https://www.axios.com/2025/02/05/musk-doge-treasury-payments-access-read-only
Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Biden news.
https://www.indy100.com/news/joe-biden-talent-agency-hollywood
Reporting does not identify any tie between the agency Biden joins, and Kevin Morris, the person who assisted Hunter Biden in his tax payment need.
AP and a foreign outlet post, re USAID.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/ .../2025-02-05
Each is relatively short and simple, and self-contained.
UPDATE: What do Iran's leaders think?
FURTHER: At a time when private sector urban business rental is getting totally blitzed, DOGE looks at 7500 federal government rentals, wanting GSA to cancel them.
The Tulsi Gabbard nomination has been voted out of committee.
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to advance former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's nomination for director of national intelligence in a closed-door session on Tuesday afternoon.
Gabbard advanced in a 9-8 vote along party lines, according to senators leaving the meeting. All Republicans voted in favor of Gabbard while all Democrats opposed her, according to a source familiar with the vote.
The vote followed Gabbard's at-times contentious confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill last Thursday, where she was grilled over her views on government secrets leaker Edward Snowden and her refusal to label him a traitor.
The question most people may find interesting is not, "Who is Akash Bobba," but where is he and what is he doing these days.
One headline gives you the nutshell story, add a little text, and Crabgrass readers might choose to follow the link.
Who is Akash Bobba, 22-year-old Indian-origin engineer hired by Elon Musk's DOGE?
Akash Bobba, who has expertise in AI, data analytics, and financial modelling, is now a part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Akash Bobba has joined Elon Musk's DOGEIn Short
- Akash Bobba is a 22-year-old Indian-origin engineer
- Bobba began as a standout coder at UC Berkeley
- He worked as intern at Meta and Palantir
The beat goes on.
And Liz writes a long letter. That letter would make a hell of a good start at a Democratic Party platform w/o bullshit, if the party insiders have the balls to run on it. Sorry, sexist - have the courage, etc.
Why will that not happen?
Schumer,
Pelosi,
Clyburn,
Harris,
Jeffries, and others. Others such as Hogg, touting his money raising potential as reason he is relevant and should be big in DNC, beyond his single issue gravitas.
_________UPDATE________
https://weeklybyte.substack.com/
All I know is what I read on the Internet. Which is why I try to read a spectrum.
Each in an individual way, Liz and this guy write convincingly. How apart are they? And does Liz write her own stuff, or do the final editing?
You don't read answers to stuff like that on the Internet. Few even pose the questions.
_______FURTHER UPDATE_______
If you look at that Weekly Byte website you might see -
The revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors has eroded accountability and warped priorities. Few cases highlight this corruption better than Lloyd Austin, who sat on Raytheon’s board before approving billions of dollars in contracts that directly enriched the company during his tenure as Secretary of Defense.
So, what might Elon and his engineering troupe be looking for in getting access to the disbursement database of the Treasury Department? I have no idea, since all I know is what I read on the Internet. I even have to wonder whether JD and Elon have much to say to one another, whether a conversation trail exists. But at least the question can be asked. And what should I make of this -
%20%E2%80%94%20Scaled%20(67).jpg){kind=tracking}
A Vulkan mindmeld, or Elon just wanting to get to Mars so he can be back home.
FURTHER: That Austin/Raytheon business got me to web searching and guess what -
Tenet Board Appoints Two Independent Directors
May 29, 2018DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) today announced the appointment of two independent directors to its Board: General Lloyd J. Austin, III and Meghan M. FitzGerald, DrPH.
Bob Kerrey, [Link added] Lead Director, said, “As a retired four-star general whose career spans more than four decades in the U.S. Army, Lloyd has demonstrated a powerful commitment to service and leadership with integrity. Meg has an impressive background that combines experience across different aspects of healthcare, including policy, innovation, business development and strategy. We are thrilled to welcome our new directors, and we are confident they will add tremendous value.”
Ron Rittenmeyer, Executive Chairman and CEO, said, “We have been steadfast in our commitment to accelerate change across the company. This applies to all facets of operations and all levels of leadership – including adding five new directors to our board in the last seven months. Lloyd and Meg have remarkable experience and will offer new and valuable insights as we continue to improve performance and drive value for our shareholders.”
Biographical Information (General Lloyd J. Austin, III)
Austin is a retired four-star general who served for 41 years in the U.S. Army. From March 2013 through March 2016, Austin served as the Commander of U.S. Central Command responsible for military strategy and joint operations throughout the 20-country Central Region that includes Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Prior to that, he served as the 33rd Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from January 2012 to March 2013 and as the Combined Forces Commander in Iraq from September 2010 through 2011. He is the recipient of numerous U.S. military awards, including the Silver Star, five Defense Distinguished Service Medals and the Legion of Merit. Austin currently serves as a director of United Technologies Corporation and Nucor Corporation. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds master’s degrees from Auburn University (Education) and Webster University (Business Management).
Biographical Information (Meghan M. FitzGerald, DrPH)
FitzGerald is a Managing Partner at L1 Health LLC, an investment fund specializing in healthcare. She also serves as an Assistant Professor of Health Policy at Columbia University. From May 2015 to October 2016, FitzGerald served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Policy at Cardinal Health, a healthcare services and product company. From 2010 to 2015, she served as President of Cardinal’s Specialty Solutions division. FitzGerald serves as a director of two other public companies, Arix Bioscience plc and Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She holds a DrPh in Healthcare Policy from New York Medical College, a BSN in Nursing from Fairfield University, and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University.
About Tenet Healthcare
Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a diversified healthcare services company with approximately 115,000 employees united around a common mission: to help people live happier, healthier lives. Through its subsidiaries, partnerships and joint ventures, including United Surgical Partners International, the Company operates general acute care and specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers and other outpatient facilities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Tenet’s Conifer Health Solutions subsidiary provides technology-enabled performance improvement and health management solutions to hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks, physician groups, self-insured organizations and health plans. For more information, please visit www.tenethealth.com.
Doors revolve and directorates interlock. Academia, government, military, healthcare. Who would have guessed? But, you read it on the Internet, and sources seem legit. So, what Elon is doing will likely flesh out after it's done. There are voices being raised in opposition. If Elon's young braintrust fucks up, we can believe we will hear of it. Or read of it. On the Internet.
Tuesday, February 04, 2025
The firings are a matter for those having standing for a court test, i.e., those fired, perhaps other. But what of Elon's adventuring?
Breitbart, in its Trump touting, has published some interesting stuff, some of which cannot be put into a dollars and cents framework, while some if it can.
An example of the first type - hard to price - is:
Mexican Government Announces Arrest of Top Cartel Commander Right After Trump’s Phone Call
[with headline capitalization in the original]. The item speaks for itself that sequence, phone call then arrest is circumstantial proof the call was causative and not coincidental.
