MAGA HYMC OPRT October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 “America Needs a Mass Movement—Now,” writes Davud Brooks in The Atlantic. “Without one, America may sink into autocracy for decades.” Option One: DON’T READ IT. (It’s long.) If you don’t, you can’t feel bad about choosing not to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Which is Option 2. For example: Join today’s weekly 3pm Indivisible call and gather your friends for the Saturday protest nearest you. A turnout of millions won’t be enough to turn the tide. Not remotely. But it’s an indispensable part of the process, showing the world — and ourselves — that resistance to fascism still runs deep and will ultimately prevail. (Did you take a minute Tuesday to see these signs? They drive home the point.) MAGA Versus Themselves. This minute won’t persuade any MAGAs . . . indeed, mocking them just fans fury. (Case most on point: Look what Obama’s exquisite White House Correspondent’s Dinner performance likely led to.) So don’t share it with your MAGA friends, who are neither fools nor “deplorables.” They’ve just been conned into something deeply unAmerican. HYMC I’m hoping it might triple again from here — who knows? But I finally sold an eighth of my IRA-tax-sheltered shares yesterday at $8.62. Maybe I should have sold more, but you know me and my happy gene. OPRT Will they really earn “$1.10-$1.30” this year, as they have said? I don’t know, but at $5.50, it’s selling at 5X projected earnings. And yesterday’s announcement . . . Oportun Adds Additional Warehouse Capacity, Reduces Warehouse Financing Costs and Pays Down Additional Higher Cost Corporate Debt . . . suggested they are on track. If I didn’t already have so much, I’d buy more.
Artificial Intelligence October 15, 2025 [I’m taking the day off, so letting Jon Stewart, Rex Woodbury, and Andrew Yang do all the work. Well, and Geoffrey Hinton.] Kris M: “John Stewart’s podcast — AI: What Could Go Wrong? with Geoffrey Hinton — is a must-listen for anyone interested in the potential of AI. For the first 50 minutes or so, Professor Hinton explains how AI works and how we got to where we are now. That may be too rudimentary for some; it was absolutely essential for me. Then, he and John Stewart talk about possible future developments. AI is likely to be a major factor, beginning as soon as the 2026 mid-terms. If there’s a way we can make every Senator and Representative listen to this (and pass a quiz administered by Professor Hinton), we should do it. Right now, the decisions coming out of D.C. regarding regulation are being made in ignorance driven by greed.” Related: Rex Woodbury: How to Productize AI Anxiety. Andrew Yang seven years ago: The War on Normal People: The Truth About America’s Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future. Andrew Yang this week: On the depletion of Hollywood.
Fight Truth Decay! October 14, 2025October 14, 2025 SATURDAY Find your protest on this map . . . or register your own and invite friends! Bob L.: “I don’t do protests.” Me, neither. But this is different. I’ve done three so far. They’re fun! And way better than sitting home, quietly acquiescing. Here are some signs to inspire you. Make your own (how about: FIGHT TRUTH DECAY! ?). Or just buy one of these. WHY PROTEST WHEN HE IS BRINGING PEACE? His vision of a peaceful, prosperous Middle East is one we all share. To the extent he pulls it off — much to be hoped for though still to be seen — he should be applauded. It would be a huge boon to the world. What he’s done and is doing to this country, on the other hand, has caused tremendous harm and will do much more. Peaceful protest is a must. ENERGY Trump looks backward; China, forward. Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau China’s clean energy efforts contrast with the ambitions of the United States under the Trump administration, which is using its diplomatic and economic muscle to pressure other countries to buy more American gas, oil and coal. China is investing in cheaper solar and wind technology, along with batteries and electric vehicles, with the aim of becoming the world’s supplier of renewable energy and the products that rely on it. [L]ast month President Xi Jinping made a stunning pledge. Speaking before the United Nations, he said for the first time that the country would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across its economy and would expand renewable energy sixfold in coming years. Trump’s Wind Energy Assault Stings Red States reports the Wall Street Journal. Wind provides more than 10% of U.S. electricity, but in Iowa it was responsible for roughly 59% of net generation in 2023, federal data show. Wind turbines, which help reduce local property taxes and make tens of millions in annual lease payments to farmers, help Iowa enjoy some of the lowest electricity prices in the nation. Some Iowa Republicans are increasingly expressing frustration about Trump’s stance on wind. AND, YES: PUTIN IS WINNING We need to talk about Russia, says Carole Cadwalladr. What’s key to remember in all of this is that Russia’s information warfare against the west is exactly that: it’s warfare. It’s a military strategy and it’s been overwhelming successful in the last decade.
