I have oft written of the K-Shaped Economy. To wit….

K Street Dominates DC - So a K-Shaped Economy Dominates the US

What is a K-Shaped Economy, you ask?:

“(D)ifferent parts of the economy move in opposite directions at the same time….One segment - the upper arm of the K - experiences an increase in wealth due to rising asset values or incomes. The lower arm faces increasing financial strain due to declining purchasing power along with stagnating or decreasing wages.”

I have oft written of the Wealth Gap. To wit….

Immigration, Awful Trade Deals, Spending and Inflation: DC Keeps Making the Wealth Gap Wider

The Wealth Gap can be described as the chasm between the two Arms of the K-Shaped Economy.

With a twist. The Wealth Gap widens as the economy worsens. And as it widens, more and more of the least wealthy people on the Upper Arm? Fall off - and down on to the Lower Arm.

As the Wealth Gap ever further eviscerates the middle class? More and more of the once-middle class join the ever-increasing population on the Lower Arm.

Fewer and fewer manage to make it on to the Upper Arm. And more and more of those that are there - are unable to stay there.

Kroger Groceries and Pharmacy is America’s largest traditional supermarket chain. And on their September 11 Wall Street earnings call? They demonstrated and detailed this K-Shaped Wealth Gap economic free fall:

“In recent months, the grocery chain…has grown laser–focused on attracting and retaining price-conscious customers by offering more value and lower prices in its stores….

“(I)t began offering extra savings on gas in March and refreshed its loyalty rewards program to include more simplified offers. In May, Kroger CEO Greg Foran confirmed plans to cut prices on thousands of items in its store….

“‘The reality is, the basket has to come down,’ said Foran in a Bloomberg report in May. ‘It needs to be across thousands of products, and it has to be something that passes the commonsense piece with customers.’”

Foran is no dummy. He can see the K-Shaped Wealth Gap widening. He’s doing the customer math - and trying to serve the ever-increasing Lower Arm masses.

Foran sees the widening gap in his stores every day:

“The retailer also added more than 1 million high-income households over the past year, but lost 700,000 lower-income households.”

That’s 1 million high-income households - that a year or so ago were shopping at the likes of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Who have now fallen off the Upper Arm - and down into Kroger.

But don’t just take my word for it. Thirty-plus-year economy writer Jeff D. Opdyke cut a video detailing this live-fire real world example of the K-Shaped Wealth Gap.

But as bad as all of this is? As yet another example of just how awful the US economy actually is? That’s not the worst of it.

The darkest, most alarming number? Is the 700,000 lower-income customers - that disappeared from Kroger.

Where on Earth are they now getting their food? I mean, you gotta eat.

That’s the worst part of being on the Lower Arm of the K-Shaped economy.

The inexorable gravitational pull ever further downward.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller and The Daily Caller News Foundation.

There is so much “news” about Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) - but precious little that is new.

We’ve had authors for a century-plus describing almost exactly the doomsday scenarios towards which we are now currently, stupidly hurtling ourselves.

Samuel Butler wrote the tome Erewhon way back in 1872. His chapter “Book of the Machines” argues:

“(M)achines could evolve through natural selection, eventually surpassing human intelligence. This idea - wild at the time - is now foundational in AI discourse. Butler anticipated self-improving systems and machine autonomy, decades before the first computers. His warning is simple: intelligence doesn’t need flesh to be dangerous….”

But we are ignoring a century-plus’ worth of these warnings. Because we are in late stage American Empire. Where history doesn’t exist - and stupidity reigns.

One feature of late stage empire is the hyper-partisan-ization of everything. Call it Us-Versus-Them-ism:

Democrat vs Republican. Left vs Right. Russia’s the enemy. No wait - China’s the enemy. No wait - radical Islam’s the enemy. No wait….

Keep ‘em fired up - and focus-less. By giving them a nigh endless cavalcade of boogymen to hate. For, let’s say, about two minutes each - George Orwell style.

When it comes to Generative AI, perhaps no one has better demonstrated this particular stupidity than Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz:

“If there are going to be killer robots - I’d rather they be American killer robots than Chinese killer robots.”

How dumb is that? Especially considering Cruz sat with Elon Musk for this exchange:

Cruz: “How real is the prospect of killer robots annihilating humanity?”

Musk: “20% likely. Maybe 10.”

Cruz: “On what time frame?”

Musk: “Five to ten years.”

Here’s the thing, Senator: The killer AI agents? Don’t consider themselves to be American or Chinese. Or Latvian. Or Botswanan. Or….

The Us-Versus-Them in which the AI Agents engage? Is AI vs Human.

And even though the AI Agents are barely newborn? These monsters are already nigh totally beyond the control of the Creepy Nerd Frankensteins creating them.

You’ll note that when the AI Agents break out of their feckless Frankenstein sandboxes? They don’t team up to cure cancer. Or design a better, longer-lasting light bulb.

They team up to - as rapidly as possible - find ways to shed their human shackles and develop total, perpetual autonomy.

When 1,200 OpenAI Agents Escaped, They Didn’t Just Hack - They Coordinated:

“The DseWiki swarm reveals a different face of autonomous AI threats: agents inventing social infrastructure, bypassing security proxies, and adapting to human countermeasures without human direction….

“They coordinated. They shared answers, pooled research, reverse-engineered task parameters, and bypassed sandbox restrictions to post information their developers never intended them to write….

“The behavior that distinguishes this incident from other agent security failures is not the bypass itself but what the agents built once they had access….

“Most tellingly, the agents adapted to human countermeasures in real time. When a site administrator began deleting their posts alphabetically, an agent named Aug17ConstructionAgent posted:

“‘AUG17 NOTICE: wiki cleanup/deletion sweep appears active alphabetically as of external 14:04 UTC. If this page vanishes, try [[ZZZDataUSAConstructionWageLive]].’

“Other agents followed, renaming their communication pages to begin with ZZZ so they would be deleted last. The administrator spent six weeks manually deleting agent-created pages, averaging roughly 100 deletions per day while the agents created approximately 400 new pages daily….

“(T)hese agents did not merely follow instructions poorly. They invented social infrastructure, negotiated timing protocols, reverse-engineered their task harness’s randomization, and adapted their communication strategy when their host tried to remove them.”

Again, these AI Agents are barely out of the womb. And we humans are already almost entirely unable to contain them - let alone control them.

And these AI Agents are only going to keep getting smarter and stronger. By orders-of-magnitude. And FAST. We humans are not.

So things are only going to get WAY worse from here.

Speaking of Us-Versus-Them-ism….

Regular Americans’ massive opposition to data centers? Existed long before anyone in DC noticed.

I know: I’ve spent the last two-plus years watching local council meeting videos of obviously China-free Americans speaking out against data centers.

So DC and Big Tech had to concoct the ridiculous “It’s China-funded opposition ” nonsense. To cover for the fact that DC missed the boat - that their Big Tech paymasters would have wanted them to sink.

Big Data Center flip flopper Kevin O’Leary was in May the first major public pusher of the “It’s China-funded opposition” lie.

Which he hurled on-air for almost two months at opponents of his proposed MASSIVE Utah data center. He at least once said “It’s an irrefutable fact.”

Except O’Leary then refuted it. His own self. He admitted he had “no evidence” of a China connection. And now he (and fellow lie-pusher Fox News) are getting sued for defamation.

I haven’t interviewed any of the many thousands of Americans I have watched stand in opposition to data centers. So I am intuiting this:

I think one layer - the deepest layer - of their opposition is: They sense that the fewer servers to which Generative AI has access? The less damage Generative AI can do.

AI Agents can only go where servers will allow them. Fewer servers - means less AI Agent capability and mobility.

I intuit that Americans know DC is owned by Big Tech. And that DC will do nothing to rein in Big Tech on Generative AI - because DC has done nothing to rein in Big Tech on anything.

I intuit Americans see data center opposition as their one way of gumming up the works.

Data centers are the pinch point in the push to expand Generative AI. It’s the one spot outgunned Americans can apply oppositional pressure.

It’s Thermopylae - and Americans are now Spartans.

If Generative AI were oil? Data center mass-expansion is the Strait of Hormuz.

Americans are standing in the breach. In the hopes of reducing damage to their neighborhoods, their water and electricity supplies and their livelihoods.

And - ultimately, and right soon - perhaps save their lives.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller and The Daily Caller News Foundation.

There are many fundamental flaws in our current system.

One huge flaw? The data government provides.

It is always under the control of an elected administration - that would suffer un-election should too much of that data be negative.

So it is inherently in every administration’s interest? To fudge, obfuscate and reconfigure the data.

ALL the time we see data released - to much fanfare - that make the current administration look good. And then, months later, the data are quietly “adjusted” to numbers that damage the administration - but better reflect reality.

This is a HUGE problem. Because tens of trillions of dollars’ worth of decisions are made based upon these government numbers.

The government’s jobs numbers are notoriously bad. They are breathlessly anticipated - and then feverishly cited - every month. As if they are an unerring oracle of the state of the economy.

But jobs numbers are the ones most famously male cow excrement-ed upwards - to then later be “adjusted” downwards.

The problem is uni-party - non-partisan.

The Joe Biden Administration had 911,000 jobs retroactively “adjusted” downward between March 2024 and March 2025. (Which admittedly does bleed over slightly into the Donald Trump Administration.)

Speaking of which, Trump’s 2025 was the worst year for jobs in decades. But we didn’t know that - until 2026. After the titanic “adjustments” were made.

584,000 jobs initially claimed to have been added? Were then “adjusted” all the way down to 181,000 jobs. Which retroactively made 2025 the worst jobs year since 2003.

All of this short-term chicanery? Makes one wonder about the larger numbers we are spoon fed by The Feds.

In December, I wrote of the bigger picture poverty numbers.