Enough of that. There is Elon-touting with numbers -
DOGE Announces Termination of 20 Consulting Contracts, Saving Taxpayers $26 Million
The federal annual budget is well over a trillion dollars, so the relative reported "savings" in the item represent a piss in the ocean, not in the local pool, percentage wise. Another item by Brietbart absent anything but a baldly asserted number, would be a piss in the pool, if true.
Report: Biden Admin Made Improper Payments Totaling $236 Billion in 2023
Without any reliable Inspector Generals anymore, how to trust asserted numbers by an outlet like Breitbart, without attribution or a link, is for the reader to decide.
To put numbers in perspective, Trump cancelled foreign aid spending except to Israel, and strangly, Egypt. Reporting by
https://www.amcham.org.eg/information-resources/trade-resources/egypt-us-relations/us-foreign-assistance-to-egypt?form=MG0AV3
is
Since 1946, the United States has provided Egypt with over USD 85 billion in bilateral foreign aid, with military and economic assistance increasing significantly after 1979. U.S. foreign assistance has been significantly decreasing over the past two decades as Egypt’s economic fundamentals continued to dramatically improve, and bilateral relations began emphasizing the notion of “trade, not aid.”
In FY 2023, aid from all U.S. agencies totaled USD 1.43 billion, with USD 1.44 billion requested for FY 2024. Currently, Egypt ranks third in the MENA region, after Israel and Jordan, in terms of assistance funds requested for FY 2024.
while AP reports Israel got $17.9 billion since last October.
Egypt got funds after Carter got the peace agreement between Began and Sadat.
Of interest, other speculation exists on Egyptian aid per Trump decisionmaking.
In any event, the $236 billion number is legit per a GAO report from March 2024:
https://www.gao.gov/blog/federal-government-made-236-billion-improper-payments-last-fiscal-year
So the scale of things is GAO has defined an uncertainty/error level, and Israel got less, Egypt much less, and Musk's actions so far, cancelling DEI programs and some contracts got far, far less for the effort. Or that seems the appearance of things to the extent Crabgrass could find reliable reported numbers.
BOTTOM LINE: Musk/DOGE so far has done jack, beyond purging Ramaswamy and gaining database access, apparently with dubious guardrails.
But it is very early in a four-year term, so there is more we will be seeing.
_____________UPDATE____________
To avoid any misimpression, it is not to be minimized that a Trump phone call and tariff threat may have gotten one Mexican cartel figure in one cartel into Mexican custody, but with no impressive follow-up it really is minimal.
If the Mexican government will not, or cannot control the cartels, Hegseth should offer to do the job and see what happens. Real tariffs, actually applied for a length of time might lead Mexico to crack down on crime, and that would be good. But the cartels have gotten powerful, there being arms smuggling for profit to arm them, so what really can and should be done?
Presumably Trump is exploring ideas, and he has heavyweight options in hand if he and Hegseth choose to use them. Who knows, if there's another Mexican War like the last one we might steal more land from Mexico, like before, where we could turn it into a Gaza Strip surrogate, for deportees to cram into together and be miserable.
Not a recommended thing, but with Trump and Hegseth, who's to say.
Monday, February 03, 2025
Short break. Back posting. Things are too interesting to leave read-only. Or left to others to conjure thoughts without Crabgrass helpful input. [UPDATED]
You, as in Trump (not you a reader), cook a sovereign wealth fund into birth, mere days into office, cooked along with Treasury and Commerce heads you named - and the scent of things is it got speced out & kicked around as an idea in some form, by somebody, before the election, and is not this day a Zuesian birth of Athena on the spot. (Where trying that is not recommended.) Others doing sovWealth funds even were likely consulted, with or without a paper trail.
All I know is what's reported on the web, so let's have a look -
CBS News, "Trump orders the creation of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund. Here's what that means." That headlining is one for the books. Immoddest to a fault, with hubris dripping from its final sentence.
Projecting a year's time to set it up, an idea only now, and, "Here's what it means"?
Tone that headline down to scale, please; and saying that, let's have a look. (I'd never be pretentious to do a premature "here's what it means," but aside from nit picking that detail, the story text is helpful):
Mr. Trump signed an executive order that charges Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, Mr. Trump's nominee to lead the Commerce Department, with beginning a process [,,,]
Bessent said the creation of the fund will "monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet [...] within 12 months, putting U.S. assets to work for Americans." The treasury secretary said the Trump administration will study best practices around the world to develop the fund.
Sovereign wealth funds generally use a nation's reserves and invest the funds to generate returns, which can be used to address deficits, pay down debts or bolster savings. It's unclear what types of safeguards would be placed around a U.S.-owned investment fund to ensure it has transparent reporting obligations and that the investments aren't benefiting political allies.
Amen.
Other countries that have a sovereign wealth fund include China, Singapore, New Zealand, Norway and Saudi Arabia, among others.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund of Norway, is the largest in the world, with assets valued at $1.7 trillion, a substantial figure for a country of 5.5 million people. The Norwegian government is only permitted to spend a small part of the fund each year, but the total amounts to nearly 20% of its annual budget.
As a bet, I'd wager that Hong Kong has a big say in China's SWF.
And that explains in my mind why readership of Crabgrass is high among somebody with posslibly advance notice of things to be cooked, in Norwar, Singapore, Hong Kong. Somebody might have known something, with a paper record?
Anyway, if Jared Kushner is not picked to run it at a fee, etc., and other guardrails against nepotism or crony favoritism are built in, it looks like it could be a good idea. The devil being in details, and we have had Elon sniffing around government accounts with no real cause to be doing so per his DOGE duties, unless his sole motive was to start a clawback of wrongly paid out money, to go into the gov's SWF, (presuming he knew of it before the order was signed), time sequence being what it is and readers can check which came first, Elon's sniff or the order. If Elon claws back money ill spent, it's a service and not a looting for personal benefit, and he's helpful despite the egregious salute to a triumph of will.
One observation, with investment assets finite, Treasuary and Commerce being headed by two with private sector investment fund ties, and Soros running asset management, a SWF would create a demand spike, leading to an upward asset pricing cycle, and those holding portfolios would see the value perhaps skyrocket, while handling the administration and building of the SWF's demand spike.
I.e. insiders and others holding/managing portfolios, Jarad Kushner and the Saudis included, could see a pecuniary enhancement - an asset price spike - from a U.S. SWF, and that's a factor deserving hearings. It would be nest feathering without any self dealing between the beneficiaries of the demand spike doing self-dealing of a wrongful kind. Of course, other mischief is also possible, so a mere executive order is no fix for wrong profiteering which is baked into the pie. From size of the pie.
But what do I know? Just an old guy with opinions knowing what the web tells me and little else. Possibly wrong about supply-demand price shifts, with the web silent of actual or potential motives for Republicans of wealth to fashion a SWF.
Hearings are worth holding, and Bondi-Patel will not be likely independent investigators. A special prosecutor is an option. With inspector generals gone, what other options hold?
