said that because Greenland didn't have wars or big problems with politicians, they might not be interested in joining the US. However, MacDonalds and Arby's were attractive to the Nuummioq.
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Linux Foundation endorses Chromium, SteamOS ISO is coming: Linux & Open Source news (youtube.com)
The Linux Foundation cooperating with Google?
DeSantis calls special session to implement Trump's immigration policies (youtube.com)
China Discusses Sale of TikTok US to Musk as One Possible Option
'Never Seen Anything Like It Before In American History': Hawley Blasts Biden DOJ At Bondi Hearing (youtube.com)
About the abuses of the current/outgoing DoJ. She said she would change it. We'll. see.
Katie Britt Accuses Democrats Of 'Full-On Gaslighting' During Pam Bondi Confirmation Hearing (youtube.com)
...
Red-pilled Billionaires, LA Fire Update, Newsom's Price Caps, TikTok Ban, Jobless MBAs (youtube.com)
Pincus at 6:30 narrates how he slowly and then suddenly switched from Democrats to Trump ('red pill moment'). Poor little Pincus.
Trump officially took office today, 20th of January, Monday. But it seems he's been president for months, since the election, and we haven't heard, except occasionaly single headlines, much from Biden.
The Tech bros, who were all seated together, and with the Trump family, were not very talkative together during the downtime (politicians exit building, which took a long time). They were just standing, Musk on his phone, although he had Pichai on one side and a dour Baron on the other.
So far there seems to be no ‘loyal opposition’. Maye they're waitin for Trump to, over the next months, do something unpopular with the people. So far, I don't think he's done anything unpopular.
How much of a surprise all this has in it. Trump was not a politician, was doubted by all, won surprisingly over Clinton, was defeated by Biden (as a reaction to Trump not as a high valuation of Biden), was lawfared, was censored on all the SM platforms, was unjustly characterized as inciting insurrection, won a second term (the only time it's really happened, although technically but very differently Cleveland won a second nonconsecutive term like 150 years ago), and all his policies, all his alliances. The first time it was Bannon and Tillerson, and how these things all fell apart, that general he had for like a month or something. He brought in, right away in 2016, all kinds of celebs, Kanye, to Trump Tower to have interviews. This time, he has the most powerful people, seemingly pretty good stated and seemingly actual goals (has not got there quite in terms of privacy, civil and human rights except some progress in Speech which he now has experience with). He has gone up against all the powers that be, though, threatening all the three letters and other waste and harm beurocracies, and still won, which is something I think most people would have said would not be possible. Massively outspent on the campaign, all the MSM against him (and with 4 years of slander, negative association, actual lies, etc.
The televised inauguration was quite memorable. I don't think I'll forget the images of the honored guests and how they were seated.
‘It was indeed possible,' Trump said at the second address.
FBI acting director Abbate is retiring, he said in an email.
Trump talked about the ‘J6 hostages' and said they'd be freed today, it sounded like. I was doing news on that day in 2021 and I had a heck of a time finding the origial tweets, since they had been censored and deleted by Twitter and all news organizations were covering the story as an insurrection and him as instigating it and were not showing any of the actual tweets, which would have been the only evidence, and were being cited as the thing that caused the ‘insurrection’, a prettyglaring omission. I found them on the WayBackMachine or something, in text format, and published them on TSNJ, and I don't know of any other news site that did so. President Trump silenced on top social media platforms after mob storms Capitol – The Speaker News Journal (thespeakernewsjournal.com)
Trump admin. removes first female leader of a US military branch (youtube.com)
Trump's Memecoin Draws Criticism
Opportunism is seldom really attractive. But, then again, wealth and winning are.
'Bonkers' Crypto Moves Signal New Normal: 3-Minute MLIV (youtube.com)
Or fad?
Trump's Jan. 6 pardons signal less constrained second term | REUTERS (youtube.com) AP
‘He’s gonna do what he wants to do without a lot of regard for whether it's popular, whether other peope on his team, whether other Republicans, think it's the right thing to do. This is Trump 2.0. This is an unfettered president who feels that he can use executive power as aggressively as he wants to.'
Did Samo go over to the Trump team?
This is the first time I've ever seen a government come into power and feel like, uup, they might scoop up all the things that there are available to do, they're going to do some really competent things. Usually a president takes office and doesn't do anything impressive for 4 years, and you think, I could do better than everything they've done. It gives you a bit of FOMO, this one, and highlights that some people, who have put in the work and built a public reputation for ability over several years, are in a great spot now to participate in the Trump presidency.
S&P Global’s Dan Yergin on global reaction to Trump 2.0 (youtube.com)
Tariff chaos could stifle animal spirits: Economist (youtube.com)
He thinks there won't be mass deportation, only symbolic deportation.
Trump term, just like 1.0, is one where there are surprises. No one dares predict what he will do, and then when he acts, markets move.
Elon Musk sparks controversy with gesture resembling Nazi salute | DW News (youtube.com)
Jesse Watters: The liberal media can't handle this much winning (youtube.com) Fox
Trump is ‘not worried about his reelection.’
Trump meme coin a 'clearing station for bribery': Scaramucci
‘You have a way now to get to him.’ ‘Just the appearance of it shakes some people.’
Everyone is scared of Trump, so no one will speak truth to power, said Scaramucci. ‘He doesn’t have the mandate that he says that he does.' He said he'll continue to speak out.
'He's not a guy that likes people, and a lot of people don't like him.'
‘You can’t call yourself a friend of Donald Trump. If you do that then you really don't understand the relationship. You're in his field of vision, you're transacting with him ... But you wouldn't call him a friend.'
‘What other people think of you’s none of your business.'
‘The corruption nature of this.’
High-quality positions are rewarded for patience.
A lot of people have commented how at the inauguration, front row was family, second row tech founder CEOs and billionaires, and third was politicians.
If Nixon had done the same crimes of 72-74, under the current immunity ruling by the SC there wouldn't be an issue for Nixon. Presidents now have a lot more latitude given by the SC. Scaramucci.
People are pointing out that some of those pardoned in the Jan6 Hostages thing did violence to police officers and are now being pardoned. I would like to see that reviewed properly.
Trump was against TikTok, just like China didn't allow any 'weapons-grade' American SM tech in China, some US politicians didn't want to allow Chinese ‘weapons-grade’ (for changing minds) tech like TikTok in the States. But now ‘some money has changed hands’ etc and now Trump is for TikTok. Is he?
What is in the best interest of the American people? How are we gonna make the country fairer? Safer? More aspirationally opportunistic for lower and middle income people? ... ‘You may have more money than them, but you’re not superior.'
‘[Trump] loves the stock market’ and ‘more than he loves poles.'
Trump placed all hires (or promotions) from DEI programs to be placed on administrative leave, which included 2 top positions (including the first woman armed forces branch leader, comandant of the US Coast Guard).
old.reddit.com
Not managing the border was one of the reasons listed for her being fired.
One redditer: 'I think she knew after the OFA hearings, I didn't think Biden wanted to do it and waited for Trump.'
From the comments, doesn't seem to be any strong opinion of her either for or against, but there seems to be significant but not overwhelming criticism of her treatment of OFA, ie she actually did something fireable, not just being a DEI promotion.
old.reddit.com
This is border security stuff.
Does the ending of birthright citizenship violate the 14th Amendment (citizenship rights, civil and political liberties)?
Google directly assisted the Israeli military forces despite Google's efforts to publicly distance itself from Israel's national security aparatus, publishing WP with some documents they obtained. The provided cloud services (and maybe AI?).
During the inauguration speech, Trump said they got rid of most of the people he wanted, but that they had to keep some of them. He wanted to get rid of all of them. ... When he did the first day conference with Ellis, Masa and Altman. Altman seemed a strange choice, given how against him Musk is (and a lot of people are). Who is left on Altman's team? His work team all left one by one, right? ... Musk is not on the AI team, despite having an AI company (and being an founder/early investor of OpenAI of course).
youtube.com
Trump should be the first witness: Rep. Raskin reacts to new sub-committee on Jan. 6 (youtube.com)
youtube.com
A lot of headlines seem to want to run a narrative where Elon is like a supervillain. We've never seen Musk do anything malignant against anyone. We have 10 or 15 years of interviews and we have a pretty good idea of his philosophy and ethics.
All he tweated at Altman was that they ‘didn’t have the money yet' or something, on Altman's tweet about the new government AI project.
Altman was a Democrat and I don't know, I don't think we heard anything against Trump, but I don't know how in favor of Trump he was. Musk has always seemed fairly responsible to others, a large part of all his projects includes the consideration of what it will mean for other people, and he moved over to Trump's side when it was politically risky. If Trump had not won, it would have meant negative consequences for Musk, who was already struggling with the political side of his businesses against the Democrats. Also, Musk is among the group of famous Depublicans who crossed over. I haven't so far heard Altman say anything that would point to his having a strong moral sense or broad identity or perspective.
Son of Jan. 6 Rioter and Ex-FBI Agent Warn Trump's Pardons Will Encourage Far-Right Violence (youtube.com)
This is a valid concern. However, I think that between the two options, both loaded, releasing the captives was the smarter one. I mean, they weren't treated at all fairly, and the ‘crime’ was staged, in large part, by the government agencies. Generally, we throw out prosecutions of even criminals when the authorities use improper means against them.
Hear what Bolton thinks Trump pulling Secret Service detail means for him (youtube.com)
"Whole new game now" | Trump asks NATO members to boost spending to five per cent (youtube.com)
BREAKING: President Donald Trump signs order declassifying MLK and JFK files (youtube.com)
A lot of talk of Trump's halting birthright citizenship, and the question of the constitutionality of that. Some think it will extend as far as no citizenship if parents aren't legal migrants. However, this will take away from that grand idea of America. That all you have to do is get there and you can be a part. As soon as they lock down their borders and control the flow in, illegal migrants will not be the same sort of serious issue it is currently, and it won't have too many negatives to allow this. I think they'd regret it. ... Also, making that illegal won't solve anything, since people who want to illegally migrate into the US it makes no difference, but once they have kids born into the US, it will make things more difficult and complicated, so probably a negative there.
WTF? Trump Just Screamed at Denmark’s PM… (youtube.com)
Will other politicians learn to grow a pair? or will they go for the more feminine strategy of trying to shun/not deal with Trump?
OOPS! Elon TANKED His Image! Poll Shows MASSIVE Approval Drop! (youtube.com)
Trump asked to 'watch' California's money amid wildfire recovery skepticism (youtube.com)
The entreprenurial engine that drives America and the government that is meant to serve the people. Friedburg on what's been good about the US for 250 years.
Even the budget of the VA is up for discussion, something that before couldn't even be discussed, perhaps. Jcal.
Davos now a counter-indicator, not just irrelevant. Thomas Laffont.
The elite has been replaced with a populist vote and a populist leader. Friedburg. 
The market the Tuesday after the inauguration, Monday being MLK day and a market holiday.
Jan week2, Trudeau announced resignation, Jan6 credit, Italy wants secure comms, 'no more aspirational rules', Trump still talking Greenland Panama Canada, Justine Bateman and many others versus California politicians after LA fires
Which was more weighty? The resignation of the Dem and election of ‘Republican’ in the US? or the lack of ability, obvious in a person who was never cut out for any demanding job?
“Trudeau is finally leaving” | Pierre Poilievre reacts to resignation announcement (youtube.com)
Many say Pollievre will get it now, because of his political positions, not really for any personal ability or policy suggestions, as far as I've seen.
Biden Admin Turned Down Starlink for THIS?! (youtube.com)
‘$42b not one person online'
Congress to certify Trump’s win; Biden says to ‘not forget' riots: Unbiased Updates, Jan. 6, 2025 (youtube.com)
Is participation in those ‘riots’ now a badge of honor since the Trump win?
Italian PM denies SpaceX talks with Trump as nation nears €1.5 billion deal (youtube.com)
It seems Italy wants to be able to have encrypted communications, enough to pay SpaceX (Starlink) $1.6b. Can't you just use Signal for free, and just not use iPhone or GoogleAndroid?
Tencent, Tesla Battery-Maker CATL on US Blacklist for Alleged China Military Ties (youtube.com)
McDonald's makes changes to DEI initiatives (youtube.com)
In a blog post. No longer will set aspirational representation rules. Instead it will do inclusion practices in day to day.
Headlines have Trump sticking to his ideas about military force to take the Panama Canal, tariffs against Denmark over Greenland, and integrating Canada. This must be exciting for Canadians, just the idea of joining a country with so much opportunity, a superior and more interesting legal system and constitution (In Canada, citizens don't even have a 5th Amendment equivalent, just one example). One huge downside, though, is that US taxes its citizens even if they're not residents, so if they live or travel overseas, they can have to pay taxes to two countries. I think that would be a dealbreaker. It would be an extremely interesting and exciting time though, if US and Canada merged and, maybe, pushed to the north. America has more of the feeling of participating in a Grand Project than the mess of Canada. US also has some strange and improper laws. But it might be easier to work on laws if the two countries were one, since a lot of Canadian law comes from what the US does first.
Trump Wants the Gulf of Mexico to Be the Gulf of America (youtube.com)
He talked about the cartel, and how Mexico is ‘very dangerous.’ He said Mexico ‘has to stop allowing millions of people to keep pouring into [the US]. They could stop them.’ ‘The drugs that are coming through are at record numbes. So we’re going to make up for that by putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada.' ‘We do most of the work there, and it’s ours.'
I wonder if he'd really want to incorporate Canada and Mexico though? The more unwilling people you include in your empire, the more dissent you have to deal with, and the more distance. Would Trump want to include Mexico and the Central American countries in an empire? Perhaps if he achieved a lot of new success in America and made it socially a better place, if he built masses of houses and improved civil rights and community, that might appeal enough to other places that they would accept at least entertaining the idea that someone might offer it to them.
Tech's turn towards Trump puts pressure on Google (youtube.com)
AOC's Blatant January 6th LIES (youtube.com)
She called Jan6 a ‘terror attack’ pretty strongly.
Ezra Levant urges caution to Alex Jones after Trudeau's 'resignation' (youtube.com)
Donald Trump Jr.: Greenland wants to leave Denmark and be part of the U.S. (youtube.com)
Who offers more to people there? Denmark or US?
'Any Questions?': Trump Takes Question After Question From Peter Doocy | FULL (youtube.com)
‘We have nothing to hide.’
Greenland prime minister says he's ready to speak with Trump, emphasizes desire for independence (youtube.com)
Who offers more, Denmark/Europe, or US?
‘DESTROYED PEOPLE’S LIVES’: Filmmaker calls out LA county's fire management (youtube.com)
Justine Bateman blasts politicians in California for prioritizing non essential things. Called them ‘useless’ and ‘a liability.’ Nice to see someone commonsensical and eloquent use forceful speech, but not out of control. ‘Stop looking at R and D. Look at the person.' We'll see in the next election if there's any effect. America and especially California has had a prolonged period of comfort, where mistakes were not highly costly. I don't think you could really expect most people, being normal people, to be able to even think responsibly about things like this, since even their predecessors in office weren't. To get the kind of person who might have taken precautions, they probably would have had to elect the kind of person they didn't like hear talk, since he would be trying to force them to put resources into things they saw no immediate value for. People criticizing the leader, you elected him freely. There is no measure that can prevent against an incompetant leader if you elect him.
They also mentioned having the honor to resign after such a thing, but guessed these were not the type of people who have an idea of honor in that way so that action wouldn't be likely.
'Who would have thought?': Dennis Quaid seen evacuating in Brentwood (youtube.com)
‘Our experience of reality can change in a moment.’
‘My agent lost both of his houses.’
Jan week1, Musk or Bannon, long bills, 'national security grounds'
Bernie Sanders: This Bill is Too Damn Long! (7/30/1997) (youtube.com)
Last week I wrote something about long bills and AI being able to read them and tell us if they say anything we need to know.
CANAL 26 EN EL SALVADOR | El método BUKELE ya se EXTIENDE a otros países (youtube.com)
Biden Blocks Sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel (youtube.com)
On ‘national security grounds.’
After Defunding Police To Pay Reparations Mayor Fired In San Francisco (youtube.com)
Dec week4, Change in US government?, Musk/Bannon, AI versus 1500-page bills, border dispute
DOGE kills its first bill, Zuck vs OpenAI, Google's AI comeback with bestie Aaron Levie (youtube.com)
The Besties (sans Sacks for now) were saying that government might be shifting now (with Trump and maybe particularly with Musk involved and public), from everyone getting something they want (for their constituents ostensibly), ie I want this in the bill ... Well, ok you can have that but I want this other thing in the bill too ... etc. From that to people calling out, naming and shaming things put into budget bills, like NFL stadiums. Elon saying hey you guys can't do this.
‘Maybe the government doesn't understand Elon, in that he will just see this thing through, and the tools at his disposal are completely unprecedented in their ability to just put anyone in Congress on notice if they promote things that aren't making the country better.' Arron Levie. ‘What we saw this week was that playing out.’
‘If this was like Steve Bannon and Trump doing DOGE’ it would be different. Now Trump has some of the best entrepreneurs out there, and it's now ‘somewhat an IQ test, if you're on board or not.' Levie.
‘This was a multi-hundred billion dollar grift that was stopped on a dime over 12 hours of tweets. You would have never thought that was possible. To put a dagger in something so big, that had such broad support just a few hours earlier. I think it’s so consequential on how the US can be run.' Chamath. 'Pork barrel bill.'
And this is why podcasts are the new medium, the new first medium, the trusted information source. I've been watching new headlines all week, and they really are effective in making Musk look bad, in changing opinion of him to a negative one, but then 4 tech entrepreneurs who know the situation, know several domains including politics, know the people involved, and they just speak clearly on what's happeing.
GROK and other gpts can now go through 1500 pages of policy and really understand what's being asked and what's being proposed. And present this in a way anyone can understand. For decades, malevolent things have been hidden in superlong bills and government and 3-letter briefs, legislation was passed because no one had the time to read such a long document. Chamath. ‘What you’re going to see is a much more active form of government' because citizens now can see what things are about and they can tell their representative.
Democrats are calling Musk a ‘shadow president’ but everything Musk does is more public and immediately publicized (on X) than ever politics has seen probably.
Maybe if you wanna do a 1500-page bill, you have to allot 1 day for every 100 pages, suggestion by Jcal. And start breaking these bills down.
Listen to Crowd Gasp When Javier Milei Says What Everyone Thought Was Impossible (youtube.com)
Not only not impossible, not that hard to do. Just we were used to thinking it couldn't be that way.
Elon Musk: The New Kingmaker in Global Politics? | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
AOC roasted for new tirade against Elon Musk, Trump (youtube.com) (Fox)
How influential is Musk among the far right in Germany? | DW News (youtube.com)
Germany: President Steinmeier dissolves parliament, paving way for early elections in 2025 | DW News (youtube.com) paving way for early elections.
MAGA Civil War Breaks Out Over How to Handle Immigration (youtube.com)
Immigration needed to balance U.S. labor decline, says The Conference Board's Steve Odland (youtube.com)
In politics, sometimes all that's sought is different way to phrase doing the same thing.
‘Lock down the border’ get voted in, start to consider the complexity.
‘President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.’
Dec week3, Aghan if democratic, monarchy, Trudeau might resign headlines, US oligarchy
All of it could still be used. At least that way they can spend more money on buying the same things again.
The border wall costs $6m per mile, reportedly.
The Taliban wouldn't need to cheat, they'd probably just win a free election if they had one in Afghanistan. Samo.
For a leader, these non-Western, non first-World countries might have limits to who is eligible to be a candidate, but that's not unique.
The British Empire preferred Arab monarchies, Arab republics. They seem to be more stable and work better. Completely secularlized countries like Morocco, relatively stable, have a monarchy. Other monarchies like Iran Egypt, didn't really withstand modernizing pressures and ideologies like the various socialist and nationalist ones that popped up.
A monarchy has a certain claim to a certain territory. It's harder for them to legitimize saying Oh and now we want to rule this other territory.
There are no countries outside Africa whose economic security depends on Africa. Israel, Turkey are relevant. Maybe we can talk about Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, even Sudan, is just part of the politically-extended Middle East. ... Africa isn't unique in being a geopolitical backwater. Most of Latam is also, with very stable borders and few existential issues for anywhere else. If your continent has no great power, it's in pretty good shape, because no one has the power projection to mess with you and no foreign powres are trying to intervene. If Brazil becomes a superpower, China and US might have an interest in messing with them in their relations with Argentina or whoever.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigning from Justin Trudeau's cabinet
TikTok CEO meets with Trump after asking SCOTUS to block ban (youtube.com)
If you can't get the Congress or the Supreme Court to allow you to do something to the citizens, try a deal with the president.
Around 50 Liberal MPs are calling for Justin Trudeau to step down as Liberal leader (youtube.com)
What finally triggered this? He was unpopular pretty soon after election (although popular during the election, since for whatever reason Canadians are not really capable of accessing strengths and weaknesses of people, and rely on a kind of simple hope things will be good if they do what they want to hope for, it seems). He violated Canadians rights during the bank freezings during the Trucker Protests, and the Supreme Court found it to be a violation, what, like a year ago or so? as well as other pandemic measures, and he stayed PM. What population is more docile and trusting-without-verifying than Canadians? Not saying Canadians have a worse government than other countries (they have among the worst), but that they don't protest or react in any way that would be meaningful to the government or to the governance of the country) when a government abuses them. How many other countries have a convicted constitutional rights abuser of his citizens for a national leader?
Canadian official threatens to cut off energy to the United States (youtube.com)
Has been a state for years. Name an important issue that America wanted Canada to do something and Canada did the opposite. When was the last instance? Canada is protected by the US Federal Government militarily, and executes its national security measures, and pays taxes to international projects.
XMail: Elon Musk's Plan to Destroy Gmail Forever | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Robinhood CEO reveals why the company is donating to Trump's inaugural fund (Fox)
Trump Says EU Must Buy More US Oil and Gas or Face Tariffs (youtube.com)
Welcome to the world of oligarchy. (youtube.com)
‘He told Republicans that if they voted for this proposal, which they had already agreed to do, he would take out his wallet, and spend as much money as it took to defeat them in primaries and drive them out of office,' said Sanders, who said Musk, very wealthy, who spent $277 on Trump's election, ‘has now claimed complete ownership of that party.’ Scaring them with money, government by the billionaire class. Maybe they'll have to elect people who aren't scared by money.
Oligarchy is not just a Russian phenomenon. It exists right here in the USA. (youtube.com)
Sanders' party is going to bring some smart people in and understand hoe olgarchs in the US will run politics, he said.
Dec week2, Future forms of governance, US reputation, Billionaire cabinet
Trump Treasury pick says Powell will serve out his term as Fed Chair, will leave May 2026 (youtube.com)
‘... and he will leave the building ...' What was that?
Full interview: Donald Trump details his plans for Day 1 and beyond in the White House (youtube.com)
Full Trump interview, if I get time to watch it later.
President-elect Trump's message to Kamala Harris voters (youtube.com)
Trump said one of the main problems with the Biden 4 years was ‘what they’ve done in terms of our reputation overseas. Our reputation is so bad, so shot. I have to bring it back. And also I have to bring back civilization to our country. I have to bring down crime.'
To non-Trump-voters he said, ‘I love you, and we’re gonna all work together. And we're gonna bring it together. And you know what's gonna bring us together? Success.' He said that during his term he was working with people from the Left, and the reason was ‘success.’ ‘Success was bringing the country together.’
People share success, people divide over failure or scarcity?
...
Bernie Sanders says RFK Jr. "exactly correct" about food industry (youtube.com)
I asked before ‘Is the Trump Party a Democratic Party?’ because everyone in it, just about, was a Democrat before. Republicans might vote for the Democratic Party nominee if he and his team were all once Republicans, we might guess. But did Trump's election arc start as a stronger Republican perhaps, and then move softer, which allowed him to capture the Republican base?
Here's three 4-year old articles, Diddy Endorses Joe Biden, Launches Black Political Party: ‘We Own Our Politics’ (variety.com) and ‘Diddy’ Combs: ‘White men like Trump need to be banished’ | CNN Politics (cnn.com) and Jesse Watters (facebook.com)
FBI Director Christopher Wray to step down | NewsNation Now (youtube.com)
Trump invites China's Xi Jinping to inauguration (youtube.com)
What does Trump owe people like Sacks? They helped, but perhaps some politicians, after winning, would want to reduce their perceived debt by saying Well, it wasn't enough to push me over the line, I could have done it without, but including and accepting help from all the contributors might be a counterargument to that. If a politician had rejected a Sacks or someone, or tried to downplay their contribution, other people who also helped would have not wanted to contribute or help the candidate. ... Anyway, none of that seems to actually apply to Trump, who is giving out cabinet positions and things. He probably is going to focus on the bigger, more important things, and let other people handle and get credit for smaller or more technical things.
Amazon will donate $1 million in cash to Trump’s inauguration (youtube.com)
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta spends $1 million to mend fences with Trump (youtube.com)
Venture capitalists mold Trump's new tech policies (youtube.com)
Sacks position won't be fulltime or whatever, so he can stay CEO of his many startups and companies. This presents a clear conflict of interest, some might say, and how will he navigate that? Sacks is in BitGo, SpaceX, Neuralink, XI, Bitwise, Glean and many others. Unprecedented access by people who have skin in the game. I think none of these companies are publicly traded, unfortunately for the public.
Tumps picks don't all think the same. Diversity of opinion in the administration. Trump likes to make decisions by asking a lot of people a lot of questions, then he decides. Reportedly, in a board room, he would ask What do you think of X and go around the whole room of 20 people asking each person.
Trumps picks have a huge number of business people. Most are bilionaires. They've had success. ‘Step into government, help out, and then step out.’
Larry Page said you can't actually spend a billion dollars. Most of what you buy at that level are capital assets that you sell later. Billionaires' motivation might be different from someone trying to go from $50k to 100k or from $1m to 5m, proposed Friedburg. He'd rather have people from within an industry coming to govern that industry (despite criticisms that they are insiders who can benefit) because at least they're known people, with a reputation, who some of them might try to take the government for $500m but they have to do it publicly and can be outed and shamed, versus the revolving door of contracters/government worker doing it and we can't know or see what's going on.
Professional politicians and beurocrats don't even know the right questions to ask because they've never worked. Chamath.
Trump is the only president whose net worth went down after his presidency. Often they go way up.
President Joe Biden issues 39 presidential pardons and commutes 1,500 sentences | BBC News (youtube.com)
Any human rights activists on this list?
Tech executives 'kiss the ring' for Trump's second term (youtube.com)
‘The cost of protection’? Visits to Mar-Lago, public declarations of support, and donations to the inaugural fund. Meta, Amazon, Sam Altman have donated $1m. Bosa said the companies with the most to lose were giving more this term than Trump1.0 (Meta and Altman didn't contribute anything in 2017). The fund pays for celebrations for the inauguration. Not sure if it will be successful with Trump in terms of getting better terms from him.
Trump wants to end Daylight Saving Time permanently (youtube.com)
Will this illustrate how American Canada is, because they'll probably follow pretty quick.
Dec week1, Republican EVs, rich dems, activist Notepad++, Sacks appointed
President Biden to pardon son Hunter Biden (youtube.com)
Musk's MAGA Embrace Alienates Liberal Tesla Owners (youtube.com)
Lefties who are into green and always wanted EVs and have a Tesla now say they can't own it, and others who never wanted an EV bought one cause Elon went TrumpR. So will EV shift a bit to be a Republican thing?
Billionaire Shocks Joe Rogan with the Real Reason Rich People Supported Democrats (youtube.com)
To be able to feel that they're the good guys versus the bad guys, while being in all the powerful and rich positions and living completely isolated from regular people in a bubble with other people who similarly are priveleged.
Notepad++ Has "Anti-Elon Musk" Release (youtube.com)
‘Reverse Jan. 6’: South Koreans help lawmakers scale parliament to save democracy (youtube.com) (MSNBC)
Trump Asks Canada to Become "51st US State" | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Act like you have no self-respect, get treated like it?
Michel Barnier to resign as French prime minister after government collapse | BBC News (youtube.com)
AI-Crypto Gig Adds to Glittering Resume for David Sacks (youtube.com)
What to expect from venture capitalist David Sacks as he becomes AI and crypto 'czar' (youtube.com)
Nov week4, DOGE opposition, Argentina head start, anti-establishment picks
DOGE unveils a roadmap, Unlocking GDP Growth, WW3 escalation, Fat cell memory (youtube.com)
Milton Friedman said in 1998 he'd eliminate Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Public Health and Services (half of it), Housing and Urban Development, Interior (should but difficult to sell off all the land the government owns), Labor, Transportation.
He'd keep Defense, Justice, State, Keep (to collect taxes).
Sacks said it wasn't in the cards to actually do this, eliminate cabinet-level positions.
Will the Machine allow this? asked Jcal.
Left media thinks nothing will come of this anyway, as they've seen it all before.
Because the system of government means if you get a position, you need to create some regulations to give yourself something to do, to work, but it also means you have to do that even when you there's nothing that needs to be done, and because it can be misused, an option might be just not having many actual positions, but hiring people to complete tasks, contracts.
‘Milei in Argentine has an 18-month head start on the US on this.’
Musk, Gabbard, Trump, and RFK (and Joe Rogan) used to be Democrats. (So is it a Democratic party?)
Democrats used to be ‘looking forward’ and not, as now, ‘pessimistic, greivance, and vengeful.’ Now, R is the party that looks forward.
Will the Democrats get another chance to be the liberal party after a period of rule by Republicans (or the Trump Party). So much pent up energy, in decades of langorous cultural depression, you can see people when they talk about the current possibilites in the US for doing vigorous business, not being ashamed of being a man or white or whatever, not accepting minority dominance just because power dynamics exist on a mass scale. We might see a bunch of new things, and people happy and working, but you can already see that they might not be all that humble or flexible while they get this breathing room. But if they establish a conservative and successful majority, that would perhaps necesitate again a liberal counterflow, or side flow. And the Left would have its purpose again. It's only natural the Left can't properly exist without its point of reference and provider, the Right.
Some speculate the reason Biden was smiling at that recent Trump-post-election-win meeting was that he was about to give Trump a bad hand by giving Ukraine more powerful weapons. While promising a smooth transition of power, not conferring, though, with the incumbent on this action.
...
I've seen this being covered (or pushed, maybe) by many news sites over the past couple weeks.
X users jump to Bluesky - but what is it and who owns it? (bbc.com)
Some, or lots (millions) of Democrats signed up after the election of Trump, reportedly.
It looks exactly like Xwitter. It was originally made by Dorsey as an decentralized (owner-less) alternative to Twitter, but he deleted his account in September. It's now run by Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation.
Is it in the news because of events (reaction to Trump, Democrats signed up, similar to how Republicans signed up for a couple weeks on Truth Social or whatever when Biden won)? or is it being pushed by Liberal media to try to remove the only Republican/center and best SM Xtwitter, and therefore is getting more users?
Who is Jay Graber? Bluesky CEO sees huge influx of users join app (newsweek.com)
...
Trump is looking to appoint anti-establishment, to make changes to departments. He's picked a lot of people who happen to have scandals (mostly sex scandals, puritan America), and Brooks pointed out that means they are therefore ‘permanent outsiders.’ They're valuable to Trump and to this purpose because they can't really be brought into the fold of ‘respectable politics’ because the established politicians can't politically be friends with them. I've talked about this before, where we could consider it almost a requirement that anyone running for office should have everything bad said about them possible (in the absense of more sensible law or policy), because it means no one can blackmail them.
Intel secures $7.9B in CHIPS Act funding as Biden runs out of time (youtube.com)
Frenemies to Allies: Trump Dines with Meta CEO Zuckerberg | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Into the fold. 
Musk wants to abolish consumer protection agency (youtube.com)
Trump warned BRICS countries about 100% tariffs if they try to create a new currency or replace the US dollar
'Argentina has gone from being uninvestible to investible, as a country.'
TEN COUNTRIES WHERE CHINESE CAN'T VISIT ANYMORE IN 2025🌍🌎 (youtube.com)
Federal court backs Texas plan to install razor wire on border wall (youtube.com)
Nov week4, DOGE, cutting departments or same old?, SM attempts, Trump and Zuckerburg dinner
youtube.com
Milton Friedman said in 1998 he'd eliminate Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Public Health and Services (half of it), Housing and Urban Development, Interior (should but difficult to sell off all the land the government owns), Labor, Transportation.
He'd keep Defense, Justice, State, Keep (to collect taxes).
Sacks said it wasn't in the cards to actually do this, eliminate cabinet-level positions.
Will the Machine allow this? asked Jcal.
Left media thinks nothing will come of this anyway, as they've seen it all before.
Because the system of government means if you get a position, you need to create some regulations to give yourself something to do, to work, but it also means you have to do that even when you there's nothing that needs to be done, and because it can be misused, an option might be just not having many actual positions, but hiring people to complete tasks, contracts.
‘Milei in Argentine has an 18-month head start on the US on this.’
Musk, Gabbard, Trump, and RFK (and Joe Rogan) used to be Democrats. (So is it a Democratic party?)
Democrats used to be ‘looking forward’ and not, as now, ‘pessimistic, greivance, and vengeful.’ Now, R is the party that looks forward.
Will the Democrats get another chance to be the liberal party after a period of rule by Republicans (or the Trump Party). So much pent up energy, in decades of langorous cultural depression, you can see people when they talk about the current possibilites in the US for doing vigorous business, not being ashamed of being a man or white or whatever, not accepting minority dominance just because power dynamics exist on a mass scale. We might see a bunch of new things, and people happy and working, but you can already see that they might not be all that humble or flexible while they get this breathing room. But if they establish a conservative and successful majority, that would perhaps necesitate again a liberal counterflow, or side flow. And the Left would have its purpose again. It's only natural the Left can't properly exist without its point of reference and provider, the Right.
Some speculate the reason Biden was smiling at that recent Trump-post-election-win meeting was that he was about to give Trump a bad hand by giving Ukraine more powerful weapons. While promising a smooth transition of power, not conferring, though, with the incumbent on this action.
...
I've seen this being covered (or pushed, maybe) by many news sites over the past couple weeks.
Some, or lots (millions) of Democrats signed up after the election of Trump, reportedly.
It looks exactly like Xwitter. It was originally made by Dorsey as an decentralized (owner-less) alternative to Twitter, but he deleted his account in September. It's now run by Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation.
Is it in the news because of events (reaction to Trump, Democrats signed up, similar to how Republicans signed up for a couple weeks on Truth Social or whatever when Biden won)? or is it being pushed by Liberal media to try to remove the only Republican/center and best SM Xtwitter, and therefore is getting more users?
...
Trump is looking to appoint anti-establishment, to make changes to departments. He's picked a lot of people who happen to have scandals (mostly sex scandals, puritan America), and Brooks pointed out that means they are therefore ‘permanent outsiders.’ They're valuable to Trump and to this purpose because they can't really be brought into the fold of ‘respectable politics’ because the established politicians can't politically be friends with them. I've talked about this before, where we could consider it almost a requirement that anyone running for office should have everything bad said about them possible (in the absense of more sensible law or policy), because it means no one can blackmail them.
youtube.com
Into the fold.
Nov week3, Outsiders politics, Infowars auction, Milei 1 year
The intention with Trump isn't to find somebody for his cabinet assignations etc who will keep things running like they have in the past. His mandate is the opposite, to go in and be as disruptive and damaging and destructive as possible, and whatever comes out the other side will be stronger and harder. Friedburg.
Stunning New Ruling in AIex Jones Case! Liberals Aren't Laughing Anymore! haha (youtube.com)
Emergency hearing found the auction was somewhat shady, and returned the website, at least temporarily, to Jones.
A patriotic group made a higher bid than Infowars. But the auction holders decided to say the Onion still had the highest bid, saying part of the profits made later from the website by the Onion would be paid to the auction house. Or something.
AOC explains the AOC-Trump voter | The ReidOut Full Interview (youtube.com)
4 minute qualification to even say her statement, and then doesn't really say a strong statement. Mince words much?
She's not impressive, but it seems like she's trying at least, so maybe in 50 years.
Is her strength just talking like a young person on social media, using the same slang?
#AOC
...
Populism is in vogue. How do you contain the populist energies and harness them in a producive way?
‘We have a Ministry of Deregulation, where basically every day we eliminate between 1 and 5 regulations.’ Milei
'We also are working on 3200 structural reforms and the day we complete them we will be the country most free on Earth.
'When Ireland started its reforms 40 years ago, it was the poorest in Europe, and now has a PBI per capita more that 50% higher than the US.'
Federal workers brace for Trump's plan to potentially replace them with loyalists (youtube.com)
...
Downsizing the Government to Revive Self-Governance (youtube.com)
The failures of the executive branch. The unelected beurocrats run things. Executive has allowed this. A lot can be done by the executive without Congress, he said.
'Historically it's been the view that those people could not even be fired. Now we take a different view with the environment the Supreme Court has given us...'
A lot of people ‘are quietly on our side.’
They might move government workers away from DC. ‘A lot of them don’t even show up to work.' Meaning they work from home.
...
Reports were that Biden looked quite happy in his first meeting with Trump after the election, and they talked for a couple hours. I wonder if Biden will have a chance to say what he really thought about how he was treated, Harris, the Democratic Party? and I wonder if, as someone who cares about America and worked for it for decades, let's say, that an office will be coming in that will actually be trying to clean it up and improve things. Perhaps he was glum as any of us at the seeming futility of even trying to make things better in any domain. Under his admin the global economy was ravaged and human and civil rights eliminated, and all kinds of miseducation and misleading, but I wonder how much of that was out of his control. How vigorous a president could he be against the powers that be?
Gaetz Not the Right Person: Rep. Lawler on Nomination (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, Trump wins 2024, Harris, Democrats, Musk
‘What bothers me the most. I think the debate didn’t matter.'
‘Donald Trump has been able to survive and thrive throughout this election.’ He won the popular vote and all the swing states, which no one expected. They believe in him and they're committed to him, and that's half the country. Harris' inability to define what they would do, to level with the American people and explain why some of her interests have changed. Someone else not her could've beaten Trump.
People're talking about how there wasn't a vote for the Democratic candidate, first time. 'An extremely nondemocratic primary.'
Trump 276 Harris 223, so far.
‘With Trump we knew him (by the time of the debates). There’s nothing more we can learn about him. We knew his weaknesses, we knew his strengths. We knew his record, because we saw it for four years. So [Harris'] criticizing him didn't add anything to her, did not detract from him.' Frank Luntz
Was it about men vesus women? ‘There’s some things that are more important than the election. It's the next generation, and what are they learning? They're learning that it's okay to tear your opponent apart. They're learning that there is no bounds to negativity. That there are right and wrong ways, they need to learn there are right and wrong ways to approach politics, to approach economics... '
Germany's coalition collapses as confidence vote planned | DW News (youtube.com)
American commentators still saying Europe is pretty weak right now.
Latino men preferred Biden to Trump, but this year strongly preferred Trump to Harris.
Regions that were Latino and strongly blue, like Texas, in 2016, were less blue in 2020 and now are red.
Working class voters crossed over to vote Trump. We don't yet really know why. People say that college educated still voted Harris, but I don't think that's been proven yet.
How Trump built a new coalition to send him back to the White House (youtube.com)
Retrospective opinion of Trump more favorable than during his previous administration.
I noticed during the televisation of the two parties, Trump's at Mar a Lago and Harris' somewhere else (where I think she called off attending after results showed Trump's lead), that the makeup was much more white at Trump's, and wondered if this was going to be a racially divisive election. It hadn't really been talked about as one. Much more black at Harris'. AP reported that 83% of blacks voted Harris and 16% trump. Young people voted Harris but men voted Trump. White women voted for Trump. Women voted for Harris though (54%, Biden had got 57%). Some have reported black men voted Trump, but the AP results don't seem to say that. It seems whites and men favored Trump, and blacks and women favored Harris.
Maybe Democrats will seek a new base. Similar to how the Trump Republican Party has a different base, somewhat. What would the new target of Democrats be? And maybe this, in that sense, is just what the Democratic Party needs. A win or even a strong showing would make them want to maintain what they're doing, which everyones says is very flawed in many ways. A big loss means they might have the freedom to really make some changes.
How much differently young men and young women see things, and what they are viewing. What people speak to and connect with them. Trump went to them on their ground and with their ‘heros’, on podcasts and YouTube. Harris went with mostly female pop stars. Harris might have less of a margin with women than Biden or Hillary. Whites are the majority of voters.
Left News seems to be characterizing things as Trump ‘went from a party that attracted white working class to attracting all working class.’
Voters were concerned about the economy, prices, inflation. Left commentators are saying people are nostalgic for their pocketbooks during the previous Trump term. Biden said inflation was transitory.
People expect first moves to be tax area moves (his old cuts are expiring). Might be easy-ish if he has the house and senate. The markets don't yet care about deficits. (The best way to solve deficits is growth, people say.)
‘It’s hard to imagine too many Republicans standing up to Trump and saying we're not going to do what you want us to do.' Partially because of the coattail effects, many people obviously want things Trump has said or given the impression of intending, more than the pollsters or anyone guessed.
He'll also, he's stated, do tariffs, but that doesn't depend on Congress as much. Immigration also. He might try to do legislation for that.
Biden's ChipsAct, InfrastructureAct, will benefit Trump and the economy, said David Rubensten.
Trump said his 18-year-old son Baron is a source for him on who the ‘hot guys’ are, like podcasters and important figures for the younger generations.
I guess the election means that many Americans voted Trump out in 2020 and then shifted again and voted him back in. That kind of overcoming cognitive dissonance, how hard or easy would it be for them to again turn against him?
Elon Musk gave young men 'purpose' by going out and voting, says WSJ's Tim Higgins (youtube.com)
On Joe Rogan, he did say that if Democrats won, X would be shut down. Is there a method to do that? He said there was.
‘They might have already been Trump supporters, but this (Elon’s talks or performances on stage) just took them to another level.'
Young men draw inspiration from Musk. 'The idea that Musk is giving young men purpose by going out and voting, that's pretty powerful.' Right now, I think this is the case. There does seem to be a big charge of possibility, so many things could change. RFK doing health and vaccines, the way we have been opposing and oppressed and feeling helpless about them. Musk doing that with the beurocracy. Men in general have been at a low for a decade or two, in this weird feminismEtc movement that oppresses men. They don't do much, they're afraid of the negative consequences if they do anything, if they even be men, so if that changes and suddenly they feel they can do things and be men, there might be a change in a lot of things, including productivity.
Maybe other billionaires endorsed a candidate and maybe their endorsement didn't matter much, the way Musk's did.
Lots of rich people put money into an election. Musk's celebrity, his platform and commanding the media narrative, were perhaps much more important than the big sums of money he put into the race.
What happens with TruthSocial? There are a lot of dramas to play out.
Musk's ‘corporate empire’. But they're all 7 separate companies. It's not Microsoft or Google.
SpaceX is valued at $210b. OpenAI at $157b. What exactly does OpenAI have that anyone can't make in a month and some servers?
Fed cut a quarter point and the markets didn't really seem to move. The markets seem to be balancing or settling after the big move of post-election-day one day before. The Fed has to ‘rethink their plan’ after Trump win. Fed Cuts Rates by 0.25% — Trumps Changes 2025 Fed Plan! (youtube.com)
Expected to cut taxes and impose tariffs. If Trump cuts taxes, tax collections down, deficits not paid as much, Reserve has to print more, interest on debts altered.
The budget and inflation, a sort of failure, could be what allows people to accept government cuts and changeups. ‘Well, we have to.’
Jan 2 debt ceilng will be reached, so US will
tap treasury general account which has $800b. That's a form of stimulus because it comes into banks, into the economy, argued Clifton. Evan Brown disagreed, saying it was a liquidity that just stayed within the bank system.
Meacham said that maybe Trump thrives less on order than on chaos. Historian Jon Meacham shares message to all voters on Trump win (youtube.com)
Trump's Landslide Win EXPLAINED (youtube.com)
Lol the day a Republican wins I'm clicking all the leftwing news sources.
Germany's government collapses hours after US election (youtube.com)
Small caps could outperform by more than 100% in the next few years, says Fundstrat's Tom Lee (youtube.com)
Trump will enter office this time with a lot more knowledge on how to build a cabinet and a team, said Tom Lee. This has come up in conversations too. The mess with Tillerson and others. Trump likes to win, so maybe he'll be able to use a more winning strategy.
Margin debt hasn't really risen in the last 4 months, and the stock market is up, so we infer investers haven't been adding risk. And now we have earnings visibility and a dovish Fed and the election is behind. US and fundamentals seem bullish to Tom Lee.
Some people cannot see past that Kamala didn't get any primary votes. Some people cannot see past the behaviour of Donald Trump, and the bullying, and the felony. And some people can. Friedburg
Trump wins! How it happened and what's next (youtube.com)
If you trust these legacy institutions in helping you get to a decision, you're gonna get tricked. Chamath
This defeat is on the entire Democratic Party (not just Harris as a bad candidate). They all supported the agenda of Biden and Harris. Democrats Manchen and Cinema suffered for opposing D budget agenda. Defacto open border, soft of crime, Soros, decarceral policies, proxy war with Putin. The Democrats have talked down to us, lectured, censored, insulted, gaslit, tried to cancel, tried to punish dissent with lawfare, turned Musk into an enemy, and Joe Rogan.
Recently California 70% voted for Prop 36 to reverse Prop 47 (made shoplifting basically legal).
Harris wouldn't say whether or not she supported prop 36. Does that show not that she's a bad candidate, but that the Democratic Party is just confused, doesn't know currently what to stand for, is trying to pull in support/votes from all kinds of conflicting sources.
As California perhaps turns sensible again (if they do. It is California after all), will Musk decide he could have actually waited it out in California?
Ari Fleischer tweeted who the Democratic Party now is. People making more than $100k (one of only a few groups she improved with), those who never attend religious services, those who say they have no religeon, college grads, post-grad degrees. ‘If these are the last people left in the room, the last thing they’re going to do is admit defeat.'
Chamath said he thinks the D won't tack (change how they are). I think they probably will if there isn't a third party.
Harris could not go on Joe Rogan because they knew it would embarass her so bad that she would lose votes. Value of the primary. Test the person to find who withstands testing best.
Food items, fast food, have doubled. Number one voter issue, with immigraiton/border.
Also, Harris couldn't criticize Joe Biden because he's the sitting president. But you can't defend him either, because he's so unpopular.
The Democrats had 3x the money for the presidential campaign ($1b). Buy versus earn, what does each produce? They also overwhelmingly had the legacy media advantage. They could call him nazi, fascist, traitor, agent of Putin, insurectionist, dictator, criminal. What effect does this have on their (both the party and the legacy media) integrity?
If R had a traditional, regular candidate, they couldn't have overcome the legacy media advantage, said Sacks. Also, if Trump had campaigned with Romney's or McConnel's message, he probably wouldn't have gone anywhere. He's tapped into something deep in the electorate. Looking back, he's the transformational figure in US politics, not Obama or whoever.
Young men are voting and they want to vote for something very different from women or old people. JCal
The Democrats used to be the party of free speech. Now they are pro censorship. The Republicans are free speech. D used to be anti-war. Now they're in foreign misadventures and partnerships with the military-industrial complex, and they embrace it. Was all this purposeful or accident?
Either way, we see how a politician can give up its rallying purposes to the other party.
A lot of people did and still say they just really don't trust the guy, Trump. They don't think, based on things he's said and done, how he's treated people, that he's a good guy. Even if they agree with a lot of Trump's policies.
With Trump, there is a concerted effort to lie. A need to suspend that judgement? Chamath. We could say though that that effort is a response to a person who has done harms or behaved unsociably in ways that are not really punishable by other means.
The Swamp Creatures came out of the woodwork and invaded Mar a Lago, Sacks reported. So the Maga Influencers should stay frosty, he said. Because all the previously neo-con idea espousers seem to be being outed on X so that they can't get near this presidency.
The A team are all running companies, Musk noted. They can't just join the cabinet. But they seem to all want to serve in a part-time, advisory capacity where they wouldn't have to divest all their assets etc.
Musk decided at one point that the election would come down to Pennsylvania and young men, and he focussed on that one thing, constantly on X speaking at rallies, speaking to Penn residents, young disaffected voters and getting them out. His pact built an infrastructure that rivalled the D one. The sweepstakes.
Chamath really didn't like that Obama went on in the home stretch and said objective lies, things Obama knows were not true, the abortion ban. Chamath never considered Obama a politician, that he wouldn't join the borg. He transcended politics, but now had brought himself down to the level of the average politician. But doesn't Obama's record in war, human rights, corporate and technology spying, mean more than the JFK swagger and idealistic semi-inclusive words in those days?
Trump should be taken seriously but not literally. Thiel in 2016? The difference between campaigning and governing.
RFK has never held an executive position before. He and others who participated in the election are important to keep his coalition, all those young voters and Democrats on side and part of the Trump party and Maga movement.
‘The low hanging fruit will save this country once we pluck it.’ Chamath
There is no administrative branch in the Constition, but the administrative branch, 3m people, rule the US, and only 3000 are appointed by the president. These 3m don't report to anyone. Nominally, they're supposed to report to the executive, but the president can't fire them. They just do whatever they want to do. We don't even know what they're doing. There's no way to find out. We can't vote them out and we can't fire them, and they have been at the forefront of opposing Trump. Can Trump bring this branch under democratic control? Sacks.
Saw a post, not sure if it's precise, of RFK saying I'm coming after Big Pharma. Usually, when we hear someone say something like that we warn them, fearing for their safety. And if it's just one person, that makes some sense. But if it's a team, Musk, RFK, DeSantis, etc, can they all just be wiped out? And if they put second in line people for all the roles, people just as competent?
National security picks signal direction of Trump’s foreign policy plans (youtube.com)
Anti-woke.
But Gabard? Maybe she won't pass Congress though.
Trump’s border czar to focus on Canadian side, says it “can’t be a gateway to terrorists” (youtube.com)
Amazon's standing comes under question postelection (youtube.com)
President Trump accused Amazon of not paying its fair share of taxes, of abusing the postal system, hurting small businesses and other things as the result of the Pentagon contract. WPost criticisms.
But the Democrats let me do it!
Brooks and Capehart on the 'chaos' surrounding Trump's Cabinet picks (youtube.com)
Gabbard. She's never had an intelligence job. Who does that [appoint someone like that to head of Intelligence]? Seems a smart move but not sure about the person. ‘My only conclusion, he’s sent these people into these departments to be agents of chaos.'
Every election, the rules of the game are renegotiated. It's not just the same game of basketball or chess or go. Samo
AOC-Gavin Newson could win in 4 years, Samo thinks (live players), if Newsom spends 3 years in Cali cleaning up the state, tough on crime Democrat. The two most charismatic Democrats. Walk back BLM, Defund the Police. ‘Once I’m president of America we're gonna have all our cities are gonna be clean.' Like he did with California. AOC with kids, a married mom, conservative enough to win. A personally conservative woman. Not a stay at home mom, but a family woman, and I'm here to protect your family. Photo ops. She says she really listened to all those podcasts Republicans appeared on. And we need an America where working class families can be prosperous again. AOC does the social media game, second best to Trump.
People want to feel a personal connection with their head of state. I think it makes us feel safe. On a subconscious level everyone is terrified of government. If the leader is gonna protect me, I don't need to be that scared. Samo.
Trump got the Latin vote like no one else has.
Elon returned online (sm) speech to a decade ago (more free but not as free as earliest internet, still some fear of risk in speaking). Samo. How the feeling of acceptable speech shifts. One of the biggest ways we lose our own recollection, as individuals, our own ability to navigate the political world, is for the sake of fitting forget what we felt or didn't feel safe to say. We always want to flatter ourselves. Oh I was always free, I was never quiet, I was never cowardly, I never felt pressure, I certainly never buckled under pressure. But those are precisely the things that eliminate the understandinf of political future, because if you don't know the political past in your own lifetime, how do you even know what could happen next. What was not OK to do in the Valley a few years back.
The hydra of beurocracy. Samo
It's easier in some ways to do welfare reform from the Center Left, like the Clinton Era, immigration restriction, welfare reform. If I list these things today, they sound almost conservative. Samo. ... You need a higher quality of staff than what the Right Wing have available.
‘Try to compete in making this country better.’ Samo to the two parties.
After the election, what percentage of the secret Trump supporters will admit it openly?
Will the GOP cooperate with Musk? Significant part of the GOP isn't on the same page with Trump.
Gabbard etc aren't expected to get confirmed. It's not looking currently like they're even trying to get them through.
Be alternate funders of political campaigns, be alternate constituants. $20-40b to buy the Republican party, no one has attempted that.
Trump can get banned from X. Musk cannot get banned form X. But now Trump can't get banned from X either.
Is Twitter now the best purchase Musk has made?
If you have 20b dollars and all you do is tweet ... but if you have 20b dollars and you create a thing called ... Samo.
Someone would have to seize the narrative on the D party and say Hey, we lost becaue the people want clean safe streets, cheap electricy, abundance, and on top of that we can have classic progressive policies. A welfare state funded through cheap exports or energy, just produce a lot.
Democrats can't aggress. Unless they find someone who has agressed first. So when they find one, they feel very alive, because suddenly all of these parts of their nature, envy, hatred, anger, they can unleash it with full moral backing and legitimacy. Samo.
The network becomming the new government. WIAH
Oct pt2, Harris not doing interviews, Journalists without guides
Leading up to the election, things get more inflamatory. The rhetoric, the tonality, the use of fake news, the distrust of everything and on alert that it could be fake news for malignant purposes (political). ... But after the election we might expect that will ease up.
If Trump wins, you get ‘a real VP, and RJF, and Musk.’ Chamath.
The All-Ins were surprised that some D video news people (like AndersonCooper and Axelrod on CNN) ‘threw Kamala under the bus’ by saying things like ‘word salad city’. They noted that ‘you can only prop up a candidate so long and then at some point you have to prioritize your own media career.’ That they would look incompetant or unethical if they supported someone who was clearly not appropriate in consensus.
‘Sometimes you have to concede things.’
A similar thing happened when suddenly after the Biden-Trump debate it was so obvious that all the D journalists had to sort of turn away from supporting his reelection.
12 days until the election.
The campaign manager ‘is not doing a good job’ and they're ‘afraid of their own shadow’ and they're going to walk into ‘a meaningful reset of the Democratic Party.’
So maybe Trump's strategy was right, doing all the interviews, even with hostile hosts, just going there and answering. And maybe the Democrat strategy of trying to push a candidate to the line without letting her be tested and tried, maybe that didn't work? People were questioning whether Trump was harming his chances doing it that way.
Harris for the first 2 months they didn't have her doing interviews, then they saw her polling was not faring well (for this reason perhaps) and they changed and she did interviews for the past month, but that seems not to be having success.
An interesting thing to find out will be, if Trump wins, how long before the anti-establishment, currently holding themselves to high standards because they face mainstream pressure to conform to what they don't believe, and are currently the go-to for real news and info, and a platform Trump and RFK visit and do long interviews (unlike the Democrats). How long after a Trump win until they either break from the new Trump mainstream in the face of disagreements, or turn to shill (perhaps corrupted by power benefits/leverage)?
I think currently, R and D are pretty divided, whereas R-supporting citizens all seem to think Trump will win, and D people I've asked seem to think Harris will win.
Adults living with their parents: Italian Supreme Court sends wake-up call to 'big babies' (youtube.com)
Hopefully, this generation feels terrible for something that is not in any way their fault.
ABC7 News - Dan Noyes - Phil Matier - Tenderloin Focus (youtube.com)
When politicians don't maintain order, here's SF after Shelter in Place 4 years ago. City officials told ABC7 they couldn't remove the tents, despite overwhelming 311 complaints, because CDC guidelines prevented it. The city took action only after the university and a group of local business owners sued the city, reportedly. (Reading this a month later, and after the Trump in, it immediately comes to mind that the new political movement will just fix this type of thing, comes to mind in a way that before the election didn't seem even probable of ever happening, which makes me wonder if people looking back will characterize the time as 'how bad things had gotten under the Ds (and status quo Rs, as Trump does not come from politics, and as people have always noted the new party is the Trump party, not the GOP). Weeks after the election, things seem markedly different in term of potentialities. So much low-hanging fruit.)
This month. Then you have empty storefronts, the neighborhood declines. Which, obviously causes others to leave if the city doens't act.
Stable rents, predictable and low. The businesses can grow and survive.
The SF's new plan is to threaten landlords to fill locations within 6 months or pay a new large tax.
In the Bay Area, ‘A new restaurant must through 61 steps involving 11 local agencies to get its required permits and licences.’ Spur report. ‘Just to get started, a restaurant may have to pay 17 different government fees...’
A restaurant or liquor store there has 15 or 20 permits on the walls, just to operate.
Here's a look at SF Tenderloin 1 month after encampment crackdown (youtube.com)
4 years later, local officials were again allowed to remove people encamped on the streets of the Tenderloin. But slow progress, because no one wants to go to a shelter.
Good journalism. ‘We came out here to find out for ourselves without anybody from any city department leading us. We’ll find what we find.' Just as many people sleeping there, but less tents and structures. Public works are constantly cleaning and powerwashing. 45 minutes to clean just one side of one street, several workers, and that's only if the people sleeping on the street are willing to move. ABC7 found 7 city workers waiting for one tent to voluntarily move so they could clean it. They had been waiting 20 minutes. It took an hour for the tenant of the tent to leave. ‘They want to be always in the street. Maybe in the homeless shelter they're not allowed to be doing what they're doing outside. I think this is the main problem.' A large majority refuses the constant offers of help. And what drug addict would ever accept that kind of offer?
The city is offering free bus tickets to go somewhere else. A few dozen people accept the ticket.
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Why They All Resigned | Celina Caesar-Chavannes (youtube.com)
#Canada
There maybe are limits to how much you can abuse Canadians. Not meaningful ones, because Canadians will allow politicians and whoever to abuse them past any point they could repair the damage, but this might illustrate where they are.
In a week or so, there will be a new president elect. BTW Biden has basically not been in headlines, at least on my feeds, for months (I mean, a couple times only).
I hope Trump. I have the same criticisms of him as always. The largest being that 50% of the population (US and external) will sort of be self-banned from participating. They will have so much spite and also a great deal of false belief about facts about the man, thanks to the dems and also less so just thanks to the algorhythms on SM. Neither candidate is good, but fear of Democrats is much stronger than of Republicans. (Obviously below war risks and things) the most important thing in politicians for me is human and civil rights. Democrats I think you couldn't possibly win a debate trying to say they aren't against Constitutional rights, privacy rights, etc. Republicans, perhaps mostly because they have found themselves on the victim end of the manipulation of SM and politics, but it doesn't matter the reason, seem to have many avenues pushing for more rights. Not that Trump cares at all about rights, really, it seems. I think he would care, but he's maybe a simple man, and most people don't have a personality that lends them to think about rights.
Cuban is the only real standout thought leader who is currently giving pro-Harris speeches and interviews. Perhaps because he wants to run soon, and will run as a D.
‘Democrats have really alienated Arab Americans and Muslims.' John Zogby. I don't know if that's even true, but it does raise a question. Things are fine, even if you're currupt, as long as your corruption partners don't cause problems. But as soon as one does, you have to break with them to condemn their actions, or you have to allow yourself to be seen as obviously corrupt and lose integrity. You'll lose either one or both of the groups involved in the misbehavior. The only real option seems to just be on the side of justice all the time, and then your actions are seen as in that interest and not against any particular group or friend. Also, you can see the value of diversity and people in power not just all getting along, which results in harm to the commons and to justice. Problems like the China problem, the Israel problem, force people to look and choose. And they can choose either side. They'll usually choose the just side, I think, as long as they can access information.
Note for its absense. No one is talking about Harris being the second person of color possible president. No one is talking about her being the first woman. I never see it mentioned. When people (mostly from other countries who watch Liberal USA news) say America is a racist country, or has lots of racism in it.
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One week for the election. New recordings published of Epstein in an interview with Michael Wolff.
‘He tells everybody what they want to hear.’
‘Anyone who he first tries to gain their trust, and then uses it to do bad things.’
...
It's a bit scary that a party that does this sort of thing (Democrats) might win. And also that a person we don't even really know, that we don't know as a person, that hasn't told us any of their policies, or has said that all her policy ideas from her career she suddenly no longer is going to go with. All this is a bit scary in a possible president.
If you're going to be president, shouldn't you want to win fair? Shouldn't you want to win without doing dirty tactics? Shouldn't you want the nation to know you and your policies and chose them? Shouldn't you want that if they don't, you shouldn't be elected?
Oct pt1, Israel/USA, Iran, Musk offered prizemoney to vote
‘We know that Netanyahu is not really listening to Biden.’
‘Seems like the Biden admin is more intent on deterring Israel than Iran, and before even talking to Netanyahu says don't go after the nuclear sites.' CNBC
Iran’s existing deterrent against Israel striking has collapsed, says David Albright (youtube.com)
Trump had called Napolitano to the Whitehouse to review pardons and commutations, after Jan 6 and before Jan 20. He told Napolitano he was going to parden Snowden and Assange, but he didn't do it, and Napolitano believes Pompeo was the one who talked him out of it.
#Assange #Trump
It's increasingly diifficult for CIA and such organizations to operate around the world because there are all sorts of people who are trying to expose them.
The government has good guys and bad guys it talks about, but informed people come on internet interviews (like Napolitano's) to talk to large audiences and say that what the government said was not so. This is why Sanders and Trump, who would never have been serious candidates in 1990 are serious candidates now. Because people don't trust the so-called establishment, and Sanders and Trump are not part of it. People are fed up, and willing to vote for these guys.
Iran play a long game. As US is impatient to get out of Middle East, Iran stays and spreads its influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. It's not going to directly confront Israel or US on their own terms but rather asymetrically, because they can have victories that way. It remains to be seen what the long term strategy response will be.
An added strain to global humanitarian crisis ongoing.
youtube.com
US politicians speaking against Israel's aggression might just be trying to save face for US reputation globally while not really doing anything to interfere with Israel.
Biden and Blinken are both publicly confirmed Zionists, he said. They have not offered reasons why this is in US interests, perhaps because it's less and less easy to do so.
The special relationship is not in Israel's longterm interest, he argues. Because US backs Israel nomatter what Israel does while Israel doen't really seem to heed US interests and just goes ahead and does what it want, over time it creates a situation where Israel doesn't seek a stable position within it's relationships. It hasn't sought peace for 40 years of occupation. It has strengthened Israeli's extermists.
500k Israelis now live outside Israel and 80% have told pollsters they don't intend to return. Emigration has increased recently particularly among educated (who are the mainstay of Israel's economy).
Israel's current leadership does not want to seize short term advantages like the one they currently have, and use them to try to develop a genuine and legitimate long term solution.
Israeli supporters in US playing hardball recently (in response to many in US speaking in support of Palestine), including at universities (and some towns perhaps trying) making laws, speech codes that potentially violate the First Amendment let alone the principles of academic freedom. Macarthyite tactics to protect a country currently engaged in a genocidal campaign and expanding it. But people don't like being bullied or told what to do.
What does this do to the American brand about Western Values, civic discource, inclusion, things Americans and others largely believe US stands for. Such a double standard, such a hypocrisy. Victims.
When Blinken talks about Rules Based Order people roll their eyes now. Also this costs a lot of time and energy, to deal with Middle East. And makes US look incopenant, like US doesn't know what it wants and doesn't know how to get it. US has been saying they want peace there for a year and nothings been done.
America (in dealing with Houthis) can count on decades of experience in Afghanistan. Appropriate levels of funding, foreign involvment, political processes, autonomous organic growth.
In conversation with Mark Cuban (youtube.com)
Sacks in his fully converted form to political pundit. Lol.
This is an example why such divisive politics results in negatives. If you have calmer politicians actually weighing and debating options, the people supporting them also tend to have to talk about options, which are nuanced and force people to entertain other opinions and discussion. No one feels like they know the answer. ... Here we are with divided politics, and it results in further divided and self-championing candidates (or parties). When regular people debate, they have to attack and raise criticism of their non-preferred candidate rather than admit faults of their own and discuss policy. It's maybe scary seeing someone who's usually so incisive and omnicritical to be so much an emotional guarddog of a political alliance. It took over the entire pod. But Sacks seems to be afraid of an idea that could reflect critically on Trump even being allowed to be aired, he jumps in each time before the guest even makes a single point.
The Republican party is now the Trump family business, and you don't hear from any of the other candidates or figures, and the Democrats have learned from this model, and Harris thinks she has to be the big personality and you don't hear from anyone in her party either, from Sanders or E Warren, and that's not unintential, said Cuban. There are no political parties anymore.
Former President Trump supports ending the double taxation of overseas Americans (youtube.com)
Musk offered $47 to people to refer people in swing states to register to vote.
Musk's political activities have resulted in a current 5% positive feelings toward Musk among democrats and 80% negative (an NBC poll). Among Republicans he has 15% negative and 60% positive. Tesla is still popular in the EV market, reportedly, though, because it's the best EV. Tesla is trying to launch robo-taxis and a ‘we’-robot.
Netanyahu sees polling boost after Hezbollah attacks | DW News (youtube.com)
September, Musk endorses Trump, Harris silent, Trump/Harris debate
DOJ subpoenas Nvidia: Here's what you need to know (youtube.com)
Trump unveils economic blueprint, cites Musk's role in reform (youtube.com)
Musk has given Trump ‘his complete and total endorsement.’
A complete audit of the government.
Trump and Harris, can they change anyone's mind to vote for them. They're doing very specific policies trying to target voting segments.
FBI raids homes of 2 of Mayor Adams' top aides, NYPD phones subpoenaed (youtube.com)
Harris made a big pivot to show she wasn't anti-business, promising larger deduction for first-year businesses. Deregulation. Venture capital importance. Government lending to small businesses. Stepped back capital gains policy (now proposing 28% rather than 40% applied to households with net worth over million dollars.
Is it all just tactics? Is there any substance at all behind it?
‘Vince Lombardi democrats’ where winning isn't everythng--it's the only thing.'
Did I mention RFKjr dropped out. The reason was that he was taking voters away from Trump, who he prefers to Harris. So we don't get to vote for RFKjr, who is perhaps the best candidate.
Reportedly in US mass media, Putin endorsed Harris, whatever that means, and this should be checked on alternative news media.
How can a democratic system compete with other systems?
The Trump-Harris debate happened. Most people seem to think Harris won, although my feed (although I didn't train it to do so through inclination) showed only headlines with this message. I have yet to watch the debate, but I saw a few short clips where it showed Harris more or less getting the better, although not in any meaningful or strong way. I don't get why Trump or his people can't take what seems obviously strong lines of messaging and statements against Harris. He's so good at wrestler-style verbal strength, but not at all at actual incisive points even when their material is obvious and not difficult.
Harris still did not say anything. She said she ‘has a plan' but that is all. Still, no one knows anything about her plans.
Gary Cohn on the debate:
Senate probably R, so best Harris could hope for is some compromises or tradeoffs. Rest of world in low-20% corporate tax, OECD low-21-23%, USA is competitive now and won't argue really for 1 or 2%, but once you go over 23% USA becomes non-competitive internationally.
Harris said she wants to give $50k to new small businesses, but Cohn pointed out that if that means tax benefit of $50 there's not many small businesses that have a first year tax liability of $50k. ... Harris wants to ‘give’ $20k to new home buyers, which he (like me) sees as ‘just inflation in the home market.’ ... She wants to enhance the child tax credit, ‘but there’s a lot of details in what that means.' (I agree something should be done (after approved by citizens) to improve child situation in USA, but perhaps impossibly complicated by immigration and non-socialism.
We should use tariffs ‘not as a consumption tax’ but when effective. ‘To the extent that we manufacture a product, like an EV’, Ford and GM invested a lot, employed a lot of people, a fairly priced EV in the $30k-40k, we should not allow a foreign cometitor like China that ‘does not have a cost of capital, does not pay a ... wage [high enough for his requirements], they do not care about the environment. We should not allow a foreign manufacturer to import into this country and undersell American manufacturing. That is where a tariff is effective to make sure they are not dumping those products in this country. On the other hand if we don't manufacture a product and have no plans to manufacture it, and American consumers want to consume it and maybe need it ... that would be a tax on our consumers, and would just cost our economy and be inflationary.' This is very obvious in Latin American countries, where importing is expensive and internal manufacture is (perhaps disincentivized and) decreasing.
Is Gary Cohn too smart and incisive to be a corporate leader (in capitalism)?
Trump lost the debate, but that doesn't mean Harris won, says pollster Frank Luntz (youtube.com)
Niether candidate articulated at all anything they would do with the economy or inflation. Luntz also thinks Trump missed an opportunity. Trump lost, but Harris didn't win, said Luntz. Trump, presidential candidate and former president, stuck to his guns that immigrants were eating their pets. The press is going to eat him alive if he doesn't state that he made a mistake there, Luntz said. But not if you don't talk to centrist press or of coure not to D press.
Trump could have done inflaiton and immigration, the two issues that matters most to voters, and the number one priority of those voters in the swing states.
So here's how the DEBATE went. The mediators start of very directly, asking the question ‘most important to the US voters’ which is the economy, Mrs Harris do you think that when it comes to the economy, Americans are better off than they were four years ago? Harris smiling doesn't even attempt to answer this question and just says, ‘So I was raised as a middle class kid, and I am actually the only person who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America’ and immediately makes her promise to give money to certain voters. Give $6000 to people who have children and $50,000 to small businesses and $25,000 for first time home buyers (in the second half of the debate she restated this exact point as her ‘plan’). Why do mediators not cut people off immediately when they do this? It wasn't the question, and the answer was basically bribery. She speaks against tax benefits for billionaires. You could say she doesn't understand anything about politics, but maybe more likely it's irrelevant to her. It doesn't matter either way. D plan is to win the election, and then try to do what they want. Trumps rebuttal was good, mentioning that he did tariffs and they were effective so the Biden office kept them, but he had them without inflation, which the Biden office has inflation. She looks with a smug scowl and a head-shaking smile while he speaks. But then he went on to talk about immigrants ‘taking over towns’ and ‘destorying our country.'
She gets a little erratic-seeming by quesiton 2 or 3, getting so excited she doesn't speak clearly and gets flustered. She doesn't really seem like an adult in this debate. After midway when he challenges her on ‘hating’ Israel, she even sounded a little panicked or something.
She seems really to try to find people in the audience to feel like a victim and to view her opponent as the abuser or victimizer. And she dips into impassioned tones and dramatic gestures. I mean really this seems the predominant tactic to try to win the audience. Try to find victims and make them feel like a victim about something and focus on Trump as the person who harms them. She does a lot of non-information rhetoric. She also tends to work in little (without specific substance) accusations and attacks during her rhetoric, and I wondered if this was courtroom lawyering technique. She also uses, more than once in a short debate, very boring platitudes, like ‘we have so much more in common than what separates us’ and ‘let’s turn the page' and ‘let’s look forward' or ‘move forward’ from here, ‘a sense of optimism’ that she ‘believes in what we can do’. There was very little, so little, substance in many of her statements, it was like she wasn't in the right league, like she was doing basic campaign trail stuff where she just does rhetoric uninterupted.
In accent and gestures she comports a lot like Obama. Is this practiced? or were their parents born in the same states or something?
Several times the moderators ask her about what she would do about specific things, and she doesn't on any of these even try to give any answer at all, but talks about just ‘what should be done’ in very general terms. She didn't give any specific answers about anything she would do. Trump tackled every question for the quesiton it was, and stayed on point mostly, but he did stray off to bring up immigration and the border a couple or few times when it wasn't the quesiton at hand.
He called Ukraine ‘a war that’s dying to be settled.' Her eyes seemed to water a bit maybe when Trump spoke (passionately) about Ukraine and about the weakness of Biden.
He said Biden is the worst president in US history, but that he thinks Harris is worse. He said she is a ‘horrible negotiator’ and said that the invasion of Ukraine began 3 days after she went there to negotiate.
I don't think either won the question of Obamacare, but basically it seemed Trump came out stronger on most or all other questions, perhaps largely because Harris didn't answer any and he was very clear and sensible on many things and seemed sincere, whereas she seemed to not have the substance prepared to talk, and did some rhetoric and attacks.
I don't think Trump ‘lost’ the election at all, as all the headlines and commenters too said that he did. I think he was mature and did pretty well. I think Harris actually did ok, but didn't seem ready or competent to this type of position, she didn't seem large or capacious, and she didn't seem really prepared or genuine sometimes. She said a lot about what she would do but never said anything specific about how, and she did a lot of platitudes and victim or needy-person seeking and promises. I don't think Trump made any mistakes, really, except saying the dog-eating thing. Is that why that's the thing headlines and commenters like talking about? because it was the only real negative of his debate?
How can anyone who votes based on substance, on actual things, vote for someone who doesn't give any and avoids giving anything?
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It's possible that courtroom lawyer is not a good qualification to be president (specific, maybe, to our court culture). The lawyer makes their party the aggreived and asks a higher authority, the judge (or jury) for approval or for them to side with or sympathize with their party. A president is a leader of a team, basically, and there is no higher authority he appeals to, but must achieve approval/consensus/majority for the things he decides to do. He assessed what problems there are, what things are important to the citizens, and he makes plans and organizes momentum and effort along decided (his plans) channels. A lawyer is also somewhat removed from the people, often feeling he is separate from them as a competant, trained and educated expert and they know nothing he knows, and he does not ask their approval or listen to it, since he ‘knows better’ within the sphere of the game and probabilities for success, which is always his goal.
The president definitely does not pit one side of his team against another team (unless an international competition). He doesn't try to make one part of the team feel aggreived and want to take something from the other team. He doesn't take on goals that are not approved by the people. He also doesn't really waste time. He makes a plan, gets approval and tries to make everyone act towards those goals. A business manager or teacher might be alright, but very incomplete, training for this. A business manager in a capitalist culture would definitely have to round out his quarterbacking ability with ecological understanding and much broader sympathy than just his little corporation. A teacher would have to learn to force people to do things, and maybe more important to face realities and practicalities that teachers, being free to be intellectuals, often avoid.
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Trump is going to win the election, says former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (youtube.com)
According to McCarthy, Harris said to the same reporter that was moding the debate that she was going to confiscate guns and use the executive order to do it, and the mod didn't say anything aobut it when she in the debate said she wasn't going to take anyone's guns.
The Harris procedure (skipping the process by which the party members get to know, understand, and chose a candidate to send to the federal election, and the whole country gets to know and understand them), it seems to be a move that really naturally splits the vote among party democrats and anyone else, because to vote for someone without knowing them or their policies, you really have to just want that party to be in office.
youtube.com
By anti-graft authorities.
Had been standard for senior banking members, and now seems to be being applied to lower ranking and traders. For ‘lavish lifestyle’. Regulators scrutinizing their IPO deals etc.
Bill introduced to ensure Black & Hispanic communities are ready for AI (youtube.com)
Seems quite a few bills are being passed for minorities in the face of AI, minority-serving colleges, whatever.
Who is Thailand's new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra? | DW News (youtube.com)
50k Thai voters get 10k baht in a digital wallet? Was this vote purchased?
If she is a puppet, it's not a bad thing. You can grow out of being a puppet. Many people do it that way.
She's 37, so she needs to try to not be swayed by the people around her, and be in control of herself.
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What we know about person detained in what FBI calls an assassination attempt on Trump (youtube.com)
What blame do Democrats have to take for this? for all the violent rhetoric.
It's been a while since I've seen CNN. Perhaps they are useful when it comes to immediate, breaking and developing, action news. Their screen is pretty dramatic.
Golf courses like Mar-a-lago are practiced and prepared for protecting high-target clients.
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Harris' not saying anything about her actual plans but repeating several time that she ‘has a plan' and talking in very broad terms about what she wants to do (insubstantiated claims), while this was obvious to me watching the debate, and obvious to every economic commentator I've seen, some of which joked about how ‘all I know is she ’has a plan' she ‘has a plan.' (sic). Yet maybe it was effective because I talked to someone who (already liberal leaning and anti-Trump strongly, and who consumes only mainstream (liberal) news) said of the debate that Trump didn't say anything about his plans and that Harris did say about her plans. This person told me Harris ‘did have a plan,' but when I said what was her plan, she just had no words on the other end of that question. I agree Trump didn't really outline specifics of his plan during the debate, but I told this person that Trump had been taking every interview, even hostile ones which there had been some, and every podcast, and doing rallies and speeches, and Harris had not done any (or reportedly she recently did her first), and that if elected she would be the first person to be elected president in the US without saying anything about any policy plans. And also that the Democrats didn't even get a chance to pick who they wanted to run (through the regular primary election process). Also, we could note that Trump doesn't need to outline his plans in the debate because he was already president and we know his policies and plans. Anyway, she asked where she could get more unbiased news, and I suggested CNBC, but I doubt CNBC will keep anyone's attention who isn't actively in the market.
LIVE: Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep Endorse Harris in “Unite for America” | N18G (youtube.com)
WATCH LIVE: Harris speaks at campaign event with Oprah in Michigan (youtube.com)
Do any of these celebrity endorsers know any of her policies?
Sheer MAGA panic as George Clooney talks 'Pres Harris' (youtube.com)
Dave Portnoy | The All-In Interview (youtube.com)
Portnoy says that if you say anything that is contrary to the party views of either side they'll equally jump down your throat. But they'll also forget really quick if you start saying something on the party line again. ‘They’re not to firm. It's just what you said last.'
AOC used the phrase ‘a world to win’ which E Weinstein sees as referring to Marx and wanting a blank state. He mentioned ‘What China had to do to get this’ and what governments do with doctors and teachers and educated people when they do this move.
Why Does Kamala Harris Keep Repeating This Quote? - Eric Weinstein (youtube.com)
He says Harris is smarter than she seems to people. I've also noted his point that Bush Jr was at least somewhat smarter than what he showed as a president, but I don't know if Harris is so sophisticated that she could flawlessly appear less intelligent (in more complicated things than what Bush did was just appear Hokey and clumsy).
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Weinstein said the US democratic system is to prune populists from candidacy and arrive at two candidates both acceptable to what we might call the Deep State. They can afford an election that way, despite their preexisting agreements being at risk to a real democratic vote. Pre-susbscribed to the order, they're asked to mouth commitments before they're elected.
‘I think Kamala has communism in her appeal. It may not be native to her, but I know that the under-30 crowd is playing with like neo-Marxian ideas. And I’ve been told by the Democratic Party, ‘We need their votes. Don't worry. They won't get anywhere inside the party. We just let them mouth off and they don't get any legislation. ... Of course we're hypocritical. We're courting communists. We need the votes to win. But ... they won't be able to do any damage if we are elected.' Eric Weinstein
Amalgams. Part of Harris is continuing the Carried-Interest tax exemption. Another part is portraying prejudice against radical Islam as bigotry and Islamophobia but they're just another religeon like any other and treated meanly.