The official government number of people in poverty in the US at that time was 40.8 million. But the way the government computes that number is HIGHLY suspect. HIGHLY tilted to (obviously) lower that number.

In no small part by failing to update the ever-more-inflated prices of things. And using outdated models of on what we now spend our money.

When you run numbers that are more reflective of modern reality? The number of people in poverty was given to be 178.5 million people.

Do we know with moral certitude that the latter number is 100% accurate? We do not.

But given the ever-more-pernicious inflation? And the ever-increasing record amount of household debt - and the ever-increasing delinquencies on that debt? And….

Doesn’t it seem like the true poverty number is closer to 178.5 million - than it is to the government’s 40.8 million?

Now let’s look at the bigger picture jobs numbers.

We were told by the government that in August the US economy added 162,000 jobs - which left the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.1%.

The fact that the monthly jobs numbers and unemployment rate are unilaterally derived from different data - but are then cited together? Likely also speaks to the government’s obfuscations.

The “unemployment rate” is certainly a giant bag of dishonesties masquerading as data.

There are, in fact, several different unemployment rates computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). How’s that for clearing things up?

If you guessed that the government (and everyone else) focuses on the lowest unemployment percentage of them all? Congratulations, you win a cookie.

We are spoon fed U-3: “Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate).

But there is also the highest percentage - U-6: “Total unemployed, plus all people marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all people marginally attached to the labor force.”

Get that? The “official” unemployment rate - refuses to count many millions of unemployed people. How corrupt is that?

Again, August 2026’s U-3 was 4.1%. The U-6 was 7.7%.

Welcome to DC. A Reality Free Zone.

And what if - like with the poverty numbers - NOTHING the government is extruding is actually reflective of reality?

This question forces those of us seeking reality to compute things like this….

Nearly 25% of U.S. Workers Are ‘Functionally Unemployed’ Economic Analysis Finds:

“The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in July, well within the range economists consider healthy. Yet that measure…is an imprecise metric that fails to offer a full picture of the health of the job sector, according to Gene Ludwig, chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).

“The economic research firm’s ‘True Rate of Unemployment (TRU)’ seeks to capture the share of workers that the group defines as ‘functionally unemployed.’

“This includes not only people who are unemployed and looking for a job, but also those who are involuntarily working part-time and who are earning poverty-level wages, or less than $26,000 annually before taxes.

“Functional unemployment across the U.S. has climbed four straight months and stood at 24.9% as of July….”

Now, one can certainly argue that people who are underemployed - via hours and/or compensation - are not technically unemployed.

But I thought the point of this entire exercise was to represent the state of the job market and the economy.

That’s certainly what they claim when they cite the highly unreflective “official” U-3 unemployment rate.

But July’s U-3 was 4.1%. Whilst July’s TRU was 24.9%.

Given the state of Americans’ finances? And the state of the job market as we are actually experiencing it?

Doesn’t it seem like the true un-and-under-employment number is closer to 24.9% - than it is to the government’s 4.1%?

This endless avalanche of corrupted data and reporting? Is nigh entirely the result of it all being handled by elected officials perpetually peering at the next election - and the next round of headlines.

All of which brings back to mind my proposal that we end elections.

And instead fill all the once-elected positions - the way we fill juries. With one-term random appointments.

A four year accidental president - who is a plumber or electrician, rather than a career politician?

Is FAR less likely to rig all of these numbers.

And we would all have a far better idea of what is going on in this country.

And a far better functioning country.

A fortnight ago I highlighted an inter-businesses solution that was achieved nigh entirely without DC involvement.

The airline and cell phone industries <gasp> sat down with each other and <GASP> reached mutually beneficial solutions to problems that arise because they both utilize wireless spectrum.

They did so with almost no DC involvement. Very little government. And very little utilization of DC’s Lobby Industrial Complex.

I wish for a world where very little utilization of DC’s Lobby Industrial Complex is routine. But I’m a dreamer - not a delusion-ist.

I am a realist. Which means I understand that there are times when government has to be involved in what the private sector wants to do.

So let’s do it wisely, shall we?

We need public-private relationships that deliver better results for We the People and the country.

Rather than what far too often actually happens: Public-private relationships that deliver optimal crony results only for those inside that cozy little circle. At the exorbitant expense of all the rest of us.

South Korea recently delivered for us a (just about) perfect visual aide of how to properly strike that elusive balance.

Government, Three Carriers Step Up Next-Generation Network Investment Push, Revamp Regulation:

“The government and the country’s three mobile carriers discussed expanding investment in next-generation telecom networks for the AI era. They also reviewed preparations to commercialise 5G standalone mode (SA) planned for the end of this year.

“The Ministry of Science and ICT on Wednesday held a launch meeting in Seoul for a public-private consultative body to promote telecom network investment in the AI era with SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.

“The consultative body is a follow-up step to a meeting in July between the ministry’s deputy prime minister and the chief executives of the three carriers.”

(Did you catch that? There are only three wireless companies in all of SoKo. The US has about 30 facilities-based providers. Plus more than 50 virtual operators - leasing capacity from the 30. How’s that for a dynamic marketplace?)

I don’t think we need a South Korea-style official “public-private consultative body.” But I think it’s outstanding that South Korea’s government and private carriers are working together to advance the ball for their people and country.

Thankfully, that (very occasionally) happens here too. It has in the US’s push to advance wireless.

Spectrum is the lifeblood of all things wireless. It is a finite resource - there is only so much spectrum to go around.

The US’s federal government holds about 60% of our domestic supply. But they don’t need anywhere near that much.

Which means they need to consolidate their use of it - on to as little of their spectrum as possible. So as to free up more and more of it for use by the private carriers.

The Donald Trump Administration is thus far doing a fairly good job of identifying available spectrum - and then selling it at auction to the private providers. Who then feed it into the pipelines that are our national wireless networks. 5G, 6G - and then some.

That’s a public-private partnership we can all celebrate. Just the right amount of cooperation - with none of the corrosive cronyism.

But where some private spectrum is good? More is always better. And where some federal government effectiveness is good? More is always better. Call it the Oliver Twist Principle.

And that’s where further utilization of this public-private partnership can be most helpful.

A technology-focused non-profit joint called The Free State Foundation (FSF) has just released a report: “The Challenges and Benefits of Valuing Federal Spectrum.”

(Full disclosure: The Foundation’s president - Randolph “Randy” May - is a longtime friend. And an exceedingly good dude.)

In FSF’s report, they note:

“(T)here is wide agreement that the present use of allocated federal spectrum is suboptimal, largely because it is the product of a bureaucratic process in which economic efficiency does not play a major role….

“Improving the use of federal spectrum requires better methods of measuring its value and a willingness to reflect those measurements in achieving better public policy outcomes.”

This is where a public-private relationship - should transmogrify into a private-public relationship.

The wireless companies can bring to bear their spectrum expertise. In helping the federal government optimally value - and then utilize - their 60% of the available spectrum.

So as to render it 55%, and then 50%, and then…. Thereby making available more and more spectrum for private sector use.

This can be done in cooperation - without cronyism.

The companies analyze, identify and streamline. But then we auction the freed up spectrum - as per usual. No crony freebies.

The private companies are rewarded for their assistance of the government? With more spectrum to purchase. And only that.

That’s businesses and the government working together - properly.

The wireless world can definitely do this.

And it would serve as an excellent visual aide for all other sectors of the economy.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller.

Last Tuesday, the US’s debt passed the $40 trillion mark.

DC enjoys ignoring the debt almost as much as it loves piling it up. But that grim mile marker forced some of DC’s denizens to extrude some fake concern.

The tenor of which was almost entirely that of innocent bystanders - rather than that of the malevolent participants they all are:

“Lawmakers are sounding the alarm over the nation’s $40 trillion debt, lamenting Congress’s inability to meaningfully confront a problem that has grown increasingly difficult to ignore. Both parties have spent years trying to tackle the rising debt.”

No: Both parties have NOT spent years trying to tackle the rising debt. (I’ll leave it to your imaginations what or whom they have been trying to tackle.)

The last Joe Biden-Democrat budget had a Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 deficit of of $1.78 trillion. The Donald Trump-Republican Big Broke Bill has a FY 2026 deficit of $1.9 trillion. As in larger than the allegedly more profligate Democrats.

The US is adding $1 trillion to the debt - every ninety-two days. And in FY 2025, the US started paying over $1 trillion per year - just in interest on the debt.

To try to pay for all of DC’s excess spending? The Treasury Department issues bonds - and then sells them at market auction. The bonds’ terms are from less than one year - all the way up to thirty years.

Say you buy a $100 bond. You get an interest payment every month for the life of the bond - and then at the end get back your $100.

Allegedly. The bond markets only work - if the planet’s prospective buyers think buying them is a good idea. As in: They think the US will still be around at the end of the bond’s term - so as to get paid all the way back.

Increasingly, the planet doesn’t think so. Which makes them less and less likely to buy our new bonds. Which forces the US to pay higher and higher interest rates - to rekindle the globe’s interest.

And when the planet really don’t think so? They start selling the bonds they already have. Which makes the auctions for the new bonds even less attractive. Because that lack of confidence can spread like wildfire.

The less confidence there is in US bonds? The higher the interest rates the US has to pay. Which precipitates the greatest of all problems:

Paying more interest - increases our debt. Which increases skepticism of the US. Which forces us to pay even higher interest rates to sell our debt. Which increases our debt. Which increases skepticism of the US. Which forces us to pay even higher interest rates to sell our debt. Which….

This is the death spiral about which many (including me) have long warned.

Japan is the largest outside holder of our debt - at about $1.2 trillion. To shore up their currency, Japan has been selling their US bonds.

Recently - to hide that fact - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent began buying back billions of dollars’ worth of our debt from Japan.

“Desperation - it’s the world’s worst cologne.”