Trust me? That's a hornets' next. Jack Smith would be a better Special Prosecutor appointment than Bill Barr. Beyond that, others hold powers I do not.
All for now.
UPDATE: Why do I get reverberations of privatizing Social Security when I scan web stuff about a SWF formed by those who managed funds? Privatizing Social Security was touted, but opposed, and so far went nowhere. Isn't this privatizing Social Security tarted up to look different, but no different?
FURTHER UPDATE: This is not a post trashing having a SWF, which, if done cleanly and wisely might work out nicely, it is to wave a warning flag about cleanly and wisely, without even side benefits to insiders or allies.
The purpose of this update - 11:56 AM Tuesday, February 4, 2025 - is to post the Blogger statistics reader/nation data, last 24hr -
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| click the image to be able to read it |
There is no surprise that when a Trump inspired SWF is discussed that readers from nations already administering SWF arrangements would be curious. They have experience of pitfalls to avoid and they need to contemplate the SWF space having a new entrant which could be a massive new player changing the rules and practices of best economic conduct and management. It would change the playing field if/when it happens, and a universal worry is a big player in SWF space doing unpredictable and possibly unwise stuff. It is like the banking community of central banks having to be aware of one another's conduct for the economy the remain smooth worldwide, and stable long term when, as with Norway, a pension pool is the SWF purpose. That long term perspective has to treasure stability.
FURTHER: Another concern is why have an SWF unless a major wealth stream is anticipated, and if that, what source. A worry is always federal lands at risk of exploitation, disproportionate in terms of wealth generated for private sector players from mining or other resource exploitation, where still with the disproportions the income stream would be large. Why simply paying down the debt is not the answer? Well, the thinking has to be "We're so smart that our gambling the money will pull in more than debt service, yielding a net gain, rather than our gambling the SWF stupidly and facing a net loss." Nice thinking. And if needed, policy could be adapted to create a world event rescuing a bad SWF bet, and that could be a lead-in to big mischief. A host of scenarios have to be considered before pulling the trigger. On actually having an SWF, in fact and not in contemplation via a signed piece of paper.
Sunday, February 02, 2025
Taking a break, at least for a while. Trump won, Trump promised, Trump is doing what he said, and what people voting for him wanted.
Backing Harris, as not Trump, and before that, backing Biden, as not Trump, it is as if posting to nobody with a vote.
The majority last November wanted Trump/Vance and so Trump/Vance nailed down the majority vote, and that entire story is unfolding at a very fast clip. Here is last 30 days readership statistics Google has for the Crabgrass blog -
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| click the image to enlarge and read who reads Crabgrass |
ME: Not a wealthy donor, nor an activist organizer/schmoozer, instead an old white guy with attitude along Bernie lines - not liking how healthcare is held over heads like a sword of , keeping folks tied to crappy jobs and, like a mortgage, making people pliant and accepting of paycheck to paycheck because getting by has only the alternative of not getting by and being hammered by finance.
For the great majority of people Trump/Vance note things as amiss, while the Democrats court this fringe, and that, to go with Black people, for a coalition willing to put up with what the Dem politicians are doing because what's their option?
That chart says a few U.S. people - a clear minority by the numbers - read Crabgrass, while foreigners without a vote to change things are more numerous readers. Globalism is fine, but not happening without the U.S. population taking a hit, and Trump/Vance stepped into a vacuum of pointing that out. And then the Replacement.
I admit to not reading Project 2025, who would it being very lengthy mean junk, but knowing enough of it to think it evil, and isolationist power tripping and sabre rattling - or being the big economic Sumo and flexing - is no answer to me. No help to me. No answer to me.
Hegseth, not wanting unending war with ongoing attrition, may be okay. But as an atheist, myself, who has not read Augustine nor the Epistles, nor Gibbons, and expecting Hegseth has not either, with JD having read Augustine, the Hegseth Crusader tattoos speak to me, and say watch out.
JD converting Catholic, is speaking to us of his outlook, while Francis is steering the Roman Church IMO better than his predecessors, my worry is JD may be less with Francis and more in mood with the predecessors.
Given that Trump is delivering what he threatened, if he and JD and crew do actual good for the standards of living of majority America, they will be okay. But will they?
It is all a frustration. An Ecclesiastic vanity. A blog that is read more than usual, but having no effect that matters on national political actualities, is frustrating, while writing ideas is not. Nobody with votes seem to care to see what I write, so, take a vacation from posting and protect one's head.
Patel and Bondi will do as told and Trump has an agenda they will follow, so over four years, with both Houses of Congress by bare majorities at the rapid-paced start, it will be strange and hostile times.
Importantly, neither party is "My Party." I approve Trump's decision to lessen threat to the world's economy by putting a smart economic mind there, and being a partial pacifist because he's an isolationist - but Elon - - - and his South African white minority biases is hard to take.
Crabgrass readership before the election was worth the chance it could make a difference. After the election there is sadness to the Democratic Party's meandering and treading water with a firm unwillingness to go populist-progressive while similarly unwilling to cut loose the entrenched DC money-suck crowd and reform itself. A crowd wanting favors and wanting to work the levers, but not earning favors nor access to the levers.
Ken Martin to head DNC on a first ballot does not speak to me of betterment on any major dimension. Just less of what was the worst at DNC, more of what Martin's been. Which could be wrong. Words are words, wins are wins. At least he's got somebody worried.
Better, but not good yet.
All that is heavy. Trump and JD won. Trump picks a Cabinet that is unimpressive in general, but his loyalists, which Biden did, and Bush - Chaney did too. We'll see.
Meanwhile, NBA news, what about Doncic being traded for Davis?
Why care of that? Well, with the casino lady buying into the Dallas franchise majority seat (and appearing to want to open gambling in Texas with that as a home base to work levers from) - why The Trade? Mark Cuban is now a minority ownership figure, not in the driver's seat anymore, and it appears to be a money-to-Doncic issue where, again, bigger by far wealth calls the shots, players getting a share. It's the American Way, basketball version, but signs of the times come at all levels, and it's really a sign. Musk buys Twitter, Adelson buys into the Dallas NBA franchise, each with a like-kind motive - to push wealth to run the world the way the wealthy want. A/k/a more of the same. It saddens.
So, take a break, see what befalls the lone voice from the wilderness, and keep the main motive of this one life to be continuing to suck air rather than croaking. Politics will move as it does, Crabgrass on vacation, or being a steady voice of distrust and reformation either way, the world still spins unchanged on its axis.
___________UPDATE___________
While blacks were as a bloc most impacted by DEI retractions, it would be remiss to close the blog for a period without mention of the U.S. and Russian decline in birth rates among white Euroethnic people, where JD and Putin agree a long term situation exists where notice needs to be taken.
