The President’s Plane . . . Oh, Brother May 12, 2025 It is Corruption and a Security Catastrophe in Plane Sight. Although, from Trump’s point of view, we should be embarrassed even to be thinking there could be something wrong here. Sam Snead never turned down a gimme, Trump notes, and he was one of the greatest golfers of all time. Meanwhile, Tina Brown has a question: I predict that white smoke will soon be billowing from Trump’s ears as the global media power of the first American pope becomes increasingly evident. The ascension of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to the Holy See feels like a brilliant celestial move by his predecessor Pope Francis to create not just a rival moral center from the U.S. to counteract Trump, but one who can draw even bigger crowds and command instant mega-headlines. That will put Trump in an immediate quandary when, for instance, Pope Leo XIV uses his voice in defense of destitute migrants. Francis too was a champion of migrants, but somehow his fundamental foreignness could not agitate Trump in the same way as Rob from Chicago surely will. Trump risks the wrath of 53 million American Catholics if he follows what will undoubtedly be his instincts and starts trashing and trolling the new pope. Will the supreme pontiff be unexpected spiritual rescue from the secular shit show of this venal, grifting presidency? But wait. Read on. It turns out the Pope’s younger brother is an all-too-worldly MAGA bro.
From Driverless Taxis To Busy Baby And Beyond May 11, 2025 Do you watch CBS Sunday Morning? It’s the most civilized, soothing, cultural, illuminating — accessible — uplifting thing on television. Like going to church, for atheists. Yesterday’s stories included one on Waymo driverless taxis (way safer than manned vehicles), one on Barry Diller (did you ever watch the Simpsons? date anyone you met on-line?), one on tariffs’ effect on small business (know anyone who has a baby or is expecting?) and one on creating art from trash. For 46 years, CBS has done itself proud on Sunday morning. Morrie H.: “Thanks for alerting us to the passing of Joseph Nye. Such an impressive man. The final paragraph of the obit particularly struck me.” “I’m afraid President Trump doesn’t understand soft power,” Mr. Nye told CNN in an interview days before his death. “Think back on the Cold War — American nuclear deterrence and American troops in Europe were crucial. But when the Berlin Wall went down, it didn’t go down under a barrage of artillery. It went down under hammers and bulldozers wielded by people whose minds had been changed by the Voice of America and the BBC.” HAND IT TO REPUBLICANS When they were right, they were right. (One minute.) ANIX I first mentioned this one five years ago when it was $4. I’ve mentioned it many times since — so, if you bought ANIX someplace along the way, you know it’s currently $2.75. And yet if you watch watch this (entering your name, email, and “private investor” to gain access), you’ll see they’ve made a good bit of progress. The company, with no debt, is valued at less than $100 million. If it truly has a cure for ovarian cancer and/or a vaccine to prevent breast cancer, it could be worth 50 times as much to one of the large pharma companies with the resources to bring it to market. Or, like so many other promising biotech speculations, it could crash and burn. OPRT Another possible winner I keep mentioning. It will be interesting to see how the proxy fight plays out over the next few weeks. As you know, I’m not bullish on the market as a whole. The possibility of stagflation is all too real . . . Trump’s trade war could trigger global depression . . . the damage he’s doing to trust in the dollar will be hard to stanch, let alone repair . . . a new real estate financial collapse could be in the offing . . . a perfect economic storm might be coming our way. So along with my crazy speculations (also: PRKR, HYMC) — which are not tightly correlated to the broad market — I still have my December 2026 DIA and SPY puts as a hedge. I truly hope they expire worthless.
Three Great Men May 11, 2025May 11, 2025 Joseph Nye. He invented “soft power” — and in so doing, both strengthened America and saved/improved tens of millions of lives around the world. Not bad. Descended from a Puritan who reached America in 1639, Professor Nye died Tuesday. He wasn’t a Fox News host or inducted into the Fake Wrestling Hall of Fame, but his obituary is worth reading nonetheless. Pope Francis. He lived humbly, by Jesus’s word. The humble part was no joke . . . eschewing the Apostolic Palace to live in a modest guest house . . . washing the feet of prisoners . . . directing that he be buried beneath a plain tombstone inscribed, simply, “Franciscus.” Pope Leo. After decades of service to the poor and needy, he is said to have said (I couldn’t verify it) “I accept this role not as a throne, but as a vow.” Bravo.