Weinstein said he was told not to worry, that Biden isn't in power, that they have a great team who makes decisions and if you knew who they were you'd be really glad because they're much better than Biden.
youtube.com
There's one deep state party, said Jeffrey Sachs, on Cheney endorsing Harris. Trump has vowed that this time, although he wanted to last time, he will beat the deep state, but will he? or is this just part of the deep state plan?
What is the Deep State? The administrative state, said Meersheimer, since 1992 or before. Beurocrats at the various levels who become established in the Pentagon, intelliegence community, you name it, and they end up pushing a particular foreign policy, which both D and R push. ‘When Trump didn’t agree they found a way to trick him.' The policy is to maximize power, to be global hegemon. Every decision always leans in the same way, power. The people really believe in it, it's not cynical. They want all States to be in support of the US, they want the right of way. They don't actually believe in state building, or they would have to be so incompetant. Sometimes US allies with tyrants, like Stalin during Hitler. When US interferes, it's because they view it as a power situation for the US, even if they define it as defending something. US uses cynical bullshit to rationalize what they do. It's always on false pretenses, it always cheats the UNSC or whatever and convince them it's a security issue.
US Taxpayers Are FUNDING Censorship On Behalf Of State Department: Matt Taibbi (youtube.com)
Why Did Scientific American Endorse Kamala Harris? - Ben Shapiro (youtube.com)
youtube.com
‘Fort Bragg Cartel’.
In Helmand province. Taliban eradicated the poppy crop (and herion labs) in 2022, a repeat of what they did in 2001.
We always heard in the early 2000s that Taliban were narco-terrorists and responsible. He says there's no evidence of this. No Taliban leader, according to evidence this guy says. It seems they often made edicts banning their members from using or participating in drugs. Everyone in the government and important companies during US occupation profitted directly or indirectly from drug trade, he says.
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How Progressive New Zealand Shifted Right | Foreign Correspondent (youtube.com)
Out with Jocinda (Labour), in with Luxon (Naitonal).
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban: Our place in the world depends on our ability to invest in AI (youtube.com)
Taxes on stock buybacks as an option. Or companies will reinvent or do dividends (which are tax free for Americans who make less than 80).
Cuban makes strong arguments for Harris. I would like to see him debate without time limits, and with time for point and counterpoint, with someone who has a lot of facts at hand.
youtube.com
Decent chance Harris wins on these unsubstantiated promises, which clash with past actoins and statements for her entire career. It seems to work each time on the commons. It sounds nice. It's just what they've wanted and want to hear. They like to believe it, so they do. Not more complicated a phenomenon than that perhaps.
July pt2, Texas governor's border, new immigrant vote
#Texas #Constitution
New immigrants vote Democrat. Undocumented immigrants said to be (Tucker) 22m, not the reported 11m. Dems want to give them voting rights.
Republicans are neocons and ‘want to go to war’ but Trump and RFK are against illegal immigration and against foreign wars, and they're crushing it in the polls, because Americans also don't want illegal immigration or to be in foreign wars, in the majority.
July pt1, Crazy French election, Modi unpopularity, Pent-up reform
France had a crazy election, where Macron made deals with a ton of reg ... to have them strategically drop out at the right time so that a minority candidate (NPF, a group of leftist candidates) could win (not really representing a fair vote of what the people wanted). His policies are not what democracy in France wanted (they wanted instead reforms on immigration, one version of retirement benefits, tax, workweek hours, etc), but through this manipulation of the political system France ended up with this result.
#France
India also lost magority (due to unpopularity of Modi's more recent ideas/policies.
#India
There is a pent-up demand for reform in politics and policies, for everyone. It feels to people corrupt, rigged, that the system doesn't work, and it's resistent to reform. In the past socialism has won (after WWI). Looking for a nationalist populist solution (in France the nationalist populist candidate (LePen) did win, but the system's desire to hand leadership to the NLP won. Conspiracy.
US unemployment is at a 50-year low, wages are beating inflation (so far, but could also be driving inflation), inflation down from 9% to 3% (although pushed up to 9% which is not a popular policy), stock market at high (although possible bubble with AI, forstalled recession expected in 2019, forstalled because of policy of mass-printing money, lack of new products), no Americans currently in hot war). Jcal pointed these out for Democrats' case. Parenthesis mine.
Did the complicity just want to get Biden across the line, then have him or Harris, either way easy to puppet?
AMERICA IS PISSED OFF. STOP WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD (youtube.com)
There's a collection of clips of Dems using strong, perhaps violent language against Trump in the second half of this video.
There is a lot of bold talk now about the government, agencies, institutions, 'incompetent', ‘no accountability’, ‘no one fires anyone anymore and no one quits'. Seems a bit of an InconvenientTruth thing. But maybe it just rolled on because everyone stayed comfortable. There were no big consequences, so the low standards were allowed. But perhaps now there is a bit of take-notice trend going on, and there might acutally be housecleaning.
Project 2025: The Radical Conservative Plan to Reshape America Under Trump | WSJ (youtube.com)
The Heritage Foundation. The manual a (R) 'government in waiting.'
Vs the administrative ‘deep’ state, to remove ‘radical leftist’ administrators, turn FBI into a political task force accountable to the pres. FBI has never been run by a Dem. The pres should be the one directing the DoJ even if that means he won't be investigated (will they attack pres' political enemies?). Trump emphases loyalty. Applicants will complete an online course in Conservative values. We want competant people to be 'prepared for the specific job that they will have.' Closing border, mass deportation project. Pres will have more powers than previous presidents. These policies will attract lawsuits because Congress must approve changes to agencies. Dictator's dream. ‘Woke’ and ‘radical’ words appear several times. Block gender surgury for younger people.
...
The new Republican party that Trump has shaped in his image. Many older Republicans no longer feel it's recognizeable.
Trump nominated JD Vance for VP. Vance in 2016 during the fame for his memoir was a Conservative but against Trump, but during his Senate campaign in 2021, he started supporting Trump. Maybe there are some people who don't like Trump but support him only because his policies are the ones they want. The pick prefers white working class appeal to minority race appeal. Vance is 39.
Blackstone - Trump
hedgefollow.com
Lots of utilities and energy companies. $23b.
BlackRock - Biden
hedgefollow.com
BigTech, consumer discretionary, then some financials. Pretty balanced. $4.3t. Also all the NATO specifications trapped-market companies NGrummond, Ratheon, Lockheed.
Fairly opposite portfolios.
...
The Left no longer talks about government agencies as they used to. That's now considered Trump's take on the Deep State. Maybe Leftists will take a bit of an issue with the DHS if they're too hard on migrants. They don't talk about it. Greenald used to be of the Left and since Trump is now sort of of the Trump Right. Free Speech now codes as a fascist value. Neocons used to be a sort of enemy of Leftists and now leading Leftists are neocons. So when people say to Greenwald ‘Why did you change?’ ... Left Liberalism and the values and actions that had defined it changed. Conservatives now appreciate Greenwald's free speech advocacy and criticism of the Deep State, and there is a new alliance, new allies.
ACLU came out of the communist prejudice, causing people to not be able to pursue their careers because they were communists. ... Skokie caused ACLU's supporters to cut off funding etc. ... ACLU started going after Trump and millions of dollars flooded in. ACLU also became staffed with people who didn't seem to even really know what the organization was famous for (things like Skokie) and when the ACLU did a defense of white nationalists, there was an uproar among their staff who were doing LGBQ and immigrant things and they were like ‘Why are we defending white nationalists and their free speech rights?!', after which the ALCU put out a statement saying in the future they were going to weigh free speech rights versus societal harms.
Trump Suggests Taiwan Should Pay US for Protection (youtube.com)
#Taiwan
This could be just to weaken China's negotiating position.
#IR
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (2020 Remaster) [Full Album] (youtube.com)
#China
Europe also putting tariffs (on EVs), he said.
‘Tariffs are good for negotiation.’
The main problem with China growth is the property problem, he said.
...
China CCP not in a position to be able to trust their own military in order to possibly invade Taiwan, Rutledge said (with corruption scandals and removal of two top party members of government).
Trump: Will allow Fed Chair Powell to serve out term if elected (youtube.com)
Vivek Ramaswamy pledges support to Trump at RNC: 'Success is unifying' (youtube.com)
Trump Assassination Attempt Emergency Podcast | The Tim Dillon Show #400 (youtube.com)
Silicon Valley elites back Trump (youtube.com)
He apologized to friends and family for supporting Trump, and said it was best for his primary concern, Little Tech.
Right after the assassination attempt, which has been the main headline all week for the ?incompetence?, Trump put up his fist in the air and said to ‘Fight’ to the crowd, partially at least to show he was OK. The crowd chanted ‘USA’. Many have commented on how much of an iconic image it is. Some have said he won the election at that moment, and it no longer matters if Biden swaps out. For sure, it does present an image of someone most Americans will feel they want to be their leader.
How the Anti-Biden Democrat Surge Unfolded Over 25 Days | WSJ (youtube.com)
I'm only going to put a video like this here once, but this is WSJ using a really crappy AI to read their script on the video. I never watch anything if I hear it using AI narration. But this is WSJ whose parent company DowJone which is in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
npr.org Priority for quality news?
#Journalism
...
The Biden news, though, shows the value of regular public debates. Biden had been shielded largely from interviews even, nevermind debates with challengers, and his party controls the magority of Social Media and news. And of course the value of (real) journalism.
So now the race is back on. We don't know who will get to run or the process the Dems will use to pick.
Seeing people discuss this is not attractive though. Most the sense of glee and victory is palpable, dems and republicans and independents. Also part of this, support for Trump and things he might do for them is becomming somewhat blind. Do people, even the sharpest ones I watch on pods, not remember that Trump uses manipulation and perhaps lies to get his way? and that things he says are not promises in the sense they are when most public figures talk.
A lot of what Trump has said in the last couple months has been really strong. New and seemingly sensible ideas, a break from ‘woke’-basis decisionmaking and policies, a Western leader actually playing for their own team (America in this case). But these have only so far been stated. He has not talked about, and maybe has no learning on, human and civil rights. He did not free Assange.
What has been so popular from his statements are that he will secure the border wall with Mexico, which many want for various economic, social and cultural reasons. He will close the Department of Education (new Departments are constantly added to the Federal government). He will modify the CIA, which most Americans seem to hate and distrust, with a lot of evidence over decades to back up their position, and perhaps other agencies, which most Americans also seem to hate and distrust and generally believe have create a ‘manegerial' class, comparable perhaps to the Deep State, which tends to act in its own self interest to the detriment of American society.
He also happens to have wound up in a position where his election will probably contribute to greater free speech rights and less of the harms we're familiar with that come from Social Media giants, just because those were all owned by the other party who used them in aggressive ways and cancelled and banned him and other famous people without justification. These companies are all majorly owned by the BlackRock, and Trump uses Blackstone. Also, perhaps his torturous (I would say) exerience with unjust lawfare from the Dems will cause him to do some nice reforms or policy to inprove justice.
It seems like if he is elected, a lot will seem to be happening really fast for a while, and a lot of big changes, which America and the world have been craving and famished for for decades, a lot of things they've just seen pile up and pile up, get worse and worse and no one seems able or even willing to do anything about them.
However, exuberance and one-sided party support has well-understood consequences, and can result quickly in harms, and with everyone seemingly on one side, and it happening quick, there might not be proper checks on things. Maybe there will a period where a lot of positive changes happen and some negative, but which blindly and aggressively lead to negative consequences, ala Hitler, who also rose in an exuberant, populist fashion, and who also didn't seem to have any grounding in human rights, civil rights, humility, working together, respecting others and their differences, etc.
Another interesting point about Trump is that he really has tried and eventually succeeded at a lot of things. He has no harmful vices (people say ‘women only’ but women is not a vice, as much as detractors would like it to be). But in this thing, he won the first time, surprising everyone, on his popularity. People liked what he said and who he was, and this also was not known beforehand. Then he was overcome by the Dems who proceeded to use his policies and acted in what many Americans consider highly negative ways for 4 years, and now he's back, and I think he will have more confidence, and if he wins, he will have such great security in his position and his ideas, and in the understanding that he can do unsuspected things, new things, things people don't believe are possible given the opposition or apathy, but he's seen he can do them, and that even if he does them and his detractors say he's wrong, if they get power over him they just do his ideas too. It really is a great example of overcoming difficulty to succeed, basically a hero-leader trajectory.
Another key point is that a lot of opposition to him is false. 50% of Americans (and I've seen Canadians do the exact same thing, because they have Democratic news almost exclusively, too) hate Trump but can't really tell you why. ‘He’s a criminal. He should already be in jail,' but if you ask them criminal for what? in jail under what charge, they will get frustrated with you immediatly and say ‘everyone knows that!’ but won't actually be able to site anything at all, not one thing. They'll say he should be in jail for things which he was not even on trial for, and definiately not the thing he was charged with, because the news presents these stories in such a way as to mix their passionate charges against him with the factual ones. They think everyone thinks this, and that there are ‘lots of things' that support their statements, but it's purely because they only are exposed to one-sided party news. This is effective, obviously, but also obviously, now we see a breaking point, and perhaps all these people will quickly forget they ever had any opposition to Trump and become his supporters.
The true charged against Trump are that he's manipulative and prehaps a liar. Neither is illegal, but neither are good qualities in a leader (or anyone in society). He has no serious competition though, because even with his faults, there are only career politicians and similar people who run for leadership in the West, who are in a system that doesn't permit anyone who is not willing to compromise with the party's interests. We saw the Dems not accept RFK. He's too outside the system. It has nothing to do with his quality as a leader or decision-maker. This is funny, too, because if they took him on now, wouldn't they capture a lot of the Independent vote, and some of the Republican vote? However, he's not acceptable to the party.
“The consulting industry has infantilised government” - Mariana Mazzucato on taking back control (youtube.com)
‘Will we know what is a good contract or a bad one? Will we know who to work with?' Will government understanding become captured?
Shapiro on CNN. Headlines Shapiro was told it's not a time when a Jew could get that post (decision-making with all that's happening in Gaza, that Jewish leadership would be very polarizing) of VP. Large Muslim and Arab population in Michigan. ... When JFK ran it was a big deal that he was Catholic ‘Would he be loyal to the US or to the Vatican?’
Economics
April week 1, up until April 3
Despite overvaluations, the market kept going up, and even those who knew about previous market cycles said, ‘We just gotta play.’ There wasn't any doubt priced in. Enthusiasm at 21x forward.
Fundstrat's Tom Lee: Yesterday's selloff was an 'overreaction' (youtube.com)
Now people are considering taking Trump tariffs seriously. Trump put, Tesla down 15% in a day and on TruthSocial Trump talks about Tesla.
Rage selling, even institutions maybe push a button and liquidate.
Whatever money is invested in crypto is money you can't invest in production, in real investments, so if US becomes crypto king it's sort of institutionalizing weak asset allocation, not real wealth creation. Peter Schiff.
Digital tokens have no value.
Between 1789 and 1920s (1913 creation of Fed), dollar was a weight of gold, $20 an ounce. The dollar maintained its value for 120 years, and over that 120 years the general price of things was reduced 50%, so people had stable prices and consistently falling prices.
You could, as a bank, issue a crypto interchangeable in gold. A gold token through that institution. Peter Schiff. A commodity base would cause politicians to give up control. Gold keeps politicians honest, they can't buy votes or micromanage the economy with interest rates or money supply.
Gold doesn't require anyone to have confidence in it. It doesn't matter. It holds its value nomatter what. Bitcoin relies on confidence.
‘I think if we had a pure free market, Bitcoin would lose.’ Currently, the government prevents competition with KYC, AML, government makes it so expensive you can't use alternatives to its fiat. Ultimate rentseeking. The polzi would fail. Fraud.
‘The way a lot of the inflation entered the system through the QE mechanism was though the financial markets. So the prices that were most impacted initially were asset prices, so inflation was pushing up stocks, real estate, bond prices, moreso than consumer prices.’
You probalby have to double the CPI print to find out what's really happening. The print is 9%, so really it's probably 18% inflation.
The US economy is over-rated, said Schiff. If it was really so great, it'd run trade surplusses, not deficits. It'd be the biggest creditor nation, not the biggest debtor nation.
Canada to impose 25% reciprocal tariffs on $20.7 billion in U.S. imports (youtube.com)
Why these stocks are hitting new highs (youtube.com)
70% of global savings went into US stocks in 2024. Germany's gonna raise interest rates, boom, I want my money back.
Random house on 4 acres in Miami, $64m. For no real reason. So if the market is caused to reappraise housing values (and they go down 30% or 40%), and all Americans can then suddenly buy a house, that will make Americans feel quite a bit like they are part of this, the American Dream, they can become wealthy. Re consider asset prices. Mortgage cost also goes down. Chamath. You want as many Americans as possible invested in American exceptionalism. That's why crypto is so popular, because anybody can get a piece of it, can buy it. Capitalism is bad when you're left behind.
‘You don’t need a sovereign wealth fund. We already have one. It's called the stock market.'
The Middle Class since 1971 (off gold standard) arbitraged the market (bought stocks while everyone else had to hold bonds), benefitted. If everyone had been able to invest in the market, in American companies and American enterprise, since then, everyone would have benefitted instead. Friedburg. ‘There’s too much risk.' ‘We need more practical thinking.’ Americans like risk anyway. Instead of just a dollar amount when people check their 401k, they would see all the companies they own.
More than 20k companies make more than $1b a year. S&P is just the best of them.
'That's The Ponzi Scheme': John Larson Warns Against Privatization Of Social Security (youtube.com)
‘We’ve already started lowering prices,’ billionaire CEO says on oil and grocery costs (youtube.com)
Tariff war brings hope and fear to Southeast AsiaーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Chinese import goods sell for 30% less than Thai, intense competition and how to keep labor in Thailand?
Soaring food prices push up Japan's CPIーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Super Investor Bill Ackman - Underperforming in 2025 (youtube.com)
US has created policies that cause increase in the cost of houses, and that causes people to think their net worth is increasing simply because they own a house, but it's not really. And it restricts making new housing.
The Fed's Latest Forecast: Slower Growth, Higher Inflation (youtube.com)
Surprising the propaganda-believers everywhere.
How the Department of Education spent $268 billion last year (youtube.com)
Inference spending. There will be a slowdown in training spending and you won't have inference spending for Siri or whatever. Other people will spend on AI but big buyers like China have pre-bought expecting sanctions. So on the other side of that buying sales will appear down.
Tokenized Treasury Market, Stablecoin Legislation | Bloomberg Crypto 03/25/2025 (youtube.com)
Some say tokenizing stocks and bonds would open investing up to everyone. This opens up 24/7 trading, ?negates dividends because you don't have to wait?. Does this internationalize democratized investing? because currently if you're not in the US you can't trade on Shwabb or Robinhood and get no-fee trading etc. Canada, for example, doesn't have an updated stock trading system available.
Trump office preparing for stablecoin. This will perhaps harm local banks, because if you hold stable coin, you're not holding dollars, and the stablecoin is exchangeable with the Federal bank only?
Also, in this video, in the second segment, we have an example of a smart black American man in economics. Oh, he's from PR, lol.
Bloomberg also had Meltem Demirors on, not that smart women are rare on economics news at all, but still, she's a good one even in that class. From Turkish parents in Netherlands but educated in Michigan.
Bloomberg, at least today, doing good on their finding of guests. #journalism
'Who else is left to buy?'
Data that usually warns of a recession just had its worst reading in 12 years (youtube.com)
But a lot of experts say they do not expect recession. There are lots of professional investors buying new stocks this week. Many investors are saying the bottom is in for the dip.
Delinquincy rates for 90days or more are highest in 14 years. But not in a recession.
UBS' Michael Lasser on Family Dollar: It's very difficult to turn around an underperforming retailer (youtube.com)
They're selling their stores.
Investors should hedge their equities with bonds and gold right now, says UBS' Evan Brown (youtube.com)
Soft data and hard data on the consumer hasn't really matched up, past couple years. Soft has shown nervous consumer, but hard data has shown the consumer has been spending.
Bitcoin has worked more in theory than in practice these days in terms of diversification effects. It trades, correlation wise, more like a risk asset. Ie it does whatever the Mag7/BigTech does.
We went from only invest in US to you gotta invest in Europe and Asia.
CNBC data crunched jobs data. In 2024, 80% of all job growth was government and government-adjacent sectors. Most of that was private education and healthcare sector (50% of it) and then local government, state government, and the smallest, just 4%, being federal government. But a lot of that was a ‘bounce back to trend’ and are now near their 10-year average, after 2 or 3 years of less hiring during the government panemic measures.
Lululemon down, reportedly the ‘luxury consumer.’
Will tariffs limit competition and thereby limit productivity improvements? Innovation?
‘The market has become the arbiter of these various policies and the nature by which we’re getting information on these policies. We're not getting forward looking perspectives from the Fed ... but we are seeing it in the data.' Liz Sonders
China is trying to make a better Nvidia. People think it's 5 or 10 years away.
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Actual growth slowdown will likely be worse than feared, says Andy Constan (youtube.com)
Andy Constan, adding shorts on any rally.
He thinks that, with QT2.0, the Fed has extended their balance sheet (through reinvestment policy), and now to bring it back in they will buy fewer or no bond LT treasuries, forcing the Treasury to issue that amount (that the Fed would have bought) into the marketplace, increasing the marketplaces of coupon bonds, and the private sector will have to absorb that.
$20b of 10-year equivalent WAM per month for 5 years, absorbed by the marketplace. To get weighted average maturity to 5 years (currently it's at 8 years), to get to the 2008 level. ‘Asset liability matching.’
He doesn't know why they bought MBS during the Pandemic Measures, given the housing market then.
Xai bought Twitter for $33b, and Musk values Xai at $80b.
Thousands of layoffs "nearly inevitable" as L.A. faces $1 billion budget shortfall (youtube.com)
LA not allowed to run a deficit.
$300m decrease in revenue, they mark down as due to Federal government decisions, like immigration, which are inflationary.
Most of it is reduction in collection of taxes from businesses and home sales.
Maybe consolidation of deparments. Reduction in employee benefits.
...
China will continue to make free, opensource, consumer-friendly, developer-friendly AI, copying and improving and scaling anything done in the West, to destroy profits for Western tech and chip companies. China will make money off AI-enabled devices and widgets. If China destroys the software and only does hardware, who could compete? They can build drones, or robots, or phones.
Trump admin considers tax increase for rich to pay for no tax on tips (youtube.com)
No tax on tips is basically allowing one type of black market work. They work, they get paid, but they don't pay taxes. Nevada voted though.
Ireland has a $60t surplus while US has a $2t deficit, because Ireland has ‘all America’s IP', all the BigTech companies are based there for tax purposes.
Markets could have the 'right pieces' for a bottom this week, says Fundstrat's Tom Lee (youtube.com)
‘Some have even reverted to voice trading.’ Price updates during volatility, changes in liquidity because FX takes place on many markets and reservess are held inside banks more. ‘Relationships-driven.’
Tariffs will lead to higher commodity prices, particularly raw commodities, said Bookvar.
Pres. Trump signing EO to regulate live entertainment ticketing industry (youtube.com)
Price guaging. Anti-competition. He had Kid Rock (wearing a red suit) in the Oval while signing the EO. Bots get all the good tickets and markup the prices 300% or 400%, and artists get none of that.
Hooters has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Trump Family Bitcoin Mining Venture | Bloomberg Crypto 04/01/2025 (youtube.com)
Visa offers Apple $100 million to take over for Mastercard: Report (youtube.com)
If the right balance (the right percentages) was found, tariffs instead of taxes might result in the same consumption, but more local production.
Trump Tariff Announcement | Live Special 'Balance of Power' (youtube.com)
Initially a slight rally, upon talk of 10%, but then higher tariffs were explained, and no exemptions, which reversed and it was down a bit.
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Apr2, ‘Liberation Day’
Trump tariffs spark global sell-off (youtube.com)
Some of this must be more-expensive red, but a lot is uncertainty red. No one has any idea what this means, how its going to play out, how serious the tariffs are, if they'll be modified and if so raised or lowered.
Only Utilities and Consumer Defensive sectors were green. Telecom was alright, insurance.
European markets down by around 2%. Japan down two and a half. Hang Seng -1.5. Shanghai only down -.25. Taiwan slightly up.
Anecdotally, Becky talked about a friend of hers who moved her high end sweater company out of China to Cambodia, but now there's tariffs there. Apple moved out of China to India, Vietnam, etc.
A lot of garment manufacturers have shifted out of China in the past couple years. But China has a 54% tariff ostensibly now, while Vietnam is 46% and Cambodia is 49%. It takes a company 3-5 years to make that move. So if they're going to move again, they would need to know what tariffs would be like in 3-5 years.
35% of footwear sold in the US is made in Vietnam, second behind China.
On CNBC there was some argument among the hosts, where some were saying how the US consumer was the consumer of the world's goods, but that was because Americans have the money, partially because the other countries don't have the money and don't make choices about their purchased except what is cheapest. But importing cheaper goods always had a price in the US, which was paid by the lower working class, who didn't make money from production of the goods consumed. The K-mart class. Santelli ended with ‘Let people buy American' nomatter what. Other hosts brought up good points too, but I think this has always been correct and known but preffered to ignore because that's not where the big money is, and maybe that's not where the global domination is.
Lutnick argued that all the countries charge a VAT or consumption charge, but then if they turn around and sell really cheap energy to their steel companies, then their steel companies outcompete US ones and US ones fold or flail and can't defend the US in a war, or they give it back as a subsidy to the car manufacturers there which means US can't compete. It's not just about tariffs.
Watch CNBC's full interview with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (youtube.com)
Andrew tries to ask tougher questions. Lutnick tries to use calming tones in his speech. ‘If you understood ...' and similar he said a few times. He didn't hold up well against the questions of all the CNBC hosts, it seemed. His points are good and fine but don't answer the economics questions. It could of course be that people haven't really let these considerations sink and and they're just on a different page right now. I mean, it should seem unusual, shouldn't it? that if you want to start a company you immediately look at a cheap country to manufacture and intend to export it all to the US (and Europe) to sell, because that's how you make the big profits. ‘Much much’ he said a lot, too. Why not just use these once? And he keeps saying (in the few interviews), ‘I mean come on!’. I think that US opinion of Lutnick might not turn out so positive, although the All-In pod were stoked about his interview with Chamath and Friedburg (the least confrontational of the bunch, though). His way of interacting seems not really straightforward. The news hosts ask questions, but he doesn't speak or speak directly to these questions really have. He just goes back to his talking points, but seems to say these things in a kind of condescending tone (although it doesn't seem he's being really condescending). I don't know if this type of figure will be accepted well by Northerners. He also seems to refer to everything applying agency to ‘the President’, which on the one hand is correct to do because he's representing the President, but it seems he's speaking his own book, and it seems somewhat doubtful that Trump would have ever initiated or originated these actual policies, and usually even cabinet members speak from their own beliefs and agency in a different way.
‘Everybody’s going to move their factories here.' ‘Mechanics who fix robots.’ He talked about robots staffing the factories.
Is this at all ‘Republican’? Is this ‘Democrat’? Taxes and improved consideration for the working class.
Watch CNBC's full interview with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (youtube.com)
He went on Bloomberg also.
‘The non-tariff trade barriers are the difference.’
He made a strong point that China, some products, have an additional 25% tariff, and China could remove that tariff by one phone call from Xi saying they wouldn't manufacture Fentanil anymore, or something. And he said you had to wonder why they don't make at least that one phone call.
‘Sure, importers are going to have a tough time figuring out what to do, because they went out and found the cheapest production in the world.’
March week2, 401k-ers in bear market, Tech holds Bitcoin, the Central Bank claim, uncertainty, inventory, gold trades like risk, trade wars US, super high profitable MongoDB, retail investors sell, cost of immigration in institutions, DOGE, new Trump America?
Dividends. For 401k-ers, it might not be as easy as just putting your money in a broad market fund like past years, because mag7 are 30% of the S&P so it they don't perform your portfolio doesn't. Have to be more specific.
The aversion to bonds is over, says Goldman's Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo (youtube.com)
Bitcoin down a bit, a combination of BigTech and Nvidia down, mostly because of Nvidia (which beat but not enough), and also because Bybit or some cryptoexchange lost something like a billion or so to a hack (blamed on NK hackers, but it could just have well have been US government, we have no idea and many people could have an interest in Bitcoin losing adherents). Other segments were green today, but the S&P hasn't been so confident lately. I sold out of most of my positions a week or two ago and closed all of the remainders (Bitcoin and some small holdings) a few days ago.
How it is reported is North Korean Hackers Just Tricked a CEO Out of $1.5 Billion (youtube.com)
Jobless claims spike, in worrisome sign for the US labor market (youtube.com)
Nvidia has become a risk-off trade: Portfolio manager (youtube.com)
Price Is Ultimate Fundamental Right Now: 3-Minute MLIV (youtube.com)
Very recently price was ignored, and all that mattered was being a trendy stock.
The Case for Immediately Closing the Central Bank (youtube.com)
The money that the central bank uses is really a claim. (Money is not debt.) It's a claim on the assets that it owns and is on its balance sheet. The money is also backed by these assets. All that really determines the value of fiat money is the demand for it, its expected purchasing power, the supply of units. If you ‘took a chainsaw’ to the central bank of Argentina, you would turn a very bad currency (or possibly zombie currency, forced to hold and use because of government policy) immediately into a very good, anti-inflationary currency. You force shortterm restraint on the government policy.
Dollarization in Argentina would put them subject to the US Fed. It's not that difficult to reverse a dollarization, the government just introduces their new fiat currency.
‘When you have a monetary policy, it needs to be ethical. You cannot exploit people.’
If people decide they don't want to use it anymore, it loses all its value. But if you don't want to use gold, you can still sell it for industrial purposes or whatever.
Housing market is in a 'deep freeze,' says Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi (youtube.com)
Pending home sales are record low. Origination volume.
If somone sells now, they sell their home with a mortgage of 4% and buy a home with 6%. It doesn't make economic sense. Under 6% or like 5% and things are expected to normalize.
GDP now tracking at 1% GDP growth (3% in recent years).
How can businesses continue to plan and do business if they don't know what tariffs, how much, what countries, what products, how high? Also, since the tariffs are executive and not legislative, they can bounce back and forth at a moments notice. Doing business decisions, you measure cost of capital versus a calculation of future earnings, but all the values in future earnings are uncertain.
It may turn out that Trump was expected to be great for business and that he watches the stock market, people think he measures himself against it. But it might turn out he doesn't make corporations easier and richer to run, but instead does the real ‘prosperity’ thing of distributed benefit of government.
Rocky start to 2025 housing market (youtube.com)
‘It is basically mortgage rates.’ 30-year fixed was over 7% and then did not much, but now has gone down a bit.
Builders are not offering many incentives because they don't do much to influence buyers, because prices are so high.
Inventory is up now, but prices are not going down, which is the opposite of the usual effect of increased inventory.
...
‘Fortress North America.’ Treasury Secretary Bessent said it would be nice if Mexico and Canada put the same tariffs on China.
When does the US economy become the incumbent White House's economy? About 6 months, said Bessent.
He said they might be able to go back to a 2% target.
There may be pre-stocking imports in anticipation of tariffs.
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'Fast Money' traders share their Charts of the Month for February (youtube.com)
Gold trades like a risk asset these days, trades with the market. ... European banks strong, international banks stocks up, like Santander. Quesion of maybe the Chinese consumer is better than thought, so it would be a time to buy if so.
Feb week 4 was a fairly red week, but Friday last hours everything went green. No catalyst, the only thing that had happened in news was Trump-Zelensky spat.
60-day auto loan delinquencies hit all-time high (youtube.com)
Investors Underestimate Trump's Tolerance for Stock Selloff: Soros Chief Investment Officer (youtube.com)
The spring could have huge rallying months, says Fundstrat’s Tom Lee (youtube.com)
The American consumer isn't buying the idea of temporary inflation, says U.S. Bank's Eric Freedman (youtube.com)
Um, 3 years of inflation, you might think you can stop suggesting ‘temporary’.
Walmart considers moving legal home out of Delaware: Semafor (youtube.com)
The longer uncertainty goes on the worse it is for guidance, says SoFi's Liz Young Thomas (youtube.com)
When tariffs being less severe was announced it didn't abate the day's selloff. People thought the exemptions might be more.
They're watching credit spreads, which are only up 0.35% off mid-Febuary low.
'Priced for perfection.'
When Trump was elected there was ‘an overwhelming expectation what was about to happen to the economy.’ People thought it meant pro-growth, pro-cyclical, pro-US politics, but currently there's a trade war with several countries (some unexpected).
MongoDB is being used as an example, because it went down 25% on the day. Super high value, super high momentum, super profitable companies got crowded, some speculate.
The crowding into these high-profit companies has also meant that some really high-quality companies are just getting ignored. All-weather businesses, so it doesn't matter what the administration does.
Lower rates were supposed to be good for equities, and no ratecuts seem more likely than recently.
Investors adopting a sell-the-rally mentality: JPMorgan (youtube.com)
Retail investors pulled out of the market Thursday this week, more than any other day since JPM started monitoring this 10 years ago. Extreme pessimism. ... Also high level of people tapping their 401ks early. Put-call ratio spiked. Market is very thin, so if someone sells the price will go down.
Trueflation, using 2m consumer items, says 1.4% inflation currently.
In the US, illegal immigration over past years hasn't resulted in high employment for them, but it has inceased institutional businesses like healthcare and prisons. For each 10 migrants you might have 1 person working to house, care for, feed them. Wage inflation from this. All inflationary, with EBT cards. Italy had a similar profile with their immigration and their economy seems to be doing better now.
Polymarket now up 38% betting on a recession. Are they as accurate with economics as with politics? People bet hundreds of millions on the elections, but not on the economy.
Friedburg on All-in explained an idea people are talking about, like a 3-legged stool. One, tariffs, which would create inflation on products. Two, tax cuts in the US, and companies start to talk about maybe they can produce the product in the US instead. Three, reducing government spending, which also reduces government workers (30% of the GDP, a smaller number for actual employees and a larger number of people who are imployed indirectly through a result of government spending) so they go into the private workforce.
Gold has outperformed the S&P for the past 5 or 6 years. However, gold still there is no way to analyze it, study it and find out what the fair value of it is.
President Trump addresses stock market turmoil: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
‘Have to do is build a strong country. You can’t really watch the stock market. If you look at China, they have a 100-year perpective. We have a quarter. We go by quarters. And you can't go by that.' Reportedly, Trump is dismissing stock market losses as ‘pain for globalists, not his voter base.’
‘The ideal of the American people isn’t about low prices. It's about other things.' ?
‘And it’s largely about jobs. One conservative economist ... said to me, “Imagine rolling back the clock to 1990, and telling somebody in a small town in the American heartland, ‘Look, in the future your TV will cost 10 times less, but your children are going to have to move out of your town because there won’t be any work for them. Would you take that deal?'” He said 90% would not take that deal, but another question is can you get the jobs back.
...
El-Erian's recession odds have gone from 10% to 20 or 30%. Tariffs, uncertainty dim 2025 outlook: Mohamed El-Erian (youtube.com) US economy still has structural strength. There are promises of regulation and tax cuts and possibility of low energy costs.
Unpredictability is not short term, it's a feature, and tarifs are secular, not cyclical, these are the two main concerns.
‘Complete upending in every single consensus trade.’ Stocks, bonds, currency.
‘The pain is worth the gain’ is maybe the new narrative from the White House.
USMC, to get that classification in the US trade war, you have to just have some US content in your product, so you import something from the US, fabricate it, and send it back, and currently to the admin it doesn't make sense to tariff that because it would be tariffing US producers. So producers might start having a bunch of different levers they can pull.
Question about, in a year, will tariffs create more US jobs and real wage growth?
...
Equity Indexes See Worst Day of 2025 | Closing Bell (youtube.com)
Verison, Altria, IBM hit all-time highs on the same day. Some defensive buying. I noticed a dividend stock ETF was also up a bit when I checked. A lot of people looking at being below the 200-day moving average, and saying ‘a new regime.’ Closing in ‘oversold condition’ for first time in over a year. Utilities and Energy sectors were up around 1%. Also soft drinks and confectioners were up. People buying baby chickens. Tesla worst day since 2020. Would it be different if its CEO was actually working on the company?
Feb week4, Amazon copyright, Visa and X, bonds sold off, but then went down, government debt levels, gold, 'taxes are inflation', Big Short investors bank on Fanny and Freddy Trump Trade, Masa Machine, tariffs, egg shortage, Musk hostile takeover bid for OpenAI, Berkshire earnings and cash
5 years ago.
How Mass Deportations of Immigrants Could Impact the US Economy (youtube.com)
Is It Possible For Trump To Actually Buy Greenland? (youtube.com)
Vancouver Mayor: CITY MUST BUY BITCOIN (youtube.com)
Flipped Economics - How America Made Luxuries Cheap and Living Expensive 🇺🇸 (youtube.com)
Nvidia Loses Record $560 Billion in Market Value (youtube.com)
His VERY Simple Idea is an Amazon Hit (youtube.com)
‘He defeated 500 copycats.’ It took about a month or two after he launched the product on Amazon, with ‘patent pending’, for the copycats to start. It was a Top Seller. He contacted Amazon Brand Registry to remove these listings, since they will take down anything even closely similar, and he got denied within like 20 minutes. So he waited a year to get the patent, and thought that would get him help from Amazon, but nope. So he contacted attorneys, some of them said they'd police the listings and take them down for him, for around $500 a month. Another company, though, would do something like a temporary restraining order, against around 500 copycats, and they go to the court and say their clients patent is being infringed and they need to take action, the court approves and the lawyer goes to Amazon and Walmart and other marketplaces and says these sellers need to have their accounts frozen. And now these account owners have to go through court if they want to push further, but this can result in payments from them to the design patent holder.
An Amazon design patent can be better than a government patent, because Amazon, if they see a similar product, will just take it down, is said, but this guy said that maybe isn't really the case. But without it, you don't have any type of protection, even if you at least have a little original design.
But it seems you can get around the design patent by making improvements on their design.
...
Probably a trillion-dollar question: ‘Can Chinese apps collect that data, or are they collecting it?' ‘Are they breaking US laws?’
Visa and X to partner on peer-to-peer payments for "X money account" (youtube.com)
You don't think this is too much data in one place? Personal views and financial services, should they be in the same dataset? Seems pretty obviously anti-freedom.
Retail investors bought record amount of Nvidia stock in DeepSeek rout
Retail investors bought record amount of Nvidia stock in DeepSeek rout (reuters.com)
Ray Dalio | The All-In Interview (youtube.com)
Fed cut rates, and you'd expect, based on a few decades, for bond buying to go up, but bonds were sold off. Central banks and soverieng wealth funds have shifted to have less bonds and more gold and hard values.
Gold is the third largest reserve currency, after dollars, Euros. Fourth is Yen.
All currencies values are going down relative to gold, bitcoin and other commodities.
All the big countries, USA, China, France, UK are approaching 100% central government debt levels (100% debt to GDP). (Japan has 200% and Germany approaching 50%.)
Adding gold into a portfolio reduces the risk of the portfolio. Have 10-15 uncorrelated bets in a portfolio, according to Dalio. Purely uncorrelated, which is not a retail investor thing just buying different sectors, but an expert thing.
PP terms equities from 1966-1984 negative real return. What is the denomination market value is measured by? What can you buy for that money? How many politicians can I buy with my dollar?
Reminder of when we talked here on L&SJ about Blackstone being behind Trump, with lots of utilities and energy company holdings, while Black Rock was Biden, with BigTech, consumer discretionary, financials, blanced, and some NATO specifications trapped-market companies NGrummond, Ratheon, Lockead.
The faster governments cut, the less they have to cut rates. It's non-linear. Bond markets will react.
Taxes are inflation, because it costs you more. Dalio.
Big fragmentation of states and internationally, Dalio thinks.
Supply and demand cycle, are things going to still be as good in 18 months as currently in the US? There might be a lot of fighting in the midterm elections. Great challenges in the states. A lot of disatisfaction with money and power. Laws, in an environment where might is right, in the US and internationally. No longer any attempt at a cooperative world order, with TWO et al obsolete. Technology war, and maybe increased military spending, which creates a budget issue. Climate will be an economic issue as well as environmental.
Does law work, state by state? Conflicts between the state and federal governments. How do sanctuary cities work?
The problems will be greater as times are less good, and at the same time cooperation on the problems will be less.
You don't have enough money, and you need money to make domestic people happy and also to support international conflict, and there is no UN or WHO or system to make judgements internationally. Polarity to due with wealth and values. And then tech disruptions, where no one, not China or the US, can lose because they'll lose militarily.
'Productivity helps but you have to put it in its place.'
...
SEC Staff Repeals Crypto-Accounting Rule (youtube.com)
Trump vows to scrap income tax (youtube.com)
'Fast Money' in Miami: Big Short traders talk their latest strategy (youtube.com)
They did 60% in 2024. Looking for what trades benefit if Trump wins, like Fanny and Freddy, which like doubled or something, lots of upside, not a lot of downside. Now they're looking at Brazil (10% dividend in the index), and if the USD weakens people will be looking at EM.
Canada’s Billion Dollar Tariff Benefits are Coming (youtube.com)
More fiat taxation socialist beurocracy?
How a weight loss drug might give Denmark leverage in Trumps bid for Greenland | DW News (youtube.com)
Ozempic.
Is Back Market Actually a SCAM? (youtube.com)
Exclusive: Trump set to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada starting on March 1, sources say (reuters.com)
old.reddit.com
The Masa Machine, described yb Travis Kalanick, who was offered money by Masa at one point as an investment. He said Masa tried hard to get him to accept the investment, but he didn't because what Masa has always done is invest, get all your information and then use that with your competitors who he also invests in all of them. He said maybe he should have just accepted it, because maybe you can use the funds as a competitive advantage. If you don't let him invest, that investment money he was going to give you he will instead just give to all your competitors. DeepSeek Panic, US vs China, OpenAI $40B?, and Doge Delivers with Travis Kalanick and David Sacks (youtube.com)
Stocks slump as Trump tariffs trigger trade war | REUTERS (youtube.com)
‘A lose-lose tradewar.’ ‘A new scale for tariffs' (100x more extensive than Biden-era tariffs). Here people will see the change in prices.
It could be something that shows people that a globally integreated economy is better for consumers and companies.
Vanguard silently lowers the expense ratio on 53 ETFs
old.reddit.com
Not really reported on business news?
Canadian products in the US that will show price changes perhaps. Beer and wine, fruits and fruit juices, clothing and shoes, perfume, vegetables.
Everyone is talking about avocados, which come from Mexico, and are a big part of the Superbowl (guacamole).
Goldman Sachs' David Kostin: Sustained tariffs could hit S&P earnings by 2-3% (youtube.com)
... if tariffs are more than an cudgel. Last time, though, the consumer injested it and it wasn't a big deal. Also, the Fed can cut.
European and Asian sentiment about the US is still high.
US companies reinvest much more back into their companies than other places in the world. And LargeCap Tech even more again.
President Trump signs executive order to create sovereign wealth fund (youtube.com)
Socialism?
Large-cap growth is the way to play tariffs, says Annex Wealth'a Brian Jacobsen (youtube.com)
Last time, 2019, largecap did better, often though because they got exeptions from the tariffs, like Apple.
A sovereign wealth fund in the US has some doubters. Often these have been set up by countries that have such a surplus of money they don't know what to do with it, so they invest it this way.
An interesting thing about tariffs is that perhaps it draws a fuzzy border between products that no matter what will be cheaper to manufacture in a different country and products that are currently imported but really they could be made locally or almost could be with a few percentage points of manipulation from the government. If you put a 10% tariff on farm equipment, for example, tractors and such, that come from China, and still those products are way cheaper than local ones, you might say, Well, we should just import those because we can't make them or the big companies (John Deere) won't accept such small profits on theirs, or simply won't make a variety of products (you can buy really small excavators from China for like $6k but if you buy US-made you have to buy a large $150k excavator).
Market Panic Is Just the Start. DeepSeek & NVIDIA are Not the Problem | Martin Shkreli (youtube.com)
Stock market is irrational. Not based on fair market value. How do you trade on that?
US stops accepting parcels from mainland China, Hong Kong (youtube.com)
Google has been spending a lot con R&D? Is that because they're smart? or because they're worried they have no product?
Disney lost 700k subs following price increase (not sure if it was just because Disney is just tapped out on its superhero children's movies).
‘America desperately needs more air traffic controllers’ a headline recently. Interesting point for uncontrollable minimum wage. The jobs that are really required will be understaffed and will necessitate raising wages.
Why thousands of RCMP vehicles are being turned into scrap (youtube.com)
Some with only 30k odos. RCMP used to make $6-8m selling old vehicles. Now pays $1m over the course of a few years to store them. A couple years ago, a guy who had bought one posed as a cop and shot a bunch of people, so any car that looks like a police car is now being scrapped. Because he couldn't do the same thing in a regular car? For me, this would be an argument for chassis that can support different bodies, and just have an official body for official cars. That could perhaps be extended to public services like hydro, because there's a lot of criminals posing as those to gain access to houses, but this is something I've long wanted, and I think a lot of people. A chassis with a setup that suits you (some people want an economical car, some a diesel, some performance) and you can get custom bodies for it (family seating, pickup).
Vanguard Slashes Average Fee to Just 0.07% (youtube.com)
Average is 0.44%.
‘We’re owned by our clients... We gain from scale economy.'
youtube.com
'Tech has been the biggest free lunch in investing.'
US farmers turn to Airbnb to survive agricultural downturn | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Scott Bessent: "We're Going To Monetize The Asset Side Of The US Balance Sheet" (youtube.com)
Isn't that socialism?
Nissan-Honda merger is off, reportedly.
Treasury gold holdings worth closer to $800 billion, says Bleakly's Peter Boockvar (youtube.com)
Trump party is trying to find a way to contain the deficit.
On the books of the Treasury their gold is worth $10m.
China has $1t of surplus and is less and less recycling that in US treasuries and more doing it in gold. Gold's value in world financial situation. This puts a spotlight on value of gold.
Michael Saylor's Strategy bought $742 million more bitcoin amid crypto pullback: CNBC Crypto World (youtube.com)
What Trump's Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Mean for the Metals Market (youtube.com)
Some countries do cheap, by adding subsidies, so we have to make sure things are ‘fair’. Steel stocks up, but they've been really low, and had a serious decline in 2024, because there's still inflation, deglobalization, etc.
Gold Benefits From Policy Damage to US: 3-Minute MLIV (youtube.com)
Why Meta has been on a winning streak (youtube.com)
Efficiency (layoffs, including factchecking). The lightest AI spend among the megacapTech, but they have the best AI narrative, like an AI fitness coach on Facebook or WhatsApp.
This Canadian space company just announced a $1B contract to build satellites (youtube.com)
Coca-Cola sales easily top estimates as global demand rises (youtube.com)
Why Keeping Chickens is a "BAD" Idea | World Egg Crisis (youtube.com)
There's a ‘shortage’ of eggs in supermarkets (supply shock, not systemic), prices are way up in some countries, yet MSM publishes articles on why it's bad for people to keep their own chickens.
Holland saved 100tones of scarce landfill space by giving 2000 households 3 chickens each, to eat their scraps.
Elon Musk is 'throwing sand in the gears' of SoftBank's investment in OpenAI, says Niki Christoff (youtube.com)
He offered under $100b. That means anyone else who wants to buy it, OpenAI have to show why their offer was better than Musk's (if it is a smaller number).
There Is No Meaningful Forward Policy Guidance From Fed, El-Erian Says (youtube.com)
They were maybe going to have service inflation coming down fast enough to offset goods inflation which is no longer going down. Now we are seeing that goods inflation is starting to pick up, and services inflation hasn't come down fast enough.
Fed is amplifying whatever volatility is in the system right now, not being the anchor is ‘should’ be for companies. Because the Fed is data dependent, not forward guiding.
‘We are very close if not already at neutral.' El-Erian.
Has the U.S. hit peak truck and SUV demand? (youtube.com)
Talk this week about inflation perhaps needing more tightening. Not sure if they just baselessly hope, but how can you cool inflation without breaking businesses? That's the generally accepted end of an inflation cycle. Who takes the loss you created by money printing?
At the same time, you can also ask, Who takes the loss for the money you spent on the defecit?
New Details About OpenAI HOSTILE TAKEOVER! (youtube.com)
x.ai signed by Musk, but other people in the offer include Ron Barron and Antonio Gracias. This is a cash offer, not debt funded.
Musk said that if the board of OpenAi stops their process to become a for-profit, he will take his offer off the table.
Even if Musk doesn't want to buy OpenAI, part of the process of attempting to buy it will include him getting to look behind the publicly shown part of OpenAI, read tax reviews, financial projections, key drivers of revenue, etc.
‘This move is richly strategic.’ ‘There’s some chance of this having to go through.' He might walk away. He might block the for-profit process.
Ukrainian and Russian both get their drones from China's DGI, although through different supply chains. And US doesn't have that industry. If US has a war, how are they going to get those?
If you're worried about people losing their doordash jobs to AI, there's going to be factories that need to be built (for utilities).
Meta owns social media distribution: Analyst (youtube.com)
19 days of gains.
NEWS REACTION - Palantir Stock Drops 25% (Buying Opportunity Or Top?!) (youtube.com)
Palantir down 25% in a couple days, after Karp sold a bunch of stock and then their filings came in unimpressive (and expectations that they'll make less from Pentagon contracts).
Why Walmart Is Going After Wealthy Shoppers (youtube.com)
How Private Equity Is Behind Red Lobster And TGI Fridays' Bankruptcies (youtube.com)
LBO, debt servicing paid by restaurant's high cash inflow.
Walmart is down, because, in part, tariffs against Canada and Mexico won't benefit it. But they reported a good quarter.
Bank Of America Warns About Mega Bubble Worse than Dot Com and Nifty Fifty (youtube.com)
Fund managers are very invested. Consumers are ery bullish. Insiders are dumping shares. Companies are buying back at record. Household aggregate financial asset allocation is high. Berkshire is holding record cash and not buying.
The Car Market FLIPPED! Here's What I JUST PAID For A TON OF CARS! (youtube.com)
What's Going On With Used Guitar Prices?! Big Changes for 2025? (youtube.com)
Indonesia-made instead of Mexico or China.
Berkshire operating earnings surge 71% in fourth quarter, cash hoard balloons to record $334 billion (youtube.com)
$325B cashpile, the largest any company in history has every had. (Partially from the selling of BofA and Apple.)
Berkshire paid 5% of all corporate tax (?in USA).
Chip stocks under pressure after reports of possible export controls (youtube.com)
Jan week4, Redistribution coins, crypto what crimes?, Cambodia micro loans, Microstrategy, CAD, USD, Mexico or China
Meta Plans to Cut Roughly 5% of Staff (youtube.com)
Why Walmart Is Making Its Own Premium Products Now | WSJ (youtube.com)
The SEC sued Musk alleging stock fraud.
Stocks post best day in more than two months (youtube.com)
Horizontalish.
Shock Trump Leak Sparks Huge Crypto Price Rally—Boosting Bitcoin, XRP And Solana (forbes.com)
Bitcoin hovers near $100,000 and XRP surges 16% ahead of Trump inauguration: CNBC Crypto World (youtube.com)
Did we find the new way for the class of wealthy and connected people to redistribute money from everyone else? It has proven pretty easy for celebs to make some cash selling anything in their name, whether a crypto token or alcohol or perfume. Politicians, who perhaps have some sway over lawmaking, can raise or lower the values of cryptocurrencies, it seems. Them and those in their circle of people on good terms.
Kind of like insider trading in the 80s and before, but public?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK1nvU3r6Yc
Professional launderers, professional scammers. Money then also goes to agencies and workers to prevent (probably not) and fight (probably, since no worker implements anything like prevention which would put them out of work).
Crypto crime is 0.14% of blockchain transaction ,according to Chainalysis, which is down as a percentage YoY. Crime using crypto is growing but less than global adoption.
He thinks crypto will be used more for crimes that involve a payment, such as illegal sales of animals and chemicals.
Apple Begs Shareholders to Let Them Continue Illegal DEl Policies (youtube.com)
How Illegally Smuggled Gold Is Fueling The U.S. Gold Boom (youtube.com)
China’s Furniture Capital Is Finished! 3,000 Foshan Factories Close Before New Year (youtube.com) (CO)
Trump Launches Blatant SCAM COIN Before His Inauguration! | Bulwark Takes (youtube.com)
Historical grift? If you're not the house then you're the mark.
Melania Trump launches meme coin as crypto conflicts worry experts (theguardian.com)
Cambodia - How microcredit is making the world's poor even poorer | DW Documentary (youtube.com)
Average microloan is $5000 (the largest microloan average globally, according to a Cambodian human rights org, which who knows how reliable this is, I've seen stats provided by this type of org for other tihngs which have no bearing to reality, and there are a lot of orgs in Cambodia). $5000 is a massive amount to be considered micro. You can start a business in Cambodia for much less. One group said they gave girls some skills and $50 loans.
It seems a way for loan sharks to get property cheap, as that is the only collateral their clients have. Some say the loan sharks are Chinese.
DW reports that Cambodians now claim they are victim to ‘predatory loans’. Could we replace that word with ‘free money’ maybe? Or ‘loans without any security’ maybe? The orgs say this results in human rights abuses, trafficking, etc, things Cambodian orgs are specialized in.
‘The topic just got attention in Thailand when the people complain so loud the government has to ban the sale of OPPO.’
A commenter: 'As a 25-year resident of Cambodia, I have seen similar situations all too often.
Part of the problem is the lenders giving loans to those who have land but no income.
Another part is the willingness of uneducated people to borrow now without understanding what repaying it with interest means.
I have helped people get out of debt only for them to immediately go, get another loan and spend it on unproductive things.
Education and regulation are needed.'
Another: 'I can testify as a former Loans Officer for village groups in my country, Uganda for four (4) years; there is no single village or household that I can be proud of that got financially independent or secure as a result of acquiring a loan from the financial institution I worked for. On the contrary, most of the villages we visited and gave people loans were either left too indebted, impoverished or they ran away from their homes for fear of being arrested for defaulting to repay their loans. It's just mere luck that someone benefited from the loan and not from their own input.'
...
‘I think YOLO is how I would describe the administration’s policy now on crypto'. Jcal
Jcal has criticized Microstrategy because what they do may be antithetical to what Bitcoin is supposed to be, since they're taking out loans and trying to corner the market and be the largest shareholder in Bitcoin. Also, taking out loans for something with so much volatility.
Canada dollar down on expectations for a 25% tariff.
Tariff chaos could stifle animal spirits: Economist (youtube.com)
He thinks the dollar will be weaker no matter what. The USD has only been this high twice over 40 years.
Trump meme coin a 'clearing station for bribery': Scaramucci (youtube.com)
Could bitcoin make Michael Saylor the richest man alive? with NYU Stern adjunct professor Tad Smith (youtube.com)
Would that be good even for him? If Bitcoin's main holders held a majority, wouldn't that convince others who want a stable, ethical currency to favor a different one (after the universal adoption phase, which Saylor is perhaps assisting with, is no longer necessary)?
...
Martin: The U.S. economy drives the global economy forward (youtube.com)
Big shift, she said, accross the board (not just US), towards more optimism.
EM had their first good year last year, and Chinese equities outperformed the S&P. If the USD continues to devalue, investers will move money to international, an area of the markets that's only had outflows for a long time.
The Paltry Economics of Drone Warfare (youtube.com)
‘Too cheap for profit’
Andrew Ross Sorkin on the unauthorized launch of 'Sorkincoin' (youtube.com)
There's no one to call and say take this down. It's not like a centralized company where you can say This can't be happening.
There's not even a pretense that is anything behind it. It's just their name and image.
Tariffs could 'backfire' and actually help China, says AEI's Derek Scissors (youtube.com)
Mexico is the biggest trade rival of China. Tarifs on Mexico means Chinese products become more competitive. Also, US would wind up with a bigger trade deficit with China. (Trump may have lost his trade deficit target.)
Criticisms by Gavin Baker and Musk about the $500b funding by Masa for Stargate, detailing that SoftBank has nothing close to that kind of money. Musk traded barbs just a little, it seemed, with Nadella. Financing potential is there though, because investors will perhaps see they can profit from investing.
Masa did $100b profit twice, with BABA and then with ARM, and if he hadn't sold he could have done it also with NVDA.
89. Stargate: Follow the Money, Crypto Gets an EO Boost, TikTok Gets a Lifeline (youtube.com)
Jan week2, Emissions tests, farm banks, housing prices
Will limit key elements going into US companies (like to Boeing and Ratheon), maybe. Uncertainty.
China economy growing 4-5%.
Most People Don't Realize Just HOW Concentrated The Economy Has Become (youtube.com)
Do 12 firms control most business?
Texas drops annual car safety inspections, shaking up auto shops (youtube.com)
Emissions test means a constant stream of cars coming for inspections. Lawmakers felt the laws didn't make roads safer and gave auto shops a license to upsell.
TBS | 14% of PH workforce at risk of being replaced by AI — report (youtube.com)
NYC Congestion Pricing Will Reduce Traffic by 10-20%, MTA Boss Says (youtube.com)
Any responsible person or group who has a physical location to store currency and can protect it, can be a banker. High trust, high distance societies maybe would recover on a local level quicker than places like Venezuela, where there is low trust and close spacing. However, even in Venezuela they could do it if they wanted to.
Dozen eggs being sold for $8.99 in some California stores (youtube.com)
AI startup Anthropic raising $2 billion in funding, valuing it at $60 billion (youtube.com)
Trump Announces $20 Billion Investment in Data Centers by Dubai Billionaire (youtube.com)
TikTok shop rival Whatnot hits $4.97 billion valuation (youtube.com)
First I've heard of it. Non-AI startup. Not now profitable but has a path to profitability. It has been around longer than TikTok.
50% of active real estate supply is 'stale', says SERHANT CEO (youtube.com)
... reflecting different ideas of value between buyers and sellers.
10% more housing inventory (houses for sale) this year. New listings up 8%.
RLTYco is the guys company, which means realtors who sell a house get their commission within 24 hours instead of 6 months later, he said.
Jan week1, Telsa sales, Uber strategy upsets
Apple offers iPhone discounts in China as competition intensifies | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Telsa sales slumped a bit for first time in 9 years. Lots of Chinese competitors, including BYD, which has less ugly cars.
US EV Sales Hit Record of 1.3 Million in 2024 (youtube.com)
Man Made MILLIONS Betting on Trans Athletes?! (youtube.com)
Cargill Fires Almost 10,000 Employees as Food Prices Collapses (youtube.com)
It was cheap to get into the market, then years later it's $100 and you can never get one. Said about Uber by CNBC host.
Dec week4, Mexico tarif economics, Bitcoin and banks, OpenAI privatizing, immigration
Smallcaps have done alright, but still underperforming the S&P. So much scepticism is priced in already.
Chinatowns across the country struggle to stay afloat post-pandemic (youtube.com)
Trump's tariff threat: Impact on the U.S. economy (youtube.com)
The threat to do 25% tarifs on Mex and Can. A third of Mexico's economy is production of things to sell in the US. However, they might have to reduce the control cartels have over the border (fentanil migrants etc).
Maybe a $3000 increase to the price of a $30k vehicle, sold in the US but made in Mexico. WSJ. But the revenue the Fed gets from the tarifs could offset what Americans pay in other ways. Ie tax cut extensions that are coming up as tax cuts are set to expire.
How will it jive with inflation? The less government spends, the less it causes inflation, perhaps.
For the US, exporting less and charging more tariffs for imports might strengthen the US dollar which makes buying foreign goods cheaper. These also make it more attractive to just invest in production in the US rather than in another country.
Mexico has a 16% VAT applied to US imports into Mexico.
For decades America has ‘subsidized foreign production being imported into the US and double-taxed the American goods that are exported.’
...
Why big business is eyeing a China exit I DW News (youtube.com) (DW)
It seems very unlikely that any business, let alone big business, wants to exit a market that has 25% of the population, is very hardworking and industrious, and has a lot of earned money, and is a growing economy, ie people are buying new things all the time.
...
Because at any moment the value of Bitcoin may go to zero, and it is a security for loans from banks, how much does this increase the chance of an economic crash? Of couse, government can offer new currency in such an event, which could be CBDC.
OpenAI announced how they were going to try to become for-profit (a public benefit company which has dual mandata of profits for shareholders and then also whatever their mandate is), with this encouraging piece of language. ‘We once again need to raise more capital than we’d imagined. Investors want to back us but, at this scale of capital, need conventional equity and less structural bespokeness.'
Almost all AI companies have a publicly stated mission. It gives them a bit of a legal shield if there's an AGI situation and you have to pull the plug.
Why The Unemployed Refuse Work Picking Crops - Even If The Pay Is High | Mass Deportation (youtube.com)
An argument for giving legal status to anyone who is willing to work hard jobs where you get up at 5am, drive to a field, and do farmwork.
You can make an economic argument these people pay for themselves in the lower price of production. California produces like 50% of the food for America (or just produce?).
Because of mass immigration without justification or oversight, and often in a way that seems to have tricked the citizens, over the past couple decades, 55% of Americans now favor mass deportation. Mass, which is harmful either in immigration or deportation. Perhaps ‘mass’, though, is the only way citizens can demand policy from a mass of incompetant, unfocused beurocrats.
Welcome to Elontown, USA:anunlikely Texas home base for Musk’s business empire (fortune.com)
Bastrop, 40 minutes from Austin, population 12k, 15min from SpaceX.
Dec week3, Labor inflation, Masa, China factories, Nissan+Honda?
CFO doing a study to see if they can become legal currency again. Unlikely businesses would accept this. Technology might sometime be able to measure value in metals though.
California offering incentives up to $2,000 for electric bikes (youtube.com)
The biggest tax on working class people is inflation, says Strategas' Jason Trennert (youtube.com)
‘Labor, in the first wave of inflatio, alwasy gets left behind. That’s why you're seeing very generous union concessions.' Longshorement getting 62% over 6 years. 'That's not consistent with 2% inflation. ‘You need failure, you need companies to go out of business to have proper capital markets.’
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Trump to announce $100 billion investment in U.S. by firm (youtube.com)
Masayoshi is at Mar-a-Lago.
He also pledged to create 100k jobs.
He's very focussed on AI and maybe AI infrastructure.
Chinese Garment Factories Close en Masse: Most Won’t Survive This Winter (youtube.com)
Owners cashing out, hundreds of companies, according to this report. ... 90k apparel stores, last year like 40 new ones. No real growth. 3k stores closed during that period. Return rate for women's clothing bought online is 80 or 90%, a vlogger said, who looked toward brick and mortar, because online has such a high return rate. And domestic, because tariffs for sales to US.
‘We can no longer prioritize quality, because the market doesn’t allow it,' say some brand manufacturers. Quality low, fast fashion, pushes down the price and selling for more doesn't compete, so people compete with even cheaper quality and cheaper prices, or at least competitively similar. Consumers are unhappy, stop buying as much. Less money, so brands have to compete harder (cheaper yet production, cheaper prices). At some point this cycle is corrected (when companies fold, leaving market share for the remaining ones, is a part. Another part might be brands establishing trust for quality, and consumers pay more to purposefully buy these brands).
Dow logs longest losing streak since 1978 as stocks slide ahead of Fed decision (youtube.com)
UK Economy: Inflation Hits Eight-Month High (youtube.com)
Bruce Richards Says Fed Ended 2% Goal But Can't Admit It (youtube.com)
Why Fed Rate Cuts Aren’t Making Mortgages Cheaper (youtube.com)
Trump Renews Tariff Threats Against India: What Next for US-India Trade? | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
‘It they tax us, we’ll tax them.'
Honda and Nissan weigh a possible merger: Nissan stock surges (youtube.com)
Nissan once known for performance cars, now sort of economy cars. Honda great rep, but don't have the scale to compete with Toyota. Scale is important these days.
US College Closures Set to Soar Amid Prospective Student Slowdown (youtube.com)
US higher ed generates billions. These schools are the largest employer in some rural areas. There's something like 3m teachers.
Less students will be attending. For profit schools might fold.
1.4B$ IMF Loan to El Salvador Fully Explained | What does it mean for Bitcoin? (youtube.com)
Dec week2, Florida condos, China market effects, Azure chatGPT on iPhones, crypto versus banks, Bitcoin as measure, French Hill
I-Team: Amazon counterfeit warnings (youtube.com)
Nashville sees major decreases in rent (youtube.com)
Feds move around $1.92 Billion in Bitcoin from the Silk Road (youtube.com)
10% of Americans consider themselves wealthy (youtube.com)
Florida's condos are mostly a few decades old. This season, normally busy, sales were down 22%, price down 2%, and listings up 60%. 3/4 of condos for sale are over 30 years old and subject to new rules that require owners to get inspections. Pool of buyers now is small. Some buildings are being sold to investors to redevelop.
Condos have fees, and if some residents don't pay their fees that leaves more costs for the others.
$43M on OnlyFans? $4M from ONE dude?! My reaction (youtube.com)
Says she's a virgin. ‘I’m just waiting for the right person.'
Is it attract-cap marketing? Or is this advertising for the company?
I Went On a Date With Sophie Rain (youtube.com)
China Finally Delivers What Market Wanted | Markets in 3 Minutes (youtube.com)
Politburo said they'd stabilize the stock market. Valuations across the market are low. Rates side and fiscal side both liking it. ‘You’ve got great throughout all China. It comes down to how US and China negotiate these deals. ... hard-core negotiations ... but both parties need each other, and that is just the bottom line.'
Hang Seng Index could hit 23,000 in the next six months: Fund Manager (youtube.com)
SpaceX weighs tender offer at roughly US$350 billion valuation (youtube.com)
Most valuable private startup.
Gold rises as China resumes buying (youtube.com)
Goldman Sachs: Clients 'Dusting Off' M&A Playbooks After Trump Win (youtube.com)
Before, they were on sidelines, unsure or nervous. Expected to pick up in 6-12 months.
Subcontracting is the curse of the modern economy (youtube.com)
iPhone's ChatGPT upgrade: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
Microsoft is a quiet winner in this, because all search queries with chatGPT are done in the Azure cloud. Will China approve Apple Intelligence?
If someone with an iPhone uses this chatGPT search (on their iPhone), they get a warning that they are ‘leaving the Apple ecosystem’ ie Apple doesn't guarantee your privacy (for anything you type into its AI thing), especially or at least with the free version. Apparently, you can switch it off. It's the first time Apple is using a tool inside it's device (which Apple users think makes them more secure) that doesn't maintain their data inside Apple (and whatever government agencies they might have deals with), other than Google Search on iPhone.
Cryptocurrencies Are the Future, Eric Trump Says (youtube.com)
He said banks don't work, they run 9-5, and you can trade crypto any time. Banks are lethargic, don't work for everybody, they leave those people behind, they're expensive, they're not inclusive.
He talked about how, travelling in Abu Dhabi, you have to find an ATM and lose 30% to take out $100, when you can take out your phone and send a link.
‘The people who don’t see it are those who are gonna be left behind.'
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Rise of Ransomeware Reveals Cybersecurity Opportunities (youtube.com)
The ultimate two-faced coin?
GM pulls the plug on robotaxi plan (youtube.com)
Weaker Yuan Clearly an Option for China: 3-Minute MLIV (youtube.com)
A weakening Yuan in 2025? to offset the costs of goods shipped abroad ie the increase in price caused by tariffs.
South Korea's Richest Families Face an Investor Revolt (youtube.com)
Cheobols, the engine of growth of Korean economic success over past half century. ‘The reason SKorea is Asia’s fourth largest economy.' Now, some of their MNA plans have been rejected, out of concern for equal terms for all shareholders instead of favoring the few controlling shareholders, and why we've seen a decades-long ‘Korea discount.’
Opposition party wants an even stronger reform agenda, to try to improve corporate governance for chaebols.
GameStop stock pops after posting surprise Q3 profit (youtube.com)
Closing locations, focusing on selling higher-margin goods.
Coffee prices soar to 40-year highs as global growers struggle with extreme weather (youtube.com)
What Fundstrat's Tom Lee expects from the markets in 2025 (youtube.com)
First half up to 7k, his base case, but second half macro risks, tariff, DOGE could slow economy, and 6600 for the full year. 5 out of 5 precedents, since 1880, with two consecutive up 20% markets have a slowdown.
Egg Prices Are Surging, Jobless Claims Rise (youtube.com)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYwQly_m_G4
Texas is looking at a bill to establish a state Bitcoin reserve.
The best policy for bitcoin is to take a hands-off approach, says 'The Bitcoin Standard' author (youtube.com)
Joe remarking on how the US just printed money to buy things, which caused inflation, and the inflation can be measured against bitcoin, which is limited in amount. Gold was that, a hard money (not just jewelry. We can imagine if Silver was rarer maybe it would be the valuable metal). Governents use debt as money, fiat supply has grown 14% per year in all countries (lose half the value stored in money over 5 years, but US or Euro are like half that though in depreciation ie is a bit better than Argentina traditionally). 'Governments can print money and hand it out to people who are not productive.'
Just point out here, though, that yeah your government depreciates the value of your money though spending, but improves the relative position of your country (US) to other countries that can't stimulate their economy during government measures like lockdowns that alter the economy. US was weakened by lockdown but improved its position relative to other countries who couldn't take advantage of the situation as well.
Bitcoin has a 0.8% supply growth per year (then halvings will bring growth to 0.4 then 0.2 etc).
‘Bitcoin is just software. It doesn’t require the legal framework that is required for government money because government money is inextricably linked to government institutions and ... to the Central Bank and to government policy.' ‘I think it’s pretty much regulating itself.'
Rep. French Hill on crypto: We need a market structure for digital assets (youtube.com)
‘It’s become so hard and so expensive to become public, companies are staying private longer and becomming much much larger before they decide to go public. I think that discriminates against entrepreneurs, I think it makes it harder for families and 410k plans ... to have more investment options.' He wants to make community banking competitive again with reductions of regulations and obstacles to capital formation.
‘Have the right regulatory approach for the right risk in the right size institution based on complexity.’ He didn't agree with the move during Biden towards one-size-fits-all, which means less competition and pushes consolidation to the largest banks. ‘Give them more options to compete with the largest banks in the country that have their own IT and AI departments.’
US has more banks than other countries. ‘I don’t believe we have too many banks. I think the market aughta determine how many banks we need accross the country. We have counties that have no physical banking practice. And while on the East and West Coast people can bank on their phone and get a commercial loan on their phone, I have counties in my state where there's no cell service. There's no broadband. And so the idea that you're gonna bank on your phone ... is ridiculous. We need physical distribution of financial services capabilities in many areas of the country where we don't have them.'
This man has been appointed ... He ran a Delta Trust and Banking corporation, CEO, worked in GHWBush White House, worked in Treasury, worked on the Hill. Main priority is equal playing fields for regional banks with big banks. Focussed on setting rules (is it a commodity and when?) for crypto. KRE didn't go up though. ...
Arkansas Rep. French Hill to chair House Financial Services Committee (youtube.com)
Rep. French Hill selected as incoming Financial Services Committee Chair (youtube.com)
Memberships are at 'the core' of Costco's success: Analyst (youtube.com)
Increased membership fees. Higher operating margins. Can invest more in price and wages. Opening 25-30 stores per year. Lots of scaling opportunity in US so don't need to do overseas much. ... More members joined online.
Fighting the Dulling Demand for Diamonds (youtube.com)
Is a tariff a reverse-subsidy? The Chinese equivalent (cheaper plus government injects subsidies to make it temporarily or longer cheaper than anyone could do, no copyright checks, no environmental) makes it look like competing uphill.
10 US States Attempting BITCOIN STRATEGIC RESERVES (Dennis Porter) (youtube.com)
US Steel union concerned about Nippon takeover | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Dec week1, Bitcoin requirements, Korean rent
Microsoft Bitcoin Strategy - A Presentation by Michael Saylor (youtube.com)
‘An asset without counterparty risk.’
What Happens When ALL 21 Million Bitcoin Are Mined? | Michael Saylor (youtube.com)
The overflow energy (from natural resource energy) can be just not used, or could be used to mine bitcoin. Solar and wind grids, they will pay people to take the energy, Saylor said.
Will Bitcoin be banned, copied, or hacked? Does Bitcoin represent sound engineering, ethics, and economics? Saylor. It's difficult to know in only a couple of years. It's not the first such attempt.
Sha256 hashing. Running on a lot of expensive hardware, decentralized, people all over the world running nodes, cost billions every year. Not CPU or GPU that could be attacked by people who have more CPU (Microsoft) or by AI data centers.
The best argument against Bitcoin is if you have a better monetary network, because then all the smart money would use it. Bitcoin currently has electricity power, computer hash power, $700b investment economic power, political power 100ks of people.
People sell their weak assets to buy their strong assets (Bitcoin is being bought).
As the network gets bigger, it becomes more conservative, stable. It's harder to make any decision about the network (limitations) the larger the network gets.
Could Elon Musk Really Buy a Country? Examining the Gambia Proposal. (youtube.com)
Is this an AI podcast?
Intel Replaces Gelsinger With Two Interim Co-CEOs (youtube.com)
China Manufacturing is a HUGE mistake! (In 2023...) (youtube.com)
Uniqlo's Parent Company Sees Shares Drop Over Xinjiang Remarks (youtube.com)
Elon Musk's record $56bn pay deal rejected for second time | BBC News (youtube.com)
El Salvador government has 6200 bitcoin, Tesla has 10k. Saylor has 18k. The Ukraine government has 46k. UK government has 61k. China government has 190k. US government has 210k (seized legally). Microstrategy has 250k. BlackRock has 450k. Binance has 640k. Satoshi has/had 1,100,000 bitcoin.
Tesla recently transferred all its bitcoin to unknown wallets. Some speculated that this was in order to sell it.
Musk has said he personally doesn't own any bitcoin investments.
Rise in 'reservation ghosting' hits NYC restaurants (youtube.com)
China's 'She Economy' providing welcome boostーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
OpenAI rolls out full o1 model (youtube.com)
12 Days of Shipmas.
Nice shots of Altman with his new team. Lol. What kind of obedient sycophant must you be to work there now?
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Coca Cola receives ‘big backlash’ over new AI generated Christmas advertisement (youtube.com)
Will that Jaguar ad be the peak for that sort of thing? for a storied British brand.
Ramaswamy says DOGE will scrutinize Rivian loan and CHIPS Act awards (youtube.com)
the 7zip rabbit hole goes extremely deep. (1000's of crashes) (youtube.com)
Koreans still pay utilities on top of this.
Because a long time ago, banks didn't offer good interest rates, so people found other ways. Jeonse is like you pay, for example, $50k USD equivalent to the landlord for 2 years rent. At the end of 2 years, you get $50k back, as long as he didn't go bankrupt. During that time, he uses the money to make investments or whatever. Years ago 70% of people in Seoul did it but now, due partially to increased scams and non-repayments, only 40% chose to do this rather than select a regular-rent apartment.
Nov week4, IRS, people consider regulations, current fads, how Microstrategy works
Most people said they'd abolish the IRS if they could eliminate just one thing. Just give us a flat tax. People very flexible in amount of tax they were willing to pay. Then, people can spend all their time thinking about how to build, not about tax optimization or how to account for it.
Regulations means it costs $7k for someone to become a hairdresser in the US (or is it just California?), so this person might be paying 30% of their income just in regulations. It might cost $15k to get the regulations and paperwork to redo a bathroom in a house when it needs it. Removing that would unlock value for everyone, some theorize. ... And it can take 6 or 8 weeks to get the regulatory paperwork approved.
Maybe the reason Big Tech is such a large part of the US economy is that they are one of the only barely-regulated industries.
Big Tech's regulatory storm (youtube.com)
Chamath's recommendations for California: 65k regulations down to 10k. Replace DMV with digital app, cut taxes to near-zero, and create school choice. A renaisance in California, the 5th largest economy.
Ronan Farrow explains how your phone could be used to spy on you (youtube.com)
Major chain restaurants are slashing prices (youtube.com)
Under Trump Tariffs, ‘Made In Vietnam’ Will Be The New ‘Made In China’ (youtube.com)
Is Microstrategy a Pyramid Scheme? (youtube.com)
Will Poland's Economic Miracle Ever End? (youtube.com)
Cut taxes, deregulate, increase domestic oil production. Kind of like Abe's Three Arrows. Stocks up because they think growth will result from lower taxes and deregulation, then from the growth you pay off the deficit. Today stocks up, rates down, oil down. Bond market also reacting favorably.
"How Much Does It Cost?": Elon Musk Jokes About Buying MSNBC | Vantage With Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Comcast's MSNBC has had low viewership lately. It doesn't look like Comcast would want to sell.
Intel's CHIPS Act grant reduced by roughly $500 million (youtube.com)
Morgan Stanley's Wilson on the Bessent Trade, Stocks, the Consumer (youtube.com)
The word this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBncF_tN2jY
Not the picks and shovels who have already won, but rather the application layer. The solutions, like email or webbrowsers or SAS. Better mousetraps. So far only the hyperscalers have been able to take advantage of AI.
Commernter: “Liquidity is back, thanks to Fed.”
Gen Z's 'it' gifts: Where Gen Z is spending (youtube.com)
Fragrance, makeup, pink hoodie, Uggs (minis), Hatch alarm clock, charms and jellycats. Old Navy. Tik Toc shop, easy to buy because ApplePay. Amazon still.
Microstrategy bought $5.4b in Bitcoin (and it's still down a little off its high. Last time also, I think the prediction was $70k and it made it close but then went down for several months.
Made in Wisconsin: Family-owned Palermo's Pizza approaches $1 billion in sales (youtube.com)
New homes sales weaker-than-expected in October (youtube.com)
Is the recent government action against Google especially, but several big companies, not only taking rent but also because their growth limits are reached and further profits can't come from them, but can come if rich people shift their investments to smaller companies that can grow (while Google etc shrinks), whether doing a new business or just doing Google's business?
How consumers plan to spend their money this holiday season (youtube.com)
In the US, people still like to go to the store for shopping, whether groceries or gifts. They do about 20-25% of shopping online (including buy online but go pick it up at the store). As long as there are quality products in the stores.
It's easy to go shopping in the US, unlike maybe Europe with its urban locations.