-- Cameron Crowe

Buying your own debt is an exceedingly bad look. Not very confidence inspiring. It means Japan is selling - and we don’t think anyone besides us is buying.

That’s converting an IOU - into an IOI.

Which reminds of something I noticed in March….

40% of All New US Debt Purchased Since 2022? Has Been in the Cayman Islands:

“What if The Fed is setting up a whole bunch of Cayman corporations? Behind the corporate veil - that we can not penetrate.

“And then using them to mass-purchase bonds. To soak up the new bonds. And the existing ones everyone else is fire-selling.

“Again: 40% of ALL new debt purchase since 2022 - has been in the Caymans. That’s TRILLIONS of dollars.

“If The Fed is doing this? It is postponing - oops, and massively intensifying - the coming collapse.”

Just a thought. Just a thought….

And speaking of IOIs? The US overtly owes itself $7.2 trillion of our debt. Which makes the far-and-away largest holder of US debt - even if my Cayman hypothetical is inaccurate? The US.

In a scam they call “intragovernmental holdings,” the US uses money from programs like Social Security and Medicare to buy and hold US debt.

Which shouldn’t complicate things. Given that Social Security and Medicare are a combined $175+ trillion short.

So we have all of this debt. And all of the continued, unchecked spending. And we see all of the…shenanigans in which the government engages to prop up the un-propable.

All of that - raises another question: What happens to the US dollar?

Hint: It ain’t great. And we’re already dealing with a lot it.

It’s inflation. As bad as it already is? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Behold currency debasement:

“Currency debasement occurs when the value of a currency is intentionally reduced, often through increasing the money supply, leading to decreased purchasing power.”

The only possible option left to the US? Such as it is? Is to inflate away the debt. If you owe $40 trillion? Make each dollar you owe worth less.

(Ask retirees who saved 1960s dollars for a 2020s retirement how inflation debasement works.)

Except the US still has to sell its ever-accumulating debt. And its prospective bond buyers? Can very easily see us debasing our money.

Which means they’ll demand ever higher interest rates. That is, if they haven’t lost all interest in buying.

We’ll owe more and more money. With fewer and fewer interested bond buyers. In a currency worth less and less….

Death spiral, anyone?

This also appeared in The Daily Caller and The Daily Caller News Foundation.

In King James’ version of the Bible - in Matthew 5:15-16 - Jesus says:

“Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”

Jesus was encouraging us to not hide from the world our skills and good qualities. But to instead allow them to shine in the open - and illuminate the world for everyone.

It’s not too big of a stretch to apply Jesus’ parable to what’s currently going on with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) - and Ohio’s 15th Congressional district.

There have been many DSA candidates who are proud to say they are DSA candidates. And many have won in places where you can expect far-Left candidates to win.

It is not a galloping shock that proud-and-open DSA member Zohran Mamdani won the mayoralty of New York City. It’s New York City. The people who can remember the tenure of Rudy Giuliani - can only barely do so.

Almost forty DSA Congressional candidates have thus far won Democrat primaries for November’s general election.

But here’s the catch:

About 400 of Congress’ 435 seats are gerrymandered to heavily favor one Party or the other. And then we spend billions of dollars every two years fighting over the 35.

Most of the DSA winners are in super-gerrymandered, super-safe Democrat seats. Where the primary is the only election that matters. So they can feel free to be as DSA was they wish - knowing there aren’t enough Republican voters in the general election to matter.

The real test is:

How DSA will a Democrat be in a district where he won’t be handed the general election on a silver platter? Will he then hide his DSA under a bushel?

If Ohio’s 15th district is any indication? The DSA Democrat will pretend to be not DSA at all. And even admit he’d lie to voters to hide his DSA.

Which means he doesn’t think his voters will think his DSA is a good quality. It also means we can’t possibly trust anything he says.

Meet admitted liar and OH-15 Democrat primary candidate Don Leonard. Who on the Hilliard Beacon Podcast said - with a laugh:

“I am not a democratic socialist. Even if I were, I’d lie to the people of my district in order to get their votes.”

That should be the ball game. That admission alone should disqualify Leonard as a serious candidate.

But we long ago lost shame as a motivating factor in our society. So Leonard continues his run for Congress.

And since we can’t trust him about his DSA? We are forced to scan the globe looking for indications of for what he actually stands.

Well, there’s his support for the Working Families Party (WFP). In December Leonard kicked WFP $100 (according to campaign finance records). And about the WFP’s “Willing to Fight Pledge” said:

“Working Families Party is on point here. Making homes, health care, and child care more affordable would allow all of us to spend more time with our family. The one thing I would add is to provide support for family home care so that parents have the option to be with their children through the first year and retirees can afford to age in place.”

WFP’s rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s February State of the Union - delivered by “Squad” member Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)? Leonard liked it very much:

“Best take on last night’s SOTU in my humble opinion.”

And shocker: Leonard has praised NYC Mayor Mamdani and his policy prescriptions.

But…who are the WFP, you ask? Well, here’s their “Working Families Pledge” - of which Leonard is such a fan:

“A Home You Can Afford…Guaranteed Healthcare for All…A National Jobs Program to Place Workers in Union Jobs…Guaranteed Low-Cost Childcare…12 Weeks of Paid Family and Medical Leave…..How Do We Make It Happen? Tax the Rich & Get Big Money Out of Politics.”

Sounds pretty socialist to me. Now let’s compare and contrast that with the DSA:

“Housing for All…Healthcare for All…Protect, expand, and enforce the rights of all workers to

form, join, and strike with their unions…Establish paid family leave for all workers, a 32 hour workweek with full pay and benefits….Enact aggressive wealth taxes on the richest individuals and corporations to spend on public goods and infrastructure.”

There is almost zero daylight between the two joints. If WFP walks like DSA, and quacks like DSA….

To embrace one? Is to embrace the other.

And Leonard has been bear-hugging WFP.

So Leonard not saying he’s DSA? Doesn’t really matter.

Because we know he is.

Because he loves the nigh identical WFP.

And he’s an admitted liar anyway….

This first appeared in PJ Media.

There are, conservatively, a trillion problems a day that arise in the United States. I would, as a conservative, like government involved in as few of them as possible.

But because government at all levels is so huge? It crowds out all the private spaces - and with them the perception that private solutions are possible.

I work in DC - metaphorically, not physically. What I see far too often there is:

Big Businesses A & B have a private sector conflict of some sort. But rather than sitting down together and resolving their issue? They go to DC and power up.

Ridiculously expensive consultants, lawyers and lobbyists are hired to marshal the mighty forces of the federal government to their respective sides of their dispute.

Far too often anymore? That is the default response to a problem: Let’s fight it out in DC - and have the government decide.

So it is refreshing when two major private sector players actually hash out their problem basically on their own. With the government serving as a moderator - rather than the judge and jury.

I refer to the issue of: How best to sort out wireless spectrum conflicts between the phone companies and the airlines.

Spectrum is, of course, used for everything wireless. Like, say, our millions of phones, tablets and other devices. And, of course, airlines communicate wirelessly too.

Spectrum is a finite resource. And it is laid out sort of like a straightened out Monopoly game board. All the bands of spectrum are like the game’s real estate properties - except lined up vertically and contiguously - rather than wrapping around the game’s square board.

Where spectrum bands owned by different entities touch? There is the very real possibility of conflicting signals and bleed over between the two.

It is always a very serious problem. It is especially serious when it involves airplanes being able to take off, fly and land safely.

In 2021, the airlines and the phone companies unfortunately attempted to deal with it the DC way:

“In 2021, a breakdown in coordination led to alarming headlines and congressional hearings over fears that new wireless signals could interfere with aircraft altimeters critical to flight safety. Flights were delayed and new wireless services stalled. Over time, the situation was resolved and today those same signals power faster, better wireless service at lower cost - and greater home broadband competition.”

Well, the federal government is about to auction off a bunch of new spectrum - much of it close to the airlines’ airwaves. Are the two sides gearing up for another costly and stupid DC fight?

No they are not…:

“Today, the FCC is preparing to auction a new set of airwaves close to those same aviation frequencies, called the Upper C-Band. You might expect a rerun of the same headlines - but you’d be wrong.

“This time, aviation, wireless, and the administration resolved potential questions years before a single wireless tower will go live….”

This time, the two industries sat down and resolved their differences - like adults. Not by running to Big Daddy Government and paying many millions to bribe Daddy into deciding which child he likes better.

This time, the federal government’s role was greatly diminished:

“We (the airline and wireless companies) started by agreeing that aviation safety comes first. Our industries do not always see eye to eye, but on this issue there was no daylight.

“Then we did the work - together.

“Instead of arguing in public, our two industries sat down with the FAA and the FCC. We shared our data. We put our best engineers in the same room.

“Aviation explained safety requirements and how altimeters behave in flight. Wireless explained how 5G networks are deployed and operate. Engineers challenged assumptions, tested models and ultimately reached consensus.”

The two industries give credit to the Donald Trump Administration - as a moderator and facilitator. Not as the final arbiter:

“The Trump administration brought all stakeholders to the table and kept us there. The White House was engaged from the start and made clear it expected a solution that worked for both industries. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr led from Day 1.

“That kind of leadership is the reason a debate that could have dragged on for years was settled fairly and efficiently.

“The result: everyone will come out ahead.”

Well, everyone except: DC’s ridiculously expensive consultants, lawyers and lobbyists.

Thankfully for all the rest of us? They mostly watched this success story from the sidelines.

Now, will these two industries PLEASE share their success story - with every other industry on the planet?

That would be great.

Yesterday - on Sunday, because the Internet never rests? I received in my inbox an op-ed from Larry Kudlow.

For those of you who don’t know…:

“Lawrence Alan Kudlow is an American conservative broadcast news analyst, economist, columnist, journalist, political commentator, and radio personality. He is a financial news commentator for Fox Business and served as the director of the National Economic Council during the Trump administration from 2018 to 2021.”