That Shoeshine Boy October 12, 2025 But first . . . ASK NOT WHETHER THESE 10 SECONDS WERE GENERATED BY AI They have the ring of truth. WELL, DUH! Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices Of course it does! U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document. And construction prices will be rising, too — just when everyone agrees we badly need workers to build more houses. And all this even before considering the effect of tariffs, which are also making food and construction more expensive. Coffee, anyone? Lumber? JIM DOESN’T WANT DEMOCRATS TO CAVE EVEN IF IT MEANS KEEPING HIM OUT OF WORK LONGER He makes a compelling case (2 minutes). Meanwhile, Kristi Noem abuses her power to tell travelers stuck in airport security lines that the shutdown is the Democrats’ fault. JAMES SCURLOCK’S WARNING More Working-Class Americans Than Ever Are Investing in the Stock Market, reports the Wall Street Journal. Which is three cheers for capitalism, I guess; but it immediately made me think of Joe Kennedy and that shoeshine boy. James Scurlock warns: The United States is in much worse shape than it was in 2008 to deal with what’s coming. That said, the kinds of crazy speculations suggested here from time to time will certainly fall when the market does (as they did Friday) but are largely independent of the economy or the market. In turbulent times, the price of gold can actually rise when the market is falling. HYMC is a potential gold mine. PRKR‘s prospects are almost entirely dependent on the outcome of lawsuits, not the health of the ec0nomy or mood of the market. This analysis from a year ago proved way too bullish but the gist is still the same. If ANIX proves truly to have an effective breast cancer vaccine or ovarian cancer therapy — giant IFs, of course — it would be a home run “regardless.” Similarly, VERU, as suggested here (down 25% since then, adjusted for the one-for-ten reverse split). All of them — and the others — to be bought only with money you can truly afford to lose! Even BOREF is not dead! If WheelTug ever happens (another of those big IFs) it could be big . . . because ground time matters.
He Hates Us October 10, 2025October 10, 2025 ISRAEL/GAZA Fantastic news. Just as the Abraham Accords were a definite bright spot in Trump 1.0, we can only hope this first step toward peace comes off as planned and leads to 19 more. And to a whole new era in the Middle East. GOOD/EVIL Listen to Rep. Bob Onder of Missouri: ” Everything has changed. If we didn’t know it already, there is no longer any middle ground. Some on the American left are undoubtedly well meaning people, but their ideology is pure evil. They hate the good the truth and the beautiful and embrace the evil the false and the ugly. And they literally will kill those with whom they disagree.” Our ideology — affordable health care, equal rights, progressive taxation, consumer protection, soft power earned abroad, free speech, adherence to the Constitution, environmental protection, a minimum wage, reproductive choice, sensible gun safety, a preference for democracy over autocracy — is “pure evil”? We “hate the truth?” So “alternative facts” are the real ones? The Dominion voting machines really were rigged? He never raped — or even met — E. Jean Carroll? But Onder is just one over-zealous Congressman. You’d never hear his leader saying such things. Except that . . . oh, wait . . . you would. The Speaker of the h=House: > Trump Shares Meme Calling Dems the Party of “Hate, Evil and Satan” Amid His Demands for Them to Tone Down Rhetoric > Trump Straight-Up Says He Hates Democrats BOREF Still alive and kicking: How WheelTug is Contributing to Ground Efficiency and Easing Airport Congestion. With a $7.5 million market cap, the stock can fall 100%. But there remains some slim chance they will raise the funds needed to gain FAA certification. One day, it could sport a market cap 100X as high.