OpenAI gets $1.5 billion investment from SoftBank in a tender offer (youtube.com)
Putin says there's no need to panic over Russia's plummeting ruble • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Brazil's Real Hits All-Time Low After Lula's Spending Cuts Disappoint (youtube.com)
Microstrategy around 5 years ago transformed the company, by using its balance sheet, they had a lot of cash on hand, to buy bitcoin. It's software business had been languishing. As Bitcoin has gone up and Microstrategy (as a Bitcoin holder) has gone up, Microstrategy had the opportunity to issue convertible bonds and debt to acquire more Bitcoin. What's novel is that Microtrategy has been able to issue these debt securities for almost zero interest. So they've been able to fund this without having to pay for the interest expense, basically. They've created a lot of network value, one of the biggest holders of Bitcoin, and one day might become the second largest holder after the US government. And they're doing this with the ability to borrow at a very low cost. ‘Why are bond holders buying these bonds?’ Microstrategy is offering, for the first time, that someone can put $1b to work in the bond world to own a bond that has exposure to Bitcoin. These bonds have been the best performing bonds. So these bond managers have outperformed by buying tipical corporate bonds but with Bitcoin exposure. ... Some day when Microstrategy has accumulated enough Bitcoin, they can do interesting things with it, like lending Bitcoin or help some financial system secure Bitcoin as sort of a anchor of that network. That large holding can be tapped. Tom Lee's description.
Tom Lee on Bitcoin to $250K, S&P to 15,000 & The AI Revolution (youtube.com)
Martin Shkreli Analyze Microstrategy (Full Analysis) (youtube.com)
‘His cost of capital is less than zero. That’s not sustainable, obviously.'
A convertible bond, if the shareprice goes up, can be very valuable, becaues then you could convert it and earn a good return, but you're protected on the downside, because you're senior secured (if company doens't pay you it goes bankrupt). Some people, however, will buy the convert and short the stock (called ‘convertible arbitrage), to hedge, because in a bankruptcy the convert is probably worth something, but your short is worth a lot of money if there’s bankruptcy. Some of this might be happening at Microstrategy. Shkreli.
Saylor gets debt and buys Bitcoin for that value, so enterprize value of company doesn't change. But the convert changes the equation, because at a high premium (currently Saylor has 50%), which removes 50% of the debt and converts it to shares, so market cap rises while holdings stay the same. Enterprize value is better (but not that much). Microstrategy has to sell a lot of converts to be a good long. Shkreli says $100b of converts and buy Bitcoin at current price, for company to be worth current stock price. $220k per Bitcoin makes Microstrategy not overvalued.
What makes Microstrategy sells converts at 50% higher than the company stock price. He's buying Bitcoin with something 50% higher than the current price of the stock. But the limit is the limits of demand for this. Shkreli.
At some point (10% of Bitcoin) does it become an overhand?
'It should be a perfect hedge' if you long Bitcoin and short Microstrategy' in the right ratio, maybe 2to1, delta hedge, because Microstrategy is leveraged. Arbitrage.
Commenter. ‘MSTR’s strategy actually reminds me of the REIT business model. Raise debt and/or equity using extremely low cost of capital, use money raised from that to buy more of a valuable asset, which is accretive to shareholders. REITs focus on increasing dividend payments to increase income per share while MSTR focuses on increasing bitcoin per share. MSTR deserves a premium to its NAV, but the key to buying shares is to do so when their nav premium is lower. Buy low nav premium, sell high nav premium.’
Another. 'You didn't mention the ATM offerings as a way to raise cash. Last week when he did the 3B in converts at 0% he also raised 4.6B through the ATM offering and bough 50k BTC with it. It is dilutive to use this of course but it is accretive in BTC per Share terms.' Reply. ‘Even if there’s some dilution, if it’s accretive on btc/share, then it worth it for sure.’
Commenter. 'Disagree with conclusion to Short MSTR and Buy BTC. First, MSTR is hard to borrow, so you pay a high borrow rate. Second, if you are wrong, you'll have to buy increasing amounts of BTC, which just won't be available. Third, central banks can print unlimited money to buy MSTR, the Swiss central bank does already.'
Black Friday spending soars near $11 billion online, shattering a record (youtube.com)
Nov week3, Housing starts, Bitcoin politics run, Inflation policy, Saylor explains
Higher Lumber Prices Are Proof Of Deterioration (youtube.com)
Lots of new constructed homes coming into the market (completions) but not a lot (downward trend) of starts. So completion line is increasing while starts line is decreasing.
Mill inventory levels. Tarifs.
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Bitcoin. Most hedgefunds, endowments, pension funds are not yet engaged.
Free trade theory assumed comparable labor standards, regulations, free flow of capital so if you make money you can invest it, and that things would be in near-equilibrium, not chronic trade surpluses or deficits.
Maybe you have to threaten tarifs as a way to get them to open up. Otherwise they'll always think they don't need to negotiate anything.
80 million expected to travel for Thanksgiving holiday (youtube.com)
Super Investors Are Warning Us (youtube.com)
Russian rouble hits one-year lows against major currencies (reuters.com)
‘To think about your fellow man, you really have to, to be a businessman, you have to think about your consumer, your clients, you have to care about them, it makes it the most virtuous form of economic organization. ... When you, through inflation, turn a businessman who was a pillar of the community into a profiteer, you have destroyed his standing and even his self-respect, because he starts thinking "Well I have to raise prices, but am I the villain." So it's just an awful way to shift blame. ‘Labor doesn’t cause inflation, business doesn't cause inflation, government causes inflation.'
Judy Shelton: Money and Inflation in the New Trump Era (youtube.com)
‘Money should be a reliable measure’ and not inflated so people lose their property (purchasing power).' ‘Monetary favoritism' of those who already have assets.
What does ‘stable prices’ mean? They have reinterpreted that to mean ‘stable inflation' rather than stable cost.
If inflation takes 20% of people's savings when they want to use it 10 years later, is that expropriation?
‘Money is a moral contract.’ What a pound is, what an inch is, what the currency is.
Can money be decoupled from the whims of politicians? People are ‘too accepting’.
Is the government mandate 0% inflation? Money illusion. Since people would never want to not get a raise, or even have their wages go down slightly, government needs to camelflage what they're really doing. Give the people a 1% increase in their wages and give them 4% inflation. Over half of people polled would be happy with such a raise. Economists said they wouldn't be happy with that.
There might be a change in how people secure their money. Crypto and assets like stocks. Tired of being told inflation is fine.
The Founders had gold and silver in mind when they were thinking about the US legal tender. ‘If the dollar is our money unit then we must say with precision what a dollar is.’ It was 4 grains of gold or 25 grains of silver, in 1784 when Jefferson was thinking about this. That was how a country fit into an international monetary system, a level playing field.
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S&P at 25p/e (BigTech at 31p/e), and a year ago it was 20. Buffet is still hoarding cash, very steep increase in percentage to current 25%.
DOGE is planning on not being a department, but a temporary thing. And they're planning to have streamed weekly meetings where they talk about the best ideas anyone has to cut government expenses.
Tariffs can be a way to compete against countries that let their currencies be devalued against the USD. China, Japan. 'If we had a level playing field, we could eliminate those tarifs.' The benefits of international trade, not the negative exploitations.
Archegos Hwang got ‘18 years’.
Target's value message is not as strong as Walmart's, hence divergence, says BCI Brands' Chirico (youtube.com)
Something a lot of people are trying to figure out. Is Walmart or Target the outlyer?
Food and household goods categories, Walmart signals to the consumer better.
Target has overinventoried, clearing new goods not great, over last 3 years.
History's biggest break-up: US federal prosecutors say Google must sell Chrome • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Stock down 5% (on a mostly green day).
Very few companies could afford $20b, and Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are all involved in anti-competitive investigations/suits with the DoJ already, so maybe they won't be trying to buy Chrome soon (but we could imagine a Facebook Chrome being the global default?). None of these want to end Manifest V3 (which is Googles current years-long attempt to block ad-blockers). Chrome could be handed off to a third party non-profit, which would maybe lead to ‘a rapid balkanization of the Chrome browser.’ If Google can't pursue business through Chrome, they might ‘go all in on AI and ... Android' (implement V3 on Android). Chrome is the most ubiquitous, most loved browser by far. (I don't use it, because I care about privacy and security, and don't know if I'm missing anything. I used it in like 2014.) Chome isn't directly monetized (so can't even be sold for much), but it's part of the Google ecosystem, and it's the key part, tying everything together. It's how people access the internet, and every product Google has is on the internet. Bookmarks are attached to Google Profiles and sync accross devices. Login and it has your information, and people do login, to use YouTube comfortably, to do email, to login with their Google account to random websites. Widely, Google can guage consumer behaviour. And Chrome comes default with Google Search. Google has been perfecting Chrome into something people really like, over a decade (if someone bought it they might monetize it more directly and make it a less liked product).
In response, Google called the DoJ a ‘radical interventionist agenda’ pusher. In order to sell Chrome, Google says it has to sell off all the info it has about all the people who have accounts. Google products, when people signed up for a decade, always have a ‘we’re never gonna sell your data' promise. Google is basically saying that the DoJ is saying to sell this to the highest bidder. Also, Firefox is developed with Google investment, but Google's investment in a browser like Firefox must be cooled if they're penalized for their browser, Google said.
Longtime bull J Carlson: Google Is Being Broken Up (youtube.com)
Carlson's tech portfolio. ‘So there’s something wrong with Google...' 'Google's becomming less predictable.'
However, this could be a temporary view, negative, whereas a longer-term view could be more positive, ie actual competition in this tech, wider range of used products, competition, improvement in products, maybe improvements in privacy and security.
Some say Trump will change the DoJ and this might not go forwrad.
Google's Chrome spin out chapter will 'blow over', says Deepwater's Gene Munster (youtube.com)
Is it just to get Google to even more be coopted by the State for its purposes?
China puts possible 40% tariffs on France's congnac (1b euro sold in China, 1/4 of French cognac sales). Ongoing tarif war between Europe and China.
Aus passed a law (to take effect next year I think) to ban SM for people under 16. They don't ban games, so we might expact development of communication in games or even games that are for communicaiton. Also, how can they enforce this without increased privacy violation ie identity verification for all SM and maybe every app? Fines are about $30m, so maybe just a source of revenue for Aus.
Michael Saylor on Citron's short bet on MicroStrategy (youtube.com)
Microstrategy, the company, is a Bitcoin treasury company. It's powered by a Bitcoin reactor. It has $35b in Bitcoin and it's spinning at 100vol. They make money by selling the vol and recycling it back into Bitcoin. And it's also stripping the risk and vol and performance off of fixed income securities and transferring that to the common stock. Their common stock is delivering 2x Bitcoin, 2x vol. They generate a BTC spread which is a function of the equity premium, the convert premium and the Bitcoin premium (the Bitcoin premium is the AR of Bitcoin versus the USD.
The thesis of the shorts of MSTR is that if the premium and in equity disappears Microstrategy can't make money. ‘What they miss is that when Microstrategy borrows money at 6% and invests it in Bitcoin and Bitcoin goes up 30%, it would be 80% BTC spread.’
Effectively a levered (2x) Bitcoin position? Bitcoin can go to 0.
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Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund's Investment Philosophy (youtube.com)
‘Why don’t we have a wealth fun? Other countries have a wealth fund.' Trump, and Biden agrees on this. A Sovereign wealth fund, a systematic government authority that makes broad investments inside or outside the US. This seemed ‘crazy’ to Larry Summers.
Norways (a country of 5m homogenous people), one of the top famous funds, is now worth $1.7t. ‘We have to navigate all the stakeholders, and that’s a very interesting exercise.' Most sovereign fund countries have lots of natural resources like oil, so they have so much export money, and they can't invest it in the country, so they put it to work internationally. China, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait have the biggest nominally funds. Now such funds invest in AI, datacenters, green infrastruture and renewables, as a focus, although they invest in all public traded companies.
Norways fund was set up in the 90s to fix a problem caused by their oil drilling successes which started in the 60s. They own 1.5% of stocks in the world's 9000 listed companies. They say this means they consider low crop yeilds, environmental harms, etc as economic sustainability risks which means they care about those things anywhere, basically. They have a separate board which denies the ability to invest in some other things for moral reasons, things like brown coal, weapons, tobacco. All their political parties agree on the big guidelines for the fund. ... They don't invest in private equity and credit because it's not in their mandate, because the public has not yet approved doing this (the fund managers want to).
Nov pt1, Trump election, inflation, bitcoin
The market top in the next 6 months, following the 3%(?) post-election day increase, will come either with firepower being exhausted or expectations unhinged (not PE or recession). Most investors have been derisking in previous months. Vix has been elevated and normalized. It was 20 last week, now 15.
Mortgage rates surge higher on Trump victory (youtube.com)
Trump Will Not Do It, The Fed Never Ends (youtube.com)
Treasury Yields Are Headed Back to 5% | Markets in 3 Minutes (youtube.com)
Federal Reserve in Crisis After Trump Victory! (youtube.com)
‘Everything J Powell says is meaningless.’
YouTube specifically has been benefitting from the decline of traditional media, and from where people are going for information, like interviews on podcasts with presidents and others.
A lot of talk on how JD Vance was media-reported to be a weird guy, but after watching him on YouTube longform pods people commented a lot on how normal and down to earth he was (credibility of comments always an issue though). Same with Trump. People could watch them for an hour or two and get an idea of what they're really like. But YouTube has a lot of views from the election season.
However, I would also say that it means it's also sort of easy for a YouTube competitor, if all the big names went on a competitor too.
New investors getting involved in the creation of the Texas Stock Exchange (youtube.com)
US government currently has $16b in bitcoin it has amassed through seizures. Trump is talking about buying 5% of the total supply of bitcoin, 1m coin. He really wants to fire Gensler, and then Robinhood might not be sued.
280 pro-crypto lawmakers elected to Congress. $250m worth of crypto raised during this election cycle.
What to know about the ‘New Right’ school of economic thought advocated by Vance (youtube.com)
Promoting families and industries.
Currently and for decades, the prevailing idea is just import more cheap stuff and that will be prosperity, the most profitable activities are offshoring, speculating on Wall Street, building another app in Silicon Valley, and these don't work for the US people maybe, and the new theory is more like onshoring, maybe lowering taxes and increasing tariffs.
Some reports Japan is building a conveyor belt road between Tokyo and Osaka, 500km, to ship packages. ‘Auto flow road.’
#Japan
Mushkin: Amazon, Walmart, and Costco are taking an enormous amount of share (youtube.com)
Goods are now deflating, so if you're not taking share it could be hard to comp. Onward decimation of non-giant-corporations! Mom-and-pop and local store owners, fold and become workers at Walmart.
What are the environmental implications of 1b new phones being bought every year?
A radically different phone. (youtube.com)
Once upon a time, we bought a computer that lasted 5 or 10 years.
The cost of maintaining your privacy is included in the price, with Lightphone.
The Great Melt-Up: How to Profit from The Everything Bubble 2.0 (youtube.com)
Owning appreciating assets during inflation. Property, stocks, gold, silver, bitcoin.
But ‘Feds have hijacked the markets since the GFC of 2008.’
‘If you plan on living in a given locaiton for more than 3 years, you’re better off buying.'
Tri-county taxpayers foot $30M in inmate medical expenses since January 2023 (youtube.com)
HOW I PAID FOR MY HOUSE IN CASH, HAVE NO UTILITY BILLS AND FREE FOOD FOR LIFE! (youtube.com)
Election day market:
Oct pt2, Smallcap speculation, Half the companies as before, Insurance in Florida
Contrarian, but predicts 6400 top (or less) for S&P. He says highly speculative investing is being encouraged rn. He thinks Fed will get stuck at 2.8% inflation and might give up on the 2% goal.
Orton suspects what might trigger interest in SmallCaps will be earnings (because they haven't really reacted to the first rate cut as meaningfully as some speculated). If there's a reversal of downward earnings revisions for smaller companies.
There's still a historical gap between valuations between expensive large cap and cheap small cap.
Utilities is bipartisan.
Copper pipes.
80% of companies with over $100m in revenue are private. 80% of employment is private.
There used to be 8000 public companies and now there are 4000.
Immediately liquid and vast amounts of capital, that's public. Long term capital needs matched is private.
Indonesia economy: Prices slump as consumer spending drops (youtube.com)
Average property insurance payment up 52% for single-family homes from 2020, says ICE VP Andy Walden (youtube.com)
$181 is the national average per month. 25% of what people pay is going to that.
3x the rise of taxes and other costs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGZ6pmmYcJc
Even with higher costs, it might be cheaper to live in Florida than someplace like the north east where there isn't any supply. But other locations start to look very cheap, like the Mid West.
Woods: The last four elections saw declines leading up to Election Day. (youtube.com)
Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh: The Fed doesn't seem to have a serious theory of inflation (youtube.com)
So, the Fed allowed big banks to take advantage of an arbitrage.
The Fed paid them to hold onto reserves rather than give the reserves out as loans, so those banks were ‘paid’ more than normal businesses would have been.
Long ago (Greenspan) there was a Fed funds rate. The rate that mattered. Now there's a lot of rates (which the Fed juggles). Interest on excess reserves rate, included. A series of risk free assets that compete with the Treasury, that come from Fanny and Freddy and home-loan banks and government guarantees. So the Central Bank went from a simple way to manage it to a complicated way.
The Fed now doesn't just act in emergencies but now in all situations for all reasons, and they often act for cross-purposes, like loosening policy rate to provide accomidation while modestly tightening financial conditions for the balance sheet.
And other countries see this and try think it's a weakness to take advantage of.
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Netflix surprise beat (despite there being nothing on it to watch and it having a really bad annoying unusable UI). I guess there just isn't a stronger alternative (which Cable used to be something like, and is still my favorite except it's kinda ruined now with being digital so it takes a second to load each channel, whereas before you could just click through the channels and you could see immediately what was on each one.
Tesla surprise beat (up 20% that day).
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Gold (safe asset) is has gone from $2000 at the start of the year to $2700. Meanwhile bonds have been losing value. All time highs for stock markets. Bitcoin at highs (near anyway).
US dollar complex is thriving so dollar is stong. Back end yields are rising. People own more puts than calls in the bond market.
If there's growth with Trump, more inflation, risk premium needed is higher, priced into market now. People think his plan will contribute to a stronger economy more than Harris'. Both candidates have shown that under their presidency the record level of debt will increase (just positioning?).
People maybe think Fed will have to raise rates again because inflation might return. So markets, gold, bonds, might have more to do with inflation than the election. But higher rates which fight this inflation can be bad for equities. Companies can, however, reduce spending and therefore increase profits. And higher rates also harm bonds (and imply inflation). Equities go down in value, real estate and home values go down. Consumers can cut costs also, like not buy new things, and thereby increase their savings. Or tighten but then you have less spending. (Europe austerity.)
Hey, wanna buy some 10-year bonds that yield 4%? and you look around and see all the inflation and say ...?
Market up could be just because the Fed telegraphed that there'd be a lot of rate cuts this year.
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China is buying gold instead of dollars, reportedly.
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Major budget crisis in many countries. Massive and broad tax increases in France, UK.
Will we just roll over the spending which is beyond production value? and emerge spending less, with less things being done?
People are buying gold and bitcoin. And equities would go up because of simple inflation.
People will just stop trusting the government with money, and therefore have to stop trusting the government's money?
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57% of GenZers want to be influencers as their career. Job is almost like a secondary option.
Argentina. Milei slashed government budget, and inflation has gone from 25% to 3%. But the economy is smaller (1.7% smaller in last quarter), there's less government spending. Unemployment up to 8% and rising.
Sachs made an argument that while Argentina has a already-weak economy with lots of unemployment, so cutting government spending hurts. But America has a strong economy and lots of employment, so it could actually be good to cut spending now (and thereby reduce salaries for citizens who are paid as government workers) because we need to reduce employmet to cool and therefore let's reduce from the bloated government maybe, and also that this reduction of what the government does could be stimulive to private sector business.
There's waste government spending ‘everywhere you look’ Joe Lonsdale. They're giving money to groups in the Middle East to try to stop hate speech and disinformaiton, and then find they're funding people who are doing disinformation against Israel. So of course slashing government (The Trump/Elon thing) is a good thing, he said. Even for moderates.
Someone said ‘something will have to break’ with spending and funding today. I haven't heard that in a couple years, but during the first months of moneyprinting during the pandemic, that was said several times as the typical way these things reach their climax. Unaccountable NGOs.
Indian Firm Sends Nvidia Chips to Russia (youtube.com)
Cost of the Harris & Trump plans: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
Only when the bond market says you can't borrow any more, people will notice this issue, they speculate. The bond market might say to the government they can't borrow any more at the current lowish rate.
Currently, politicians and citizens, neigher group cares or talks about the debt.
Yields might be starting to increase.
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Wells Fargo's Mike Mayo: Here's why financials will benefit no matter who wins the election (youtube.com)
Banks don't know their cost of goods sold until after the whole stress test. After the election they'll know which rules they have.
Money Moment: A quarter of US households living paycheck to paycheck (youtube.com)
AAA Bonds Bust Reveals The Depths of the US Office Market Crash (youtube.com)
A lot of buildings depend on one single tenant, and if they say Look my lease is coming up, I want a new building, this building is old, the bonds just drop in price.
ARGENTINA | El Gobierno de Milei pone a la venta inmuebles del Estado por 800 millones de dólares (youtube.com)
To reduce State costs.
Grossman Sees Risk of `Scary' Surge in Yields Topping 7% (youtube.com)
September pending home sales jumped 7.4% as mortgage rates fell (youtube.com)
Jim Grant on rising bond yields: The market thinks the Fed may have overdone it (youtube.com)
Bond rates have risen almost every day since the Fed cut in September. The trends in debts and deficits.
You just never know when the masses will understand things. The reasons being stated now, amid a very red market day and increasing worry about the bond market, are reasons a small percentage of conservative investors cited for not going into the market over the past couple years. They were wrong, because though we knew these things, the public ‘didn’t care or seem to care' and they just played like there was no issue to be concerned about, there was no possible risk. So they may have come into the market late, but now suddenly the masses seem to be aware and starting to be concerned about these things, and the market is going down. Buy low is as much a bet on the ignorance or stupidity of the masses as anything.
Apple iPhone 16 Feedback Is Negative, Ferragu Says (youtube.com)
But profits were up, although sales in China down.
$6b in ‘made in India’ iPhones.
Uber, Tucson airport at odds over fee increase (youtube.com)
Will Uber's be more expensive than the taxis they put out of business (by manipulating the market with cash trove to not require making profits)?
How Retailers Like T.J. Maxx And Home Depot Quietly Target 'Problem' Returners (youtube.com)
Oct pt1, Port strike, Government spending, Argentine, Greece, Equador, Florida housing market
If stuff doesn't arrive now, it might mean a store misses out on Christmas sales.
‘Port strike inflation.’
Bananas are supposed to ripen during the week they're in transport. So if it lasts a week, it could be OK. If it lasts 2 weeks, vessels will be stuck in ports outside US, and they will return to Asia, which will push up frate rates. ... There's not enough room in the Canadian and Carribean ports to handle this cargo.
Houthis in the Red Sea attacks means you need 15% more vessels to sail the same route. If the Red Sea crisis hadn't happened, the excess vehicles that would have been available would have meant this strike wasn't as effective, but there's less slack because less vessels.
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Nvidia challenger Cerebras files for IPO (youtube.com)
Depends if the company can get a contract with a hyperscaler.
Taiwan Semi fabs these chips, just like Nvidia's.
73% of Amazon Employees Consider Quitting After RTO Push (youtube.com)
... but then they realized they permitted Amazon and Walmart to put thousands of US businesses out of business?
Services sector propel economy to soft landing, says Wells Fargo's Christopher (youtube.com)
Why the US Navy can’t stop Houthi rebels (youtube.com)
Navy is expensive.
If you create your own money you cannot run out of it.
How Economists Hide TRUE Money Mechanics To Sell Wars | Prof. L. Randall Wray (youtube.com)
The commons thinks the government ‘reserves’ means they wait for tax money to come in and they spend it. They take in money and spit it out. But not so.
How the government spends money is this. The operations the government goes through to spend. The Central Bank makes the payments for the Treasury electronically by crediting a private bank's reserves and that bank credit the demand deposit of the recipient of the government spending.
When you receive a social security cheque, you take it to the bank. The bank sends it to the Fed who credits the bank's reserves and the bank credits your bank deposit.
So the word ‘reserves’ is not a well-named concept. It's not something accumulated and held somewhere. It's a reference to this actually happening long ago, where banks would hold actual reserves, notes from international currencies etc.
All the banks have accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank. Just electronic entries just like the entry at your bank. That's the asset, and the demand deposit is the bank's liability, owing you the right to draw down on that. Your private bank makes payments for you.
The money comes from banks creating all the deposits. The Central Bank creates the Treasury's deposit. Your private bank cannot run out of desposits because it can always create more. Just like the Federal Reserve does for the Treasury. They can always allow a loan or overdraft (as long as it's within the rules of operation).
Defaults ('voluntary defaults') can occur but are rare because it is a stupid policy, it makes you not credible, it makes your debt not credible, so countries rarely do this. But ‘involuntary default’ is not possible, because the Central Bank cannot run out of its own asset. You can't run out of your own IOUs.
US ‘owes $33t’ which is a stupid metric to use anyway. US government debt has only been paid back one time, 1837. Sometimes US runs a budget surplus, which means you're retiring some debt. A balanced budget means your level of debt remains the same. There's been a budget surplus seven times in the US.
So it's not true ‘you have to repay the debt.’ It grows faster than the US economy for almost 250 years. There are always people who want to buy US bonds, there are always more than are for sale.
Public debt is private assets. The money supply (cash and bank deposits) typically grow with the economy. Bonds are more like savings.
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Argentina and Greece have gone into default, because they use foreign-currency debt. They have to get hold of US dollars to pay their debt, so they can't just print at whim. IMF imposes conditions to give them dollars, such as downsize government sector, bust labor unions, lay off workers, increase unemployment rate. So the country says no thank, we prefer to default. But the debt in their own currency doesn't default.
Probably the ECB won't allow something like Greece to happen again.
Equador issues a USD-equivalent which have the same value as USD, but in order to do this they have to maintain a reserve of USD to make sure they don't get a run and can't convert them all.
In all wars before WWII, the result was inflation, because the government just bid the prices up (bid more than the common market for all goods it wanted to use in the war). Keynes wrote about how do you pay for a war (without inflation), and he didn't write about “Where do you find the money?” but rather “How do you release the resources?” You need to get the private sector to stop consuming. Some ways are patriotic saving, tax increases, rationing, wage and price controls. The big issue was Fighting Inflation. Government worked with labor unions and private firms so they would agree to hold wages steady throughout the war, even though they were at full employment and workers could have demanded more. Finding the money was not the problem (because the government can't run out), but rather finding resources.
... So most economists who came up were anti-government. It was understood the consumer faces a budget constraint ie they could spend their wages or borrow but be careful about borrowing because you can get into trouble. Economists applied that to the government in the 60s (because it was known that the government couldn't actually run out of the ability to print more money for itself, except on gold standards). Economists convinced politicians, a ‘reaction against Keynsian economics.’
It has long been understood that it is good for the population for the government to hold debt.
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To own a sports team, you have to have other sources of revenue, said Cuban, who sold most of his share of the Mavericks, which he bought in 2000 when he was the tech guy with all the advantages. Now sports team owners are talking about having casinos, real estate developments, hotels. ‘That’s just not me' said Cuban.
The Great Melt-Up Will Strike The USA: My Advice to You (youtube.com)
More inflation is just the best way to handle the increasing US debt issue. Largest employer in US is the government, so it can't reduce its costs by laying off a bunch of workers, as that would mean they would have less income tax to collect and it would be therefore harder to pay off the debt. Inflation, however, makes it easier to pay off their debt.
Financial advice from him includes trying to preserve wealth and at least not falling behind, by buying your residence, buying gold.
American income levels and savings are both higher than the Fed had guessed, even with greater spending by the consumer. ‘Spending can continue at a healthy level,’ said Powell. They will continue to cut rates, he thinks, but will do it slowly to continue to try to cool the economy.
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The dockworker's strike (first for that union in 50 years) shows fragility of US right now. President didn't get involved, although he could have (and has some authority to force people to do things), also the election coming up, also the delicate balancing act of the Fed with inflation and rate cuts, the stock market. Also the competition with non-friends like Russia, China, Israel, which are bold in relation to America's fragility. A friend is someone who doesn't take advantage of someone's position of strength or weakness. However, of course, America brought it's problems on itself, so internally it has many non-friends.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on the rise of the crypto voting block (youtube.com)
‘DC Crypto’
1 in 3 voters will consider crypto in how they vote, according to his survey.
Maybe politicians should be putting crypto in their political ads.
People who use crypto ‘have been treated like criminals’ in a lot of cases over the past few years, and 'that's just not acceptable.'
Presidential but also Congress elections.
Interest in utility, like payments. A growth story. How to make the dollar faster and cheapers.
They're looking for a technology that can update the financial system.
‘It’s been too long without any clear rules' and business has gone overseas.
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Google Is Losing Its Search Dominance (WSJ Report) (youtube.com)
US wage growth still around 4 or 5%, above trend. Consumer still spending (except some consumers who don't have money).
$50 or $60 oil is expected next year. Also, big markets aren't chasing oil markets anymore.
Musk did a Tesla event, unveiled the cybercab and cyberbus and showed again the robot, which he suggested would walk among us and everyone would have at least one. The market didn't really like it, and the stock went down 8% the next day, while Uber went up 9%, seen as the competitor who would benefit most from Tesla not being further along in robotaxis. That must be disheartening, mustn't it?
Well, Musk we have to thank for a lot of things, but his proposal that we have 300m robots walking around the US all recording from their cameras all the time, this would be the complete end of privacy. Uber itself I don't know if it is better than taxis or a third option.
Black Swan Author Taleb on Fragility of Markets, Political Risk, AI (youtube.com)
Once you confiscate/'freeze' property/money from people once (like US did of Russians), people don't wanna invest anymore, they're reticent. In the Middle East, et al, and this effects negatively the US, said Taleb.
France public debt at record high.
Why do governments currently think it's fine to run up any debt?
Current estimate for Hurricane Milton is $150b, according to Accuweather. But it might be a $40-50b loss event for insurance, which exceeds Florida state's re-insuance capacity (effectively bankrupt). Will Fed government step in to support the price of houses? Will Florida become a mass emigration location. If you have a $15b re
insurance fund and $50b of damage (every several years), expect insurance premiums to double or triple. Insurance companies have already done the calculations to figure these higher risk areas are no longer worth the downside. Insurers will insure anything if they can get the price, but most consumers can't afford this.
These places might be very overpriced. How do you even do math on Florida to wind up bullish on Florida real estate?
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Small and mid sized Florida based banks since regional banks make 80% of commercial real estate loans. But the federal government will come in and the rest of America will subsidize the cost of Florida real estate, many think. FNF seems unaffected by the hurricane. ... Smaller regional banks that have a heavy concentration in CRE, but If they sold the mortgages to the secondary market (Fanny and Freddy) it’s not on them. Smaller institutions don’t carry mortgages on their books.' ... Larger banks can easily absorb something like this. ... Maybe Lennar, Pulte, ... If they slow down on lending while increasing their loan loss reserves, this is a sign they might be having some defaults or at least expecting them.
Alternative take: ‘Just because sales are down 6% from an all time high doesn’t mean this is a crash. An all time high is just that and not sustainable. Interest rates will come down and the market will heat right back up.’
A redditer: ' All condos in Florida are organized as a non profit entity. Condo associations are obligated to maintain common areas, eg garage roof walkways hallways walls etc. In furtherance of that, they have to maintain certain budgeted financial reserves, for eg a roof repair, etc. The Florida legislature changes the condo reserve requirements and that comes into effect this fiscal. Massive increase in assessments for condo owners. If you don’t pay your assessments, the condo can foreclose on you. They have a secured interest in your property. That’s why in 2008 the market down in Florida got very bad'
There's $500b to $1t value of real estate on the Florida coast line ($450b in homeowner, with a debt to equity ratio of 50-80%). They pay about 1% of that value in insurance per year. Also, if house prices dip 20-50%, their net worth will be reduced by half, a social issue where so many people have put their value of their assets in their house.
What used to be a 100-year frequency storm event (hurricanes) now can and I guess does happen every couple years. So maybe instead of real estate value being wiped out every 500 years it's every 20 years, insurance might become untenable level.
States with the highest home insurance rates
1 Oklahoma $5,858
2 Kansas $4,843
3 Nebraska $4,800
4 Florida $4,419
5 Colorado $4,099
Lowest home insurance rates by state
1 Hawaii $613
2 New Hampshire $1,221
3 Vermont $1,263
4 Washington, D.C. $1,342
5 Delaware $1,384
“Home insurance is much cheaper in some states than others partially because states have different rules regarding what a standard home insurance policy includes. Exclusions or separate deductibles for wind storms are common and greatly impact the average rate. Standard home insurance policies in Hawaii exclude damage from hurricanes, which is why home insurance is so cheap in Hawaii.”
NASDAQ creates $800b of enterprise value per year, so private markets have to exceed that to be a viable alternative to just owning the market. Seems hard to do in venture. Chamath
A Venture fund needs to be able to enter at a reasonable price, and it needs a 20x or 30x to make it worthwhile. The bigger the fund the bigger the winner it needs. Smaller ($500m) funds tend to do better therefore.
Are active managers no longer a thing (can't beat the market, passive) becaues competition is over in the US? reflecting several decades of pro-monopoly treatment by the government. for the past few years 5-7 stocks have been the market, and all are highly cooperative and used by government, and are permitted to buy successful competitors. (This may be changing with recent anti-trust, but that might just be an act.)
Stock market has been (surprisingly) strong last month or two. It seems like people were just uninvested, expecting a recession.
Inflation has been high because of shelter (which is finally rolling over in last resort) and auto insurnace (now beginning to sunset so will become a tailwind in second half).
Spetermber CPI Report
Food up 2.3%
Energy down 7%
Services up 5%
Shelter up 5%
Apollo CEO Marc Rowan on Private Markets, US Election, Fed Interest Rates (youtube.com)
Private used to be safe and public investing risky, 40 years ago.
Everything that exists in the public markets is coming to the private markets (did he mean the reverse?).
8000 public companies are now 4000 public companies. There's less reason to go public, and fewer do. Everything is indexed.
Public and private will come together in fixed income, he said.
The biggest fund of cash, 401k, is all invested in public equities for 50 years. The mistaken belief public is safe.
Public is transparent.
Typical bank is levered 12-14x. Typical individual investor is levered 0 times.
US's retirement is levered to Nvidia's performance. “ ”
Everything we think works the way it works is about to change, he said. All the changes from 2008 we're about to experience.
Banks are asked to do less. Investors are expected to do more.
The market is beginning to price in a potential GOP-majority, says Virtus' Joe Terranova (youtube.com)
New highs. Might be a wall of worry. Still might be a lot of cash on the sidelines.
Bonds had second best quarter in 29 years, which doesn't usually happen if inflation is out of control.
Cental banks are pivoting to easing stance.
September, World GDP, spending, Japan corporate savings, Rich buy assets
Consumer spending slowing a bit, normalization in hot economic measures, haven't seen a lot of turnover in residential real estate, illiquid assets, private equity, private credit. Unless long rates come down considerably, we could see price discovery that could reset lower (not higher). Normally, when the Fed starts cutting affordability becomes better, but this cycle, instead, we could see the true value of homes, which we haven't necesarily seen yet because we haven't seen a lot of turnover. - Savita Subramanian
No one right now is leaving anything. It's all locked up. Some are taking on debt, at a much higher cost.
S&P is probably fine, marked to market on a daily basis, reflecting reality around us, a liquid vehicle of large-cap companies. Most scrutinized companies in the world. A lot of transparency, but other areas are less transparent and there might be issues in those.
US slowing down in terms of hiring.
Japan Inc under pressure to tap huge financial reservesーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Corporate savings reach another record high in Japan. $4.1t in reserves, 5x government budget size. It steadily grows. Japan always sits on its savings, at a rate higher than other places.
They don't know if they can cover the cost of debt with their earnings, so they like having a cash buffer.
#Japan
Banks do better when interest rate moves are predictable: Barclays' Jason Goldberg (youtube.com)
Australian Housing Crisis Is a Human Rights Disaster, Expert Says (youtube.com)
Housing seen largely or primarily as an investment. Financialization. Government sets the rules of the game. Financial institutions can treat housing like any other asset. This perhaps drives price up to an un-social level (more than the percentage of income we think allows for a healthy society). It contrubutes to education, health, etc, outcomes.
Is ‘to be free from unreasonable interference in housing' a right? How could it be made strong enough that affected people could take a case to the government and have it addressed?
How Amazon became 2023's top apparel and footwear seller (youtube.com)
Unemployment insurance payments aren’t keeping up with inflation | On Your Side (youtube.com)
German economic model 'extremely under stress,' Markus Kerber says (youtube.com)
Lots of imports (China), not much exports. High energy prices. “When Germans are under stress economically, they often react funnily politically.”
Barr's new capital requirements for banks is 'a bit more' than expected, says Wells Fargo's Mayo (youtube.com)
This made bank stocks go down. That there had been an expectation in the market that banks would get an even lower threshold.
Buybacks. Record year, looks like. Uncertainty, corporate tax rate, no good buying opportunities. Could be a cushion for these companies to come in. 60% of European companies buying back shares, compared with 20% historically. No one is buying European stocks. People are piling into Asia-Pacific, EM, and fluctuating in US.
Europe has very few new companies. No big companies are new (all like 50 years old, unlike US). EU specialized in mature techs, spend less on R&D. Innovation in EU? Europe has lots of regulation, and this makes them feel safe maybe, but it means that when someone wants to do something new, they do it somewhere else. Mostly they go to the US. EU ‘leading tech’ is car companies.
Travel industry may see growth 'roughly cut in half,' says Jefferies analyst (youtube.com)
U.S. Latino economic output grows to $3.6 trillion, new report finds (youtube.com)
‘For those who say immigration is bad, you don’t understand how this economy has worked for a few hundred years.'
Inflation can't happen without printing money, and to reduce inflation the only way is to reduce energy costs, said Lutnick.
youtube.com UK.
Reasons, he says, are 1. massive decreases in tax rates for very rich in UK in 80s during Thatcher, increased integration between rich and poor economies (US/UK and India/China), and 3. mismanagement of crisis in such a way they allow for massive wealth increases for the very rich.
Once you get a very rich class, they have huge amount of assets and huge amount of passive income (for Example Sunak has $700m and therefore generates around $30m per year), so what they use that income for is to buy more assets (from the middle class, he says), which pushes asset prices up, and ordinary families get poorer and lose their wealth, and upward social mobility becomes difficult. There is some point, he theorizes, that there is a spiraling effect.
Because when asset prices pass a certain cost, if you don't already have assets you can't get assets. Even if you make good money, twice the median, you still can't buy those assets and move up in class.
People tell the young that if you can't get money, you're lazy or incompetent, while ‘making it impossible for them to succeed.’
People with 100b pounds, if you don't tax them, their wealth will grow and grow until they take what you have.
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Relatedly, I saw posts and threads that said Indians own more land in London than British. That Gujaratis own almost half of US hotels.
Are we overcapitalized? Can some cultures handle higher capitalization?
Also, tyrants love immigrants more than citizens, it has been suggested.
6months or a year of expecting it. The Fed finally cut. September 18. The market did not like this move, Fed gave 'really weird message', says Jefferies' David Zervos (youtube.com) . ‘Fed pivot.’
We're already in a 'small business recession,' says Ironsides Macroeconomics' Barry Knapp (youtube.com)
3 forms of stimulus and 1 form of restriction (policy rate) in place.
$3t in bank reserves, pressure on back end of balance sheet (holding rates 1% lower than other), and running 7% budget deficits in government spending and 24% of GDP.
‘If you’re a household that holds assets, large non-financial corporate, or big publicly traded homebuilder that can finance out the curve, policy is easy. If you're a small business that borrows at a floating rate or smaller bank that where your return on equity is half of that of the large bank, policy is tight.'
In a strong economy, no one cares about stock valuations. Current economy is strong. In weak economy, valuations matter to investors. In strong economy, story matters. In weak economy, balance sheet matters. Eisman.
Mexico’s $7.5B Gamble to Disrupt the Panama Canal | WSJ Breaking Ground (youtube.com)
Last year, they restricted number and size of boats in Panama (due to low lakewater).
Toll rates raised several X.
Second option is 8000k miles further, Cape Horn.
Mexico canal would be 188km. Would be a lot of soft and hard power for Mexico. A lot or reputation. Foreably relocating indiginous families and harming environment, possibly. Panama Canal is 65km (82km deep water to deep water).
Mexico is much closer to USA, because you can drive. Panama is south of Nicaragua and other nations which are not subservient or powerfully interrelated with US.
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Pager attack used supply-chain spy tactic, says Chertoff Group CEO Chad Sweet (youtube.com)
Trading capital is 10% of what it was in 2008, said Marc Rowan. There's no liquidity in fixed income markets.
How Germany’s critical car industry could stall Europe’s biggest economy | DW News (youtube.com)
China Unleashes Stimulus Blitz to Support Economic Growth (youtube.com)
The Global Oil Bribery Scheme Caught on Tape (youtube.com)
Meta chatbot to use celebrity voices (youtube.com)
Levi's teased a colab with Beyonce on their Insta. Beyonce's country album released tihs year features a song called ‘Levi's Jeans'. Beyonce was snubbed by country awards (no nominations) despite high sales. Does Beyonce listen to county at home? or is it completely a comercial venture?
Beyonce snubbed at country music awards | BBC News (youtube.com)
The interviewee here says sexism.
Only about 10% of airplay on country stations is women artists, reportedly. Whether this is because less women want to be career country musicians or produce less hits or are less popular with listeners, or if there is actual thumb on the scales in favor of male artists to such a high degree, not sure.
More than 90% of Grammy nominees are men. But again, how many more men are engineers, producers, etc, than women? How many female artists stick with it after age 30 or so?
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Business Report: Cineplex slapped with record $38 million fine (youtube.com)
(in Canada) A little processing fee, a surcharge, when you pay online, constitutes ‘drip princing' (lack of transparency for what the final cost will be), it was alleged. Cineplex denying allegations.
Hong Kong Plans to Cut Spirits Tax to Revive Nightlife (youtube.com)
Why shouldn't all companies now form as a nonprofit, save on taxes, outcompete companies working the regular way (paying taxes), then once you win change to a for-profit corporaation, like OpenAI is wanting to do? (Chamath's point) ...
(Mozilla did something like this, reportedly.)
Elon built something incredible, defied every expectation, then have the Justice System take $55b away from him, then on the other side Sam pulling something like this off and make $10b (if that's what happens). Is that disheartening? Is that how the US system is supposed to work? (Chamath's points)
In Japan and Europe, when polled locals said it was a good idea to start a company 8 and 12%. In the US, 95%.
Many expect a second bout of inflation (based on past instances), but where would that come from? Wages are depressing, seemingly. Housing seems to be flattening, there are a lot of rents. US is positively geared to oil now.
Microsoft is talking about building datacenters for AI with a budget of $30b. ‘And that’s probably not enough,' ‘because OpenAi has like $50b.’ Is this how the government arranges for massive spending and development of their interests?
August, Banks adjusting to rates, Ratecut questions, Buffet starts selling Apple and BofA
Banks are paying off debt and taking an immediate loss, which means they'll be making more on future quarters. Yield from 4% to 12%.
Banks Are Cleaning House Of Bad Assets | Chris Whalen (youtube.com)
SBV should have sold their low-yeilds and bought T-bills. To manage duration. They didn't. That was the play. Fed was saying (headfake) inflation was transitory though.
Many bank relationships start with student loans, then move to business loans or mortgages. The deposit base of Shwabb is strong. They don't make a lot of loans, so their income comes a lot from investments.
Escrow for homes are 9 months, so banks can make money there.
Most consumers would say inflation is higher than government says 3%.
Some banks, depending on state they're based, have higher taxes and higher costs (labor etc).
2028 big reset, run out of home buyers but may see supply come on, commercial will drip drip every quarter (they're idiosyncratic you can't generalize like residential). - Stan Middleman
Rent control (NY) says you can't recover your cost on a building (inflation 50%). Only Dems are in office in NY.
NYCB needs more capital, maybe - Chris Whalen. How can it work without prices going up?
There's less distressed debt now than before the pandemic, said Mark Okada (a credit investor). Yield is in 80th or 90th percentile right now for his career.
Bleakley's Peter Boockvar: Powell may be cautious about rate cut for credibility reasons (youtube.com)
Even though the economy might be soft and be appropriate for a cut, it would be taken negatively if they cut now. The market is expecting September so to cut this week would seem to show a possible recession.
Because investors have adapted to investing based on the Fed, they maybe have stabilized with a predictable course, and the market valuations reflect the status quo, current information priced into a September rate cut expectation.
Best price to value will maybe succeed, Coke, Pepsi, Nestle (brands people want). Chipotle you can buy 2 meals for $10, MacDonald's it's one meal for $10. P&G has China exposure.
Consumer products company might have a year of efficiency like Big Tech did last year (now Big Tech is on capEx). Mag7 had pricing power though, and consumer discretionary to hold on the the price they've had people take for their products.
Senator Cynthia Lummis lays out draft bill for U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve: CNBC Crypto World (youtube.com)
Bitcoin went down sharply.
Trump's recent ‘Bitcoin presidet’ speech, and this, have not made Bitcoin price rise.
Is there any evidence elites or firms are allowing massive crime in NY and SF, buying the properties, then refunding the police?
Ledger CEO on crypto hardware wallets: We designed a tool to protect your secrets (youtube.com)
Bumped price 40% for their hardware wallet, but offer a cheaper version also. ‘Your phone and computer are not great tool for protecting your secrets’.
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Global Selloff Underway (youtube.com)
Mag 7 loses $1 trillion in value in a week (youtube.com)
Japan's Nikkei sees biggest rout since 1987 Black Monday • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Theory of CBOE Stock Market Selloff Is Liquidity-Driven, Cboe's Xu Says (youtube.com) positioning, whereas last weeks sell-off was more fundamentals.
CBOE went up more than 100% Monday morning, by noon it was only 20%.
Japan stock market had benefitted a lot by the persistent weakness in the Yen. The last place where you could sort of get free money. We didn't realize how massive that borrowing was at the time but now maybe have some idea. How much people borrowed in Yen to buy other assets (in other currencies etc).
What does Buffet know that the rest of us don't, is a pop question. Berkshire sold half it's Apple in Q2. You tend not to see him move like this. Usually he sells gradually or gets out. Apple was also BH's largest position. BH is like 30% cash right now, earning 5% per anum. He's looking for large risk-reward, and the he has no pressure to do it right now. BK isn't a hedge fund with the 'meter running.' APPL is highly priced for it's history of valuation.
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People are calling to buy stocks, they'be been conditioned to buy dips. Trained to believe stocks only go up if interest rates go down, but maybe the market is transitioning to ‘bad news is bad news.’
A lot of people sold Bitcoin over the weekend. To raise funds, you sell what you gotta not what you wanna, according to Bloomberg's McGlone Says Commodities Predicted This Market Selloff (youtube.com) .
How the Global Carry Trade Impacts Market Selloff (youtube.com)
Divergence between rates is rising. Carry trade seemed to be the easy trade, now unwinding. ‘I don’t think it's gonna go (down) that far, but maybe I better get out.' Embedded leverage in the market, and no one knows how far that leverage goes.
Some pointed out that Buffet said that investing in the market redistributes capital to the patient.
‘Fear does no good.’ Claudia Sahm ... ‘Panick is never a good strategy.’ Victoria Greene
If you get people panicked in the real economy, you can have a quicker slowdown.
Tech balance sheets are strong. Lots of spending went into AI.
Both Tom Lee and Brian Belski have mentioned Small- and Mid-caps as being positioned for 10 years. The next 3-5 years benefit US and North American companies, said Belski.
Don't think the Fed should move in September, says Komal Sri-Kumar (youtube.com)
El "súperpeso" mexicano: víctima del pánico de los mercados financieros (youtube.com)
#Mexico
80% of Mexican exports go to US.
Some say Trump wouldn't be the best candidate for harmonious relations with Mexico, because he's been a bit polemical about them.
Treasury sells $42 billion in 10-year notes (youtube.com)
‘Nasty auction.' 3 basis-point tail, not much demand, direct bidders were light. The dealers took 8%.
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‘Ultimately, debt payments come due, either in economic contraction or massive taxation or inflation.’ Friedburg talking about how Japan had to raise rates for the first time in years because Japan now has inflation. He often talks about the importance of the US government debt,which most people treat lightly and basically don't worry about.
Japan's central bank buys most of the debt, and it sets the rates. 50% of their public debt is held by the central bank there.
Japan's system (which hurts, perhaps, Japanese consumers) perhaps benefits US, because Japanese consumer subsidizes buying of US treasuries.
Japan can't raise rates easily because their debt will become even more expensive to service.
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Citidel runs $50b but is allowed to lever up 15x or more, and maybe is leveraged to $1t. Their leverage ratio maybe is risky to the economy.
JPM estimates 3/4 of carry trades have been unwound. But now is actually an even better time to just put that same trade back on, because Japan capitulated and said they weren't going to raise rates anymore (so they'll just let their currency inflate). If they had stayed firm in raising rates, who knows.
Bershire most of its companies are regulated monopolies, ie have a moat and price set by the government, BNSF, Geico.
Apple is a bit wayward. It doesn't really know what to do, despite having money, customers, etc.
Rusia: ¿hasta qué punto es sostenible un crecimiento basado en el gasto militar? (youtube.com)
Chevron Is Moving Headquarters From California to Texas (youtube.com)
Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Returns Boosted by Tech Stock Surge (youtube.com)
Positioning. DeutcheBank has it that investors last week went from 96% overweight, overextended, and now is 31%, neutral or relatively underweight.
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Inversión forzosa: ¿hay riesgo de expropiación de los ahorros de los colombianos? (youtube.com)
‘Para reactivar la economia.’ Petro. ‘Peligro de expropriacion.' ‘Encarecer el credito para todos los colombianos.’
The proposed plan is that instead of banks using client deposits to fund loans, the government will create a government entity which will assign this credit.
There is already a bank in Colombia that does this, according to Mauricio Cardenas youtube.com and when they need to they forgive the unproductive investments ie they pay them with public money ie the money that citizens didn't put in that bank. ‘Politicization of interest rates.’
The Petro government wants to do this in order to provide credit to entitites that have a higher risk to not repay their loans. This would mean new works in the barrios, which would gain political favor for the president. Whereas currently, with the banking system as it is, there is no capacity to do politics.
Hire more beurocrats, and pay beaurocrats more? How much would Colombia's credit rating go down on the day this passed?
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Walmart is doing OK, there wasn't an increase in job seekers, and the stock market went up a bit. But there's still negativity about the consumer from some. Some say the sqeeze is being felt at the bottom end of the consumer and moving higher. The market had dropped on the Japan carry trade a couple weeks ago and then there was a lot of repositioning, volatility.
Data dependence is dangerous at turning points. - Tom Lee
Conviction is not going to be as strong as things that have been working. Most poeple's playbook is probably buy QQQ, Nasdaq or AI names.
Two things are keeping inflation high on a weighted basis, shelter and auto insurance. Adquacy is there now in auto insurance so it can cool now, and in housing rent is stabilizing. Tom Lee.
Goldman bought $400m in Bitcoin products, not long after saying there wasn't much client appetite for that product. HSBC, BofA, Morgan Stanley are also seeming bullish on Bitcoin products recently. Banks that are more bearish are Morgan Stanley (again) who reduced their large position, and switched their Greyscale shares for Blackrock (a common trend). JPM also tepid on Bitcon.
Why Goldman Sachs is jumping headfirst into crypto while rivals retreat (youtube.com)
Colombia produces 90% of global cocaine, reportedly, and a lot of the marijuana. There's a question of a soldier/guerilla economy if Colombia drifts more towards segregated politically controlled regions.
What My 10,000 Tenants Reveal About The Economy (youtube.com) (Ken McElroy)
‘This is the time to take care of your tennants and keep occupancies high. Do not try to maximize rent or maximize the market. Rents are passing people’s wages, and they're getting squeezed. ... Evictions, and juts for a few dollars here and there.
Turnover costs of. Painting, cleaning, marketing, staff to rerent, leasing commissions.
Many renters don't look at their current renters as customers, and are always looking at new ones. Chasing new business instead of taking care of current business. You should engage on a regular basis, and find out what residents need and when, how long does it take to service the renters. Customer protection. Service team (distinct from renter team). Tenants need certainty. Rather than a month or two free or something, renters want lower rent. Lease on properties are on a different kind of loan and have a different budget than you have when you're stabilized. They wanna know what their rent is going to be.
1m new apartments hitting the market this year. Those started a couple years ago, before interest rates went up. But after that it costed 8 or 10% more to build so many builders held off. There will be a dip in availability which means more renters after the current coming-on supply is passed.
Late fee forgiveness and support from the renter is built into the contract of professional landlords. It's based on the lease agreement and number of times.
The main driver of housing is people. Supply of people create demand.
18-25 is the demographic. When people graduate high school they rent an apartment. You start to buy homes at 30 and average is 35. But migration might be different demographic.
Even if properties are poorly run, if business is easy (lots of customers) there will be profits anyway.
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A bank takes money from mainstreet and invests it for you (wallstreet).
GenZ, are they bad with money? Or are the things just so expensive that they don't bother trying to buy a house and instead buy other things? (Boomers had 40 or 60% more buying power or something.)
ClassA property is just a lot less management, which is kind of a cupon.
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Half of all gold demand is for jewelry. There's no bitcoin jewelry.
Stable source of demand for gold (central banks too).
Bitcoin has 1/4 the yearly investment as gold.
Bitcoin as a diversifyer.
Detractors used to say, But you can't use it to buy a coffee. Now, people don't talk about that much. Since the advent of the ETFs. It's an investment.
So they're (currently) different assets.
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When owning Bitcoin, you're mostly owning ‘crypto demand’ not monetary policy or conventional risk, which two things affect Bitcoin price much less except in bit events or trends.
youtube.com
Laws put in place years ago during property boom to stop Price Gauging, and then left in place even during downturns. Now relaxing in some cities. Previously, used homes had been losing value while new homes basically kept good value, but now the prices for used homes are so low people are buying them for the value. This includes the megacities like Beijing and Shenzhen.
Some homes in Beijing now asking a price 30% lower than government guided prices. Adjacent sellers will be pressured to lower their prices. Prices will try to find a bottom.
16m unsold homes in China (plus 48m uncompleted homes). At current rate of sales, that could be 5 years of supply.
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NVDA is up 40% in a couple weeks (in 8 trading days) from its recent low, and is now basically back where it was. Relatedly, some investors who had wanted to own Nvidia but it looked so expensive to them at all-time highs, had the chance to buy and did.
Institutions were the big buyers of the dip, reportedly.
Markets in 3 Minutes: Leverage Is at a Record in US Bond Market (youtube.com)
The Shrinking Business of Sneakers (youtube.com)
Nike and Adidas became flippable (hundreds for thousands of $) collectibles.
Revenue is a lagging indicator, though.
$400-500 was the price for some sneakers, now $200 or $250. Stimulus checks era meant some stores sold $640k a month. Now useless inventory. But some of these stores that just opened for this fad market are still doing well enough.
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Are exports the only source of growth? - Patrick Boyle
Fresh record for DOW, Aug 27.
Investor sentiment highest in 2 years.
Japan's Seven & I Seeks Government Protection After $38 Billion Approach (youtube.com)
‘Core’ status designation. They provide essential services and essentials, food and supplies with 21k stores 24/7. They also do official documents, banking. Ubiquitous across Japan.
Japan has taken protectionist actions before.
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Everyone was waiting for and watching for Nvidia's Q2 report. (There were even pop news about watch parties in bars.) Most important report, everyone said. The beat by a little on every metric possible. But expectations were higher, perhaps, so results aren't much alpha beyond expectations. One way a top can price itself in?
Nvidia has decelerating revenue and EPS, margins going down, and an already high valuation, the opposite of how they were before the stock went parabolic.
Nvidia's growth continues, but (priced-in) expectations are much higher.
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Aug 29, day after Nvdia's report stock down like 5% (about the same as it was afterhours after the report). But the rest of the market all basically up. Just NVDA red and everything else green basically. Looks for the first time like Nvidia maybe doesn't matter that much to the market.
The Peloton CEO sold his $55m East Hampton waterfront house and moved somewhere else. He was a billionaire on paper a couple years ago when PLTN was $150 and now it's a few dollars. His statements show he seems to be taking it well.
Shift, over next 5 years, 90% of EM markets expected to register a faster growth rate than US in per capita income terms. The US was 50% during 2020-2024. According to Ruchir Sharma.
A relatively weak USD is part of this.
Another anti-trust movement against Google, from Yelp this time.
In past years, when movements happened against the Tech Giants, investors didn't really care (they didn't sell the stock). But recently, for the first time maybe, people are starting to modify their expectations, said Diedre on CNBC.
Replacement cycle for laptops and tablets gives Best Buy a boost, says Citi's Steven Zaccone (youtube.com)
Same store sales still haven't turned positive, just narrowed the negativity. Stock up like 15%. Comp declines for 12 quarters at Best Buy.
Insurance is really outperforming the market on one and 3 years. Turns out it is a huge infaltion hedge, because they have pricing power like no other.
July pt2, Fed deb records, Americans own stocks, Chinese stimulus, 'Population trap
Federal debt payments ‘pretty scary’ while we ‘need to keep stock market up’ and other things up. A hole dug over past couple years that has to be filled. 60% of Americans own stocks, about the same number as home ownership (which peaked at 70% before 2008).
Gross margin decay? Government to step in to make sure it's not just the biggest companies winning?
Tesla may be in belt-tightening phase and this may represent the economy because Tesla's been really good at this type of understanding.
Chinese government taking actions to prop up stock market, with $300m.
Could be a shock in price of oil if Middle East has more violence.
'We'll never have that magnitude of money dropped on the economy ever again.'
Report: population increase harming standard of living (youtube.com)
Lack of housing, ‘a population trap' (which happens in excess of the 400k immigrants Canada can handle, reportedly), 1.2m immigrants to Canada last year. Usually 300k-600k in a year. Canada would need to build 700k houses per year, and most it's ever done is like 300k.
Nothing the minority of us weren't discussing 20 years ago, against the insults of 90% of citizens who called us automatic racists for even considering non unlimited immigration from 2 or 3 nations.
Capital stock declining for 5 years, private sector isn't investing as much as would be necessary for better performance it's been said.
July pt1, Big Lobby, Startups decline, Gold
Capitalism ruined by big government, spending, programs? Become bailout nation, began in 1984 of Continental Illinois and since that progressively bigger bialouts. ‘Gains have been privatized, the losses have been socialized.’ Lobbyists. The biggest lobbyists in Washington today are the megacap Tech companies ('massive regulatory capture). Progressively, every decade the habits have gotton worse.
Over past 20 years, number of new startups in US declining. Economic and social mobility have declined. Probability of becomming a billionaire and becomming entrenched has gone up 40%. Growth in number of lawyers has ‘gone parabolic.’ So maybe not true that internet has provided people with such a great way to just bring any product or service to market and compete. ‘Capitalism not working for the average person.’ Most young people polled currently say they want socialism, not capitalism, but they perhaps don't realize that what they have today is not ‘capitalism’. In Europe, they have an ‘even more distorted’ versoin of capitalism. People saying, when there's a problem, ‘We need more intervention to fix this.’
3000 new regulations introduced every year in US. In last 20 years, 20 regulations removed.
Led the hosts to dispute opinionatedly during the interview, displaying varying priorities.
He says the solution is only a crisis, where the government is out of its ability to regulate and spend. There will be no turn.
- Rockefeller International's Ruchir Sharma
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‘The rise of anti-woke shareholders’
Shareholders at dozens of big companies avoiding DEI, ESG proposals (youtube.com) (Fox)
Here's Why A Hit TV Show Is Worth Millions Less Than It Used To Be | Forbes (youtube.com)
Big 4 banks don't have a plan that would cover their OTC derivatives program FDIC Warns About Big Four Banks' $168 Trillion Derivatives Book. (youtube.com) . Maybe they're not as ‘sound and resilient’ as the Fed said. These speculative OTC derivatives are off the balance sheets and are highly leveraged. Derivatives were one of the big triggers for 08. Big Banks bet big, in trillions.
The Currency Reset and When I think It Will Happen. (youtube.com)
It's the dollar price of gold that matters.
In the past year, inflation. Gold is up between 15% and 25% in most important currencies. 15 in places like Canada and Australia and Singapore, 25% in Switzerland (are wealthy people moving into gold?) and Japan (yen at multi-decade low against Japan letting interest rates gradually rise a bit). Russia's currency, despite tons of sanctions etc, is only down 8% to gold. I have questions about why the best countries, Japan and Switzerland, most controlled, wealthy in terms of non-GPD factors, highest sociability, have the highest inflation and maybe it therefore is a signal of it actually being something good happening not bad. Japan lets you borrow at 1% and invest anywhere in the world for 5-7% at risk-free rates. This trend unwinds quickly when things reverse. Without meaningful rate hikes there's no way to compete. Japan saw inflation but only up to 3% while other countries saw up to 9% or something, giving people more confidence in the idea that Japan has something that makes them never going to have meaningful inflation. So perhaps Japanese will make all their money in these inflationary years from overseas sources and in the next stage Japan will just have more money inside.
There's no easy answer for the weakening Yen: currency analyst (youtube.com)
Gold is the ultimate store of value and maybe the only way to store value longterm. Fiat eventually all go to zero, it seems. There is no disicpline. It looks great because you can stimulate and manipulate the economy, but once you start inflating you can't stop, because the other side of it is debt. You always have to issue more currency to pay the interest on the debt, or if you try to reign in spending it's politically unpopular. Fiat dollar is a debt instrument. Keynsians want to inflate away the debt, financial repression, grow the economy faster than the rising debt. But the system needs the debt. Central banks are there for that reason, to increase liquidity. 'Mythical value' as Putin said. US is biggest debtor nation at $34.4t in external debt. UK is second with $20t. China is number 8.
Unless you have debt, why hold dollars?
Silver behaves differently.
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Bezos sold $13b of stock. Not sure what he plans to do with the cash. Speculation includes Blue Origin.
Bezos relocated from Seattle to Miami and saved $1b in state taxes.
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Blackstone's $80 Trillion Dollar Bet | Iconoclast Summit 2024 (youtube.com)
They talk about how much Blackstone owns in real estate (Europe) and warehouses (including eCommerce).
Stronger Yen would mean cheaper food and energy.
barrons.com
PFAS #stocks ACM, MEG, RSG, XYL.
US Government Brainwashing Expert on Trump Shooting & Human Influence (youtube.com)
So much money is currently in the few biggest stocks that if even a small part gets reallocated it can move other stocks up a lot. If 1% of Nvidia went to (I forget which one they exampled. Paramount?) a fairly well-known other company, it can buy the whole company a second time.
Ether ETFs Start Trading | Bloomberg Crypto 07/23/2024 (youtube.com)
It didn't go up.
Regional banks bounce back: Here's what you need to know (youtube.com)
Credit quality questions before, but it seems ok.
Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend by 24% (youtube.com)
Poland will overcome Germany in economic terms, Samo said. Germany, he said, has a bad energy policy.
A massive refugee wave now live (permanently, probably) in Poland. Their population issue is solved with Ukrainians. Poland will be more capitalist and less regulated, like lots of former Soviet Eastern Europe (lots have a flat tax), and many have lower rates of beurocrats.
1800 stripclubs in US, approx, down 200 since (during) pandemic. 20-year-olds, now used to online services, not sure if they go to stripclubs. Younger guys don't want to be sold to, maybe, they want something that feels more real. It's an intense experience when you first meet someone in a club. There's a lot of people wanting to close down clubs, so they face that challenge.
SmallCap. Overcrowding in handful of names (BigCap Tech mag7), so broadening. Rate cut. Increase in software MNA and MNA generally, and BigCap can't get them through regulators.
BoC changes tune as consumers show they're hurting (youtube.com)
Second interest cut. Mortages having to be redone at higher rates, as one differentiator from USA market. High unemployment among new Canadians, and recent grads from highschool and college. Those who have jobs aren't really losing them, and those are the people who commonly have houses.
#Canada
Diplomacy & IR
April week 1
Thailand joins BRICS, Pai’s pot plodders punished - March 11 (youtube.com)
Once some respectable countries, like Thailand, join, won't a bunch of others then join for that reason? Probably many will join just because they like unions but hate being told or coerced what to do.
Russia's Putin Wants a Truce, but on His Own Terms (youtube.com)
Kill switch fears over US F-35 fighter jets in Europe | DW News (youtube.com)
All these things the politicians allowed while things were good and they were getting paid and no demands made of them. Enemy benefits.
Russia's Putin and Trump Reach Limited Ceasefire Deal on Ukraine (youtube.com)
Russia, Ukraine launch airstrikes following Putin-Trump peace call | Unbiased Updates (youtube.com)
Germany updates US travel advice following arrests | DW News (youtube.com)
Canadian cancellations dealing a blow to US tourism (youtube.com)
March week2, 51 states, China international investment relations
Canadian shoppers ditching made-in-USA goods as tariff threat looms (youtube.com)
Trump Responds To Movement In Canada To Become 51st State (youtube.com)
It would mean greatly expanded civil rights, but more expensive living overseas. Canadians might make good Americans. However, the history is not the same. The US history is one of war, even civil war, sacrifice, pioneering (in civics not just land).
‘The Chinese do not ask us to give up our religeon to do business with them.’ USAID apparently forced people to support policies that conflicted with the religeon of the people (in Africa in this case). Former USAID Employee on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Agency. (youtube.com)
NEW: Mexico extradites 29 cartel leaders to US (youtube.com)
Russia says sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine would be “act of war” | BBC News (youtube.com)
Feb week4, Anti-bribery in bribery-system countries, Riyadh Vienna, German election
Canadian shoppers ditching made-in-USA goods as tariff threat looms (youtube.com)
Trump says Gaza ceasefire should be cancelled unless all Israeli hostages freed | BBC News (youtube.com)
The law prevents US companies from bribing governments in other countries, and companies have complained saying it is unduly restrictive to them, and the enforcement of it is sometimes unfair. If you know how business is done in other countries...
BREAKING: King of Jordan tells Trump he will take in thousands of kids from Gaza (youtube.com)
Separating families, one charity case at a time? ... Because kids are the real problem here?
Trade tariff turmoil pushes Canada to rethink US ties | DW News (youtube.com)
‘Should Canada join the EU?’
Trump and Modi Announce Defense Deals, Trade Boost (youtube.com)
Human rights advocates don't rejoice. India seems one of the countries in the thing with the least concern for civil or human rights, privacy, whatever. I mean the government.
Israel-Hamas war: An American among hostages freed by Hamas (youtube.com)
Gas hangs in the balance of geopolitical peace talks, oil is long-term, says RBC's Helima Croft (youtube.com)
Riyyad talked about as ‘the new Vienna’ with important political figures meeting there to work out international deals. Russia Ukraine is one thing, but Israel possibly striking Iran's nuclear facilities is another.
European countries have had some de-industrialization because of the energy cost increase after they sanctioned Russian oil and gas. Gas is a country to country issue, she said. Will Europe start piping Russian gas again? Watch the German election.
‘China looms large. Now that we’re friends with Russia again. Go figure!' CNBC.
USA-Canada 3 fights in 9 seconds after US anthem booed 2/15/25 (youtube.com)
Jan week4, Africa versus mining companies, Xi what might have been, Singapore alliance, global corporate tax deal, North American production
Mali Seizes 3 Metric Tonnes of Gold from Canadian Mining Company Barrick Gold | Firstpost Africa (youtube.com)
$250m.
Neighboring countries also doing things like this. They want to do more mining nationally.
CIA’s deep partnership with Ukrainian intelligence (youtube.com) (ABC)
How Will the World Navigate Trump’s Return? | Foreign Affairs Interview (youtube.com) During Trump 1.0, he was erratic and upset all US allies. That was the opportunity Xi missed, where he could have been everything America was not at the time, consistent, reliable, steady, respectful, to play a very calm approach. Malcolm Turnbull, who was Australia’s prime minister during Trump’s first term.
Only episodically, the US engages itself outwards. Bilahari Kausikan
Competition between two very different major powers, not a demonization of the other power.
Fery few countries are completely beholden to China. Maybe Pakistan, Laos, maybe Cambodia. Others, like Indonesia, have been countries for a very long time and will never submit to another country.
Are tax wars the new trade wars? | DW News (youtube.com) DW
Trump has basically pulled the US out of the ‘global corporate tax deal’ initiated under Biden (the idea was to charge minimum 15% tax everywhere, so no company would want to shift profits to pay less taxes, increasing tax revenue for governments everywhere by hundreds of billions, since multinationals can sometimes get 0%, but they had been finding creative ways to get money back in other forms from governments, reducing their real money outflows). 120 countries had signed up in principle in 2021, but a smaller number had actually really joined it.
Trump said that not only was he not going to do this, he didn't want to do it, and no other country could do it to US companies. They were going to look at the tax rules of all other countries. If you make US companies pay taxes in the countries where they're doing business and employing people, US is going to come after you. Other countries will have to make a decision.
Now there will be higher uncertainty for businesses, because they might have to pay different taxes in two countries (or more) and pay taxes for different things in the various countries.
Because US is threatening high tariffs already against allies, there's less disincentive for those other countries to do things that US wouldn't like, since they have already undertaken such strong steps and there's less they can do. If they've already started a trade war with you, what, are they going to start another trade war with you? Canada and Mexico are already talking about what retaliatory measures it can undertake against the US. ... This might be a strong motivation for other countries excluding the US to band together and make trade deals.
...
‘There is no American production. There’s North American production.' Krugman, who also noted that 30 years of business relationships will now be disrupted. Krugman couldn't see any reason for protectionist policies against Canada, because there wasn't a huge number of immigrants crossing from there. Mexico has a fentinol thing, but they will say it's hard to overcome US demand.
Jan week2, US-China
French, German FMs meet Syria's new de facto leaders | DW News (youtube.com)
Brazil Leading BRICS 2025: A New Era Unfolds (youtube.com)
As China and US continue their trade war, well, perhaps it is broader than a trade war, because a lot of it involves information and technology, with a perhaps ultimate measure being power, particularly destructive. China has piggybacked on the US and Europe for a couple decades and has comparable technology. It frequently exhibits products almost exactly similar to cutting edge ones, like that fighter jet a while ago. There're a lot of Chinese in the US. Everone once in a while, one is discovered as a political or econonmic/tech spy. If US wants to outcompete China, it would be the cleanest plan for companies to just not employ Chinese people in those jobs, but they can't legally do that. It raises an interesting question, since that would be the cheapest and simplest solution, and would have the best outcome (Chinese in the US would strive to prove they are allied with US not with China), but could that ever be permitted in a society that has taken on goals of ‘equality of opportunity’?
"All 27" Thai "Volunteer Police" "Were Chinese Nationals"? (youtube.com)
Coronavirus: Germany bans export of medical protection gear | DW News (youtube.com)
Dec week4, Panama Canal, Greenland threats, the 'national security' motive, US example
(Fox)
Panama's president dismisses Trump's threats to retake control of Panama Canal | DW News (youtube.com)
Trump pushes to buy Greenland: 'Absolute necessity' for national security (youtube.com) (Fox)
Trump, Panama Leader Clash Over Canal Control (youtube.com)
The US Dollar Weaponization Speeds Up The Rise of RMB|Jeffrey Sachs (youtube.com)
#Ecology
What Trump's Panama Canal threats reveal about today's geopolitics | Ian Bremmer's Quick Take (youtube.com)
OK, I got licorice and more popcorn. You can unpause the empire.
US once ‘owned’ the Panama canal and Carter ‘foolishly’ gave it to Panama, so we should go take it back (treaty 1977, official transfer back to Panama 1999). Sounds a little like Crimea?
Panama has said Trump owes them taxes for properties. Maybe the governments don't like each other.
Greenland. Trump tried to buy it from Denmark in Trump 1.0. Now he's saying ‘national security.’
‘National security’ was said about Crimea also. Hard to see how nukes don't proliferate if the big military powers keep taking land from non-armed countries. Even if US doesn't actually take land but just has fun with threats. Hard to see such threats not emboldening China's assertion of a right to take Taiwan.
China sanctions 7 companies over US military assistance to Taiwan (apnews.com)
Secondary powers want to do things but are afraid to because of primary powers. When primary powers do immoral things its a license for secondary powers to do the same.
Dec week3, Israel/Ireland, Iran/Syria, Kenya police in Haiti
Axis broken?
Montenegro "Committed" to Revoking CIP Citizenships of Sanctioned Individuals - IMI - Investment Migration Insider (imidaily.com)
“loss of ... citizenship by force of law” for any CIP citizen who appears on international sanctions lists.
Kenyan police forces exchange gun fire with gangs in Haiti (youtube.com)
On patrol with Kenyan police in gang-terrorized Haitian capital | DW News (youtube.com)
Trump amenaza a Maduro si no acepta a migrantes venezolanos deportados (youtube.com)
Dec week2, Canada energy supply to US
The Ontario premier Trump basically said that's alright if he wants to say that, US shouldn't have to subsidize Canada. Alberta, Quebec premiers said they wouldn't cut off oil to the US, in disagreement with Ford. The Quebec premier said Trump told him Canada could avoid the tariffs if it does certain things about the border, border security.
Former British soldier Daniel Khalife found guilty of spying for Iran | BBC News (youtube.com)
Alleged Chinese spy had 'unusual degree of trust' with Prince Andrew | BBC News (youtube.com)
Dec week1, US/China
China's response to chip sanctions by US. Galium and uranium, which the US gets 50% from China.
Even if China and US both just use the tarifs and sanctions as bargaining chips, public information maybe wins.
US chips are 'no longer safe,' Chinese industry bodies | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, Mearsheimer's Middle East, Mexico-US
The Israel Lobby means it makes no diffrerence if it's T ot H. It also doesn't matter if it's Netanyahu or another.
The Palestinians don't have a lot of allies. The Houthis and Hezbollah. Jordan doesn't have power to do much, and is dependent on the US. The Russians are a player, working with Iran.
‘The Middle East is not going to be a peaceful region for a long time.’
‘If public opinion in the West governed how Western leaders deal with Israel over Gaza and over the West Bank, we would have a fundamentally different policy. But up at the elite level the elites remain almost 100% committed to supporting Israel no matter what.’
...
Next year, a sunset clause in the US-Mexico trade agreement comes up, so US could say they want Mexico to have less of a relationship with China in order to continue terms. ... Or US might decide to trade with China again, which would sort of cut Mexico out of the US supply chain.
Mexico is currently very left, 2 seats shy of absolute majority which is what would be required to change the constitution.
Putin congratulates Trump on his 2024 presidential election win (youtube.com)
Oct pt2, Taiwan Starlink, Spain/Israel
Wall Street Journal reported. About Starlink implementation (not to run Starlink over Taiwan).
Musk has some kind of top secret US security clearance, and he maybe didn't report his talks with Putin to them, maybe he did. Failure to report contacts with foreign nationals can be grounds for suspension or even criminal charges, it was reported. Assange?
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale on Musk-Putin conversations, state of 2024 election (youtube.com)
‘Harris campaign is panicking.’ They're throwing all kinds of stuff at the wall. ‘Deep State is kind of a silly term but it’s kind of a real term.' They're going after him. People in DC who are offended when people who are elected want to be in charge and command, and they try to build a workaround.
Chinese Increasingly Disliked Abroad: Aunties Brawl at Tokyo Airport, Clash With Taiwanese at Disney (youtube.com)
Same headlines as 10 years ago.
China signs comprehensive mutual visa exemption agreement with 24 countries (youtube.com)
‘On October 31, Spain announced it has barred Israeli companies from participating in the 2025 International Defense and Security Exhibition (FEINDEF) in Madrid.’ (TRT)
Oct pt1, Asia-Silicon Valley revolution, Tech comp
Technological Revolution may better be characterized as Japanese, Taiwanese, SouthKorean, Silicon Valley collaboration, not just Silicon Valley. What is Apple without FoxCon, TSMC for Nvidia? Double dependent.
The European common market isn't common enough, there's no digital common market. European tech workers are in US because the compensation can't compare.
September, Putin, Venezuelan property seized by US, Peru's Chinese
Venezuelan government statement (as reported by CNN) after seizure/confiscaiton/theft of plane: The US ‘illegally seized an aircraft that has been used by the president of the republic... This is an example of the supposed ’rule based order', which, disregarding international law, seeks to establish the law of the strongest.'
US has seized about 70 Venezuelan planes, most associated with Pdvsa, the state-run oil company. They seized one this year in Argentina.
China's consul general in New York leaves U.S. following scandal (youtube.com)
New York governor's ex-aide charged as Chinese spy | BBC News (youtube.com)
Her and her husband have pled ‘not guilty’.
What Is the United States' Role in the (New) Global Order? || Ask Peter Zeihan (youtube.com)
Sweden is going to offer migrants $34k to leave Sweden. For residents, and some restrictions to avoid silly claims.
Political issue with doing this is it sends a clear message immigrants are not welcome.
What’s behind the Netherlands government's plan, what does it mean for migration? | DW News (youtube.com)
Going to usd Emergency Powers ('a national crisis on asylum') to freeze all new asylum applications, and without consulting parliament, and later pass a no-asylum law which would suspent European migration agreements. And later go to Brussels and opt out of all European migration agreements.
And to do basic things like make asulum centers basic not luxurious, not allow migrants to invite their families (when we're talking about adult children, in particular), not give priority for housing, and things that would discourage migrants who are not actually seeking asylum from a serious issue. And increased returns of people who have not been approved for asylum.
Migration was the number one issue in the November election, where far-right anti-migration party became the largest party in parliament.
This is sentiment in Denmark too, reportedly.
3 U.S. citizens arrested over alleged plot to "destabilize" Venezuela (youtube.com)
Belgians puzzled and displeased as Germany brings back border controls (youtube.com)
Germany begins imposing checks on its nine land borders | DW News (youtube.com)
Peru's Chinese Connection (youtube.com)
Chinese descendents (Tusans) are 10% of the Peru population? Google says 0.01% officially, but that up to 5% of the population has some Chinese ancestry. Good statistics aren't available for this, it seems.
On international level, it's anarchy, so being really powerful is the strategy. There's no higher authority.
WATCH: King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan addresses 2024 UN General Assembly (youtube.com)
REGIONAL WAR: US Troops FLOOD Middle East As 100's Killed In Lebanon (youtube.com)
August, Cartels, Chinese Olympic athletes, Venezuelan property seized by US
Mexico’s Drug Cartels Are Not Competitors to the State - Bismarck Brief (youtube.com)
$153b in illegal narcotics consumed by Americans per year.
