OPRT SNAP – And An Amazing Story August 6, 2026August 5, 2026 OPRT “An Opportunity?” I headlined this December 19, 2023 post: If you bought some OPRT with money you could truly afford to lose, as suggested here, here, and here, and here, you’re either a little behind or ahead depending on what you paid. (I’ve paid as much as $5.98 for a little and $2.33 for a lot. It closed at $3.19 yesterday.) And you may want to watch this video. Executive summary: There’s a clear path to a triple or tentuple, though obviously no guarantee. Well, “you can say that again” — and, having seen Oportun’s second quarter earnings presentation last night, I basically am. Earnings are up; the balance sheet is stronger; the new CEO, whom we dissident shareholders fought long and hard to install, seems to be settling in well. The stock edged up in recent days, perhaps anticipating good news. After the announcement, in after-hours trading, it rose a bit more. I don’t expect anything dramatic to happen; but if the progress keeps coming, as I’m guessing it will, we may one day see OPRT back at its 2021 $25 high — and beyond. I plan to just sit back and watch. SNAP Not a stock, a shonda. Some 450,000 Arizonans have lost their food assistance — more than 100,000 of them children — and that’s just Arizona. Most of the pain was designed to arrive right after November’s election, so low-income voters don’t notice until it’s too late. Though, when you think about it, why should Americans who need food assistance — be they elderly, disabled, down on their luck, or whatever their lame excuse — be allowed to vote in the first place? Back in the day, it was just white men with property. But I digress. Listen to this episode of The Daily — Arizona’s Food Stamp Crisis Is Coming for the Rest of the U.S. — or read the transcript. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition! THE AMAZING STORY There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury Obviously, as will become clear, I should have posted this on Tuesday. That it was written in 1950 is just astonishing. Bravo, Ray Bradbury. (And thanks for sharing it, George Mokray.)
Trump’s Lawyers — And A Contrary View Of A.I. August 5, 2026 WHERE ARE TRUMP’S LAWYERS NOW? A look back at some of Trump’s lawyers, and how things turned out for them. One powerful minute. (The song is nice, too.) BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS Top economist Steve Hanke told Business Insider why he doubts AI will be the job destroyer many expect. What if the trillions being spent on AI turn out to have been a bad investment?
Two Must Watches — And Good News! August 4, 2026August 4, 2026 MUST WATCH Troy Jackson speaks to truth to power — specifically, to the richest man in the world (60 seconds). And this one! Why Trump’s ‘EMBARRASSING’ reflecting pool reversal should WORRY every American. Yes, he won the FIFA Peace Prize. Yes, he has a concept of a plan for “terrific health care at a tiny fraction of the price.” Yes, his 38,000 mentions in the heavily redacted Epstein files released so far are not proof he raped a 13-year-old girl as alleged. But how can 30% of the country possibly still support him? Everything he touches dies. MAKING HUNGER DISAPPEAR New Political Strategy: Don’t Gather Embarrassing Statistics In The First Place — by our very own Professor deLespinasse. GOOD NEWS America Hates Donald Trump. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
They Really Are Leaving MAGA August 2, 2026 LEAVING MAGA The people who built Trump now say he’s evil and demonic (150 secnds): Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, et al — WATCH! WE’RE GOING TO WIN IN A LOT OF UNUSUAL PLACES Oath.Vote Founder Brian Derrick has an encouraging list (60 seconds) — WATCH! WANT TO PUT UP A BILLBOARD IN ONE OF THOSE PLACES? LeavingMaga.org just grows and grows. And because no candidate or political party is advocated — just a non-judgmental, welcoming place for people trying to break free from the cult — your contribution is tax-deductible. (If you can afford a few thousand dollars, you can do one all by yourself! Me-mail me and I’ll hook you up.) OATH.VOTE Nathaniel M: “Wednesday, you suggested a difference between how ActBlue and Oath operate that I don’t think is fair. I have no stake or equity in ActBlue, just someone working in the Democratic fundraising ecosystem that cares about overall trust in the system. The value of Oath over other payment processors is what you highlight: it can help donors decide where their dollars can make the most impact. But I think it’s important to point out that Oath charges campaigns a processing fee just like ActBlue. You also suggested that ActBlue sells or shares contact info (as opposed to Oath, which doesn’t), and that’s just not true. As I’m sure you’re aware, Oath, like ActBlue, discloses their donors to the FEC, and third-party vendors harvest that information and append data like cell phone and email, but it’s not ActBlue that’s doing the actual sharing.” Brian responds: “ActBlue directly shares donor contact information with campaigns with no constraints on how it is used. Then the data is sold and swapped and shared in perpetuity. That is the primary driver of spam in the Dem ecosystem. Oath does not share donor email or phone numbers with anyone. We also prohibit campaigns from contacting donors who give through Oath and remove them from the platform if they violate that policy repeatedly. It is also worth noting it is illegal to use FEC data in the way Nathaniel is suggesting. I am not saying it never happens but it certainly isn’t the source of all spam. (And yes, we do have a credit card processing fee — 3.7% versus 3.95% for ActBlue, so ours is already a little lower, and we will continue to lower it as we grow. (Credit card interchange fees are based on volume and we are still tiny compared to ActBlue. We also encourage donors to use ACH to skip the credit card fee and pay just 1% for admin.” → I gave ActBlue $10,000 way back when to help them launch.