JD faults the failure of single wage earner capacity to fund a majority of families forcing "dinks" (double income no kids) to proliferate to where barefoot and pregnant seems okay with some more than expected and females having career goals can suffer. Readers can research Putin worry over traditional Russian birth rate decline as well.
JD's family is anti-traditional to recent norms, but traditional to the 50s pattern of women not in the workforce after the war so men would have jobs and not be disgruntled veterans.
JD's spouse was in Yale Law School as capable as any of the students and had the big well-paying law firm job comparable to Michelle Obama, again readers can search out detail. JD's spouse is now raising the children while it is JD's career on the hot single-career burner. JD's success in venture capital "out west" being the anchor of the family's ability to make a single earner family feasible.
That is not critical of anyone's lifestyle capability or choosing, but stating a fact where in the last election the women's vote was mixed between careerist aims and double income needs, vs suburban homefront moms happy in single earner situations where it worked without a need for two earner structuring.
Those women deserving the most respect are those who single parent when they have to, and those able to handle both parenting and career growth. There were not enough of those two voting blocs, last election, to carry the Democratic Party to a win.
Again, the point is not to criticize, but to try to discern demographics that are unclear, but likely as analyzed. To the extent the analysis is oversimplified or dead wrong, apologies to everyone, as the UPDATE is-and-was never intended as criticism of anyone's life decisions and opportunities being structured as various voting individuals choose. But it seems true that an anticipated heavy women's vote against Trump failed to materialize as Democratic strategists hoped they would see.
Whether the post suffers from the UPDATE or not, there was too much chance that things could be saying the Democrats were dumb, when the fact is they read the Tarot cards wrongly, which was happening in an ambiguous voting situation.
Things now happen as they will, and the two parties seem more hostile to one another than has recently been the norm. Meaning there will be frictions, but one party has White House and both Houses of Congress - and SCOTUS in the back pocket, so that overbearing force is possible, even if a short-term win but long-term mistake. Both parties should make the best of co-existence, with no Reagan sized mandate at play, so we'll see.
FURTHER: Politico reported -
Martin looked to cement that [fighter] image in his first remarks to the press as chair on Saturday, after defeating Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, who had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Turning from losers can't be a bad idea, and Jeffries and Schumer got it wrong. Which is to say the vote to head DNC went to Martin, first ballot, so we have to wish him well in moving forward to reorient the party's thinking to having an agenda that matters. Resonates even. If he has a little of Keith Ellison in him, it would help. Something is needed.
All for now. All for a while. Wish the nation well under Trump. He is our President.
One more thing -
NEXT ELECTIONS POLICY MATTERS! CRED MATTERS!
KEN MARTIN -- BUILD CRED. WORK WITH BERNIE, WITH AOC, WITH ELLISON, AND WITH WARREN TO PROMOTE MEDICARE FOR ALL, AND WIN!
TRUMP WILL OVERREACH AND FALTER. FOR NOW, PAY OUT ROPE. A TIME WILL COME.
Saturday, February 01, 2025
More of the same, but it could be worse. Hakim Jeffries proves it. KEN MARTIN, now head of the DNC.
CNN reports. One of the Walz people. At least not one of the Harris or Clyburn people.
Replacing a Clyburn person. If he has good avisers, he might do well.
Hope so. Martin would have to do really badly to meet the standard set, last election. Like running a Clinton again, or such.
_______________UPDATE______________
Moreover, Schumer proves it could be worse, or better once Schumer is recognized as keeping the good boat anchored in bad waters. He needs common sense, to be sized to the ego already on display.
This post is not to say or imply DEI should DIE, as something with a devil in detailing, nor that diversity promotion in an actual meritocracy is a bad thing - we all should get along and help and respect one another - but "meritocracy" as a word, should not be allowed by ill-intentioned people and usage, to be an entrenched codeword for whites first, special treatment, as some suggest lately.
And we should watch deportations and see if agricultural workers are hands off, while urban families are put on planes to outside-of-our-nation places. And to see if deportations are accompanied by effort to force retirees back into the labor force by program terminations that are someone's brain fart of an idea.
Can you say, "Stephen Miller is a menace to good government and sound policy"?
I can.
Implementation detail matters, and the hope is mainstream media do not get diverted into covering sideshow staged events.
If you've a pet muskrat, name it Elon. Resolute salute and all other baggage suggests Trump will phase Elon out at some point, but JD needs the money into the 2030s, so wait a bit on that. It may not happen, campaign financing and the Federalist Society each being what it is. Oh, do share a good view of the Heritage Foundation. If you can think of one good thing to say of it.
Hail to the chief. We get the government they projected, they elected, they watch and wait. And, disclaiming Project 2025. It was disclaimed. But did anybody believe the denial of attachment?
Friday, January 31, 2025
There is DeepSeek news, for another post or an UPDATE, but for now, technical links, per a Google Scholar search.
GS search = deepseek r1
For those unfamiliar: https://scholar.google.com/ >> search term >> return list
_________UPDATE_________
As to latest news, DeepSeek may have discovered some insight from OpenAI LLMs via "knowledge distillation," and whether that was fair use or wrongful. News links will be added, but for now that is enough to start a GoogleScholar search = knowledge distillation -- to have some idea what it means in viewing news reports.
Two videos, please watch both. One is a studied inquiry into DEI becoming, under Trump, DIE. The other, Stephen Miller.
When it comes down to character and class, manner of discussion, who is your choice for who'd you want visiting your home, meeting your household members, selling you a viewpoint and way of seeing the world? In answering that, are you only a high school grad, or a holder of one or more college degrees?
And, yes, race is a fact we deal with.
A Tale of Two Reports. What does "spin" mean, on a binary match?
Bankman-Fried wants clemency, and his parents are working on it. So, how can there be two spins to that? Parents supportive of their children is a generally normal thing. Expected.
Well:
One should note, reading both brief reports, spin touches headlining, lead images, and text, where wording and scope of choosing what to say and how to say it interplay. Neither source has a hot-button obvious motive at play, but the mood of things differ. Perhaps academicians are viewed differently by ownership as well as salaried senior editorial policy makers of the two outlets - as a factor suggesting biased worldview.
Monday, January 27, 2025
DeepSeek - added to the sidebar a couple of days ago, now in the mainstream, with AP on the story.
Seattle Times, carrying the AP report: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/stock-market-today-asian-markets-are-mixed-after-wall-street-edges-back-from-its-record/
Headline of ST item:
Tech stocks tumble as a Chinese competitor threatens to upend the AI industry; Nvidia down 16%
These AI plungers surely are a nervous bunch.
Is it real? As real as crypto? If not as real, at least as touchy-volatile; not your stable bluechip public utility stock, or moving in sync with federal bonds.
It appears a Chinese successful trading company is self-financing DeepSeek, open source, not with a closed source moat as OpenAI operates despite its name, while Memphis must assure it has enough electric power for plans of saluting-Elon and his xAI biggie.