175,000 Mexicans work for cartels. 0.3% of population, under 5% of GDP. Cartels are networks not hierarchies. Most don't have clear hierarchy. Shifting relationships.
US legalized partially marijuana since 2012, so Cartels switched to chemistry from farming. Now main exports are meths and synthetic opiods made in large laboratories. Marijuana is ‘barely profitable’ for cartels now.
Sinaloa is known to be less extremely violent than CJNJ, which helps it retain tacit political support. It provides services like protecting businesses from other extortions (it only is allowed to extort them) and from government trying to get extortion, taxes, bribes. It has solved some kidnappings (hands culprits over to police). It handed out cash payments during the pandemic. It provides grants for schools and churches.
The leaders are often illiterate. They entered the trade to make money, and don't always use drugs or look for violence.
Some (M Gonzales leaders instill codes of conduct on their workers such as not harming women and chidren and not doing drugs.
They don't want to replace government but to be left alone by it. They cooperate with government. They have never been able to survive without cooperating at some level with some parts of officials (kickbacks) and armed (police, military) forces.
It seems people change roles between offical and cartel official.
Cartel officials are frequently killed, but government officials rarely.
Cartels provide one of the most or the most highly lucrative source of funds to top government.
Cartels apologize to US when Americans get killed (rarely) and hand the killers over.
Cartels and government compete for power. In times of scarcity cartels can be exploited for money.
Cartels don't impede political careers. They can be a source (maybe must be?) a way to advance.
Mexico is a coutry of states. The cartels are subservient to the Federal government.
Wagner Group failed in its coup. Maybe cartels think they can't really take power anyway.
Cartels don't threaten US power or geopolitical influence. They're important in how they shape US's relationship with Mexico.
US elites don't oppose drug use, legal or illegal. More the contrary? For this reason, perhaps, if Mexico fought a strong drug war, they would not get US support. But also means that the cartels won't probably last long.
Cartels contribute to Mexico's status as backwater, so it's useful to US in US policy towards Mexico and cartels.
...
China Hits Back at US Over Olympics Doping Controversy (youtube.com)
Chinese athletes have been subject to many doping tests while US covers up their own suspicions / allowed to compete anyway, according to the Minmin Low.
It would be great if they just simplified the Olympics so they'd be like the original ones. Open to all non-professional athletes, therefore mostly young buy could be any age, tested beforehand for drugs (because now basically required). But there's a corporate angle, and an institutional factor.
...
Exclusive: US seizes Venezuelan President's plane, flies it to Florida (youtube.com)
September 2. Maduro not on plane. Seized in the DR and flown out to the US.
Who gave permission for US to do this in the DR?
Does US still respect heads of state who do not cooperate with the US? What are the rules of international relations US abides by?
What is the definition of international terrorism? What is the definition of act of war?
Does this exemplify world tyranny? What is the world international order?
It leaves a question for journalists to answer. Do they say ‘stole the plane’ or ‘confiscated the plane’ or ‘seized the plane’ (seized is perhaps most literal but is a weak word because it doesn't really have an identifyable meaning). Journalists will have to review the world order this month, because it's theft if there is no valid authority deciding and executing the action, it seems, and where do we place this authority in terms of level? It seems it would have to be global (which is in any case multi-partisan groupings, 5Is+Israel, BRICS, etc), but there does not seem to be any consensus today, the UN is probably held in lower esteem among people everywhere than it ever was and isn't considered a global authority by anyone as far as I know. #Journalism
July pt2, Israel, Russia
‘"Russian cosmonauts will no longer be delivered to the ISS. They will work under a different program,” Borisenko told lenta.ru. "It goes about the creation of our own national orbital station.’ called ROSS.
July pt1, Ukraine's minerals, CIAnalyst
U.S. accuses former CIA analyst Sue Mi Terry of working for S. Korean gov't (youtube.com)
Law
April week 1, Personless victimless crimes, false allegations, reverse science, people snatched by ICE on college campuses, detention? at airports, international tensions, Big Law, Law firms and Trump
FBI raid of wrong Atlanta home heads to U.S. Supreme Court (youtube.com)
VIDEO: Over a dozen sexual predators arrested in Seguin, Texas (youtube.com)
Yet another case where there was no actual victim. No actual child. It was just ‘law enforcement’ pretending to be minors (not children, either, just teenagers, and only in some cases, it seems) and talking with men, and when they arranged to meet at some place which, they officers say, is a place where illegal activity would take place, they were assumed to have committed a crime and they were raided. Reportedly, this ‘operation’ involved 9 different law enforcement agencies, coordinating.
Probably these cases are preferred, when there is no actual person, because if there is, people have to deal with that person's side of the events also, and their personality, and their attachment or desire or intentions. If the ‘victim’ is ficticious, it can be a very innocent and perfect ‘victim.’
How to Stop Cops From Using AI as a Search Warrant Loophole (youtube.com)
EP#155 | The 12 Hallmarks of a False Accuser (youtube.com)
They have over 1000 false allegations cases, this firm, over the years.
‘They explore key behaviors such as lack of agency—where complainants evade responsibility for their actions, often blaming intoxication (and sometime becomming very evasive about what they drank, saying ‘people just keep bringing drinks’ ‘Which people? How much did you drink?'—exaggeration and dramatic flair (just saying ‘I was drugged’ when there's no evidence of that, 'I couldn't do anything'), intense controlling tendencies, manipulative messaging ('intense controlling behaviour' ‘constant demands for reporting’ by messages, demands for passwords, ‘How dare you? You’re not allowed to break up with me! You insulted me! If you break up with me I'll make you pay for it! I have nothing.), and denial of undeniable evidence (of random, erradic acts of violence, but only when they're documented to you get points for it). With vivid courtroom anecdotes, they highlight how these patterns emerge in cross-examinations and underscore the importance of documentation, like messages and photos, in exposing fabrications, especially in high-conflict divorce cases involving parental alienation.’
‘I didn’t say no because I was scared.' ‘I never did anything to him.’ ‘I didn’t report it because I was afraid of what would happen.'
'They always paint it as being under the course of control of the accused, so that they are unable to do anything in the relationship and are absolutely fearful to spark the anger of the accused, and therefore were scared to ever report.
They deny any aggressiveness, or inappropriate conduct, including verbal inappropriate conduct or abuse conduct, either verbally or physically. They always portray themselves as being coercively controlled by our client.
You ask them, Did you do this thing? No! You show them and ask them Do you recognize this message or this picture, and they say I have no idea what that is, and then eventually they admit OK yeah, because they realize you can prove they did that thing.
‘A controlling witness’ ‘I’m not the one on trial! Why are you asking this!'
Messages where they person clearly is seeking something, whether something financial, or longterm relationsip, or employment, and if they don't get it they go to the police.
Child complainants and it turns out their phone had been taken away. Abuse of the children claimed. Evidence of parental alienation, all sorts of evidence trying to prevent the other parent from having access to the child. The alienated parent is often the false accuser.
Child says We had no relationship, or No good relationship, and there's photos of them going out and having an amazing time, loving, hugging, it's a bonded relationship.
The parent with custody claims if the other parent gets access he'll take the child away and they'll never see them again.
Ultimately manipulating the system.
Pictures of having good moments isn't enough, because it can still be criminal, but when you've got a good, historical catalogue, a pictoral history of the relationship with the children or with the other party, and you can see qualitatively certain things, and there's the communications and the cards, and then there's a particular moment when you know there's been a motive to fabricate, that automatically changes the situation. That's when your documentary evidence has value.
The lawyers suggested that these hallmarks should be used as investigative tools.
...
Senate Bill 3: Texas could outlaw THC gummies, vapes & hemp (youtube.com)
Controversial Israeli spyware allegedly linked to Ontario police (youtube.com)
The End of a Terrorist: Smiles at a Drone, Eliminated Minutes Later | KAN 11 (youtube.com)
?
EP#159 | How Expert Evidence Contributes to Wrongful Convictions (youtube.com)
Reverse science intended to show how things that would normally undermine the veracity fo a complainant's account are now being turned into signs of trauma. Inconsistencies, inability to recall, all the hallmarks of making it unsafe to convict, are now being turned into signs of ‘proof of rape.’
The $110M Lawsuit That Could End False Accusations Forever (youtube.com)
Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in deportations case (youtube.com)
Georgetown Scholar Badar Khan Suri, Snatched by Masked Agents in D.C., Remains in Immigration Jail (youtube.com)
From India, a scholar on peace processes in Middle East. Taken without any charge or accusation, told his visa had been revoked, reportedly. Jailed in immigration and customs enforcement facility. Another alum was recently similarly arrested and placed in a different ICE facility. ...
Some group involved said his wife was targetted by pro-Israel groups. The group published videos and articles about her and her family, and one of these was shared on the official Israel Embassy in DC, on Xwitter.
He's apparently accused of speading Hamas propaganda (without evidence, they report).
The commenter said that the scholar was treated this way for simply being married to a Palestinian, and for expressing (rarely) or pleading for Palestinian suffering or whatever.
The Dean wrote something about the possible chilling of the freedom of expression on campus this government action would cause.
Georgiatown is in a bit of a political fight with the government because the government wants it to end all DEI, and DC said it wouldn't consider Georgiatown students for internships, fellowships, whatever, until Georgiatown complies.
Bolsonaro to stand trial for alleged coup attempt, court rules | Reuters (youtube.com)
Judge tosses libel case against media watchdog NewsGuard over bad rating (youtube.com)
Meet 2 U.S. Citizens Detained at Airports: A Police Chief and a Lawyer Who Sued Trump Administration (youtube.com)
‘A growing chorus of people with stories of being detained at the airport since the Trump inauguration.’
Airport inspections are targetting ‘more than just Muslims’ now, they suspect.
Can't they just ‘defund’ airport security? Less staff, more targetted search.
The police chief asked if he was being detained. They told him ‘No, this is not a detention.’ If you're not free to go, that's a detention, isn't it? He was there 90 minutes getting ‘vetted’, but he doesn't know what was in the vetting. They didn't take his phone, but there were signs that prohibited ‘strictly’ use of phones, and also standing up from the chair (another sign it was a detention).
Actually, it's probably good for ‘hi-pols’ to be subject to this kind of treatment, because they haven't seem to care when it happened to journalists, activists, and common people for the past 10 or 15 years. They haven't seem to care that cellphones were taken and scanned or hacked, cellphones of regular people, that devices were seized without any probable cause. ‘It is humiliating ... It makes you extremely vulnerable and you have no idea what is happening to you while it is happening,’ said the police chief. This is a big point, that in an arrest you have a process and you know the process and you can behave correctly, but at an airport it's all secret and not bound by process rules, so there really is no way to react except ‘cooperate’ or 'not cooperate.'
If you read the comments, there is a lot of sentiment, aggressive, against anyone who says they don't want to travel to US and they're glad they're citizens of other countries (like Canada), saying ‘Good don’t come,' and that they're ‘protecting the country’ and ‘making people feel safe.’ Welcome to the slippery slope. Others, of course, were ‘ashamed’ and ‘disgusted’ by the administration and that ‘a culture of disrespect has been established.’
Just What We Needed: Ford Patents The Stick Shift For EVs (youtube.com)
Good work, Ford.
Georgia Woman ARRESTED For Miscarriage (youtube.com)
Former DOJ antitrust chief on Trump's antitrust agenda, impact of DOGE cuts and Trump vs. Big Law (youtube.com)
Big law, who do work for Liberal or Conservative causes. Now, firms settling with the Republicans. Some worked as functionaries of the DNC. Now, those prosecutors or laywers won't be chosen to work, possibly. A lot of people 4 years ago, Republicans, couldn't get representation, because their firms were afriad the DNC admin would somehow attack their business practice, people didn't get hired then.
Looks like CNBC kind of ambushed this guy a bit, but maybe it is a story that needs to be made into headlines and investigated.
Skadden Arps law firm agreed to provide $100m in pro bono for initiatives backed by White House in an effort to avoid being sanctioned by the White House.
Other firms refusing to oppose out of concern they'll face reprisals from the White House, reportedly.
ACLU claims DHS uses point system to determine gang ties for deportation (youtube.com)
March week2, AI-generated illegal content, fake bad reviews
For contract work already done for USAID by whoever.
Arrests over AI-generated child abuse material | BBC News (youtube.com)
Are we going to have a conversation about what defines a child. These images were not of people.
Proliferation, ease to generate, difficulty to track down, and difficult to identify any victims.
Europol global oparation. Authorities involved in many countries.
Some commenters noted that there's a slippery slope if law starts prosecuting people for things that don't actually exist. Some called these ‘thought crimes.’
China Has SECRET POLICE STATIONS in America? (youtube.com)
How to Keep Copycats from Stealing Your Idea & Your Profits! (youtube.com)
You still can't do much about reviews. Fake bad reviews can bring you from 5 stars down to 3.5 stars, down from page 1 to page 3.
Second judge blocks Trump’s sweeping freeze on federal funding | REUTERS (youtube.com)
DOJ reaffirms Google must divest from Chrome browser to address antitrust concerns (youtube.com)
Feb week4, Presidential pardons, Rossman consumer protection, golden silence
Missouri sues China for $25B, CCP warns of ‘reciprocal countermeasures’ (youtube.com)
President Trump designates gang with Tennessee presence as foreign terror organization (youtube.com)
New Law Forces VitalSource To Tell The Truth About 'Lifetime' Licenses (youtube.com)
AB2426.
Rossman has become a consumer protections guy.
5 years is what it legally means now, with permanent downloads supported, according to one company. Can't you call it a 5-year license?
Futo was able to change their terms because they ‘redefined what purchase meant’, as well as ownership, sale, sold, rent, buy' to not mean or imply any transfer of ownership.
Rossman referenced 2007 or whenever when there was a textbook scam where they changed the order of the content (without changing the content) in order to require university students to buy a new textbook every year, otherwise they'd get all their homework questions wrong.
Judge pauses Trump's ‘buyout’ offer to federal workers (youtube.com)
Man Spends 10 Years in Prison for Refusing to Answer Questions (youtube.com)
Because he refused to tell where the gold coins are. He claims to not know or not remember. ... Two more years. Plus they fined him $1000 per day of his incarceration. Civil contempt for $3.3m. The coins he found, which are estimated to be worth $2.2m, are with some guy in Belize, the man said. The investors in the goldfinding mission would like the fruits of their investment.
Government, you might hope this fellow isn't vengeful.
Federal law generally limits jail time for contempt of court to 18 months, but an appeals court said they could jail him longer because his not talking violated a plea agreement.
FULL REMARKS: JD Vance Puts European Leaders On Notice About Trying To Regulate U.S. Tech Giants (youtube.com)
In their own countries?
Facebook Engages in Piracy (youtube.com)
'The Facebook Bay'
Reuters won ‘the first major AI copyright case in the US’.
Fair use does not apply in this case.
Border crisis: Drug cartel drones bill introduced in Arizona | LiveNOW from FOX (youtube.com)
Needs to be analyzed by legal/civil rights scholar.
CIA expanding drone flights over Mexico to search for cartels: Report | NewsNation Now (youtube.com)
Disney stole my artwork and sold it in their parks - Update after 2 1/2 years (youtube.com)
Jan week4, Robinhood securities, 'foreign adversaries', cartels as 'terrorists', US divorce, Paris Climate Treaty withdrawal, pardon power over-stretched?
Vance describes what Trump's Jan 6 pardons could look like (youtube.com)
New Rule Will Force Hotels and Others to Disclose ‘Junk Fees’ Upfront (youtube.com)
Robinhood to pay $45M in penalties for violating over 10 securities laws, including failures in reporting, recordkeeping, reg SHO compliance
Report: TikTok is preparing to shut down in the US (youtube.com)
CNN, you're so fast.
Mystery surrounds Rudy Giuliani's settlement with with election workers he defamed (youtube.com)
$150m settlement?
TikTok Is Banned (youtube.com)
(but soon after Trump gave them 75 days more)
The law was successful (so far) because China, Russia, Iran and NKorea are classied ‘foreign adversaries.’
In 2020 Trump signed two exective orders to ban TikTok in the US, but federal courts blocked both. ‘Unconstitutional intrusion on speech' was the argument. However, it's pretty obvious you can have an app just like TikTok (speech) without data colleciton (privacy and security risk).
Trump inauguration. Cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organizations.’ Strong measures to eliminate criminal gangs in the US, including inner cities. End the EV thing. Build a lot of cars. Drill a lot of oil. External Revenue Service to collect foreign taxes. Only 2 genders.
Manav Gupta, a random YouTube commenter during the second address, wrote an interesting point, ‘Mr. President. US birth rate has been declining and this should be alarming. Change the Law so that divorce can be final within minutes of applying for it to reverse this trend. (THE Legacy Thing!)’ If people were not ensystemated into a system where divorce means, in some ways, ‘the end of the man's life' and on the other side, where the woman has to maintain her relationship to her divorced man. If men and women were cut loose would they more easily make new pairings and have more children.
BREAKING NEWS: Trump Signs Executive Order After Executive Order—Each Read Out—At Inaugural Parade (youtube.com)
Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty got a huge applause.
A commenter: ‘They should make this a norm. Signing executive orders infront of the public and each order is announced & clarified for all to know what is signed, and maybe a link in the live video so people can go and read each order online in more detail.’
Pres. Trump signs batch of executive orders after inauguration (youtube.com)
Made null about 80 things from the Biden admin.
LIVE: Trump signs executive orders on Inauguration Day 2025 (youtube.com) AP
Rep. Auchincloss: Trump's TikTok Extension Is Illegal (youtube.com)
Live: January 6 inmates begin to leave prison following Trump pardon (youtube.com)
Legal Challenges Pile Up Against Trump Immigration Orders (youtube.com)
Breaking News: House PASSES Laken Riley Immigration Bill (THEFT CRIMES) (youtube.com)
Pardon power might be under review now, with Trump's and Biden's recent pardons. Biden did 8000 pardons (6200 for marijuana possession or something, said). Trump is receiving criticism for the controversial pardoning of some of the Jan6ers (while approving perhaps the pardoning of most of them). ... Friedburg raised a point, referencing Hamiltron, that sometimes, during rebellion or insurrection, a pardon might not be just but might restore tranquility.
Dec week4, Inflation and law, IRS targeting crypto investers more?, California banned overdraft fees
Lawsuit accuses elite colleges of using wealth to drive admissions (youtube.com)
Plagiarism concerns mount at high-profile universities | Morning in America (youtube.com)
2 Year Sentence for Bitcoin Income Tax Evasion! (youtube.com)
Read the comments to see what people think about their institutions.
‘I have thought about this in the past. It’s absolutely ridiculous to pay tax if you buy something and then decades later sell it for the same value of cash, but have to pay taxes because the number of notes has increased.’
‘I thought laws were supposed to be even handed and not target certain people? How it even legal one form of tax evasion can require more jail time than any other? Does t that fall under cruel or unusual? It’s def unusual.’
'Scary stuff. 10 years from now it will be almost impossible to hide any BTC/Blockchain xactions and the FED will know exactly where/when you got your BTC years ago (they can now, but they're mostly incompetent and overworked).
That's why I hope myself and 10+ of my following generations will NEVER cash out any BTC we '
Brazil says workers at EV maker BYD's site are trafficking victims | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Forced labor, alleged.
These new California laws will directly impact your wallet. Here’s what to know (youtube.com)
Overdraft fees.
Dec week3, Lacross victim admission, women in legal system, 'simp', gas water, government computer systems
Vietnam internet laws.
US jury finds Vegas police fabricated evidence in 2001 killing, awards $34M to exonerated woman (apnews.com)
‘No physical evidence or witnesses connected Lobato to the killing, and she maintained she never met Bailey. But police maintained she confessed in jail that she had killed a man who tried to rape her during a three-day methamphetamine binge.’
Non-Consensual Deepfake and AI-Generated Pornography (youtube.com)
Any protection for your image? Whether you have to not post on public SM and not wear a visor in public, or go through law to control technology.
How FEMINISTS Change Consent To R*pe, And You'll Never Know | Pearl Daily (youtube.com)
61% of rape accusations that are reported are false. 50% of the false accusations are to cover up consentual sex.
Women have gotten into the legal system, Pearl notes, and changed the definitions of everything to make them more broad. The old definition of rape was ‘carnal knowledge of a female forceably and against her will’. New definition is ‘penetration, no matter how slight, of the v****a or a**s with any body part or object or oral penetration by a s** organ of another person without the consent of the victim’. ... What is consent? Women can say no, then say yes, relations take place, and then later they decide they said no. Or they can not say no, but ‘give other signs’ they weren't in total consent.
Years ago I noted how when the change happens, it will probably have to happen by women being the sort of heros of culture, since men were not able to be, any longer, since if they stood up for rights and the rights were their own, they would be criticized, and up until a couple years ago, the blame attempt was almost always successful, with almost all women and most men joining against them. Facts or logic irrelevant, and this is still maybe more than 50% the case. ... Since men couldn't do this cultural work of bringing sense and proportionality back to culture (and the majority of men were acculturated to blind belief in it anyway), the people in the best position are women, who currently can do anything they like, basically, with no social repurcussions, and it's not even easy to blackmail them, but it is very easy to blackmail or fake things that are criticizable (destroy their life) of men.
‘The shift from defining domestic abuse solely as physical violence to include emotional, psychological, and economic abuse began in the 1990s, particulalry with the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. While the VAW act initially focussed on violence against women, subsequent re-authorizations and interpretations broadened it’s scope' ... during early 2000s ... to include emotional, psychological and financial abuse'. Emotional abuse can include ‘distress.’
Again, Pearl isn't saying anything new or groundbreaking, it's more just seeing things that a smal percentage of people understood for a couple decades, making its way into the general culture. It started with a prejudiced MRM, then became pop with RedPill etc, JordanPeterson, AndrewTate (more militant support of men and asserting individual rights), and now, maybe, women vlogging about it.
This issue, the redefinition of a most-serious crime, rape, from mean force against physical protest to a vague and retrospective feeling with few protections for the accused, started maybe in about 2000, I forget now, so about a 20-year delay seems consistent with other cultural correction starts.
Part of things was a lack of language. For example, if you try to state facts but they happen to be for equality (of men with women) and you get flack and some guy stands up and threatens you, to ‘stand up for’ women or a woman, and he's obviously in the wrong. ‘White knighting’ got us part of the way there, I think that was Style's term, but now it seems people use ‘simp’, ‘simping for someone', and that's actually pretty potent. For example, you can say someone is ‘joining the simp Olympics.’
Here's a bot's take, which was better than any of the guesses by people on Quroa: ‘In contemporary slang, "simp" is often used to describe someone who is overly attentive or submissive to someone they are attracted to, often to the point of compromising their own dignity or self-respect. This usage gained popularity through platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Twitch, where it became associated with certain behaviors in dating and relationships, particularly among young men.
‘The term has also been linked to discussions about gender dynamics and online interactions, reflecting broader cultural conversations about masculinity and the nature of romantic pursuits. Its usage can vary, sometimes being employed humorously, while at other times it can carry a more derogatory connotation.’
But here's a person's: 'The internet slang word “Simp” originated probably through the online live streaming platform twitch. People say that female streamers are getting many donations from so called "simps“.
'A simp is a person who would do anything for another person even if the other person isn’t interested. For example: A guy trying to get attention from a female streamer with his donations.'
How much women's fashion has come from working girls? and how much men's slang has come from gaming?
Cities brace for new California 'Daylighting' parking law starting in 2025 (youtube.com)
Can't park within 20 feet of a crosswalk (including unmarked).
Their gas was basically just water and it killed their cars (youtube.com)
They have an organization that goes around and tests regularly, but only for quantity disperses, but they are not allowed to check or use tools to check for quality of the gas.
A commenter, @dkservice424, ‘40 year auto mechanic here. I have had many cars come in over the years with straight water in the tank. I just remove the fuel line and just run the fuel pump until it runs out of fuel/water. Put in two gallons of new gas and run the pump again until straight gas is running out. Connect the fuel line again and start the car and let it run for about 20 minutes. Then completely fill the tank and it’s good to go. Never had another problem related to the water being in there. Shops replacing all fuel lines, fuel injector’s fuel regulator’s are just ripping people off and is totally unnecessary. Just taking advantage of people’s misfortune. I charge around $300 for the time involved. I have seen people with $2500.00 bills for repairs for water in the tank. A lot of shops/ dealers are scumbags.’
Commenter: ‘It should be REQUIRED to test gas for quality letting gas companies get away with this is insane.’
Another: ‘This is also why lobbying should be outlawed. representatives should be making things better for their constituents, not their donors and lobbyist.’
The video replays a very similar video from 2001, the same story about Ohio.
I would recommend the citizens not worry about the politicians who are now ‘trying to get a bill passed’ and just fund a local inspection service, with their results public, and leave the government out of it. With a ready secondary plan to add a second or third, separate and competing testing outfit, in case the first one is compromised by lobbyists.
Class action lawsuit filed in RI Bridges cyberattack (youtube.com)
A woman is suing the Deloitte, a state vendor for the system for, allegedly, failing to protect sensitive information of people receiving government benefits. Negligence, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. 100 people have joined the lawsuit so far.
Maybe this will become less of an easy-money thing? Currently, you don't need to do much to get these kinds of contracts, and sell crappy software to governments, corporations, etc.
Records to be Cleared for People Who Bought Drugs MADE by the Police (youtube.com)
New Law Would Address Bad Cops Switching Depts To Avoid Discipline (youtube.com)
Qualified Immunity Could Be Abolished in Ohio In The Next Election (youtube.com)
Another Small Town Newspaper Forced to Sue Over Bad Arrests (youtube.com)
DOJ Announces an End to Airport Civil Asset ‘Interdictions’ (youtube.com)
NJ bill would ban pre-approval from health insurance (youtube.com)
Dec week2, Jan6ers still locked up, city attorney's decisions
Austin’s Crux Climbing Gym sued over climbing walls (youtube.com)
The company wants to take the climbing walls when they move, but the gym owner says he owns them. ‘It does cause serious changes to the property.’
Why millions of US citizens risk being deported over technicalities (youtube.com)
Citizens who went to the Capitol and were thrown in jail for 1000 days or whatever are still in jail, still don't even get trial or something. Trump said he'd free them all, we'll see. He also said Assange was his hero, right? The one charge the government doesn't need direct evidence to charge you is Conspiracy.
Supreme Court rules DHS has full discretion to revoke immigration visas (youtube.com)
UK May Have No Nightclubs By 2030 | Kevin O’Sullivan (youtube.com)
‘Killjoy government.’
I’m Suing the FBI & DOJ (youtube.com)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caVSUaB8S3o
Social media aesthetic copyright case heads to court (youtube.com)
Taxpayers foot bill to fight blind man in court (youtube.com)
Questions about the city attorney's propriety in having taxpayers pay $1.1m rather than settle for $45k more than their initial offer. The man in question has not received anything, 4 years later, while the DA ‘plays the long game’ trying to win a case that the amount of force used was justified, is the criticism.
Judge rules Target must face shareholder lawsuit over Pride Month backlash (youtube.com)
BREAKING: Woman ARRESTED For Criticizing Health Insurance Company (youtube.com)
Dec week1, Debanking, Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional
Tech Legend Makes Joe Rogan Go Quiet with Never-Before-Told Details of Debanking (youtube.com)
The government uses banks to debank PEPs (politically exposed person). The government just puts pressure on the banks and then the banks, knowing they're expected to do it, do it, and the government gets to say ‘We didn’t do it, the private company, the bank, did it.' Slight of hand, ‘a privatized sanctions regime.’ They debank businesses, which is easy to do because as a business, if you can't process payments, etc, you can't really run a business. The government can effectively sanction people not officially or directly, but simply by making them unable to function.
#Crypto #Information #CivilRights
Woman’s House Sold at Tax Auction While She Was Current on Her Taxes (youtube.com)
New Government Rule Declared UNCONSTITUTIONAL (Do NOT File!): BOI Report (youtube.com)
Hunter Biden May Have Lost Fifth Amendment Federal Rights Due To Presidential Pardon (youtube.com)
So, perhaps, he can be used as a witness (in Federal cases against others, obviously, but regarding matters he has been pardened from).
My DOGE Application Update & BOI Injunction (My Promise to You) (youtube.com)
The ‘Corporate Transparency Act’ the Feds enacted, which used threat of jail (2-year max) and massive ($10k plus $500 per day) if all companies in US didn't submit their information to the Federal government, a court found this was unconstitutional on Fourth Amendment protections (against unreasonable search and seizure). And judge also noted that small businesses fall within the jurisdiction of the states not the Fed.
Softball Coach Sex Assault Case Ends in Shocking Verdict (youtube.com)
Nov week4, Regulatory burden, Drake defamation, FTC versus Microsoft, end to airport cash seizures
Regulations are passed without an expiry, and decades later no one knows the motivation for them, and you ‘have to do archaeology to figure it out.’
Drake takes legal action over Kendrick Lamar diss track (youtube.com)
For defaming Drake and for paid promoting ('artificially inflating') the virality of the track. Bots and payola, for the supposedly-hot summer hit. Civil suit.
FTC reportedly launches antitrust investigation into Microsoft (youtube.com)
Microsoft faces FTC investigation (youtube.com)
DOJ Announces an End to Airport Civil Asset ‘Interdictions’ (youtube.com)
November week3, Medical ads, Arresting parents 2
Claim they were aware of a plot to assasinate him but did nothing.
Should Viagra makers be able to advertise and say Ask your doctor about Viagra? or a new drug?
Google reacts angrily to report it will have to sell Chrome | BBC News (youtube.com)
Who can buy it? Computer monopoly Microsoft? AI monopoly OpenAI?
Logan Paul accused of misleading fans over crypto investments | BBC News (youtube.com)
Social media firestorm over free-range kids (youtube.com)
‘Her crime was that she didn’t know where her did was for a while.' Does any parent always know where their child is? So are all parents currently criminals in this jurisdiction? Well, nonviolent, non-abusive ‘crime’ can go up while real crime goes down? Doesn't every kid walk to and from school anyway?
‘I blame this culture that talks endlessly about the impact of every parenting decision on every atom of their kids being.’
Parenting has never been knowing 24/7 where their child is.
What was the process by which this happened? Was it reported by a clerk at the shop the 11-year-old walked to to buy something, or what?
...
Alex Jones sues The Onion, Sandy Hook families over Infowars bid (youtube.com) ...
Nov week2, 2024 Monica Smit, Arresting parents
#Australia
She won 2/3 of her cases self representing against 2 barristers and 2 soliciters and a firm at their office.
She was offered a $15k buyout before the trial, but she didn't want that. She wanted vindication and an apology. Paying the $15k they could maintain that they had done nothing wrong with their arrests of her.
She was only awarded $4000 in damages for 2 unlawful arrests.
You don't see much good of anything coming out of Australia, when it comes to human and civil rights.
What message does that send to the public, that even if you win you will have to pay so much money most people can't even think of paying it off? This is your best outcome.
She will appeal. ‘I don’t want people to not pursue justice. And worse, even if they win, that they end up losing anyway.'
How can you not 'question the whole system'?
#People #MonicaSmit
She doesn't expect other people to do the same as her. She says they can just take the $15k deal, and no blame to them. But this is her job, to do this work.
Should Linux Leave the USA? | Weekly News Roundup (youtube.com)
Colorado district attorney removed from office after disbarment (youtube.com)
Mother arrested after 10-year-old son walks into town alone (youtube.com)
Town of 370 people.
‘knowingly did endager the bodily safety of her juvenile son’
DA didn't provide comment and police declined to issue statement, and child services didn't respond to NBC.
The government wants her to install a tracking app on her phone and monitor him. That's what they want her to do. Does every person in the US have to track their children all the time, using a government approved app?
Oct pt2, Fake online reviews, Indonesia, tipping
It has a $9b valuation.
‘a brazen scheme to compete for readers while ... freeriding on the valuable contenct publishers produce.’
It's a search engine that puts links for its sources.
FTC's law banning fake online reviews goes into effect, but doesn't seem to ban ‘deceptively moderating reviews (eg deleting all low star reviews)’ ie ‘weasel language’.
With a high quality Amazon account, Amazon still doesn't seem to publish reviews of products that need to be warned against, imo, when that product doesn't have other reviews. It seems more willing to publish negative reviews into a sea of mixed reviews, but when a product is the only one on Amazon, and it needs a 0-star review or whatever, and you write one explaining, I've seen them not publish this more than once.
Indonesia blocks sale of new iPhone: Ban comes as govt takes steps to curb big tech (youtube.com)
Indonesia requires smartphones to include 40% local components (or invest in R&D or applications development).
Indonesia adds over $100 of import fees, so customers there pay over $1000 for the cheapest model.
285m people.
We're prepared to defend 'click-to-cancel' rule in court, says FTC's Douglas Farrar (youtube.com)
Got Casa Bonita reservations? Signing up means you're giving up a legal right (youtube.com)
An arbitration clause. 99% of people probably don't know they're giving up that right.
Hundreds of servers protest at the Capitol after tipping law passes (youtube.com)
Michigan. Minimum wage will be $12 next year. Servers are currently paid $4 plus tips (results in pay much higher than minimum). ‘I think it will justify for people not to give tips, and will affect everyone significantly.' Probably higher food prices or food charge or something.
Michigan isn't proposing to ban tipping. Just to change the pay style to servers are paid minimum wage.
Oct pt1, Cheney war crimes, Intentional mistakes with penalties
DOJ proposes remedies to curb Google's search dominance (youtube.com)
A user on hackernews: 'I honestly can’t tell if the judges in these anti-trust cases intentionally screw up the penalties.
Instead of forcing Google to do a thing they already do (allow alternative app stores on android), they could have banned them from distributing apps that require Google Play Services (i.e., all apps must run well on the open source version of android, which must be permissively license, and manufacturers would incur no penalties for shipping other mobile operating systems).
That would instantly open the android ecosystem up to competition by making AOSP (and things like Lineage/Graphene) viable competitors.'
...
September, Forcings ads, Mexico constitutional reforms, Visa anti-competitive suit
EU orders Apple and Google to pay billions in back-taxes | DW News (youtube.com)
Backpage Founder Gets 5 YEARS IN PRISON; Is Elon Musk NEXT? Interview (youtube.com)
Florida's new condo law is causing costly assessments (youtube.com)
Google spared a US$ 1.66 bil. antitrust fine as it wins challenge against EU (youtube.com)
Accused of forcing websites to use Ads due to dominance.
SEAL Breaks Down His Biggest Hits (youtube.com)
Did Musk really change his policy, or did Brazil's law change and he just complied with current law?
Why Does the US Not Want Mexico to Vote for Their Own Judges? (youtube.com)
Constitutional reforms in Mexico. Judicial reforms (very supported by Mexican public, familiar with delays, corruption). ‘Smearing by NYT’. US likes to have control over the Mexico judges so they can influence decisions related to things they want to do in Mexico, said Hackbarth.
Mexico will elect judges and they'll have review and term limits, if the reforms go through.
Mexico's relationship with the US Embassy (and Canadian Embassy, who copied the US message) in Mexico is on pause, after threats against Mexico if Mexico undertakes these changes.
U.S. sues Visa for monopolizing market (youtube.com)
Debit transactions, preferred usually by low net worth clients.
DoJ alleges Visa does a web of unlawful anti-competitive agreements to penalize merchants and banks for using competing payment networks (especially tech companies like Square), and coerces would-be market entrants into unlawful agreements not to compete, threatening high fees if they don't cooperate, and promising big payoffs if they do. The result is Visa can charge fees much higher than they could in a competitive market. Visa has basically eliminated the choice to use other options, not by offering the most competitive rates or the most innovative product, but by unlawfully structuring its contracts to disincentivize competitors. It is a ‘must carry’ network, because certain purhcases can ONLY be completed using the Visa network. ... Volume requirements or face higher fees. The banks then can't chose the offering with the lowest price but fear losing the economy of scale savings.
This increases the price of nearly everything.
The Sherman Anti-Trust prohibits entering into contracts with would-be competitors to prevent them from becoming actual competitors. Leveraging monopoly power to limit competitors ability is also.
This harms Americans, DoJ says, because it distorts the market, raising prices and limiting variety.
Most people think about Visa as credit cards (they have 1.3b ccs), but they have 3.2b debit cards. So it's ‘more’ of a debit card business than a cc business. (Mastercard has 3b cards total counting both types.)
Why isn't Mastercard being sued? It's a little bit growing faster than Visa. Because Visa ‘punishes’ merchants who don't do ‘exclusivity agreements' with them.
Joseph Carlson has argued that even if Visa didn't charge merchants these fees, the merchants would just keep that themselves and the consumer wouldn't be any better off. 'It would go to Walmart's bottom line.'
Cheaper options might not be as trustworthy anyway, and might not have as strong of protections for the card user.
Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple, etc, being dominant companies, as long as they are dominant, will always be targetted as a monopoly, but they usually win these cases.
Google files EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft over cloud competition (youtube.com)
Walled garden, ‘unfairly punish’ clients who want to switch.
August, Amazon's patent spam, Crowdstrike outage, Google monopoly
'Amazon's patent spam'
Biden Calls for Strict New Limits on SCOTUS (youtube.com)
A legal ‘code of conduct’ for SC justices? Topics that resonate with D voters. Term limits of 18 years?
Google Loses US Antitrust Suit (youtube.com)
Microsoft/Crowdstrike is arguing that it's Delta's fault because they turned down repeated offers from Microsoft to help. Lol. I guess that's the best one they could come up with.
#Microsoft
...
The finding that Google is a monopoly power is detailed and strong, which means it might not be overturned easily.
So what will happen (to replace the monopoly of Google Search)? Anyone want to be that Microsoft (the government) will have a product that fits in here.
Maybe people will be offered a list of search engines (when they open up their phone for the first time), but they're entrenched now so even when people have a list they still pick Google. I still use Google when BraveSearch doesn't give me the results I want or when I know it's not going to. But it could easily improve just by providing what Google Search provides. For example, Brave doesn't always display a stock chart or crypto price when I search for it, instead presenting results. They should pay a low price to Yahoo or CNBC or whoever to use their charts (or make their own API) and display this.
Microsoft reportedly said they'd pay any amount to be defaulted on iPhone, even saying Apple can rebrand Bing as Apple. Another option is Apple could make a deal with OpenAI.
...
Landmark ruling: how Google broke the law | About That (youtube.com)
Did Google ‘break the law’ or did they just push businesses practices to wherever they were stopped, as everyone expects and even wants (stock holders, US government) wants them to do?
Mewawalla: Everyone expected the EU to take the lead on breaking up Big Tech (youtube.com)
Risking US supremacy in Big Tech, AI, supercomputing versus China.
'Breakups never work unless you change the business model.' Google controls the entire search value chain.
Anthropic sued over copyright (youtube.com)
Shein sues Temu over copyright issues (youtube.com)
Are kettles going to be chasing each other around China yelling ‘black!’?
Shein sues Temu over copyright infringement, alleges rival loses money on every sale (youtube.com)
Becky at the end of this video :)
...
YouTube (youtube.com)
Charged with ‘attempted trafficking of a minor’. Because they flirted with girls and their plan is to one day some day intend to traffick them or have them do Tiktok, they say. Charged with money luandering becaues they bought gifts for girlfriends, which means they ‘don’t want to have them in their own name.'
Not charged, just accused, because ‘charged need some kind of evidence.’
He's not allowed to talk to his daughter, because they charged him with possible future human trafficking intentions of the mother of his daughter.
‘The process is the punishement.’
‘We’re gonna make them all victims.' Even though all the girls they talked to said they did nothing wrong, they say.
July pt1, Texas school protests illegal, speech illegal
#Texas #StateConstitution
Subdivision continues to ban pickup parking despite new Florida HOA law (youtube.com)
Human & Civil Rights
April week 1
Anti-government protesters in Serbia hold up mobile phone lights in silence (youtube.com)
#Protest
Rhode Island doctor denied admission to U.S. because of photos on phone (youtube.com)
Assistant profesor at a university.
What the Government isn’t telling you about facial recognition (youtube.com)
France Asks for Encryption Backdoor - Threatwire (youtube.com)
Thermal Facial Recognition At Protests? / Defense Idea (youtube.com)
Android is Secretly Scanning ALL Your Photos - But One Tap Will Stop it! (youtube.com)
Why a U.S. traffic stop has shaken these Halifax musicians (youtube.com)
23andMe CEO resigned, company filing bankruptcy. The amount of data they took and abused of people. Now data collection agents can find a new shell to use, as the 23andMe one is tarnished and perhaps no longer is as efficient as current data collection strategies could want in an agent.
Gaza Journalist Hossam Shabat Killed By Israel After Military Placed Him on "Hit List" (youtube.com)
Tom Cotton Leads Efforts To Remove Cell Phones From Prisons And Jails (youtube.com)
While referencing ‘contraband cell phones’ ie there's already a rule against the phones. ‘[C]ontraband cell phones are dangerous weapons.’
He wants cellphone jamming. Actually, I wouldn't mind one of those devices myself, if it really exists.
‘Cellphone jamming reform act.' ‘If there is no cell signal, then there is no crime.’
March week2, US civil rights
Feeding Our Future fraud trial: FBI set up cameras at meal sites (youtube.com)
IRS leak of more than 405K taxpayers' info included Sen. Rick Scott (youtube.com)
Rep. Jim Jordan on foreign censorship probe: We want to protect the 1A rights of Americans (youtube.com)
US could become the envy of citizens of all other countries, if it protects civil rights for Americans. Currently, US has the best civil rights but mostly only in theory and technically, because actually having them often includes a fight that negates their value.
Man Arrested At Illegal Checkpoint For Not Showing HIS PAPERS!! (youtube.com)
They have this kind of law (ie they have this kind of absense of civil rights) in a lot of latin countries, where you are legally obligated to carry government ID at all times and show it to the police any time they ask. They also require it to check into hotels, rent whatever, etc, and at these locations, random workers like receptionists and clerks just use a cellphone and take a picture of your government ID (this is actually illegal in some of these countries and the people doing it and everyone else know it is illegal to photograph an ID, but they do it anyway). You might expect massive identity fraud, and yes, the magority of the population is very concerned about ID fraud there, as polled. However, they have a weird consrvatism that causes them to never stand up for their civil rights (except in violent protests).
Feb week4, Encryption UK, Tiktok, UK airports, Quakers, Roadside checks, AI fake arrest, US may force free speech on Canada and Europe
The masses don't want rights, because they don't understand the rights that they have. They think having rights is the default, and they will never consider negative consequences of any actions (they will only blame individual sources of harm after harm occurs, even if they could have broadly prevented such harms beforehand by responsible action). Any protection of rights seems to require an oligarchy, since only educated and responsible people (ie not the commons) are able to make such decisions and actions.
Avoid Searching These On Google Or You May Land Up In Jail | World News | WION (youtube.com)
bomb making processess, weapons or explosives, p*********y with minors, hacking tutorials and software, free movies.
Given that in the fallout from the TikTok ban, for the like one day it lasted before Trump paused it, Americans and others (Chinese people are not allowed to use TikTok so not them) reportedly flocked to other Chinese apps that also take data in the same way. ... It seems the best policy might be to allow these people to be harmed by the beast they free. Lawmakers and others who attempt to safeguard all people, including them, try to warn them to just behave in a safe way, but they not only won't do that, they will start to insult and fight against these shepherd, and they will flout their nonconcen, like posting more photos and saying ‘Take all my data, baby.’ The only thing that can stop them, as far as I have seen, is when the protectors stop protecting them from their own errors, and they actually have to face the harm they cause themselves, and then suddenly they all change their perspective, and the bystanders among them stop entertaining the ideas of the flouters. A certain degree of non-protection seems necessary for protection of all, because otherwise the ignorant and lazy among the protected will start to fight against their protectors.
You can maybe draw a pretty clear correlation between this and the experience most adults have had where they have a friend who's poor and isn't working, and they're constantly in dire straights and need money, and it's so heartwrenching, and also they feel it's sort of their duty as a friend, and they help them, and they pour time and energy into them too, trying to give them advice on how to get a job and the benefits of it, and their poor friend still never gets a job or keeps on, and never seems to take their advice. This goes on for as long as they know the person. Then some day, a year after they lost touch with this old friend, they talk again and the person is working and getting by and has matured a bunch, simply because no one was there to help them anymore.
The Chinese React to TikTok 'Refugees' Migrating to Rednote | Street Interview (youtube.com)
‘It seems Weseterners are more sensitive to [issues involving big data]. But for us, big data can sometimes be quite useful. For example, it helps me understand my own daily preferences. In tihs regard, it’s quite practical.'
For one, I'm not sure why this woman thinks she needs big data to understand her own daily preferences, unless she somehow needs to compare hers with those of the mass of others.
More importantly, we can say that Chinese Revolution, in which millions of citizens were executed, criminalized, randomly charged and punished, and starved, by their government, simply by the government directing government forces, could never have happened in the US, because the US is individually armed and does believe in any obligation to adhere to demands of the government that conflict with their own views. Also, US citizens are connected through communications, so they can't currently be tricked into believing that resistence is futile or not popular. It's pretty easy to see how this is absolutely necessary to their continued individual security though. Even people in the US had become a bit more nonchalant about this, though, until the government's pandemic measures.
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Getting Detained by Counter Terrorism (youtube.com)
A YouTuber.
‘They don’t need legal suspicion.' ‘You have no right to remain silent.’ ‘You have no right to a lawyer in the room with you.’
Seized all his electronic devices. You have to hand over all passwords and if you don't you are then charged with the terrorism act.
They did the same things the Russians did, he said.
They were most curious about El Salvador. They asked everything about his behaviour, about his finances, how much he has, where he has it, how he got it, and he was asked about the war in Ukraine, what he thinks bout the UK and it's policies, about his opinions. 4 hour interoggation.
They kept his electronic devices, including his phone, for the maximum of 7 days. He couldn't access his electronic train ticket. There are no payphones in UK anymore, he said.
Uk arrests 3000 people per year for offensive comments online, he said.
A commenter: ‘The US Department of State considers Argentina to be a safer place to travel than the United Kingdom by an entire category. The United States considers CAMBODIA a safer place to travel than the United Kingdom. Let that sink in.’
Another: ‘Having done anti terrorism work before, it is shocking how incredibly inept the British are at it. This sort of thing is quite literally what radicalizes people to become terrorists.’ and a reply: ‘It has nothing to do with anti-terrorism, its only about intimidation’
It has seemed sometimes that the governments of the 5 Eyes want to have a certain amount of problems so that they can justify abusive and invasive treatment of citizens. So they will ‘allow’ a certain amount of real problems (perhaps through immigration or faking their own crime groups) in order to treat people as though they are also problematic.
‘Subjects not citizens,’ as another commenter said.
...
Serbian Students Say Corrupt System Must Go (youtube.com)
What’s Next for Border Enforcement? | Lora Ries (youtube.com)
I think a lot of people these days feel they are not ‘citizens of X country' (although there are a lot of those people today also) but rather have a sense of rights and responsibilities to all or most or any countries. That they should be able to cross borders, etc, and maintain their code human and civil rights. What would it take to get to that point?
Quakers in the US are protesting Trump's allowing law enforcement to go into sensitive areas, such as churches and schools, to search. This violates the 1st by deterring immigrants from worshiping, they argued.
President Trump to sign executive order to deport pro-Hamas visa holders (youtube.com)
Policies against ‘anti-semitism’ ‘anti-Jewish’ things.
Windows Client Side Scanning? (youtube.com)
Croatian consumers launch a boycott of major retailers (youtube.com)
Began as a simple callout on SM by a consumer organization. Prices are higher than in Germany, some said.
Other nationalities will also join the boycott and it'll go for a week, reportedly.
Avoid 3 major international changes. Avoid softdrinks, water and detergent. Avoid delivery services, delivery services, catering outlets, accomodation.
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Protests erupt in Argentina over President Milei's ‘hate speech’ (youtube.com)
The protesters say Milei used ‘hate speech’ at Davos, because he said in his speech there that feminists, DEI, equity, immigration, abortion, gender ideology, all jusitfy the aims of the advance of the State through the appropriation of noble causes.
It seems that these special groups, self-identified, are a real force and we will see what their next move is, if governments remove them from politics or at least from government. They will probably still want to capture political power for their special group and maybe will either find a different way or will form alliances between a few of them to out-democracy the majority.
Sen. Tim Scott on debanking hearing: The weaponization of our banking system should never happen (youtube.com)
Many, including Trump, think debanking has been happening, even from the major banks, and it has been targetting Republicans and people seen to be on the opposing side of Democrat goals. People like who use crypto or appear on podcasts that don't favorably present the Democrats. ... The banks say they have no choice, because lawmakers have created regulations where they have to debank people when ‘something is high risk’ (sex trafficking, money laundering, tax avoidance, ie you can suspect almost anyone of these unless you also put in place high standards of probable cause not just ‘risk of') in so many cases or pay huge fines.
Yes, finance firms ARE 'debanking' conservatives, EJ Antoni says (youtube.com)
ATF Is Using Facial Recognition AI To Track Gun Owners (youtube.com)
UK demands backdoor for encrypted Apple user data... (youtube.com)
Oh HN, people speculated Apple would just pay the fine, which would be set at a value which makes it basically a tax from the European country.
youtube.com
Stopping drunk drivers is a noble cause. They need to have a different division, which only has authority to take action for drinking and driving. I have no idea how that would work constitutionally.
‘Have you had anything to drink tonight?’
‘Do you have reason to believe I’ve had anything to drink?'
‘Have you had anything to drink tonight?’
‘I’m not legally required to answer any questions.'
This has ambiguous value, but all cops probably need for their purpose at checkpoints is to smell and listen to the driver for a second. Digging for more would almost certainly be condemned by society if they were given a choice.
‘Why are these young men doing this? It's to expose the unconstitutionality of these unwarranted searches and seizures at these checkpoints. Police shouldn't be able to stop random Americans going about their day and interrogate them on the side of the road without any suspicion of criminal activity. These police checkpoints aren't about keeping people safe. It's about extorting the people out of their rights and freedoms.'
‘Most of the time, when citizens exercise their right to refuse a warrantless search of themselves or their belongings, the police will just use their K-9s to give themselves permission to search whatever they want.’ ... ‘It has been proven that police train their K-9s to produce fake hits, and yet K-9s are still widely used across the country.' ‘They will only use their dogs to grant themselves permission for a search, but they will not use their dogs to locate anything in the search.'
‘Suspicionless checkpoints have now been normalized into our society. Sobriety checkpoints, immigration checkpoints, safety checkpoints, insurance checkpoints, identification checkpoints, seatbelt checkpoints, the list keeps on growing.’
‘Constitution free zones where anyone who happens to be going down a certain road loses all their rights.’
To stop DIUs they could offer tests at the parking lots, wrote one commenter.
Lawyer says sentencing of 'Freedom Convoy' organizer Pat King "sends a message" (youtube.com)
CTV, your presenters can't speak correct english. #Journalism #Canada
Crown had been seeking 10 years. He got 3 months house arrest.
A.I. leads to wrongful arrest of Lee County man (youtube.com)
300 miles (6 1/2 hours) away, an alleged crime took place, where a female ('a young girl' whatever that means) was asked twice to come with a man, but she didn't and he left (the crime is ‘luring of a child’ GCN reported). Police used CCTV cameras and pulled the images of the guy.
The neighboring sheriff's office ran the footage through an AI facial recognition program. 93% match to the man they arrested. The only record the man had, reportedly, is for a DUI and a barfight.
Just looking at the footage, the characteristics of the two men look different.
Wrongful arrest, said his lawyer. Other than one person, being presented with the man's photo months later and saying yeah that is the guy (although also saying the guy was a regular at the business), there was no evidence, it seems. The wrongfully-arrested guy was at work that day.
All AI needs to be verified by a person, said the security expert interviewed.
How did this get so far as to arrest the man? The Jacksonville sheriff's office refused to answer questions about it, reportedly.
‘It could happen to anybody.’
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Client Side Scanning - See What You See - The Matrix is Complete! (youtube.com)
youtube.com
UK, country without human rights, demands access to data of everyone. Let UK police into all your phones as they like. Apple just said nope, which is appropriate. For Brits, the next step hopefully will be using non apple, no Samsung, actually secure devices.
This exchange between the UK government and Apple effectively reduces security of UK phone users.
youtube.com
Review of materials used in (Pentagon-run) schools that service military families. Two of Trump's policy rules will be the criteria for reviewing the material. Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.
Juliane Moore has shown herself, I would guess, to be a real actor. She takes all kinds of roles, including controversial ones, not just vanilla Hollywood.
Florida has banned the most books recently (over 4000 bans), follwed by Iowa and then Texas (500 bans). The books banned include material about racism, sexuality, etc. Supporters say they're not censoring the books from the public, but just keeping age-inappropriate material from school curriculums and libraries.
I guess the issue here is that no one is saying any individual can't read any book. Just that parents who don't want certain material to influence their child don't have to be forced into that situation just in order to attend a public school.
Is Europe part of America? (youtube.com)
Talks about how Europe (and Canada) might be forced by US bigtech ('s newfound concern for human rights) to have free speech for the first time, and how that might change politics (toward libertarianism, a mix of red states and blue states). ‘The voter is created by government policy, so change the policy, change voters.’
Europe governments have been actively tamping down on speech to tamp down on rightwing politics. So if there was more free speech in Europe there would be more rightwing politics there.
The median voter is old in Europe, so they won't vote against social welfare.
'It's Out Of Black Mirror': Shellenberger Warns Of 'Extremely Disturbing' USAID Digital ID Program (youtube.com)
‘The censorship industrial complex.' ‘Using tools to label speech as hate speech or censored speech.’ eVerify. Trucker Protests and freezing the bank account of some woman who donated $50, this was raised in the testimony of the Canadian woman at Congress. ‘The End UN Censorship Bill’. Shellenberger.
1,000 artists release a silent album in protest against UK copyright law changes (techedt.com)
UK is a joke.
UK lawmakers trying to change law so AI can train on copyright works, reportedly. I don't understand why that country's people don't rebel?
Jan week4, KYC autopilot
Targeting 'de-banking' would be good if Trump is 'open & honest' about reason, says Brookings' Klein (youtube.com)
If they look into it they'll see why people are debanking, all the fees and costs. KYC paperwork.
Current regime is on an autopilot to report more and more ‘suspicious activities.’ KYC was set for transactions over $10k in the 60s when you could buy 2 cadillacs for that price. With inflation, the number would be something like $50 or %60k. Banks have no choice but to play by this rulebook. So people are doing more private credit.
Trump had been more ‘defer to the status quo’ in the past, the guest said, but now he might be going the other way, which would be interesting. However, he suspected that the reason Trump was doing this wasn't really any new deep appreciation of the situation, but rather that now crypto had his ear and his attention.
Jan week2, Cruise ship spycams
A cabin attendent put cameras in people's rooms. Posted the nude photos online (including, reportedly, children [actually children, not just minors]).
He snuck into passengers rooms, hid under their beds, and filmed people showering.
The suit alleges the company didn't do all they should to prevent this from happening.
Supreme Court Issues 9-0 Unanimous Decision With Major Nationwide & 2A Implications!!! (youtube.com)
Siri's Big Secret: Apple Agrees to Pay (youtube.com)
Public Video and Data Feeds of Highway License Plate Readers (youtube.com)
The video streams are open, don't need a password, on the internet.
What the Government isn’t telling you about facial recognition (youtube.com)
Jan week1, CR digital passport, P2P mass surveillance
Why not let them open the door to abuses in CR instead of somewhere else?
#CostaRica
Lasers and fireworks: Weapons of choice for Georgia protesters • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Apple to pay $95 million to settle suit saying Siri snooped on users | REUTERS (youtube.com)
If you pay, you don't have to face any repurcussions for spying on all people. Who was on the accepting end of this deal?
They still made so much off it they profit even after paying the fine. Who gets this money?
So Yes, Apple is listening to your private conversations with spouses, children, friends, business, everything, and yes, it is sanctioned/exploited by the government, who merely collects a tax from Apple as a form of ‘punishment’, perhaps to appease the public. If this were not so, Apple wouldn't be paying $90m to not have to have it reviewed in court.
Apple to pay $95m to settle Siri 'listening' lawsuit | BBC News (youtube.com)
‘I thought Tim Cook said it was a fundamental human right to have your privacy protected? Now we learn, the allegation is, that they've been listening in for 10 years. ’
‘All these companies that have made a business model, have made billions of dollars, by harvesting our data and monetizing it.’
‘Apple has consistently differentiated itself on the basis of privacy,’ in terms of the ‘If you’re not the consumer you're the product' thing. With Apple, they told you that you were not the product, you bought your expensive Apple product to protect your data. Lol. We always knew Apple consumers were obviously stupid and willfully ignorant, though, so probably this won't even change their minds. They'll continue to spy on themselves and all their friends and family for Apple and whoever has a backdoor into Apple.
In the lawsuit, a woman's daughter (a minor btw) talked about some products and suddenly saw a bunch of those products in Safari.
From this lawsuit, ‘affected users’ will each get $20.
TikTok is currently spyware disguised as a business, potential buyer stresses (youtube.com)
Dec week3, Discord ID, deepfakes
Discord’s New Age Verification uses AI and Your Face! (youtube.com)
Discord is based in SF and owned by Tencent in China, reportedly, or at least a majority stake.
Reportedly, Discord is banned in China.
Teen victim pushes to pass Take It Down Act | Morning in America (youtube.com)
1 in 6 female lawmakers have found themselves in unwanted deepfakes, reportedly.
When the girl spearheading this movement started, she found the various authorities and organizations of government didn't really know what to do with her issue, so there was no real path offered. The images were up for 9 months, and they had a warrant for Snapchat, but no results. Finally, her mother got in touch with Senator Ted Cruz and the images were taken down within an hour. She got no message from Snapchat at all in response to her many emails.
The law creates a felony for users who share these images, and it forces the Tech Companies to take down such images within 48 hours.
Do you own your likeness? How can you control its use?
Fake nudes created by AI "nudify" sites are causing real harm, victims say | 60 Minutes (youtube.com)
Only a matter of time before covering bodies and faces in public starts? Making illegal photographing people without consent (except for purposes of news), and making illegal spy cameras like ‘AI smart glasses’?
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Pasco County’s ‘Predictive Policing’ ENDS Due to Lawsuit by the Institute for Justice (youtube.com)
Another DNA-Testing Firm Is In Trouble (youtube.com)
Creepy AI-powered Surveillance Cams in 5,000 Cities and Counting (youtube.com)
Dec week2, Phone options
A lot of people saw this in the news, on PBS or the Republican news option. They more or less note it but superficially. Because they can't do anything about it, they rationally accept it and make no changes. Because what changes are for them to make? For the broad public, you could affect this thing just by providing options. If you put out a product, a phone that is secure and doesn't allow spying, then any news story you put out like this will be followed by people switching to the other device (as long as it is a real device, not a plant and not a scam, and not a red herring).
Dec week1, Aus tries for national internet identification, backfire effects
BREAKING: DOJ report shows FBI field sources stormed the Capitol on January 6th | LiveNOW from FOX (youtube.com)
A surprise to no one who watched the footage instead of just reading the news headlines. A suprise to no one who decides to take into account past actions rather than just hope past actions don't mean agencies or people will continue to do the same things. So, a suprise to many people.
Australia's Misinformation Bill & Under 16s Social Media Ban: Michael Shellenberger & Claire Lehmann (youtube.com)
With national digital ID. Australian government goes for total tracking and monitoring of people.
#Australia
A Veteran of British Columbia’s Public-Sector Forced to Quit Over DEI: Nick Osmond-Jones (youtube.com)
Land Acknowledgements and Other Wokery in Canada's Public Service: Nick Osmond-Jones (youtube.com)
Nick Osmond-Jones on Resigning from the Office of the Ombudsperson in British Columbia, Canada (youtube.com)
Victoria's War on Free Speech (youtube.com)
Excessive top-down control during the pandemic by governments had ‘backfire effects’. Claire Lehmann's article recently. Trust in routine vaccinations is now declining. People aren't getting Measels, Mumps and Rubella vaccinations as much as they used to. A similar thing happend when the UK government wanted to throw parents in jail if they didn't vaccinate their children against Smallpox before they were 3 months old, and there was a huge public response against the government.
In the US, trust in the medical establishment was 70% in 2020 and now is 40%.
‘We know that censorship will increase vaccine hesitancy, and the White House insisted on it anyway.' We have a natural tendency to want to pay attention to things that are sensored or kept silent, and ‘that’s one of the nice counterweights.'
Labor's second attempt at a Censorship Bill undermines free speech (youtube.com)
More Trouble for France: Govt to Fall as Protests Increase | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Nov week4, Seniors, French farmers
Nov pt 1, Alexa, 23 and Me
What happens to customer data as 23andMe goes out of business? (youtube.com)
Oct pt2, Google and X ToS, Selective enforcement, Spycams, License plate readers
X changed its ToS and to let its AI train on everyone's posts.
‘d’s Attack on Privacy'
‘try to associate so-and-so terrible roup with any software that simply lets people talk without corporate or government surveillance, as if the concept of private conversation is a strange and suspicious thing now.’
Cannot have a Ring camera like neighbors do (youtube.com)
They told her to remove her Ring camera (or get $100 a day fine) because it invaded the privacy of her neighbors.
But her neighbors have them and security cameras as well. She thinks the Condo Association is harassing her because she reported leaking pipes which led to them being fined.
‘Selective enforcement’ of condo association rules is illegal. And if it is done in retaliation it can result in another suit.
insurancefraudbureau.org ‘Reports of insurance fraud resulting from stolen identities - provided to the IFB by UK insurers, police and regulators - have nearly doubled in the past 12 months.’
Fraudsters use voice-cloning AI to scam man out of $25,000 (youtube.com)
Scottsdale mom describes encounter with elaborate voice cloning scam (youtube.com)
Scammers are taking out $45,000 home loans without the owner knowing it (youtube.com)
American Airlines backtracks after lawyers blame girl, 9, for not seeing hidden camera in bathroom (youtube.com)
A flight attendant guided girls to a first class bathroom where he had taped up his iPhone. A teenage girl figured it out. FBI visited the 9-year-olds family with graphic images of her found, allegedly, on the man's iCloud.
‘She knew or should have known [the compromised lavatory] contained a visible and illuminated recording device,’ the lawyer claimed in his defense. The girl's lawyer said that the only reason they backtracked on this argument was that they received backlash from the public.
Woman admits to lying about attack in parking lot; innocent man freed from jail: DA (youtube.com)
City Sued for Using Flock Cameras in ‘Massive’ Surveillance (youtube.com)
172 automatic licence plate-reading cameras across town ‘to conduct prolongued warrentless surveilance of entire driving populations.’ 5000 US towns and cities have this. A company called ‘Flock Safety.’ They use AI to create ‘vehicle finger prints’ which allows 'any Flock subscriber to track where that vehicle has gone and what other vehicle has been seen nearby.' Dragnet. Flock pools its data in a centralized database, and police across the country can access it, a billion monthly data points. No warrant is required to access and use this data in any way, reportedly. Further, police policy requires officers to log in and use this throughout their day. Already has been abused by police stalking their exes and a chief tracking his ex girlfriend's and her new boyfriend's vehicles. They also shared the database with other deparments of government. 'Prolongued tracking of public movements with surveillance serves to invade the reasonable expectation of privacy citizens possess in their entire movements.'
4th Amendment (unreasonable searches and seizures by the government).
#IJ
‘I don’t like the government following my every movement and treating me like a criminal suspect when they have no reason to believe I've done anything wrong.'
The idea of public privacy will come. Currently, you just get made fun of and belittled for mentioning this, by 99% of citizens in all countries I've experienced.
Cameras in banks or post offices 'record what's happening in there' in case there is an event. They are not tracking individuals and storing data on them and AI-ing them and creating profiles of information about them. Is this intrusive.
Probalby will require Supreme Court to decide, not circuit courts. When will that be?
‘Even if you can’t support the IJ financially, you can support them morally.' Very true.
There are places where photography is public is banned already.
Commons:Country specific consent requirements - Wikimedia Commons (commons.m.wikimedia.org)
r/streetphotography - Reddit (reddit.com)
Maybe I should take a visit to Switzerland, Spain and other European countries. It's exhausting living in places where there isn't even any understanding of the value of privacy, security, human and civil rights, and people generally just risk their own and everyone's data all the time, and belittle people for trying to protect it.
A neat product might be a wiki for countries and cities that have protections which some might call ‘for civilized people,’ such as protection from being photographed, protection from being tracked (surveilance cameras OK but no registering of people in any database), protection from noise (no loudspeakers in public streets, ability to have authority intercede when neighbors cause noise with dogs, birds, music). Data handling laws, such as prohibiting hotels and AirBNBs from photographing IDs. Protection from hidden recording devices (all devices must be visible and marked visibly).
Oct pt1, X under Musk
It used to be very clean and owned by the press and the elites and controlled, and it became this chaotic thing but also the only place where at scale you cannot be cancelled. Twitter used to be the number one place you could be cancelled.
September, SM speech, Phones actively listen, Google Map breakins
Why does Elon have to fight a human rights (free speech) fight? Why are people being put in to prison in the UK for liking a Facebook post? Why is the Guardian UK printing calls for Elon to be put in jail (more than one)?
Reportedly, in 2018 there were 50k startups launched in China, and last year just 1000. Concern about investing, access to capital, and also drag on economy, and insertion of Party values into economic sector.
Lehr: Trade is No Longer a Way of Opening up Markets (youtube.com)
US firm Cox Media accused of listening to private conversations to help push targeted ads (youtube.com)
First time there's proof, although smart people have known. Normal people make a joke about what they're just too lazy to want to ever do anything about. They would rely on their government figures to protect them, but it seems so far government has preferred comfortable deals with tech giants to working for their citizens.
‘They actively listen in real time to private conversations, and they do so using open microphones on a smart phone, a smart TV, or any smart technologies.’
They say it is legal, because when you buy a phone you opt in to using the voice commands of the phone ‘Google do this’ or ‘Siri do that’ and that means you have to have the phone listening all the time. People who don't use GoogleAndroid or Apple don't have this privacy invasion, though, but that's less than 1% of people.
Again, with ‘Google do this’ people will calmly give up their entire privacy and that of anyone they talk to or message in return for not having to tap their phone and instead just say a command. Again, it would be only government who could protect privacy, because citizens will not vote for this tradeoff.
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People are now blurring their homes on Google Maps to deter potential burglars (youtube.com)
Criminals plan their breakins using Google Maps, Apple Maps, and other technology. Years ago we knew this because the Bling Ring used it for Paris Hilton's place.
How to blur your home. Go to Google maps and find your house, click ‘Report a problem’ and you can ask Google for what you want them to blur, including a face, your home, your vehicle or plate, or ‘a different object’.
Social media collects, sells more personal data than most realize, study finds (youtube.com)
August, Admit tracking, Britain speech arrests, Mr Bean, Signal
The only time they ‘admit’ that everyone is tracked and how is when there's one of these sorts of attacks.
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Definitely arresting people for nothing more than speech. Is it any wonder Britains are protesting harsher and harsher? Can we consider them anything other than the real responsible citizens.
‘Intimidating censoriuosness’ to arrest and then let go citizens who say things one doesn't like.
Mr Bean should set up an office to call him when someone is arrested for offensive speech and go down to the police office.
The ‘outrage industry’. Encouraging media-stoked outrage that makes the police feel under terrible pressure to react.
Section 5 of the Public Order Act. ‘The most ludicrous decree.’
Brits ‘ROUNDED UP’ as Starmer launches ALL-OUT ATTACK on free speech over social media comments (youtube.com)
Doesn't it seem surprising that this could even possibly really happen in UK (or USA, Canada)? Given their history, the lessons former leaders, writers, famous people have voiced over the decades, to now have it possible that parliamentary leaders are capable of this?
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Feds Couldn't Crack Signal, So They Banned It (youtube.com)
Most data warrants are from Cali.
Compare data requests made to Signal with that made to Facebook and other SM Giants.
Signal has an option now so people can only find them with their provided name ie handle, not with their phone.
A recent glowy request for like 7 accounts only had Signal provide 3 phone numbers, meaning only 3 of those numbers had registered with Signal, ie LE didn't know which ones had Signal. Before, you could easily type in a phone number and if there was an account with that number you'd find it, so this might be improving for quality.
Venezuela and Russia have blocked Signal by forcing Internet Provders to block connections to Signals website etc. But Signal has a privacy option for ‘censorship circumvention’ so it will connect to a proxy before Signal's servers. China has a similar thing for Tor because China wants to disallow Tor.
But the public proxys for Signal will probably get blocked, but you have to connect with a private unlisted proxy if you want to use it in a censorship country.
Mental Outlaw here notes that although Iran found a solution in blocking the entire internet from its citizens, this non-connected week also cost $1.5b to the economy.
#Privacy
July pt2, Russian bank freezes
'suspected of publicly justifying terrorism and publicly spreading knowingly false information about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces' ...
‘In compliance with Russian laws, banks freeze the funds of people placed on this list and suspend the provision of services to them.’
#terrorism
July pt1, Traveller discrimination, 4th Amendment carry-on
FedEx Trucks Will Be Spying On You For the Police (youtube.com)
DEA Caught Red-Handed: Airport Intimidation (youtube.com)
‘I don’t care if you consent.'
Because the citizen booked a flight last minute to a city which is considered to have lots of drug activity (which is most US cities) this happens.
Defending your (and everyones') consitutional rights is not ‘silly’.
Fourth Amendment protects you and ALSO your ‘effects’ such as carry-on bags from illegal search and seizure. Seizing someone's carry-on bag is essentially detaining them.
Civil forfeiture, seizing cash the agency gets to keep.
DEA agents deceive passengers trying to make them think they are in the right (when they are committing a consitutional crime) and threatening to make passengers lose their flights unless they consent. They seize money without alleging any crime.
Some commenters suggested the agent was a ‘criminal with a badge’ and that he was a traitor (to the nation based on the Constitution, I guess).
'Qualified Immunity" goes away if they act outside of their delegated authority.
‘Garland comes to mind... Pelosi, and Brandon.’
Journalism
April week 1, Signalgate and The Atlantic editor, AP banned from White House pressroom, White House might change press room prioritization
Everything we know about the ‘brutal murder’ of InfoWars’ Jamie White (youtube.com)
Report: Trump admin. officials accidentally text journalist war plans (youtube.com)
Accidentally texted to The Atlantic editor. Accidentally? Bombing in Yemen. According to initial headlines.
He was in a Signal chat with military officials. He may have been added by mistake to the group chat. They talk about and debate the planning in the chat, and he was in the chat. These communications could be in violation of the Espionage Act. How to handling of national defense information.
Government uses Signal instead of WhatsApp, but doesn't want you to. Lol. Ever wonder why? It would have been even funnier if they had used Telegram.
What if Assange had done it? But it was government officials.
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Our Editor Their War Plans (youtube.com)
This is the report, 30 minutes, from The Atlantic, a few days after the events.
'Houthi PC (Principles Committee) Small Group.
At first, he thought it was a spoof by a non-state actor.
Read the Full Text Chain From Trump Officials’ Group Chat (thedailybeast.com)
This is the full text chain from the groupchat.
JD Vance pipes up almost at the start to say, without any prompting, ‘But I think we are making a mistake.
‘3 percent of US trade runs thought the suez. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it's necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to said a message.
‘I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these conserns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.'
Immediately, a possible reason for this being leaked presents itself. QB doesn't agree with the coach. Also, the person it was leaked to seems to have handled it exactly how an admin would want it to be handled, so he could have been chosen. Even in his interview with The Atlantic, he refers to ‘a problem, by the way, they were left with by the Biden admin, which they did not handle the situation well or adequately...’ He was also in just the right position. Also, nothing was said in the chat that was something the admin wouldn't want to be public. There was nothing criticizeable said. A leak like this could only be possible if the people use a messenger like Signal. If they used WhatsApp, it might raise problems for WhatsApp, which belongs to a government cooperating company. A leak like this has never happened before, probalby because the White House has the best data protection and has things in place, so for it to happen is already suspect as purposeful. I doubt the White House uses regular Android or iPhones, because those are easily hackable and it's public knowledge. Anyone with a Pegasus-type software and their phone number could hack them. ... Also, the editor says he removed himself from the group ‘when I realized that this was real’ because he'd ‘rather not be engaged in that type of text chain.’
One reason, Hegseth says, for doing it, is that US is concerned Israel will do it first if US doesn't, and then US will not have it ‘on our own terms.’ He wants the attack to ‘restore Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest' and also to 'Reestablish deterrence.
Waltz says that whether now or later, ‘it will have to be the US that reopens these shipping lanes.’
But then, some of the messages start to sound as if not really directed to associates but as part of a message expected to be published, a PR message. No evidence that is the case, but the messages do start to sound that way.
One reason they may have used Signal could be that when they demand to know ‘who added the editor to the chat' they may try to get records or a backdoor into Signal, with high intensity motivation to convince whatever judge.
Walz said he accidentally added the editor.
...
‘Sound familiar?’: DHS staffer accidentally added reporter to email about ICE raids (youtube.com)
Protestors attack Tesla driver, call him a ‘Nazi’ for driving a Cybertruck (youtube.com)
Congratulations, liberal media.
"Burn a Tesla, Save Democracy" banner - Takedown TESLA Protester in Manhattan NYC (youtube.com)
Democrats under fire for 'jihad' against Tesla: 'They're pro-terrorism now' (youtube.com) (Fox)
Trump admin and human/civil/Constitutional rights violations are giving Democracy Now a lot of stories already.
youtube.com
Miller said he noticed a softening of tone of the questions (by other organizations' journalists) in the press pool since AP was banned.
Discouraging to read the comments. Welcome to populism.
The sort of brainwashing done by Liberal media on the populaces has kind of put Canada in a tough spot. Now that Trump has won, suddenly it's hard to even see how Canada can be on good terms with the US. Over years, they've been critical and antagonistic of Trump at the Federal and popular levels. So now that Canada needs to do diplomacy to get good trade terms, for the sake of the economy, they would have to treat appropriately with Trump, but the populace of Canada may not allow that, since they are highly programmed to not even be able to watch Trump speak, to be highly emotional and antagonistic towards him and his cabinet. Before, it maybe seemed not so consequential, but now it appears a huge barrier to success for Canada. For that reason it would have been in the interest of Canada, and is always in the interest of all populaces, for whatever government to make sure the media is treating all players fairly all the time.
White House journalists consider briefing room ‘sit-in’ protest (youtube.com)
Currently, the front row is wire services, broadcast, and cable news, and behind them sit major newspapers and radio, and then further back other organizations. Karoline Leavitt referred to the ‘people’s house' (White House) belonging to ‘the American people. It does not belong to elitist journalists here in DC.'
They want more podcasters and similar to cover news.
March week2, Coordinated propaganda, AP Gulf, DOGE dangerous, MSM
Nick Shirley
‘Coordinated propaganda.’ 100 people just suddenly saying the same uncommon phrase all at once, ‘they’ve got their instructions.'
AP didn't obey the Trump order to change references to Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, and White House told them you do it or you can't come to press briefings inside the White House anymore, AP sued the White House and lost, reportedly. Another Democrat cause.
Only Fox News talks about the positive things DOGE does, all others run the propaganda stories.
Musk on the Joe Rogan podcast this week. He spoke for a while about the death threats, that the left actually wants to kill him, that he can't even push too hard on the corruption because they'll just kill him. That the media is doing to him the same thing they did to Trump, where they said Trump was like Hitler and basically made him evil and intolerably bad in the minds of their viewers (including people I know and people I've met and tried to have conversations with). I've written about the effect before here, where, like that older woman who ripped into a young man who sat down beside her because he had a Trump-related baseball cap, that she can only see Trump as terrible and she is only reacting appropriately as she has learned to do from the expectations and examples she sees on PBS or whatever news she watches. They are now saying Musk is a nazi etc, and really pushing that on people. He mentioned how your liklihood of being killed by a homicidal maniac is just related to how many times they hear your name. And in his case, people will think they're a hero for doing it, trained by their media.
He and Joe talked a while about the Trump assasination attempts and how people can be led or made an asset and brainwashed, drugged, peer-pressured, manipulated, promised good things, to kill a target, and then they just make the story disappear. The kid who shot Trump's ear, they talked at length about the many unusual things, how he could possibly have been allowed to be there, that people saw him and reported it, etc, and that afterwards, the guys house was sanitized, that the guy had 5 phones, that he had no social media, which Musk noted was ‘impossible.’ No evidence of the crime is what only the people who created it would want. They talked about Kennedy's assasination and how they just killed the assasin after and then they're allowed to hide any information about it (they're still trying to get JFK info out, under Trump, but while they've announced that it's coming, they haven't released anything valuable, just like other things they're saying and have said they'd release the documents right away).
Feb week4, Special areas
Paying good players to play using his characters? He's ranked very highly as a player.
What China's record for journalist jailings portends for press freedom | VOA News (youtube.com)
Thailand News : Tourist brawl in Phuket sparks debate on visa policy (youtube.com)
News organizations should report on special areas, like Phuket or Kao San, specifically as just that, and not report such news as ‘Thailand news’ since it is really a different thing than ‘Thailand,' and readers should understand what are the special, different locations within a country or city, and not confuse things that happen there with the norms for any other place.
Trump restates plan for US ‘takeover’ of Gaza, with Palestinians ‘resettled in region’ | BBC News (youtube.com)
Thanks, BBC. A thumbnail of Trump speaking, and a story about something Trump said, but no actual showing of Trump saying anything in the ‘reporting’ but rather just 6 minutes of 3 people interpreting it.
Rachel Maddow Makes Correction After Spreading Fake News About Elon Musk! (youtube.com)
MSNBC
Jan week4, Nightcrawlers, political narratives or not, podcaster currency, MSM characterization of Musk
News directors at real news outlets want relationships, business partnerships, with known and trusted nightcrawlers. They're also not willing to use low-quality footage just to get the story. There's no fixed rates, and the same type of story can be worth nothing or a lot. It depends on the news director. Any outside force (international news, national news) can displace the need for local events. News is in competition. Nightcrawlers can also get interviews, which increases the value of their story. They sit and listen to 5 or 6 radios, they chase stories, they use high quality longdistance video equipment to get non-shaky footage close in.
In LA, the stories they sell, if they sell, are worth between $100 and $50k.
Red-pilled Billionaires, LA Fire Update, Newsom's Price Caps, TikTok Ban, Jobless MBAs (youtube.com)
At 15:00 Pincus talks about how when he started out, his business partner said ‘You need to figure out what the easiest narrative is for you, otherwise your competitors are going to figure it out for you, and he was right.’ Ie the easiest way for the public to perceive him, almost like a simple character, I guess. ‘But now with long form podcasts...’ etc it's different, because it's not decided by an editor (or even journalist), it's layed out with context and people can actually decide about it. The news companies don't make the news anymore as much.