Doug, Simon, Dave, John, Caitlan, And Pete — I’m A Fan May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 I heard this 3-minute story on NPR: When his doctor told him he had just 12 to 18 months to live after his cancer metastasized, Doug Ruch decided to devote his remaining time to doing community service in all 50 states. So he started Dying To Serve. May he defy the odds and live forever. We will survive Trump. One of the reasons I think so: Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles. It provides its audience of 150,000 just the right mix of hope and urgency: exactly the combination we need. Take a look. I’ve come very late to David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Here he is with John Mulaney. Here, with Caitlan Clark. It doesn’t get better than this. OPRT Here’s the latest case — as of yesterday — for why OPRT may have little downside and lots of up. Albeit, only with money you can truly afford to lose.
Fair Harvard May 7, 2025 But first . . . Trump meme coin: 764,000 crypto wallets lost money . . . but 58 made about $1.1 billion. Lawmakers are now formally investigating whether the $TRUMP meme coin — and a related crypto venture called World Liberty Financial, which sends 75% of revenue to the Trump family — constitute a direct conflict of interest for the president. Ya think? And now . . . Linda Greenhouse, Harvard ’68, the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist whose Supreme Court reporting you may have read, has produced The Closer You Look, The More You See. (Yours, free.) Here, she briefly describes her early encounter with worms, concluding: I recount this long-ago educational adventure for two reasons. One is to make it obvious why the title Peter Coonradt chose for this film project, “The Closer You Look, the More You See,” speaks to me directly. The other is to explain why I place such value on the film’s achievement: to place viewers in the presence of scientists who have never lost their sense of wonder at the natural world and who, unlike me, have devoted their professional lives to answering my 18-year-old’s questions of how and why. Peter writes: Dear ’68 classmates, . . . [J]ust as I was finishing editing and getting ready to send my love child out into the world, Trump landed on Harvard like a mean elephant doing a cannonball into a kid’s wading pool. That changed the meaning of the film for me. It’s still about a subject some may find esoteric but now, because of Trump, the series is also for me an act of defiance. In microcosm, it’s a film that embodies Harvard. The real Harvard. The Harvard we share and which will always be part of us. The Harvard Trump is trying to strangle. I was struggling to explain what I meant by that when our classmate Harry Lewis said it better than I ever could: << I have just watched the 12 episodes, several more than once. They are beautiful and moving. And yes, the series makes me proud to be part of an institution that can foster such ideas and the tangible materials that can make the ideas real. When people ask me what Harvard is “like,” I explain that what everyone at Harvard shares is that there is not one Harvard; there are a thousand Harvards. The trick to becoming one with the place is to visit several and find a Harvard where you feel at home. I myself kicked around among quite a few before landing in a little computer lab—I had stops in the Math Department, the lacrosse team, the Loeb Drama Center, and the Physics Department, among others. What Peter has portrayed here, with wonderful cinematography, narrative, character studies, poetry, and biography, is one of those great, precious, lovable Harvards, where most of us can only dream of feeling so at home, and yet belongs to all of us. Thank you, Peter and Linda! Harry Harry Lewis Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science emeritus >> Harvard’s new president clearly accords the anti-Semitism problem high priority. You have only to read this and the lengthy reports it links to to see that this is true. There is neither need nor justification for Trump — and Worldwide Wrestling billionaire Education Secretary Linda McMahon — to punish the world by defunding important research. But combatting anti-Semitism is not what this is about. If he can fire the FBI director and the inspectors general and the prosecutors . . . cow Congress and the law firms, the press the CEOs and the oligarchs — and the universities — he clears the way to becoming America’s Putin. America’s Orban. America’s Mussolini. That’s why I believe we should join Indivisible and support the opposition. If you find time to watch Peter Coonradt’s film, I hope you enjoy it.