HOPE GOLD PRKR ANIX CHEESE October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 HOPE How To Save The American Experiment It’s not at all clear we can — Putin has been winning for a long time now — and the author doesn’t provide a specific road map. But we’ve been here before, a century ago. At the outset of the 1920s, a wave of attempted assassinations and political violence crested alongside new barriers to immigration, a campaign of deportations and a government crackdown on dissenting speech. America was fresh off a pandemic in which divisive public health measures yielded widespread anger and distrust. Staggering levels of economic inequality underlaid a fast-changing industrial landscape and rapidly evolving racial demographics. Influential voices in the press warned that a crisis of misinformation in the media had wrecked the most basic democratic processes. Even presidential elections eerily converge. In 1920, national frustration over an infirm and aging president helped sweep the Democratic Party out of the White House in favor of a Republican candidate offering the nostalgic promise of returning America to greatness, or at least to normalcy. A faltering President Woodrow Wilson gave way to Warren Harding and one-party control over all three branches of the federal government. Yet what is striking about the 1920s is that, unlike the German interwar crisis, America’s dangerous decade led not to fascism and the end of democracy but to the New Deal and the civil rights era. Across the sequence of emergencies that followed — the Great Depression and eventually World War II — the United States ushered in an era of working-class political empowerment and prosperity. The nation ended Jim Crow in the South and established free speech with court-backed protections for the first time in its history. It is an interesting read by the author of The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America. GOLD With the metal topping $4,000 an ounce, our HYMC has more than doubled since discussed here in June. I still think it could be a gold mine. See also (though only vaguely related to our stock’s prospects) Paul Krugman yesterday: Ingots We Trust. PRKR It has jumped as well, presumably on this recent news: ParkerVision Granted Rule 54(b) Motion in Qualcomm Patent Case, Paving the Way for Immediate Federal Circuit Appeal. One of its directors reportedly exercised options to purchase 800,000 more shares. Endless waiting can often lead . . . nowhere. And with so many shares now outstanding, the once dreamt of $10+ per share now seems fanciful. But 5X or 10X from today’s 38 cents does not strike me as impossible, so I’m dreaming about that instead; albeit only with money I can truly afford to lose. ANIX This one is also showing signs of life: Anixa Biosciences Announces Completion of Final Patient Visit in Breast Cancer Vaccine Clinical Trial. It will be interesting to see what sort of results they report December 11. Not to mention last month’s headline: Anixa Biosciences and Moffitt Cancer Center Complete Dosing of Fourth Cohort in Ovarian Cancer CAR-T Clinical Trial; Multiple Patients Surpassing Median Expected Survival. With a market cap under $200 million, the upside — for those with gambling money they can truly afford to lose — would seem to be a little bit enormous. CHEESE As promised . . . When in Parma, see how it’s made. We learned that each cow produces something on the order of 30 liters of milk a day. Could that be true? It must be exhausting! The family cheese makers we visited contract with seven farms for the 9,000 gallons (liters? I should have taken notes) they receive each day (week?) in order to produce 18 wheels of cheese a day. (Of that, I’m quite sure.) Each weighs about 60kg at first, but as the saltwater they’ve soaked in dries, they get lighter — about 40 kg after a year (88 pounds), and even a little less if you buy a two- or three-year aged wheel. THE MILK GETS PUMPED INTO VATS EARLY IN THE MORNING BY THE TIME I’M AWAKE, THE CHEESMAKER HAS GONE HOME AND THE VATS ARE SPOTLESS THE WHEELS FLOAT IN BRINE FOR A FEW DAYS (WEEKS?). SOMEBODY TURNS THEM EVERY SO OFTEN SO THEY GET SOAKED ALL OVER: THEN EACH GETS TIGHTLY WRAPPED WITH A SORT OF BRAILLE SLEEVE . . . . . . TO IMPRINT THE DATE AND PLACE ON THE RIND: AN INSPECTOR COMES EVERY THREE MONTHS TO TAP EACH WHEEL WITH A MALLET, LIKE YOUR DOCTOR TAPPING YOUR CHEST, AND GRADES EACH ONE AS #1 (GOOD) #2 (GOOD ENOUGH) OR #3 (SELL IT FOR PIZZA OR SOMETHING) THOUGH ONLY ABOUT 10% OF THE WHEELS ARE DEEMED INSUFFICIENTLY DENSE TO EARN THEIR LABEL (SEE THE LITTLE MALLET? SHE’S NOT THE INSPECTOR, SHE’S THE GRAND-DAUGHTER OF THE ORIGINAL CHEESEMAKER GIVING THE TOUR) THEN THE WHEELS GO INTO THE GIANT ADJACENT WAREHOUSE TO JOIN 10,000 OTHERS TO SIT IN 80% HUMIDITY AND JUST THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE FOR ONE OR TWO OR THREE OR EVEN MORE YEARS: AND THEN WE EAT I forgot to take a picture of that.