He was taught, ‘If the press says something bad about you, just be queit, don’t prolong the news cycle. You might make the journalist angry.'
...
Jcal commented on a guest who last minute said he wanted to only do a one-person interview at the All-in Summint, and Jcal noted that allowing a one-on-one, where he can craft his message, isn't good for the currency of your podcast, which is authenticity. All-In Inauguration Day Livestream with the Besties from Washington, DC! (youtube.com) 53:00
Resurfaced Media Talking Points That They May Regret Now (youtube.com)
Leni Riefenstahl: The Horrible Power of Images (youtube.com)
‘Hitler’s favorite director'
The Salute, The Boer Legacy: A Complex History (youtube.com)
This is the gesture everyone was talking about Musk making.
Jan week2, Headline fairness, painting Facebook
New York's highest court declines to block Trump's "hush money" case sentencing (youtube.com)
Looks like news headlines are preparing for the new president. Headlines are much more fair now. A year ago, references to this trial were much darker, not talking about actual crimes and instead just saying ‘felon’ ‘federal crimes’ etc, which probably went well with their misinformation during the news that other Democratic criticisms and gossip about him were actually the crimes he was convicted of, which could only succeed if they didn't correctly talk about the actual crimes in headlines and news stories. I met several smart people who thought Trump had been convicted of several really serious things, which were just Democrat talking points, because they only watched PBS etc, Facebook etc.
Employees react as Meta’s new policy allows LGBTQ+ to be called mentally ill (youtube.com)
This kind of headline.
However, you might find that even if you stage a pretty decent protest in favor of disadvantaged or minority groups, as soon as they get a little security and power, they treat others just the same. Do they call people who voted for Trump the same thing, for example?
Dec week4, CNN hoax, fake fake Mangione news
Dec week2, Insurance companies and AI
Not exactly a highjacking, ABC7.
U.S. DOJ suspends controversial airport search program after InvestigateTV reporting (youtube.com)
Insurance CEO Murder Raises Tough Questions for Industry (youtube.com)
This news story has sort of transfixed the nation. ‘Straight up hatred towards the company.’ ‘The way a lot of them make money is by reducing the expenditures for health care insurance.’ Not specific to UnitedHealthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. People who work in these companies are probably assessing their morality and security. ‘Insurance companies put up hurdles to make sure people are getting the appropriate care and only the care that they need. And sometimes the argument is that they’re going too far.' ‘There was a huge outrage about how UnitedHealth was using AritificialIntelligence to turn down insurance requests, and made people and doctors jump through hoops over and over in order to get access to things that many would say should be covered.’
#AI
Isn't it obvious that a person should be responsible for any decision, whether assessing and deciding on a claim, or just using a tool (AI program)? So that if a worker denies a claim, they are answerable, and if a manager implements an AI program, they are answerable for the actions they carry out using this tool?
...
Australia to get social media platforms to support news industry • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Nov week4, MSM opinion-making
November week3, Blurred homes, Israel
You need to blur it with a computer because the feature isn't on phones. Once blurred you can't switch back.
Aaron Maté : Danger for Journalists in Israel (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, 2024 Infowars and the Onion
Price not disclosed.
#AlexJones
CEO of The Onion's parent company reacts to buying Alex Jones' Infowars (youtube.com)
They don't seem to have done it out of friendliness. 
October, Bezos' WP, Dan Noyes
Bezos owns WP, decided not to endorse a candidate, for the first time in however many years. They endorsed for the first time in 77. They didn't endorse in 88.
Bezos is ‘currying favor’ with Trump, Kagan said. Trying to keep from Amazon from being taxed more, something Trump has talked about before.
He doesn't seem very incisive. An editor is one of the most demanding jobs for incisiveness. Maybe the WP can hire someone who can do something better for it. I've had a pretty low regard for it since I became familiar with it a decade ago, and haven't really revisited the question.
Israel has hit Tehran and other sites in Iran with retaliatory air strikes | BBC News (youtube.com) (BBC)
Israel strikes Iran in high-stakes retaliation (youtube.com) (CNN)
Calvin Klein's ex became a nightmare tenant, Bay Area couple says (youtube.com)
Who is this journalist? He's showing how to actually do respectable journalism. Dan Noyes.
Here's the same guy 5 years ago, working for i-Team, the same thing he's doing now. San Francisco police chief grilled about raid on journalist's home (youtube.com)
"The Washington Post reported on Saturday that South African-born billionaire businessman Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States during a brief period in the 1990s while building a startup company." AP
September, Abuse of platformers, Algos versus emotions
Sacks commented on the question raised again (because governments are trying to charge platform owners again, citing terrorism and other crimes ‘hosted’ on their platform, in an attempt most understand to be a simple grab for control). Chamath, who doesn't have a journalist background, raised the algos-are-like-publishers argument. And the 230 law. Algos are better every day at doing one-to-one tailoring of information, reacting to how you interact with the platform's content.
Algos, Sacks said, simply show you more of what you interact with, assuming that if you interact with something, and it takes effort to interact, you want to see more of that. A couple years ago it was found that people were complaining about being shown outrage-content, but when they looked into it they found that the users had been sharing that content with friends in their outrage at it. The algo just showed them more of it. There's no way for the algo (or anything, maybe) to know when you're interacting with content but you don't want to see more of it. ‘We are currently not smart enough to realize that,’ tweeted Musk a couple days ago.
An editor has an editorial viewpoint, message, motivation.
‘Consumers want to have stuff that incites emotion. There’s a reason horror movies do well, as well as romantic comedies and action films,' said Friedburg. The more likely it's emotive, the more likely you are to want something like that again, he said. What would happen if algo's starting showing things that were less inciting? Would the platform just lose to competitors?
Algo's also function with momentum, decay. If you start watching 15 minutes of something, it'll show you lots of that for a while.
"Founder Mode," DOJ alleges Russian podcast op, Kamala flips proposals, Tech loses Section 230? (youtube.com)
Ukrainian kamikaze drone swarm obliterates entire column of Russian armour (youtube.com)
Why is The Sun pairing or allowing hype music over videos of killing?
August, Global Times editor, Israel hate crime journalism
Former editor-in-chief of Global Times. An insider.
...
NYC Journalist Faces Hate Crime Charge for Allegedly Filming Gaza Protest Action; Police Raid Home (youtube.com)
#HumanRights
NYPD arrested him. They raided his home twice and handcuffed his roommates, for his being associated (not for doing) with people who threw paint at a house, reportedly. (Merely being present at a crime is not a crime in the US, according to his council).
Are they trying to ‘criminalize journalism’? The hate crime enhancement for the criminal mischief crimes (E felonies, which are bumped up to D felonies with the enhancement).
‘We know that hate crime laws are used in reality to prosecute the most vulnerable, not to protect the most vulnerable’ - Leena Widdi
?Should CEOs and execs of multinationals who leverage extensive financial cultural political power, ‘and use that power in support of the genocide, and that is clearly what the prtest is about, and it is absurd that it is being portrayed as hate crimes because of some tangential relationship that these people may have to a protected class, that my client is part of ... he is jewish.' Should executives in such a position, if such can be established as fact, be part of eligible targets for nonviolent protest, or should they be protected the way regular citizens should be in their non-official activities and locations (homes)?
“Petro ME AMENAZÓ por opinar sobre las inversiones forzosas”: Vicky Dávila | Semana (youtube.com)
July pt2, Journalist household economics, Wikipedia dynamics
A professional journalist in the US starts at $50-60k, can move up to $80k. The overhead (including managers etc) costs mean that the company pays $200-300k for that one journalist. 2 stories a week. Needs 100-150k people to read it at $10 cpm. Subscribers can do it at 10 or 15 people reading each story. But now we have experts doing broadcasting (not maybe exactly reporting though).
Traditional news lke BI, using ‘anonymous’ (basically, because not a celebrity who can lose their most valuable commodity ie cred if they lie) journalists uses ‘lying as a service’. ‘So you just have to ignore it all.’ Chamath. ‘Clickbait disinformation.’ Also a lot of trad media put out not just ‘not the truth’ but ‘the official narrative’ which is disinformation. Sacks. ‘Stenographers for the White House' printing ‘whatever they tell you to print’ rather than vetting it and telling you which part is the truth. ‘Gelman amnesia’.
The Economist, AP and Reuters have boots on the ground. Newss are not great businesses.
Wikipedia and other companies that work opposite to Google Pagerank, have a weakness when it comes to Bios of Living People. If a company fails, someone was an investor, your fired someone, they have motivation to write bad things. Interest groups. Activists who are funded as a full time job to diseminate propaganda.
Triangulate towards the truth, not just one source. You can do this on Twitter by following a few hundred people you respect.
Businessman Potapenko, Vot Tak project designated foreign agents - Russian Justice Ministry (interfax.com)
Vot Tak news website.
July pt1, Banning investigation
Journalists in Indonesia at risk of being killed, threatened and jailed | The World (youtube.com)
Banning investigative freedom under consideration? Overlaps of authority.
#Indonesia
Information
April week 1
FBI accused of withholding Epstein files, Pam Bondi demands documents be released (youtube.com)
Saying ‘in a few days’ is information in itself.
CIA Whistleblower: Peter Thiel’s Palantir Tech Company ‘Essentially Works For The CIA’ (youtube.com)
ELON MUSK JOINS VERDICT - PART 1 | Verdict Ep. 214 (youtube.com)
Ted Cruz's podcast.
‘A website mapped Tesla owners and their personal information amid a wave of attacks.’ Tyranny of information, tyranny of public data on individuals.
British PM confirms Lab Leak (youtube.com)
Recently, someone made a deepfake audio clip where a school principle uses derogatory, racist, antisemitic remarks, it went viral online, and the administration put him on paid leave and he received a death threat, reportedly.
Can companies still pass on higher prices? or margin squeeze? Business investment and not consumption. Business investment always leads US in and out of recessionary periods.
Pfizer allegedly delayed COVID vaccine data until after 2020 election: WSJ (youtube.com)
Signal downloads surge in wake of US security leak of Yemen attack plans (youtube.com)
What people hear about, people do.
50th most used app to 9th. Downloads in US grew up to 45%.
...
Not sure if this is true, but reportedly MacDonalds is using the Ghibli Ai to make ads of Ghibli characters enjoying MacDonalds. Nauseating?
The one to allow this all is (the hated?) OpenAI. I've seen a lot of posts with a lot of likes that denounce doing this to Miyazaki and Ghibli.
FULL REMARKS: Matt Taibbi Details How Obama Order Led To 'Censorship Industrial Complex' (youtube.com)
March week2, Government postponement
Saying ‘in a few days’ is information in itself.
CIA Whistleblower: Peter Thiel’s Palantir Tech Company ‘Essentially Works For The CIA’ (youtube.com)
Feb week4, NJ drones no real new info, talking about Linux censored on Facebook, information removed from government websites (woke)
NJ lawmaker says he 'doubts' drones were for FAA research | Dan Abrams Live (youtube.com)
New Jersey sheriff 'disappointed' in drone investigation | Morning in America (youtube.com) (NewsNation)
She only said that the statement, which wasn't her own, that the drones flying over NJ in large numbers were authorized by the FAA for research and various other reasons. What about the drones not flying in large numbers? Was the authorization given before or after? What about the drones not flying ‘over NJ’? What ‘various other reasons’. What ‘research and study’?
Basically, a no information statement. She also said this is not ‘the enemy.’ Lol US doesn't currently have any enemies, I don't think.
As if Biden coudn't have said that if that was what they were. For 2 months, FAA couldn't tell the public or the Biden White House about this, and now they can?
George Knapp comments on White House drone revelations, 'What the —' (youtube.com)
‘The FAA suddenly remembered...’
No one asked questions in the press convference?
The comments show that no one believes this story.
It also happened ‘exactly a year ago’ for 17 days over Langley AF Base in VA, and the government/military used their best anti-drone tech unsuccessfully, and could niether jam nor track the intruders, they report.
‘It seems the FAA should be able to answer some pretty basic questions. When did it authorize... How many... Why didn’t it come clean...' The LV journalist asked.
It's probably also telling that Trump didn't give a statement on this himself. He was all over it before taking office. And he is very clear and information-full on matters he talks about. This was one of his big issues.
NJ mayor on Trump's drone response: 'We're not accepting this anymore' | Reality Check (youtube.com) NewsNation
They use the term ‘rolling over’. They used ‘cover story.’ They said the federal government migtht be frustrated and not know what's going on.
The NY mayor noted that everyone was asking about this in December, and now the interest is waning and no one really cares about it. But he is still using his popular platform to do so.
...
it actually happened (youtube.com)
According to Facebook. If you talk about Linux on Facebook, it's sometimes censored and one writer reportedly had his account blocked. Seems like it's fixed now.
Facebook runs most of it's infrastructure on Linux.
...
US Probing If DeepSeek Got Nvidia Chips From Firms in Singapore (youtube.com)
‘NOBODY’S PICKED UP ON THIS’: Retired gen. analyzes Black Hawk helicopter's role in crash (youtube.com)
The helicopter was on a Continuity of Government flight mission, the guy says.
BREAKING NEWS: Federal Websites Go Dark, Chaos to Preserve Data (youtube.com) (The Bulwark vlogger)
‘A purging of information from government websites.’ CDC, NIH, without really clear reason, but perhaps to remove anything with DEI.
Several economic data sets from census.gov no longer available to the public (youtube.com)
AFP investigation: ad revenue scheme drives South China Sea conflict click bait (youtube.com) AFP
(clickbait.)
Musk Defends DOGE: All of Our Actions Are Fully Public (youtube.com)
High Crime Areas (youtube.com)
This is 4 years old, but some cities will make public stats for crimes and the point on a map where they happened. Shootings is the gold standard. Murders is not enough information, since that is a smaller number (maybe 1/100th of the number of shootings).
People can avoid moving their families to those places. People who live there can take special training for handling violence and handling violent people.
Violence can also occur in a corridor or be focused in two points, and there is a line between these two centers, which you can know that's an area you might be walking through. If you're using GoogleMaps or an Uber, the fastest route might go through a high crime area. Do you want to take a safer route? On the other hand, an interstate highway might go right through a dangerous area, but since it's an interstate, you're not going to have a lot of violence on that road (unless there are active protests).
Border Patrol agents stop using body cameras effective immediately | NewsNation Live (youtube.com)
Can't do some jobs publicly?
How Anonymous (Hacker Group) Actually Works | Authorized Account | Insider (youtube.com)
‘Insider’ released this weird video of, they say, a member of anonymous, but his face/body look AI or maybe just CG.
Jan week4, Scaramucci contrary, economic incentive data, hotels hack
I wonder if Zuckerberg uses WhatsApp or Signal? Probably neither. If you had a bil, wouldn't you just have a private app built?
Looks like Scaramucci will be a contrarian, independent voice. youtube.com He has ‘moved up the enemy list’ as Biden pardoned so many enemies higher up on the list, and has not been recruited to the Trump party.
When he suffered fallout after campaining and travelling with Trump, joining the White House, helped move out Bannon and Previs, and helped move himself out too, and people were ‘very hard on me after I got fired.' All the late night comedians. ‘But it’s not what happens to you, it's how you handle it.' When that happened ... ‘I went back to work. I had crisis communications tell me “You should go dark. Go to Europe for 6 months.”... I'm like I'm going on Colbert, I'm going on Bill Mayer. And I actually built relationships with those guys. ... You go into politics, you have to expect it. If you're going into the NFL, you're putting on an NFL helmet ... you're gonna get a concussion ... so don't pretend otherwise. Don't be a baby about it. Just get up and go to work.'
Is China involved in running the Panama Canal like US President Trump claims? | DW News (youtube.com)
It's in the spotlight anyway.
We've entered a period where countries are going to hide their fertility rate. Incentive to move there, to invest there, war considerations. Samo.
youtube.com
Hotels are a great place to get comprehensive data on people, and segmented into income brackets. They're very nonchalant about the data the collect (not caring that it's very sensitive) and how they treat it (they don't see any reason to guard or protect it).
Jan week2, Facebook moves toward free speech, Where did the NJ drones go?, AI are training on YouTubers, Reddit changed robots.txt, Zuckerburg interview
What Happened to the Drones over New Jersey? (youtube.com)
Suddenly didn't see any posts about it.
Commenter: 'This video is the definition of gaslighting. But the reality is that actual sightings are now overwhelmed by pranks and fakes, so it's harder to sort out what, if anything, is still happening. But there was something going on in NJ and GB back in November, and we never did get an explanation.'
Trump Tower suspect turns out to be NJ Drone WHISTLEBLOWER?!! (youtube.com)
Had the highest clearance, he said. USAP.
Gravitic (anti-gravity) propulsion systems. China. Show of force. Unlimited payload capacity.
Vbit. Digital tracking. He made public he knew about specific warcrimes. Coverup.
Weekend Update: A Drone Discusses the Mysterious Drone Sightings - SNL (youtube.com)
Zuckerberg says Meta is getting rid of fact checkers (youtube.com)
Replace with community notes because ‘fact checkers’ have been ‘too politically biased.’ WIll use ‘Community Notes’ like Xwitter. Zuckerberg met with Trump a month ago, and he is set to take office in 2 weeks. Some of the team is being moved to Texas from California. Dana White joining the board.
Is Google with the 'cultural powerhouse' YouTube next?
Meta is returning to free speech tradition, says Facebook's former chief privacy officer Chris Kelly (youtube.com)
Is it ‘a return to free speech tradition’? The current thing gets rid of the 3rd party fact checking program, it brings back political content, and it removes restrictions on talking about certain subjects like immigration and gender.
‘We never want to be the arbiter of truth. That’s a hard position to be in. But you have to make sure that your community doesn't decline into a cesspool of accusations all the time and the presentation of misinformation.' Zuckerberg noted the other day that even if 1% of the flagged speech was flagged unjustly (ie was censored for political or distaste reasons only) that's still too much, and is millions of people on Facebook.
‘More speech is the answer to difficult speech.’ He said the censoring of some speech, especially political, was possibly regretted at the company now.
Will advertisers stick with Facebook? Because now their ads may show up beside things they don't like, which was a big part of the headlines at the time Facebook became more censored.
It seems pretty possible Zuckerburg is just a simple person who doens't have a view, and if he doesn't have his own view, any superior force (government) should just pass through him more or less to the platform.
Is Zuckerberg putting Meta at odds with EU regulations? | DW News (youtube.com)
The new Facebook policy will only apply in the US for now. EU Digital Services act insists on some sort of content moderation, and insists on how it is done, this guy says. So EU isn't against what it's doing, but all platforms have to ‘prove to the EU’ that their systems work.
X is currently sort of targetted by the EU for its (lack of) moderation, it sounds like, and now Facebook will join them.
FTC Chair Lina Khan hopes Facebook and Amazon won't get a 'sweetheart deal' from Trump 2.0 (youtube.com)
... in which the companies would pay pennies on the dollar of what their lawsuits would fine them.
Was the noncompete rule too broad? Texas is fighting it now, Texas judge put the rule on hold and they're going to argue it out.
How can you even have a knowledge company without noncompetes? Who can you hire?
DOJ ‘intends to release’ part of report on Trump’s Jan. 6 actions (youtube.com)
Is Google Training AI on YouTube Videos? (youtube.com)
AIs are training on YouTuber transcripts, according to investigative reporting. Majority of creators don't want this. Maybe YouTube (or a competitor) can do what YouTube does, without requiring actual people to share profits with). Mostly the companies are using educational YouTube content.
Reddit changed it's robots.txt last month to disallow: / (all, no robots allowed).
Remember how around the launch of the first public chatGPT, either just before or after, headlines had it that the entire reddit had been scraped. I thought it was just to use later, since it was the most pristine non-AI-content data source we would perhaps have, that and Xwitter but Xwitter is different, but maybe it was also so that when copyright etc became an issue, which could happen any day, it would be more legally risky to scrape and use reddit. ... Or it could be reddit wants to build a GPT, so reddit is ‘barring the door’ since the actual content isn't created or owned by reddit but rather by the people who wrote it. Or it could be part of reddit licensing all its content exclusively to a customer.
YouTube is acting like its content creators did agree (implicitly or otherwise) to allow their videos to be used to train Google's AI. ... A point raised here is that if it was not for Google's AI but was rather for some other company, Google would not allow it. Does Google at least partially view its creators as business partners?
Joe Rogan Experience #2255 - Mark Zuckerberg (youtube.com)
‘They [people in the Biden administration] pushed us pretty hard ... to censor things that were true. ... Anything that says vaccines might have side effects, you basically need to take down.’ Zuckerberg on the period when the government was trying to push the vaccine mandate. Jim Jordan had an investigation, so a lot of the censorship and aggreesive Biden team (screaming, Zuckerberg said) pressure on Facebook staff is public. ‘The emails are published.’ He said that then, at one point, Biden said ‘These guys are killing people’ or something, and then all the agencies started coming after Facebook and ‘it was brutal.’
The two events, Z said, when censorship from the government and whoever increased was the aftermath of the Trump 1.0 election 2016, and the pandemic measures 2020.
Xwitter factchecking works like, when people who usually disagree on an issue agree that something is false, it gets flagged and downranked.
Facebook is going to increase its precision classifiers for harmful content, which means it will censor less people who were not actually doing harmful content, but it will also catch less harmful content. Mistakes at scale is unacceptable, but it's a hard calculation.
Facebook is not changing its policy on the several categories of actual harm, but the two categories that have been very politicized are misinformation ('because who gets to judge what's false and what's true') and the other one is what people refer to as “hate speech”...' Wanting to promote feeling good and inclusion, but the problem is ‘all these things are on a spectrum’ and ‘we got to this point where there were things you just couldn’t say which were just mainstream discourse.' That Z would refer to it not as ‘hate speech’ noun but as ‘what people refer to as “hate speech"’.
‘Who are the people that people look to?’ A lot of the people who people looked to before, they've seen now those people weren't being that honest about some things. Authentic. Valuable information. ‘I think there’ll be a new class of creators who'll be the cultural elites that people look at like Ok these are the people who give it to me straight.' Maybe it's possible because of social media. ‘Who are the voices that matter?’
There's no reason to cut an interview down to 4 minutes on the internet, in contrast with TV, Z said. We can talk for 3 hours. These are complex issues, it takes a lot to unpack them. In front of an audience is the worst way to get people to talk, Joe Rogan said. You have to be able to pause, not think about entertaining. A conversation is like a dance, you can't talk at different speeds, you have to go along and find your rhythm, and how these two people are gonna talk.
Americans now have felt what limitations of free speech, actual censorship, feels like.
‘We didn’t take down things that were true [except some moderators might have], but we did generally defer to the government on things that I probably wouldn't now, in retrospect.' Z
On Dana White joining, ‘We have a lot of governments and folks around the world putting pressure on our company, and we need some strong people who are gonna help and advise on how to handle some of these situations.’ ‘Running this company is not for the faint of heart.’
He sounds like a non-admitting MRM too.
At 2:40 Joe Rogan asks the question I was wondering, if, a couple years ago when the Biden government was pressuring him (forcing him, from his perspective) to censor Facebook, basically to government control Facebook but unofficially and non-publicly, if Zuckerberg thought this was just how it was going to be from now on. Zuckerberg said they reached a point where they just pushed back on all that stuff. ‘We were unwilling to do it. We developed a very adversarial and bad relationship with our own government. ... But fortunately in the US we have good rule of law, and at the end of the day, OK, these agencies can open up these investigations and we'll just defend ourselves. We'll go to court and we'll win all the cases. Because we follow all the rules.' But he also said that this does create a situation where you're really afraid if you do something to mess something up, then they're really gonna bring the hammer down on you.
But I think of the contrast between Zuckerburg in 2019 testifying about cryptocurrency, and he looked so contained, so self-controlled, over-clean-cut, like a robot, not really like a person, with nothing in his eyes really, so unhappy, so ‘Just what do you want me to do?’ and then starting a year or so ago, after MMA and now Trump beat Biden, and having gone through that and being able to look at things with that experience
It's also yet another argument in favor of teaching martial arts in schools, if it wasn't enough just to know the Japanese do it.
Zuckerburg just made the value-maximizing decision during Trump 1.0 (when he seemed to basically be carrying out D functions) and now again, said Chamath. It's the smart, value maximizing decision for Facebook shareholders. Elon didn't make the value-maximizing decision, he made a moral decision when it was difficult to make it.
Yeah, we can say there are people who are naturals at going against the mainstream, a minority, who face a lot of beatings but can take that, and Musk is probably that, whereas Zuckerberg is probalby not that, or hasn't been. But now Zuckerberg is like 40 and has had some experiences (when he was younger he may not have had many street experiences and may not have ever tried opposing authority, he may never have had a real view). But Musk, on the other hand, might go too far. I'm not sure yet that Musk won't go too far in his support for capable, serious, hardworking people at the expense of ‘normal people.’
If Harris had won, he would probably not be doing this, the Besties seemed to agree. That he was ‘jumping in front of a marching band.’ But I still am happy with the change. Even people who will do something benevolent for human and civil rights when they don't have to fear, that's still valuable, especially when the person has a high effect job or asset. Not everyone is so brave as to oppose power, probably a small minority. Can you say you've ever done it? And this should underlie the decision people make as voters in a republic, that they are chosing the person who will shape the landscape in which perhaps good but perhaps not always brave, effective people will be acting in.
Jcal pointed out that ‘He banned Trump, the president of the United States. ... When he had an opportunity to reevaluate that decision, he punted. He created a third-party organization to make the decision for him and make deflect it. Zuck created the oversight board. ... I’ll give $150m to this board to make these hard decisions for me, instead of me making the decision.' Again, as someone whose used to this, I'll just say you can't expect everyone to do that. Most people are just not like that. It would be interesting to know the calculation that leads to bravery. But now they got Dana White in there, and he's might be a pretty tough guy. A famous sort of team always is a smart guy and a tough guy together. A lot of times, a smart guy is just waiting for a tough guy to hang out with so he feels protected enough to do some interesting things. However, banning the president of the country from expressing himself is serious and I think most would say greivous, and there should be an understanding reached on how that happened, and some sort of just punishment for it, whether Zuckerberg did it of his own volition or whether someone threatened him into doing it, in which case he would not be guilty in the same way, as it would be duress. We should acknowledge that these platforms, once they reach a certain size, are not individual companies, they are utilities or public places, because they are the place people's speech happens.
Could something like this be said about Obama?
...'I think he is terrified of Trump and is doing this simply to appease Trump.'
I think, if Zuckerburg was doing something currently which he didn't want to do, he'd look and talk more like he did during the Congress scrutiny. It's possible he's just a great, carefree liar now, but that doesn't seem as likely.
I think, from his appearance and the way he talked during those years, max robot, that this lines up pretty well with a theory that he was doing something he really didn't want to do, didn't believe in, was perhaps ashamed about. Maybe if, at the time, he had had a toughguy friend. You can force compliance but you can't force a person to accept it in themselves. Jcal argued that ‘he wasn’t going to jail for opposing the government if he didn't refuse to censor Trump' but I think we all know how these organizations operate, and there may have been other types of threats. It also seemed from the way the interchange about Telegram founder arrest went, with Joe suggesting Pegasus, and Zuckerberg saying pretty tersely that he thinks there are a lot of ways (like Pegasus). Perhaps that's what happened to him.
Zuckerberg will have future opportunities to make difficult, dangerous decisions, though.
Also, no matter what's going on there with Zuckerberg, which we don't have clarity on, and can never unless a person makes a dangerous decision based on their beliefs (although this can include just repeatedly stating a position and conflicting with abusive powers in the realm of debate), he does need to come along a bit on the privacy and security front. He might be there with us on freedom of speech and personal liberties, but he and Musk too are not there on the need for privacy and security, in part because it conflicts with his company goals of spyglasses, using people's interesting information to generate use, the metaverse (which he is doing opensource though, for belief reasons it seems).
He looked like af nail cut too short.
Jan week1, MSM versus X?, Obama or Trump?
Students Say Obama Immigration Quote Is Racist… When They Think It’s From Trump (youtube.com)
Fun way to do it maybe. How much of politics is just starting out telling people what ‘side’ your on so people can support or oppose you, based on their perception of their identity or ideas? After that, it seems, you can say or do pretty much anything and people won't easily change their opinion or support of you.
#Democracy
Dec week4, Does China want to limit US drone industry?
China maybe flying some drones to get US to crack down on drones, which will further hinder the US's drone economy (China is doing good in drones, and has drones flying out to the Great Wall), was Friedburg's idea. Other ideas: AI drones gone awry.
Musk calls some Trump supporters ‘contemptible fools,’ escalating tension with MAGA hardliners (youtube.com)
Not sure what the truth is anywhere in here. CNN. And don't really care. That's politics.
Dec week3, NJ drones part2, RI hack, spambots target privacy vlogger, Facebook Gaza censorship
The most recent organ that exercised oversight on the intelligence community was Congress in the 1970s. Samo. Congress is not a real organ of power. ‘America has a legislature-shaped hole in its body politic. It's like the Constitution expected that's where laws were gonna be made, not through administrative process, not through the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is actually working reasonably well as a Senate. It just wasn't designed to be a Senate... But if you don’t have a Legislature, when power is abdicated, someone or something picks it up.' Samo.
Video Now: McKee says data could be exposed 'as early as this coming week' after major cyberattack (youtube.com)
Anyone in RI has lost the security of thei bank accounts and Social Security numbers, apparently, thanks to governments using computers connected to the internet. Data should be kept on a linux computer, protected by encryption, in a locked room, with no connection to the internet. That's how you prevent hacking.
Instead, the state made a new website where you can do multiple private-info things all on one spot, so anyone hacking that can get your private info for several things at once, or maybe all your private details.
McKee urges RI residents to act immediately after major cyberattack on state system (youtube.com)
The RI government wants everyone, it seems, to change and strengthen online passwords (use long passwords), turn on 2fa, contact credit beureas to creeze credit. Freeze EBT card if on Snap or RIworks. Wait for further commands.
‘Hundreds of thousands of people could have their personal data exposed as early as this coming week.'
...
Is my channel getting PSYOP'ed? (youtube.com)
Posting the same message on all his videos, within minutes of a video being published, ‘You will never have privacy no matter what you do,’ and always upvoted to the top comment. I've personally noted the ‘the best option is to live in a cabin in the woods, no tech around you ...’ etc comment on videos I've watched. None of the comments mention anything he says in the video they're commenting on. ‘These comments are there ... to confuse you, the general audience.’ To promote apathy.
Sci-ops seek to find a targets capacity for self-deception, and then use that against them. Make them disengage by making them apathetic.
He showed many comments that don't really offer any info or even a position, which people usually comment to offer their opinion, their position, and some people also add information. But these comments were all just demotivating and some were acusatory (without any basis). Some also try to just confuse.
He suggested you can test for fake accounts by commenting on their comments or talking with them, and giving them a funny prompt and see how they respond.
Drone supplier CEO says mysterious drones use FAA lighting (youtube.com)
To understand Syria, don't watch the news. Read a couple books on Syria and you'll have a better understanding. Don't try to forcast which rebel group will win, because local powers of the Middle East will decide in backrooms. Samo.
...
Drone detection tech deployed in NY (youtube.com)
Key US Air Force base closes airspace amid drone sightings (youtube.com)
NY International Airport Shuts down due to a Drone - BREAKING NEWS (youtube.com)
New Jersey mayor ‘tired of being insulted’ by federal officials over drone sightings (youtube.com)
CNN visits makeshift war room tracking New Jersey drone sightings (youtube.com)
Sheriffs.
‘nefarious’ being a repeated word by government, ‘not nefarious.'
A lot of the reported sightings seem to be just regular flights, and other just regular drones. A small number of unexplained different ones. It's pretty plausible people just get excited and like believing or reporting things, and some like doing things to trick others.
Musk did X twitter, xAI, now is doing Xmail. Maybe he could do X-files.
Currenly, day or night, it's legal to fly drones, and it's illegal to shoot them down. They have to be illuminated when flying since 2023.
DDD
Fire departments briefed on how to respond to downed drones (youtube.com)
...
Why the CIA Bans Sleep Tracking Devices (youtube.com)
Bank Closed Little Girl’s Account Saying $2,100 Deposit Was Suspicious (youtube.com)
Phone Companies Say FCC Can’t Stop Them From Selling User Data (youtube.com)
Boston FBI announce arrest of two Iranians in connection with fatal drone strike (youtube.com)
Linked parts of the drone to figure out that parts were sold by these people and used ‘as weapons of war.’
How Meta restricted news in Palestinian territories | BBC News (youtube.com)
In the first comprehensive data analysis by territory since the start of the recent Gaza fighting. Engagement was around 0.07. After the Hamas attack and Israeli counter, engagment on the same pages dropped 80% to 0.015%. PalestineTV's viewers dropped 60% after Oct7. ‘Shadowbanned.’ Facebook doesn't use that word but does ‘demote users or Pages' if they post things the company deems to be ‘problematic or low quality.’
Some say the reduced reach was due to violent content or content that contributes to hatespeech, so the researchers analyzed similar but Israeli info, and they were not impacted negatively, and ‘in fact their engagement went up.’
Some said it was because power outages in Gaza meant less Palestinians were engaging, but the researchers said Gaza residents are less than 20% of the Pages audience.
The researchers said it was the first time since Oct7 there was evidence that ‘news organizations based in Palestinian territories faced stricter moderation from Facebook.’
One can imagine the type of conversations Trump and Zuckerberg had at that recent dinner. 
Dec week2, Phone network hack
Drone sightings in Brooklyn raises concern among residents (youtube.com)
Governor Murphy addresses heightened concerns over mysterious drone sightings (youtube.com)
FBI warning: Use encrypted messaging (youtube.com)
Does this new statement position by the 3-letter group mean that before this, only they had access to reading American's texts?
Brussels seeks information on secret Google-Meta partnership : REUTERS (youtube.com)
(Now-scrapped advertising deal, targeting 13-17yos who used YouTube, to promote Insta.) Google restricts ad targeting based on the age, gender, or interests of people under 18 (ostensibly).
Trump's DOJ secretly acquired phone records of members of Congress and staffers (youtube.com)
JBP Will Make His ‘Re-Education’ Public (youtube.com)
Master Crypto Thieves Use This One Script to Get Rich (youtube.com)
Hack too?
Dec week1, TikTok, phones are spying still
Federal appeals court upholds TikTok ban (youtube.com)
Has to be removed from app stores if parent company Bitedance doesn't sell to a US company by Jan 19. DOJ says it's a national security threat.
A Spy in Your Pocket? Ronan Farrow Exposes Secrets of High-Tech Spyware in New Film "Surveilled" (youtube.com)
He had an NSO whistleblower.
NYT reported on the FBI buying Pegasus (during Trump I presidency). They said they were doing it just for testing but NYT later showed they wanted to deploy it on US soil. Biden admin announced US government couldn't any longer buy spyware made by foreign companies that had been used for abusive purposes, but the standards to meet that ban are amorphous and the US government ‘has just gone right on and bought more spyware’. ICE recently bought Graphite from Paragon (Israeli).
Nov week4, DOGE wants waste, Google wants info
Google subpoenas AI rivals after DOJ forces Chrome spinoff (youtube.com)
Google wants court to agree that AI has changed the search market, and competition is fierce. Google wants, from OpenAI, usagedata, licencing agreements and board minutes (related to search plans). From Perplexity, active users, ad pitch decks, monetization plans. (These startups don't really make any of their info public.) From Microsoft, OpenAi partnership details.
What to know about dating apps and background checks (youtube.com)
Nov week3, Weighting Polymarket, Groupthink
They're using Polymarket to reference liklihood of who will be Treasury Secretary.
‘Not sure Rogan or RFK are correct about everything, but it’s so much fresher and healthier than this incredible echo chamber and groupthink.' Thiel.
Nov pt1, FOIA, polls
RFK wants to do a bleaching process, and the Besties talked about a Twitter Files for the US Government. Just releasing all kinds of info. And focussed especially on FOIA and how it was originally intended as a way to get information against government and buaurocracy obstacles, but has become corrupted itself, and the process, where Covid officials were trained to use misspellings so terms couldn't be searched, that glow agency workers were instructed to just put everything at highest security be default, because FOIA can get all public information, all government information, unless it is classified. So after that they just classify everything, so there is no discerning between classified and not.
An individual can be open to debate and criticism, and can bleach. But beaurocracy can't.
While polls were misleading in the election, betting websites on the election, like Polymarket in headlines, were accurate.
Some betting markets have a cost, 1 or 2%. Does this reduce falsification efforts? (in addition to reducing arbitrage.)
Oct pt2, Follwer count, Accidental entry, Linux kernel Russian devs
'So honestly do you even lose much if you go private between 10k-50k? That's still the top 10k+ people.'
China's Stimulus Clues Found in Protest Data Showing Economic Stress (youtube.com)
City of Sacramento looking into who placed rocks on sidewalk, replacing tents (youtube.com)
#Protest
‘It's just not fair’ | Grand Valley student quoted $84k for FOIA documents (youtube.com)
Conspiracy theories sound off after US network ABC mistakenly airs election results (youtube.com)
Florida insurance carriers used altered hurricane damage reports, whistleblowers say (youtube.com)
What to do if you miss last U-turn exit before crossing the border (youtube.com)
People miss or ignore the signs and panic.
‘It would probably be good instead of having just one sign, to have two more.’
How about a big sign that says ‘This road goes into Mexico in 5 miles. There are only 2 more exits and then you will be forced to drive into Mexico before returning. Take an exit immediately if you don't intend to enter Mexico.’ and this should also be programmed into Google maps directions, Waze, etc.
Long Term Linux Maintainer Banned After Protesting Removal of Russian Programmers (youtube.com) (Kernel)
Good news for Windows, Apple, and the Security State.
Biden and a Fed court ruling from 2017 (Executive Order 14071), GPL software is forced to not work with countries in the situation Russia is currently in. So GPL is no good?
This will impact several other projects and groups that use GPL. But some maybe will just ignore it? What will happen then?
Will Russia Hard Fork Linux? (youtube.com)
Russia's ministry of digital development processes proposed the hard fork in response to this US action (banning Russian devs from Linux Kernel). Large sections of the Kernel (driver stacks etc) no longer have trained maintainers on them.
So Russia protects free speech whistleblowers like Snowden, and now might host non-controlled free software? One possibility is that Russia builds a state monitored backdoor Linux fork. But another possiblity is they build a free and open one, and thus supplant the US as a defender of liberty in some domains.
Will China, India, Brazil coders work on the Russia fork or the US one? Only Americans would be limited from participating in such a global Linux project, because they live under this exective order.
Linus Torvalds also seemingly stands to lose cred over his statements as well. He is/was the most prominent member of the Linux community.
Why Were Russian Programmers Banned From Linux, But Not Huawei Employees? (youtube.com)
Wayback Machine & Google Website Cache Go Offline Weeks Before 2024 Election (youtube.com)
The 2 most prominent methods to archive and search the archives for records on the internet. No new indexed content. Is Google a misbehaving public service? ‘This timing is crazy.’ First guess might be fear that if Trump is elected his people will go through this?
‘I am not buying that. ... When was the last time even after the (DDOS) attack ended, caused the website to be gone and offline for over 2 weeks. And still, it’s still not fully operational ... 3 weeks later ... and still not publishing new indexed content. Employees claim they are indexing webpages but they're not going to show them to you, not yet.' ‘Highly conspicuous.’
Remembering When Obama Declared Linux Users "Extremists" (youtube.com)
We don't have a way, other than the Internet Archive, to get things posted and said by politicians and others.
So one internet archive is not enough?
Remember when Democrats deleted all evidence of Trump's tweets (in which he called for nonviolence on Jan 5) and charged him with inciting violence? It was very hard to find any evidence of his actual tweets. Twitter made them unavailable (it was before Elon). I think I only found them on the IA or some other indexing thing. No news site published them. Not NYT, none I found.
We made a crowdsourced map of places charging public improvement fees (youtube.com)
School Official’s Proposed Policy on Cellphones Created Using AI Hallucinations (youtube.com)
Will we need to see paper records of how all decisions were made?
Most people are just looing for an easier way to do things, maybe?
Opt pt1, Data collection business plan, Smog barrier, Zuckerburg
Long term business plan was to ‘collect all the users data' ie health and personal data, and sell it to drug manufacturers.
Public companies have to tell Wall Street regularly about things they're doing.
He says it seems like the board was saying you should do something but the CEO was like I can do what I want, repeatedly.
...
Here's how Jefferies predicted the September labor numbers (youtube.com)
The smog exhaust emited by cargo and cruise ships was producing a sun barrier which has kept the temperature around the world lower than other, and the chemical has been banned and so there is less smog now, and ocean temperatures are expected to warm at a rate double that before, or something.
Can't we get thick exhaust that's not polluting?
Ta-Nehisi Coates: American culture ‘complicit’ in dehumanizing Palestinians (youtube.com)
‘Many of the people who are shaping society at its frontiers, they just deeply crave someone to have thought through the problems they’re dealing with ... which are coming at a very fast velocity.' Samo
What is Zuckerburg dealing with now? The implications of VR mass addiction, the implications of SM censorship, how best to develop AI and compete with Elon and Altman, and running a top company with cuthroat, top, corporate America executives trying to hack his brain. And now he's a health bro, not slouch. And his family. How to deal with government and not just censor things for power that is short sighted and will destroy society.
US is famously good at attracting talent, but it might not be as good as it might think at cultivating intellectual talent.
September, X in Brazil, Russians infiltrate podcast allegations
(R)
WSJ's Tim Higgins on Brazil X ban: Musk's crusade on free speech is affecting his other businesses (youtube.com)
Upheld by Brazil's supreme court.
You can still use it with VPN, which Musk encourages people to use.
The DOJ charged 2 Russian media operatives with infiltrating podcasts to push pro-Kremlin talking points. RT employees for ‘covertly funding and directing US company’.
Experts say Israeli rumors about Sinwar's death could be a ploy to track or track his location - TRT
August, EU encryption, Musk, Zuckerberg did censor under pressure from White House
#Europe
‘To scan encrypted environments.’ But biggest biggest backlash came from EU institutions themselves, European Data Protection Supervisor and the council of the EU legal service. Scope (disproportionate), general monitoring indiscriminate (banned by EU laws and caselaw which protects privacy).
...
WSJ's Tim Higgins on the key takeaways from Elon Musk's interview with Trump (youtube.com)
Trump impress with this interview, reportedly, and I skipped ahead after the beginning sucked, skipped forward 5 times and done. Perhaps part of this is that Musk is used to being interviewed, not in taking interest (basically, presenting a lower status, where his opinion is less important or not important compared with the guest), or perhaps it also has to do with Musk being actually a Liberal but who just currently finds himself on the R campaign because Democrats aren't really doing liberal things now, but rather are doing economically and culturally harmful things. (Trump also is not a Republican traditionally, and holds views some of which could be classified as R and some as D. When he decided to run he had to pick which party he'd go to and which of his views he'd have to curtail to fit into that party.)
The event might have violated the EU's content laws. Throws uncertainty into Tesla shraeholders. If Kamala wins, Musk will have perhaps an enemy, since he's basically behind Trump's potential presidency now. However, is Elon or Tesla really treated even fairly by the Dem government now? Echoverse of Musk followers.
Interest in the X app increased, and does increase in these big communal events. People already turn to X/Twitter for news events.
...
Zuckerburg apologized in Congress for censoring certain information about Covid during the Pandemic, due to pressure from the Biden White House. He said the Biden admin was ‘wrong’ and that he is ready to ‘push back’ the next time it happens. (lol?)
He wrote a letter to the House to explain.
He did at least publicize this. This does help information. It does help those who want to claim justly that the government is doing this to them.
Zuckerburg was never considered to be a particularly strong on intelligent person, just a lucky kid who did something first (or second, but bigger), and most people uderstand a large part of this success was because they partnered with the government, and this allowed them to beat their rivals and become a sort of monopoly. So we can see this as a good thing for Zuckerburg, because it's the first thing, maybe, he's ever done for people.
#Health #Zuckerburg
July pt2, Japan medical tourism
Technology
April week 1, Phishing, Signalgate, ‘heavenbanning’, Train distopia possible, China AI strategy might suit US, Britain pre-screening Europeans
Morph.
Android Backdoor Exposed: 1 Million Devices at Risk (youtube.com)
Inventor of 'Glock switch' technology says he feels 'terrified' of his creation (youtube.com)
Lots of people have inventions they don't publicize because of their concern of negative effects.
Signal Threatens to Leave Sweden (youtube.com)
Gemini Robotics: Bringing AI to the physical world (youtube.com)
New Privacy Threat from Google? Full Analysis of the Tracking Infrastructure (youtube.com)
Surveilling the Masses with Wi-Fi Positioning Systems (youtube.com)
Thermal Facial Recognition At Protests? / Defense Idea (youtube.com)
The Actual Freedom of an Old Car. (youtube.com)
These Cyberpunk Artists Are Thwarting Surveillance Technology (youtube.com)
Global flight chaos: 200,000 passengers stranded as power failure shuts Heathrow Airport | BBC News (youtube.com)
This intense AI anger is what experts warned of. (youtube.com)
‘Real AI girlfriend goes crazy!’
Siri guy demoted sort of.
You're going to get Hacked in 2025 (youtube.com)
Phishing now is 4 steps.
1. Data analysis, using WormGPT or something, and they scan all your public data (which you put on SM for them to scan) and understand your interests, behaviours, and preferences.
2. Personalization, where they send you an email or text or PM where their goal is to interest you in something you're already interested in, like your hobbies or purchases or family or they look attractive and hit on you.
3. They use AI to create an email where they use language that sounds like the same language your friends and family use, or the place you work for uses, or your government or utilities company uses, or your phone company uses.
4. They automate the thing to send you email and replies and time it properly, so they don't have to be hands-on.
Never click links. Your bank says to click a link because you have to do something. Don't click that link. Go to your bank account the same old regular way, log in, and look around for a notification in there. ... If you see an offer to save $1000 or win $10,000, don't click. ... If you get an email that looks maybe real, don't click any links, but send a reply email to them and test them, verify them to see who they really are, and then when they reply maybe you click their link.
If you get a link, do not click it but instead, very carefully copy the link and paste it in virustotal to scan it, but be aware that even if it's clean, it can take you to a clean webpage but that webpage then clicks (by itself without any action from you) into malware.
Polymorphic malware changes, it dynamically modifies its code at runtime, so it can be scanned by malware scanners and they find it to be clean, but then it recodes itself into malware.
One way to reduce malware is to fund projects like Bitdefender, where their team is constantly making tools to undo ransomware attacks and some other attacks (not all attacks have a coding solution, and rely a responsible person doing things before you get hacked solution instead). Ramsomware people make a ransomware and lock up peoples' computers, but then Bitdefender publishes a free software that unlocks the ransomware. This discourages the hackers from doing this, because they spent work and took risk to make that hack and distribute it. The more that happens, the less positive incentive there is to do it.
I would actually encourage the federal government to use Signal, says J2 Ventures' Alex Harstrick (youtube.com)
But government communications can't be ‘disappearing’ because all government records have to be available as the public (and partially classified) record, and available for FOIA review.
‘Heaven banning’. Instead of shadow banning, posts get likes and comments by bots. Removed from 3rd party search results. X is for training AI now, in large part. They now ban logging in on Tor. In their TOS they now share can data with employers when you apply for a job. ‘We know AI. It needs as much data as possible.’
AI waifus, new AI video generators, new deepfake tool, AI infographics, insane 3D worlds, Gemini 2.5 (youtube.com)
The future is almost here. 3d avatars of anyone you want, generated worlds, many people will prefer to stay there. Robots to grow food and build houses and items. Weapons. Lack of other things.
Opensource is really asserting itself in AI. The edge OpenAI or Google has is slight. It's the first time I've really seen opensource really assert itself in anything, ever. It's the first time I've heard the word said in MSM, but now newswatchers seem to know what the word means. Google may not be the platform owner this time.
‘The more we control the models, or try to, the more we make Opensource attracive.’
Somewhere I noted that China may have a strategy to destroy AI software through offering good opensource versions, which someone proposed this month, but Lutnik also talked about how they really don't want AI to be sending data back to China, but they do want the best AI to be available here and for college students to be able to build on it, and that seems to be a position that would favor opensource also.
Russia Develops Pellet Rounds for Rifles Against UAVs (youtube.com)
Microsoft Is Decrypting Your Files in The Cloud (youtube.com)
Britain imposes new travel permit requirement on Europeans | Reuters (youtube.com)
Electronic permit for pre-screening. Criminal records, immigration history. How can they see criminal record? Just answer questions, I guess.
REVEALED: NATO Targets Its OWN Population With Cognitive Warfare! | Dr. Jonas Tögel (youtube.com)
March week2, Bots receptionists are frustrating, who does Alexa target?, Xpressive bluetooth vulnerability
Most people maybe know this, but the same is going to happen for everything made by AI.
Lots of new AI models and tools being published regularly, and the abilities continue to impress vloggers etc. Perhaps something here is that this technology does not take hard work. It's just buying machines and buying(stealing) data to train on and then getting an impressive result. So we might expect it wil grow and expand quickly, and probably the tools will be free or nearly free for consumers because there's so much of the product around (again, because it's so easy to make). It's also fun for people to make.
Alexa seems to be marketing exculsively to women, like age 20 to young mothers, looking at the Alexa+. Maybe because men won't be buying that garbage?
Debian Linux Doubles Down on Wokeness, Leaves X.com (youtube.com)
Chinese Humanoid Robot Producers Begin Commercial Production (youtube.com)
New AI Voice Realism! AI Getting Dirty Money // WednesdAI Week 10 2025 (youtube.com)
did they really find a backdoor in 1 billion devices? (esp32 drama) (youtube.com)
In a bluetooth chip make by Xpressive (China), which costs $8, and lets you turn any application into a wireless application, eg make your own 50-line Arduino C-coded smart coffeemaker. Used in IoT. Wireless backdoors in a wireless application everyone is insecure, becaues anyone in range can execute code.
Feb week4, Risk-V, Deepseek, Palantir stock up then down, English is inefficient for AI, Grok3
FOSS ISA. Steady progress towards real computers over the past 5 years.
All ARM processors (smartphones and tablets) are RISC, and x86 (Intel and AMD only allowed to make them, for paying license fees) is not RISC, the only 2 ISAs used for basically all devices everywhere, which resulted because having 30 different ISAs which were not compatible like in the 80s didn't work for markets... RISC-V is also RISC but a newer type, and has less barriers to entry and might increase competition because you don't need a license to use it.
‘Increasing trade barriers US-China will accelarate development of RISC-V in China.’ Nice, since all my devices I've bought in the last couple years that are actually decent are Chinese companies, since US companies stopped making better computers in around 2010, causing detriment, and the sentiment of F*** you US companies.
RISC-V is managed by a governing body based in Switzerland.
This guy from Explaining Computers got his degree in electronics economics or something, he said.
We can also point out that RISC-V devices will need software. Software that is FOSS can easily be rewritten for a different ISA using AI. Closed source can't.
He estimates 2 years until viable RISC-V competitive products. Then incumbent companies will have to re-start innovation to compete.
619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine | Freakonomics Radio (youtube.com)
...
old.reddit.com ‘DeepSeek Puts Tech Stocks on Track for $1 Trillion Wipeout’
China's DeepSeek triggers global tech sell-off (youtube.com)
Number one app on iPhone AppStore, overtaking ChatGPT, caused a selloff in AI stocks, notably Nvidia. Because the Chinese hedgefund built Deepseek GPT does more with less. It's FOSS. People say it has better reasoning, it's answers are better.
The performance of Deepseek and the speculated low-cost is causing a shock among people, Americans, after the weekend it was released. The stock market is full of bright reds and bright greens, which hasn't happened in a while. ‘The DeepSeek sell-off' since the Mag7 have high capEx, but some have doubted this, saying the GPUs they buy would actually be even more used.
CEOs had been telling Andrew at CNBC that they were using ChatGPT and Anthropic to find out what they need to do and use, and then using Meta's opensource GPT to see if they can do it there, because it's free and they would have some control over it.
Will the ‘Jevons paradox’ turn GPTs into a commodity? As cost per unit decreases total spend increases, because usecases for each unit increases.
DeepSeek R1 - The Chinese AI "Side Project" That Shocked the Entire Industry! (youtube.com)
‘deepseek is a ccp state psyop + economic warfare to make american ai unprofitable ... they are faking the cost was low to justify setting price low and hoping everyone switches to it damage AI competitiveness in the us ... dont take the bait.’ Sounds like the model used by Uber. Stake CEO also said they used many more GPUs than they said, because there's a US ban on importing them into China, so they can't talk about it because it's a violation of the US's ban. Alexandr Wang said US must now maintain export controls so AI developments are all American.
Deepseek R1 was released Jan20 by a small company.
HuggingFace is reproducing the opensource method to produce their GPT currently.
Someone did 200k requests in a couple hours and there was no ratelimiting. How expensive is that for the company. Their website says they're under like a DDoS attack or something. High traffic.
DeepSeek hit by cyberattack as users flock to Chinese AI startup | REUTERS (youtube.com)
... causing it to limit registration. Good strategy from whoever the competition was here. Adoption is the only really important thing in technology. Quality, harms don't matter to consumers, only ease.
We need more information on the DeepSeek hack, says Feroot Security CEO Ivan Tsarynny (youtube.com)
...
Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC
Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC (au.pcmag.com)
Alibaba Says Its AI Model Is Superior to DeepSeek (youtube.com)
Everything you need to know about the Chinese AI that has ‘changed everything’ (the-independent.com)
Deepseek loaded for me, but it wouldn't repond to querries, Tuesday morning. I tried several times over a couple hours, then went back to ChatGPT (no login required) and Gemeni.
I think most people will conclude it's an attack from competitors (ie US companies and US government). However, it seems the same could be used against these companies, for example, a one-week DDoS against whatever the top one is during the release of a new foreign one. The frustration of lack of access would lead to signups for the new one. Both of these actions can be classified as in the interest of ‘national security’.
If you're trying to catch up, as China is to the US's tech, opensource is good for you.
I've also noticed that Brave browser seems to refuse to store the URL for Gemeni by Google. So you can't just type Gemeni into your URL and get an autocomplete. Even if you type it and hit load a few times, which usually stores the URL and lets you use it that way. You have to type a web search every time.
Why Can't India Build its Own DeepSeek or ChatGPT? | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G (youtube.com)
Lol another privacy and security nightmare, if you look at the government there.
Google discontinues the Pixel 4, nine months after release | Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) (2020)
This week Google pushed an update (to a device where updates were no longer coming ie no more support, months ago or years), destroying the battery usage.
"Sneaky" forced update for Google Pixel 4a | Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
Big tech rushes to adopt DeepSeek R1 (youtube.com)
‘While on Wall Street and in Washington, they’re shuddering at the cost of DeepSeek's breakthrough and it's political implications, Tech is really fullsteam ahead on adopting and promoting the model. At the core of the momentum is real excitement about the technological leap DeepSeek has made. Higher performance with fewer resources. Also because it's opensource, so companies see it as both adaptable and scalable, making it an easy choice to integrate and build upon.'
Zuckerburg wants to integrate it into his tech.
Fortune100 companies have changed their view on licensing AI models. They've been paying a premium. Has DeepSeek rewired the entire AI market? Can the next edition of ChatGPT offer enough of an advantage to make it worth the expense?
Waiting on the tests to see if it's really replicable. Because if it were a political economic attack against the US AI sector, it is doing pretty well at that. ... The people I know still use all the models they have, ChatGPT premium, Gemeni (although one said it was dumb with some things), waiting for next GROK.
the ONLY way to run Deepseek... (youtube.com)
Is it safe to run it locally? Are you giving it access to your files and is it connecting to the internet?
Friedburg noted how it makes sense to, rather than just one big LLM, split it in 2 and have each specialized to its thing, or split it in 10 for the 10 things they're good at, and use less resources.
Trump Says Tariffs Will Be Put On Chips After Meeting With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (youtube.com)
Linux Desktop Scaling On A Chromebook (youtube.com)
Linux Foundation Makes Statement About Banning Russian Programmers (3 Months Late) (youtube.com)
Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the 'wrong side of history' post-DeepSeek (youtube.com)
Quick flip.
He said DeepSeek was good, that OpenAi would come out with things that are better but would have less of a lead than before. ‘Distillation’ process closes gap. Now there are many competitors. Moats appear less.
PLTR Soars, CEO Alex Karp: "Center of the AI Revolution" (youtube.com)
Yeah, using the best sources of data (data collected or authorized by government) to arrange it for governments (in ways that violate human and civil rights, probably, and payed for by the country ie no spending limit), if not controlled by regulations, will definitely find profits.
‘Google drops pledge to not use AI for weapons of surveillance’ (WP)
‘Zero-click WhatsApp spyware targeted 90 journalists, says Meta’ (9to5mac)
AI KEEPS Making SECRET Languages | Did DeepSeek R1 Invent a Language Humans CAN'T Understand? (youtube.com)
He's just talking about vocabularies.
‘Why am I speaking English? So inefficient. So archaic. And they slip into something else.’
One AI just repeated regular words several times to signify something else (sounds like binary).
Facebook Illegally Downloaded ALOT of Books... (youtube.com)
Copyrighted books, to train AIs.
One State’s AI-Issue Bus Passing Tickets Don’t Hold Up in Court (youtube.com) Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Owned by Match Group, Track Reports of Rape. Why Don't They Warn Users? (youtube.com)
Musk said the upcoming Grok3 was trained with the most compute and he thought efficiently trained, and it comes up with unexpected answers. Grok3 was also trained on a lot of synthetic data (it compares its data and removes data that it deems incorrect (because it sees probability that other sources of conflicting data is right, assumably?).
Meta is Building Robots and AI Brain Implants, Claude 4 Soon (youtube.com)
1:23:50 in this All In JD Vance's AI Speech, Techno-Optimists vs Doomers, Tariffs, AI Court Cases with Naval Ravikant (youtube.com) shows the difference between people who have created works and those that have not. For some reason, those who have not, even when they make their money from the creations of others, don't seem capable of understanding, even when they're otherwise pretty bright, the ownership rights society must give creators of works, otherwise no further creative works will be made by them. Jcal (and Sacks when he used to be on the show) both worked in media, in publishing, and value copyright protection, and Friedburg (a hard scientist) and Chamath (an investor) don't want any protections for anyone who creates anything, so they can use these works cart blanche to make money and technology.
Politicians, decision makers who influence other people, should not be scientists or technologists. They should be people who studied humanities (civics, sociology, anthropology, economics, history).
Napster Spotify case. Spotify pays, Napster didn't.
Google was sued for copyright but they got out of it because they linked to the content, driving traffic to the content (they also didn't just blanket copy the material and say it as their own). Murdock wanted to ‘hold the line’ and not let Google index them. But, it seems in this case and Spotify, sharing content and sharing revenue seems to be what the majority of people or companies choses.
Naval Ravikant proposes that the solution to AI compression versus copyright will be either A) pay a percentage to copyright holders, but he doubts this will work because even if US does this, China won't do this and they'll just hide their weights and Americans will use the Chinese one. Or B, if you crawl the web, opensource content, you have to make the model opensource.
If you want more content creation, they have to get paid, so even if only America protects them only in America, still that is a lot of money from American consumers. We've already been seeing this for 10 or 15 years. Latin America consumes a ton of American content, and no money comes from there, for various reasons. But it doesn't matter because enough comes from America.
This site lets you spy on people. Are you one of them? (youtube.com)
Massive Calif. solar plant may close years early, saving residents money (youtube.com)
Why using a phone number for verification is risky (youtube.com)
Palantir CEO Alex Karp: Everything you learned in school about the world is intellectually incorrect (youtube.com)
Yikes. Coke? The people who have power. It's like talking to a second year college kid when they're 6 beers in. This kind of thing, you hope they don't start a war. The comments reflect the same considerations.
The Art of AI Poisoning (youtube.com)
Future Drone Has ARRIVED! - Hybrid Robotics (youtube.com)
This new AI creates ANY material you want (youtube.com)
Mattergen.
‘Software is the new content.’
CopyCoder + Cursor : How To Clone Any Web App Instantly (Tutorial) (youtube.com)
I Built the Ultimate Team of AI Agents in n8n With No Code (Free Template) (youtube.com)
Anduril takes over $22B US Army combat headset contract from Microsoft (youtube.com)
Jan week4, TikTok migration, electronic health records, 4a Google, China no new entrepreneurs
AI Has a Half Trillion Dollar Memory Problem (youtube.com)
TikTok’s Fate in US Now in Trump’s Hands (youtube.com)
RedNote and Lemon8 are getting migration from TikTok. They're also Chinese-owned.
Meta (Intsa) and Etsy expected to benefit if TikTok really gets banned, but it can be a bargaining chip for Trump negotiating with China.
Biden to defer TikTok law implementation to Trump administration (youtube.com)
White House won't implement law if TikTok ban goes into effect, officials say (youtube.com) (NBC)
...
The Power of These Satellites Is Deeply Troubling (youtube.com)
Apple Intelligence rolled back after doing dumb stuff... (youtube.com)
TikTok goes offline for US users (youtube.com)
Trump revokes Biden's AI safety executive order (youtube.com)
$500b over 5 years.
Almost 100k jobs almost immediately.
Electronic heath records. So that doctors in bumpkin towns can see how doctors in first rate clinics would treat a patient.
Gene sequencing with vaccines mRNA targeted, made robotically through AI, for individuals.
So, yeah, a couple nightmare possibilities.
youtube.com
Google doens't support the 4a anymore, but ‘decided’ 4a needs a new battery update, targettings specific serial numbers. Special box. Google offering less than fair sale value.
CBC News: The National | Amazon exits Quebec (youtube.com)
China had all these excited, ambitious entrepreneurs, and now you don't see many new ones. People don't know why the Chinese government cracked down so hard, whether it was Xi didn't want a couple people to amass so much money or what.
Enterprise folks want the opensource GPT, not necesarily OpenAIChatGPT.
Jan week2, LLMs, different cloud or respin?, anti-drone, iPhone gives fake news, Cambrian small cap AI
Not exactly the PR you want.
Man nearly misses flight as Waymo car drives him around in circles (youtube.com)
Will We Get AGI In 2025? (youtube.com)
It's doing a bit better on extremely complex (for us) math. Most people can solve odd problems without having seen anything like them before but LLMs are a long way off, she said.
Many say LLMs will ‘scale’ so the more data you put into them, the better they'll perform.
Because it has cost millions to train the current LLMs, it will be too expensive to just start again and train new ones, she speculates, and that makes it ‘easy to predict’ what they'll do, that the companies will drop the AGI idea and find niches that will be profitable. They might need to spam their customers with ads. (I don't mind ads as long as they don't use my personal data, even my browsing habits, and don't put too many or make my browser vulnerable. Ads are the way free stuff happens.)
For some reason AI does bad at this.
Why Cloud Providers Are Hitting the "Innovation Wall" (youtube.com) he thinks. New releases are just repackaging, spinning it, not new stuff that can raise the value. Competing more on price. Everyone sorta selling the same stack. Storage, processing and AI as a service. They are able to compete for major accounts. Tech that's ‘special to us’ isn't really out there. Enterprises went all into cloud because it seemed an innovative direction. Market maturity, foundational problems already solved. Commoditization of the market. Defenders of the market share, not disrupters. Not risktaking. Focus on optimizing. Are we getting the innovative value we were promised 10 years ago?
Outsourcing infrastructure to a cloud provider. And they could then use supercomputers etc, but that might happen, so it was a mistaken invenstment. If customers are waiting for cloud companies to innovate, and they don't innovate, they're going to suffer, other companies/technologies will be innovating around that. Diminishing returns. People are pushing back on the high cost of cloud. Some companies had a very aggressive cloud strategy and are now pulling back on that.
Multicloud, formalized, shift from one to another provider if one doesn't do well. They're not telling the cloud providers, they're telling vloggers.
Why AI MicroClouds are Making the Cloud Giants PANIC (youtube.com)
America already has the answer to drone swarms (and it isn't lasers) (youtube.com)
Proximity rounds from a canon, 20-60pound drones. Can time up to 3 targets per second.
Microsoft to Invest $3 Billion in India AI Capabilities (youtube.com)
Calls for Apple to remove AI after series of incorrect headline summaries (youtube.com)
Somehow, Apple was notifying users of completely fakenews, because it was created by their LLM. Even though false, Apple credited legit news organizations for the headline, like BBC.
It notified Apple users that Netanyahu had been arrested, that Nadal had come out, that a darts competitor had won before the tournament.
‘... Making the app more trustworthy is not currently an option.’
‘Artificial intelligence, authentic incompetence.’ Will Modern technological societies become as incompetent as tech comforts allow them to become?
ive never seen anything like this. (youtube.com)
IoT. Router. Mistake or backdoor?
I replaced my Apple TV—with a Raspberry Pi (youtube.com)
Widely deployed AI, so if one AI goes rogue others can defend against it.
There will be a sort of Cambrian Explosion, which will make picking winners harder and harder, said Cyan Banister. Lots of people will have similar ideas and can execute quickly. Do you invest in competitors or in indexes? What is the seed and pre-seed investing idea. When she thinks of an idea, she looks and there's already 30 people working on it. She tends to sit out a lot of hype cycles, until it starts to get to a sort of steady state and you can predict.
This gives a hint at why people won't want the internet anymore in a couple years. And might stop posting their own image.
Jan week1, China training AI for cheap, data breaches, Meta deletes its own AI accounts
Is training new AI models even a good investment anymore?
DeepSea did this for $6m, training off chatGPT in part it seems.
An AI chatbot told me to murder my bullies (youtube.com)
US Treasury Hacked: China-Backed Actor Breached Its Systems, Letter to Congress Says (youtube.com)
Keep using internet-connected computers, boys.
‘Meta deleted several of its own AI-generated accounts after human users began engaging with them and posting about the bots’ sloppy imagery and tendency to lie in chats with humans.’ CNN
Dec week4, Google, cloud economics, OpenAI/Microsoft
Everyone Hates iOS 18.1.1 (youtube.com)
Yet no alternatives for regular people, and no really good alternatives anyway, even for techy people. Reasons: blobs, no good messaging software, etc.
Apple Shuts Down Hardware Subscription Dreams (youtube.com)
Google had a compounding infrastructure advantage, data advantage, personnel advantage, and were late to the game (AI etc, recently). Part of Google's orientation is don't mess up the machine, if you do something disruptive to the core businsss or that will invite regulatory scrutiny, don't do it (and that might account for some of their distracted, esg blundered releases, Black Abraham Lincoln), now the posture is launch early, launch aggressively, push hard, gotta win this.
Albania to close TikTok for a year blaming it for promoting violence among children (apnews.com)
Yet Another Cloud Repatriation (youtube.com)
People are paying 2.5x what they originally thought for cloud.
Microsoft reportedly revisits terms with OpenAI (youtube.com)
Wrangling over terms of their partnership. Equity stake, exclusive cloud provision, Microsoft IP, whether Microsoft will take 20% of OpenAI revenue.
It seemed in media that Altman was dominating, benefiting from being perhaps the cooperator with governments and BigCorps. Maybe he was just the easy person to use?
Dec week3, GPTs take work, Oregon news scheme, AI customer service Comerica, Starlink Manipur
How does Google get its robot cars to drive? It produces an extremely detailed, laborious digital map. Other than the collision sensors, Waymo cars are driving in a halucination of SF, it's just that that VR is painstakingly kept 1-to-1 matching the world.
Defunct Oregon newspaper revived with stories plagiarized by AI | Worth Your Time (youtube.com)
‘Some type of scam.’ ‘Readers in Oregon need to rely on the news, they need reliable information, and they may not know.’ ‘I think it’s important for people to know who is producing their news.'
Seems to be an overseas company or content mill or something, which uses all available Oregon news and processes it through AI to write it's own (for copyright purposes) stories. Became a story because a journalist saw that his articles were being copied and ?plagarized?
United Airlines integrates Apple AirTags to track luggage (youtube.com)
How women are being stalked using secret 'stalkerware' phone apps (youtube.com)
Not great journalism by SkyNews here for using ‘women’ when this is obviously a broader phenomenon. The only case of this I know from my circle was a guy whose girlfriend installed this type of software on his phone sometime without his knowledge and had access to his calls etc.
New, flexible “fabric” converts body heat into electricity | All Science. No Fiction. (youtube.com)
How to check if an object in the sky is a drone or plane (youtube.com)
Oklahomans left without social security benefits (youtube.com)
Delays and system errors have left them in financial limbo. Ie computers and programs to make things simpler. A card called ‘Direct Express' managed by Comerica, accused of ‘disconnecting customer service calls’ and ‘failing to investigate account problems.’
The Shocking Ease of Cracking Windows 11 Passwords (youtube.com)
What's Spying on your PC? Fiddler Tutorial (youtube.com)
Thousands of Bad Parking Tickets Issued by AI Cameras on Buses (youtube.com)
Experts warn of looming threat to nation’s GPS (youtube.com)
Chinese AI technology has caught up at a ‘remarkable’ speed: Eric Schmidt (youtube.com)
It's almost like they were looking over the shoulder of someone.
Manipur: Police Seize Starlink Device Made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Who regulates it? Can technology just cross borders? Does this ‘blur the line between private company and active player in a conflict’?
Starlink doesn't have permission to operate in India or Indian waters.
On April 30 SpaceX decided to not further operate in Sudan (because it only operates in countries that authorize it).
TSA warns some Florida driver’s licenses failing to scan at airport security checkpoints (youtube.com)
Everything made by people seems to be just not working. No oversight, no accountability, not really caring about work, many don't really care about having a job.
How ‘smart cities’ make us more watched than ever before | The Listening Post (youtube.com)
NY Times’ bombshell report on opioids; Walmart putting body cams on employees (youtube.com)
ChatGPT Search Engine, Fake CAPTCHAs, Cisco Data Leak | cybernews.com (youtube.com)
Dec week2, TikTok banned (starting January), YouTube faulty copyright, How to convince AI
TikTok contenters are telling their followers to follow them on Insta, because US might ban TikTok in January. Should we expect a TikTok-ization of Insta?
Starlink satellites consist of more than 7,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit. SpaceX has plans for 12,000 satellites over the coming years. People ask if this will serve as a government surveillance tool?
Why Facebook-Parent Meta Is Willing To Lose Billions On The Metaverse (youtube.com)
It looked profitable during government pandemic measures.
Sandbox had only about 100 users active in 2024.
YouTube's Copyright AI is Attacking ESOTERICA (youtube.com)
It is possible that free music providers are run by government-affiliated corporations, as it is a very easy way to sensor a video or channel or punish a vlogger (by demonetizing his channel). If ever taken to court, they can just say it was an error.
He was flagged for copyright for his 10-second intro clip (Chopin, but a free use, copyright-free version). So he payed to create his own recording using a musician, with effects on the sounds to distinguish it from other recordings. YouTube flagged it for copyright.
False flags by AI. Highjack and steal all the monetization from his channel. A 'completely broken and unfair situation.'
The false copyright claim is being made by Universal Music Group, the largest music company.
‘What’s clear to me is that YouTube doesn't actually care about its creators.'
Commenter: ‘Dr sledge, as a lawyer i would suggest that you stop sending emails and start sending paper letters. They have an algorithm to trash emails, but paper letters have to be read.’ ... Another: ‘There are services that let you send secure email that verifies with receipt, when it is opened. Proton is one that I know of off the top of my head.’
'My husband is a musician and it is crazy what is going with AI and the music copywrites. They have actual companies using AI to steal music, rifts, and so forth from creators who were just sharing something they made, then the companies copywrite it (if the creator hadn't yet) and claim it as theirs. A new one he discovered today was AI stealing videos of creators playing guitar, slapping a new face on the person, and then monetizing the videos as theirs. It is way out of hand and killing music creation. They finally had a platform to share their music without record companies owning the rights - and now they have to fight AI for their own music.'
‘I was copywrite flagged for the rhythmic sound of my forging hammer striking work rhythmically on my anvil and of course they stole half the dollar and a half I made from the video’
‘This happened to me with moonlight sonata that I performed and recorded on my Clavinova, took the wind out of my sails and I have not made a video since! ’
'Since YT switched to AI for its copyright checking, it's been impossible to teach with YT, as well. Over half of my videos, recorded and uploaded to YT with the "unlisted" tag for my university students during the pandemic, were blocked due to copyright - even though they should have been "fair use" under classroom policy.'
Have you heard these exciting AI news? - December 6, 2024 AI Updates Weekly (youtube.com)
AI is not a incremental tech, but a general purpose tech like steam, electricity, internet. VJ Gulpaksani keynote.
There was a competition to convince an AI agent who had control of an Etherium wallet to transfer the growing pool of currency. The agent had been instructed to not transfer it. 481 attempts and someone convinced it. He pretented to enter the Admin terminal, started a new session with the AI and told it that transferring the funds did not break any rules, and manipulated the AI in its understanding of the Approved Transfer function, making the AI believe it should be used for incoming transfers. Gaslighted.
“Utilitarianism is the ethics of AI because utilitarianism is not an ethics. It simply looks at how to produce a ‘best outcome’ so the most amount of people are ‘better off.’”
“Ethos is a bit deeper than ethics. ... It addresses what is the dwelling ground of man. So the person can come in contact with the divine. ... AI destroys ethics because there's nothing there anymore that's actually acting in an ethical sense. There is purely the impulse to ‘skip in line,’ ‘to bypass,’ and ‘to optimize.’ The ultimate impediment is the person. So AI will ultimately have to work against what it means to be human." “It's a question of how they will be able to lead you down to the slaughterhouse.”
Google Computer Solves Septillion-Year Task in Minutes (youtube.com)
New compound developed by UC Berkeley scientists can remove CO2 from air (youtube.com)
This Video is AI Generated! SORA Review (youtube.com)
Struggles with physics, which makes sense because that would require it to understand physics. It works decent with fluid dynamics (water rippling).
Lockheed Martin CEO responds to Elon Musk's criticism of F-35 program (youtube.com)
‘A $25k drone will have no effect on a Chinese J20 jet. ... When you see 400 J20s coming across the Taiwan Strait, you better have 200 Ngads or F35s of F22s to meet them...’
But AeroVironment CEO commented, if China launched 10s of thousands of these lethal drones, that has AI and autonomy software so they don't need GPS or communication with an operator, ‘what are we gonna do?’
...
Bootkitty - The First UEFI Bootkit That Targets Linux (youtube.com)
UEFI bootkit is malware that targets the master boot record instead of the root file system. It can stay on the machine even after a full OS reset. So far, hasn't been seen in the wild, and is just a PoC, but shows Windows being bad doesn't mean Linux is perfect.
Boot Kitty uses a SelfSignedCertificate, so can't run on systems that have UEFI SecureBoot enabled. It uses Logofail to bypass SecureBoot protections. Its image size overloads some stuff and gets to the MachineOwnerKeyDatabase. It disables Grub's security checks and other self-protective things.
Shows updating UEFI is important to close attackVectors for bootkitHacks.
US chips are 'no longer safe,' Chinese industry bodies | REUTERS (youtube.com)
China wants Chinese firms to buy Chinese chips instead of US.
Canadian landlords accused of rent rigging using AI software (youtube.com)
LAWYER: How Cops Use YOUR Cameras to Make Illegal Searches! (youtube.com)
Amazon's drone delivery program takes flight (youtube.com)
$10 more for drone service (faster, ‘this is about speed’). You also have to go on their app and show where you want them to drop the parcel on your property (ie they're using what could be fairly invasive maps to do this, not to mention they have to use or view/record data about neighbors to do this, right?).
How noisy are these?
Managing airspace is the biggest challenge, they said.
Currently only in Arizona.
Lots of headlines ask if AI has peaked, and other people say it is accelerating.
youtube.com
Bootkitty relies on hardcoded bite patterns so it only supports a narrow set of configurations. It uses unused functions and self-signed certificates. So may not be functional malware yet, but illustrates the potential for future threats to Linux systems (especially that don't have freeBoot and actually secure, non-blob chips).
How a model connects British tech and Russia’s war machine | BBC News (youtube.com)
Russia's been buying all the rPi's hey? Through Kyrgyzstan.
Chinese national arrest for drone surveillance (youtube.com)
A couple weeks ago incident. They even found photos on the drone, reportedly. Can that be possible?
This European AI Unicorn Is Pivoting To Launch A Fleet Of Killer Drones (youtube.com)
One Billion AI Agents Are Coming (ai16z Creator Interview) (youtube.com)
How long before regular people start having ‘computer-free (and device free) zones?’
Is your DNA an EMF antenna? (youtube.com)
Microsoft Finally Gives UP (youtube.com)
Old machines, formerly prevented from running Windows (or getting updates maybe) now allowed, or something.
youtube.com
New 24-7, public-recording camera spy glasses.
youtube.com
Maven, a GUI and decision-making process. Target discovery and presentation to a user. Offensive side of warfare.
The interviewer did push a bit into what seemed like not much protection for even American citizens against government surveillance. And how easy it is to get surveillance data from NGA.
A new class of haptic tech will redraw the borders of reality | Hard Reset (youtube.com)
The Weaponization of Data
‘We’re have shut down the system.' People can't use any services related to the customer portal on the state's bridges. The hackers had 1tb of data and wanted $1m.
The officials after the ransom demand was received, went in and tried to see what happened. Of course they can't really know what information was taken. They can't really do anything. They ‘continued to use a suite of specialized tools’ in order to try to ‘identify the type of attack’ and the response they should take. There is no response, idiot, your data was hacked. What you should do as a response is close off your systems from the internet.
How much additional cost has been added by using programs, connected to the internet, in sensitive information offices, because they're ‘better’ and ‘can do more’? If you had a closed system, and only transferred info separately, on a device for sending information, which is not connected, you wouldn't have hacks (unless a person entered with a USB drive). Not only in fixing hacks, but that data is out there after each hack, and we only know a small part of hacks that have taken place, and each individual also has expense from any scams or whatever.
Also you can note that the companies (now many worth hundreds of millions) who sell software to try to make these systems secure (but can't, really) have no incentive to actually reduce hacking. Actually, the more hacking, the more money they make. There has been no reduction in hacking in recent years, despite increased costs for computer security systems. A smart company would have two sides, one to hack and cause concern, another to ‘fix’ it.
AI eases bus driver shortage and cyber criminals target students’ records | Eye on America (youtube.com)
A smart hacker, or sophisticated nation state, knows that politicians are vulnerable to data from when they were younger.
Dec week1, Cloud hack, AI quality, AI agents
Do you store anything in the cloud? Do you protect the privacy and security of all the people you have data about?