HYMC + Puppetry July 31, 2026July 30, 2026 HYMC I have no way of knowing how much this is sober analysis and how much hype — but I like it: HYCROFT MINING (HYMC) -67% OFF ITS HIGHS: the Weak Hands are Gone, Eric Sprott and BlackRock are Still in, the 56-Month Cash Runway & why the World Class Nevada Deposit has Never Been More Valuable! The thing is, especially for those of us who sold calls as the stock was soaring to 60, even here at $20 a share, we’ve done kind of spectacularly well. And in a perfect world, those calls, expiring in January of 2027 and January of 2028, will expire worthless, so we get to keep all the money we sold them for, even as the stock creeps back up toward their strike prices. Extreme example: I was able to sell some January 2028 calls for $2,800 each giving the buyer the right to buy 100 of my shares for $60 each until January 2028. (Calls are traded 100 shares at a time.) At the time, the buyer may have figured, heck, it’s rocketed up from $5 to $60 — it could be $200 in a couple of years, so paying the equivalent of $88 ($60 + $28) will prove to have been a bargain. Plus, if it turns out to be a scam, I’ll have lost $28 instead of $60. But from my point of view, if the stock never goes back up, I have the $20 it’s selling for now plus the $28 I get to keep — not bad on a $3 bet. And if it goes to zero, I still keep the $28 — not terrible. And if it creeps back up to $60 by January, 2028 when the calls expire, I have the $60 stock and keep the $28 per share I got for the calls. That’s my extreme example, because many of the calls I sold were at lower strike prices and/or for less rich premiums . . . as I expect was true for you as well if you were in on this one. Still, I’m a happy camper — and happily holding on in hopes there’s more to that headline than hype. “PUTIN THE PUPPETEER” How Russia Benefits From Trump’s War in Iran
Oath.Vote July 29, 2026 No offense to ActBlue, but this under-5-minute introductory video from my friend Brian Derrick may change the way you do your political giving. His Oath.Vote has thus far channeled $100 million to strategic races without taking a penny (unless you tip them) and without sharing your contact info. I think you’ll find his message compelling. NICK HANAUER Long-time readers know I’m a Nick Hanauer fan. I can’t count the times I’ve posted his originally-banned Ted Talk (under 6 minutes) — it’s not the rich who are the job creators, it’s the middle class — and, years later, his warning to fellow plutocrats: the pitchforks are coming (20 minutes). Yesterday, his Facebook post — People aren’t just mad because things cost too much — led me to his weekly Pitchfork Economics podcast. I plan to listen to the episode that just dropped — The Good Life Economy — on my next power walk. Nick and Mark Cuban — and, well, Warren Buffett and Mackenzie Scott — are my favorite billionaires.