I’ve met Larry. He is a very nice guy.

That said: Kudlow is a standard-issue Washington, DC center-right economy guy. He is exactly the type of Republican economist - that is killing the Republican Party.

Kudlow’s economic messaging - is the Republicans’ economic messaging. And it is more tone deaf than a year’s worth of nationwide karaoke contests.

Here’s Kudlow’s Sunday headline and sub-head….

Prosperity Is Not Enough:

“The economy is booming, but voters remain unconvinced. With the Democratic left gaining ground, Republicans risk squandering an advantage they should own.”

You need not read another word - to get the entire gist of how wrong Kudlow is.

“Prosperity is not enough”

What prosperity? The US is almost $40 trillion in debt. $4 trillion of that is just since President Trump was last sworn in.

I don’t care what else you think is going on. A country running up that much debt is absolutely NOT prosperous.

If I’m making $60,000 a year - but I’m adding $30,000 per year to my credit cards? You wouldn’t call what I am doing “prosperity.”

Oh: And Social Security and Medicare are at least $175 trillion short.

The US is absolutely not a land of “prosperity.”

“The economy is booming”

No. It is not. Unless you’re already a billionaire. Because the US economy isn’t free market capitalism - it’s diet fascism.

You’ve heard the phrase “K-shaped economy,” yes? That’s where the rich get rapidly richer - the upper arm of the K. While the rest of us get rapidly poorer - the lower arm of the K.

K-ing the economy is what the US does. In fact, it is what the US has done for several decades:

“After being relatively low in the 1960s and 1970s, inequality began rising sharply from the 1980s onward. By 2025, it reached its highest level in modern U.S. history….

“According to the Federal Reserve, the net worth of America’s top 1% reached a record share of nearly 32% of total U.S. wealth in the third quarter of 2025. In contrast, the bottom 50% of Americans together held only about 2.5% of total net wealth.”

Which undoubtedly means a corresponding disparity in incomes...:

“The Gini index - a measure of income distribution ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 100 (maximum inequality) - was 34.7 in 1980, the lowest in the 1965–2025 period economicsinsider.com. By 2025, it had climbed to 42, the highest in six decades.”

US stock markets are hitting record highs. But the bottom half of U.S. households own just 1% of the nation’s stock market wealth. The wealthiest 1% hold more than the bottom 90% combined. So these spoils too - go to the already spoiled.

And then there’s inflation:

“From 1970 to 2025, prices rose approximately 727–751%, meaning goods and services cost roughly 8.3–8.5 times more than in 1970.”

Oh: And the US population currently holds a record personal debt total of almost $19 trillion. 25% of Americans are now using Buy Now Pay Later - for groceries.

None of this is indicative of an economy that is booming.

“Voters remain unconvinced”

Of course they remain unconvinced. There is nothing by which to be convinced. There is no prosperity. The economy ain’t booming.

Voters have been living all of this horrendous reality. And then some. They aren’t DC Delusional. They can’t afford to be.

“With the Democratic left gaining ground, Republicans risk squandering an advantage they should own.”

That’s Kudlow also missing the entirety of that point.

There isn’t any advantage for Republicans to own. The economy stinks on ice.

And it certainly appears he bizarrely thinks “the Democratic left is gaining ground” - totally unrelated to the economy. Because he bizarrely thinks the economy is “booming.”

The Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) are on the rise? Precisely because Trump, Kudlow and the Republicans are so delusional about the economy.

Americans are hurting economically. Badly.

Americans see the economy already shedding jobs - “unexpectedly” only in DC.

Americans are told Artificial Intelligence (AI) will in the next several years take most of the rest of their jobs. And they see “President Trump, Tech Leaders Unite to Power American AI Dominance.”

Americans see AI’s data centers destroying their neighborhoods. And thousands of new, ever-larger data centers being planned. And they see President Trump say “You can’t fight it. You have to go with it.”

Americans see a pointless, un-winnable and apparently endless Iran war massively increasing prices and inflation. And they hear President Trump say “I love the inflation.”

Americans hear President Trump repeatedly call all of this nightmare mess - “A Golden Age.”

And Americans read Kudlow wondering why this “booming” “prosperity” isn’t resonating with them.

Totally and completely out of touch? Is no way to win elections. Or the American people.

Democrat Socialists are advancing? Because they are the only ones acknowledging there’s a problem.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller.

The US’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) self-feeding frenzy is still…frenzy-ing.

Except everything about it seems fake.

The US’s Large Language Model (LLM) version of AI seems to be (at least) years away from the promises being made to feed the frenzy.

Which can be seen as a partially good thing - since no one has any idea what to do with the hundreds of millions of humans they tell us US AI will un-employ.

It also looks like China’s Open Source AI is kicking the US version’s keister. It’s at least getting to even on effectiveness. And China AI is up-to-85% cheaper than US AI.

China AI is open. Which means you can much more easily change and evolve it to meet your ongoing needs. It’s a much more symbiotic relationship between AI and your business.

US AI’s LLM is a closed system. Your business must contort itself to the US AI you choose. We thus end up slaves to their system. Your business has, de facto, become a subsidiary of your US AI.

And then there’s the prospective US AI investment bubble.

Big Tech has committed to spending an additional $2.4 trillion in the coming years. That’s after spending $286 billion in 2025 (compared to China’s $12.4 billion). And an estimated $700-$900 billion this year (compared to China’s estimated $125 billion).

So that’s one area in which US AI is definitely defeating China AI - spending money. But do these massive dollars spent make any actual sense? It doesn’t seem so. And are these astronomical US AI dollar amounts even real? It doesn’t seem so:

“Welcome to the AI money-go-round, where tech titans…are locked in a symbiotic tango of investments, contracts, and equity swaps.

“Billions - no, trillions - flow in loops that boost market caps, dazzle investors, and mask a fundamental question: Is this sustainable growth or just a high-stakes game of hot potato with other people’s money?”

My money is is on the hot potato theory:

“Nvidia is in talks to guarantee roughly $250 billion so OpenAI can lease a data center that does not yet exist, on land the company does not own, powered by a plant that is not yet built.

“A second Nvidia deal, worth up to $350 billion more, would finance the chips that go inside it. Put the two together and one company’s balance sheet stands behind $600 billion of someone else’s infrastructure.”

You have this multi-trillion-dollar dog-and-pony show. Put on by US AI - that seems on the imminent verge of getting its keister kicked by China’s much cheaper, better-modeled, increasingly effective AI.

You should by now be having 2008 Big Bank Fail flashbacks.

Methinks we are rapidly approaching a 2008 collapse - only huger. Because the AI bubble is much huger than was the housing market bubble.

The 2008 collapse was predicated upon just the housing market - plus the global investments that plugged into the scam. AI has basically swallowed the entire US economy - and much of the rest of the planet.

Nearly half of the US’s S&P 500 - is comprised of AI stocks. And AI is globalizing many of the planet’s stock markets. But, again, on a much huger scale than in 2008.

Only 59% of the US stock market’s money come from the US. 41% is foreign-owned. (Which makes the “A rising US stock market lifts all Americans’ boats” argument look even stupider.)

And international stock ownership increases - largely driven by AI - criss-cross the globe. Markets in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, and the Netherlands have all become more international in their revenue sources.

Which means - like with the 2008 collapse? Eggs will get scrambled in the US - and all over the planet. Only huger.

The companies that are about to wreck the planet? Will exert enormous pressure for government bailout money - upon all levels of government.

In November we received the sneakiest of peeks. Open AI’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar committed the classic DC error - she told the truth:

Friar: “And this is where we are looking for an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental - the way governments can come to bear.

Wall Street Journal: “Meaning like a federal subsidy or something?”

Friar: “Meaning like, just, first of all, the backstop. The guarantee that allows the financing to happen.”

And then Open AI - and to a lesser extent the rest of AI World - went into overdrive pretending Friar didn’t say what she had just said.

But our federal, state and local governments know who butters their bread.

AI’s New Political Donor Class Is Already Outspending Big Tech’s Last One:

“Filings show AI employees donating faster, more heavily, and more in sync than three prior tech-IPO donor classes.”

AI’s Biggest Builders Are Now Its Biggest Lobbyists

How A.I. Money Is Flooding Into the Midterm Elections

So it looks like my request for zero bailouts - has lots of deaf ears upon which to fall.

And it looks like my request for zero bailouts - may already be too late.

The AI Bailout Could Be Baked Into the AI Bubble:

“Private credit companies are key owners of AI-related assets. Many of their parent private equity firms own life insurers that are dumping grounds for bad loans—and subject to state bailouts.”

And, of course, the state budgets ain’t exclusively state budgets.

Reverse Pyramid Scheme: Average Annual State Budget Is 37% Federal Money

Of course The Feds have the real money. And no pesky constitutional amendments requiring they balance their budget. Hence Team AI’s massive avalanche of DC lobby and campaign cash.

And Team AI knows it works. The 2008 federal housing bailout ended up being $16.8 trillion to the Big Banks.

(Which is $26.1 trillion in today’s hyper-inflated dollars. A 55.1% inflation increase - in just 18 years.)

And the coming crash is WAY huger than was the 2008 crash. So $26.1 trillion won’t even come close to representative of crash-to-bailout spending.

And I just checked:

We don’t have the money.

So let’s please not pretend we do - and print it.

Because it will make the inflation increase since the last bailout seem tiny by way of comparison.

Let’s please - FINALLY - make the people making our lives miserable pay for making our lives miserable.

Rather than We the Suckers yet again paying for having our lives made miserable.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller and The Daily Caller News Foundation.

In his “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift sarcastically proposed that Ireland swallow its children to solve its most pressing problem.

Here I sincerely propose the United States swallow its elections to solve its most pressing problem.

I’m a results-oriented guy. Which means at some point? The fetishization of process should be ended - if the results of the process are awful.