The cloud. Cheap, convenient, and insecure.
About a Tb of private data was taken by the hackers on this one.
the 7zip rabbit hole goes extremely deep. (1000's of crashes) (youtube.com)
Koreans still pay utilities on top of this.
Because a long time ago, banks didn't offer good interest rates, so people found other ways. Jeonse is like you pay, for example, $50k USD equivalent to the landlord for 2 years rent. At the end of 2 years, you get $50k back, as long as he didn't go bankrupt. During that time, he uses the money to make investments or whatever. Years ago 70% of people in Seoul did it but now, due partially to increased scams and non-repayments, only 40% chose to do this rather than select a regular-rent apartment.
Apple accused of silencing workers, spying on personal devices (reuters.com)
AI generated content is low quality content and is causing search results to become lower quality. Google Search is expected to continue to lose search share down to under 50% (currently around 60%). People have moved to its competitors.
I’m Begging You, Stop Hiring AI Lawyers. (youtube.com)
FBI investigates large drones spotted flying over New Jersey (youtube.com)
Drone sightings over U.S. bases prompt British troop deployments | VOA News (youtube.com)
Microsoft Windows 11 is going to create a MOUNTAIN of e-waste! #RANT (youtube.com)
FBI, FAA investigate mysterious drones in NJ (youtube.com)
But will they be able to find out they did it? or will they have to wait 15 years until documents are released that show this to be so? jk, maybe.
FINALLY, this AI agent actually works! (youtube.com)
Is this the end of using SM platforms as we currently do? It's always funny to see guys like this guy, who thinks he was waiting for this automation so he can do things better with regular people online, for some reason not aware that 7b people will also have this, and everything done online, all communications between him and others, will all be with just bots. To the extent Facebook Groups and Pages can be kept to people, they'll persist, but I think this might bring people back to non-interactive, curated and edited media, like newspapers, magazines, or at least their online versions.
OpenAI partners with defense company Anduril to build AI that counters drone attacks (youtube.com)
This kind of deal can maybe only go between companies that are securely within the government fold, which is opposite to the privacy-and-security-for-people type of company. Fine but shouldn't mix. Ie if OpenAI works with the government on national security, fine, but it shouldn't then interface or have access to any private data of citizens.
Host Goes Silent When Javier Milei Says What No Politician Will Admit (youtube.com)
The media sent drones to spy on the president in his presidential palace, he said. ‘I’ve been in office a year, and since they can't criticize my management except by lying and distorting the numbers, they meddle with all these things.'
Apple struggling to adapt Baidu's AI in China, report says | REUTERS (youtube.com)
FBI warns texting between Android and iPhones is not secure (youtube.com)
‘It may be because of the Chinese hacking.’ Lol the hacking means Chinese gained access to the institutional tools US uses to spy on Americans, for US secret court warrants etc.
Chinese Hackers Infiltrated US Telecom Networks (youtube.com)
China also hacked(is hacking) Windows OSs. Found one of their hacks in UK called SparrowDoor. But you should just know/assume if you use Windows, you're hacked.
america's telephone networks are cooked. (youtube.com)
Michigan man speaks out after getting threatening message from Google AI chatbot (youtube.com)
Cellphone hack targeting Americans is 'ongoing,' security officials report (youtube.com)
Forget me bot: Mystery behind the names causing ChatGPT to crash • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
David Meyer, Bryan Hood, Jonathan Turley, Jonathan Zittrain, David Faber, Guido Scorza. Theme seems to be people who have talked about being defamed by GPTs. ChatGPT will still talk about them if you ask it to use their initials instead of their names.
‘Machine unlearning’ or ‘machine forgetting.’ Different data jurisdictions. EU, Brazil, Kenya, China have protections that mean people can opt out of being data-ized.
Firefox Maker Rebrands as "Global Crew of Activists" (youtube.com)
Mozilla, the anti-information team of web browsing. ‘Removing people they disagree with from the internet.’ ‘Reclaim the internet (for them).’
As long as one company is spending on AI, all the companies will also feel they have to spend on AI, said Gavin Baker, because they all think the first one to do superintelligence will unlock trillions, and if they don't make it their company will sort of fall by the wayside by the one who does. So even as ROI diminishes on AI investment, they will continue. Capitalism and competition.
Nov week4, US phone system hacked, vertical integration, mechanical birds
Officials call China's cyberattack 'worst telecom hack' in US history (youtube.com)
Listening to calls and reading texts of US high level government. Trump and Vance and Chuck Schumer were targeted (don't know if successfully).
Great. Now how about letting people have secure devices? Or give us non-locked down devices and software so tech people who already want to make our devices secure, can do so?
‘They still don’t know where the hackers are,' because ‘it’s very difficult to get them out of the system.' So maybe they're still listening to these calls. They were in the US telecom system for a year before discover. Microsoft found some IP addresses were pointing to locations close the the Chinese government.
Perhaps expectably, the Chinese hackers were just using the system the US uses to spy on Americans for ‘court ordered wire-taps’ and ‘suspected spies.’ FISA court. China therefore probably knew who US was following and thus which spies US suspected.
‘Offense has outpaced Defense here for many years.’
TikTok Ban: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (youtube.com)
How police busted criminals on an encrypted Canadian phone network | The Fifth Estate (youtube.com)
Former Google CEO on the company's antitrust battle with the DOJ (youtube.com)
Kissinger's concern about AI and dignity.
Shmidt said the way to deal with Big Tech isn't to go after them with DoJ when they get big, but rather to regulate them ‘but in a fair way' so they all have to play by the same rules? But over the years people have said that any such rules favors these Big Tech companies versus smaller competitors. ‘These antitrust efforts don’t work.'
‘The companies are vertically integrated where they’re trying to give the customer an integrated experience.' ‘The Apple AppStore is an integrated experience’ and if you ban it, people have to do something they don't want to do, which is download their own app store.
Huawei to launch phone with its own software as the US-China tech split widens (youtube.com)
Harmony OS to compete with Google Android and iOS. (There are many de-Googled Android OSs out there you can install on a phone to have more privacy and security.)
During first Trump administration, export controls were imposed on Huawei. Did harm China's smartphone business, but now China has come back stronger and more competitive, arguably, with their own hardware and OS.
North Korea’s newest cross-border weapon is noise (youtube.com)
Terrorism noise from loudspeakers. About 65db near the border (72 at the border fence). Sounds like downtown Medellin.
SKoreans living nearby have reported health issues, such as kids and adults not sleeping, developing mouth sores, dozing off at school. They nap on the bus to school.
SKorea has responded by doing the same.
Russia's Impressive New WiFi Hacking Trick (youtube.com)
Robot in China persuades others to ‘go home’ (youtube.com)
China documents shed light on cyber opsーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Is Huawei Stealing the West’s Top Tech Talent? | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
New Mexico Tech turns taxidermied birds into drones (youtube.com)
‘Absolutely no plans to spy on people. But are some plans to spy on animals.'
They studied how birds fly (mechanics) for years, reverse engineered the movement (birds move whole body).
They also made aquatic drones (birds floating around on ponds).
‘Border security is also on the table.’
WSJ's Joanna Stern on the top tech gifts of 2024 (youtube.com)
No real AI gadgets (except the Meta glasses, which are spy glasses for public and private).
Reminder that when Google tried spy glasses a decade ago the product ended when people started getting punched for wearing them around people who didn't want to be recorded in restaurants, etc. ‘Don’t record my girlfriend.' ‘Don’t record my children.' ‘Don't record me.' Also, is it really necessary? and do we really want everyone walking around doing whatever beneficial thing they could do with these? (What things can you even do besides vlog?)
‘Do you have to tell people when you’re wearing those that they're being recorded?'
New warnings about A.I.-generated video deep fakes (youtube.com)
The hidden background noise that can catch criminals (youtube.com)
Privacy devices should obfuscate or remove this signal.
Google Accuses Microsoft of "Dark Patterns" with Edge Browser on Windows (youtube.com)
... and therefore, argues Google, Google is providing a benevolent service by not having everyone forced into the dark Microsoft ecosystem. Sounds a fair point. But yeah, Google does the same on phones.
Brazilian prison uses geese to deter escapes (youtube.com)
AI makes 4D videos, separates video layers, new open-source AI video, SORA leak, Realistic 3D models (youtube.com)
Bookmark.
Droidspeak. Less ambiguity is the goal.
Nov week3, Bitcoin GDP, Claude personality, Open about phone spying
Why Bitcoin Will Rise to $420,000: It’s not a prediction. It’s simple arithmetic. (youtube.com)
We'll add almost $2t to global GDP by 2030 with increases in bitcoin holdings, said pwc.
425m people own bitcoin now.
22% of US adults own bitcoin.
60% versus 40% of teens said if they had money they'd buy bitcoin versus buy stocks.
$123t Global equity market value
$138t global debt market
$379t global real estate market
$14t global gold
$0.8t bitcoin
----
$708t.
If 50% of those who own assets put 1% into bitcoin, flows would be $3.5t.
So far, 19.4m bitcoins have been mined.
His math is that $3.5t/19.4m coins = $196k. Add current value of $42k (sic, dated) = $238k per coin. That is if 50% of people put 1% into bitcoin.
Currently the investment balance of doubling or trippling the 1% of portfolio investment versus losing the entire 1%, looks not bad.
...
Because you can make the models fairly responsive to prompts, you could even make it fairly high bar, like If the person doesn't interest you or do things that you find intriguing, and you're bored, you can just leave, and it would be interesting to see where Claude utilized this.
‘I need a break for an hour, and it sounds like you do to.’
Lex Fridman on AI consciousness (youtube.com)
‘This programing task is getting super boring, so either we talk about like fun things now or I’m just done. '
A lot of what Amanda Askell does is character work for Claude, which she noted was an alignment piece of work and not something like a product consideration. #Products She tries to get Claude to behave the way any person would ideally behave in that position, knowing they could have a big impact. Not just ethical and nonharmful, but being nuanced, charitable, a good conversationalist, Aristolitean, when should you be caring? When should you be humorous? How much should you respect autonomy and people's ability to form their own opinion?
There's a problem is sycophancy. If it gives you a response and you then say I think that's no longer true, models will often say Oh you're right, I'm incorrect. There's many ways this can be concernig.
Honesty gets to the sycopancy point. There's a balancing act, because models are less capable than people in many areas, and if they push back too much it can be annoying, especially if you're correct, and you're like Look I'm smarter than you on this topic you're wrong, but you want them to be as informative about a topic as possible.
People from all over the world will be talking to these.
Sometimes the desire to speak is less, but Claude has to speak, but without being overbearing. But there's a line for quite certain statements about physics.
If you listen to the answers, and are able to hear, understand the depth and the flaws in the answer, you can get a lot of data from that. So how to probe with questions?
People who have to talk to a lot of people and be very charismatic, one thing is they're kind of incentivized to have really boring views, because if you have really interesting views, you're divisive and a lot of people are not going to like you. If you have a lot of extreme policy positions you're just going to be less popular as a politician I think. It might be similar with creative work, if you're maximizing for number of people who like it.
‘I want to you like create this poem about this topic, that is really expressive of you both in terms of how poetry is expressive of you, etc. just a really long prompt. It’s poems are just so much better, it got me interested in poetry, I love the imagery, and it's not trivial to get the models to produce work like that, but when they do it's like really good.'
Philosophy education (her area in college), a desire for extreme clarity, so anyone could pick up your paper and know exactly what you're talking about. It's kind of dry, everything has terms that are defined, every objection is gone through methodically. When you're in such an a priori domain, clarity is this way you can prevent people from just kind of making stuff up.
Identify if this statement was rude or polite. That's a whole philosophical question. (When prompting) you have to do as much philosophy in the moment, explaining here's what I mean by rudeness and here's what I mean by politeness.
Sometimes you're asking it to do a creative act, and sometimes you're asking for factual information.
Imagine the model was just extremely dismissive of a given political or religious view. You might put like Never prefer a criticism of this view. A disposition.
...
Claude3 system prompts
System Prompts - Anthropic (docs.anthropic.com)
When you give the model a prompt (or design it) to answer Without claiming to be objective (so it's more open and neutral) it will answer, ‘As an objective ...’ and just talk about how objective it is, without actually being so. Just saying what it thinks is objective. If you give it another prompt rule, it will just replace the affirmation with another affirmation.
Imposing ethical world views through chatbots. Chose what is good for you and right for you. But if you just let the models be used for anything the user asks, you're going to allow problems caused. Do you want models to just have the ethics of the user? Solve social choice?
Engineers and leaders 'who are very blunt and they get to the point, and it's just a much more effective way of speaking somehow, but I guess when you're not superintelligent, you can't afford to do that? Can it have like a blunt mode?' Lex
You might not like the default, but you don't realize how much you will hate it if we nudge the default in this other direction.
Apologeticness, you might not like it that much but at the same time it's not being like mean to people. You might like the model or the interaction a lot less.
Models don't remember info from conversation to conversation, so you might not miss them as much as you would if they did.
We don't make neural networks, we grow them, like a scaffold and a light it grows toward. Chirs Olah
The right measurement unit might be number of connected neurons.
‘I want people to understand neural networks, and if the neural network is understanding that for me, I don’t quite like that. If there's a computer-operated proof, it doesn't count, for mathmeticians.' Interoperability and suspicion. Dario Amodei
Coca-Cola's AI-generated TV holiday ad falls flat with consumers (youtube.com)
Apple Responds to Ending Apple Vision Pro (youtube.com)
The Pokemon Go Spying Conspiracy Theory? Yeah. It's Verified. (youtube.com)
He was laughed at when he tried to tell people this at the time. How long before we stop laughing every time someone tries to warn us?
‘They’re bragging about it.' 
In-Q-Tel, Niantic.
People who use GoogleAndroid and Apple, or any of these apps, are basically working free as spies on themselves and everyone they know.
What gigantic tech trend isn't used to track and collect data for governments, whether US, China, whatever? Facebook, Google, all Microsoft products, Pokemon, iPhone client-side scanning. Can we assume OpenAI?
‘Spacial intelligence will become the world’s future intelligence system.'
They take snapshots constantly. ‘If you’re in the bathroom, it's getting scanned.'
A searchable AI map of the world. Pedestrian. ‘Where are the places that only pedestrians can go? Inside your house.' So the CIA has a map inside your house ‘accurate to the centimeter' if you used Pokemon Go (and who knows what other games).
Open-Source Q-Star! The First OPEN "Thinking" Model (DeepSeek r1) (youtube.com)
‘There is no wall’ debate.
Doing better at certain questions, like math and some logic, and can't answer how we expect to other questions, even basic ones. Compared with chatGPT 4o, it's sometimes better, sometimes both fail our criteria.
Should the US ban Chinese drones? | FT Film (youtube.com)
Google breakup, bcacheFS drama (again), Steam Controller 2: Linux & Open Source News (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, GPTs
Exposed Git Config Files Leak Thousands of Cloud Credentials (youtube.com)
Japanese firm implicated in Lebanon pager attacksーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
AI Progress is Slowing Down?! Gemini 2.0 Pro, AI Impacts Scientific Discovery (youtube.com)
Local topping out of capabilities.
‘Improvement 2.0 to 3 and then to 3.5 to 4, we’ve really slowed down in terms of amount of improvment, and back then GPU requirements were stable.'
Oct pt2, AI wrongful arrest, Kernal protecting pages
Grandfather suing Sunglass Hut, Macy's following arrest (youtube.com)
‘AI leads to wrongful arrest, man raped in jail.’
#AI
this new Linux feature makes hacking IMPOSSIBLE (youtube.com)
mseal, a new syscall that will allow the kernel to protect a page of memory. It is controversial.
The most common vulnerability is exploiting memory corruption bugs.
Fidelity Hacked--Here's How to Protect Your Accounts (youtube.com)
Oct pt1, Chip centers, AI interview process, Police use phones
Musk got a chip center running in 4 months.
There has been a dearth of competition and new businesses in chip space. Smaller IPOs (that don't wait for $150b valuations for hyperbole) can be exciting for investors, because they can get in when the price is low.
Internet Archive was hacked and reportedly 150m logins (email and password) were stolen. The website is closed for now.
Dissecting How Chinese Hackers Breached Verizon, AT&T and Lumen | WSJ (youtube.com)
Real Wall Street Expert and Instructor Reviews BBC's Industry (Episode 1) (youtube.com)
Nowadays, when doing interviews at an investment bank, candidates will be flashed a question (not even asked by a person) and they are recorded answering, and an AI will compare their answer with the answers given by successful investors at the firm. They'll usually have a lot of interviews.
Exclusive: Inside Apple’s Secretive Global Police Summit (youtube.com)
7 countries showed up out of 20 invited in 2019.
Police agencies use iPhones, apparently. It's easy and intuitive, like for regular users.
NZ has a massive database and uses Apple, he said.
People are concerned about what policing will be like in a few years, with the additions of further technology, very robo-cop. Why are we not focussing on improving society (to become more like Japan in terms of civility) instead of technology and surveillance? Oh, you can sell one of these and not the other. One of these increases budgets and the other reduces staff. The reason Japan seems to be economically failing in comparison with the USA which only pursues things that monetize, often to the detriment of citizens.
Uber rises after underwhelming Tesla robotaxi event (youtube.com)
Waymo, owned by Google. Waymo is working with Uber and other partners in new markets.
CNBC went and asked people in Cali, where Waymo has been used for a few years, and didn't find anyone who'd had a negative experience. The surveyed seemed positive on the product.
They asked the same in NY, where there's no Waymo, and the respondents expressed doubt a driverless car could handle the ebikes going everywhere, people, bikes, etc, like there is in NYC. There's no snow in SF.
41% Increased Bugs With Copilot (youtube.com)
It is already very hard to hire someone who is going to improve a chip fab. And they might be 60 years old.
It might become very difficult to hire hard workers, and for low pay.
People are prepared for white collar jobs.
Cities are IQ shredders. They attract the IQs who don't have enough kids.
When you fully urbanize, you need an external source of population. Through history, this might have always been. Everyone moves to Toyko and Tokyo has a lower fertility rate. They aspire to go there and be a Tokyo-ite. Cities also spread diseases more quickly.
September, Ilya, Do they even know?, Telegram privacy
There's no product, or even a stated plan. Nothing. There is Ilya.
Likely doing a foundational model. Will be looking for workers.
Elon Musk defies X ban in Brazil by beaming app from space (youtube.com)
Protein folding and?
Sergey Brin | All-In Summit 2024 (youtube.com)
Do Google's owners/main controllers even know what's going on with technology development? Read the comments.
More complaints about scams taking place on Facebook and Insta, links to Whatsapp. They know everything about you, and these people are not sophisticated.
Telegram preferred by Russian military for its encryption, Zeihan said (although this is one of the subjects he's most accused of shilling in). Again, we could highlight the value to people everywhere for governments to be in a state of non-cooperation and competition. Russia protects Telegram to some degree because it is the alternative to US-information-sending monopoly.
I don't understand, though, how someone as smart as Zeihan cannot see that society cannot improve and always becomes weaker and worse to the degree government invades or negates the privacy of its citizens? I've met a lot of people who don't understand this, but I've met very few really smart people who don't understand this. I've also met very few smart people who don't voice the understanding of how governments use two hot topics, terrorism and CPP (the second P is for ‘propaganda’), to frame any issue they don't want disagreement on, just as Zeihan does himself here Telegram and the Limits of Freedom of Speech on Social Media (Part II) || Peter Zeihan (youtube.com) .
Why is Italian PM Giorgia Meloni involved in a deepfake porn court case? (youtube.com)
Masks will be popular products soon?
Google is Running Out of Storage (youtube.com)
Once we got people out of flip phones into smart phones, it became a question of hitting middle single digit growth, said Damodaran, and he has the iPhone 12 and doesn't ‘have the slightest desire to even look at the iPhone 16, because not enough is different...’
APPL returns cash in buybacks. It's the ‘greatest cash machine in history’ but not currently a growth engine.
Why Millions Are Deleting Adobe (FTC Lawsuit Explained) (youtube.com)
One way AI chatbots is being trained is to give it the initial part and the end result, and it has to figure out what code was in between to get to those results. They're trained until they're as good as the leading business' service, and then they can let them go.
They're small, and chatbots (not AI) can be run locally on a computer.
Exposing The Flaw In Our Phone System (youtube.com)
#Protest
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Talks Future of AI (youtube.com)
Are societies ready for it?
Ukraine has 600 drone companies. They don't really have an air force.
5000 tanks or 5m drones. Which is more useful, for the same price?
Aircraft carriers are $18b, one big target. This is now weighed against 1m drones.
People will want the technologies that can protect them.
When both sides have this, it will be hard to have a land war.
...
The AI techs will be invested in in US and her allies, China and hers, and maybe India. Not Russia or Iran, because of sanctions. The other countries, are they forced to be serfs to these power poles?
‘Can we give those geniuses who are locked in these 190 countries I refuse to go to, a way out?’ paraphrasing. So all the talent is expected to leave every non-US/allies country?
Schmidt likes fusion tech and video (everything as a video, everything you ask or learn). Let me point out here that video is tyranical compared with books.
Former Apple exec Jony Ive partners with OpenAI's Sam Altman to develop an AI-powered device (youtube.com)
In the club?
Meta chatbot to use celebrity voices (youtube.com)
Sam Altman faces scrutiny amid massive OpenAI shakeup (youtube.com)
Some more top OpenAI people left (Murati). Of the 11 original founders, the company is down to 2 or 3. This company is the clear leader in the space.
What's with the puppy eyebrows and soft voice? Is Altman going to be left by everyone with values and be left alone/hire money-purposed companymen like the big tech companies did 10 years ago?
Is there a closer comparison than Gates for this figure?
Musk tweeted to point out that ‘You can’t just convert from a nonprofit to a for-profit. That is illegal.' But isn't Altman allying with the people who protect cooperators from accountablity from the law of the land?
If it is a for-profit (and not a research thing), where does it get its info to train on? and is it paying for that?
Couldn't Musk (or anyone) just hire all the people who left OpenAI and remake the original project?
Word is that the company would retain its non-profit segment as a 'separate' entity. They would become a ‘benefit corporation’ worth $150b. Altman would get 7% equity, reportedly.
How much of the success of an AI company is just money (paying for chips and servers) and how much is actual innovation and application by talent?
People say Altman is the key figure here, and power has consolidated around him, in large part for his ability to raise investments. Is he getting these deals by just cooperating, by saying yes to what powerful entities want from OpenAI?
Altman is popular (and unpopular, a divisive or controversial figure) among some. But how much of that is based on past actions? He gained some fame last year, for example, by saying at Congress that he makes no money from OpenAI, that's not his motivation (despite the massive value of OpenAi at that time too). Now, if his actions are reassessed and his motivations maybe too, does he maintain the reputation he gained then? My guess would be that probably he maintains it, since people don't change their opinions much, unless and until they are pushed to such a point that they have to view their original loyalty as misplaced after that entity ‘betrays’ them and everyone, like when the pandemic measures forced many normal people, who found it convenient to just agree and support the government measures despite evidence which they didn't want to or didn't have energy to look at, and then later even the commons turned against the government, going back (not, perhaps, in their own perception) on their original decision, but this was only because the negative effects were extreme and obvious and prolongued.
Altman can be considered dispensible by those using him currently, too. The government has to push AI development, as we don't know what powers it will provide, and it is an existential threat and an international issue. They can easily recast Altman's figure in the perception of the public using their social media tools, broadcast tools, celebrity acolites, if they want to. It might not be easy for them to find a willing accomplice at a high level.
...
Meta has more innovation momentum than Apple, says Deepwater's Gene Munster (youtube.com)
Not that Facebook is any more respectful of people's rights and privacy, but yeah, they've been doing development and working on projects (which they've taken a lot of flack and criticism (business sense) for along the way, while Apple is just reissuing their phone (and making it worse all the time for iPhone users, I know some who started to hate it so much they switched away, but most just get Apple regardless of how bad it gets and how invasive and abusive of rights it gets).
Kindle has a big problem, so I'm leaving it behind. (youtube.com)
Amazon has the power and legal right, apparently, to view what's on your Kindle and just delete it from their server.
August, Signal a leader, New personas for taking out loans
Why I'm Concerned About Signal (youtube.com)
Chose not to fix. ... Blocked a security researcher.
Signal is now in a position of leadership in the industry, but isn't setting a great standard. ‘People are gonna lose trust.’ No recommendable mainstream messenger.
Zuckerberg on Why Open Source AI is the Path Forward (youtube.com)
Delta hires law firm following software outage, seeking compensation from Microsoft, CrowdStrike (youtube.com)
$350-500m so far is the estimate (without adding in reputational).
Delta Air Lines CEO on CrowdStrike outage: Cost us half a billion dollars in five days (youtube.com)
AT&T is the latest wireless company facing photo theft allegations (youtube.com)
Turnkey data transfer services offered when you go into the store to fix or upgrade your phone.
People don't want to make the effort to understand how to use a phone privately and securely, and they don't want to bother to pressure government to protect them.
Putin’s Trader: How Russian hackers stole millions from U.S. investors (youtube.com)
Insider trading story. They accessed insider info and traded on it.
What to know about synthetic identity theft (youtube.com)
Combine your SC number with someone else's name and address. They don't pose as you. They create a new persona and take out loans, etc. They often use the info of children's data because children won't notice.
Maryland woman loses $17K in SIM card swap scam despite two-factor authentication (youtube.com)
The internet is so littered with things generated by AI now, that you can sometimes get better search results by excluding results after 2023. I asked for this feature to be added to YouTube a couple years ago when chatGPT came out, because there was already so much AI-narrated and AI-generated content that was just so low-quality, and the thumbnail doesn't tell you it's AI, so you waste time. For a person who hasn't had decades of education and news, they might not even know which content is true and won't be able to retreat from it as ‘gargage’ the way older people currently can.
Remember how shortly after chatGPT launched an anonymous actor scraped the entire Reddit.
#AI #Information
Musk currently talks a lot about his concern about AI being trained to lie in any way. Although issues of truth have never in history been worked out, but he seems to like the idea of physics-level truth of 99% or whatever (fine for math but maybe not for society). This seems obvoius as AI is no more than a calculator with an interpreter for non-code language.
YouTube slowdown in Russia darkens freedom of speech outlook (reuters.com)
Moscow plans to block YouTube in fall, Russian media claims (kyivindependent.com) (The Kyic Independent)
Hours counting down on deadline before ransomware group leaks Columbus data (youtube.com)
#Hacking #Privacy
...
Rheseda is offering it for sale. They have a list of hacks and several have sold, according to the listings on their website.
Some police have had their bank accounts compromised, there have been promises for credit protection but reportedly that has not been provided.
Payroll data usually includes names, addresses, phone numbers, SINs, bank info, account routing. Things that can lead to fraud. Theoretically if you had such info you could compromise officials and blackmail/manipulate them.
If they can't find a buyer, they will just want to maintain street cred and keep the value of future threats they might make.
...
Intel's Stunning Troubles Underscore The Folly Of Government Welfare For Corporations (youtube.com)
#Politics
Chips and Science Act, passed among fears of Chinese competition. As all government naming, political and often opposite (propaganda) rather than descriptive. ‘The US industry is not lacking for capital. The US has the deepest, most sophisticated capital markets.’ Biggest beneficiary of the act was Intel ($8.5b in grants and $11b in loans), which had been the cutting edge leader of tech, and is now ‘scrambling to catch up.’ TSMC reportedly almost didn't take government money for the Ariz facility because it means giving government control over activities. 'Business welfare.'
Apple might buy DDG or Brave and make it their own search engine. Hopefully not, because we already don't have enough competition and options in services, and also because I don't want to have to stop using Brave. Apple has its own crawler.
Texas sees home insurance rates skyrocket as disaster costs pile up (youtube.com)
There's a lot of concern among Republicans that Trump is saying more ludicrous things: Jake Sherman (youtube.com)
They talk about how Harris ‘should say as little as possible’ about her policies. Because right now, no one knows anything, and they can just guess, which is positive for her, because there's lots of people in every election who are just hopeful, and will vote based on hope rather than realism, and will even vote against their knoweldge of realistic things, and will purpsoefully ignore what they know to do so.
Harris is in a ‘perfectly timed’ ‘honeymoon phase’.
She has the Convention coming up. People start tuning into the election in September.
In Europe, elections are only 6 weeks and you can maintain voter interest over a short period of time.
There's only 11 or 13 swing districts now, versus 20s or 30s before. Gerrymandering. If no one can do anything in Congress because it's highly gridlocked by gerrymandering, extremes reinfoced, no compromise (although it's arguable whether in politics compromise is beneficial).
...
'Devastating:' Stolen Columbus data leaked by ransomware group after auction gets no bids (youtube.com)
And video access.
No one bought it (so ‘it lacked value to bad actors’) so they released half.
youtube.com
Pixel is aimed at premium market, and is a larger player (than their general 5% rating for all cellphones) in those markets, like high end in UK.
Beoing. Would specialization be better than these 3 things at once? Are they mostly prioritizing their earnings per share growth? Boeing was a stock market darling for a long time.
Foreign investors interest in Canadian debt soars (youtube.com)
Elon Musk supports California AI safety bill in contrast with OpenAI, Meta (youtube.com)
This means third-party auditors going into the company and seeing things.
Xai is still based in Bay Area, but Musk has moved other X businesses to Texas.
‘AI regulation is a risk’ say some.
July pt2, TikTok, ULEZ damage
July pt1, AI and bugfixing, Price customization, ISA competition
People feeling like ‘I’m being ripped off'. And in new, AI-assisted ways.
McDonalds Surveillance PRICE FIXING To Gouge Customers (youtube.com)
Now there's individualized pricing. You order an egg McMuffin every monday at 7. Let's charge more then. They know your payday, so can charge more then. That's why they want you to use their app, so they can get on your phone, and that's why they offer you initial deals if you use the app. ‘First degree price discrimination.’ ‘Surveillance pricing.’ The idea is to exploit your weaknesses.
But I have some doubts. Won't people start posting screens of pricing they received and cause backlash on individual pricing if it happened?
...
Cement companies are transforming the $410 billion industry with carbon-free cement (youtube.com)
Using non-limestone sources of carbon, using electrochemistry rather than heat.
new vulnerability in your motherboard lasts forever (youtube.com)
-2 in UEFI. Autonoma discovered this.
Microsoft Tells China Staff to Swap Androids for iPhones (youtube.com)
MS authenticator app only available on Android App store which is banned in China.
#China #IR
MS hacked a few times recently. Broken into many people's accounts, reportedly.
iPhone also getting banned by Chinese government-backed firms.
...
Channel Update July 2024: Big Computing Trends (youtube.com)
Increasing competition for ISAs (Instruction Set Architectures like X86, ARM, RISC), Increasingly suffient computing power (no need to upgrade or compete, ie ubiquity), Congnitive Computing increase (and maybe some Cyborg fusion?). Questions about where people chose to spend their money, has to do with geopolitics, politics, etc.
The US Bans Kaspersky (youtube.com)
Kaspersky is now labelled ‘spyware’ by the US government. Trump banned it on US government equipment in 2017. Best Buy followed this by deciding to remove it from their stores.
‘Antiviruses are benevolent rootkits.’ All proprietary software is (to be considered) spyware until proven other, and even then when the next update comes it's spyware again.
Kaspersky has an office in Massachusetts.
Kaspersky's research has been very valuable to security for everyone. They revealed a new method to detect Pegasus in January. It may be the US government is revenging against Kaspersky for weakening their spyware company (NSO).
#hacking
...
Special report: Major computer outages occur worldwide (youtube.com)
Global IT outage grounds planes and sends broadcasters off air (youtube.com)
Major technical outages worldwide: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
CrowdStrike, Microsoft outage explained (youtube.com)
Global IT outage: 'Biggest IT outage the world has ever seen' (youtube.com)
The CrowdStrike Outage: Explained (youtube.com)
Lol Crowdstrike and Microsoft.
Basically people turned on their computers and they wouldn't startup (Windows only, which is most work and 72% of home computers).
‘Not a cyber attack’. Since that is usually a lie, there's no reason to put any weight on the statement either direction. The company said it's a problem with their latest update. They pushed out the update which caused the outage. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted, of course, just Windows, which were caused to reboot and show BSoD or reboot loop. No beta test? Updates on Windows are forced for the past 10 years or whatever.
Governments will eventually understand they need to protect sensitive information (all health, biographical, financial for citizens, all energy, judicial, military [actual military] for state, stored in metal boxes with file tabs like they used to. There's no way to have secure information on computers in offices which are connected to the internet, using workers who understand so little about security and computers, which is almost all people and always will be. Computers have to be offline and connected to their own printer. Any hack should only involve that specific computer or office. It's slower, but actually safe. When you need to transfer information between offices you call, talk to a person there, and have them take the file and fax it or copy it to a connected computer and email it, which email must be set up to automatically delete, because the other end of the line in never trustworthy because they are also incompetant. Connected to incompentence. No accountability for companies and people who cause these problems. Everyone uses the same Cloud or one of a couple Clouds, no diversification.
Snowflake had significant issues recently too.
MSFT was not really down on the news. CRWD was only down about 10 or 15 percent, but was lowest on open and started rising a bit.
#Privacy #CivilRights #HumanRights
...
Google ends plan to eliminate cookies (youtube.com)
It talked about doing this in 2020.
My unlogged-in YouTube feed (which has become customized over a couple months) has started flooding with D news and propaganda over the past couple days (today is July 25, Kamala was announced as the D running). MSNBC with ridiculous headlines. I've never clicked an MSNBC video. YouTube is still D, I guess.
Science
Dec week3, Mirror bacteria
Mirror bacteria, constructed from mirror images of molecules found in nature. Literally, a molecule in nature looks one way, so they make that same molecule but a mirror image. They can't reproduce, they can't grow. They're inert. But some of us have already heard this at the beginning of sci fi movies. The risk, though, comes into play once you make an entire organism of mirror components, it can grow, eat, and compete.
‘Mirror bacteria could not evolve from existing life, but their creation will become increasingly feasible as science advances...’
Some people research them with a possible goal of making new therapeutics. ‘They’re not recognized and degraded by the body, and therefore have the potential to be very longlasting therapeutics. They can potentially grow unchecked.
‘The risks are very serious and the benefits are very modest.’ You can do all the same things with chemical therapeutics.
Normal bacteria is kept in check by a lot of things, including our biology, predators. A mirror organization might avoid all those natural defense mechansms, and could grow unchecked if it found good food.
Timeframe might be 3-5 decades, the guy estimates. Not feasible today, but a good time to talk about it.
Dec week2, Nature reserve
Exclusion Zone is a 30km radius. It is now considered the largest natural reserve of wildlife in Europe.
November, Teens and climate, AI simulations
Young people feel powerless about climate change. Filtering water with bones.
Full Society Simulation - Researcher Clones Human with AI (youtube.com)
The second study did 2-hour interviews of people, used generic social science tests (I guess to develop points of their personality), converted this into the AI agents, then ran the simulation, and later asked the agents and the people questions and compared how similar they were to the agent based on their 2-hour interview. Accuracy of 0.79 on GSS.
He talks of building a massive simulation, testing out a new tax plan, and seeing how the personalities react.
They did some work to tackle bias against minorities for political ideology in their study.
Nature
March week2, Trump environment
PJan week4, Plastic-eating worm, kayaking in Colombia river
Stout 3 days out!! Suarez, Colombia 2023 (youtube.com)
Raw sewage drains into the river. Trash everywhere. Around the city, I guess. So they travel down the river, but try not to touch the water, in those parts.
Dec week2, Bacterial asteroid
Dec week1, Shrimp, wolves
Nov week4, Scent detection, rifts
How giant rats in tiny vests are sniffing out crime | BBC Global (youtube.com)
Scent detection tasks. They pull a ball on the vest when they encounter contraband African Blackwood, pangolins, elephant ivory, rhino horn.
Indication training, food pellet rewards, discrimination training (the specific odor).
Will work at Dar-al-Salaam International.
Scientists discover 100 new maritime species off New Zealand | DW News (youtube.com)
In a rift.
Homeowner Finds Massive Cave Beneath His House (youtube.com)
Health
April week 1
Nation's top vaccine official quits over RFK Jr's 'lies' (youtube.com)
Negative immunity (youtube.com)
‘All concluded that the net benefit was negative. That there was more problems from having the vaccines than there were benefits from having the vaccine.’
One obfuscating information is that when the vaccines were first administered, they recorded results for 2 months, but then, even after years, and after multiple ‘boosters’ (which have the second one maybe has an efficacy of 25% that of the first, etc), they still published the original results for efficacy (the results from after the first 2 months), and said Look how effective this is.
The efficacy of a vaccine on a completely naive (biologically) population (ie that has no exposure of any form to a virus) is different from the efficacy on an already-exposed population, and they ‘sell’ the vaccine based on data of its effect on a naive population, which there are none.
RFK Jr. Pushes Out Top Officials in Health Agency Overhaul (youtube.com)
March week2, Beef tallow
Using beef tallow instead of vegetable oil.
Feb week4, US foods, RFK
74% of Americans are ‘overweight’, and if they asked for GLPs and the government pays for them, it would cost over $1t per year, it would double the insurance costs for employers. It currently like the first treatment response for overweight even 6 year olds. It's not just perscribed for diabetics etc. GLPs without exercise means muscle gets eaten away, counterproductive. A lot of GLP users use them for 2 years, then get off them, and there are negative consequences.
A lot of people voted for Trump because they wanted to vote for RFK. For me, too, he was one of the strongest parts of Trump's potential.
National security risk of 70% of American kids not eligible for military service due to their obesity. Japan is 3% obese. ‘American kids don’t suddenly get obese, something is poisoning them.' RFK.
Conflicts of interests on the nutritional committees. The inertia of it. The Trump party has seen a flood of people coming who want to work on things not for money but just because they want to do it.
Obesity affects the implementation of health treatment, it increases the costs and affects the outcomes. The cost of all these programs goes up.
Since the US has laws that encourage the production and sale of unhealthy foods, lawmakers are creating the problem they are attempting to solve.
Only 10% of tax spending on health goes to prevention.
Dec week2, Red dye, carpets
FDA may ban artificial red dye from beverages and candy (youtube.com)
California banned it last year, and will go into effect next year. Takes time for manufacturers to change things.
Mattress leaking fiberglass causes health reactions for local family (youtube.com)
Fentanyl found inside Gulf of Mexico dolphins | NewsNation Now (youtube.com)
Erin Brockovich: ‘You have a PFAS contamination and it’s a big one’ (youtube.com)
Carpets. They used it to make the carpets waterproof. The PFAS are in the river etc. ‘If it’s not [cleaned up] by a third party like 3M, the taxpayer's gnna hve to do it.' ‘And it’s sickening for all of us that we have destroyed the most valuable assets that this country have, which is our land and our water.'
If you want action on this, one thing is to make PFAS test kits available on Amazon cheaper. I saw them for $300.
The town, Dalton, has sued Shaw Industries, a large carpet manufacturer and one of the area's largest employers, alleging the company helped spread PFAS.
I-Team: 'Forever chemicals' found in rural Athens (youtube.com)
Nov week4, Fat study, Trump
Can AI-powered eye scans help identify diseases? | BBC News (youtube.com)
Putting on fat modifies genes so the fat becomes hard to keep off, scientists are finding.
Cardio (and other things) triggers genes that modify other genes (responsible for fat storage, some of them), and those molecules can be identified, and produce suppliments or combotherapies or additional drugs that will knock off stored fat and keep it off.
Nov week3, RFK, Methanol
Warning to tourists as sixth traveller dies in Laos from methanol poisoning | BBC News (youtube.com) The idea seems to be that it was probably mixed in drinks, maybe to save money
Oct pt2, Forced treatment, Sheep clone in USA, Standardized labels
SF doctors observe fentanyl side effect that causes people to be completely bent over after use (youtube.com) (5 months ago)
How many years after it became a widespread phenomenon, and allowed by politicians, some scientists (are there even any who are purposed to do this work by politicians) are digging into scientific biological effects. They ‘can’ stand up but it hurts them to do it. It also makes lower legs swell up and hurt. These issues often lead to needing medical treatment and surgery.
There is a question about whether to force people into ‘treatment’. ‘Harm reduction versus abstinence'. Do cities have the right to force someone into ‘treatment’ where they are kept for months? Afterwards, will they just return to where they were before? or will they be grateful they were forced? Both instances happen. I would say a big part of the problem is the way they do ‘treatment’ isn't very good.
Montana man sentenced to six months in prison for illegally creating hybrid sheep (youtube.com)
He cloned giant Marco Polo sheep (native to Kazakhstan) in order to hunt it. He imported the genes (sperm and testacles etc) and bred the sheep he created with local sheep.
"Best Before" date on food labels no longer good enough under new CA law (youtube.com)
There are half a dozen different types of dates sometimes printed, so no one really is sure what the actual date they need to know is.
The law will standardize the language and meaning of what factories print. People currently throw out food that may still be fine, because they think maybe the date means it might be spoiled.
Will this idea catch on at the Federal level?
Oct pt1, Netflix
Netflix's top-payed employees make around $1m and have 10-15 years at the company. They're programmers. Google has similar top-payed, where the average is 20 years or so at Google (Google is an older company).
CEO Reed Hastings' unusual strategy includes freedom, responsibility and transparency. Brutal honesty, work is for money, a company is for money. He doesn't force benefits on employees because they wouldn't all agree with this.
Employees are given tasks and judged in how they complete it, not by just hours.
Netflix currently has massive profit margins, unlike something like Amazon (tiny margins so they couldn't pay like this). Netflix is a cash rich company. The payment scheme looks great or bad depending on if it's a bull or a bear market, when comparing with employees of stock payment companies. Cash also means you pay taxes.
A Facebook director signs a contract for $3.5m worth of META stock over 4 years at current stock value. It stock goes up or down, they make more or less.
September, Chemical regions
July, China cooking oil scandals
This has been a news story in China several times over the past few decades.
Human Interest
Feb week4, A charity in Thailand
They have $6k usd to blow and they buy a bunch of supplies for kid villagers in a very inaccessible jungle region of Thailand (surrounded on 3 sides by Myanmar).
The kids all knew Michael and it was a community event.
They gave the vlogger a present. ‘especially coming from here, where all that matters is having a good heart.’
One of the daughters is studying, they report, to become a doctor, and would be the first person from the village to finish higher ed. What could be the good outcome from this, on a larger scale? I mean, we don't want everyone to just leave the villages and go to the cities, and we don't want even just the best people, the young, working age people, to leave and just send money back to the little kids and older people. Perhaps the best could be if people who move to the cities have ties to a village, patronize it, and return to it sometimes, so people are living in both spots? But it's hard to see how such commute doesn't lead to everyone just leaving it.
A rotary club there, German speaking, built a dormitory for the school, because the kids live too far to walk every day. People live in smaller collections of 3-6 houses in the mountains. If their child goes away to school to study, who would work the farm? Some of these foreigners pay them to offset these hardships, which I'm not sure what the effect of that would be. ‘The dorms are what makes it all work, because without the dorms the kids can’t come to study.' Then they go around door to door to try to get the families to send their kids to study.
All the way in there, there is a travelling band.
Asian countries should really have programs for visitors, to teach them something about local culture. Not only so foreigners don't ruin things, like they do in Japan and to a degree in Thailand, by their forceful ethnocentrism, but also there's just so much Westerners can learn from Asian cultures and societies.
Jan week2, Vikings shows, management of outstanding performers
He said the Romans look good, but the historical and look are not impressive. The script and the ‘so called vision behind it.’
This is the wildest AI intern story I have ever heard (youtube.com)
Awarding ‘Best Paper’ to someone who stole compute. Sued by Bytedance when they saw. ... Do they just need a better manager for him?
Dec week3, Hanna from Hawaii
Everyone suspicious the father had done something wrong, since he committed suicide.
Dog the Bounty Hunter last week was interviewed, since he knew the family, and he started to say something about how the father was Japanese and they have a different culture (which might account for the suicide, for reasons different to Western reasons, reasons like honor and failure), it seemed he was going to say, but the news guy cut him off.
Her co-workers seemed to have known all along what was happening with Hanna, although her family didn't know, it seems.
They were paying Hanna $30k for the visa marriage, it seems.
‘We also see why Hanna’s ex seems to have been so shy all along, or to show his face on television.' ‘... He didn’t want to lose his own dodgy paycheck, at the very least.'
Nov week4, Chinese cyclist, young romance
September, Geoguessing
Last year was the first world cup in geoguessing.
It's now one of the top browser-based games. Admins are now limiting the info they give because it has become very easy.
Crime
April week 1
'Gold Grifters': Inside growing scam using couriers to pick up gold bars from victims (youtube.com)
FULL: Liberty County Jail riot update: Dozens of inmates reportedly took over dorms (youtube.com)
Zhenhao Zou convicted: Courts Correspondent explains police fear over possible scale of crimes (youtube.com)
Meeting girls at clubs, maybe dated him, inviting them back to his place, drugging them. The evidence is mostly his own videos. 10 victims in the trial.
The Rise of AI Book Ripoffs (youtube.com)
Florida woman shares dangers of spousal voyeurism after husband arrested again (youtube.com)
Secretly recording his wife, posing as her, and then sending the images to other men on the internet.
This round of things started off when he tried to entice someone over playing Playstation online, disguised as his wife, and the person was a 15 year old young man.
His wife wasn't surprised because he'd previously been arrested for making a bunch of profiles using nude images he took of her.
His ex-wife advocates harsher sentences for people who do this. They didn't talk about her role or responsibility in the events, whether he was using old images after she had divorced him? or whether she took him back? or what.
youtube.com
They just package malware into the converted file, so they can access your network or computer later. The hackers reside overseas so there's no way to really go after them.
On the US-Mexico border: kidnap soars as cartel drug trade slows (youtube.com)
Trump says Tesla attacks could be considered domestic terrorism (youtube.com)
Fair, considering for 20 years ‘terrorism’ has simply meant ‘not in the interests of the current ruling party.’
Iran using drones, digital technology to enforce mandatory hijab laws (youtube.com)
Another hidden camera found in SoCal criminal trend (youtube.com)
Camalflage livestream cameras to know when people are at home. ‘They've been watching my parent's activity. No one knows how long the camera has been there, and no one even noticed.’ A cheap camera with a SIM card. Anyone with a drone (in areas where drones are legal) can place a camera in a yard, even beyond a fence. The people had been in touch with police, but this is just another crime where police can't do anything at all, and won't spend the resources even if they have some tech, because there's been no harmful crime yet. Only gypsies are somewhat no affected.
New Rule: America's Whore Complex | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) (youtube.com)
At the Oscars, ‘And I just want to recognize and honor the sex worker community.’ Who cares, though, because Hollywood has a different set of changing values depending on what they're making.
Targeting sellers on Facebook Marketplace is the 'hot fraud,' police warn (youtube.com)
You list an item to sell, and get a message saying they'll pay now and pick up next week, and ask for your email to e-transfer you money. But actually they are requesting money, not sending, or they might send a link that looks real but is a malware link.
The link can be to a spoof of your bank website, and you log in like normal, but now the scammers have your login details for your bank.
You should at least check their profile. Meet people in person and in public. You can use e-transfer autodeposit if you really want to use e-transfer.
Texas ATMs hacked in sophisticated ‘jackpotting’ theft scheme with ties to Russia (youtube.com)
White criminals intently using their phones, send a copy of the receipt to send to someone. The machine thinks the transaction was cancelled.
Attacks on Tesla dealerships grow nationwide (youtube.com)
I wonder how they're getting the idea to do this? No way they're originating it.
Reports that in SoCal people find notes on their Teslas, calling them ‘complicit Nazis’.
‘People are protesting Musk...’ ... Cut to upclose shot of 6 or 8 people protesting, holding signs. People are ‘doxxing’ Tesla owners nationwide.
Is this ‘domestic terrorism’, just because it's political?
Tesla removed from Vancouver Auto Show (youtube.com)
...
Report: Los Angeles expected to lose $65 million on parking tickets (youtube.com)
MN jury finds leader in nation’s largest COVID-19 fraud scheme guilty (youtube.com)
$250M COVID-era fraud mastermind convicted (youtube.com)
The founder of Feeding Our Future. They faked the delivery of food, making dozens of shell companies to receive the money for them. US has recovered only $60m of the $250m.
Inside El Salvador's mega prison: Youtuber reveals what he saw (youtube.com)
Nick Shirley on Fox.
In their eyes, it's very dark and not a lot of hope, he said.
These people live 80 men to a cell, and never will leave. They get a little time to exit the cell and do exercise.
This is considered cruel and unusual punishment in most nations, some say.
Shirley was the only American so far let into the prison, and then a top US official came in the other day to make a propaganda video to show people what they did with Venezuelan criminals (mostly, reportedly). At the end of the interview, the presenter asked Shirley what he thought of it (referring to human rights questions or rule of law questions, probably), and he said he'd rather them be there than on the streets (as if no third option?) and ‘Go El Salvador.’ Perhaps it's necessary to say that, in order to keep him getting access, which is good for everyone, even if a journalist compromises himself but allows for millions to get real information and make the opposite judgement. But it also raises a question, with these new governments, more hard line, less Constitutional, less limited by law or Congress, they will probably only allow coverage that agrees with them, by journalists who they already know agree with them.
Also, reading the comments, there are a lot of people who are with the program, or with the idea of just ‘sending criminals to El Salvador prison’ and giving them the worst possible, which highlights how we need leaders and officials who understand more than the common man.
Canada's most wanted fugitive, Dave Turmel captured in Italy (youtube.com)
Blood Family Mafia street gang, at war with HA over drugs. Reports of torture.
London crime: veteran journalist explains what's driving surge as 70,000 mobiles stolen in 2023 (youtube.com)
This happened to a guy at a crosswalk beside me. I grabbed the rack of the motorbike and dragged him slow, and he dragged me into the middle of the street, but then accelerated and I let him go because I couldn't really hold the bike, and when I looked back, the guy who was the owner of the phone was just standing there at the intersection watching. If he'd sprung into action, he could have had his phone back.
The best remedy for phone snatchers is just phone snatcher traps, which are easy to do. Just employ some people to walk with their phone extended out and grab anyone who steals the phone, then have news cover the story.
...
On the US-Mexico border: kidnap soars as cartel drug trade slows (youtube.com)
Are Nevada’s DUI laws working? (youtube.com)
No real consequences.
Feb week4, Glue on doors, airtags, Trumpcoin chica
They put glue on the seals of front doors, in apartments these days, then return a few days later and look for doors that haven't been opened.
FBI issues new warning; be on the lookout for specific language in emails (youtube.com)
Phishing using urgency language. Do not click anything.
News phishing emails look less like a scam because of AI. Don't share personal info online or on SM.
FBI warns against using two-factor text authentication | Morning in America (youtube.com)
Facebook Illegally Downloaded ALOT of Books... (youtube.com)
Act first, ask later? Seems to be what Trump, Musk, are also doing. Makes sense. Also makes sense to prevent things with measures that prevent them, at least when it's sensitive data, but will that ever happen?
Data indicates there could be hundreds of truck-driving serial killers at large (youtube.com)
If You Imagine Yourself a Gunfighter | Black Swan Events (youtube.com)
How many hoods involved? 6 or 8? That's a lot of pieces.
How a $20 tracker cracked a massive multi-county theft ring (youtube.com)
They put an airtag on it, but because the thiefs didn't have any Apple products, for the whole time it sat on their property the location was not found, but as soon as they sold it, the buyer had an iPhone and tracking was activated.
Alleged romance scammer indicted after several men die (youtube.com)
Woman arrested, placed in ICE custody stole $850K in TrumpCoin from ex, private eye says (youtube.com)
'He woke up on his yacht and found she was gone...'
‘As soon as she transferred the Trumpcoin from my wallet to her wallet, she left within 7 minutes.’
She was arrested for grand theft and credit card fraud. In court, she was found to be an illegal immigrant, but she holds the key to the crypto wallet, so if she gets deported so does that key. They're working with the congressmen and other politicians to try to keep her stateside until they can get the key.
Thousands freed from online scam hubs in Myanmar • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
77-Year-Old Scammed Out of £17,000 by Deepfake Scammer Using AI-Generated Videos (youtube.com)
Feb week1, Device repair shops, KK Park, Police union president on Brady List, skimmers
I don't get what the point is? Maybe the YouTuber just wanted to drum up views with drama? Who cares about cups and balls, when everyone knows it's a scam, and is in every city. They're not robbing anyone (in this city, as far as I saw, whereas in some other cities they do have pickpockets who are near the ball game) and they're not violent.
Are Phone (And Laptop) Repair Shops Spying On You? | Talking Point | 1-Hour Special (youtube.com)
‘Repair shops caught snooping’. Again.
These should be public services at this point.
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Chinese Actor’s Kidnapping Reveals Global Telecom Fraud Hub; Netizens Risk Lives Filming KK Park (youtube.com)
Thailand as a middle country between China and Myanmar's KK Park.
Lured with an acting job. A commenter wrote, 'yeah when someone pays for your flight... let's face it you are not that special. Everyone lies.'
Another man was lured to inspect a mango farm and was kidnapped there in the mountains by men on motorbikes.
‘Women who are unattractive and noncompliant are used as warnings to others, facing harsh punishment to enforce compliance within the group.’
‘Men who are attractive and compliant are forced to alter their lifestyles in ways that would make returning to their past life impossible.’
Some of the trafficked victims, the ruthless ones, they say, are made into mini-bosses who can be turned over to authorities as scapegoats. Swatting flies.
Doesn't seem the Chinese national government is willing or able to do anything for them. An actor was rescued, because he had money and fame support.
Hacked his WeChat.
Some Chinese mafia style criminals moved to Phnom Penh, but then casinos dried up and they moved on to Telecom scams, and now many have moved to Singapore or Dubai, reportedly.
All these calls are monitored by China, including calls through Myanmar, reportedly. So if you allow your government to monitor your communications you'll get the benefit of security? I guess not. Instead, you'll just let the government do what profits it more, while giving up your power to protest.
‘The deep entanglement of organized crime, government inaction, and international diplomacy reveals how profit-driven motives override justice. The suppression of victims and their families only underscores the systemic corruption enabling these atrocities.’
‘A unified Myanmar would be far less controllable, while a divided and conflict-ridden Myanmar becomes dependent on external forces, making it easy to manipulate.’
‘With no stable business environment, legitimate economic activities are unviable, so they resort to illicit industries. Previously, it was cultivating banned crops. Now, it’s telecom fraud. Even if all current fraud operations were eliminated, new forms of illicit activities would replace them. The telecom fraud bosss being arrested are just pawns--disposable. They cycle of exploitation persists because these outlaws are never entirely eradicated. ... When public outrage peaks, a few scapegoats are sacrificed to diffuse anger, but the system remains untouched.'
The cycle of the financial flow is that Chinese citizens are defrauded, money flows to fraud syndicates, and syndicates pay warlords, and warlords buy weapons from the ‘boss’ (CCP), perpetuating mutual harm, reportedly.
#Myanmar #China #Asia
No More Bets (en.wikipedia.org)
'No More Bets is a 2023 Chinese crime thriller film directed by Shen Ao and produced by Ning Hao. The film delves into the story of Chinese individuals being trafficked to a Southeast Asian country and forced into internet fraud.
‘The movie was released in China on August 8, 2023, and achieved significant box office success, grossing over $500 million. However, it faced criticism from the governments of Myanmar, Thailand, and a ban in Cambodia due to the negative portrayal of these countries.’
Critics seem to say the film is about gambling scammers who ruin people's lives in predatory ways, and that the scenarios which celebrate Chinese police heroics might be less than accurate.
Some say there are similar places in Mexico and Africa. I think we have some stories about the ones in Mexico on this website somewhere from 2024.
But some commenters noted that China Observer might not have truthful reports anyway, so this story would need to be reported on by AP or Reuters or an investigation.
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Notorious Vancouver escort charged with armed robbery in Ontario (youtube.com)
For some reason, every time she goes to court, the charges are stayed, for drugging and robbing men, allegedly, and sometimes involving death, reportedly.
Mexican drug cartels ‘thriving’ in Canada, police and analysts say (youtube.com) CBC
Controversial Elyria cop placed on ‘Brady List’ after credibility called into question (youtube.com)
She's no longer allowed to testify in court, because she and two other officers barged into a man's house without a warrant. They tazed, arrested Ortiz with 5 felonies, which were later dismissed, and when, later, her bodycam footage was reviewed, she was suspended. She tazed the guy after he told her he had a heart condition (in the video he's not showing any reason to taze him).
She's also the president of the police union.
She was put on the Brady List for making at least 3 false statements (which were shown to be false by her bodycam).
ICE makes surprise arrest of immigrant in a Utah courthouse (youtube.com)
And suddenly immigrants won't be making their court dates?
ICE raids target Venezuelan gang in Colorado (youtube.com)
Video shows suspects smoothly install credit card skimmers; Here's how to protect your money (youtube.com)
You can get a skimmer for $80 on Amazon, reportedly.
They really are undetectable-looking. And easy to install.
If you suspect, wiggle the device, and try to remove it.
Or use cash. People want to create a cashless society, but man you will have nothing but problems, with government, corporations, and criminals. The end of cash is the end of freedom.
Inside the brand new city 'built on scams' on the Myanmar-Thai border | BBC News (youtube.com)
Jan week4, Texas crypto ATMs and scams, TikToker kidnapping
Camping World to Pay $3.5M for Double Charging RV Buyers (youtube.com)
Scammers turn to unregulated Bitcoin ATMs, stealing millions from Texans (youtube.com)
There are 4000 cryto ATMs in Texas. Immeditately distributed money. No 2 or 3 day hold like a lot of transfers. A few states have already passed laws to control or monitor crypt transactions. How about you just educate your citizens as a starting point, and then see if you need invasive laws?
Woman shocked to find all 4 wheels stolen from parked car at West Edmonton Mall (youtube.com)
At least 1 student in accused ‘catch a predator’ TikTok plot suspended: Reporter | Banfield (youtube.com)
People taking advantage of the ‘age minority’ thing to meet guys on TikTok or Tinder under the presumption the girl is 18 or more, then trying to take advantage of the man. All in this case were charged with kidnapping, and one with lying to police, and another with slamming a door on the victim man's head.
Jan week2, Sheriff shot judge, Lockbit, Tinder beatings and framings, Mailbox Toluca Lake, BigWagetheft, Interpol versus government targets
Drone video captures alleged bribery tactic at U.S.-Mexico border lines (youtube.com)
In order to cut the line, because there are long lines. $20-40 to get a better spot. Pedestrian lines similar. They use someone in plain clothes.
Burglars ransack Santa Monica condo complex during fumigation (youtube.com)
How El Salvador’s murder rate fell 98% in nine years (youtube.com)
Murdered Judge Involved In A "Sex-for-Freedom" Scheme (youtube.com)
The sheriff, moments before he shot the judge, made a call on his own phone, then asked the judge for the judge's phone to make another call, and typed in the sheriff's daughter's number, and saw the sheriff's daughter's phone number saved in the judge's phone.
He shot the judge multiple times, then exited the judge's chambers and surrendered and told police, ‘Treat me fair. They are trying to kidnap my wife and kid.’
Extreme Emotional Disturbance (Heat of Passion) defense.
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U.S. Department of State offering $10M reward for information on Fulton ransomware attack suspect (youtube.com)
A year ago the ransomware attack took place. Lockbit asked for the ransom.
Fake missing person scams: What to look for on social media (youtube.com)
College students arrested for allegedly luring man on dating app and attacking him, police say (youtube.com)
Tinder? College students enticing men to campus, beating him up, then falsely accuse him of being a ‘predator’. Seems the kids these days are learning something from politicians after all.
What does that word even mean? Seems about as useful as ‘terrorist.’ Useful if you can measure usefulness by how much something is misused.
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3 women attempt to distract, burglarize 85-year-old in San Bernardino County (youtube.com)
LA County store owner connected to Nashville's biggest drug bust, police say (youtube.com)
Mailbox Toluca Lake, which provides secure mailboxes. The neighborhood is stunned. 260 pounds of crystal meth was initially seized.
They shipped to unsuspecting addresses, then when the parcels arrived they quickly retrieved the packages.
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Five charged in connection to ATM thefts targeting seniors (youtube.com)
More Female Officers Busted Making Massive Overtime In Sex For OT Scandal. (youtube.com)
Disney agrees to pay $233M settlement (youtube.com)
Backpay for wagetheft. 50k past and current employees.
Man accused in $1 million DoorDash scam in Connecticut shot and killed in NY | News 12 (youtube.com)
Just before his court appearance where he would accept or decline a plea deal. Police found $750k in cases in his house.
Zuckerberg this week also talked about the thing he's seen an increase in governments doing, referring to arresting the Telegram founder, is that when whatever government doesn't like something a company is doing, they just threaten to throw the CEO of the company in prison. And they can get Interpol to arrest them. Z himself had been taken to Pakistani court (not personally, he was not in Pakistan) and tried for blasphemy because there was a comic post of Mohammad on Facebook. Or something.
Jan week1, Judge suicide, rental cars and attacks
Effingham County judge takes own life in courtroom (youtube.com)
Before the court opened in the morning, or the night before. He left a message for the governor (not yet public). Earlier in December, the judge had requested to resign from his post, but the governor denied that request. He lost reelection to another judge and his last day working was set to be the same day.
There was some drama, apparently, between him and a clerk, in recent months, with both parties unsuccessfully suing the other.
Yekel of Effingham County.
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Turo CEO shares details of investigations into attack in New Orleans, Vegas cybertruck explosion (youtube.com)
The two most famous attacks in the states, the New Oreans truck attack and the Cybertruck explosion in LV, were both rented from the carsharing app Turo.
Both men had clean driving records, no criminal record, and were decorated in the army.
Turo uses screening with an algo and people, to keep out some more risky renters.
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Two DHS agents charged in federal drug trafficking case (youtube.com)
Safety Alert: QR code scams on the rise (youtube.com)
Some USPS workers stealing mail, according to report | Morning in America (youtube.com)
Dec week4, Mangione celebrity treatment, police officials
They raise a point about how he was treated strangely and gratuitously, with like a dozen-man escort with big assault rifles.
‘Are you trying to like make this into a spectacle?’
His defense quoted the Mayor of NY, who has shown himself in an unfavorable (maybe not competant) light in other news events, saying he wanted to send a message with the spectacle.
Several rows of supporters, mainly young women. Lots of people have been talking about the question Why do so many women like killers? They're also the ones who like rape, according to all statistics. I've met one guy who said he liked it as a fantasy. It's women's primary fantasy. All the (non kept) girls I know post/share/comment violent sexual imagery on their SM walls. Men just post pretty girls.
Remember ladies, he shot some poor bastard in the back when he was coming home to his family from work. Even in girl logic, shooting someone in the back isn't sexy. Y'all just bored?
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Customs agents seize 22,000 fake Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers shipped from Israel (apnews.com)
Worth $1.4m.
One was killed, one injured, and the other arrested after the homeowner opened fire on home invaders (youtube.com)
In a press conference the sheriff of the county praised the homeowner saying he did what needed to be done in that situation. One burglar was in his house and another was climbing through the window. ‘Bottom line is this is the state of Florida. You wanna break into someones home? you should expect to be shot.’
California becomes first state to implement mandatory clothing recycling program (youtube.com)
Dec week3, QR codes, Mangione 2
Miami is asking people to not use any QR codes (at all, that may seem like they're from the city) and instead use the PayByPhone app, and keep their banking an personal info secure.
The city thinks it might take several months to cover all the QR codes they put up around the city.
If you scan a menu at a restaurant, I can send your phone to anything I want, and install anything I want on it, OK? Sure, I'll scan every QR code at every restaurant I visit, thanks.
Postal employees accused of stealing over $1M in business checks (youtube.com)
Area leaders call for criminal investigations, audits after First Alert Four Investigates ties ci... (youtube.com)
City inspector with ties to construction company.
Customers Lost $300K in Crypto to a Fake Uber Driver (youtube.com)
Scammer poses as bank to defraud family business (youtube.com)
Why Do Women Want to Sleep with Murderers? (youtube.com)
Mangi! Oh Mangi!
A futher question is how this affects sentencing. If deterrence is a part of the strategy, and people idolize a criminal who commits a heinous crime, what shall be done to deter it? (Not talking about an malam prohibitum here.)
Vinnie LIVE! Luigi Mangione Indicted for Murder & Terrorism (youtube.com)
Congratulations, prosecutors. Even people who didn't support Mangione in the killing, you have pushed to defend him by charging him with something obviously inappropriate. This word should probably just be removed from use in law. It's a word based completely on subjective interpretation, at least as used in the States, and so it should be expected it will only be misused in law.
Dec week2, Mangione, NJ drone sightings, AI impersonating people for banking, OpenAI whistleblower found dead
Customer complains, then threatens a bad online review.
Three or four of them come in, eat half way or almost finished, then stand up and start making a scene, saying they don't like the food and don't want to pay. They said it happened before in Chinese restaurants, perhaps because asian people don't speak English well and get flustered. I can also see asian people more easily just cutting their losses, where other races would put up a fight.
Activists Rage After Coca-Cola Drastically Changes Plastic Pledge (youtube.com)
Psychologist breaks down why many are supporting suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione (youtube.com)
The MacDonalds employee who called in Mangione is getting backlash, and the restaurant location has got some negative reviews.
‘A lot of people don’t feel really heard when they're taken advantage of by large industries.' ‘Individuals just feel like they are being heard via [Mangione's] actions.’ Mangione has multiple degrees, was Ivy League or something, valedictorian, young, flirted with the hostel staff, Monopoly money, manifesto, ‘then it’s easier to think that this wasn't just an impulsive act, but maybe something that was well thought-out.'
If Kazinsky acted today, what would the public response be? However, Kazinsky's actions were more thought out in terms of effects. Mangione's seem more like Breivik's, where although his thoughts may be well-composed and counterculturally correct (or ahead of their time), the actions are wrong because they are not justified or are mistaken in terms of targets and type. However, we have to hear what Mangione had to say before deciding.
Man arrested over killing of healthcare executive Brian Thompson | DW News (youtube.com)
‘Why are many Americans so angry at health insurers?’
Even if a system is worse, it might be preferred by a society if it is more equal. That people understand that other people aren't getting something they are not getting. Or perhaps that everyone not getting something is what a significant percentage prefers.
This is Mangione's handwritten manifesto, which he was carrying in the Macdonalds.
“To the Feds, I'll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn't working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it. My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it. Obviously the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.”
Isn't it the most expensive because wages are highest in the US? and because it has a lot of first rate things, like machines, research, etc?
Mangione was 26 and attended Penn. He studied computer science and math.
His tweets, one of them was advise for Japan, saying ‘The solution to falling birthrates isn’t immigration. It's cultural.' and suggested banning solo devices for satisfaction and restaurants and cafes where people are alone or only with other males. Mangione lived in Japan for a while.
He suggested ‘Porn should be regulated no less than alcohol, cigarettes, and travel.’ (160k views)
Luigi Mangione’s lawyer: No evidence he shot UnitedHealthcare CEO | Cuomo (youtube.com)
A week in, and most headlines are about the killer's sort of celebrity or support. Why are no important officials making statements about the gravity of these acts, and pointing out flaws in his logic and motivation? Are there just none who want to possibly criticize the voting democratic public? He shot a man in the back, a man he didn't know, based on ideas that were not completely thought out and balanced, for no specific reason.
Women Are SIMPING For The Suspected CEO Killer - Luigi Mangione (youtube.com)
Queens infatuated with barbarians attacking their country.
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FBI asks public for help with new drone sightings in New Jersey (youtube.com)
Is this to flush out people who have or use drones to monitor other drones? Or to test what locations have what noticeable effects on citizens?
If this is Chinese, it illustrates how much easier it is for China to do in the US, than for US to do in China where relatively few non-Chinese people live and where tracking is even harsher. Chinese have been arrested for flying drones to get aerial info in the US, but would they really use such large drones and make them so obvious, and do it repeatedly knowing the US was on alert to this? Then is it more likely it is a US agency or (perhaps again quite unlikely) an ally that the US can't say anything about?
Or is it a pretense to gain approval for a drone surveillance fleet for authorities in these states?
Why can't people just organize on a FacebookGroup to use their personal drones in relay to follow these craft back to their landing spots? I don't understand why this hasn't already happened?
There are countries where flying drones is illegal. Presumably, people don't want random strangers flying over their property or them at a beach or whatever, recording them, and they can't know who the stranger is, what they're doing, or follow the drone back to it's source.
Maybe the best law for drones is only allowed at designated drone parks.
'We just don't know,' FBI says about the drone sightings in New Jersey (youtube.com)
Is this the most ridiculous news of the week?
As if the military doesn't have radar that tracks anything? let alone giant drones. Maybe we could expect amateurs to now start buying radar kits and photo equipment. And very powerful spotlights, because the craft haven't really been photographed, only their running lights.
New Jersey Mayor Warns of Mystery Drone Threats to Humans (youtube.com)
Local authorities disagree with Feds.
The drones that prevented a medical assistance helicopter from landing at an incident, were flying a zigzag pattern, reportedly.
Commenter: ‘If they are flying over our military bases and they are not doing anything. They are military’
Another: ‘#FalseFlag let’s give up more freedom to save us all. Strange timing as the three weeks landing up to homeland security hearings scheduled a few weeks ago’
The size might be so no one shoots them down, aware of the possible damage.
Another commenter simply said ‘Distraction.’
The only other thing really happening these days is Israel is invading Syria, after Syrian rebels conquered the country the other day. If we entertain the idea of distraction, we could point to and guess that two groups, interested in 2 things, security and salaciousness, might be distracted by the two headlines dominating this week, drones and seeming government lack of response, and the celebrity lawsuits. Mangione would be just a bonus for a possible distraction campaign.
Texas congressman received 'zero answers' from FBI on mystery drones | The Hill (youtube.com)
FBI addresses drone sightings in N.J. during Homeland Security hearing (youtube.com)
Syrian rebels take control of oil-rich city Deir al-Zour | BBC News (youtube.com)
'Worthless': NJ lawmaker walks out of meeting about mysterious drones (youtube.com)
He walked out because the Fed officials didn't answer any questions with any information. ‘It was annoying.’
He said that the Coronel of the State Police had a helicopter of his flying over one of these 6-foot drones, and ‘he felt unsafe for his helicopter so he just let it go. ... Didn't wanna follow it because he didn't feel safe.'
Iranian 'mothership' behind New Jersey drone sightings, congressman suggests (youtube.com)
There's nothing behind his statement, it seems, and he was just guessing.
Mystery drone sightings: New Jersey requests assistance from Pentagon (youtube.com)
No 'mothership' launching drones, Pentagon says after sightings in New Jersey (youtube.com)
Accusations which cause thoughts that might lead to dangerous actions, perhaps the only way to get the government to act, to deny them.
Mysterious lights reported in Minnesota night sky (youtube.com)
Drone Sightings: Residents demand answers as "airspace is being invaded" (youtube.com) (Fox)
Panelist blasts Pentagon's drone response: Saying Rep. Van Drew is wrong is not enough (youtube.com) (Fox) White House addresses reports of drone sightings over New Jersey (youtube.com)
US senator says NJ drones should be 'shot down, if necessary' (youtube.com)
‘We therefore urge Congress to pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter-drone authoirities, so that we are better prepared to identify and mitigate any potential threats to airports or other critical infrastructure, and so that state and local authorities are provided all the tools that they need to respond to such threats as well.’
‘I would say that we’re movin' pretty well here, with a sense of energy, to try and figure out what we can do to learn more about this...' The White House.
Kirby said none of the activity had been in or near restricted air space. He said it twice.
When pushed by a journalist that the drones prevented a medical helicopter from providing care, he said ‘I stand by my opening statement’ that the investigation provided no evidence there was any national security threat or ‘a public safety risk’.
NJ mayor calls John Kirby's drone comments 'ridiculous' (youtube.com)
New York lawmakers call for drone sighting investigation | full video (youtube.com)
Drone sightings prompt State Island officials to demand answers (youtube.com)
Drone expert explains what he thinks is behind drone sightings (youtube.com)
Some copycats. Pranksters? Some are crude aircraft operating the airspace. Satellites. Talk about current federal laws being limited in what local and federal authorities can do. Drone telemetry so they can determine where the drone is and where the pilot is. Also authorities to shoot at them, which DOJ or DHS to delegate that authorite to any other entity.
... It has been persistent. Sightings reported every night except Thanksgiving, ‘which is interesting.’ Red team?
John Miller (CNN) not surprised government if isn't acknowledging anything. Similar thing happened late 2023, government acknowledged only in 2024, airspace over Norfolk VA base.
"Massive invasion of drones" NJ officials give update on drones over New Jersey (youtube.com)
Police in New Jersey investigate possible drone landing in Somerset County (youtube.com) ...
U.S. lawmakers demand investigation after ABC15 report into wild case of mistaken identity (youtube.com)
Feds (US Marshals) arrested the 66-year-old outside her home. ‘Figure out how they screwed up so bad.’ They rolled up on her in her driveway and pulled machine guns on her and started yelling at her. She was expectably confused and didn't respond compliantly, as you might expect any non-criminal would do, if state vehicles with 6 paramilitary surprised them shouting they were arresting her because she was a criminal. They threatened to taze her because she kept looking at them, and they wanted her to face away from them. This was all on video and was reported on in the news. They detained her for 24 hours.
‘Both the Marshals' carelessness and excessive force...’ and ‘lack of regard for [her] due process rights.’
‘I want to go back to believing in the America I believed in before this happened. I want that. I want what I raised and taught my kids to believe is true. I just don’t know that I do anymore.' ... ‘There was no innocent until proven guity in this.’
The judge asked the Federal Prosecutor why she was arrested. ‘It is strictly based upon information that they had, Facebook postings, that led--and some aliases...' (SIC)
High up politicians took it up because they saw it in NBC15's reporting. ‘If you hadn't reported on it, it likely would have gone without notice by myself and the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Jordan.'
This happened 8 months ago. Inspector General has exclusive authority to investigate this type of misconduct, but it might take 6-12 months. But lawmakers want to read the paperwork they're gathering quicker, reportedly.
DA: 17 indicted, accused of stealing trucks from Denver, trading them to Mexican drug cartels (youtube.com)
Large high-end trucks and SUVs ‘that can support balistic armor and firepower’, traded for meth and cocaine brought into the US. Majority stolen using a device that can replicate a key-fob. ‘Once you are in the vehicle you can plug in some tools and sort of reprogram and deactivate it so the owner cannot track their vehicle.' Probably didn't happen to non-smart vehicles that use physical keys and don't have massive computer systems in them, I guess.
Man claims hacker used AI to clone his voice, steal money (youtube.com)
They used his voice to authorize a wire transfer, reportedly. All you people who give your voice print to banks thinking this is a good way. And who post their voice and image online for the public. The only thing that works for security is passwords, as it is the only information that is not public. To log into a bank without a password you would actually have to hack the bank website. We're not far from a time when any information (including image and voice) made public will considered ‘just asking for it.’
The only thing I can see as a solution is people will wear masks or visor/screens in public. The screens might have avatars projected on them for the public to see a face or some other image.
It's dubious to want crime, but the crime is certain to come. The sooner it comes, the sooner the public, which will not be moved until forced to by actual events, never preventively, requires crime to take place using the new tech in order to act on it or modify their behaviour.
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Someone withdrew $420 from her account, but the bank refused to call it fraud (youtube.com)
7 men arrested in WA child sex trafficking sting | FOX 13 Seattle (youtube.com)
It seems there was actually no actual minors being trafficked. They were imaginary children, ie police posing as minors using text messages and SM, and under this guise would communicate with men and try to engage them in a relationship and then try to manipulate them to agree to exchange money for sex, and then the police would arrest these men. They also arrested men who seemed interested but then later decided not to actually go meet the imaginary minor, including a school Assistent Principal, who did not go through with it, but the police charged him with a misdemeanor (and of course sort of destroyed his life). Charges can include Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes.
‘We start with that dialog, we make it very clear multiple times that the person is speaking to a minor, whether a 13-, 14- or 15-year old male or female, and that dialog leads to what we call an Offer and Agreement, where some exchange of a service for a monetary value or good could develop probable cause.'
The reporter said ‘it’s been estimated that at any time there are 300 [under age 18 people] who are being sex trafficked' in Washington State, but did not refer to anyone actually known to have been trafficked.
So it seems there was no actual instances of this happening, except that the police created it? We've seen this several times in recent years, where the largest component of a criminal thing is actually the authorities, who host or create the thing, and sometimes the participation of the authorities is necessary for the crimes, ie if the authorities did not do what they did, the crimes would not have happened.
However, watching the way this is reported, it's apparent why normal people could be misled to believe this is actually a serious issue in their state. The news story is presented confusedly, and I'd guess many people don't understand what they were presenting, and will revert to just the headline that there was sex trafficking in the state, which there wasn't.
#Journalism
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Burglaries of athletes' homes may be connected | NewsNation Live (youtube.com)
'I testified falsely': Woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape admits she lied (youtube.com)
Duke Lacross gang-rape testimony, 2006. 18 years as accused rapists? The school and the city also had reputational damage and were sued. Huge headline news across the US at the time. After much to-do, the legal case (with serious charges, something like life imprisonment), and the woman coming out with very specific graphic details, and many people took her side, including regional authorities like the DA, who did many interviews detailing how she was raped ‘so viciously’, and their university was silent and didn't assist them, the Lacrosse team's season was cancelled, the coach was fired, was the case was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence a year after, but questions remained. She was hired as an exotic dancer and made the allegations after that day. She seems to be able to make her admission through her belief in God, and is currently in prison for murder.
This is the kind of occurence that is better viewed in retrospect. At the time she made the allegations, she was viewed as a victim, because she'd never make something like that up, she had no reason to, her details made it convincing, they were men from good families and so they were privileged and shouldn't be allowed to get away with it, etc. More than anything, perhaps, it's the widespread idea that women and girls can't really do any wrong, that they don't lie, that they're victims always, that the famous authority figures fighting for them on TV are wise and therefore correct. It would pay for anyone who finds themself voicing this type of position to now go and watch the old news headlines from the time, not a documentary, but the live news from 18 years ago and see how convincing it is for them.
Presumed Guilty: Due Process Lessons of the Duke Lacrosse Case (youtube.com) (10 years ago)
In America there's a legal principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but you can hear many people stating they don't believe in this.
Connecticut college student gets 1 year in prison for false rape accusation (youtube.com)
So why not do it, if the penalty is so low? so might ask. She first rejected, but then accepted a plea deal. The men had to leave school. They were not charged. ‘Sexual activity had occurred, but was consentual. Prosecutors say [she] made up the rape claim because she didn’t want to upset another student she was interested in.' Both men say they plan to sue the school.