The DNC (Yay), The DSA (Boo) July 28, 2026July 30, 2026 But first . . . Warren Buffett on Donald Trump (2 minutes). Tracker PAC: RFK Jr.’s 29-year-old son just landed a $100 million investment fund for an AI healthcare startup . . . The kid has no known experience in healthcare but what does that matter when his father is an anti-vaccine crank with zero medical background who somehow ended up in charge of the nation’s health? The Epstein Files will haunt Trump through the midterms: Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered the DOJ to hand over a batch of contested, redacted Epstein files by Thursday so he can review them privately before deciding whether they go public. What’s in them? Emails discussing the exploitation of very young women and girls, with the identities of Epstein’s correspondents redacted… FBI notes on an accuser’s allegation that Donald Trump himself assaulted her in the 1980s, which Trump denies… and a 2007 draft indictment listing Epstein’s co-conspirators, where only Ghislaine Maxwell’s name survived the redaction pen. Interesting that there’s an entire page of names and the Trump DOJ only wants you to see one of them. And now . . . THE DSA I’m guessing you were as shocked as I was if you saw: DSA leader admits group wants to abolish prisons, borders and lots more in kooky TV true-or-false. Sure, it would be nice to live in a world where there was no need for prisons. Or borders. And where Idaho didn’t have as many Senators as California. (She wants to abolish the Senate, too.) But the no-doubt-well-meaning co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (of whom no one had ever heard, but whom every MAGA talking head will now be quoting to the end of time) handed tax-averse billionaires, racists, Putin, and fascists everywhere a fat gift by allowing them to suggest that Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani — let alone mainstream Democrats — are on board with these things. The Democratic Party no more espouses open borders than Ronald Reagan did when he famously praised immigration and granted amnesty to millions who were here illegally. Likewise, “defunding the police,” which was just an angry way to say reform the police, provide better training and management, issue body cams. And likewise, too, the other “kooky” things in the DSA platform. Anyone who says otherwise is either misled himself or else purposely misleading you. As the Washington Monthly put it: The next campaign finance report from the Republican National Committee may need to report an in-kind contribution from the Democratic Socialists of America. Carl isn’t right about much, but he’s certainly right that — again, in the words of the Washington Monthly — The DSA Platform Would Destroy American Democracy. Where he’s wrong is in believing — as he truly seems to — that I, or any other mainstream Democrat, disagrees with him. THE DNC It’s so easy to pile on. See, for example, Is Ken Martin the Worst Party Chair in US History? by Michael Tomasky, editor of the New Republic. Or my friend David Hogg’s latest fundraising email for Leaders We Deserve. It’s not entirely fair, in my view; but he’s on a righteous mission, and being entirely fair is not the way to maximize receipts. There are a few points I’d like to make. > On the fundraising front, even after adjusting for inflation, the DNC is well ahead of where it was the last time Trump was in office facing a mid-term. It’s just not true it’s not raising money. > It might have looked better to just pile up that money in a savings account, rather than spend it to support state parties and special elections and the governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey — and to build infrastructure that will benefit most of our candidates nationwide — but would that really have been the smartest use of the funds? Just hoarding them? > The $840,000 that’s gone to the party committees of territories like Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam — which have no impact on winning back Congress or the White House — is not something I would have done. > The highly visible “autopsy” fiasco was just that. (But was there some magic answer to why Trump won that, if only it had been revealed, would have assured future success? There were a lot of reasons Trump won, some of which will not apply going forward — or will apply in Texas but not in Ohio. The whole idea of a public autopsy, as I’m sure Ken would agree in hindsight, was . . . unfortunate.) > Most people don’t know what the DNC does or is supposed to do or which chairman was at the helm when. E.g., why didn’t the DNC get Biden to drop out a year earlier?! Well, for one thing, that’s not how it works. In China, the party chair tells the president (and everybody else) what to do. Not here. Also, Ken wasn’t DNC chair then; he was busy finishing 14 very successful years as chair of the Minnesota Party. > Nor was he chair when there might have been a quickie primary to give our nominee — Kamala or some other — more legitimacy in some eyes. > Nor was he chair when she lost and left her campaign in debt. > Nor was he chair when his predecessor left him a DNC $14.8 million in debt. (When I was treasurer, we would frequently draw down our credit line at the end of a cycle to “leave it all on the field,” lest we lose by a hair and regret it for the rest of our lives. And the loan was secured by a mortgage on the building, as it is now — nothing new.) > If the reason people have decided to stop funding the DNC is that they’re angry it hasn’t piled up a big savings account . . . well, the solution to the money problem is not make the problem worse. It’s to chip in to solve it. (Which, thankfully, tens of thousands of donors continue to do.) > Because whether Ken stays or goes, we’d be idiots not to fund the Democratic Party. What could better serve MAGA and Trump and Putin? > It’s not a good idea to shut down the Party when we’re discouraged . . . or in between elections even if we’ve won . . . only to try to ramp it up all over again four years later. Better, in my view, to have a consistent, professional operation — never perfect, but always trying to do a good job — especially because, in the scheme of things, it costs so little. In a non-presidential year (when the DNC is just a conduit for huge sums controlled, effectively, by the candidate), about $150 million would do nicely. A lot to you or me, but — by way of context — an estimated $260 million was spent by Democrats this past year in the California gubernatorial primary! Not to fight Republicans — to fight Democrats! An extreme case, to be sure (Tom Steyer spent $201 million of that) — but still. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re a great American. If you can, chip in a little to give the story a happy ending.