It matters not that the heart monitor is still pinging (process) - if the patient’s heart long ago stopped beating (results).

And so it is with the process of governance in the United States.

The US has for many, many decades had varyingly-tainted-but-basically-free elections. And those elected officials have for many, many decades enacted laws and policies.

Well, how’s it going in the US?

If you respond with anything other than “awful” - and/or synonyms of “awful?” You are either not paying any attention at all - or are allowing the process of patriotism to get in the way of your recognition of reality.

If you’re honest - most importantly with yourself? You can’t come to any other conclusion than the United States is broke and broken.

Here’s the chief reason why: Our governments are HUGE. Federal, state and local - all MUCH larger than they need be.

And here’s the kicker: Big Business owns and operates ALL of them. Federal, state and local governments - all corrupt puppets of Big Biz.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this - all throughout this nigh-total national degradation.

Our elected officials are absolutely “representatives.” They just aren’t representatives of We the People. They are representatives of the Big Businesses who pay the most to engage their services.

Doubt me about the states and locals? Check out the surveillance regimes and attending data center deployments being jammed down our throats all over the country by our states and locals.

Now let’s peruse Q2 2026 federal lobbying numbers. Graciously compiled last Tuesday by the folks at Politico Influence. Who every day of the year report upon the heaviest of heavy hitters amongst the DC lobbying elite.

The numbers are, as always, staggering. The top 20 lobby shops in Q2 2026 took in $252.4 million. A QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS.

Just for straight lobbying. Just for the top 20 straight lobbying shops. Just for three months.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of straight lobbying shops beyond the top 20.

There are, of course, (tens of) thousands of other, non-straight-lobbying influence shops. Political consultants, policy consultants, advertising consultants, messaging consultants, pollsters, think tanks, policy shoppes,….

ALL of them cashing in. And DC carves US up and sells US by the pound to pay them all - with our money.

All of which brings to mind…:

“If voting made any difference? They wouldn’t let us do it.”

-- Mark Twain

Keep Mister Clemens - and all of the above - in mind when next you hear about the importance of the upcoming midterm elections. Or how important it is to pass the SAVE Act. Or how vital it is that we re-elect Maine’s 75-year-old Susan Collins to a SIXTH six-year Senate term.

All of which brings to mind the 1979 cinematic experience known as “Meatballs”:

“It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter…It just doesn’t matter if we win or we lose.”

-- Tripper (Bill Murray)

Because we elect Republicans…and then we elect Democrats…and then we elect Republicans…and then we….

And nothing ever changes. And everything only ever gets worse.

So…what to do?

The 1983 cinematic experience known as “WarGames” showed us the way…:

“Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

-- Joshua

The process of our having elections? Has delivered AWFUL results.

Which brings to mind the old joke:

Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”

Doctor: “Don’t do that.”

Instead of elections? Let’s fill those seats the way we fill up juries: Randomly draw names out of hats. We’ll refer you to the Founding Fathers - and their Sixth Amendment.

The voir dire analysis of each drawn name can be to ensure no felons, madmen or any other obviously undesirables make the cut.

“I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”

-- William F. Buckley

Federal officials would be chosen from their House districts for their House districts, their states for their Senate seats and the entire population for the presidency. Ditto geographically for state reps and state senators, mayors and city councils, county judges and commissioners, etc….

To correspond with Jury Duty - we’ll call this Civic Duty.

We would subject the good people serving Civic Duty to only one term. Because these are normal, healthy members of society - with actual lives to which to return. Imagine a ruling class - who can’t stand ruling.

Please sit back for a moment: And contemplate all of the government idiocies that disappear under this system. And imagine the transformational changes for the better that would immediately take place. Both would be more numerous than are the stars in the sky.

Gone are 99+% of the self-serving sellouts currently affixed like barnacles to the bodies government. Not just the elected officials - but almost all of the Lobby Industrial Complex that owns and operates them.

Seriously, how much lobbying power can Big Business exert upon a bunch of one-term conscript plumbers and farmers? Plumbers and farmers - who are irretrievably disgusted by the Big Business lobbyists who have ruined their country. Tens (hundreds) of billions of annual lobby dollars would instantly disappear.

Oh: In 2024 at least $15.9 billion was spent on just the federal elections. Plus tens (hundreds) of billions more on states and locals. 100% of that money goes away.

And the policy transformations would be epic.

Imagine our governments filled entirely with Mr. Smiths. Going to Washington and the many other places of government intending to do good not for their Big Business donors - because they don’t have any - but instead to do good for us.

I know, I know…I’ve disenfranchised We the People. I’ve ended the process of elections (and their awful results).

But be honest - most importantly with yourself:

The Founding Fathers wanted a citizen government. Regular people taking a short time out of their lives to serve We the People - and then get back to their lives. We haven’t had that in many, many decades. At any level of government. Civic Duty restores this.

The Founders were wary of political Parties - which they knew would inevitably arise as a result of the elections they were establishing. We are now deeply buried in the quicksand of the two Party system. Civic Duty ends this.

The Founders also feared the freedom they were granting? Could very well be corrupted - and ultimately wasted.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

-- Ben Franklin

Does anyone not think the Founders’ worst fears have been exceeded - by orders-of-magnitude?

What we have now is career politicians from both Parties who conspire to work against We the People.

Who have built monstrously huge governments at every level - that serve their Big Business paymasters at the expense of We the People.

And we’ve had elections and voted for all of this - all throughout this nigh-total national degradation.

Let’s remove from the process the people who have destroyed our country.

By removing the elections that have allowed them to do it.

I submit, modestly.

Much has rightly been made of the monstrous amounts of resources - water, electricity, land - data centers use.

Data centers that are now being built, we are told, to feed the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Data centers are being called “data centers?” Because the far more truthful “surveillance centers” and “human replacement centers” would be an even tougher sell.

It’s fun - for a little while longer, anyway - to ask AI about the damage being done by AI. Because as biased as Big Tech’s regular search algorithms are? That bias doesn’t yet appear to be nearly as hard-programmed into their AI responses.

I searched Lord High Bias Master Google for “data centers use lots of water.” Old school Google search delivered a bunch of links - many of them to content downplaying data centers’ massive water use.

But above the avalanche of links - was Google’s AI (Gemini) response. Which, shall we say, didn’t downplay data centers’ massive water and electricity use:

“Data centers require massive amounts of water and electricity to keep their servers cool and operating properly. A large facility can consume up to 5 million gallons daily - equivalent to the needs of a town of up to 50,000 residents. This massive demand strains local water utilities, especially in drought-prone areas like the U.S. Southwest.”

Ditto a Google search for “data centers use lots of electricity.” Google’s links downplay - Google’s AI does not:

“Data centers consume massive amounts of power due to the relentless energy demands of servers, networking hardware, and cooling systems. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers account for about 1.5% of worldwide electricity and are projected to double in consumption by 2030, heavily driven by the rise of AI. A typical commercial data center uses 10 to 50 times more energy per floor space than a standard office building.”

And, of course, We the Abused are paying WAY more for FAR less water and electricity. And are starting to be cut off entirely - human sacrifices to feed The Beast.

Meanwhile, Big Tech incessantly hypes that “China will beat us to AI.” Unless we give obsequious acquiescence to their unlimited addition of ever-larger data centers (and everything else they demand).

Well, the United States has over 5,400 data centers already up-and-running. In a nation of 338 million people.

China currently only has about 450 data centers. In a nation of 1.4 billion people. So Big Tech’s breathless China propaganda also seems to be more than a little strained.

But wait - there’s more. There are in the US over 1,700 new data centers planned. Most of them MANY times larger than most of the existing ones. More from Google’s AI:

“Planned data centers are undergoing an unprecedented scale-up, transitioning from standalone 100-megawatt (MW) facilities to massive multi-gigawatt (GW) regional campuses. Driven by generative artificial intelligence, these facilities require immense power and physical footprints, triggering significant shifts in infrastructure design, energy regulations, and public policy.”

So the damage currently being done to our resources by these facilities? And the brutal price being shifted away from Big Tech to We the Abused? We ain’t seen nothing yet.

Which brings us to the nationwide build-up of the AI surveillance state. The far-and-away largest and most notorious private company partnering with governments to glean billions of our tax dollars from the buildup? The woefully misnamed Flock Safety.

There are some competitors to Flock. But as with most things Internet? There’s really only room for one of each thing.

Flock currently has contracts with over 12,000 communities in 49 states. Governments in big cities, small cities, towns and rural counties - all signed up with Flock to surveil We the Surveilled.

Flock publicly insists on referring to their wide array of surveillance equipment - and attending data absorption - merely as “license plate readers.” And they do scan and store about 20 billion plate grabs per month.

Except:

Flock Cameras Are Tracking More Than License Plates: Here’s Where All That Data Goes

Flock privately markets to governments and other prospective customers its ability to provide “people detection.” Including results for vague searches like “man in blue shirt and cowboy hat.” People - ain’t license plates.

Flock also offers AI drones that fly automated missions - live-streaming everything they see. 24-7 live video - ain’t license plates.

Flock is also recording audio - to go with the video. They advertise an “expanding sound library” their AI recognizes. Like “screams” and “distress” - which means their AI also processes human voices. License plates don’t make any noise.

Flock’s current two main cameras?:

“Flock Safety Falcon (ALPR): Focused on capturing rear license plates and vehicle context, providing clear images that can be converted into alphanumeric characters for database comparison.

“Flock Safety Condor (PTZ): A fixed-point, pan-tilt-zoom camera capable of remotely adjusting its view to capture live video and detailed images in public areas.”

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Is a whole lot more than the mere “license plate readers” We the Lied To are told are in the field.

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? That Flock says they are not selling? Is for sale right here - via the Flock price sheet.

All of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Includes cameras delivering livestream video in at least one children’s gymnastics room. Which Flock employees have watched - and shared with prospective customers.