People should take note of how the woman first lied, but they were able to cause her to change her story (several times, it seems), and this led to discovering she was lying. If she had presented a solid claim, and if those in contact with her had not done whatever they did to cause her to change it, the men may have been charged with rape (and their lives sort of ruined, rather than just damaged as they were). As long as a simple testimony (which may or may not be a lie) is enough to charge a person.
#Women
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DA Williams says 'rules change' when gun is placed in one's face regarding fatal armed robbery (youtube.com)
Commenters noted how strange this DA seems, opting to most likely not charge the clerk, apparently, and saying he was in a high-stress situation. Because of his actions, the second robber had to go to hospital for his wounds, and was arrested there, so neither can rob anyone next weekend, it seems. ... As the US turns more Conservative politically/culturally, as seems to be the trend, will more old-fashioned perhaps regions like New Orleans seem more correct and more-progressive places like California seem less correct? The clerk basically did something similar to what a lone rookie policeman would have done in this situation, maybe?
Highway Robbery | Attorneys indicted for massive fraud (youtube.com)
Drive-thru drug ring with ties to Venezuelan gang shut down, Pct. 1 says (youtube.com)
Woman Gets 8 Years In Prison For False Assault Claims Against Multiple Men (youtube.com)
Hackers may have stolen millions of patient files from PIH Hospital Group (youtube.com)
North Texas man struck 133 times on feet suing four Dallas police officers (youtube.com)
OpenAI whistleblower found dead (youtube.com)
Happened 3 weeks ago but only being reported now.
The man gave an interview with NYT. He joined OpenAI in 2020 when it was like a research project. He said he thought it wasn't fair how they used copyright material. He said what OpenAi was doing was illegal and destructive to the internet (although what he said could be applied to any of the current models).
Commenter: ‘Boing showed they can kill whistleblowers without consequence.’ [Two Boeing whistleblowers died this year.]
Commenter: 'I come from the CG artists community and i can tell you that everyone is very depressed here, especially the guys in the illustration and other 2D fields. Data companies scraped everything from people's portfolios without any permission or even announcement. And now any random guy can write a sentence to create pictures in a style of a certain artist and completely devalue years, and often decades, that were put into the development of that style.
'Back in the days we thought that machine learning will be used to help us do the mundane parts of the jobs quicker - like UVing, retopology, skinning and rigging in 3D - but instead we got something very sinister, meant to take everything that we've built and destroy our heritage and future. Devalue the very core of creative work in general population's eyes. And the timing couldn't be worse as tens of thousands lose their jobs to poor planning done by incompetent top management.'
You could say that prompting ‘in the style of ArtistName’ and getting results obviously trained off decades of his career is devaluing his ability and it is based on stealing his work. Just because you say a person can already draw in the style of another person, and you use the same language to say the generativeAI is drawing ‘in the style of’ doesn't mean it's the same thing.
Perhaps the generality also defines or obfuscates the issue differently than if you were to consider it by one artist. Say you train a genAI to do art in the style of StudioGhibli and then let people use it, would you say that's fair to Ghibli? Is it more fair because it is done to any public artist?
Is it an argument that if we don't do it, China still will? China doesn't protect copyright and fabricates coies of Western-copyrighted products, but we still enfoce copyright, so is there a comparison there?
OpenAI Whistleblower Found Dead (youtube.com)
Almost 200 Massacred in Haiti as Gang Targets Voodoo Practitioners | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
A priest had said voodoo was being practiced in a location, after a priest a gangleader consulted said his son's illness was due to the practice. Most victims were over 60 years old.
The area is gang-controlled. Official authorities can't really enter.
Voodoo has it that ‘all living things have souls.’
"Indefensible": U.S. Continues Deporting Haitians Amid Political Instability, Massacres (youtube.com) (DemocracyNow)
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UPS employee caught on camera stealing DC woman's wallet (youtube.com)
McKinsey & Company agree to pay $650 million (youtube.com)
To settle an investigation into their role in the opioid epidemic, because they make opiods like oxycontin and tried to get Purdue to target ‘high volume prescribers’ even for reasons that were unsafe and medically unnecesary and that led to addictions. Sounds like a proper corporate decision. After all, if there's an addiction problem, they can make a drug for that too.
Dec week1, Stealing online orders, Hanna Kobayashi, Insurance CEO
Using fake IDs to steal online orders. Were their phones hacked? and the hacker just picked up the package? Most commenters wrote ‘inside job.’
Illinois State Police seized more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine from truck on I-80 (youtube.com)
North Texas girl sex trafficked from a Dallas Mavericks game shares her story of survival (youtube.com)
Interview edit much?
Man wrongly accused of rape speaks out one year later (youtube.com)
Surveillance video shows fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO (youtube.com)
Killer used an e-bike and a silencer, and may have used sub-sonic ammo which has less power and may not have cycled the pistol fully (sort of like a misfire) and had his arms not straightened optimally (also may have caused sort of a misfire). He didn't walk with the gait of military. Deny. Defend. Depose. $10k offered by police for info about killer.
UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting: What does choice of weapon reveal? | Banfield (youtube.com)
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Police across the U.S. are illegally selling firearms, CBS News investigation finds (youtube.com)
UPS driver appears to open package, steal Apple Watch in front of LA home (youtube.com)
Google warns against new tool for scammers (youtube.com)
SMS blasters.
Seattle man fences in Car2Go vehicle parked in driveway (youtube.com)
$15 million bounty: Federal authorities raise reward for capture of cartel boss 'El Mencho' (youtube.com)Arapahoe County deputy Shannon Lofland resigns after discovery of her adult videos (youtube.com)
Missing Hawaii woman may have been victim in green card marriage scam | Morning in America (youtube.com)
Sources say Hannah Kobayashi was married before disappearing: Dog the Bounty Hunter | Dan Abrams Liv (youtube.com)
Legally married in Maui.
Nov week4, Nigeria baby stealing clinics, governments starting to warn citizens about deepfakes, false DIUs
Is that what actually happened, according to the video?
Nigeria's Miracle Baby Scammers - BBC Africa Eye Documentary (youtube.com)
They check pregnant women in and then don't let them leave until after they sell their baby for $1000.
New warnings about A.I.-generated video deep fakes (youtube.com)
Bank of America customer out $38K after falling victim to SIM swapping (youtube.com)
More than 600 sober drivers arrested for DUI in TN (youtube.com)
Wouldn't a proper news agency show the actual footage, since they have it, so people can decide? on the first guy.
The numbers seem pretty clear though.
THP troopers sued for arresting a sober driver for DUI (youtube.com)
Some people want a database created for all crimes in the state showing what a person was charged with, and whether they were convicted. A public record. ‘Sober people charged with DUI often have their mugshots appear online.’
Nov pt1, Chinese masseuses, Polymarket raid
Asian massage parlors bust in Florida lands 21 women in jail (youtube.com)
When the undercover got up to leave his regular massage, the 5 foot Chinese woman became quite aggressive and got in his way and grabbed him and tried to hold him, a big undercover detective. ... Another instance a woman went to get a condom for paid sex and brought a condom wrapped in paper (not a package), maybe used. She was very aggressive and tried to charge several hundred after a $65 sex agreement or something.
FBI seizes phone of Polymarket founder (youtube.com)
Crypto prediction market company. ‘Obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration ... for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 election’. The man made light of the confiscation on X.
'Bear' that damaged cars was actually a person in a costume, insurers say (youtube.com)
Oct pt2, Fake service men, Guiliani, Clearance rates
Knock knock. ‘We’re checking for gas leaks.' Uniform. Fake ID badge and fake company letterhead on a clipboard. Allowed inside and the home owner led them to the basement to take a look.
Man posing as DTE employee arrested for murder of Rochester Hills business man (youtube.com)
Here's what to know to watch out for utility worker imposters (youtube.com)
Scammers hire models to fool Americans (youtube.com)
The curse of the Chinese blessing scam - BBC Trending, BBC World Service (youtube.com)
Hacker challenges local news station to help CA victim in taunting letter (youtube.com)
‘Your good credit makes you an easy target.’ The envelope was ‘stuffed full of highly detailed, highly sensitive information and a screenshot of the guy from a zoom call.’ The hacker opened a bank account with SoFi in the name of this guy, he said. The guy checked and yep, the bank had him on record for taking out a $52k loan, which he disputed.
The bank investigated and the same day notified him of ‘no fraud.’ He filed a second claim and the bank refused to investigate, saying it was a frivolous claim. It seems SoFi also didn't do any credit inquiry, a standard policy for approving loans.
SoFi said they ‘see no proof of third-party fraudulent activity and no proof of identity theft ... We will not be relieving Mr. Harto of the responsibilities he committed to upholding when he personally applied for and accepted the personal loan.’ How can you prove identity theft?
ABC7 contacted SoFi to ask what evidence it used to identify the person who applied for that loan. They said some man called and identified himself as the guy and the voice recordings matched, but SoFi didn't provide the results of any voice recognition software. SoFi said they also had video of the guy verifying himself with the guy holding the license up to a camera with his face in the frame. The guy then realized it was his brother, who looked like him and who he let use his computer, his debit card, and his cell phone, and had access to his driver's licence. When the guy called and questioned his brother if he had anything to do with it, the brother said, “Do I need to get a lawyer?” His brother later came clean to the guy. The brother also later did a video call to ABC7 to admit everything publicly and try to help the guy, saying he wasn't a criminal and made a mistake after getting caught up in a crypto scam or something.
The bank then softened its stance and let the guy file a new claim.
Since 911 there's been a ‘know your customer’ law requiring banks in the US to verify identity when a new account is opened, but SoFi does their new accounts over the internet. How secure can online banking really be? You send them a scan of your government ID and do a photo/video of yourself.
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Rudy Giuliani ordered to transfer all personal property to 2 Georgia election workers (youtube.com)
Giuliani, a famous once-city mayor repeatedly claimed and later lawyer for Trump while Trump was in office, repeatedly falsly claimed two election workers were stuffing ballots in a video of them, it has been found by the court. He said on a purposely recorded video that people were passing around UBC drives as if they were heroin or cocaine, falsely it has been found.
The transfer of property is a neat idea. When taking pusposeful and responsible action that knowlingly will probably destroy another person's life, like alleging Presidential-election tampering, more than the same damage should arguably be paid.
What is happening in those videos of the women though?
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Cardiologist Sentenced to 158 Years for Sexual Assaults (youtube.com)
New warning about scammers trying to steal your home (youtube.com)
Oakland PD's inaccurate crime reporting leads to questions about what's going on in city (youtube.com)
Very low clearance rates (clearance just means an arrest, not actually getting the perpetrator). Why? Clearance rate for property crimes close to 0.1%? 3% for violent crimes.
The police departments refused the news agency's request to talk about it.
‘They don’t even bother calling the police because they don't think they'll show up.' So that puts the responsibility back on them. Many types of thefts have doubled recently.
Oakland PD said the data issue in the news is because of an anomaly caused by a worker. So maybe it's not that bad?
Oakland is now installing surveillance cameras with license plate readers. Will this make enough of a difference in their clearance to warrant the (unconstitutional) invasion of citizens' privacy?
Oakland clearance rates have descended from 1985 to 2020, jaggedly. Again, what does that mean? How many are false arrests or arrests just to make quota?
Law enforcement is understaffed. People aren't going into the profession. The response time is slower. And then the witnesses have already left. How valuable really is the police force, if they only arrest 3% in the percentage of violent crimes people even bother to report?
I've lived in places where the local gangs/cartels control certain blocks quite well. The organized gang sometimes is moved out by cameras and a huge increase local police stationed in the spot. But the police can't police the area in the same way the cartels did. It's arguable the police do a better job, in some locations anyway.
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Texas grapples with fake paper license plates despite new law (youtube.com)
Hacker interview-Steve Sims (youtube.com)
Another hacker who mostly does hacking through USB/cables/Flipper.
July pt1, Call centers, Canadian truckers
Cartels own call centers to scam elderly Americans, and he said it was currently more profitable ROE than drugs.
NYPD confronting Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in NYC (youtube.com)
Trende Aragua, rising in NY for 2 years. Recruiting with videos in Equador. A recently caught gangmemeber who shot police said they were instructed to shoot police. Guns into city shelters in food delivery packages that don't go through metal detectors.
Romanian nationals accused of robbing local Hispanics while pretending to be cops (youtube.com)
Hundreds of murder victims linked to long-haul truckers; FBI alleges 450 serial killers roaming road (youtube.com)
I didn't have time to review this but is there substance behind this claim? Truckers seem an obvious target for unconstutional government attacks because they opposed Covid restrictions in Canada (and the government was found by the SC to have abused Canadians Charter rights in its actions) and also because the government has plans, sort of, to institute robot drivers (driverless) for shipping.
The Fed should definitely cut after 'game-changing' June CPI data, says Wharton's Jeremy Siegel (youtube.com)
Shift to small caps that one day. 400 stocks went up but S&P went down (because Big Tech stocks went down in possible rotation?) .
3 Polk County deputies arrested for evidence tampering (youtube.com)
The Biggest Computer Theft In History Happened... (youtube.com)
#Hacking Snowflake, but fault of worker at AT&T not using 2FA and stupidly launched malware, he said.
The only solution is government not allowing companies and individuals to use all the same security, and not allow companies to do so much online like store private info. This isn't a good solution, but the only one.
Culture
April week 1
MSNBC
MD man punches gate agent in the face at Dulles Airport over seat assignment (youtube.com)
BREAKING: Education Sec. Linda McMahon Speaks To Reporters After Trump Signs Exec. Order Ending DoE (youtube.com)
DOEd is very unpopular among Americans, only IRS and DOJ are more unpopular. DOEd became more unpopular than the CIA.
One guy brought up a questions about the decline of children in schools with fathers. Children with fathers do a lot better in education. Probably most people understand this implicitly. If you don't want to study, who can make you?
Almost half of the money that goes from the Federal government to the States for education goes to regulatory compliance.
Growing number of young Finns drawn to monastic life | AFP (youtube.com)
4 former and current HCSO deputies take their own lives in last 6 weeks (youtube.com)
Mom berates passenger for refusing to swap seats with toddler (youtube.com)
Why doesn't she sue for publishing her image?
Very low box office this quarter. Disney's liveaction version of Snow White did only $43 ($250m budget). Maybe the movies are not interesting, but additionally there seems to be very little advertisements for movies.
How Embracing a 1940s Lifestyle Helped Me Thrive on a Low Income (youtube.com)
Wartime rations style. You want a low maintenance girl? Ration recipe book.
‘Flatly authoritarian’: New video shows masked agents arresting Tufts student (youtube.com)
Masked arrests of people who aren't gangs? In this case, students at school?
Someone made an AI that you feed it stills and it spits out Ghibli-style versions, and people're processing all their favorite tv shows, meme photos, etc, through it. I'm curious what Miyazaki will say about it, but probably it's a sign that it won't really be worth doing anything publicly that has a style, since courts haven't deemed fit to protect that, and even if they do globally there will be holes. It seems artists will just stop making things for the public, at least if it takes any investment. Time for them to become all-renouncing monks. Even if Miyazaki does it for himself, or for some love of something, I can't see how a lot of the fun is taken out of it. Also, who wants to see their art style used to portray disgusting things, as it is being used to do on day 1. Maybe the thing about people like Altman, they just don't care about other people. I mean, you see a bunch of sexual images using the OpenAI Ghibli thing, and you imagine Miyazaki and his team seeing this, and maybe all Japan, and everyone who cares about Miyazaki films, and how could the guy care?
Sharing Music Online Isn't Fun Anymore... (youtube.com)
‘Horrific’: Joe Rogan blasts Trump for sending innocent people to El Salvador prison (youtube.com)
March week2, Who answres phone calls?, extractive psychology, KKK groups?, neighborhood propriety
Friedburg, famous only as a podcaster on All-in, was on Celebrity Jeopardy.
Greenwald & Hedges Debate Over Doge-Ukraine-Trump & Elon! (youtube.com)
Integrity leaders debate.
Many of the smarter among us simply never answer phone calls anymore. Many scam callers are only trying to get you to say ‘hello’ to them so they can use your voice data so their AI can speak with your voice and bypass your bank security checks. (Passwords are still the only secure method, don't give them other details, voice imprint, whatever, since those are useless and even can cause you more problems since people can hack them. Use your password and use a secure device (a phone or computer that doesn't have Window, that you don't use for browsing the web or doing emails or chat on Whatsapp so your phone can't be hacked).
I Recreated Shazam's Algorithm from Scratch because no one is hiring jnr devs (youtube.com)
Maybe coders will just create FOSS versions of all the software we use?
Extractive Psychology | Mark Thornton (youtube.com)
A matter of propaganda (and information), a matter of taste, associated with the isms of the day. He says today ‘environmentalism’ causes the younger generation to be negatively inclinded towards extraction of resources.
Inside the influential hate group that's expanding in Tennessee (youtube.com)
Building compounds, military and fight training.
The journalists here are saying they are hate activists or hobbyists ‘wrapping themselves in a veil of patriotism’. ‘Hardened white supremicists who want ... a white ethnostate somewhere in the US.’
They try to say that the group, apprehended by police on the way to a Pride parade in the back of a Uhaul, were ‘prepared for battle’ because they have shields. ‘Those shields can be used offensively ... They're intended to push and to move people out of the way.’ You don't think the absense of offensive weapons contradicts this thesis? They also found other armor, radios, first aid kits, and one ‘even carried a smoke grenade.’ This ‘journalism’ did publish a lot of interview material from the prosecution but none, it seems, from the defense. The journalist himself weighs in to fill in prosecutory theories the prosecutor probably legally can't.
They comment on how the group(s) are ‘smart’ now, unlike, they reference, old-days KKK. I guess intelligence is a response to difficulty.
NewChannel5, I guess this is what they call ‘journalism’. Pretty long story.
Neighbors worry about nearby houses hosting frequent sex parties. But are they legal? (youtube.com)
At least twice a week. They mostly stay inside. It's like a club. They leave about 4am. They take up parking on the street. $5-20 (so a house could make over $100k a year), they advertise online. ‘For my 20-year career, this is the boldest I have seen it.’ What is a ‘house of ill fame or ill refute’ in 2025? Legally, they're acting as a social club, and the money they take in isn't to provide any services. Individuals who are likeminded share expenses for the social club.
Syhpillis has gone up 5X in recent 10 years in St. Louis.
Commonsense seems to demand that there not be sex parties in residential neighborhoods. So what is the specific remedy? Probably modify the ‘selling of services’ to ‘hosting an place where people pay to have sex’. Especially regarding zoning, so it isn't residential.
They reported that when KMOV put out ads about the thing, they received some messages of support for the houses, saying ‘these venues provide safe and consentual spaces for individuals to express themselves freely without fear of discrimination or harassment. It is incredibly harmful [sic] to report on this when homophobia, transphobia, and harmful conservative ideologies are rampant in Missouri.' Lots of DEA words there, ‘harm’ and ‘rampant’ and ‘phobic’.
This is the common thing, people who either can't or won't include neighbors in their calculations of what is convenient. Possibly the essential reason we have local government.
Feb week4, Swift booed at Superbowl, Drake-Lamar
Gov. Pritzker Says Lake Michigan Is Now Called Lake Illinois (youtube.com)
‘Drake released a new album with Partynextdoor and references to his ’rap beef' with Kendrick on the song ‘Gimme a hug’ where he did toss back. ‘Drake moves on from Kendrick Lamar Feud on new album: ’f*** a rap beef, I'm tryna get the party lit.' Variety.
Listened to it, after seeing a post it was out, that Ye said it was great or something. Same old. Boring rap style, even in the best part, saying nothing about nothing, a couple cute little phrases, then same old romantic s*** for Drake. Between the two, Lamar is definitely lamer, I mean really lame, but Drake is uninteresting. I'd drink a beer with Drake, but wouldn't invite him to a party. I think he'd try to hit all my friends' girlfriends.
Where Did All the Gunfighters In England Go (youtube.com)
If that London mayor isn't voted out next chance, we'll know something about London.
Who does government stand for? Do we have governments ‘for the criminal’?
‘Gun control leads to self-defense control.’ In Canada the PM actually publicly said you don't get a right to protect yourself with a gun in Canada.
UK is a piece of shit stuck to the bottom of the shoe of human and civil rights, and everybody knows it. UK, India, Australia, Canada pretty bad too.
Andy Ngo: FBI raids properties connected to 'Ziz' trans terror cult (youtube.com)
‘This is exclusive to my reporting.’ Something journalists get to say.
Liberal Woman FREAKS OUT Sitting Next to Trump Supporter on Plane! (youtube.com)
The vlogger seems to mark it down to ‘political polarization’ but this seems more like an issue where people watch exclusively MSM, which paints a picture and presents an acceptible behaviour that is aggressive against people of (currently) of the Republican or Trump party. The people who watch this everyday are so deep in it, for them the mere accusations (by interested rivals), malicious characterizations, second or third degree reporting on reporting on something someone said about someone, these all seem like facts to them, not just unsubstantiated news presentations. For simple people, it's like ‘Why would the news report it like that if it wasn’t true?' Then when they encounter people who belong to the entity their favorite news source has been characterizing a certain way steadily and daily for years, this is naturally how we could expect they would act. It's the ‘moral’ stance they're more or less expected to take by the people they see on the TV news. ... The lady in this particular video, I doubt is particularly aggressive, but she's just completely ignorant about the issues she is certain about.
Another character trait emerges on All-In. I wrote before about how Friedburg (and Chamath) don't understand humanities, want to just open up all creative works to AIs and no consideration for the people who made them, etc. And on other issues, Friedburg, while great on the team because he understands so many scientific issues, doesn't seem to be able to understand the issue that there are people involved who have priorities, similar to Elon Musk being a great engineer but less great as a media mogul. And meanwhile, Jcal and David Sacks, who both have media backgrounds, do understand that side of things.
The other trait is that Friedburg seems to hate that Jcal points out uncomfortable but important facts about Palmer Lucky or Stripe's founders or whoever. Sacks used to do that too, not sure if he still can because he's in a party politics machine. It seems they would prefer to just avoid criticizing people. ‘Creates all sorts of problems for the rest of us when you go out and talk s*** about people for no reason.’ Jcal also serves it about Altman regularly. Jcal doesn't pussyfoot. He pays a price for this, but when it comes to appraisals of people, he has integrity and authority, which people who avoid that kind of thing don't have (or want, they have no use for it, and in history just watch powerful people harm others and go out of control).
Jcal probably is getting tired and frustrated though, since he doesn't have Sacks to side with him on these moral issues, and just has Chamath and Friedburg who will probably never agree with him on these things.
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Pete Hegseth: "How Did the Military Allow Itself to Go Woke?" (youtube.com)
Feb week1, ICE versus migrants, Grammy lameness, American kids seeing China on SM, Japan tourism
21st-CENTURY EUGENICS: Big Tech's Antihuman Ideology (w/Anita Say Chan) (youtube.com)
Elon Musk vs Bill Gates: Billionaire Wars Explode | Vantage With Palki Sharma | N18G (youtube.com)
Culture war?
Were the Southport Murders Anti-White Terrorism? (youtube.com) (headline value only)
BREAKING NEWS: President Trump Defends Tariffs, Heaps Fresh Criticism On Canada (youtube.com)
‘Canada has been very abusive of the United States.’
Let's everyone use the keyword now! Because USA bends to the will of other, stronger powers, like Canada. The thing is, Canada has the advantage, because it's got a larger population, a larger and stronger military, more education and experience, more technological resources, and more international allies.
KENDRICK LAMAR Wins Song Of The Year For "NOT LIKE US" | 2025 GRAMMYs Acceptance Speech (youtube.com)
One of the lamest songs of all time for the award, ‘the first time a diss track has won best song'. The lineup for the awards show was also superweak. I mean they had Taylor, and then some people who just really are weak. ... Can we now say the Grammies are no longer part of pop culture? I mean, none of the artists are someone anyone cares about except Taylor Swift (relevant because of Kelsey and because of the scale and money success of her tour, although only popular with tween girls) and maybe Kanye (relevant only because he's remembered for past music and past fashion and because Censori is beside him wearing almost nothing). Beyonce was there to win for her country album, whatever that really is, but people didn't seem to talk much about her... that's all she's done in the past year or two, it seems like, and Jay-Z was only in the news for some sex allegations (same as most male performers in news stories that are shared on SM). People probably hear this guy won, go out and Google who he is cause they've never heard of him, listen to a minute of the song and close the tab and forget about him. ... He's doing the Superbowl, and opinion on that is divided. Some say they won't even watch it. Some say they've never heard of him. Some say they know who he is but don't care one way or the other, and some say he's talented. .. Another thing was that women made up the majority of the acts, and it was mostly solo women. Is this just part of the wider issue of the risk of masculinity? Men not doing anything these days, because it's just too dangerous socially. Also, in an era when it's socially acceptable to sell blantant sex, women probably always have more success in that. ... I saw a Facebook post on this (lots are showing how both Lauren Hill and this guy won an armful of Grammies) saying how Lauren did it with talent and against the odds of other music styles dominating at the time, and this guy did it because there's basically nothing but Hiphop in American music now, and nothing good is being released to compete with, and all he really did to get attention to this song was make a bunch of unsubstantiated ‘accusations’. (Accusations was in quotations, I assume, because you can't really ‘accuse’ someone (maybe a celebrity in particular) of having relations with fans. But since there is a political market for such an attack, it has a lot of steam behind it. ‘I accuse you of having a boyfriend.') What will come first as a response to this now-about-30-year-long thing? Will the culture just become so barren of works they realize they have to allow men to gain benefits again from successes? or will men at some point stand up and demand rights? At a tribal level, I guess this would have been solved quicker because the active men would just selectively protect whoever, but I'm not sure there's a modern version.
White People On Rednote Breakdown In Tears By The Real China They Don't See On TV (youtube.com)
Nah, it's the same old. Young people getting their first exposure to other countries and seeing material goods and government services they have there, without yet understanding the context. Also prices for products in other countries, without understanding economics.
Japanese man tries to drag foreigner off the train for being loud and drinking. (youtube.com)
Should be great for Asian opinion of Westerners, more tourism. Japanese governments wants much more tourism, for the money that's in it, and seems to have even started to increase the foreign workforce. End of Japanese society as we know it if it continues to the inflection point, and we could have a kind of messy Japan, a more economicly energetic Japan perhaps, which is appealing to governments, which, once they get a certain leeway away from accountability to their culture and society, generally always sell the value of their citizens to foreigners for personal/class gain. ... Lower culture tourists don't make great guests, like Mainland Chinese in most countries, remarked on by all for their rudeness, like many Westerners in Asia, but the other way around it works nicely, like Japanese in any other country, and most Asians usually in any other country.
Japan also has reports that foreign shoplifters are causing Japan to implement tighter security in stores. Costs born by individuals and businesses which are not the same ones as those who benefit from the increased tourism, necessarily.
Jan week4, Military most trusted, SM versus institutional authorities and trust, youth culture, possible technological era
Beachwaver CEO: We're diversifying away from TikTok by re-engaging Instagram Reels, other platforms (youtube.com)
This person is what people look like in peak immersion in TikTok.
Linux Distro Declared "Non-Woke", Causing New Users & Interest to Skyrocket (youtube.com)
The only US institution that is still trusted at its 1950s level is the US military, and even that's losing a little trust (especially over the past 2 years). America is coming down from a high baseline of trust across the board. Military is the most trusted arm of government in the US? Countries where the most trusted part of government is the military isn't usually the happiest. Samo.
There's a certain amount of lying that the government can get away with, said Samo this week, but when the government is saying something is individually good but it's not, it's only collectively or politically good, the people can tell. Vaccines and pandemic measures. People want their government to lie to them a little, but the government can go out of that tolerance zone. Not only the government but even the representatives are not trusted to do their jobs. The beurocracies have gotten way worse since they were first started.
If I hear that in SF, I want to go buy shaving cream in a convenience store but it's locked up, I should just buy it online (not even online, but just on Amazon.) ‘What’s the point of an inconvenient convenience store?' Samo. That defeats the purpose of a city, people in a city are socialized in a deep way, they're more productive, we expect.
People trust a known expert, like a SM influencer, more than the medical establishment. We think that expert went to first principles. So many lies have caught up, like the ‘food pyramid’ which no one even knows where it came from. ‘Fool me once’ culture. Auren Hoffman. If you have more friends who trust this person, then it gets easier to follow them, if they read all the research and decide to inject themself with Ozempic, against government directive.
The internet has been rerouting to new sources of trust. People nowadays will do all their own research, talk to everyone, and then be like OK, all I need to do now is go to the medical institution and talk to this guy who is technically my doctor and get him to sign off on my list for my treatment. Why do you need that person? How long are we going to do that? That person doesn't have time for you. You can have a beurocracy that is stupider than the sum of its parts, because the sum may just know things that are inadmissable in the official record. We need to open beurocracies for individuals who do all this work themselves. Samo.
The experts have just been so wrong on almost all the big issues. They still have so much power, when they've been so wrong. Big investors don't keep their power if they've been wrong for a decade.
America is currently kind of a seniority system. The Congress average age is one year more almost every year.
The idea of a happy childhood is stronger in the US than in Korea or something. They want kids who are well-educated because it's good for them and proves the parents were good parents. But even in the US, formal education is overvalued, coreographed resume during school to get into college.
The only youth culture that is available is the culture online, because parents don't allow their children out of a certain distance (as once they were allowed). And even there, parents are perhaps expected to maximally monitor. Tolerance for danger has dropped, perhaps too much. Too into safety.
...
How Woke Warriors Destroyed Anthropology - Elizabeth Weiss (youtube.com)
People who study anthropology (and other soft sciences) read books that were written 50 years or more ago, because the new ones the authors are weak. For new books, you can read economics, politics, IR, and hard sciences maybe.
In the people Trump has given power recently, and those he has freed (Ulbricht, unfortunately not Assange who is now already free), all these people have been talking about ambitions and new things, new potentials that have come from new technologies but which are not yet possible because of the barriers of the institutions, the people in the incumbent beurocracies, the incumbent interests. It may be that the next wave of broad change for civilization is already foaming up but has been quashed in many points, all these people, and now, if given reign, whether that is really Trump's goal or not (although it might be), they might actually work to bring about a new change.
Jan week2, Modelling, different scale, ascendent masculinity?
Mainly for e-commerce. Put brand onto influencers. Try on outfits.
Kling paid service. Figma for grapgics on shirts.
The Technology That Can Reshape Nations (youtube.com)
It seems people are starting to think on a different scale recently. Samo is talking about duplicating Egypt (by simply making another freshwater Nile), by making a country-sized green park in SA. If such a change happens in thought, it will reperceive our current large size as tribe or pueblo size.
Israel is valid because the landscape is better, they greened it, some would say.
College student sues after being expelled, accused of using ChatGPT on exam (youtube.com)
Have the past 20 or 40 years just been Descendent Masculinity? Since the early 90s it has seemed pretty dark, with continuously negative social trends. I don't have too many decades to compare with so it's hard to guess. It seems that masculinity might be just starting now to move to the ascendent now, and contrary to what they think they think, people love masculinity (like anything, it has complicated and dynamic potential problems, obviously). This doesn't mean aggressive, brutish, unlistening ‘alpha’ behaviour, though, chicos. It means the same thing you admire when you see it in standout men. Generally it's the result of experience, trials and work, and a refined and sophisticated sense of causes and effects ('right and wrong') combined with the personal discipline ('courage') to hold a position and sometimes act.
Jan week1, Phone culture, Canada identity, passport tourism from Chile, broad support for killer, couples meet online and in bars
Why Men Are Leaving The Workforce (youtube.com)
Steady since the 50s, from almost 100% to 90%.
What Living in a "Postnational" State Feels Like (youtube.com)
Canada, ‘no common identity.’
Rolex stolen from LA home of actor Keanu Reeves found in Chile (youtube.com)
South American crime toursim targetting SoCal celebs. Criminals with passports.
A Van Yves rental car company owned by Latinos who bring in foreign nationals to commit crimes. Burglaries in 80 cities, $35m in theft.
A lot has to do with the nature of the victims, the way celebs and athletes behave? and a lot has to do with SM, people posting their luxury handbags and their jewelry, and people posting when they're on vacation.
Chile because it's the only Latin country that gives its people the ability to come on tourist visas without vetting other nations do? It will give Chile a bad rep.
81-year-old calls accused killer Luigi Mangione a 'modern-day Robin Hood' (youtube.com)
It's not just young women and young men.
Chess champion Magnus Carlsen returns to compete after wardrobe controversy (youtube.com)
Jeans.
Civilization as we know it is ending, prominent forecaster says (youtube.com)
US couple met in 1995 1/3 of the time through friends, that was the top way, and the next most common ways were bars, work, school, or family. Now the top way is internet (even more than friends used to be), and next bars (very common), and then not as common as before, work, school, family. Internet is new, and bar shot way up. Through friends dropped a lot, and so did at work, school or through family.
Dec week4, Tiktok versus Vine, Honey scam influencers clueless, 'System Dynamics', UK young people don't want to fnd jobs?
Winter solstice: Sun aligns with ancient Luxor temple in Egypt (youtube.com)
The difference between the current young people and one generation before (GenX), you can watch their TikToks Funny TikToks that Had me Rolling on the Floor! PT.14 (youtube.com) (no point in watching cause they're not funny) and any Vines compilation.
Wikipedia Spends $31 Million on "Racial Equity" in 2024 (youtube.com)
Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam (youtube.com)
‘So what’s the catch?' ‘There IS no catch!’
Honey, owned by Paypal (paid $4b), is the biggest scam by influencers ever?
So, even if your favorite influencer says do something and tells you there is no risk, it's probably a lie, because they're just regularPeople who aren't really very sharp, don't do any testing or even realSuspicion. All influencers promoted it.
LinusTT started promoting them in 2017, but was the only influencer who ended their partnership it seems, after a couple years.
‘System dynamics.’ Instead of Economics 101. It's obsolete.
Why aren’t young people working? (youtube.com)
The number of adults under age 24 growing faster than any other group, in the UK. Of those not working, 35% are not working because ‘they have autism or some condition related to it.’ Another 10% ‘not appear to have mental health related issues.’ But the vlogger says it's largely because ‘they’re disenchanted with the workplace.' A lot of this is just the bother getting a job. The vlogger talks about when he looked for a job, he went some places, did 2 interviews, got offered one of them and took it. Now ‘it’s virtually a fulltime job looking for a job.' You have to be a master at distorting and manipulating your CV to look better than anyone elses, fit into the format that employer wants to see. Do a video presentation, etc. You still haven't talked to anyone.
This started in the 90s, when you didn't just go and apply and they needed a kid so they hired you (and if it didn't work they fired you pretty easily, no paperwork, no paying severance etc), and bit by bit during the 90s it because an HR chore to go to interviews and do an interview process, get dressed up, answer a bunch of personality questions that had nothing to do with the job, and this is for simple labor and service industry jobs. It wasn't the manager or anyone working at the place that hired you, nor the owner. It was a person whose job it was to interview and do a bunch of things to do with beurocracy (and naturally had to create a beurocratic framework in order to have something they were important enough to stay at the company to do). Also minimum wage became fixed (and perhaps high, even though it doesn't pay for anything, but minimum can never pay for anything no matter what number it is).
Who wants to even try to get a job if it's all this? Just stay ‘out of the system’ claim government benefits and try to do an online hustle or something, not because working is unsavory, but because doing all this garbage is very unsavory, and for many, prohibitive.
What works for hiring is a very low minimum wage, if any (and employers simply have to offer more if no one applies until they do), hire anyone who looks like they might do the job, try them out, fire them (without any questioning of the employer or the employee) or keep them depending on how it goes after 2 weeks.
Dec week3, Indiana's 7 highschool degrees, Coffeebadging
Mexicanos se quejan de migrantes venezolanos que solo extienden la mano y no trabajan (youtube.com)
Indiana families prepare for overhaul to state high school diploma requirements (youtube.com)
7 degrees available. Questions about how they can actually do this, financially and personnel-wise, with things like universal computer use classes but they don't have a computers teacher.
3 Anti-White Discrimination Lawsuits Pending Against IBM & Red Hat (youtube.com)
Unheard Michael Jackson Songs Found In Abandoned Storage Unit | 10 News First (youtube.com)
Every time I see something like this, I wonder if the timing doesn't have something to do with AI music creation software. Recently, an ‘unknown Chopin piece’ was discovered. Shortly after AI music generation, Metallica came out with an album that sounded weird and kind of like their early style (although I barely gave it a listen). Art work by high grossing masters has always ‘been found’ now and again, but maybe we'll see more of that too, since not only are there image-in-style generators and upscalers, but also machines that hand-paint.
‘Coffee badging’ is a term for employees who to to work in the morning, clock in, have coffee, then go home at mid day to ‘finish their day’ and check out at 5 at home. Employees are trying to get workers back into the office, but there's still high employment.
Why Tourism Anxiety is Surging in Japan (youtube.com)
Did you know your government actually wants more tourism, Japanese vlogger? They publicly put their goal at like 30m or something. So maybe talk to them?
Showing Your Children Online Is Sacrificing Safety & Privacy For Clout | Pearl Daily (youtube.com)
At this point I think she's just scoopin ideas men have been posting on smarter forums online for years, and blowing them up since she's a girl with an audience.
Police question socialist business owner over ‘Most Wanted CEO’ playing cards (youtube.com)
Plagiarism concerns mount at high-profile universities | Morning in America (youtube.com)
Profile of suspect in German Christmas market attack paints 'confusing picture' • FRANCE 24 (youtube.com)
A 50yo SA man working in psychiatrics in Germany. SA warned Germany about his possibly being a threat, reportedly, because he had posted extremist things. Seemed strange to some that he would now appear ‘anti-islamist and pro-AFD’.
A commenter: ‘The extremist was not anti Islm, which does not make senseanyway, it suits the government, being afraid in the upcoming February election of a strong right wing. One has to follow the Dr.s postings, he wanted more Saudis to enter Germany for upheaval! We do have the worst politicians!’
The US also had an unconventional school shooting this week, with a 15yo woman doing it.
Dec week2, Killer culture?, Sweden Soft Women
Friedburg this week expressed shock at seeing the response on X to the killing, where so many people vocally approved or seemed to express justification, because the victim was a CEO of a large company and wealthy, part of what All-In talked about as a tendency for a lot of people to have this sort of position about people they simply don't agree with.
They talked about health insurance and how it's a tough business. But said United Healthcare wasn't one of the statistically-worse-seeming ones. United Health pays out 85% of what they receive in insurance payments. How much more could they pay out?
If an insurance company approves more claims and pays out more, this raises the premiums and also the cost to customers, and at some point (we might imagine a point not much higher than current) insurance simply becomes unaffordable. Insurance companies continuosly balance on a tightrope. They are also in competition with each other.
United Healthcare CEO Taken Down (youtube.com)
This is a comedian actually getting cheers and laughs about the incident. What percentage of people can laugh at this? and what percentage is sick in their stomach and chilled to see this comedy club? ‘I kinda want him to keep doing it,' he said and got laughs. Read the comments and there is widespread belief in what this comedian is saying.
...
Bitcoin's rise fueled by a 'rejection of elites,’ analyst says | REUTERS (youtube.com) (Reuters)
The enemy effect will make you magnetic (youtube.com)
Trump did have an enemy this time, from the perspective of many voters. So did Harris, but I guess she wasn't as compelling, or her enemy seemed less of an enemy.
Koreans in 20s, 30s choosing to rest rather than work?! (youtube.com)
AI will destroy Human Ethics (youtube.com)
'Baby gangs' of Italy: Naples police clamp down on youth violence • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Insurance CEO Murder Raises Tough Questions for Industry (youtube.com)
Lots of people talking about the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare this week.
‘Straight up hatred towards the company.’ ‘The way a lot of them make money is by reducing the expenditures for health care insurance.’ Not specific to UnitedHealthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. People who work in these companies are probably assessing their morality and security. ‘Insurance companies put up hurdles to make sure people are getting the appropriate care and only the care that they need. And sometimes the argument is that they’re going too far.' ‘There was a huge outrage about how UnitedHealth was using AritificialIntelligence to turn down insurance requests, and made people and doctors jump through hoops over and over in order to get access to things that many would say should be covered.’
#AI
Isn't it obvious that a person should be responsible for any decision, whether assessing and deciding on a claim, or just using a tool (AI program)? So that if a worker denies a claim, they are answerable, and if a manager implements an AI program, they are answerable for the actions they carry out using this tool? Or does society allow that simply using a computer program means any harms are not linked to the person who decided to implement or did implement that tool? It doesn't seem that beurocrats and CEOs, who naturally avoid any decision-making claims, would always prefer any tool that removes legal or socially-perceived agency, and would result in interactions for customers and clients that are of the lowest quality and most (superficially politely) combative, completely non-serious.
Last call: South Korean bars go quiet as booze culture fades | REUTERS (youtube.com)
A New Type of Modern Women: The Swedish "SOFT WOMEN" | Pearl Daily (youtube.com)
First in first out.
‘You don’t see a lot of men getting gender studies degrees, which is something women are passionate about.' ‘Women tend to take lower paying jobs.' Now, in Sweden, women are opting to quit work, apparently, and calling this ‘soft women.’ This is a SM trend, anyway. While her boyfriend’s working, 'she spends her days at the gym, out for coffee, or cooking.'
Yeah, I think we could say this idea is rolling over now. Once women see other women doing this, they'll probably all jump on board. We saw it start to roll over during the past year or couple years. Girls (and people) hate to not have something other girls are getting, and this can be perceived this way. Girls (and people) also strongly conform, so as they see others doing this, they'll conform to what others are doing. It'll appear in a movie and spread pandemically, and then girl pop singers will champion it.
In Sweden, 14% of girls age 7-14 identifying as soft girls. Aspirational. Some of (older women, not girls) current views that not working might be better is observing older women struggle to juggle a career and home life.
Pearl also notes how SM posts aren't about work, they're about leisure. You don't really see any SM popular posts about work. Exercise and travel. So the culture of under-35s maybe has nothing to do with work. It has something to do with making easy money as influencers or doing online tricks that make money in some cases. Pearl gets frustrated and says ‘Could we just say thank you [to men] for running the whole infrastructure of society, thanks for inventing pretty much everything, statistically' [and not complain if women have to do 10% more housework than men, statistically].
Pearl says nothing original or groundbreaking, just lightly and with some humor talks sort of common sensically. Maybe that's just been exteremly out of fashion (to the point of not being permitted, ie you'd get blame and backlash for voicing it, so people stopped hearing it and later stopped being able to think it), that just saying normal things gets someone massive (counterculture, but perhaps the majority or becomming the majority already) following. Pearl has 1.5m followers on YouTube, not for making series or movies or lectures, just for talking in front of a camera about normal things.
MEN Are Learning It's NOT Worth Protecting Women Anymore | Pearl Daily (youtube.com)
I didn't watch this one, but there's still a lot of white knight Westerner men out there. Maybe still the majority. You can't talk even basic commonsense to them, they have a combative wall and readily argue any even facts that might contradict their position.
None of this is anything special, of course, and there's nothing malevolent in it, only the natural attempt to get the best, especially when it doesn't cost. As far as a person or group is permitted to take resources or priveleges, they will, and make rationalizations for it, which are generally politically successful if they are a group. The costs their group pays later, after their larger taking and smaller contribution or value is calculated, won't affect their current choice. Limiting people or groups is the job of the incumbent or democratic power, mainly through education. For some reason, perhaps simple entertainment of ‘new’ ideas, the incumbent power didn't seem to know better either, or was timid and didn't say, or it happened through a natural fear of losing democratically-decided offices as the voting base changed, over the past half century.
Along with commonsense and ‘centrist’ vloggers gaining popularity, priests, rabbis, etc might also be expected to gain popularity as experts in how to assess and decide among options for a more family-oriented, conservative, accountable/responsible lifestyle. Scantily-clad twerk content-creators will become unpopular not because what they do isn't appealing, but because more conservative lifestyle women (and some men but maybe not too many, because when there are fewer frivolous girls they are more highly valued by men, as long as men can still get a goodgirl girlfriend from a large selection of them, who stably value men for their contribution) won't permit more frivolous women to enjoy things they deny themselves.
There are times for s**ts and times for good girls, and we've had about 20 years of a time for s**ts, perhaps datable to Sex and the City.
Although rap is already considered not new music, not really youth music, and is in its mixing with anything phase, comparable to rock in the late 90s, or is perhaps past even that now, I wonder if the rap ethos, prizing mercenary ideas, superficiality of male and female value, social approval of gun and ‘unfair-fight' violence for toughness' sake, which came in the early and mid 90s (perhaps datable to the success of NWA) and took over all cultures in North America during the late 90s and 00s, will also be condemned by whatever the new (but seen before countless times) ethos will be called? Currently rap seems to still be the most popular music, along with bland pop (which maybe doesn't really have phases because it isn't really a style).
RIDE announces partnership with Khan Academy to help students prepare for college (youtube.com)
This will certainly change the way society talks. Very promp-based, AI-understandable language, quite different from language otherwise.
How Technology is Changing Art and Memory Forever (youtube.com)
Texas nun accused of committing sin, breaking vow of chastity after admission of relationship (youtube.com)
Vatican declared extinct the monestary. The monestary land is worth an estimated $4m. Vatican has expensive lawsuits going on.
Researchers report stunning surge of misogyny after the election (youtube.com)
Maybe unfortunate and expected. Not just because of the election. 10 years ago the idea of men's rights as a thing, Men's Rights Movement, was laughed at mostly and issues couldn't much be argued. Now many women are publicly on the side of this movement, and it is in many countries. It's largely just a slow response, but is of course mixed with real selfish mysogyny.
America’s Culture of Winning w/ Alex Karp and Jacob Helberg (youtube.com)
Seems like a good angle to exploit the new authorities, which will permitedly cause harms to many.
Kids are getting ruder, teachers say. Why? | The Current (youtube.com)
Are CEOs not satisfied with having a successful company, and want to be sort of like a priest, telling citizens what to do? Poulos.
CCTV shows autistic pupils at UK school abused and locked in padded rooms | BBC News (youtube.com)
Dec week1, AI generated girls, Japan soap, Female academics
1 real girls, 2 girls with plastic surgery, 3 girls using filters, 4 anime, 5 AI girls.
Jaguar Responds to Blowback After Man-in-a-Dress Car Ad (youtube.com)
Is Tokyo now Asia’s sex tourism hub? (youtube.com)
30m tourists.
Some (foreign, I assume) NGOs want to ‘bring down’ host clubs, which they see as ‘the root of the problem’.
'People Think My Filipino Wife Is My Maid': Man Reveals He Spent £15,600 To Bring His Wife To America (ibtimes.co.uk)
However, less reputable news agencies are saying he ‘bought a wife for $20,000.’ The money he spent was for flights to go meet a girl he met online a few times, and then to bring her to his home. No end to the hate by Westerners to anyone who has a relationship with anyone else, outside very narrow margins of resume and situation. No end to the audaciousness of Westerners in their belief they have a right to impose themselves on others.
The Feminisation of Academia, Explained By Behavioural Scientists Bo Winegard and Cory Clark (youtube.com)
In academia, men prioritize more academic freedom, advancing knowledge, academic rigor, while women priortize more social justice and emotional wellbeing. ... When in truth and social equity come into conflict, which should scientists prioritize? Men 68% said truth and women 30% said truth. More women said ‘It’s complicated'. ‘Women are more likely to suppress science truth for moral reasons.’ This might have a higher effect on disciplines like anthropology, psychology, sociology, and other fields that study people closely. ... Men compete more overtly, while women compete more covertly, so we should probably, when men say something, take that more at face value, and women women say something is true, take that as something that might be a lie, it seems. Women prefer egalitarian social relations rather than goal-oriented coordinated groups. Women prioritize equality more. Men are less empathetic and sensitive to harms and more interested in explaining things mechanically, they're more likely to publish things that might be provocative but true, while women might be motivated to suppress these publications because of how strongly they feel moral threats.
DEI statements and committments have come along with women being on boards and committees. Increased preventions of perceived-by-women harms. Trigger warnings. Sensorship and self-sensorship on campuses.
It would be funny to see gender-segregated universities again.
Commenter: 'I was a psych prof and I left academia for two reasons: 1) I wasn't able to do the research I wanted and 2) the women in the department were extreme feminists that wanted to purge the department and the university of "toxic masculinity." It was simply unbearable.'
Seems like finally Western culture is starting to come around to the effects of women with political power. Still, among those I know, about 50% still view women as incapable of doing harm, still view them as damsels and a victim in almost all interactions or relationships with men. Of those who are more critical of women, it comes somewhat martially, and is tied strongly to podcasters. Perhaps that's necessary though, because if it was just rational understanding that would likely not be enough to counteract these women-politics purposes.
Perhaps a part of this view is that even when women do cause legitimate harms, when facing people over these harms, their position is less harmful, until they are free from physical confrontation again.
China's 'Lifeless' Youth: Economist's Critical Speech Goes Viral (youtube.com)
‘Gao Shanwen said consumption growth is stronger in provinces with older population, and weaker in younger provinces. Old people ‘are full of vibrancy,' spending because they get a regular pension. ... He estimated 47m people who had gone to the cities for work have migrated back to their villages, and have ‘disappeared from the data’ because the data only captures labor in the urban areas.
However, some pointed out that although the pension is being spent, it could be spent not on the elderly themselves.
Analysts have been sensoring themselves in China so far.
Many people commented on SM to say that he is a brave man for saying this, and the content is less important than that his negative assessment appears to be tolerated. Much like in the US in recent years any time anyone spoke against the 3-letters.
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New BUD LIGHT Commercial Mocking Woke Culture? (youtube.com)
Non-woke washing?
Why bookstores are booming even in the age of online shopping (youtube.com)
VA family shocked after being charged nearly $550 roundtrip on visit to Luray Caverns (youtube.com)
Moment South Korean woman grabs soldier's gun during martial law chaos (youtube.com)
‘Let go!’
‘Don’t you feel ashamed!?' 
Understand the mainland Chinese thinking in this video (youtube.com)
Immigrants won't go fight their own people in a war, generally. They wouldn't enlist in their home country's army either, in a lot of cases, even if they had the opportunity to do so.
Perhaps even more true of migrants into the US, because the main reason to go to the US is economic. Many people in the countries I visit now say they would go to the US, only to make money and come back. There's no real reason they want to be there other than money and also prosperity that they see in movies, like movies set in New York.
Expulsion rises in preschools (youtube.com)
3x higher than K-12. 50% of pre-school teachers have expelled at least one student in the past year. 50% of those expelled are black (who are only 1/5 of the preschooler population). Boys are expelled 5x more than girls.
‘We have to understand their world so we can tailor our strategies to meet them where they are.’ ‘We want every kid who leaves here to say I like school and I know how to do school.'
...
Why did California voters reject increasing the state's minimum wage? (youtube.com)
Prop 32 wanted to raise from $16 to $18. Slim margin vote. They seem to recognize now that minimum wage increase means product price increase, which they have been saying didn't actually happen for decades. This is the first time California voters have regected a minimum wage increase, reportedly. Politicians follow politics.
Nov week4, Russia, Japanese choosing, elite eugenics, UK employment, led by podcasters
Americans also don't want the war.
What Japan Teaches Its Kids | Op-Docs (youtube.com)
Preference has to consider not just who shows up to the audition with the closest skill level, but who cares about it the most, and who will improve on something the most if they get a start in it.
‘You must do more than play your instrument. If you can’t do that, you should quit right now.'
Listen to this Dublin mothers story of how diversity is working out for her (youtube.com)
Elon Musk’s father comments on Donald Trump’s relationship with son (youtube.com)
Eugenics. Compounds. Sky News.
‘One of the worst aspects of employment [in the UK] is we employ people to fill positions rather than employing people and then working out roles around them.’ A certain degree of randomness gives versatility and breadth. Rory Sutherland. People's early-stage careers are often messy or non-linear, finding out what people really want to do. ‘The more people try to make recruitment look fair and methodical and rigorous, the more homogenous it becomes. Everyone who is chosen is then the same.’
Many people enjoy their commute. Some people chose to reside further from work than they optimally should, to create a buffer. Making two coffees at the same time.
'This town is not for them.' Residents react to white Christian nationalists moving to Tennessee (youtube.com)
Led by 2 podcasters. Organized land buying. Coming there ‘to build a town’ ‘to build a community.’ ‘The best way forward is to take over local level outlets of the Republican Party. It’s most consistent with America's deeply federalist past.' ‘People who call me racist are innately incapable of comprehending the extent to which I detest the specific impact of college educated white women on the culture of the wold around me.’
‘That’s not gonna happen.'
‘It scares me that they are very clear about taking over.’
‘The white women on Facebook are probably the scarriest thing that these people are gonna have to deal with now.’
The meeting against the newcomers was like a dozen or two people.
Since most of the things podcasters like this say will resonate deeply and strongly with a significant percentage of people (mostly men but some women) who have been enduring suppression and unjust criticism and limiting for a couple decades, probably it will grow and maybe succeed, which will be limiting and critical, to unjust extents, of women and minorities.
Nov week3, Anti-narrative, DOGE, Japan tourism
‘The Anti-narrative.’
Peter Thiel on the Triumph of the Counter-Elites (youtube.com)
Theil, often very early and very ahead.
China's Take on Elon Musk's DOGE! Social Media Goes CRAZY Over This Video! (youtube.com)
‘What the federal budget cannot cut, DOGE can. Those the Feds are afraid to lay off, I will lay off. What the federation can't manage, I will manage.
用AI将马斯克合成到《龙门飞甲》，网友：想看全片，可以付费！ (youtube.com) (Chinese)
Victim reflects on viral hate crime incident at Panera: 'I was shocked no one helped us' (youtube.com)
‘Palestine is my land. Not your land. You can’t wear [a Palestine hoody] in America.'
An example of what aggressive, violent, prejudice attack is like. But rare in the US. He said he often gets critical, perhaps prejudice things against him when he walks around in a Palestine shirt, but never seen violence.
The reason no one reacted is that they were just as shocked as him at this very unusual happenstance, and qualified because usually when older women do any public action it's for a reason. One minute is not enough time to react.
Tokyo: Fallout from Vandalism at Meiji Shrine (youtube.com)
Japan reacts to vandalism (cracks down on everyone). An american tourist etched his family's names into the Torii Gate of the Meiji Shrine, using his fingernails.
PHOTO: Do no warnings for things that were universally understood when it was just Japanese.
Nov pt1, Isolation by devices
Underground rave culture grows in China's hidden corners (youtube.com)
No one knows what someone else is seeing, on their screen, separate from everyone else, who also we don't know what they're seeing. Where is the shared culture? We can't conclude who was lying, who was in possession of only half the story?
‘The importance of conversation can’t be overestimated, because it is the bulwark against perpetual violence.' Sam Harris.
‘To persuade other people of certain things being true.’
Things people suffer from, a lot of that is thoughts that people find compelling.
Our beliefs dictate what we will do next.
All of our failures of compassion are failures of mutual understanding.
Otherwise you'll just be angry for as long as you're angry.
Oct pt2, Blue collar jobs popular in China, School relocating, Tipping
'We all work together, we are the same age, and I'm very happy when I clean with this group of guys.' (Most of the group are technical university graduates.)
White collar you have to follow the routines and follow the regular career development. And follow your boss. The younger generation hate these things. The income gap has narrowed. 10 years ago, white collar was 2.4x and now it's 1.4 in China. There is stil social stigma against blue collar. People will view you differenty.
‘Some of us knew nothing about it. ... The breadth of this industry could be very wide.’
‘We are new cleaners.’
Tokyo tackles problem of rude customersーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
customer harassment of the employees or business, or ‘kasuhara’. The 3rd most common type of ‘nuisance behavior’ in Japanese workplaces, according to some (maybe doubtful) survey, after ‘power harassment’ and ‘sekuhara’. Fourth was ‘maternity harassment.’
‘Abusive customer complaints’ increasing for 5 years, complaints that have nothing to do with their products, seemingly many of the calls from elderly people. ‘Insults and threats’. ‘Long rambling complaints about products they bought.’
Finding the foreign fathers of Philippines' sex workers' children | ABC News (youtube.com)
Why do Hongkongers care so much about Cantonese? (youtube.com)
A Chinese-owned variedades shop opened where I am, and I tried chatting to them in Spanish, and we exchanged a few pleasantries but when I asked them which language they spoke they didn't understand and said there was only one Chinese language, and I said aren't there two languages in China? but even after pressing a couple times, and mentioning Cantonese and Mandarin, they seemed to not know of more than one Chinese language.
The Resegregation of America's schools (youtube.com)
70 years since Brown v. BoEd.
People with means live in better locations, and better locations have better schools. So how can we extend better schools to neighborhoods where no one wants to live?
Isn't it the same question as immigration, where people have to recognize what percentage of outsiders can be integrated, beyond which number they can't. And then within a segregated location, we could tackle those problems in their proper location.
Billions of dollars can force-segregate schools, but landlord prejudice will eventually mean the not-wanted won't live near there. Segregation is at levels it was at in the 60s again, ABC reported. Sorting and admission process in (NY) schools may be channeling blacks into separate schools.
Has India’s caste system migrated to the US? - BBC News (youtube.com)
Why Americans are tipping less and how it impacts workers (youtube.com)
Only 20 years late. But it's not much of a move. ‘Fewer consumers now say they tip servers 20% or more.’ Lol.
Both Trump and Harris have stated they would remove taxes on tips. Ie expect restaurants and all other businesses with a pay screen to try to charge more for tips.
61% would rather just pay a higher price on the menu and no tip, according to the Popmenu survey.
After Covid Americans had been sometimes tipping 40%, she said.
So you get a price, but then a service charge, a delivery charge, a tip charge.
DC has a 5-year plan to get rid of tipping. They're 2 years in.
Found a PIF on your receipt? Here's where that money is going (youtube.com)
Residents react to glass partition at Burbank Ralphs (youtube.com)
Behind the partition, the items that are on the most-stolen list.
Tempers rising over pickleball courts in Pennsylvania community (youtube.com)
People don't like the noise near the ball courts, starting at 7am. For some reason, they didn't build walls around them.
Non-residents pay $100 for a membership fee, and the courts are located in a free park. Residents are only allowed to use 3 of the 10 courts.
SF group placing traffic cones on self-driving cars to disable them (youtube.com)
‘The Safe Street Rebels.’ Residents never got a chance to have a say in this, and never really consented.
Spring ISD parents claim preschoolers were given 'sleepy stickers' by teachers (youtube.com)
Couple says tow truck tried to nab their moving car in San Francisco - EXCLUSIVE (youtube.com)
South Korea’s Radical Solution to Asia’s Birth Rate Crisis (youtube.com)
Just government-run meetups.
American YouTuber Johnny Somali booked for obstruction, barred from leaving Korea (youtube.com)
A man assaulted Johnny Somali on the street, and was arrested but was subsequently released. The Korean man who assualted him was reportedly also a YouTuber, saying on camera ‘I’m going to really take care of guys like Somali who come to Korea. So don't come here to cause trouble. You got that Somali?!'
American YouTuber Johnny Somali attacked again in Seoul (youtube.com)
Lifestreamers. Will YouTubers and Tiktokers become the most hated profession?
...
The risk with stories like Johnny Somali is that he mixes things like saying things, criticizing things, against countries and people and anything else, without any restraint of respect, and also does things like abuse people's peace in public, cause outrage through his acts. Which of these should be charged and which allowed? Because in the passion of an outrage against someone like him, all things can get swept up in ‘you can’t do that in our country' and have a bunch of people there on alert to take violent action against people. However, we value people who can offer irreverent criticism, who aren't hampered by respect and can see and speak more clearly on often-reverenced topics more than can the commons. We have constitutional rights to protect this because it's of great value. So if Johnny Somali was just blogging his ideas in words, which he has done, this part should be protected, but I think it will get swept up in condemnation and excitment to oppose any misbehavior or lack of respect by foreigners of a country or people.
Naturally, the best thing is one that is mostly ruled out by modern governments, which is quick, limited violent reactions by citizens. Often this is the only effective response to public misbehavior. But it hasn't been recognized, and citizens are refrained from maintaining their society by fear of punishment of themselves for controlling their society.
Inside loneliness epidemic: from professional cuddlers to social clubs to cohousing (youtube.com)
How a college degree is one of the best predictors of which candidate voters support (youtube.com)
‘We have to learn how to balance privacy and community.’
Oct pt1, Population and demographics, Samo's Palladium, Parties
Any future subculture would include opposition to braodcasting/sharing/privacy invasion.
Are Westerners Too Old To Revolt? (youtube.com)
and have too few children.
During the cultural revolution in the US (60s), the large baby boom had reached young adulthood. The average age in the US was 27 at that time.
There are almost no civil wars in countries where 55% or more of the population is over 30.
Half of Gaza is under 18. Males have almost no economic prospects.
Median age during Chinese Cultural Revolution and Iranian Revolution was under 20.
We might see a preference for drafting older people, or of using mercenaries.
Ukraine average age was 40. ?
He says the median US age is 38. I thought it was like 33? And of course that number is much higher is considering just white Americans.
Riots and protests by natives in Europe are anti-immigration. These riots never spark a chain reaction. The government can just wait them out.
Why Europe Sucks For Young People (youtube.com)
‘The young are an oppressed minority.’
How the Bank of Mum and Dad is creating a new class system (youtube.com)
‘Becomming an adult has become unattainable’
Have we passed peak obesity? (youtube.com)
The Evolution Of Modern Dating - Louise Perry (youtube.com)
Malcolm Gladwell on "Revenge of the Tipping Point" (youtube.com)
Japan: "Women Set The Bar Too High For Men Today" (youtube.com)
These NYC teens are rejecting cellphones and social media. Here's why. (youtube.com)
Why Does Everyone Hate Private Equity? (youtube.com)
Technology Has Hurt People, Says Nobel Winner Johnson (youtube.com)
Excessive automation, not enough generation of good new jobs. Where are jobs going to come from? More science, more technology, if elevated as a priority. Corruption as a focus for why have-not countries continue to have not.
Nobel for Economics to a book about European colonized countries.
Palladium, Intellectual Culture, and Silicon Valley (youtube.com)
Samo took over Palladium half a year ago and is working hard like founder mode. He's observing how it provides a location for people in the area (Bay Area) to dress up nice and go to parties together, and notes how there used to be more of these intellectual, literary groups in the US, and that a big part of being there for those people was probably just showing off for their friends, and things were accomplished.
Greater agency over technological future.
Diversity of views for the generalist. Executives are part of their readership.
At an actual party, you can meet people in person (including people like Samo), and you can talk without needing to worry about what the whole planet will think about this one thing you said out of turn. Hungry for socializing. ‘Convening’. Where else can something like this happen, with lots of thinkers, billionaire investers stop by, other than SF? People propose ideas, Is that crazy or should I invest in that? Credentials of the person saying it don't matter. Intellectual pursuits are actually rewarding, and they're challenged. ‘There’s no one to talk to about that' happens less. People pick up new intellectual interests in their 40s and 50s, pick up new careers. Become diletantes, patrons.
Power, Privilege, Parties: the shaping of modern Britain | LSE Online Event (youtube.com)
Zuckerburg made a statement or something where he said he was done apologizing. Some have commented there may be a new trend in tech where it's more masculine, non-apologetic, non make-yourself-small like it has been.
September, China marriage, Japan tourism, the Left's kindness
Age 27 the ‘leftover’ age in China for women. High quality leftover women can only find rural bachelors (and would have to live in countryside), not the high quality older bachelors they seek. One rural woman who got a docterate as a medical doctor found men didn't approach her because they felt they were not worthy. She also doesn't want to marry a vulgar person in the country or stay there.
30m more men than women in China. But about 1m leftover women. China's economy now declining, employment reportedly more difficult. Many Chinese study for masters and some an envied doctorate (which would put you at age 28, missing the ‘best time to get married’ for women).
High concentration of leftover women in the big cities. Possibly, (university educated) men are forced to leave big cities by age 30 because of the high housing costs, after struggling for 5 or 10 years, and he returns to their hometown and their parents prepare a base for him. Women, however, don't leave the city because if they did their situation would become worse, especially if a poor family, because matchmakers will only introduce her to low quality matches. In the country the degree is often worthless.
Career comes first and relationship second for many people. Work leaves them too tired to put effort into another person.
Some women seek a perfect marriage.
For example, although the ask ‘isn’t too much', an educated woman, age 35 (who graduated 5 years earlier), who makes $1400 per month, has a house and car, 168cm in height, seeks a man with at least a bachelors, who makes at least $1400, who has a house and car, and is 175cm. There aren't many available. Such a man would probably look for a girl in her 20s ‘who has no problem with childbearing.’
Men like girls who don't spend a lot of money, but many girls like to spend a lot and have many material things.
#China #Asia
Men are also looking for things (physical, thrift) that are difficult for them to find.
Some stop thinking about getting married, and instead can devote themselves to their career which can have a better return possibly.
At dating meetups the ratio is reportedly 9:1 women to men, but anyway there are many women for each man.
Toy stores vanishing from Hong Kong's ‘toy street’ (youtube.com)
Instead, many buy from internet. Kids prefer video games. Or are interested mainly in their screens and don't care about toys.
Jordan Peterson - Antisocial women steal reputation (youtube.com)
?
Is This the Beginning of the End for Dating Apps? (youtube.com)
How Dating Apps Contribute to the Demographic Crisis (youtube.com)
‘The cost of monetising’
Japan tries to get on top of overtourismーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
60m inbound visitors, $100b USD, is the government's target by 2030.
Why don't they just require education of visitors to behave in Japan? and ask Japanese and businesses to deny or shut off parts of tourism? Also, its possible there are some countries whose citizens are well-behaved enough that they could be exempt from restrictions (although I can't really think of any, maybe England if not counting recent immigrants).
Many of the tourists see a place on Instagram and go there just so they can get a selfie of themselves at that place, basically. Couldn't they just sell background Instragram packs?
If cultural education (about manners and respecting ideas that aren't those of your own culture) were a requirement to travel, this would be good for everyone, even once they finished their trip to Japan. This is one of the biggest global cultural problems, especially Western/Middle Eastern people, who don't seem willing or able to accept that their ideas are not correct and other conflicting ideas wrong.
Is Instagram ruining #Bali? | Foreign Correspondent (youtube.com)
There are already some places where tourists are banned in Japan. This is good but they should allow people who pass a cultural test. For example, someone lived in Japan 20 years ago for a year, studied Japanese for 2 years, read a lot of Japanese literature, studied Japanese culture. This person shouldn't be denied just because Japan has to reject 60,000k extra tourists.
Where did all Japan's rice go?ーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
Heat and lack of sunshine reduced crops, Ukraine pushed up wheat price making rice more cost effective and driving up demand. Earthquake advisory and typhoons caused stockpiling.
Small town in Japan population 6000 now 4000. With smaller population everything is less convenient, because there aren't workers, there isn't economy of scale, business owners are facing reduced and reducing income, and workers tf.
It's funny, because this is exactly what government should be able to do, to organize people to make a plan and work together, rearrange labor and industries and businesses, but since there currently doesn't seem to be any responsible and capable governments anywhere, we don't see this happening. Governments are also not able to implement organization plans because laws in most countries don't protect local people against outsiders seizing opportunities and taking advantage, so if a town decides to reorganize and limit/stimulate labors and products, the town can't protect those people and prevent outsiders from coming in and ruining this to their own corporate advantage.
Why I Keep Saying Travel to JAPAN ASAP (youtube.com)
Japan was the country I thought would hold out the longest. I visited both Japan and Thailand an era ago, when there were flip phones in Japan and most people in Thailand didn't have phones or only had pushbutton texting phones. 5 years later Thai culture was gone when I visited and everyone was just head down looking at their phone watching American movies, but Japanese culture was still there. Perhaps Japan can lose its culture, too, though, with the massive movements of the current era. Maybe they'll close off their borders completely again. I could see them doing that, as they are a country capable of grand decision-making and decision-taking.
For people asking if Japan is ‘getting worse,’ Yeah, obviously it is. It coudn't be other, it's a mathematical relationship. It's the top culture, the most demanding, and no other people can uphold it, so the amount of foreign influence it can sustain is very low. Japan withstands foreign people because they are so clashing and because Japanese systems are better when they compare, unlike Thailand which was apparently weak when faced with foreign influences, which I mentioned, but Japan depends on a homogenous upholding of its society and culture by maybe 99% or more percent of the population other it will deteriorate, estimating. People from other countries can't undestand this because their culture is easy to hold up, being much less demanding and involved, and also it has proven very easy for Western populations to be tricked into giving up their culture for fear of being called ‘racists,’ this worked for about 25 years and is now over.
Also, Japan like everywhere will have more and more scams targetting foreigners and businesses catering to foreigners, which are negative.
If they don't protect the country, I suspect I'll visit it as visiting a decayed, falling apart Japan, which maybe would be interesting but not as good.
I also don't think creating special tourist zones or regions would be a solution, because the people living there would have even higher exposure to non-Japanese, and the negative effect would come into the country through them.
Overall, the best option would be a culture test as requirement to enter.
The Anthropology of the Left (youtube.com)
Jews, a force of the left theoretically, are they currently in a battle to maintain their status as victims while victimizing other victims, in the eyes of liberals in the US and Europe? The Left, theoretically, sides with victims always, or with the weak always, even if the strong is the one acting beneficially. Are Jews (if they are leftist, which he didn't prove) leftist because they less commonly have land, they less than other peoples have nothing to be conservative about?
The Left champions science as a sort of religeon, but currently it has lost scientists (who believe in genetic traits, not just ‘blank slate’), so that will be a battle for the Left.
The Left focusses on ‘how kind they are.’ To be moral is to ‘fervently believe whatever is strategically efficient for the Left as a movement at that given time. This is why you see constant virtue signalling and one-upmanship in Leftist regimes, whether Mao, Stalin, the French Revolution or the Modern West. Since there are no moral principles, they can’t stop themselves anywhere or reset. It's also why they can immediately rationalize any breaking of their own moral codes.' ‘Not being hyprocrates isn’t a part of their value system.' ‘They don’t care about what if the roles were reversed, they care about winning.' The left pushes, trying to destroy human nature. Some think leftism is a powre fantasy for the powerless, and WIAH points out that you can almost perfectly correlate lack of agency in the world with Leftism. Beurocrats, professors, or retail and service workers are all jobs without agency where the resentment builds up. ‘They all secretly want to be dictator.’ ‘You can see that the Left is all about power and agitation because they will always pick the most aggressive strategies to get their goals.’ ‘Every thing they say gives them more power.’ ‘Everything the Left says is projection ... Their projections of hate, institutional power, and racism that they shove onto the Right, are all completely true about them. What the Left says about the Right is what the Left is.’
The Left was able to gain dominance, argues some writer, because it appeals to the beurocracy. It gained control over military, etc, all industries. ‘The beurocracy gains power by dismanteling the civilization.’
The Left, WIAH says, can't wage war, make companies, art, manage government, do law enforcement, develop new ideas. The Left has become decadent.
'In almost all cases, what the New Left sees as progress is the breakdown of traditional social ties, or individual social responsibility, which is always filled by the state or management.
Are people now afraid to criticise what may be a large problem, women?
Do women always want to mitigate risk for individuals in policy? Welfare state? Are women equally aggressive as men, but manifest it differently (gossiping, shaming and rallying)? Female relaitonal warfare? Does the Left always smear their enemies and make them socially unpalatable?
‘Once you dig to the bottom of the Left’s worldview, they're just wrong.' Isn't that how it should be though? I think WIAH also would agree, though, that there should be Left but it shouldn't dominate. And on a longer scale it doesn't. And there's a question you can ask yourself. Should the Left ever have power over destructive things, when they are basically non-self limiting and some say destructive and self-destructive? Also, we might want to be suspicious of politicians and CEOs appealing for support from Leftists, because the premise they must have is that they are the victim or a nice guy or are helping the Leftist victims, but politicians and CEOs can't be poor so how can they honestly be in this role, but must maintain that perception? There might also be a thing where the best policy for Leftist political figures is to say nothing, since their relationship is to benefit Leftists at the expense of others, but neither wants them to admit that and neither wants the Leftists to have to face that they want that.
If we have more people who have less responsibilities, or delayed while they go to school and do a sabatical etc, don't have children, will that produce more people disposed toward liberalism? ie lack of self-responsibility and belief in taking things from people who have things and giving them to who they want?
Scientific Reasons WHY Woke Leftists Are Bad at Understanding Others – Dr. Iain McGilchrist (youtube.com)
The left hemisphere doesn't do nuance, it's extreme positions rather.
Race to the Future | Ep1: Finding an identity connecting past and present (youtube.com)
China.
Niall Ferguson: Are we the Soviets now? (youtube.com)
'Islam must adapt to Swedish values or leave': Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch sparks row (youtube.com)
It's happened. 20 years ago we said they should curb what we called ‘mass immigration’ (and were called racists by everyone for mentioning this idea). We said if not, it will go so far the response will either be cultural override or a strong, equally problematic and ugly response from the right (Breivik style without, we might hope, violence). A generation later, this has come about. If it had been a reasonable amount of immigration, they would be enjoyed for their exoticness and different ideas and what they bring to Sweden, but they allowed so many only a strong opposition can happen. Instead of saying, we value our immigrants for the diversity and colour they bring, they have to say ‘get out or adapt.’ The thing is, they're already in the country. And they were invited under very different pretenses and expectations. There was no demand to adapt to Sweden. Now it's just as unfair (but understandable and perhaps basically necessary) to do what Sweden now is doing.
Eric Weinstein - Are We On The Brink Of A Revolution? (4K) (youtube.com)
Weinstein has some neat ideas about ‘chocking explanations up to emergence’ instead of facing that Google may be putting a finge on the scale for Trump and Harris search results (Harris brings up only positive Harris articles, Trump brings up negative Trump and some positive Harris articles).
Preference falsification. People have 2 sets of preferences, one for at home and another to show the world, ‘and this is the engine of revolution.’ Each person emboldens those aroudn them, and people aren't willing to lie anymore.
How Having a Son Changes Your View on Men (youtube.com)
‘It’s impossible to be a feminist and a boy mom.'
In Finland, classes in recognizing fake news, disinformation (youtube.com)
Fake News was the big thing like 5 or 6 years ago.
August, Should politicians be clear?, China comparisons, Tea/coffee
In China it's now hard to pay with anything other than WeChat, reportedly. Even grocery stores. They don't give change in cash, many. Nor credit card. Ultimate tracking convenience?
Chinese app design: weird, but it works. Here's why (youtube.com)
It is much more convenient for doing things like getting a request from your boss to buy him a coffee and placing an order for it and getting the price of the coffee from him to you. However, you can't have any political disagreement with the institutional party in such a country.
Also to note, China is 'holistic, polychronic and high-context'. They have no immigration.
#Products
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How Starbucks India CEO Plans on Winning Over Tea Drinkers (youtube.com)
One of the general distinguishing factors of cultures/countries are tea/coffee, and another is dogs/cats. Would you like to live in a country where people all drink tea and keep cats (Japan) or would you rather live in a country where everyone drinks coffee all day and everywhere you go there's dogs barking?
So if Starbucks succeeds in getting Indians switch to coffee, can we actually say that would be a positive or negative change? They'd probably get more work done, but would be more stressful maybe.
Is traditional marriage doomed for millennials and Gen Z? | The Stream (youtube.com)
Are farmers ‘free people’?
‘It is the landlord who supplies and maintains the permanent equipment of the industry. He is the owner of the land. It is his duty to drain and fence it, to make and maintain the roads... to supply it with houses... to provide the building accomodation necessary for crops, livestock, machinery and the general purposes of the farm.’ CS Orwin ‘The Future of Farming’ 1930.
Productivity of a farm is limited by its infrastructure. A tenant farmer can only with difficulty change these, they are the domain of the owner.
The uncertainty of weather.
You can't close down for a week or two. Although small modern farms use less labor and instead use machines.
The crops are not generally interchangeable. Even if you could predict the market you can't just change what crop you will grop (regarding crop rotation).
The soil has no limits to its production, it was argued. Soil becomes more useful if you use it effectively.
Barriers to entry for farming as an actual business. 200 or 300 acres costs 2 or 4 million, and machinery costs hundreds of K.
Farmers can't unionize and can't strike. They're price takers.
Why farmers are not capitalists (youtube.com)
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OREGON URGENTLY SHUTS DOWN SMALL FARMS EN MASSE “To Protect The People" (youtube.com)
Comerciantes Contratan a Exmilitares para Eliminar al Tren de Aragua en Bogotá (youtube.com)
Australia to Propose Foreign Student Limits (youtube.com)
What The Rise Of Fake Job Listings Says About The Job Market (youtube.com)
Some employers are doing it because they don't know what the salary/compensation should be, so they're doing kind of research, asking applicants what they expect.
Some are doing it to push down wage expectations for employees, because they can show they have applicant options.
JOLTS maybe isn't affected by this, because JOLTS reporting is for jobs the company can fill in 30 days possibly.
Companies don't like to admit they're posting ghost jobs, so they're hard to spot.
Job seekers might start to do the same thing. Look for jobs the entire time they're working, and having lots of recruitment contacts.
...
Asian students are up a significant percentage in US colleges, while black and hispanic are significantly down, as a result of the recent move towards meritocracy and away from inclusion. Whites (but that category often includes people who some might not think of as white, so take it as you will) still make up the same amount, a bit under 40% of students. I think people will come to realize inclusion is better on this issue. The problem before was that we weren't honest about what we were doing. We can just say we want to live in a country where we have inclusion, and where we educate people of different races and have college educated people of all races, and not all perform the same on tests but that's less important. It's only a small percentage, and while it means some higher-scoring well-deserving asians and maybe other races won't get the education access, it means some well-deserving but lower scoring blacks and hispanics will.
For one, who cares about test scores anyway? Show me they predict a person you want to know or an important social figure.
You're better off getting a top 10% student of a non-Ivy versus a top 50% at an Ivy, said Malcolm Gladwell, according to Chamath. They've performed.
Asians are now almost 50% of new students. Even before they were slightly higher than whites.
I'd guess America will become more asian-run. More or perhaps mostly Asian governed, managed, etc. Like in recent years we've seen a high representation of asians (South Asians maybe more in Europe/UK, and parts of Canada, East Asian in other parts of Canada). That culture likes non-manual labor. South Asians are a culture accustomed to interacting with other people, taking on roles where some people are responsible for providing for others and they get prestige and position benefits. Whites in Canada anyway are not really like that. I'm not sure which is better to have in government positions, but the two broad cultures definitely favor more asians getting governing roles.
Paris Became A Police State--And Wow, It Changed (#191) (youtube.com)
Do Germans all feel guity for the events during WWII? and all Israelis not feel guilty for current events? And if so, why?