The DNC And Forest Fires July 26, 2026 DNC Chair Ken Martin has made errors (who among us has not?), his handling of the “autopsy” being the most visible. And he apparently slammed his phone down on a subordinate’s desk (or did he throw it?) after a frustrating fundraising call. You know all that if you read Inside the Phone-Throwing Drama at the Troubled, Broke Democratic Party in Sunday’s New York Times or this echo piece in the Bulwark. But which would you rather have: a DNC with lots of cash in the bank or a DNC that puts cash to work almost as fast as it comes in to build the infrastructure for big Democratic wins 100 days from now and again in 2028? To the Times‘s credit, it did include a link to Ken’s view: The DNC Is Building a Democratic Party That Can Win the Moment and Win the Future. If you’ve donated (thank you!), and/or are considering doing so, you should read it! Whether Ken remains chair for two months, two years, or ten, it would be beyond self-defeating to deprive the DNC of adequate funding. ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES Public Land Warriors: Over the last year, roughly a quarter of the Forest Service’s 30,000 employees were [let go]. Now, thousands more are being handed relocation orders. Campgrounds will close, trails will crumble, high fuel loads near communities will go unaddressed—making wildfires infinitely harder to fight. And when things inevitably start going wrong on the ground, the politicians like Senator Mike Lee who manufactured this crisis will throw up their hands, declare the federal government incompetent, and demand these public lands be sold off to private industry. The only thing that can prevent our forests from being mismanaged to the point of a fire sale is the organized, overwhelming outrage of the American people. Or — hey! — let’s kill two birds with one stone: Vote overwhelmingly for a Democratic Congress and President and, in the not-too-distant future, competence and capacity (and integrity and sanity) will be restored to everything Trump has degraded or destroyed.
Must Read July 24, 2026 Thom Hartmann puts it into such clear perspective: The Fourth Assault On American Democracy. Because I know you care about our country, I urge you to take 5 minutes to read it.
The Equally Passionate But Less Fraught Graham Platner July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 But first . . . Does Trump’s not releasing the Epstein files as required by law make the 38,000 times his name appears any less concerning? He’s accused of abusing a 13-year-old! How about his starting a disastrous war? Or alienating all our allies? Or starving children, the elderly, veterans, and the disabled? Is that a concern? Heather Cox Richardson: The front page of yesterday’s New York Times featured some of the 440,000 Americans from Arizona alone who have lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits . . . Those Arizona residents include Dee McDonald, a 65-year-old cancer survivor who weighs 69 pounds and skips meals to feed her three teenaged grandsons. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins celebrates the cuts, claiming the program is rife with fraud. Like other Republicans, she cites error rates. But error rates usually reflect mistakes in classification numbers by caseworkers, not fraudulent use of services. . . . I was on a zoom with Troy Jackson yesterday, the presumptive Democratic nominee to defeat Susan Collins and help flip the Senate 102 days from now. He’s Graham Platner without the tattoo or the sexting — former President of the Maine Senate, yet about as plain-spoken and worker-friendly as you can imagine. I maxed out on the spot. Help if you can. And join today’s 3pm Indivisible call. BONUS The DNC Is Building a Democratic Party That Can Win. Lend your support.