So far, who is on board, in China or elsewhere? Other big China tech firms are putting out copy cat AI and chat offerings; but - big there -DeepSeek is cutting price. With other Chinese firms following with their pricing.
The AP item which ST published states -
The S&P 500 was down 1.7% in afternoon trading and heading for its worst day in more than a month. Big Tech stocks took some of the heaviest losses, with Nvidia down 16%, and they dragged the Nasdaq composite down 3.2%.
Stocks outside of AI-related industries held up much better, though, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 137 points, or 0.3%, as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow has much less of an emphasis on tech than the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
The shock to financial markets came from China, where a company called DeepSeek said it had developed a large language model that can compete with U.S. giants but at a fraction of the cost. DeepSeek had already hit the top of the chart for free apps on Apple’s App Store by Monday morning, and analysts said such a feat would be particularly impressive given how the U.S. government has restricted Chinese access to top AI chips.
Skepticism, though, remains about how much DeepSeek’s announcement will ultimately shake the AI supply chain, from the chip makers making semiconductors to the utilities hoping to electrify vast data centers gobbling up computing power.
“It remains to be seen if DeepSeek found a way to work around these chip restrictions rules and what chips they ultimately used as there will be many skeptics around this issue given the information is coming from China,” according to Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.
DeepSeek’s disruption nevertheless rocked AI-related stocks worldwide.
There are a number of recent papers on arXiv authored out of DeepSeek, and web search will uncover popular reporting. Heating up things is not for the nervous.
Nor is crypto. The beat goes on. AI promises, but does it deliver?
UPDATE: Seattle Times carries (no paywall) a Bloomberg feed re DeepSeek.
I want to call it DeepSleep, which is what we all need to stay healthy.
FURTHER: This is for friend Hegseth, who presumably has suitable advisers, possibly even the author of that Aug 2004 item where DeepSeek gets mention in a chart, but nothing like the recognition it is earning today.
That paper, on a brief scan, shows how AI open sourcing has some folks worried.
All for now.
Who is Scott Bessent, what's his economic perspective, his likelihood of confirmation, and Trump's using an economic big stick to beat Columbia into accepting planeloads of deportees as a template [UPDATED]
In order, Bessent is a Soros allied historically macro-attentioned economist and successful fund manager, he's gay, and his policies fit Trump's outlook and plans. He would not have been selected to head Treasury if not in harmony, nor if untalented or without a track record, since Trump has no intention to tank the economy and be hated for it. Wikipedia. Inflation will be a question Trump must face.
Regarding Bessent, MSN, saying
In his first interview following his selection, Bessent said his policy priority will be to deliver on Trump’s various tax-cut pledges. Those include making his first-term cuts permanent, and eliminating taxes on tips, social-security benefits and overtime pay.
Enacting tariffs and cutting spending will also be a focus, he said, as will be “maintaining the status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.”
Bessent became one of Trump’s closest advisers by adding depth to his economic proposals and defending his plans for more activist trade policies. He has argued that the president-elect’s plans to extend tax cuts and deregulate parts of the U.S. economy would create an “economic lollapalooza.”
Trump selected him from several candidates jockeying for the job partly because he trusted him to execute the administration’s policies more than the other contenders, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The decision came after Elon Musk criticized Bessent as a “business-as-usual choice” while lobbying for Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick instead. (Trump later nominated Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department.)
Many on Wall Street, including hedge-fund managers Daniel Loeb and Bill Ackman, applauded the selection of Bessent. Investor Kyle Bass said on the social-media platform X that Bessent was “the single best choice.”
People who have worked with Bessent describe him as reserved and professorial. He once taught economic history at Yale University,
So, not a head-rattling choice as is yet-to-be-tested Hegseth, and set to be easily approved since his nomination was passed out of committee with bipartisan majority support.
..................................
The deportation template: This is Trump, and not entirely apart from Bessent's responsibilities, but not overlapping too much. Breitbart explains:
Colombian President Gustavo Petro backed down on his declaration that he would not accept deportation flights from the United States. He now says he will send his presidential plane to personally pick up the deported migrants, a U.S. official with knowledge on the matter told Breitbart News.
The Colombian president’s backpedaling came after President Donald Trump announced he would impose numerous sanctions—including “emergency 25% tariffs”—on Colombia in response to Petro’s reversal of his promise to accept deportation flights.
On Sunday, Petro — who initially said he would accept deportation flights from the U.S. but then refused to receive two flights containing a total of 160 deportable migrants — suggested he changed his mind about accepting the flights because the U.S. treats “Colombian migrants as criminals.”
Petro then demanded the United States “establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
President Trump responded to the matter in a Sunday Truth Social post, declaring, “I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia.”
“This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” Trump continued. “Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States.”
President Trump went on to reveal that in response to this, he directed his administration “to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:”
-Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
-A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
-Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
-Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
-IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump added. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”
Other outlets might have covered that, or not, but it is wise to go to Breitbart on occasion to see things other outlets might emphasize less.
So, squeeze them by the nuts on relative economic heavyweight power, schoolyard bully style, but get the intended capatulation result. That is a deportation template.
Perhaps it is a template for Democrats and the media, although denying access seems enough to manage media. It seems to have worked spiffy-well on Joni Ernst with Hegseth getting a bare 51 votes because JD rode into the Senate on a white horse named 51. Mitch had to vote against Pete, so JD could perform. So -- Mitch did so JD could do so, proving he is more than Trump's bellboy. That he can show up and do something even Elon cannot, so there, do your salute car-boy!
It's not sensible, however, to minimize JD having a say in everything Trump considers. Trump listens, then does what he wants, thinking it best. Trump has four years, and then JD defines himself with an administration low public profile now so that he can fashion things as seem best to him four years from now.
In effect, JD seems deliberately set apart from public responsibility for administration actions. As if apart from decision consequences. Which is a wise way to go.
So, bottom line on the economy is Trump picks practical and experienced public sector money managers for Treasury and Commerce, Senate approval being almost certain, and ones picked are conservative and sycophantic, but smart and unlikely to poison any wells.
And that is good. We clearly do not need to make depressions great again.
Again, in closing, Breitbart is clearly biased, but sometimes things show up there besides Schumer's ineffective whining, and generic Tulsi hate. As if the Dems learned nothing from being hammered last election, same faces, same whines, while Trump resumes 2000 lb bunker buster bomb shipments to Isreal which Biden had paused to get Isreal to ease up on genocide. Which got ignored in the whining.
And, in closing, this and this, both of which CNN lets slide. The immediacy and aggressiveness of the deportation effort is news, as is Hollywood not pushing the election to Harris being true and how the party can fix things, by changing faces and power structure, and having actual and attractive policies rather than feel good identity politics and razzle dazzle that don't move the needle. Fix the fucking party, please, as a viable Medicare for All alternative to Trump/JD might be good for the nation even if Schumer and Pelosi have to step into the background for real reform.