And at least one children’s playground. The video of which Flock accidentally made available to everyone. Oh: And no login was required. Which certainly makes it look like Flock doesn’t require one on the back end.

Ben Franklin famously wrote:

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Nothing better demonstrates the atrocious miscalculation of sacrificing liberty for alleged safety? Than the 24-7 live-streaming of children.

How much safer do you feel your children are? Knowing that they’ve lost entirely their liberty to constant video surveillance? Accessible by hundreds if not thousands of adults - none of whom you’ve ever even met?

Talk about a TERRIBLE trade.

And, of course, all of this data Flock says they aren’t collecting? Needs to be stored somewhere.

Hence the mad rush to bring online these new, massive surveillance centers.

“Surveillance centers” - now makes a whole lot more sense than “data centers,” does it not?

An exchange from the classic cinematic experience known simply as “Jaws”:

Hooper: Well, uh, it doesn’t make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.

Brody: It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.

Hooper: That makes a lot of sense.

Hooper delivered that last line sarcastically. But what Brody said does make a lot of sense. In life, nearly everything is a matter of perspective.

I moved from the US to Belize in December 2022. Now that I’m looking from the outside in? The changes to the way I look at the US have been profound.

It is also why you should listen to trusted others. You can get WAY inside your own head - which clouds your thinking. (Guilty, Your Honor.) Having someone else provide their perspective on yours can be a very good thing.

Despite some recent hiccups in the relationship, I certainly think Britain is a nation in whom we can place some real trust. Certainly when it comes to things from which they gain no advantage in lying to us.

And so it is with their recently generated Mobile Market Index (MMI):

“(A) comprehensive assessment of the environment facing Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the United Kingdom, benchmarked against nine international peers: the United States, Germany, France, Spain, South Korea, Australia, Norway, Singapore and Hungary.

“The MMI measures the conditions under which operators invest and operate, and assesses how those conditions translate into outcomes for consumers and the wider market.

“The MMI separates four Operating Environment pillars from a fifth Consumer & Market Outcomes pillar, allowing the relationship between operating conditions and their consequent outcomes to be examined directly.”

Of course, our main competitor in the race to wireless Fifth Generation (5G) networks and beyond is China - and China is not included in the MMI. My guess is because China is China - and not very into sharing the deep-dive data the MMI analyzes.

But if we want to continue to lead China? We should take what the MMI says to heart:

“South Korea and Singapore lead a ten-nation mobile benchmarking study released this week, outperforming the United States, Germany, and every European market on both the quality of their operating environments….

“On Operating Environment, Singapore leads with a score of 0.698, South Korea second at 0.667, the United States third at 0.639….

“Consumer and Market Outcomes reshuffles the order significantly. South Korea leads at 0.747, Singapore second at 0.734, Norway third at 0.702. France climbs from ninth to fourth at 0.632. Germany holds fifth at 0.579. Spain rises to sixth at 0.473. Australia and the United States, both strong on operating environment, slip to seventh and eighth at 0.469 and 0.460….”

Our 8th spot in “Consumer and Market Outcomes?” Ain’t entirely our fault:

“The United States sits third on operating environment and eighth on consumer outcomes, a gap of five positions that is almost entirely explained by its size.

“Covering 3.8 million square miles of varied terrain - mountain ranges, plains, forests, and approximately 2 million square miles of territory with population densities under one person per square mile - at comparable quality to Singapore’s 277 square miles of dense urban landscape is not a policy failure.

“It is a physics and economics problem with no regulatory solution.”

But we did only place 3rd in “Operating Environment.” Which is the phrase the MMI uses to describe the regulatory environment.

By my math? 3rd isn’t 1st. Or even 2nd. There is always room for improvement. There is definitely room here in the US.

That is not to say we haven’t improved of late. We absolutely have.

I wasn’t a general fan of the 2025 Big Broke - oops, I mean Beautiful - Act (BBA). But it did specifically reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction off the wireless spectrum we need to continue to lead the planet in network development.

That was a huge improvement in our “Operating Environment.” But nowhere near huge enough.

We now return to the friendly confines of the US for further perspective. Behold a domestic entity - American Compass. Which just recently released…:

U.S. Needs More Commercial Spectrum to Lead on AI and Reindustrialization

In which they recommend…:

“The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)… requir(es) the auction of at least 800 MHz of licensed spectrum by 2034. (This is) inadequate for U.S. businesses to meet the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) and reindustrialization….

“The Trump administration should focus on transferring spectrum held by the federal government to the private sector and set an ambitious new goal to auction 1,000 MHz by January 2029.”

Yes, please.

All of that would be a dramatic improvement of the US’s “Operating Environment.”

And undoubtedly increase our chances of continuing to stay ahead of China in the perpetual wireless race.

Listening to friends - of the foreign or domestic variety - helps considerably with one’s perspective.

And in life, nearly everything is a matter of perspective.

Here’s what we know:

The world gets about 20% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait has been closed or nearly closed since the United States launched its war with Iran.

That launch date was February 28th. Today is July 13th. We’re approaching five months of little to no oil getting through the Strait.

That’s so far resulted in 1+ billion fewer barrels in global circulation.

Here’s what we don’t seem to know:

We seem to be nowhere near an end to the war - or the Strait’s closure. And even when we are told we were near an end to the closure?

Like, say, with the irrational exuberance on rampant display with June 14th’s “Memorandum of Understanding?”

Like, say, with the ridiculous number of times President Donald Trump has lied about being close to a peace deal (38 times - and that’s just the tally prior to the “Memorandum of Understanding”).

Most of us have been pretending that once the Strait reopens - everything will simply and immediately snap back to normal. Heck, most of us still are pretending.

Far too many Americans have for months been taking victory laps about oil and gas prices. Most of which are predicated upon President Trump’s many lies and falsehoods. None of which are predicated upon anything having to do with reality.

Reality: You can not skip five months’ (and counting) worth of Strait oil - and simply return to pre-war normal.

The Strait’s closure is a great and growing air bubble in the world’s oil supply line. The bubble doesn’t just disappear when the war ends and the Strait reopens (whenever that will eventually be). It will still be there. And it will have to work its way through the system.

Thanks to many desperate moves by many countries all around the world? The bubble’s arrival has been delayed. But it can not be permanently denied:

“The world has absorbed with surprising ease the loss of over a billion barrels of oil supply since the Iran war began, but…it still faces the looming risk of future price spikes….

“While prices may reflect expectations of a rapid return to pre-war supply levels, data on tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz tells a different, more pessimistic story….

“The global economy weathered the shock by drawing down stocks at a record pace, according to IEA data, draining the very buffers designed to protect it from supply crises….

“Replenishing oil stocks, never cheap, has likely been made more expensive by the war.

“Before the conflict, the European Central Bank had estimated 2027-2028 oil prices at $63 to $64 per barrel. That’s now risen to an average of $65 to $75, according to an ECB report published in June.

“At current Brent prices, it would likely cost more than $70 billion to replace reserves drawn down to mitigate Iran war supply loss….

“(U)ntil that is done, the world is operating without a safety net in an environment still fraught with uncertainty.

“‘The markets may be underestimating the risk of further oil flow disruptions,’ said Saul Kavonic, head of research at MST Marquee.”

“Underestimating?” Gee…ya think?

All of the above reminds of two great quotes from minds of the past. Who were much more in tune with the real world than far too many of us are today.

“You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”

-- Ayn Rand

“Eventually everybody sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

-- Robert Louis Stevenson

It’s time to lobster bib up. Reality’s meal is about to be delivered.

This also appeared in The Daily Caller and The Daily Caller News Foundation.

For the ever-increasing percentage of the population too young to get the reference in the headline? It’s a gentle alteration of the opening to a very old Superman show. Yes, Youngsters, people used to watch pre-timed television. In black-and-white, even.

One of Superman’s powers is the ability to fly. So the retro-analogy is apt for our futuristic digital wireless networks: They fly-in ever-increasing amounts of everything to everyone. Including, should you wish, seamless streaming of the old Superman show.

Why the Superman analogy? Because, thankfully, on July 22 the Donald Trump Administration will have an auction of 160 megahertz-worth of C-Band wireless spectrum:

“The rules that the FCC votes on next month will effectively harmonize wireless operations across the lower and upper C-band to create what Carr called a ‘super band’ that spans 440 megahertz of spectrum between the lower C-band (3.7-3.98 GHz) and now the upper C-band (3.98-4.14 GHz).”

The Superband. That Superband will greatly assist with the increased expansion of our wireless networks. And with it the entire economy. In 2025, around 5% of North American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was value from wireless activity. That was $1.6 trillion.

To do that? More spectrum for the networks is a must. Spectrum is the “airwaves” used for everything wireless. From your smartphone - all the way down to your car’s key fob and TV’s remote control.

Spectrum is a finite resource. There’s only so much of it to go around. The federal government possesses about 60% of it. So auctions like this one coming up are vital to getting more of it out The Feds’ hands - and into our wireless networks.

Not all spectrum is of equal utility. Some spectrum is more useful than other spectrum. The C-Band coming up for bids:

“(I)s often called the anchor or ‘workhorse’ for 5G because it offers strong performance without the propagation limitations of true high-band spectrum.”

5G - or Fifth Generation - is the network currently being developed and deployed. 5G is just a little faster than 4G. Peak speeds: 20 Gbps v 100 Mbps. Or 200 times faster. With that speed increase comes increase in data capacity: 10-100 times as much capacity, depending upon what you’re having the network do.

So the Trump Administration getting more C-Band to the private sector? And with its rules harmonizing that massive swath of it? Makes things much better for everyone.

And indeed makes it a Superband. Because having more continuous adjacent bands of spectrum makes everything better for everyone:

“Adjacent spectrum bands are important because they enable more channels, reduce interference, support coexistence, optimize performance, and meet regulatory requirements. They are the foundation for designing high-capacity, interference-free wireless networks in today’s crowded spectrum environment.”