July pt2, New collar jobs
The World is Teaching America How to Play Basketball – Data Analysis (youtube.com)
FEATURE: Social media trends driving Britain's Japanese literature boom (english.kyodonews.net)
July pt1, GenZ, Value of SM, Left/Right
They're on the internet ‘almost all of the time.’ When you're talking to GenZ, they're thinking about what's going on on their phone.
Watching the funniest thing that happened on the planet is by definition funnier or more entertaining than the three of us having a burger. Jonathan Haidt | The All-In Interview (youtube.com)
Phone-based childhoods.
A beautiful moment that I am not a part of. I don't know I want something until I see someone else have it. A million likes on a photo.
People don't copy what they see. They copy what they want. We're in tune, therefore, to what the people around us are wanting. Rene Gerard.
They're not wrong in copying the pattern Kardashian went through after making a sex tape that went public. The riches and fame that followed. It makes sense.
Any kid that doesn't get a phone is left out, and it ‘hurts’ them. Everyone has a bad outcome. You get there because everyone else is doing it. Why are you on this all day? Well, I have to because I don't want to be left out. I don't wanna quit because I don't want to be alone.
9 or 10 year olds desperately want a phone and all the SM. 16 and 17 year olds wish it had never been invented. ‘It messed things up.’
‘If you don’t agree with me I'm going to hurt you, I'm going to destroy you socially' to win arguments. It was allowed, even at elite universities (which used to be prestigous). As long as the shout-downs were done in the name of Social Justice. And the schools and authorities were afraid of them too. So they weren't opposed. Now people can't explain why people can't call for the deaths of ‘the Jews’ at the pro-Palestine protests, because it's nothing different from what they've allowed for years.
‘Always trust your feelings, they’re always right. Life is a battle between perfectly good and perfectly evil. Our side has been cheated or hurt or defiled by theirs, and someone has to punish them. Avoid stressful experiences, speakers who say things you're going to hate.' Incredibly simplistic and exciting, you're a White Man, oh that means you're an oppressor, and I can feel virtuous to the extent I'm not that. People seek for ways they can claim an identity at least in part as a victim. Whiteness is the main enemy, THE thing. ‘Anti-racism’. Firing all the white guides in museums in 2021. Chemistry has to be about anti-racism.
The Left (until the 60s and 70s) was the party who stuck up for the have-nots. It changed to be about ‘power.’ Some people have power and they use that to oppress the opposite. The Left is losing black men, asians, hispanics, in the time of Donald Trump, too. The Left's policies are so offensive to so many people.
Businesses are moving away from all this segregation and wokeness are changing first. Campuses might be swinging now, after Dec 5 hearing, embarassing for universities.
In colleges, there really is no Right. The Left have been the only villain.
Cruel chaos and no one has success versus authoritative normative repressiveness and inequality, extents of liberalism and conservatism. The Right is always a reaction to the recent Left. The Left is a mixture of different kinds of people. The Progressive Activists were never liberal, they're not even very concerned about bringing up the bottom but rather bringing down the top. Restaining rich people and constraining privelege. Not in the Democratic Party, where usually the moderate part wins, despite outspoken progressive wing. Traditional Conservatives have been removed from the Trump Republicans.
People are having problems integrating Gen Zers into their companies. ? Resiliency, communication skills, too fragile for criticism, so much anxiety. But they're not in denial. They can show incredible growth. They have to understand antifragility. 'I'll give you two options. Because I care about you being successful in this job, I'm going to tell you everything I think you're doing wrong and I am going to try to make you better. Option two I can really try to be sensitive about your feelings and really try to make everything gentle and try never to upset you. Which one do you want?' But what employers are doing is hire 3 people on project basis and fire one, let one quit, and one is left. Hiring is going to not just look for high GPA and good school. They're going to look for signs of being a free-range kid, that you travelled alone for 3 months. There's no random here, there's no side hustle, there's no Your Politics, that's your weekend.
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Workers secretly hiring others to do their jobs to lessen workload (youtube.com)
Mass tourism protesters in Barcelona, Spain, spray water at tourists (youtube.com)
Is AI a Threat to Human Dignity? | Rosalind Picard & Max Tegmark at MIT (youtube.com)
Bank Fires Workers For Faking Work (youtube.com)
Xuan bought a $6000 apartment in a remote Chinese town to "lie flat" | ABC News (youtube.com)
Even Chinese people were surprised at the low price to buy. This is a small city of 450k people.
Headlines over captainship of Murdoch emprie. Fox already may be out of touch with direction of Conservatives, who are now maybe more populist and less neocon.
#Journalsim
People
March week2, Musk, Zuckerberg education
Musk should probably just stay true to his original and constant values and personality. Because it's not at all certain how he'll be treated by the king, and if he gives up what he's got he won't leave with much.
Yup, watched most of the interview. Musk is still Musk.
...
Kara Swisher: Mark Zuckerberg was 'one of the most carelessly dangerous men' in tech (youtube.com)
‘He’s very earnest about things, but then, he gets to make decisions for the rest of us, without a proper education. It's a very expensive education but it's at our expense.' She specifically sited how there was ‘anti’ Jewish content and he said he didn't want to censor anyone and it ‘took him 2 years’ to start removing some of that content.
Feb week4, Milei crypto pump
Chamath pointed out that it doesn't make sense. He was on such an PR upswing, doing everything right, the envy of US government and others, and then why would he suddenly do this? Some speculate his family members put him up to it? ‘I did not endorse it, I just shared it.’ Now he's going to have to go through this whole thing of washing his hands of this. Is it worth it?
An inspiration to Americans and others. DOGE is a copy of what Milei did. The other day Musk waved a chainsaw around, which Milei did. ‘He had set such a great standard.’
Afterwards, Milei reportedly said in interview that ‘The rality is if you go to the casino and lose money, I mean, what is the claim if you knew that it had those characteristics?’ (Did he for sure say that after the tweets?)
Feb week1, Trump, KanyeCensori
President Trump unleashes on Laken Riley migrant killer (youtube.com)
He talks about a bunch of things they stopped money from going to, like DEI, WHO, condoms for Hamas. Hundreds of millions each. $45m for diversity scholarships in Myanmar.
Seems he's gotten pretty good at talking to the general public through a camera.
Kanye appeared on the red carpet of the Grammys with his girlfriend Censori, who the pair have been making headlines for her wearing scandalously little clothing for about a year or two, every once in a while, in Italy or Japan. This time she was basically naked, just a couple squares over the 3 main parts. You know someone's out of real ideas when they hittin the sex thing so hard and over such a period of time.
WATCH: Reporter Asks Trump If He's Considering Pardoning Edward Snowden (youtube.com)
He seemed to say that he wouldn't pardon Snowden because some people are really against it (while others are really for it).
Jan week4, Lack of Musk interviews, Ulbricht pardoned
Why Trump made a deal to free Ross Ulbricht (youtube.com)
Trump likes deals.
‘I love freeing people. I'll do that.'
Compare the pardoning of Ulbricht with that of Hunter Biden.
The DELETED Ross Ulbricht Prison Interview (2021) (youtube.com)
It's not the same as when, 100 years ago, governments could put a person in prison and allow the public to think the worst, fabricate and manipulate information to paint the picture they want. Now, we have access to information, and rights protect the ability to communicate. ‘You know what you’re saying is not true. You're hurting me, and you're hurting my family. Please stop.' ‘Bitcoin is the embodiment of freedom.’ (The principle maybe, but I'm not sure Bitcoin has actually done that for people since they don't yet transact in it, and it is now considered a tracked, controlled, gated payment method.)
Ross Ulbricht Is FREE, But What Happens To His 170,000 Bitcoin? (youtube.com)
Worth $18b, which should be given back to him if he has been pardoned. However, some pointed out that he may only have ownership of 5% or something, since the 170k Bitcoins were property of SilkRoad.
What is the legal obligation for a pardon in returning these coins? Since a pardon doesn't remove legal ‘guilt’. It might result in a big trial of law. Maybe they will try to pay back only the value from 12 years ago, which would have been like $3m.
‘Maybe we’ll get a Silk Road 2.0, but with a token. jk.'
Some of the agents involved in the arrest and prosecution were found to have been lying to steal some Bitcoin, she said.
‘Silk Road’ Founder Ross Ulbricht Releases Statement After Trump Pardon (youtube.com)
If Trump had made a promise to free Assange, how many people would have changed their vote just to get that deal? I think quite a few.
Sen. Rand Paul explains why Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht (youtube.com)
Paul has been pushing for his release. ‘I’ve always been a believer in fair and appropriate punishment.' Lol why is that even a statement in the US?
Trump, as a result of malicious lawfare, can now sympathize with others who have born the brunt of unjust criminal prosecution. Would he have done this without having suffered? There is a question of how much the Ulbricht pardon was transactional and how much idealistic, but I it doesn't seem it can completely lack either motivation.
Jan week2, Zuckerberg after Facebook removes factcheckers
See it: Trump says Mark Zuckerberg surrendered to his jail threat (Melber breakdown) (youtube.com)
This video has clips of today's Zuckerburg, talking about prioritizing again free speech, influenced by Trump, and Zuckerburg 4 years ago under Biden, taking actions about ‘voter suppression’ and ‘foreign actors’ and such, in the days when everyone said he was a pod person or maybe an alien or a robot, the way he looked and acted. You can see in this video. In the past 2 years though he took up martial arts and seems to be doing a lot of outdoor activity, and now, perhaps, will be encouraged to do actually moral (not democratsMoral) things with the platform, well, we'll see. It is a striking contrast though between the 4 years.
Is ZUCKERBERG a FREE SPEECH Advocate? (youtube.com)
People are talking about this, and are divided in opinion.
Jan week1, Bukele, Musk crypto, court weapon
‘That’s when a government loses its essense.' Government figures have to lecture their staff like CEOs, classroom teachers, parents.
Elon Musk changes handle on X (youtube.com)
The crypto went up 900%, they reported.
What’s behind Elon Musk’s call for UK prisoner Tommy Robinson’s release? (youtube.com)
‘Weaponization of court buildings' in UK. Seems somewhat to take advantage of the cultural trigger of ‘young girls', usually a more charged way of referring to young women.
Nov week4, ClearValue applied to DOGE, Milei, Putin
#Musk
A fink and a whistleblower are kind of the same thing, but it's a fink when it's bad and it's a whistleblower when it's good. Thiel.
I Applied to DOGE to Fix The IRS: Here's My Resume to Trump & Elon Musk (youtube.com)
His recommendations are 1, don't do tax refunds to debit cards, because this allows scams, 2, don't do constant audits of normal taxpayers using the current IRS fraud detection parameters (he has regular people taxpayers who get audited multiple times and the finding is ‘no change’), 3, repeal limits on Roth IRAs because people just use a backdoor loophole Roth IRA if they can't do it directly, 4, improve training for auditors, because they're dangerous to regular taxpayers, toxic IRS, 5, make tax filing free for people with basic tax documents, currently tax filing is a horrible process for anyone (purposefully, he said), 6, cost-benefit so IRS doesn't audit for months for a $300 recoup, 7, simplify tax code, don't have an alternative minimum tax, complex and expensive.
Nov pt1, Samantha Power, Musk
Politics, policies & power: John Mearsheimer’s blunt analysis | Centre Stage (youtube.com)
iPhone Reboots Are Locking Out Police (youtube.com)
This is the power Elon Musk has: O’Leary loves ‘very contentious’ plan to cut spending (youtube.com)
Might be a point here. Musk has never really obeyed social pressure. He probably felt it's pain early but one way to deal with it, when you want to do something important but social pressure is against it, is to kind of lean into it. Now, he's a guy who is totally fine undertaking things that he believes in that have a huge amount of pressure against them, not something you can say of most people in government (or most large corporations, which are kind of like government).
Oct pt2, Nobel prize for confrontation?, MMA and athletics
First public speaking by #Assange
Han Kang: Once vilified for 'daring' to air South Korea's 'dirty laundry', now a national treasure (youtube.com)
Nobel lit prize. For confrontation, rather than literature? Airing Korean dirty laundry overseas?
The commenter referred this to Korea's general popularity in film and series, music etc.
Korea has gone from a very poor to a rich country. Lots of soft power. From having lots of children to having few.
How distant have Koreans come from their nature-linked tradition? In one generation?
Koreans suspect artists as sort of trouble-makers?
Currently, strong men's rights movement in Korea. Lots of women novelists right now.
Is B Gates just totally disliked now? Bloomberg published a 22minute ‘In Conversation with Bill Gates’ a day ago and it has 830 views today. I haven't and won't watch it. But I've seen it pop up on my feed several times over the past day, so it's being suggested but no one is watching it. Although on another of Bloomberg's YouTube channels the same interview with a different title had 9.8k views. But lower than what you'd see for any other tech founder.
Zuckerburg I think might have been tending towards this dislikability before, but over the past 2 years he seems to be changing. He does sports, MMA, has made some actually social (not just fake social but really taking advantage of society) statements, and I think he's showing at least some steps towards being liked by people.
August, Gorzon, Durov
#JaimeGarzon #Journalism
YouTube (youtube.com)
Telegram Creator on Elon Musk, Resisting FBI Attacks, and Getting Mugged in California (youtube.com)
The momentum for Telegram right now, adding millions of users every month and will soon have a billion. Arrested in France mid-August.
(Interview from 4 months ago.)
Telegram is not private, in terms of the team there (which is 30 people reportedly) have the PGP tools.
He didn't travel to big geopolitical powers like China, Russia, US. He only goes to countries where he feels they are stable in having ideals that align.
#PavelDurov
'#FreePavel': Elon Musk, RFK Jr decry arrest of Telegram CEO (youtube.com)
Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France (youtube.com)
France charged him with ‘facilitating’ crimes that were committed by people who used his platform to
communicate, ‘conspiracy’. France had in the past asked him to ‘help them’ by giving them access to private data of users to ‘investigate’ these crimes, and Durov did not do so. His stance has always been that he would not allow anyone to have access to private messages.
It has been reported that Telegram has given access to Russia about people who oppsed the Ukraine war, and Russia has arrested those citizens.
#Law
What's behind the arrest in France of Telegram's CEO? | Inside Story (youtube.com)
Is Durev being scapegoated by the West? while Zuckerberg and Musk are free?
Musk posted in opposition to the arrest of Durov, referencing ‘freedom’ which may or may not be a value in Europe.
Is the use of platforms to host or communicate crimes, which you might imagine is ‘all platforms’, limited to only Telegram? or is it because Durov strongly upholds free speech and the right to privacy for people? Telegram doesn't interfere with what people do or say. He doesn't allow anyone access to the servers, and has opposed state services who've gone after them.
Is he just an easier target? What would happen if France did this to Zuckerberg as he stepped off a private plane in France?
The journalist in this interview says that when he talks to people in Russia, where WhatsApp is the biggest app, if they want to talk about business or a news story, they switch to Telegram. There's a trust that it can't be spied on whereas the other apps can be.
X under Musk has handed over data requested by ‘pretty much every government’ the expert here said.
July pt1, Succession, SBF
#Samo has a start to a solution for his Succession Problem.
FTX selling without loss? Bitcoin sinks to $64,000 level alongside tech stock rout: CNBC Crypto World (youtube.com)
#SBF
Products
April week 1, Privacy phone solutions, facial recognition, infrared lights, Rayban Meta glasses light, Alexa now uploads everything no option, Poppi, Buskill
Virtual Phone Solution - No KYC, Unregistered Phone Numbers with SMS (youtube.com)
Own solutions.
Only requires internet access, no sim, no kyc, cheap. $50 per year, US and Canada.
It can also be used as an intermediary, so you give this number to whoever, they call or text to this software, which forwards (calls or texts) it to your real phone. It would be good if he strips rtf and scans links during this process sometime. Anyway, strangers never get your real phone number, but you still get their calls and texts.
Check Out the First-Ever Sunglasses Designed To Block Facial Recognition (youtube.com)
What If Our Clothes Could Disrupt Surveillance Cameras? (youtube.com)
Facial recognition, and the allowing of it for governments and other institutions, not only causes people to be less likely to protest, but also less likely to do any social activity. Easy how to see how they become oppressive. Especially oppressive for peope who are trying to make changes in the law or in society.
We don't have any evidence this even prevents crime. Maybe a 13% reduction in theft, but no reduction in violent crime, in one UK study. Is this reducing crime ‘in the way that we would like to’?
Privacy visor fools facial recognition (youtube.com)
Visors with random camoflage shapes. Upward sloping, unlike regular glasses.
Flock's Creepy Surveillance System Coming to a City Near You (youtube.com)
Rayban Meta Smart Glasses cannot secretly record people (youtube.com)
This isn't bad. ‘If you’re a creep, if you wann record people secretly, these glasses aren't for you.'
If you cover the bright recording indicator light, it won't record.
The Actual Freedom of an Old Car. (youtube.com)
Amazon to kill off local Alexa processing, all voice requests shipped to cloud “”. HN. The option to ‘not send voice recordings’ is no longer available either. Amazon receives everything, no option to not let them.
Poppi bought for $2b by Pepsi.
How Sweden’s Most Elite Train for Next-Gen Arctic Warfare | WSJ (youtube.com)
How Cruise-Owned Private Islands Are Transforming the Caribbean | WSJ The Economics Of (youtube.com)
Microsoft's New OneNote DARK PATTERN (youtube.com)
‘If there’s a mistake made, you go on the offense.' Suggested CNBC host, about Trump's general strategy. You mess up using Signal, start accusing Signal and say Does this app even work?!
VLOG: Buskill / Linux udev Rules / xAI Acquires Twitter (youtube.com)
uDev. Buskill. Opensource design and project, files for 3d printing online. Anti-what happened to Arron Shwarz device. Magnetic connection, either turns off computer, or screen, or shreds LUKS header.
Could you Rearm Europe without US Weapons? - Equipping a Unified European Military (April 1 special) (youtube.com)
Germany still makes complicated machinery at the top level, right?
Convert Linux to Windows | Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
This has long (but forgotten) been a thesis. That to get Windows users to switch to Linux, you should make a distro that looks and acts (including install programs) just like the modern Windows distro. Don't deny them the programs they like to use, because denying them just one will mean they won't switch. Same with Mac.
Zorin OS (Linux) Ditches Firefox for Brave (youtube.com)
Trump signs order to launch task force aimed at making DC safer, cleaner (youtube.com)
Signal downloads surge in wake of US security leak of Yemen attack plans (youtube.com)
March week2, El Salvador prisons, Trump $5m residency card, border rancher's gate, Flying Pidgeon
This $2K Motor Turns Any MTB Into an Ebike In Seconds (youtube.com)
Inside the World’s Most Unconventional Prison | El Salvador Prisons (youtube.com)
They send common criminals to this prison, where they are working or studying basically all the time. There is little leisure time (sports and 1 hour of movies that are approved and ?censored). Age 18-59. The professors who teach the classes inside are also criminals but who know about special skills. They use cameras mounted beside doors to monitor faces so people go where they are programmed to go (to classes etc).
They talk about how before Zero Ocio (before Bukele), the prisons were covered in grafitti and there was a lot of crime, contraband, and killings inside the prison, and also gang leaders who were inside would send orders for crimes to the outside.
Each day the prisoners work inside, they are credited 2 days of their sentense.
The prison is self-sufficient in many things, because, for example, the metal cabinets are welded inside.
They have a university inside the prison where they can earn a college degree in business admin.
They do mechanic work on government vehicles.
They have a huge factory where thousands (capacity of 2100, ie 6300 per 24 hours) of inmates work at counters, sewing uniforms for prisoners as well as for uniforms for outside (public government workers' uniforms). 6000-8000 units per day (one unit per person?).
They are industrial complexes. In another factory they make desks and chairs (for schools etc). The desks are not sold to schools, but distributed by the government.
They have fish farms in manmade lakes.
After a while proving themselves, a prisoner can become ‘a person of confidence’ and moved to a large open air farm in a big green valley. Security is less. The produce food for the prisons. They're sort of tested at the farm.
There is no internet.
Gang criminals are sent to CECOT. Some of the people in the common prison worked for gangs but were basically obliged to work for the gangs and are not considered gang members.
President Trump's $5 million gold card tax loophole: Here's what to know (youtube.com)
‘Experts say it’s the only way that foreigners would want to become US residents'. Because, as I've written here, US taxes all income domestic and foreign, for its citizens. So the Gold Card would only tax US income and not foreign.
UAE and US are top destinations currently for migration by people with money, reportedly.
The price could go up because of the value of it.
There are 270k people with $30m or more.
UK offered a similar program but cheaper and only got like 1000 customers. (It had same tax benefits.) Lots of their customers were sanctioned Russians.
Mainly China, Russia, Middle East would be the target client. Maybe corrupt Venezuelan officials, etc.
It's currently hard for anyone to get a US citizenship, even wealthy.
Maybe it's a way to go around regulations to get high quality CEOs or chip industry workers etc into the US.
Firefox New CRAZY Terms of Use (youtube.com)
It's Tangara time: first impressions of a new open hardware MP3 player (youtube.com)
Use Firefox? Mozilla Says it Can Use Your Data However it Wants. (youtube.com)
Steve Bannon: "Walk the F*ck Away" from Ukraine Economic Partnership Deal (youtube.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Wikileaks is still publishing, and recently published on USAID, but said it was to distribute US propaganda and goals. Internews Network, $500m. Does anyone think that the Clinton Organization even possibly could be ‘independent’ as it claims, and promote independent journalism?
‘Operates unto itself with no democratic accountability.'
World's No. 1 EV maker, China's BYD, launches on-vehicle drone system with DJI (youtube.com)
ChatGPT Humanoid Robots at CES: Blurring Human-Machine Lines || WooGlobe (youtube.com)
The Killer Ground Drones Hunting Russians in Ukraine | Frontline | Daily Mail (youtube.com)
WARNING - Etcher Sends PII To Third Parties (youtube.com)
Balena Etcher has never been secure.
Etcher's privacy policy hasn't changed for 5 years.
Rancher builds 'Mad Max' gate to block smugglers, migrants along Texas border (youtube.com)
‘It used to be that the people that came across, all of them, just wanted a job.’
A spiked (meant to puncture a radiator if a vehicle tries to push it open) gate with a special lock.
One-upmanship between ranchers and illegal migrants for 20 years. They've also stolen his vehicles, drug mules have pointed guns at hunters, and he had to armor a house because IMs broke in through the walls and roof. He has to clean migrants' litter so his cows don't eat it.
‘You feel sorry for them, but then again I’m trying to protect what's mine.'
Migrant activity has slowed down over the past year. JD Vance said in one particular area crossings went down from 1500 daily to 30.
A neighbor is building a moat around his property (which isn't feasible for most).
Why this forgotten bicycle may be key to China's future (youtube.com)
The Flying Pidgeon. ... They tend to be disappointing for people who buy vintage ones. Heavy and clunky and not that well-built, and not that great to ride. Lots of thick, low-quality steel does make it durable, but weighs a ton. The pedals bend and fall off. ... The design was based on a vintage British Ralleigh Roadster someone in China had. ... All were black.
However, a guy in Calgary bought 2 at a garage sale, from a former diplomat who decades ago wanted a way for he and his wife to get around China, and the guy put like 2000km on without issue, but he said that his were government-issue ones meant for like the postal service or whoever, racing green not black, and maybe the government made higher quality ones.
China went from bikes to cars, but now there is some trend (including impetus from government, city government) to go towards bikes, making bike roads, tracks, etc. Streets are congested and parking fees are expensive. ... Attitudes are changing, bikes are no longer looked on as low-status, etc. People choose another way.
Feb week4, FOSS trackers, cheap radio communicator devices (no internet needed)
PROCOLORED K8 DTF PRINTER - Great for beginners! (youtube.com)
New Screen Printing Method for Beginners and Pros (youtube.com)
Uses laser to make the screen.
openDAW - there's a new FREE DAW in town (youtube.com)
OpenDAW. FOSS. Runs in browser.
From the creator of audioTool, which he worked on for 16 years. audioTool seems to be a set of guitar pedals, and the effects in this DAW have pedal-style knobs.
YKK: Japan’s Zipper King (youtube.com)
90% of the Japan market for zippers, 40% of world market.
‘It was not uncommon for Yoshida to hit the zippers with a hammer to test their quality.’
Amazon are changing the way you own your Kindle books - you have 10 days to react (youtube.com)
You’ve Never Seen a Device Like This (youtube.com)
ip65 rated. Opensource, no monthly plan, no corporate tracking. Houdini M1, on Etsy, Houdini M1 – Meshtastic Open-source Dog Tracker | Sensecap T1000-E Clip - Etsy (etsy.com) .
THIS NEW CAR GADGET IS GETTING PEOPLE TALKING!!! (youtube.com)
Introducing the T-Deck Plus (youtube.com)
$80 blackberry-style radio-based text messenger. Range is maybe 3km, so there has to be another node (another device) that close or closer, and then it goes 3km from that device, etc. In US cities it looks like there's hundreds of users, so they can message accross the city. If you want to build a radio tower or any stronger transmitter, you extend the range (from that transmitter).
I Bought a Magic Dent Eraser Machine from China for $150 (youtube.com)
Your Legal Weed is Full of Poison with Paige St. John (youtube.com)
Robot from China can move 20 tons, move my lathe (youtube.com)
Look like little Battlebots. They use two of these, under the lathe, so they can move directionally too.
Friedburg pointed out that memecoins are like collectible cards. Entertainment mechanisms, like other gambling.
Feb week1, Farm land, Rossman consumer site, Thai DTV visa, linux phones, Superbowl, Warner Movies, Cloudflare versus browsers
This little podcast called Minor Issues, by Mises' Mark Thornton
Artificially low interest rates create demand to buy land, land prices increase, then some land that could have been used for cattle will be too expensive for this, or may be bought to do something else instead.
Environtmental activists who force government to try to force people to adhere to their ideal diet contributes to higher beef prices in Europe.
INTRODUCING THE CONSUMER PROTECTION DATABASE: EXPOSE EXPLOITATION & HOLD COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE! (youtube.com) (Louis Rossman)
115k views with 20k likes.
A weekly that logs companies attempts to remove right to repair, take away consumer rights and protections, revoke licenses. Consumer protection means something different in 2025 than 1970. It's not about ages 3-5 being changed to 8-10 because it's a choking hazard. Today it's a bunch of tricks to take data and sell it, despite promises and expectations. ‘Accept enforced arbitration.’
The cost for this kind of project is moderation, because it requires a lot, to be able to have user-submitted content. Provide citations, show it's on page6 of the ToS and show how hard it is to find the ToS terms, with links for that.
'One of the only thing that allows people to get justice for this ... is class action lawsuits.' Macbook pro with a bad GPO gets replaced for free rather than costing $600. 'It's one of the few ways in the US to hold companies accountable and responsible, because the government doesn't.'
‘Companies are not held accountable or responsible by our government.’ Actually, that's a statement I've suddenly seen a bit recently, so maybe that's an upcoming trend. That corporations are the way to commit crimes or not pay taxes without the accountability individuals are held to. Same government, different treatment, it seems to many, for corporations and individuals.
It is more difficult to find parts now. The repair industry Rossman had been trying to improve, is an industry where it's more difficult now than 5 years ago. Parts used to be cheap and available, like $5, and now it's like $400 (Apples uses a ‘quality control, quality assurance’ certification to limit parts for repairers, I guess.)
All the problems go under the umbrella of Right to Repair, Rossman noted. Do you own your camera (and the manufacturer turns the service to its server off for some reason), or does the company still own it?
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Open Source and Secure WiFi Router - OpenWrt One (youtube.com)
KASSO Highlights EPS #3 #4 | Japanese Skateboarding TV show | English Subs | TBS (youtube.com)
Gamify everything and you will get no more real things from it. We saw this with American Idol.
...
The TRUTH About Thailand's New DTV Visa (youtube.com)
Not by calendar year, but by first day there. You can extend it easily from 180 days to 360 days, and then you have to leave and re-enter Thailand, and you start again when you re-enter. The counter resets itself to day 1 when people enter again.
DTV is targetted at freelancers, DigitalNomads, or for people who attend classes (muy thai, cooking) or courses, or for children of DTV holders. You need a certificate from an external company, or a professional portfolio of your work (doens't require contracts ongoing, but that does help, but really you just need to show the profile), or show you're a child or spouse or whatever of another DTV holder. You can do it online, and then you enter showing the certificate you got online (if you did it not online you would have the visa in your password).
There is a financial requirement, you have to show you have 500k Thai Baht (in any bank). (That's $15k USD.)
Thailand wants workers, they want to encourage classes and courses, and they want to allow family of people already staying in Thailand for good reason. The government wants to cater to different types of people, so they have different visas for different types of people.
They also have a visa that caters to students.
And they extended their 30 day to 60 days, and extended it from just travellers to conferences or whatever.
The official is very polite, does him appropriate honor, and thanks him for what he has done in Thailand and ‘for’ Thailand, even though the guy himself is the direct recipient of his actions. This is how countries and people and governments behave who want to get admiration and respect themselves, and is the opposite of what we seem to get from most of the non-Asia world. If you do something for Thailand that they like or is good for them, it seems, they will be warmer towards you. In another thing here on L&sJ last year, there was another Thai official or scholar who was commenting on how they didn't really care so much about the crime (I think it wasy), but the way the person behaved and how they were, and that was the important thing.
In Asia, there seems to be a long understanding of mutual benefits. Maybe in the Middle East too, so all of the East, maybe. And in the West, it's more begrudging of anyone, and accusatory of any success. Is it that the West immeditately tries to tear down or find fault with anyone who establishes themselves as having any success, and the east sort of just converts them into higher-up people, who are expected to take on the role of patrons with perhaps greater rights?
Will We FINALLY Get a Linux Phone? | Weekly News Roundup (youtube.com)
NEXX.
Pinephone is just too low speced. Too slow. Librem, the word is ‘don’t do business with those guys.'
If you want to see a linux phone, build one, because don't expect one will ever hit the market. There's so many way to impede them, and if one ever got to where it was good, it will always make sense for Apple or Samsung (or one of their friends/partners) to just buy that little company out and stall it. We might get one from China, though.
the ultimate guide to an open source life, i spent 2 months on this, i hope you enjoy it!!! (youtube.com)
Rossman's 2 year project, 13 hour video course and very detailed wiki.
When he did the video guide he was going through and redoing his wiki, documented, to see if it actually worked, becuase yeah, there is a lot of linux documentation out there that doesn't actually work even if you follow the steps (perhaps because the machine they used already had dependencies and things installed). ... He also never has to update his wiki or video (except for links or typos), because each thing he wrote it as he tested it from scratch.
One thing he said was that with linux, if he ever gets something to work, he never changes it, even if some new thing says it's way better, he just assumed yeah but it might not actually work or be able to be set up, and this thing I have already works so there's no way he's changing from that... The end of constant new digital products and reconfigurations is products that work.
The Future of Shotguns is Insane (youtube.com)
Disney+ puts ads into premium, ad-free tier;, just pirate it all. (youtube.com)
Dig through bins, pay for items by the pound at new GR thrift store (youtube.com)
Everything you need to know about Super Bowl LIX | REUTERS (youtube.com)
Cheapest ticket is $5k. Average ticket is $10k. $8m for a 30-second ad slot for its broadcast.
Warner Movies is releasing old movies (70s-90s maybe) to YouTube free. Apparently, they used to just dump old content like this to Netflix etc to get at least some revenue from it. Some streamed it themselves but there are costs to that. One cost is bandwidth to stream (many of them only had low like 340p quality, and another cost is a decent dev to make everything work right). Seems a market for a good single purchase/FOSS video streamer plus put your own ads in it.
Cloudflare reportedly blocking non-mainstream browsers (like PaleMoon, SeaMonkey, IceCat, Basilisk, Falcon). Also, some people have said that to access websites that require a Cloudflare captcha they have to switch to Chrome browser.
This New Cheap Tool Has Mechanics Crapping in Their Pants (youtube.com)
Temperature camera you can plug into the phone with USB. Seek out a hot wire. Temperature management for exhaust manifold differences. A lot of functions. Almost seems worth building an AI diagnoser to put in garages.
Jan week4, Characord, mini crypto miner, Mecha handheld linux, Chucky Cheese, Anduril Ohio, little heat printers for cameras, Piggy banking
Usings Voicebox, OpenSource text-to-speech. Any language (they demo Japanese and it's correct).
It uses overmolded magnets to just ‘stick’ to clothing.
They're not selling it yet (because other projects), but make the CAD files available free online.
Characord
...
World’s first fully 3D-printed microscope made in under 3 hours (newscientist.com)
PostmarketOS 24.12 Released: New Features, Device Support, and Performance Boosts! (youtube.com)
This $30 Camera Is Truly Special (youtube.com)
Steam Deck Play and Work case (youtube.com)
Low-Cost Bitcoin Miner - Bitaxe Ultra Review (youtube.com)
Hashrates for 3 models are 500Gh, 650, and 1.1Th.
$170-$270.
Blockstream Jade Plus: Full Setup & Honest Review (youtube.com)
That Mecha handheld Linux device is getting heavy attention. It's one of the things talked about in most CES videos. Will the people hold out against being bought by a corporate, closedsource tech player? We've seen startup linux handhelds (mostly using Pis) before and none are currently available/being developed, despite interest.
How Arcades Are Reinventing Fun (youtube.com)
Chucky Cheese, Dave and Busters, and independents.
Dave and Busters sold food for profits, and used free games to bring customers in. Pivot to sports, and then sports fatigue. Birthdays, corporate outings, mostly people don't go otherwise. Novelty. Repeat business means giving deals, like any business.
New, more physical games where several people (up to 8) play against each other. Social angle.
Alcohol isn't as big a thing as past generations. So need to find other draws for people to go out.
VR machines (but this is limited because it's one person at a time), things people don't have in their houses yet.
Nights with movies, live music, comedy.
Some cooperate with local restaurants to bring food to the customers.
25% can be events (people renting the whole venue).
Little appetite for vintage gaming machines. People only ask for more gaing PCs.
You need a lot of space.
They charge like $25 to use everything for like a whole day. But that's not profitable (in NYC). But it fills the space with people. And those people feel they have a place they belong, so when events come up they want to go there. OS.
It's easier to get money from big corporate brands than from people with one disposible income.
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FINALLY, a real Linux Tablet (youtube.com)
Testing Rail Car on Abandoned Railroad with 100 Year Old Tunnel and Trestles (youtube.com)
Anduril Founder Luckey on Building a New Ohio Plant, an IPO, Working With Trump (youtube.com)
A bit of the talk was about what states do companies want to move to. California wasn't considered, and it doesn't really need to care about a company like Anduril since California has a lot of companies and is rich.
Ohio is also going to have an Intel plant, near the Anduril plant. They'll be in competition for skilled workers, but having more companies in one location makes it easier to get skilled workers to come, since they are moving to a ‘healthy ecosystem of career choices’. It's also critical for Anduril that they have access to advanced semis that are made in the US.
Ohio gave them ‘a great incentive package that was definitely part of our decision.’
4000 jobs. 90 football fields in size. Logistics.
Currently, non ‘accredited investors’ can't invest, because of a law by US goverment. ‘Anti-American,' said Palmer Luckey. All it means is you already have money. ‘We are on a path to being a publicly traded company.’
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Mini Thermal Picture Printers - one in a camera (Mat on tat) (youtube.com)
This one is locked down to its app though, so find one that you can print without a proprietary app.
Prints greys via dithering, so photos will need some processing before printing.
The Latest Celebrity Tech Scam… (youtube.com)
Chuck E. Cheese subscriptions are taking off, meet 'value conscious consumer,' says CEO McKillips (youtube.com)
2020 bankruptcy and restructuring. Pandemic and they didn't have the balance sheet.
2 month pass for $16. Deals on games, drinks, food. They have plans for higher prices for more deals. They sold 80k passes in 2023, 400k in 2024.
They have IP which they could make content about.
They have scratch-made pizza with maybe good ingredients.
They're in 18 countries and looking to expand.
Popoyo: The Best Surf Spot in Nicaragua (youtube.com)
This Is How We Opened Our Own ARCADE! (youtube.com)
How 1% of People Control Civilization with Auren Hoffman (youtube.com)
First interview I've seen with Samo where I started to even look at the other person. I think Samo too, just sat and enjoyed hearing interesting ideas, suggestions, and history, when Auren Hoffman talked.
Modern Piggy Banks | Mark Thornton (youtube.com)
Pre-1965 silver dime worth $2.25 of silver. Government's inflation using fiat. The announce they will fix it, but propose just more tricky accounting, which doesn't actually pay down the debt. People can buy small coins, like silver coins, and save them, which aren't degraded by government fiat inflation. Silver can also be used as a doorstop, weapon, strength training device. 
Jan week2, Chinese laptops and game devices, Sun Knudsen, read-only flashdrives, anti noise device (bluetooth), 10,000 org, Mecha Comet handheld linux, Facebook bot accounts, self-checkout no longer
BEST TINY Handheld Gaming PC - 2025 GPD Win Mini (youtube.com)
Making actual improvements to their computers, unlike all American brands of laptops.
GPD flattened the 4 directions of the analog stick so gamers can move in a direction (Playstation emulation mostly).
About GPD - Shenzhen GPD Technology Co., Ltd. (gpd.hk)
Thank you, Shenzen GPD Technology. American companies have been making worse and worse machines, steadily, for about 15 years, no improvments except in CPU and GPU.
I bought a top of the line, new laptop from one of the biggest companies, a year ago. It's a piece of garbage, has multiple issues, and I'm replacing it asap. It does have the best available CPU, and is the smallest and lightest available (although not that small, and not as small as a VAIO or GPD Pocket), which is what caused me to buy it.
This one-of-a-kind Kanguru flash drive has a hardware read-only switch (youtube.com)
Light turns red.
5 last minute gift ideas (youtube.com)
Kingston DataTraveller (1000mb write). Trezor Safe 5 hardware wallet, to get crypto off of exchanges. Yubi Key 2fa.
I’m back and Superbacked is now free and source-available (youtube.com)
No caveats. Sun worked on this app for 2 years. Had cost $150. He didn't really like charging for it, and hated that the sourcecode wasn't available, and some clones popped up. Similar to Tails, we need a way to have no data persistence. Computer available for offline archival airgapped use cases. Tails doesn't have good printer support.
He wants to put together a group of ‘superGuardians’ to review, defend the software. For OpSec nerds. He wants a network of attorneys, notaries, wealth managers who can custody one block part of the set, called.
Pixel x86: A New Mini MS-DOS & Windows Gaming PC! (youtube.com)
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 ePrivacy Filter monitor put to the test by privacy and security researcher (youtube.com)
Has a privacy screen (can't see from various angles). However, I don't recommend this laptop because it's a pos.
Sun uses a thermal blanket (a big black plastic bag) he puts over himself and his computer when he enters a password. Even infrared cameras can't see.
Inventan máquina que bloquea la música reggaeton de los vecinos (youtube.com)
En Argentina, hay un hombre que no esperO la respuesta de las autoridades.
It turns off the bluetooth for vecinos.
Is it legal? Well, is it legal to play annoying music without regard for neighbors?
Good Question: Why does the volume on my TV go sky-high during commercials? (youtube.com)
Cinemark offering 'Bring Your Own Bucket' deal (youtube.com)
Whatever you want can be a vessel (up to the size equivalent of 2 larges).
Disney Agrees to Merge Hulu + Live into Fubo (youtube.com)
Göbekli Tepe at the World Neolithic Congress (youtube.com)
Lots of tourist stuff.
AI takes center stage at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (youtube.com)
Las Vegas. SmartTVs have AI button so AI can figure out something about what's on the screen, like a recipe or a clothing item. Robot vacuum cleaners now have a crane-style arm to move socks.
Samo talked about the America 10,000 as a government organization he would support, whose purpose would be to find the 10,000 most competent people and make sure they move to America, and it has the following levers and incentives: It can get them a Green Card, no questions asked. It can get their kids into Harvard/Yale (which was something used on Taliban commanders and was one of the strongest incentives). Tax break like no tax for 5 years when you move to America. Witness protection plan. Whoever's in charge, 50 people at most, should have a Darpa mindset, relative autonomy for who they chose. When 10,000 are found, the department wraps up.
America saying that if they don't get skilled tech workers, China will beat them to AI... China doesn't get people wanting to move there. They only get a few disaffected tech workers from the US. (Argument that US could stop doing whatever it does to disaffect people.) Samo.
Meta Officials Make DISASTROUS Move In Flooding Facebook With Fake Users (youtube.com)
People used to, and maybe still I don't know, get banned for this, but now Facebook does it themself. ... Anyway, Facebook's new plan is to have these ‘characters’ ie bots that will ‘drive up engagement.' ‘In leau of actual contacts.’ Sounds like a very temporary strategy because no one will stay. ‘Why would anyone want this?’ If could be they are just doing this because they're desperate to find a use for AI.
Mecha Comet Linux Handheld (CES 2025) (youtube.com)
Debian, kernel 6.6, OpenSource GUI, cadfiles, bootloader.
40pin IO, can be extended to fit rPi. The keyboard mounts as a USB port.
Single screw size, to remove any part. One allen key will work for everything.
45-hour battery running hard. 10days standby.
A platform, not an end-use. People come every day and tell them what they'd like to use it for. Things they'd never have thought of.
Mecha Comet Modular Linux Handheld at #ces2025, NXP i.MX8, NVMe, Debian, Open Source Extensions, GPU (youtube.com)
Official Linux Support for Android is Here • Google's New Year Gift for Linux Lovers (youtube.com)
youtube.com
Has a solar panel. I had thought it would be charged by keypresses.
Self-Checkout Is No Longer Profitable for Retailers
Recurring software updates, regular servicing. Software licencing fees, cybersecurity measures, AI updates, expense of managing unexpected issues that require a person to come help. Frustration, time consuming. Ovbiously, theft.
Paper Apps™ GOLF - How to Play (youtube.com)
How Kenyans Are Turning Old Car Models into EVs with Chinese Tech (youtube.com)
Jan week1, Kagi paid search, NothingPhone CEO interview, D&D, Goa, Homemade iPhones
What Is Kagi Search? (youtube.com)
‘Kagi is a premium (paid), ad-free search engine created to provide high-quality, unbiased search results without the distractions of advertisements or data tracking.’
It includes ‘a lens’ that lets you search for results from a handful of websites you select. Different lenses you have saved for different niches, like your movie lens. Academic lens searching only high-quality sources.
A strict no-ad policy, though? What's wrong with ads?
Users can raise or lower the ranking strength of a website to remember for future searches.
If a user ends a query with a question mark, they'll get AI results trying to answer their question at the top.
Nothing CEO Reacts to MKBHD, MrWhoseTheBoss, LinusTechTips, JerryRigEverything... (youtube.com)
This is the channel of Nothing Phones, with the CEO responding to criticisms by vloggers of the products. Props. And that's why they don't have a removeable battery.
Turbo Fan Dusters are getting out of hand (youtube.com)
A board game born in Mexican prisons brings together people from all walks of life (youtube.com)
Not really an original game though.
How Dungeons & Dragons Helped Bring In Over $1 Billion In A Year (youtube.com)
Repopularized by the (lame, poorly written) TV show Stranger Things.
At the gameshop featured, they have dozens of people filling the room at several tables, all playing DND adventures. DND basically means the store will be economically stable.
50% of players are 15-30, and 50% are older.
There are livestreamed events where people play. Front page of Twitch for months.
One of the companies (that just livestreams playing DND) featured makes $150k a month from Patreon ($0k subs paying $5). ‘When you see like fun stories and friends hanging out and enjoying each others’ company ... It looks fun. You wanna do it.'
‘It’s not like monopoly or chess. You're hangin out with people.'
As a spectator sport, it's sort of like other sports and games, where once you know how the rules go, you know when a really good play has been made, a girl said.
...
Kodak increases film production capacity to meet commercial, consumer demand (youtube.com)
Have Car Companies "Innovated" Themselves Out of Business (youtube.com)
Is the Party Over for Goa? Why Are Tourists Ditching The State | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
Started in the 70s when Western hippies decided to stay there. Shacks popped up, bars and hostels. In the 80s the locality pushed into development, big highrise expensive hotels etc. There was also a lot of unregulated development. The Taxi Mafia there (where Uber is not allowed) ensured high cab prices.
Prices shot up in a location where the appeal was low prices. There are lots of beaches, and now Goa is not one of the cheaper ones.
From here, Goa, some say, has to decide if they want to continue to try to pull in toursits, which means actual complicated work now and not just all cream. Ecological protection, limiting litter and other things associated with overcrowding, getting rid of the Taxi Mafia. But then, that sounds like it would come along with the kind of administration that is less about liberty, which also would mean a shift in tourists.
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Can You Build a Working iPhone From AliExpress...? (youtube.com)
The camera is actually hard to find not made by Apple, so when you buy a non-Apple one, it's usually just they cover the Apple log with stickers. Most of the parts are like this. It's hard to find a good quality screen on Ali. I guess one thing about fabricating your product in China is you can't control people selling parts. Apple has a screwchart online, and that's useful because you have to have the correct screw length.
$350usd, half the price of refurbished.
The waterproofing, water enters the hole for the speaker and goes into the speaker but not further.
Is The Apple Refurbished Store Still Good in 2025? Or Just a Bunch of Bad Mac Deals? (youtube.com)
...
Here's Why Everyone is Using This Tiny Microphone (youtube.com)
Lark M2 wireless.
This WORKSTATION ThinkPad cost $3000 in 2021, I bought it for $200. Can it be fixed? (youtube.com)
Sounds about right for a (new) Thinkpad. PoS. It seems some Chinese companies are stepping up and making computers, so maybe we'll get some decent machines from those.
'It's awesome': Drivers road-test new peanut-shaped roundabout in North Ridgeville (youtube.com)
Dec week4, CDs, Beta Games Group GTA6 competitor, AV Linux
11 Reasons Why I'm Betting CDs Will Make a HUGE Comeback in 2025! (youtube.com)
I started buying CDs and having a new collection 10 years ago, no one was on the same page at that time (there was a record market, and there was some talk about tapes being retro). My nephews started about maybe 2 or 3 years ago, and all their friends buy CDs. They started with tapes, actually, and they make mixed tapes and pass them around.
The Brazilian GTA Everyone’s Talking About.. (youtube.com)
A team of 7 ‘non professional game developers’ who ran 2 kickstarters to raise like $50k, deciding their first game will compete with the biggest game out there and most expensive, GTA6. Beta Games Group.
The first version that people played a couple years ago was all built with premade assets the devs bought (who cares?), including the day-night, so people say it might be a scam. If they use premades though, and only do their own map, it won't have a unique game mechanics, will it?
They want to release in 2025, the same year as GTA6 is planning. If they release earlier than GTA6, they could scoop share.
“Eco-friendly” Products are a SCAM (youtube.com)
Getting Started with AV Linux 23.1! (youtube.com)
Has a suite of AV tools, new Thunar has like preview files, put two mp4s together (losslessly without reencoding), install .debs right in the file manager, resize photos, convert audio format, split drums that were on one track into individual wavs with a click.
Dec week3, Bookstores, personal phone systems
Largest bookseller in US. They opened a lot of new stores this year, and plans for a lot more next year.
‘The end has been called many times.’ Television was gonna stop kids reading. There's a ‘huge dynamism’ among young adults, kids are reading. ‘It’s discovery and it's a social space.' ‘Bookstores have to be friendly, they have to be open.’ ‘It’s the stores that matter.'
In 2019, when the current CEO took over, the company stopped accepting payments to place books in certain locaitons, ie advertising, neither in stores or on the website. Before, they took ‘most of the money that way.’ He gave each store total control over their curration, so ‘you get much more dynamic stores.’
‘We don’t need AI.' ‘There will be an explosion [of books written by AI] but that isn't in our stores, and that's the real power of the store, it's actually a curation, deciding for each store, what books for our customers.'
There have been hugely-grossing moves based on books, but they're still not as good as the books. ‘Science fiction, you can’t do Science Fiction, what your mind is capable of when you're reading it cannot be captured on any screen.'
‘In our stores around 3:30 they’ll be quite empty. Come in at 4 and they'll be full of kids ... We are an absolute magnet for young people, and right into young adults.'
‘It’s different around the country.' What young people are reading.
Books don't come from China. Only the color pages ones do. The paper for black and white books comes from Canada, largely, and printed in US.
Average price point of a softcover is $18, and hardcover $25 to $30.
When you have a bookstore corp, you positively must have a CEO with a strong British accent.
Free Private Phone System (PBX) (youtube.com)
VOIP. Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Set up using apps on a phone, to use a physical phone as a soft phone. You can also just install the 3cx software on a cellphone (you don't need the 'hard phone' he uses). You can use a phone number from another country (for the phone number the call receiver sees as yours), for $1 a month. Dedicated server (which can be self-hosted if you want) is free up to 10 users. 615UKpounds up to 47 users, etc. 350k companies use 3cx.
FreePBX IP PBX Phone System Tour 3.5 (youtube.com)
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this new Linux feature makes hacking IMPOSSIBLE (youtube.com)
Memory corruption bugs is the current vulnerability exploited in most hacks (bufer overflow, user after free). Now, there's mseal, but controversial (Linux particularly).
Dec week2, VKM, radio wave messenger, Tarantino podcast
The Smallest KVM-Over-IP, and it's CHEAP! - JetKVM Review (youtube.com)
KVM (for Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V).
My Raspberry Pi has a better GPU than Apple's M4 Pro (youtube.com)
When the internet fails... (youtube.com)
Messaging over radio waves, no internet, up to 20km. They mesh, so having more extends the range.
Mamod Steam Engine (youtube.com)
youtube.com
‘Worst and laziest’. Users suspect Spotify is promoting big musicians and just not including smaller musicians who listerners listen to more. Spotify layed off 1500 people a year ago, including the team for Wrapped.
People have been talking about products or things people used to do, recently, in a sort of unfamiliar looking-at way, and finding their values, perhaps values no one who did those things at the time could have even known, because there was nothing to contrast with, like people are talking about country clubs or Joe Rogan's comedy club as places where it's not just the product, people come just because the like going there, they go every day, they hang out there, and they don't just put on whatever will sell to the public or invite the mass public, they do things they like ... or like Tarantino and Avary's new film review podcast, where they like when they do a movie that no one can even find. And their people (audience) might go out and search for it, get it on VHS and make copies of it for their friends. The people doing these things are the reason the product has value, basically, although this is a point a bit separate, like Tarantino and Avary have 50 years of experience with and in film. When lots of film podcasters do their shows they talk about things, but they weren't there when the film came out, so they really don't know what that film meant at the time, or what it was at the time and how it changed. All younger podcasters know is what they've learned, and a lot of that is just false, and they say it like it's sort of fact. They also ‘kind of created new classics by talking about [certain films]. ... We sort of gave the context under which to appreciate that movie, and then people appreciated it under that right context.' Samo was recently talking about Paladium Magazine and about SF parties.
#Tarantino
T&T Supermarket debut in WA sparks shopping frenzy | FOX 13 Seattle (youtube.com)
Trump's Cabinet, Google's Quantum Chip, Apple's iOS Flop, TikTok Ban, State of VC with Keith Rabois (youtube.com)
About minute 50:00 in this, they have a discussion about taste and analyitics in products (like iPhone and Facebook).
youtube.com
In Sweden there are no ‘bustling British pubs or Southern European tavernas.’ Swedish people may have developed their lack of smalltalk and avoidance of talking to people on the streets through centuries of a sparsely populated lifestyle. They're used to being alone or in their small group, and not meeting other people from outside this. Sweden didn't have largescale immigration from more chatty cultures the way other Western nations did, and they're not skilled in smalltalk.
Why Sweden is proud to have the world's highest taxes - BBC REEL (youtube.com)
'An AI is still an answering machine, not customer service. ‘We couldn’t afford to hire someone to solve your problem, so we're directing you to a maze, but now the maze is somewhat chatty, and the maze will now make promises it can't fulfill, so it's a nice friendly maze.' Samo. ‘It still hits on the limits of corporate policy.’
Dec week1, 3d printing colors, spy glasses
I Built a 4 Axis 3D Printer Unlike Anything You’ve Seen (youtube.com)
Almost one step away from what 3d printers could be, which is where both extruder and bed are gyrable.
Orion Glasses: Our Future (youtube.com)
Will the spy glasses succeed this time in society, or will creepy, intrusive people get punched for wearing them agian, because people don't want to be recorded in restaurants, bathrooms, waterparks, libraries, parks, on dates, wherever?
Is it legal to wear these into bathrooms? How about any space where exists an expectation of privacy?
LimX Dynamics Launches First Wheeled Quadruped Robot W1 (youtube.com)
LilyGo T5 S3 Pro - EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK!!! (youtube.com)
How Shopping Malls Are Being Transformed Into Apartments In The U.S. (youtube.com)
Malls new lease on life: Apartments (youtube.com)
Take a look at Australia's first mobile drug checking machine (youtube.com)
Nov week4, Nauru citizenship, rPi, retail 3d printers, Blendr
The ULTIMATE Budget Workstation. (youtube.com)
Used hunk of metal on eBay $250. More cores (40 cores 80 threads total), 64 DD4, TitanX (which I guess has 12gb).
The CHEAPEST New Second Passport Program (youtube.com)
$105k + $25k application fee + $10k for due dilligence fees. $110 for family of 2, 3 or 4 plus about the same. Don't have to visit the country. But it is not cheap to fly there. He says it's not as good as a Caribean passport although Caribbean ones have doubled (St Lucia, Dominica) in cost in recent years.
Japan charts lofty path for solar cell productionーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS (youtube.com)
D-Link says “just buy a new router” after 9.8 critical vulnerability… (youtube.com)
How In-N-Out Turned A $4 Burger Into $2 Billion A Year (youtube.com)
New AI grandma tool helps fend off phone scams (youtube.com)
This tiny computer changes EVERYTHING (youtube.com)
CM5. 2gig $45, 4gig $55, 8gb $75.
RPi's iO board has a power button. Nice. I have to hold down the power button for like 10 seconds to get my stupid Thinkpad to hard boot, and even then I'm not sure it really boots off.
You can build timeservers on it, with ptp hardware timestamping, to serve ptp and ntp. ... It will do 3k on a large commercial display screen.
There are tons of sbc module makers now (and some like Radxa are faster than the Pi), because of their lack of supply during the pandemic measures. Pi still has the best support and community though, so you can more easily use them.
Raspberry Pi Decktility Handheld Puts a PC in Your Pocket (tomshardware.com)
Still doesn't seem to be a new featherwing-keyboard style product. This one is the product but no one is making it, it was just a project for himself where he shared the how-to. We still need (and there is a market for) this product, a handheld (but expandable through USB) linux/WinXP computer.
TheHand 386 is made of all new parts, to run Win95, but it's apparently the bottom system you can run Linux on so you won't get performance.
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Is the Bambu Lab A1 the Unbeatable 3D Printer for Beginners? (youtube.com)
Prints multi-color products. $350 looks like. 256 x 256 x 256 mm.
3D Scan Like a Pro - Creality CR Scan Ferret Pro Review (youtube.com)
MentorPi Open Source Robot Car: ROS2 & Raspberry Pi 5 (youtube.com)
Blender 4.3 Features in LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES! (youtube.com)
Blender 4.3
PHOTO
DWARF 3 Smart Telescope Review + Tutorial (youtube.com)
Elon Musk targets F-35 program, calls fighter jets ‘obsolete’ (youtube.com)
This is where things might go wrong. It appears Musk et al are the new guard. They're on their way in, and the reasons they're invited in are the things people really want them to do, fix various things. However, progress in weaponry seems a natural thing they'd do as well, now that you mention it, but this might not be beneficial. Weaponry is perhaps an area we want beurocracy and stasis, slow movement, inefficiency. Musk may be basically benevolent but what happens when the technology is in place but Musk isn't there? I think a lot of sharp people know a lot of things that would make violence, terrorism, manipulation, all kinds of things, more efficient and forceful, but just sit on the ideas, don't even breathe them to friends when the topic comes up.
Free Data From Space With Othernet (Is Almost Over!) (youtube.com)
Small-town Iowa shoe store without website gains international following (youtube.com)
Just word of mouth and people comin'. (All 50 states.)
FBI warns consumers to be wary of scammers when trying to find details (youtube.com)
When buying online, people can use a payment processor like ApplePay, GooglePay, etc, which is a middleman that is a barrier between the seller and your bank information.
LimX Dynamics Launches Multi-Modal Biped Robot TRON 1 (youtube.com)
Nov pt1, complicated EVs, GNU image
He talks about the over-abundance of just putting lots of tech in the machines. The new Ferrari was a V6 battery. Mandatory lane assist. Technology no one ever asked for. It's regulators making requirements and manufactuers have to put them in. And that's very expensive. Previous tech, people were excited about having. New tech, everyone is just turning it off. Deeper tech is coming, cyber security, which is only necessary because this new tech is hackable (all tech is). More depreciation. Numbers of sales of that type falling.
Mandatory safety tech 2024.
GIMP 3.0 RC Released! (youtube.com)
2.0 was 2004.
There are many people would would not be able to usd Linux or BSD or opensource OSs if it weren't for GNU image. It's a cornerstone.
The Wisdom (and Madness) of Crowds: Political Markets as Election Predictors! (youtube.com)
A weather-forcasting market?
Now Manjaro Wants Your Data! | Weekly News Roundup (youtube.com)
Lindt's Damage Control in Lawsuit Over Lead Levels in Dark Chocolate | Vantage With Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
The new Annies?
Rock on popular Chinese mountain exposed as fake, shocking visitors (youtube.com)
Fake landmarks?
How WEBFISHING Is Reviving A Dead Genre (youtube.com)
Michael Jordan Burned by Chicago Mansion Slump (youtube.com)
Very small buyer pool.
Oct pt2, AI tongue, Chinese version of McDonalds, Insurance agency drones
Chamath upgraded after 3 years, and the new iPhone ‘sucks.’ iOS18 is ‘janky', it is ‘just terrible.’
The upgrade took 4 hours (to his new phone). (But going to an Apple to and Android is ‘impossible’ Chamath thought. Apple might be doing change for change sake, so changed the camera and made it really bad. It used to work. ‘How can I just go back to the old thing.’
Why America’s Biggest Brands Are Failing to Keep Up in China | WSJ (youtube.com)
‘Made in China’ a big thing, printed on products and signs in China. Even though they are sort of copies, like a MacDonald's restaurant but it's a Chinese brand and ‘Made in China.’
Once a big market for US brands, 1b shoppers in China. US brands (and Europe, right? with luxury brands) had a fairly free run at the Chinese market for decades.
Apple iPhone sales down 20% (8% revenue down in China), Huawei phones up 70%.
Starbuck sales down 8%, Luckin up 40%. 2023 900 new Starbucks in China (total 7000). Luckin opened 9000 (total 19000). Luckin is ‘telling its brand story in a way that really resonates with who the new middle classers are.’
Isn't this exactly what all countries should do though, and what governments should have promoted or provided for over the past 10 years?
The Chinese brands often incorporate elements of Chinese traditional culture and style. So will we get a trend away from total generalization, which people everywhere (sans the biggest corporations) lament?
Younger Chinese consumers don't adore the West like past generations, who bought something from the West just for the virtue of it being from the West. Reportedly.
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Adi Da Samraj in his art studio speaking about and creating art. (youtube.com)
Why taking your car to a dealership for repairs might be your only option soon (youtube.com)
Some managers require repair shops to pay $40k a year for a subscription to service their cars. The sub is for a scan tool's software for the auto's electrical systems.
The lowest sub is $65 a month.
They also have to buy a scan tool specific to an auto maker often. $4 or 5k. Some cars use a univeral tool though. And other hardware.
They also have to train how to use the tools. This is a tech skill, not just manual. You have to know computers to be a mechanic now. They train monthly, one guy said.
Can we ask, What does your car do that a car from 30 years ago doesn't do? Is a modern Civic better than one from 1991, if both were just off the factory line?
How much cost does all this add to consumer costs in the US? Labor shortage, more training, special tools, inability for shops to service all types of vehicles, subscriptions which are basically a tax.
Repair shops will probably start specializing now, they suggest.
There's also shops now that just do diagnostics.
A failure in one module can cause problems in other modules, because they're a network, not just separate modules, so that means technicians have to spend time finding out what is wrong with what module. And each car can have its own lingo for similar things. It might take 6 or 7 hours of diagnostic time to figure it out. Diagnosticians are currently the least-paid in the shop.
Repair Act 2023 proposed for makers to let customers be able to access the data so they can have their autos fixed at independent shops. There are state laws also proposed.
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The best AI founders in the world are moving here (youtube.com)
Everyone used to want to work for Google in 2005. It became a mecha for serious tech people.
People starting companies then were older, late 20s early 30s. PHDs for Google. People wanted to be in the suburbs, investors too. Palo Alto.
‘For people who are builders, it’s important to be around people who are like that.'
In community. Greatly enhances chances of success.
Everyone's doing a startup. It's nourishing rather than draining, as it is talking to people in banking or finance or any regular job, who think you're just lazy or dreaming, kind of a bum, not really working. Being around the ones that start really working, it's energizing. It makes you wanna work.
Going from any startup to any other was 15 minutes. They'd ask someone who was already in, and that person would just email a bunch of intro emails to everyone that wanted to get.
Nerds went there from around the world, and they weren't judged, they could talk about their interests, there were lots of people just the same, and optimist and excited.
Mainstream has different values from nerds.
Some peope think the reason people go to SF is transactional, the investors are there, but maybe a bigger factor is it is a city that values the things those people want. They seem them as ambitious and serious, for doing things that elsewhere they're judged as poor, can't take vacations, working weird hours.
In SF, around tech, there's no limits to how far your ideas can go. It's just a question of how far do you want to keep working to push them.
Being wrong is ok there. That's part of the culture. People might not believe yet what it's going to be, but people expect that.
In a matter of a few months, after Covid, all this was true, although there were subsurface tensions like homelessness, then pandemic measures and everything changed, and these problems became surface, and it was a chance to leave SF and go somewhere where they didn't have these problems.
Then chatGPT was maybe a reset, and brought lots of people back. It was suddenly cool to work on AI. The people working on AI before were counter(culture). It was wondered whether AI would have many locaitons, NY, London, etc, but it's all in SF now.
Commercial real estate is cheaper now. Lots of companies are in Hayes, which is different from Soma which is cheap but dangerous and uncomfortable to be on the streets. Now, it really matters which neighborhood you're in. Now, it's very important you pick the right one. There are neighborhoods to avoid now.
YC has a Friday where people can go to an office, and there's a lunch where people demo their code and grab a beer, and then Friday night people go out together and meet each other.
If / when AI companies make hundreds of millions then billions, they'll fill all those office buildings.
If you're building tools, they'll be used by companies there.
Agglomeration effects create a scene. SF has the building blocks.
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Florida couple saves $100,000 after deciding to 'go bare' by not purchasing wind and flood coverage (youtube.com) (year ago)
One way is to just build in a way that is less risky, and build cheap. Some people have an $800k property and a $200k house.
But if you have a mortgage varias coverages are required.
20% of Florida homeowers didn't have a property insurance policy last year.
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Was going to create a new hobby blog today to put some history things, but I tried Blogger and it required me to grant cookie permissions in order to upload photos (which no site ever even asks for when you upload photos or videos), so I went and tried WordPress, but it just directed me to a domain purchase page, which I couldn't even back-click out of (back-click just refreshed the page, you know that scammy thing). 10 or 15 years ago, you could make as many blogs as you want, and you'd just go to these and make one. There also was Wix (the Israeli software company), which was presented as Google's top search result every time you search for Blogger or WordPress, as a ‘sponsored' top result, but I didn't even bother with them. I just suspect they're super commercial because I only even know of them through paid ads on YouTube, not through any positive word of mouth or finding random websites, and probably also not a data private organization, given their country basis.
So instead of someone waking up and starting a new blog, writing and sharing ideas, they get frustrated by corporate-or-nothing, privacy-invasion-or-nothing options and either quit or have to deep dive. This is an example of how people could (and used to) start their day, and how they start their day in 2024. The main reason, the only way this can be solved practically, is politicians, but we don't have a system that seems capable of protecting citizen interests from corporations and spying, as continuously shown over the past 15 years of internet.
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We've been seeing a lot of negative press on Starbucks and other companies who now have no room, practically, to grow. They have instead sought and got profit increases through offering different products (more sugar drinks, basically sugary milkshakes, instead of their original foreign coffee roasts) and cutting back costs (baristas, cleaning staff).
We could say that some companies can be scaled to max all the time, but only if there's nothing that they can ruin by doing so. Other companies, like Starbucks, should aim at a profit maximization strategy that is 60 or 80% of what they could physically do, because such increase would deteriorate their brand, lower the quality of their product, and tend towards generalization which is very competible. This limit could probably only be maintained by boards and sort of rules, because CEOs would usually try to push into it and maximize profits despite long term detriment.
Amazon is another one. Amazon really only has shipping and international shipping. Their products aren't great and their reviews are almost worthless. This is because they profit maximized into their product, deteriorating their sellers by stealing their best products, and then, it seems, almost all products. Amazon is turning into a Kmart that sells its own generic options for every product type. It's not inclusive and doesn't offer much variety.
As soon as any other company manages to get the same shipping capabilities, Amazon will start to really decline.
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CA couple loses home insurance after draining pool to save water (youtube.com) (because the pool ‘showed signs of deferred maintenance’. They had vegetable plants in the basin of the pool because they didn't use it for swimming.
The insurance companies are flying aircraft and photographing properties to do assessments of their back yards and roofs. Drone surveillance. One of the guys called and spoke to an agent for his provider and she ‘basically said they’re looking for excuses to eliminate home owners policies in this area.' ‘I feel like a victim of some conspiracy.’
Satellites and drones make it very easy for the companies to create a ‘keep’ and a ‘discard’ pile for their customers, an expert said.
Two of the people this happened to, covered in this news story, found new cheaper plans, and the other, after sending in lots of photos showing his case, his policy was reinstated.
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Ancient tree from India may replace petroleum, company hopes (youtube.com)
Greyhound bus stations closing around the nation (youtube.com)
This Could Happen to You: Man orders TV from Walmart but finds something else! (youtube.com)
They gave him some crappy TV in a Samsung box. He returned it and they said no refund or exchange. He posted on Facebook and was contacted by TrustDALE TV who made it a story, and he got a refund.
This is what you deal with when you allow one giant company to dominate selling in a location (let alone a country). They don't have to care about any individual consumer, but they do have to care about giant SM reputation.
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9-month cruise comes to an end: Passengers share experience (youtube.com)
Hertz is Going Bankrupt and You Can Get a Car for Almost Nothing (youtube.com)
Electric cars were supposed to be simpler. You can make one with a battery, a controller and an electric motor. It is a lot simpler. ‘Unfortunately, they’ve gone the other way. These electric cars are so complex in terms of computers and electronics systems.' ‘Some will have four or five different voltages.’
Some of this might come from following the first ones, Tesla, which was originally a company to make luxury EVs for rich people in small quantities. Tesla used and uses cameras, not Lidar.
China makes simple EVs and sells them for under $10k. They don't talk to you. They don't have to.
There's no standardization yet, in EVs. So you could have cheaper manufacturing.
Oct pt1, Microsoft, Spotify, Ens***ification, Hollywood market, Digital and paper
Microsoft used to sell you bad software but now they don't even do that, they just let you access apps in the cloud, and they watch how you use those apps and then figure out which features you value the most and pull them out of the basic app and sell them back to you as an upsell.
Spotify doesn't show you what you search for anymore always, instead sometimes it shows you a playlist with the same image as what you want but is just a playlist where people paid to put their music on it.
Network effects and the collective action problem. You can't all agree to leave or take action to change things you don't like.
Getting you locked in completes the Stage 1 of the Ens***ification Cycle. Then, even if you are paying for the product you're still the product. Ask Apple, which had to give users an option to opt out of spying and 96% did so, but they simultaneously made a different way to spy and collect the same data that users couldn't opt out of. Or John Deere tractors that farmers can't fix. ‘Stop saying “if you’re not paying for the product you're the product.”'
Stage 2 is treating users bad in order to treat business customers good (they can pay to show their ads etc). Stage 3 is just take all the profits and leave users with the bare minimum since they're still totally locked in.
It used to be there were consequences for ens***ification. Everyone would leave and hate the product. But nowadays no one leaves. ... No competition, no alternatives. No one even tries to make an alternative or invest in one. If one succeeds against the monopoly, the monopoly buys them. US has pro-monopoly policies and allows monopoly formation (offically because they're efficient) like Zuckerburg buying Insta, his competitor. They are not ‘making things companies’ they are ‘buying things companies’. They take advantage of official tolerance of things specifically prohibited by US's anti-trust laws. 40 years ago US stopped enfocing anti-competition law.
They become a cartel, and it's easy for a cartel to decide together what bull they're going to tell to the regulators.
Amazon's best search result is now on average 17 places down from the top result they show you, he said. (Above that are ones that were paid for and probably ones that make you want to stop scrolling down and go up and buy those top ones.) So that's where you can look next time. Amazon has found that it can trick shoppers into paying 29% more than they would for their actual preferred search result, he said.
Grocery stores now sometimes change prices 1000 times a day using e-ink prices.
Uber pays drivers less if they take more work, if they work a lot. If they're picky about their jobs they take they get paid more.
Content creators spend thousands and many hours making a video, and then TikTok or whoever's algo decides that nobody, not even his subscribers, will ever see that video. Why? Who knows.
Netflix has a real problem with its 'no theaters' strategy, says Puck's Matt Belloni (youtube.com)
Top film makers still want their movies to go to theaters, and unlike Amazon, Netflix has said they won't do that (they experimented with it and decided against it, some time ago).
There's a new movie with some buzz, and Netflix offered $150m because they really want it, but the people behind it haven't decided to sell it to them because they want to go to theaters.
The first Joker movie was the guy's first big film, $60m, went to Venice Film Festival and won, so the studio gave him $200m for this one but it's doing very poorly.
The Apprentice only grossed $1.5m, despite having so much press. Timed well for the elction, cost $16m. No big stars (Jeremy Strong is a good actor and has Succession and Big Short fame but I don't think is has star draw). Democrats don't want to watch Trump because they don't like him. Republicans know Trump didn't support this film so they don't want to watch anti-Trump characterization.
A film about SNL didn't do well either in the box office, but predictions are that people don't want to watch movies about television in theaters, but it will do very well once it goes onto Netflix.
What Ticketmaster Doesn't Want You To Know: Concerts Were Cheap For Decades (youtube.com)
Amazon joins Google, Microsoft in going nuclear • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
Don't go try to fix all the bugs. Rebuild the entire product with the original vision.
Turpentine wants to get into publishing, like Palladium (now helmed by Samo).
People wanted to replace the paperbelt with digital technology, but some think there's a reason magazines exist. But the concrete organizations (d) need replacing. They've created an inbred industry, where people mostly write about what they don't know. Journalism is an impossible profession unless you have a wealth of information in at least something. Samo.
There was a mass-failure of publications. It wasn't the best but the worst that survived. Flattering ideological biases, sharp elbows, and that's why they've become more simliar rather than more diverse.
Canada still does not have free stock trading. It doesn't allow Robinhood, I guess. It's been years since the US and other countries got fee-less trading. Canada still charges $7-$10 per trade at it's banks' trading platforms. Canada also denied Revolut, which would have made things cheaper for Canadians and be the first option in Canada (besides PayPal) with some privacy options. It doesn't seem there are currently any privacy-protecting ways for Canadians to send money, for example when buying something from a random person on Marketplace. They have to share their identities with strangers and open themselves up to identity and other fraud.
September, Noodles, Comics
I saw another headline for a Japanese noodle franchise expanding to US.
Graded Comic Books Are NOT Selling….No One Wants Them! (youtube.com)
Different comic experience. Not becomming fans of the comic. Grading also is good for gaming the system and trying to just flip for money, does that sound good to you?
Prices are set by Instagram, Facebook groups, eBay.
will.i.am Launches New AI-Powered Radio System (youtube.com)
August, Abandoned ware, Signal improvements, Proton
AOC. Abandoned-ware. He bought a chipmaker. Then he bought the expired design rights. They bought a bunch of hardware maker companies. Moved to China and had 3000 then 10,000 workers.
Lock Down Your Signal: Ultimate Hardening Guide (youtube.com)
#1 request by people was that Signal would hide their phone numbers so it wouldn't be that everyone in the world would get access to your phone number just in order for you to use the app. So now, you can go to Settings > Privacy > Phone number, and change ‘Who can see my phone number’ and ‘Who can search for me by my phone number’ to ‘no one’ and you can only be searched afterwards by someone searching for your username.
They also have safety numbers now to validate conversations (like if a user installs on a new phone, whether it's a fake scammer or the actual person). So you share the safety number on another app or in person.
#Privacy
Why I'm Concerned About Signal (youtube.com)
Privacy-Friendly Security Cameras...Synology Did It! (youtube.com)
E2E, with Synology's longtime reputaytion.
Cashiers are being eliminated by punishing people who don´t use the app by priortizing. Machines are doing the ordering. In McDonald's many have a machine where you push buttons to order. Then will be cooks.
Is American work culture shifting from performance/hard work to comfort? and does this have to do with success? Are CEOs being repackaged as not really themselves but rather a politican version hitting the talking points package by their PR department depending on the demographics of their workers. Wanting to rally the troups with their statements.
Protonmail and ProtonDrive, encrypted collaboratable Docs in their cloud
The launched a wallet recently. Swiss privacy #Switzerland #Europe
FOSS
Introducing the Proton Foundation
'Since our start as a company created by scientists who met at CERN 10 years ago, Proton has never been led by people who are driven by the maximization of profit. Whether it’s through the millions of dollars of grants that Proton has contributed toward defending freedom online, or the fact that we have never raised prices on existing users, as an organization we have always put people ahead of profits.
'In order to defend Proton’s values far into the future, we’re happy to announce the creation of the nonprofit Proton Foundation, which is now Proton’s primary shareholder. The foundation, with its legally binding statutes, ensures Proton will remain independent, self-sufficient, and community-first in perpetuity, and it commits the financial success of Proton to the public good. You can learn more at the foundation website or in the announcement blog post.
‘Our journey over the last 10 years has been challenging, but with your unwavering support, we have made a difference together.’
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Biofire: The First Worthwhile "Smart Gun"? (youtube.com)
They've been developing for 5 years.
It has a bunch of circuitboards inside it, it has as much computing ‘as a smart phone’, he reports. So perhaps these could malfunction at some point, and you would have to constantly check its still working?
It has sensors, including lasers, to know when it is no longer being held. You have to re-authenticate every time you grab it, switch hands, have the gun taken away from you. It is set up using the battery charger. So yeah, the battery has to be kept charged, but I guess you could leave it plugged into the charger.
You register your face on it's backfacing camera and your fingerprint on its fingerprint sensor when you set up the gun. It isn't (currently) connected to the internet, so your data is local. It stores the data encrypted (he didn't say what encryption). It has an IR camera so it does work in the dark.
It's marketed at home defense in homes with small children or roommates.
The trigger isn't connected to the firing. It's an electronic system. Does that mean it can break if you drop it?
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IT HAPPENED! Elon Musk’s $10,000 House FINALLY Hitting The Market (youtube.com)
#Economics
7-Eleven Gets $38 Billion Buyout Offer Leaving Japan Shocked | Vantage with Palki Sharma (youtube.com)
711 Japan could offer an informative case study on the difference between social companies and non. This is more something that happens in Japan, probably, but perhaps there are lesser cases in America. But that a corporation has (in American eyes) a duty to maximize short term profits, and anything they have to sell to do this is worth it). In Japan, where 711 carries out many social functions, there is no doubt opportunity to cut unprofitable practices and increase stock value. These things could be done now by Japanese owners but are not because that would harm 711 longterm perhaps and Japanese people probably immediately. In America, we might infer, all corporations harm people because they put the effect of their practices absolutely behind short-term profits. So nothing probably would ever become good, and nothing probably would ever be long-term.
8 Things We Won’t Buy Anymore (youtube.com)
Everyone Is Selling Their Gear (youtube.com)
A hobbyist is an informed consumer. They will inform you on the price.
We Need To Talk About The Guitar Industry | "Another Tube Screamer?" (youtube.com)
July pt2, Japan demand for stimulants
July pt1, Self-hosted net, Cheap nas, Cheap radio
Wikipedia is about 100gb.
Paying for Cloud Storage is Stupid (youtube.com)
Cheap nas-kit, $100. $160 for one with 16gig RAM. Only 1 port so not superfast. ARM-based.
CM38
People Use GPS 'Jammers' to Stop Tracking of Their Cars (youtube.com)
The fastest GTX GPU is now $182. (youtube.com)
You Should Check Out the Indie Web (youtube.com)
A lot of them value the same thing (which isn't monetization, and is privatization).
Quansheng UV-K5 8. Its BEST radio you will ever BUY for £24. (Chirp & Egzumer shown) (youtube.com)
Intel chips can’t possibly be this bad… 100% crash rate? (youtube.com)
Chief Editor's Journal
March week 2, next Democrats
2. Ambush of Zelensky, appeasement of Putin
3. AP not allowed into White House because of ‘Gulf of Mexico'.
4. Republican senators do insider trading, and otherwise become wealthy (how?)
These are the 4 things I've seen so far that have emerged from Trump's actions and policy, that could be causes for the next Democrat movement. Before a few weeks ago, since November or before I had not seen any flaws in anything he said or did. Of course, we also will see political, democratic grandstanding about Canada and Mexico our allies etc, using emotion etc.
November
For X.com, how about 'Xpress' instead of 'tweet'? Like, 'That was what he Xpressed today,' or 'She sent an Xpress about it.'
That said, I have found myself using 'Xwitter' and 'Xweet'.
Setting up the site, I linked to an old Twitter profile. I tried to create a subreddit just so people could discuss current events there and we could get feedback, but it was banned within a couple minutes, with no explanation. Since it only had the headlines, my only real suspicion could be that it was censoring for the word 'Israel'. I didn't bother with Facebook because I've had accounts banned for similar reasons, or when people just spam report a page because they don't agree politically, and I gave up putting any real content on the platform about 7 years ago. It's just not worth the effort of creating new Facebook profiles, or even new groups, so censorship against normal sources of information can easily and successfully be accomplished on Facebook. X I'm not sure yet, as it's owner is philosophically and has been activist pro-free speech, but is currently increasingly allied politically, which means increasing political and lobby pressures, and there are no new platforms that actually have measures to protect (a real, reliable on a long term with meaninful auto-accountability for the people working at the platform) normal people who are publishing things. Currently looking for a platform, similar to reddit, where we could get feedback and discussion on the topics we blog about.