Vance (The Good One) And VoteVets October 7, 2025 The cop-bludgeoning rioters who stormed the Capitol and aimed to hang Mike Pence have all been pardoned, their prosecutors fired. Shoplifters in Portland, by contrast, pose a grave national threat. Welcome to Trump’s America. Joyce Vance yesterday: This afternoon, Donald Trump was asked about invoking the Insurrection Act: “I’d do it if it was necessary. … If I had to enact it, I’d do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors, or mayors were holding us up. Sure, I’d do that.” It’s hard to mistake what’s happening here. This is a president in the process of looking for excuses and seeing how far he can go until someone—right now it’s the courts—reins him in. The Insurrection Act is the primary vehicle for circumventing Posse Comitatus, which prohibits the use of the military on American soil to enforce laws against American citizens. That is not the role the military plays in American democracy. The Insurrection Act is reserved for extreme situations like rebellions or invasions. . . . Our system of federalism leaves policing crime on American streets up to the states. Sending troops into our cities is intended for true emergencies, when governors request assistance. There is no reason to believe police departments in Portland and Chicago can’t do their jobs, and every reason to believe they can. The question we have to ask is, why does an American president want to upset this balance, which has served for almost 250 years? There is no good answer to this question. . . . We all know what Portland and Chicago have in common with other cities Trump has threatened with military might, like Los Angeles and Memphis. It’s that they are run by Democrats. This is about control and intimidation, not about fighting crime. National Guard troops aren’t trained to do that like police are, because of the longstanding prohibition against using the military for domestic law enforcement purposes. That didn’t stop Secretary of Defense Hegseth from calling up 400 members of the Texas National Guard on Sunday, apparently with Governor Abbott’s blessing, to be deployed “where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago.” It’s well worth reading in full. Here’s what VoteVets thinks: Donald Trump wants to invade Democratic states he doesn’t like with Guard Troops from Republican states he does like. This is the President of the United States militarizing American cities against their will for absolutely no reason, other than as a show of force. It is illegal. It is outrageous. It’s against everything this country stands for. And it would put American Soldiers in a place they should never be — facing off against American citizens. And while Donald Trump is trying everything in his power to antagonize people into conflict, Troops don’t want to be used for political fights. It’s not why these men and women joined the Guard. They signed up to serve, to help out during disasters, and to defend American citizens with their lives, if necessary. But Trump and Pete Hegseth are doing everything they can to destroy the Military and remake it in their image. It’s absolutely sick. We are not going to sit by and let them do this to our brothers and sisters. VoteVets is on the frontline of every political fight involving our Troops and Donald Trump’s abuse. We’re one of the only organizations that can do this work. And we truly need your assistance. If you can afford it, make a donation to VoteVets and support our mission as we continue to square off against Trump and his administration on Capitol Hill, in the court room, and at the ballot box. Vance concludes: . . . Let’s not lose sight of how crazy this is or be afraid to call it out. What stops Trump? We do. When there is pushback, TACO: Trump always chickens out. It’s time to educate the people around us about what’s going on—a surprising number of people are blissfully unaware. Trump backs down in the face of sustained opposition. Let’s give him a reason to do just that. Join Indivisible. Make plans to peacefully protest with friends October 18. Fund the opposition party (or “my” dinner — it all goes into the same pot.) An adequately funded DNC is not the only thing we need in order to prevail — but it is an absolutely necessary thing.
Tomorrow (Or Soon): What I learned About Making Cheese October 6, 2025 But today: CHINA Fareed Zakariah riffed on the same Foreign Affairs article I did: As America fumbles, China races ahead. “Xi is building the future while Trump pushes tariffs and fights the woke wars.” His take is, as always, not to be missed. CHICAGO / QUANTICO Jennifer Rubin states the obvious: We Found the ‘Enemy from Within’ — He’s in the White House But she states it so well. And if you somehow missed accounts of the assault on 7500 South Shore Drive, read hers. SCOTUS Christopher Armitage asks: Has the Supreme Court Become a Republican Tool to Move Us Into Dictatorship? → Ever so sadly so. Join Indivisible. Make plans to peacefully protest with friends October 18. Fund the opposition party (or “my” dinner — it all goes into the same pot.) An adequately funded DNC is not the only thing we need to prevail — but it is an absolutely necessary thing.