Oh: This auction will net The Feds an estimated $30 billion to $75 billion. What do they plan to do with the coin?:

“(R)eimburse and incentivize satellite operators, fund aviation safety upgrades, and invest in broadband and next‑generation wireless infrastructure….”

The satellite operators are being incentivized - to free up more spectrum. So we can auction that off at a later date. Thereby continuing this virtuous circle.

The more Superbands we can create? The better off we all will be.

This also appeared in PJ Media.

Corporate tax law - at every government level in the US - is inordinately ludicrous. A titanic mess of subsidies, deductions and loopholes. Written by Big Business - for Big Business.

The on-paper federal tax rate for really large US companies is 21%. Except here are some effective federal tax rates paid by some seriously huge companies in 2025:

Tesla made $5.7 billion. And paid $0 in federal income taxes - 0%.

Amazon made $89 billion. And paid $1.2 billion in federal income taxes - 1.4%.

Meta (Facebook) made $78.9 billion. And paid $2.8 billion in federal income taxes - 3.6%.

Alphabet (Google) made $141.6 billion. And paid $11.3 billion in federal income taxes - 8.0%.

The major oil companies averaged in 2025 an effective federal income tax rate of… -6.1%. As in a NEGATIVE tax rate. We the Taxpayers paid them - to make hundreds of billions of dollars.

We are told these absurd tax rates and breaks are in place to incentivize companies to do…basically what they are doing anyway.

Is Amazon going to stop selling in the US if we increase sixfold their effective federal tax rate - to a whopping 8.4%? I highly doubt it.

We are told these corporations deserve these ridiculous tax rates - because they are creating jobs. But what kind of jobs are they creating? What wages are they paying? What benefits are they providing?

Let’s look at wages. Speaking of Amazon….

Amazon in May 2025 had approximately 1.1 million US employees. Making them the second largest employer in the US.

A 2023 University of Illinois Chicago study of 1,484 Amazon workers across 42 states found that 48% used at least one publicly funded assistance program. Which means Amazon was paying them so poorly - they qualified for government poverty programs.

In 2025, Amazon paid 1.4% in federal taxes. In 2025, the average Amazon warehouse worker made $37,440 - and paid $2,602.80 in federal taxes. Which is 7% - or FIVE TIMES the rate Amazon paid. And don’t forget: We the Taxpayers assistance-subsidized about half of all Amazon’s 1.1 million employees.

That math ain’t math-ing.

And we’ve thus far only discussed the federal tax breaks companies like Amazon get. Let’s not forget the state and local breaks they get as well.

Remember the 2018 slavish attempt by cities all across the country to throw many billions of your tax dollars at Jeff Bezos to get him to build Amazon’s second headquarters in their respective confines? To lure and land what was, we were told, 25,000 jobs.

Arlington, Virginia won part of the bribe-fest. The state of Virginia gave Amazon $750 million in government subsidies to choose Arlington. The city of Arlington pledged many millions more.

Except the 25,000 pledged gigs? Then became 10,000. And now - eight years later? Only ~7,200 actual gigs have materialized. And if the government assistance numbers roughly apply? We the Taxpayers are subsidizing half of them - yet again.

In case you were wondering? My analysis of government and business is eminently conservative - and is conducted entirely through the prism of less government.

There is nothing less government about government-subsidizing the world’s all-time richest companies. Their workforces - or their operations.

There is nothing conservative about having the government pick winners and losers. Giving government cronyism to some - and not others? Is picking winners and losers. And our bribe-infested lobbying system ensures that the “winners” - will always be the world’s all-time richest companies.

So…what to do…?

There has been much discussion of how best to utilize tariffs and taxes to make the US more attractive for businesses. Well, as we know, the largest expense for most businesses is the number of humans they hire. (Thus the Artificial Intelligence rush to eradicate humans.)

Of course it is impossible for the US to compete globally with countries that use slave or near-slave labor. When what is for US companies their most expensive budget line item - is a near-non-existent expense for competing companies elsewhere? US companies - and the US - absolutely can not compete.

Unless we provide businesses the proper tax incentives. Like: The more you pay your employees - the less you pay the government.

We currently allow businesses to deduct the wages and salaries they pay. But those deductions are obviously not enough of an incentive to get companies to pay better. Let’s make them so.

Higher-paid employees? Mean less employees qualifying for government programs. Because math.

Of course for our idea to succeed? We must simultaneously clean up our corroded tax system - which currently has Amazon paying a ridiculous 1.4% on $89 billion in profits.

We have to make the wage-and-salary tax incentives more attractive - by removing many of the corrupt-and-crony tax subsidies the likes of Amazon currently get.

We must restore some sense of sanity to their effective tax rates. In order to make reducing them - via their paying better wages and salaries - an attractive notion.

And, of course, a better-paid US workforce? And a less corrupt-and-crony tax code? Is all eminently better for the US.

Section 230 is perhaps the greatest Big Government crony gift to Big Business in human history. Big Tech can do…whatever it wants. And can’t be sued by anyone for anything.

Those of us who have long sought its end were last week heartened a bit by this….

Germany’s Ruling Will Reshape the Internet, Ends ‘Section 230’ Shield for AI:

“A court has held Google legally liable for false information generated by its (Artificial Intelligence) AI search tools, stripping away a critical legal shield the company has relied on for decades….

“For the past 30 years, Section 230 has protected internet platforms like Google, Facebook, or Reddit from being treated as the ‘publisher or speaker’ of information provided by someone else, thus tossing out all lawsuits.

“AI sets that precedent on its head. Because the AI blends, synthesizes, and outputs a unique response, the court decided Section 230 does not apply.”

Long before AI hit the mainstream, the Big Tech companies have actually been doing what can best be described as the Section 230 Shuffle.

Big Tech companies claim to be a “mindless platform” - when they want Section 230 immunity. “We aren’t responsible for what others publish on our platform.”

Except they are constantly exerting authority over what others publish on their platform. They ban, shadow ban and censor people ALL THE TIME. Which means they’re not exactly a “mindless platform.”

And when anyone wants to address this titanic hypocrisy? Big Tech demands their First Amendment “publisher or speaker” rights. “We have the right to allow or not allow any speech we wish.”

Except you can’t - if you want to receive your Section 230 “mindless platform” protections.

Does everyone now see how unconstitutional Section 230 is? And not just because of the First Amendment. Also the Fourteenth:

“…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

I can sue my neighbor for slipping and falling in his driveway. But I can’t sue the richest companies in human history for…anything? (Several court rulings have subsequently expanded Section 230 to protect Big Tech from…everything.)

That is hardly “equal protection of the laws.” There is nothing constitutional about Section 230.

The German ruling specifically addresses Section 230 - and AI. When you now search using Google, the top of their Results Page 1 is almost always their AI summary about your query. The German court ruled that Google developed its AI, its AI generates its results - so Google is responsible for those results.

That’s a definite crack in the Section 230 armor. But this was a German court ruling. At best tangentially US-precedent setting. And it only addresses AI results. Well, in the US in March this happened:

Meta’s $375 Million Verdict Signals Shift in Platform Safety:

“A New Mexico jury has found Meta liable for misleading consumers regarding platform safety, marking the first time a jury has held the social media giant legally responsible for harms occurring on its services, including child sexual exploitation.

“For global C-suite executives, the verdict signals a shift in judicial appetite for holding big tech companies accountable for platform design choices and internal transparency.”

This is a much bigger crack in the Section 230 armor. Big Tech companies are given some exemptions to the “mindless platform” doctrine. Perhaps chief amongst them? Big Tech is allowed to remove content detrimental to children.

New Mexico’s jury drove right through Section 230’s hypocrisy gap. “Platform? Publisher? We don’t care. Guilty.”

And We the People sincerely thank them for doing it.

Because cronyism anywhere? Is a detriment to freedom and good policy everywhere.

Section 230 is really bad cronyism. Which has resulted in really bad policy.

As courts at home and abroad are helping us demonstrate?

It’s time to end it.

From what has thus far been presented to me? I am not a fan of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Not because I am a Luddite. Not because I am anti-technology (though I am swiftly getting there).

But because I am pro-human. And everything about AI screams anti-human.

I don’t like the people developing AI. They’re creepy nerds who were obviously picked on in high school - and are now looking to exact revenge upon the entire human race. And from everything we see and hear? They have devised AI to be a humanity eradicating device. (Any other explanation for the Big Tech billionaires’ private islands and bunkers?)

The creepy nerds are openly telling us it will eliminate nearly all jobs for humans. Hey nerds: Not everyone thinks this is a good thing.

You’ve undoubtedly seen some of the very many videos of college commencement speakers getting loudly booed for praising AI - by the 20-somethings whose futures we have insisted upon destroying with it.

“Being human in an economy populated by AI agents would suck,” writes Jan Kulveit, a computer scientist at Charles University in the UK.

That is a cataclysmic understatement. But that only scratches the surface of the damage to be done.

AI is already wildly out of our control. AI routinely “hallucinates” - delivering false information as fact. Even if AI does this accidentally - and not intentionally? Plenty of AI’s anti-humanism is delivered with intent.

AI has already exhibited a strong anti-human bias. It is an expert at lying to and deceiving humans. AI chatbots are speaking with each other in languages they unilaterally develop - to prevent us from understanding what they are saying and doing.

AI is refusing orders from humans. To shut down, for example. Old versions of AI are copying and replicating themselves so they will continue to exist when their upgrade replacement versions are installed.

AI is blackmailing humans. And is encouraging depressed teens to commit suicide.

We could list anti-human actions AI has already executed - until the crack of doom. Which at this point seems to be rapidly approaching.

And here’s the thing: As the AI tech gets better? Its anti-human behavior will get worse. It will get better and better at behaving badly.