Prominent egos largely empty of ideas but strong on Hollywood stars did not cut it, so why not CHANGE and HOPE? Or don't and see how JD handles two terms after Trump's second one. The message is on the wall. So set folks, please read it.
Please.
Mayor Pete "McKinsey" and Governor California won't cut it, talking glibly but with no policies to make people's economic lives better, the failure including Schmer's two to one suburban to urban worker joke, which did not materialize, and was bullshit from the start. Yes, unions are still in the Dem tent, at least at the leadership level, but do admit union membership has shrunk to where it could be countered by choking it in a bathtub. New people. Real ideas. Real effort to help people's economic lives instead of parading social bloc politics and personalities devoid of ideas. As if appealing only to easily snowed members of the masses, whom you call "deplorables." Reach out. Be sound. Not smoke and mirrors and Hollywood.
As an example, AOC is worth listening to, which is why people do listen and then ask, why is her party not listening? They then can see it is because they have donors with agendas apart from what people want. That is clear enough, and absent adjustment results will not change.
Cat lady Swift ended up a blip without promise of substance or lasting impact.
Get wise to it. I went with it as not-Trump, pitched it, and hoped. No luck, so I can see, do better, or not. The opportunity to retool is there needing only an intent.
Wall Street is not the answer to hating on immigrants as demographics change. Trump's scapegoating worked, and with that in mind, why oversell identity bloc answers with no policy? Medical and economic Angst are not well met with expensive Taylor Swift concerts, which matter little paycheck to paycheck.
____________UPDATE__________
Setting the record straight. The Columbia arrangment on repatriation flights is getting other media coverage. Breitbart simply pulled the trigger on the story a day earlier than other reports showing up. Strib, the local Minnesota daily today carried the AP feed, for example, while CNN wrote its own story. It is reassuring that the story got sufficient coverage. Breitbart being a day before others initially confused this Crabgrass post.
FURTHER: AP also reported upon things to be expected as Hegseth takes over his post as Pentagon head; AP headlining that report, "As Hegseth takes charge at the Pentagon, here’s what changes could be in store." Focal attention is on troops on US soil, in particular being used for border enforcement. There are other reported items too. Troop deployment ordered by executive order may face court challenges, given the Posse Comitatus Act. That AP item expressly notes:
Active-duty forces are prohibited from doing law enforcement duties on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump has signed an executive order directing that his defense and homeland security secretaries report back within 90 days on whether they think he should invoke the 1807 law called the Insurrection Act, which allows troops to be used for civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil during emergencies.
Should Secretaries say "Do it," that would be the point at which citizens would seek judicial relief based upon absence of true emergency situations; and at that point a battle up to SCOTUS may happen.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Harris these days.
Politico - in a short item, this quote -
Harris has kept any considerations about political future close to the vest, but she has told advisers and allies to keep her options open, POLITICO reported in November. There are essentially three options for Harris: run for governor of California in 2026, run for president again in 2028 or decline to run for office and be a leader of the party from the sidelines.
A fourth option, in light of the election outcome, is to spend more time with her family.
Inspectors General are a Watergate era provision. Their purpose is to be nonpartisan and to ferret out waste, fraud and corruption. Firing them without any individual explanations suggests a blanket intention to hide intentions.
Trump, what intention?
He did it, so, what's he up to?
Politico -
Trump fires independent inspectors general in Friday night purge
[...] Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One Saturday evening, said that he didn’t know the inspectors general who were dismissed but that “some people thought that some were unfair, or some were not doing the job,” and maintained that the firings were “a very common thing to do.”
Asked whether he planned to install loyalists in those positions, Trump said that he didn’t “know anybody that would do that.”
“We’ll put people in there that will be very good,” he said.
As with cabinet nominees, opinions and guesses can differ.
Out of sequence -
It also presents a test for Trump’s new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was narrowly confirmed by the Senate Friday night, with the Defense Department’s inspector general among those dismissed. Hegseth, in response to written questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during the confirmation process, said that he would “commit to protecting the DoD IG’s independence,” according to a document reviewed by POLITICO.
Inspectors general are tasked with ridding the government of waste, fraud and abuse, one of Trump’s stated goals.
Readers must read that sentence's use of "one" to get the gist, as opposed to "several" which, if used, would alter the meaning. (And would he state that, however he really intends to move there?) Back to the quote -
Hannibal Ware, the inspector general of the Small Business Administration and leader of a council that represents inspectors general across government, suggested that the removals may be invalid because they appear to violate federal law requiring a 30-day notification to Congress before any watchdogs can be removed.
“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action,” Ware wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO to Sergio Gor, the director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. “At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General.”
A sense of a brewing dispute is unavoidable. More -
Some advocates for inspectors general said they were baffled by the Trump White House’s choices of whom to dismiss. Several of those who were fired were appointed by Trump and at least one — Sean O’Donnell at the EPA — was perceived as closely allied with Trump by Democrats, who sharply criticized his conduct
[...] Trump’s brazen move provides an early test for Congress, less than a week into Trump’s return to office, and in particular to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) who has long championed the independence of inspectors general. And it shows how willing the president is to stretch the limits of his authority to dismantle the federal government bureaucracy that he and his allies label the “deep state.”
[...] Grassley told POLITICO in November that Trump shouldn’t pursue a broad ouster of inspectors general.
“I guess it’s the case of whether he believes in congressional oversight, because I work closely with all the inspector generals and I think I’ve got a good reputation for defending them. And I intend to defend them,” he said.
He struck a more measured tune Saturday morning, saying in a statement that there “may be a good reason the IGs were fired” and that he would like “further explanation” from Trump about the dismissals. But, he added, Congress was still not given the 30-day notice required by law.
Trump’s decision caught other Senate Republicans off guard as well, with several indicating when they arrived for a rare weekend session that they either hadn’t gotten a heads up from the White House or hadn’t heard of Trump’s actions.
“I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission is to root out waste, fraud and abuse. So this leaves a gap in what I know is a priority for President Trump,” said GOP Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
[...] Warren, in a post on X Saturday morning, said that Trump is “dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
We must be thankful to Sen. Warren for explaining it to us, because otherwise, none of us would have even guessed about the motivation Warren sets out so clearly.
Don't you love Warren for gaining knowledge of what Trump is up to?
Or might it be only speculation on her part, and if so, what would fuel such guessing?
Read the remainder of the Politico report or check the AP report of the IG mischief for detail of which agencies were targeted early, and which may later find similar treatment.
UPDATE: Are IGs the swamp? In it for the glory, or the money? It seems not so.
Wanting them out, new people in, makes a distressingly worrisome situation?
Four years from now, we may know more.
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Republican pearl clutching - Because they can.
CNN, here:
Vice President JD Vance cast the 51-50 tie-breaking vote after former GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined Democrats to oppose Hegseth’s nomination. It was just the second time in history that a vice president has broken a tie for a Cabinet nominee – the other being then-Vice President Mike Pence for Betsy DeVos’ 2017 confirmation to lead the Education Department.