A Little Truth — And A Big China October 5, 2025 David Kass at Americans for Tax Fairness: The government shutdown crisis was manufactured by Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress. They wrote and passed their “Big Ugly” tax law (OBBBA) that delivered $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to the rich and corporations.[1] They gutted healthcare, food assistance, and essential services to pay for it. Now they are refusing to negotiate on a bill that Democrats are demanding re-invests in healthcare access and affordability. This is not a budget fight. It is a political choice to put billionaires first and working Americans last. Republicans knew their tax law would blow a hole in the national debt. They knew it would trigger automatic cuts to Medicare under the PAYGO law. They knew it would raise healthcare costs for millions of families. And they went forward anyway. The consequences are staggering. Families are facing half a trillion dollars in mandatory cuts to Medicare. ACA healthcare premiums will rise more than 75% on average on January 1st, with over 4 million people expected to lose coverage.[2][3] Federal workers are being furloughed, fired, or forced to work without pay. Families that rely on SNAP are facing food insecurity. Seniors, people with disabilities, and working parents are being sacrificed to protect tax breaks for billionaires and corporations. Republicans are not seeking compromise. They are blocking any effort to restore healthcare funding. They are rejecting proposals that would roll back even the most damaging parts of their own tax law. And while they play political games in Washington, working families across America pay the price. Tell Congress to reject any government funding bill that sacrifices working people to protect billionaire tax breaks. Join the Patriotic Millionaires, if you are one. Lots there to ponder, even if you’re not. From their website: America currently faces two interrelated problems: 1) authoritarianism and 2) the destabilizing level of inequality that led to its rise. If we do not solve both problems, democratic capitalism in America will fall to authoritarian forces by 2028. The fall of democratic capitalism in America will open the door to global oligarchic dominance which, exacerbated by AI and climate change, will become permanent. The solution to this problem is surprisingly simple: structure the economy so that it naturally produces the results needed for a rich, stable and free nation. CHINA An important article in Foreign Affairs: The Real China Model: Beijing’s Enduring Formula for Wealth and Power. Concluding: If the United States is to compete effectively, its policymakers must spend less time worrying about how to weaken their rival and more time figuring out how to make their country the best and most vigorous version of itself. The current Administration is doing it almost all wrong.
Slotkin + Noonan v. Hegseth (and Jesus) October 4, 2025October 3, 2025 Watch Senator Slotkin grill the Secretary of Defense (two minutes). Compare her bio with Hegseth’s — it is as deeply impressive as his is not. Peggy Noonan roasts him in the Wall Street Journal: . . . His unprecedented extravaganza this week, in which he summoned hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world to Virginia’s Quantico Marine Base to listen to him speak . . . was, as a former general said by phone, “just flat-out bizarre.” It was embarrassing to watch. He made everyone in the audience look smaller, which made their profession look smaller. How does that help America? Mr. Hegseth instructed them as if from a great height. What he told them is that the woke progressive era in the U.S. military is over. He will have a reset to the “warrior ethos.” “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. . . . We are done with that s—.” OK. Understood. Understood, in fact, since he was appointed. Mr. Hegseth could have reiterated all this by secure video conference, or just sent a video. Instead he dragged commanders from their stations to be his audience. So he could pose with a giant American flag behind him like George C. Scott in “Patton,” only Scott delivered a great speech. Mr. Hegseth gave a TED Talk, a weirdly self-reverential one. He paced the stage like a strutting, gelled bantam, like an amped-up actor with rehearsed gestures and expressions and voice shifts. “You might say we’re ending the war on warriors. I heard someone wrote a book about that.” Mr. Hegseth is author of a book called “The War on Warriors.” I guess he wants us to buy it. There was braggadocio: “To our enemies, FAFO. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.” He used “lethal” and “lethality” a lot, like a young Hollywood scriptwriter dreaming up some mad right-wing Army officer because he watched “Platoon” too much as a child, as perhaps Mr. Hegseth did. The frantic drama: “This is a moment of urgency, mounting urgency.” “We became the Woke Department.” “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals.” The retired general later sighed on the phone and said: “I would like you to note that his hero, Norman Schwarzkopf, was fat. And George Patton wasn’t exactly a gazelle.” Sound military leadership has little to do with physical fitness and everything to do with strategic judgment. Mr. Hegseth also seemed preoccupied with reimposing the military’s height requirement. There goes young Napoleon. What are we doing in this dangerous world having the head of the Defense Department prance around like this and embarrass the generals he used as his backdrop? Why do his highly placed defenders in the administration think this is good for the White House, or even for Mr. Hegseth? . . . Mr. Hegseth has always had bad press, from the scandals that emerged after his nomination through fairly constant reports about chaos in his office. I thought and said early on he was a poor choice—a television host playing a culture warrior who lacked the weight and gravitas the Pentagon needed. This week the Daily Mail, not an immediate foe of all things Trump, had a story in which Mr. Hegseth was described as paranoid, “crawling out of his skin,” fearful and suspicious. . . . You know why people say something’s wrong with this guy? Because it appears something is wrong with this guy. Speaking of fat commanders, it’s not just Hegseth’s hero Norman Schwarzkopf who was fat; it’s Hegseth’s bone-spurred commander-in-chief. BONUS James Talarico: “Jesus spent most of his time healing the sick. Today, we have politicians in Congress with ‘Christ-follower’ in their Twitter bios — but they’re trying to kick the sick off their healthcare. And they’re willing to shut down the government to do it.” Watch (70 seconds). Join Indivisible. Make plans to peacefully protest with friends October 18. Fund the opposition party (or “my” dinner — it all goes into the same pot.) An adequately funded DNC is just one of the things we need to prevail — but it is an absolutely necessary thing.