Your Future Imaginary Friend May 5, 2025 I try never to miss Rex Woodbury’s Digital Native letters. This one about loneliness and the future of artificial friends — AI Friends Are a Good Thing, Actually — I particularly commend. (How far we’ve come from 1971 . . . ) OPRT The proxy fight has begun. I’m betting Findell will be successful and that the stock could quintuple in two or three years. Only with money I can truly afford to lose, of course . . . but I have to say (famous last words?) the downside on this one seems modest. CNF Whereas the downside on this one could easily be a total loss — plus the 2 cents per share I think I’m charged each year by the custodian. I’ve paid as much as $7 and have bought more over the years as it’s fallen to 80 cents. If you wade through its recently issued annual report, you’ll see that it is a real business. In China. Domiciled in the Cayman Islands. With lots of risks and complexity. Each CNF ADR represents 20 of the nearly 1.4 billion “ordinary” shares . . . giving the whole enterprise a market cap of about $55 million. A way smarter friend knows it intimately, owns a ton, and thinks one day our ship may come in. For better or worse, I enjoy gazing out at the horizon.
Conservative Peggy And Liberal Thom May 4, 2025May 4, 2025 Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal: We are ruining an international reputation that took more than a century to build. No need to read it all. Isn’t that enough? Thom Hartmann [condensed]: Bondi’s Plan to Jail Journalists Is How Democracies Die and Dictatorships Begin (It’s not paranoia when it’s happening right in front of you.) Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi quietly issued a memo rescinding vital protections for journalists that had prevented the government from forcing reporters to reveal their sources or surrender their notes during leak investigations. This wasn’t just any memo; it was a declaration of war against the very foundation of press freedom in America. Bondi’s justification? The Justice Department “will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.” Did you catch that? Not disclosures that threaten national security, but those that “undermine President Trump’s policies.” Since when did the President’s policies become sacred and beyond scrutiny? Since when did exposing wrongdoing by our government become a crime against “the American people”? What we’re witnessing is step one in the dictator’s playbook: silence those who tell the truth about your regime. We’ve seen this pattern in Russia, Hungary, Turkey, and countless other countries where democracy has withered into authoritarianism. First, attack the press. Then, criminalize dissent. Intimidate lawmakers, lawyers, and judges. Finally, consolidate power in the hands of a single leader. I’ve been covering American politics for five decades, and just to be very clear: This is not normal. This is not just another partisan policy dispute. This is an existential threat to our constitutional system of government. The time for polite disagreement or “strongly worded letters” is over. The time for waiting to see what happens next is over. We must act now to protect our democracy before it’s too late. > Demand that Congress pass a federal shield law to protect journalists from being forced to reveal their sources. . . . > Support independent journalism with your dollars and your attention. Subscribe to newspapers, donate to nonprofit news organizations like ProPublica, and share important stories with your networks. A robust press is our best defense against tyranny. > Contact your representatives and tell them that protecting press freedom must be a top priority. Remind them that their oath is to the Constitution, not to any president or party. The phone number for the congressional switchboard, which can connect you to both your senators and your member of the House, is 202-224-3121. > Prepare to take to the streets if Bondi follows through on her threat to prosecute journalists for treason. That would be a red line from which there is no return to normal democratic governance. We stand at a crossroads in American history. Down one path lies a renewed commitment to our democratic values, including a free press that can hold the powerful accountable. Down the other lies authoritarianism, where “truth” is whatever the leader says it is, and those who disagree face persecution or worse. The time to act is now. Join Indivisible. Support the opposition. Read Thom Hartmann’s bite-sized Hidden History of American Democracy. (Urgent!) Under 3 hours if you listen at1.3X. How, after 16 years of schooling, did I not know all this stuff? Read or listen to Peggy Noonan’s Selected Writings. (A total pleasure.)