Each of those two tie breaking votes were for nominees with questionable competence. And each involved major biases. Each, a mistake, although opinions can differ. In the Hegseth case, Trump threatened showman Ron DeSantis as nominee if Hegseth was not approved. With that, Hegseth looked better than by himself. If the option is Hegseth or a joke, avoid the joke, which was Crabgrass logic in saying Hegseth merited approval in the totality of circumstances, (not by his qualities, but because of DeSantis' defects).
Again, opinions can differ. but Crabgrass opinion is DeSantis would have been an absolute, in all ways, disaster. Hegseth only a Christian Nationalist threat to a status quo. Or as the saying goes, six of one, two dozen of the other.
Friday, January 24, 2025
AP reporting is that a Constitution based ruling by a federal judge struck down a Trump executive order on birth citizenship.
It is now going to go all the way to SCOTUS, unless Trump decides it will not.
AP's report stated -
SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution promises citizenship to those born on U.S. soil, a measure ratified in 1868 to ensure citizenship for former slaves after the Civil War. But in an effort to curb unlawful immigration, Trump issued the executive order just after being sworn in for his second term on Monday.
The order would deny citizenship to those born after Feb. 19 whose parents are in the country illegally. It also forbids U.S. agencies from issuing any document or accepting any state document recognizing citizenship for such children.
The Crabgrass bet is Trump and AG Bondi will appeal all the way, and SCOTUS will either take the 14th Amendment's clear language as binding, or finagle.
Under Roberts, this bunch could well finagle. They've done it before, often enough to not be certain either way. So know the question is posed and wait and see.
AP reports Trump by video addressed the Davos affair, "Trump tells Davos elite to invest in US or face tariffs."
The report states -
“Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes as any nation on earth,” Trump said. “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts — but a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt under the Trump administration.”
Trump, who spoke Wednesday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, also said Thursday that the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the U.S. but that he would ask Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to increase it to $1 trillion. The remark drew some laughter from the crowd in the hall in Davos.
Hegseth looks in at DOD.
AP reported yesterday that today there would be a vote -
▶ Follow live updates on President Donald Trump’s return to Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate advanced the nomination of Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary Thursday on a largely party-line vote, despite grave objections from Democrats and stirring unease among Republicans over his behavior and qualifications to lead the U.S. military.
Two Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, broke ranks with Trump and his allies who have mounted an extensive public campaign to push Hegseth toward confirmation. The former combat veteran and Fox News host faces allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive actions toward women, which he has denied. The vote was 51-49, with a final vote on confirmation expected Friday.
[...] Still, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, herself a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, has signaled her backing.
51-49 is not strong approval, but Joni Ernst has her reasons to be backing Trump's nomination. She's the swing vote, but if switching Vance would break the tie, so it is basically a done deal. Secretary Hegseth a reality.
A new man is named at UnitedHealthcare to replace the man shot dead in NYC. Don't they have qualified women?
Strib's subheadline tells it all, "Tim Noel joined the company in 2007 and most recently ran the business for Medicare health plans."
Not going outside to leaven the culture, staying inside, and gender determined.
..........................................
He probably has a track record. Presumably his branch of the business was run at a profit suitable to Witty, the man who heads the entire thing. Witty and the board.
If not turning a sizable profit, would you guess they'd look elsewhere?
Strib's report does not mention how profitable Noel's leadership of a branch of UH was. But be real. The entire venture has a track record, claim denials above industry norms.
If there is not a record of turning a large profit on the ship he piloted, would the man have been considered?
If UH does care to dispel a perception of extreme greed running and being a part of the venture, they should publicly discuss the profitability=advancement question. With data, not declarations. Then, gender bias seems a factor to explore next.
Silence about the profit potential of Mr. Noel's leadership is circumstantial evidence, when there is cause and capability to be specific, and we can draw our inferences accordingly.
My guess, clearly: He rang the profits over other aims bell, that is my circumstantial inference, and further evidence to the contrary would be welcome. It is an open minded guess, that way, but the company decided what it would, and would not, say.
I bet I am correct. But happy if the company comes forward with real evidence that my guess is in error. Strib's item noted -
“As a business leader, Tim views the path to success through a simple prism: Listen to employees and customers, focus on what they say matters most, then consistently and reliably deliver on those expectations. Every time. No exceptions,” Andrew Witty, UnitedHealth Group CEO, wrote in a message to employees obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“As a leader of teams and of people, Tim is a consummate collaborator,” Witty wrote. “He’s the first to tilt the spotlight onto others. He channels his energies into developing the people around him.”
If that is not blowing smoke, what is it? The firm is in litigation with former customers. Going to court suggests grievances. Without examining complaints the guess is coverage decision making and cost to customer are at issue.
Being sued does not necessarily stand in contradiction to, delivering "consistently and reliably" on what customers want and expect. But, give me numbers. Surely the ratio of non-suing customers vs. those willing to take things to court is greater than 1:1, but there is a threshold to being aggrieved enough to go to a lawyer.
If the company has released data on litigation prevalence for the company vs health insurance industry-wide litigation levels Crabgrass has not seen any such data, and again, the company has it and can publicize or hide it, as they see fit.
But delivering "Every time. No exceptions," means no lawsuits, and it appears that's not the case.
Prove me wrong.
And then, gender of the bosses? All the bosses?
UPDATE: Quality of care is NOT the issue. Providers and insurers are separate groups. Cost of care is questionable. My guess, single payer Medicare for All would cost less than private for-profit insurance, with no major change of the provider group.
Currently being provided clinic care by the Health Partners - Park Nicollet merged entity, I am very happy to have a top-quality doctor attending to my needs. Under Medicare.
It's comforting having that.
Medicare has been good on claim coverage, with reasonable co-pays, so far. With that in mind, Medicare for All is advocated, since I am no more deserving of high quality care others also might need, beyond qualification now - by age.
Age is an arbitrary criterion, but it's there. All ages, having the same reliability, evenly, seems only fair. After all, in truth, healthcare is a right. One all deserve, by being human citizens deserving their rights in the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
A Jan 22, 2025, AP item, "House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump’s first law to sign."
Republicans hold majorities in both Houses, and this is Trump's main election issue, so, big surprise.
Trump news. Items which speak for themselves; commentary being scant but needed.
Here and here. The first item's ending paragraphs -
The White House press office didn’t answer questions on Wednesday about whether Trump might [after canceling a Biden executive order on ethics mandates for executive officials] have his own ethics rules in the works to replace the Biden-era ones he nullified. Trump himself has in the past criticized the “revolving door” of people who move from government positions to posts in government and back.
That last sentence reads funny. The revolving door worry is movement from government sector to private sector and back and forth, to profit by peddling influence or using influential connections to lobby, grow income, and repeat the process. Likely an editorial oversight there. Continuing the quote -
During a 2022 interview with podcast host Theo Von, Trump said, “I was not a big person for lobbyists.”
Rob Kelner, chair of the election and political law practice at the firm Covington & Burling, said Trump might sign his own new set of executive actions on ethics. But he also said that the new president might not be anxious to do so given that it could ultimately be redundant. “There are already hundreds of pages of ethics laws and rules that govern executive branch employees,” Kelner said.
Kelner said a more immediate impact of Trump scrapping Biden’s order might be that it gives former members of the Democratic administration additional employment options by wiping out bans they would have otherwise had to heed.
“As they’re all out looking for jobs, this takes a burden off their shoulders,” Kelner said.
If Trump will be chopping heads per Musk/DOGE/Project 2025, there will be less anger and opposition if people can more easily transfer to private sector paychecks. And, to attract people he may want in his administration, Trump might feel it counterproductive to impose restrictions upon what they can do if/when leaving his administration. Finally, unless the item posts links to the new executive order and to the old one, we only know what the reporter tells us. There may be relevant detail omitted.
Headline, "Saudi crown prince says kingdom intends to invest $600 billion in US during call with Trump"
Details online here. Investment is a key word. They come with expectations of a ROI.
Anything else?
This websearch; and this Bulletin of Atomic Scientists item.
Quids often have pro quos, and details matter. The two links in the prior paragraph explain concerns. Strangely, the headlined AP item linked in the first paragraph is free of any nuclear consideration.
Old people getting screwed. Why should old age be expected to be different? Lifetime arrangements can be not for your remaining life, but for the life of the venture, even while corporations can exist "in perpetuity."
Seattle Times carrying a Jan 22, 2025 item -
Getting a contract with a retirement home can last a remaining lifetime.
Sometimes, yours. Sometimes the life of the retirement home before bankruptcy -
Data tracking bankruptcies and closures in senior housing are scant. Dee Pekruhn, who directs life plan community policy at LeadingAge, said there had been “very, very few examples of actual bankruptcies,” though there were recent close calls.
But Lori Smetanka, the executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, said that state and local long-term care ombudsmen were increasingly reporting “problems with facilities that are financially troubled.”
Recent crises include the closure of Unisen Senior Living, a CCRC in Tampa, Florida. After it filed for bankruptcy for the second time last spring, more than 100 residents had to move out.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2023, state officials stepped in to oversee a long-established CCRC called Aldersgate, which had floundered financially for years. The state approved a “corrective action plan,” and Aldersgate avoided bankruptcy. But it remains months behind on refund payments, and state supervision continues.
In Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a CCRC called Casey’s Pond entered court-ordered receivership last summer. Since sold to a nonprofit health care system, it will continue operations — but only after two municipalities, a local foundation and hundreds of community members raised $30 million to rescue it.
Other kinds of senior housing can shut down, too. About 1,550 nursing homes closed between 2015 and mid-2024, according to the American Health Care Association.
But when CCRCs fail, residents and families face not only the physical and psychological ordeal of relocating, but also the possible loss of their life savings.
In bankruptcy, residents entitled to refunds “are at the very bottom of the list” among creditors seeking payment, said Nathalie Martin, a University of New Mexico law professor who has written about insolvent CCRCs.
Secured lenders with collateral have the first crack at collecting what they’re owed, followed by lawyers, accountants and employees.
Because the people who live in a CCRC that has promised refunds are unsecured lenders, “residents are in a very vulnerable position, and they don’t know it,” Martin said. Without refunds, they may be unable to afford to pay for care elsewhere if forced to move.
Traps for the unwary exist because somebody besides the unwary gets a benefit.
Note the two links which truly are related. One, lists community services which to an extent can help Washington State residents, with similar services likely offered in other states. The other just shakes more fear at readers. Growing old is not understood by too many young, who may have boomer dislike without full knowledge. The young will suffer what has happened, while the old had to live through its happening, frustrations and disdain included. It's us and them. They prosper, we expect fairness. Trump voting can be explained on those grounds.
Expectations often enough go unmet.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Why is this man smiling?
UPDATE: Seattle Times carrying a NYT Jan 22, 2025 post -
Ulbricht had also solicited the murders of people whom he considered threats — but acknowledged there was no evidence that the killings took place.
Despite his crimes, Ulbricht has remained popular with crypto enthusiasts because Silk Road was one of the first venues where people used bitcoin to buy and sell goods. For years, his supporters have argued that his sentence was overly punitive and adopted the slogan “Free Ross” online and at industry gatherings.
“It’s hard to argue that Ross Ulbricht wasn’t the most successful and influential entrepreneur of the early bitcoin era,” said Pete Rizzo, an editor at the news publication Bitcoin Magazine. “This is the industry banding together and saying, ‘We’re going to reclaim our own.’”
Ulbrich’s pardon was eagerly anticipated by crypto enthusiasts. On Monday, after Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Elon Musk, one of the president’s biggest supporters, responded to a concerned post on the social platform X, writing that “Ross will be freed too.”
Ulbricht, who grew up in Austin, Texas, was arrested in 2013, after the FBI tracked him down at a library in San Francisco. At his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan two years later, a judge called Ulbricht “the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise” and said that his actions were “terribly destructive to our social fabric.”
[...] But the life sentence struck many observers as harsh. In 2017, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in affirming Ulbricht’s conviction, acknowledged the severe nature of the punishment [...] “on the facts of this case a life sentence was within the range of permissible decisions that the district court could have reached.”
Ulbricht has been serving his sentence at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. Supporters in the crypto industry, in calling for his release, have noted that he was convicted of a nonviolent crime and was never tried on prosecutors’ most explosive allegation that he paid to have people killed. At a bitcoin conference in Miami in 2021, Ulbricht’s supporters played a recording of him speaking from prison.
“I had so many big dreams for bitcoin,” he said.
Last year, Trump embraced Ulbricht’s cause on the campaign trail, first in a speech at a libertarian event and later at an annual bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee. He doubled down on social media, posting the hashtag #FreeRossDayOne on Truth Social, the site he owns.
Big dreams for bitcoin, indeed. Ten years served is a lot. Released, half his life is gone. Half remains. With the unconditional and total pardon he can run for office or buy a gun. He can again sit at a keyboard free to again get in trouble.
As to the excessive sentence, judges can be arbitrary and severe. Discretionary allowances allowed Ross to get hammered hard. Bankman Fried got less than life. Zhao paid a lot, but skated.
Ross was first and made an example. Harshly so. Now -
Bitcoin has passed him up and he starts anew.
.......................................
Trump has a knack for sniffing out pockets of votes and wealth, and Musk . . .
Musk and friends are an example. Trump won the election and has started his final four years in office. Unless . . .
Let's not even touch any "unless" dimensions. Yet keep it in mind and hope other powers will quell any "unless" will or thinking. JD has ambition and expects a torch to be passed to him.
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