Little Marco Predicts May 3, 2025 Watch. Or, if Instagram won’t let you in, here’s what he said: Jake Tapper: You compared Donald Trump to a Third-World dictator yesterday. How so? Marco Rubio: Well, I don’t know about a dictator; I said “a Third-World strongman.” You know, he’s running for president so no matter what he won’t be a dictator unless our republic completely crumbles which I don’t anticipate it will. But, yeah, here’s what happens in many countries around the world: You have a leader that emerges and basically says, “Don’t put your faith in yourselves. Don’t put your faith in society. Put your faith in me. I’m a strong leader and I’m gonna make things better all by myself.” This is very typical. You see it in the Third World, you see it a lot in Latin America for decades. Basically, the argument he’s making is that he single-handedly is gonna turn the country around. We’ve never been that kind of country. We have a president. The president is an American citizen who serves for a period of time, constrained by the constitution and the powers vested in that office. The president works for the people not the people the president and if you listen to the way he describes himself and what he’s going to do, he’s going to single-handedly do this and do that without regard to whether it’s legal or not. Look. I think people are going to have to make up their minds. I can tell you this: no matter what happens in this election, for years to come there are many people on the right, in the media, and voters at large that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump, because this is not gonna end well. — March 13, 2016. Spot on, no? Tony S.: “Sometimes you really can tell a book by its cover — ”
May Day! May Day! May 3, 2025 There are so many horrible things happening . . . National Science Foundation stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones They’re Coming for the Truth-Tellers: Bondi’s Plan to Jail Journalists Trump is Revoking Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status Trump has swung a giant wrecking ball through the existing world order . . . that my favorite sign at Thursday’s protest read, simply: No, Donny Just NO There were many issue-specific signs, too, of course and — May 1 being International Workers’ Day — more than a few communists in the crowd. (“Marx was right,” read one sign.) One of the great things about this country — at least between the time the Joe McCarthy / Roy Cohn era ended and the time the Donald Trump / Roy Cohn era went into overdrive* — is that communists and socialists and anybody else can believe and say or write whatever they want . . . and hand out copies of “The Revolutionary Communist Newspaper of Progressive Labor Party” in Foley Square. But having just seen George Clooney in Good Night, And Good Luck on Broadway the night before, I’ll admit I was a little nervous accepting it.** I would note, though, that May 1 is also Law Day here in the United States, “meant to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society.” That’s what so many of us, as politically disparate as Liz Cheney and Bernie Sanders, have been taking to the streets to protect. DONNY 2 DOLLS How ironic that the guy who invented the (non-existent) war on Christmas should now take on the role of Scrooge, dashing the hopes of little girls everywhere — and busting the budgets of their parents: “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of thirty dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,” Trump said. Hardship, smardship — toss ’em some paper towels. Hats off to Lawrence O’Donnell for coming up with Trump’s mafia handle — “Donny 2 Dolls.” Here’s one man’s Tik Tok on the theme. Have a great weekend. Join Indivisible. Support the opposition. *Cohn is long dead but clearly lives on in his mentee. **For the record: American communists are, in my view, just as idealistic as Ayn Rand libertarians — and just as wrong. In practice, communism has proven itself to be horrible. Unfettered libertarian capitalism is cruel, immoral — and leads to revolution. The sweet spot that America so successfully inhabited over the past 80 years lies someplace in the middle.
Rising Prices, Falling Poll Numbers, See You Tomorrow April 29, 2025 Trump is thinking about a bigger tax break to help people pay his tariff-inflated prices. What he clearly didn’t think of — or clearly did, if he thought at all — is that those who will need help the most, the hardest hit, will be the working poor who pay no income taxes and for whom tax cuts are of absolutely no use. Perhaps he will throw them paper towels. The good news is that more and more people are losing faith in the miracles he promised . . . falling prices on day one, Ukraine peace within 24 hours, winning so much we’d grow tired of winning . . . and coming to see the chaos and corruption as the incompetence and betrayal they truly are. Have you seen the poll numbers? Patriots of all political stripes — from Liz Cheney to Bernie Sanders — are rising up in non-violent nationwide protest. Click here to find tomorrow’s protest nearest you.