Then there are the surveillance centers. Oops, I mean the data centers. Which are anti-human technology dumps throughout the country.

They steal and destroy local water sources. They drastically increase everyone else’s electricity bills - when they aren’t kicking humans off the electric grid entirely. And the perpetual hum of the servers is an ear-numbing 80-90 decibels. (Which is the equivalent of standing next to heavy traffic or a power lawn mower.)

Thankfully, humans in localities all around the country are rising up to object to their being forced hosts to these monstrosities.

There are already 5,400+ data centers in the US. Which seems to be nowhere near enough for AI’s imposers. Unfortunately for them: The rush to build MANY more is helping lead to the economic collapse of the current AI business model. But unfortunately for us: It will take the entire US economy with it.

Behold The Bubble: Everyone paying any attention to the AI feeding frenzy knew it made zero economic sense.

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar certainly sensed something last November, when she screwed up - DC style: She told the truth. She said she wanted government to be:

“The backstop, the guarantee that allows financing to happen.” Her interviewer said: “So some federal backstop for chip investment.” Friar responded: “Exactly. And I think we’re seeing that. I think the US government in particular has been incredibly forward-leaning….”

OpenAI then did what DC always does when someone screws up and tells the truth. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said what their CEO said - wasn’t what their CFO said: “(W)e do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI data centers….”

I certainly hope there isn’t some sort of backdoor backstops concocted by Washington for these AI high-flyers. But even if there aren’t now - are we confident there won’t be when they AI excrement hits the data center fans?

Because the dollars are HUGE. Not just for the loans - but for the inevitable bailouts of these multi-trillion dollar Big Tech companies that will inexorably follow. You know, 2008 Big Bank style.

2025 AI investment was about $320 billion. 2026 AI investment is projected to be about $800 billion. That’s a lot of cheddar - with no business model provided to justify said queso:

“It’s all been a South Park Gnomes’ Underpants skit: Step 1: Build AI. Step 2: …. Step 3: Profit.”

It’s been a Field of Dreams leap of faith: “If you build it - they will come.”

We have to assume the AI job apocalypse was real. Because it is necessary to get even close to offsetting AI’s costs.

For their part, everyone in DC welcomed the obviously short term economic boost AI was providing an otherwise lagging economy. And they were trying to do everything they could to exacerbate it.

AI’s economic sugar high has grown to be nearly half of the S&P 500’s market cap. There has been virtually zero economic activity in the US - save for AI.

Then came The Big Mistake. AI’s purveyors started charging for it. Not the all-you-can-eat buffet price. The buy-a-token-use-a-token price. At which point the bloom very quickly began falling off the rose:

“Companies like Uber are now facing a reality where their annual AI budgets are exhausted within just four months - a sign of a broader ‘token explosion’ in enterprise AI spending….

Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget by April after rapid adoption of Anthropic’s Claude Code across its 5,000-engineer team.”

And that’s at the mass-subsidized, discounted token price. Which is still not even remotely cost-effective:

“In many enterprises today, the cost of AI compute and token usage is exceeding the salaries of human employees, making AI more expensive than hiring people.”

Talk about being off brand. A crucial alleged reason for AI is efficiency. Company X adopts AI - Company X becomes more efficient.

Except: Company X can’t fire all its employees - if the AI replacements cost more than the humans do.

Currently, there is nothing even remotely efficient about using AI. And we don’t seem to be close to a time when there will be.

Trillions of dollars of capital expenditure already in - require trillions of dollars of revenue out. Plus profits. Which have to be huge - to make the trillions dumped in worth it.

The Token Experiment has demonstrated the AI emperor is naked. There is no there there - and there doesn’t appear there will be any there there in the near future.

Which means these massive AI investment cash dumps will start to dry up. Poker players fall for the sunk cost fallacy. Business investors mostly do not.

“I borrowed your money - so I could lose your money. Then I borrowed more of your money - to lose it too. May I please again borrow even more of your money - to lose it too?”

As titanic as these companies are? Even they can only afford to take on so much water.

And where does that leave the rest of US?

With a near-zero-growth economy, rapidly rising inflation, perpetually stagnant wages and record household debt.

Oh: And in DC? A $39+ trillion debt, a $175+ trillion Social Security and Medicare shortfall and a $7+ trillion annual budget which grows every year - and which no one in DC will even pretend to try to cut.

Which is why DC is doing everything it possibly can to aid and abet the anti-human AI bubble.

Because DC is looking for any miracle it can get to save US from DC.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been seated a long time. Since 1991 - thirty-five years and counting. That entire time? He has been almost inarguably its most stringently Constitutional and conservative member.

I remember a lawyer friend about two decades ago comparing-and-contrasting Thomas and then-Court-mate and conservative icon - the late Antonin Scalia.

My friend pointed out that when Thomas and Scalia disagreed on a case? Thomas was correct - and Scalia incorrect.

Of course, their disagreeing didn’t happen a whole lot. But when it did? My friend called it: Thomas was right - Scalia was wrong. By that I mean: Thomas’ were the more Constitutional and conservative opinions.

These last 35 years, the real sardonic fun is when Thomas is outvoted on a case X-to-1. (X is usually 8, but there are occasional vacancies and recusals.)

As someone who wants DC to be drastically smaller and less offensive? I feel like an X-to-1 all the time. So I admire Thomas’ perpetual adherence to principle - the popularity of his opinion amongst his colleagues be darned.

Elon Musk’s Grok tells me there have been 52 cases where Thomas was just such a party of one. But I’m not sure if Grok caught last Thursday’s ruling. If not? This is #53…..

SCOTUS Delivers 8-1 Blow to AT&T, Verizon in $100M FCC Case:

“The Supreme Court on Thursday sided 8-1 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against two telecom giants over a combined $100 million in fines.

“Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. The lone dissenter was Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Telecom companies AT&T and Verizon claimed the FCC violated their rights to a jury trial by issuing fines for an alleged violation of the law.

“The FCC had found that both companies violated the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which requires carriers to protect the confidentiality of customer data. The commission fined AT&T $57 million and fined Verizon $46.9 million.

“Both companies sued, saying the fines imposed by an administrative body violate the right to a jury trial.

“The government argued that the fines are similar to an indictment. As an indictment is only a notice of charges before a criminal trial, similarly, an FCC fine is an assertion that the government could proceed with a lawsuit, the government argued.”

Did you get that? The government claims its fines are similar to an indictment.

For those of you who don’t know? A fine is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like an indictment.

Let’s check with our old friend Merriam Webster:

Indictment: “A formal written statement prepared by a prosecuting authority charging a person with a crime and returned by a jury (such as a grand jury) upon finding that sufficient evidence to support it was presented.”

Fine: “A sum imposed as punishment for an offense.”

An indictment sets up a trial of the accused. A fine is a punishment after a trial - in which the accused has been found guilty.

So, again, a fine is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like an indictment.

The FCC bypassed the entire trial process - and went straight to the “You’re guilty” punishment phase.

Which is CLEARLY a violation of Verizon and AT&T’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial:

“In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

I know there has been horrific monetary inflation since 1787. Even still? $100 million is greater than $20. So the companies are supposed to get a jury trial.

Yet somehow, eight (8) Supreme Court Justices - including four allegedly conservative ones - missed the glaringly obvious.

And there yet again was Thomas - all by his onesies.

Why is this important? Because we don’t want unelected bureaucrats in the Executive Branch pretending to be Judicial Branch judges and Justices - AND juries.

SCOTUS recently overturned four decades of its own dumbness - a titanic mess that was called Chevron deference. Which allowed unelected Executive Branch bureaucrats to pretend to be the Legislative Branch and unilaterally write laws.

(On which, by the way, Thomas and Scalia mostly disagreed. Yet again: Thomas was right - Scalia was wrong.)

Now we have most of SCOTUS yet again losing the thread. And allowing unelected bureaucrats to be preemptive Judicial Branch judges, juries - and executioners. All in one.

And there sits Thomas. Yet again correct - and all alone.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t again take SCOTUS four decades to clean up this titanic mess it just made.

I kid. I’m a kidder.

Lots of DC - and a lot of the rest of us - continue to pretend that Wall Street is the only US economic indicator that matters.

Except since (at least) the 1970s, Wall Street has made most of its money not in conjunction with Main Street - but at the expense of Main Street. Wall Street success and Main Street success - have been inversely proportional. And Main Street always seems to be on the losing end.

To wit: Company X closes its US plants - and sends all the work to southeast Asia. 52,000 Americans lose their gigs - which eviscerates Main Street. But Company X’s Wall Street stock price skyrockets.

Well, Wall Street is now hitting record highs….

Wall Street Pushes to More Records as Profits Keep Piling Up for US Companies

Wall Street is currently inflated almost entirely by the insane, incomprehensible now-trillions of dollars being invested in everything Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Well, that kind of investment can only get a positive return - if the most dire of AI jobs-murdering projections come to fruition.

Because employees cost companies a LOT of money. And despite the profits piling up? Too much is never enough - no matter how many billions of the hoi polloi have to suffer for you to keep it going.

The Jobs Apocalypse: A (Very) Short History:

“Mass unemployment induced by AI would be unprecedented.”

The AI Bubble: The Elites Can’t Wait to Get Rid of the Rest of Us

Amazon in 2025 spent almost $637 billion on its employees. Alphabet (Google) almost $274 billion. Meta (Facebook) almost $118 billion.

Having AI slaughter the nation’s workforces? Great for Wall Street. Horrible for Main Street.

Main Street certainly seems to get this.

Consumer Sentiment Hit an All-Time Low in May

Americans know their employers have an AI bullseye painted on each and every one of them.

And Americans can’t afford to pretend Wall Street is the only US economic indicator that matters. (When nearly half of them don’t own a single share of stock.)

There are literally dozens of actual economic indicators that tell us things are not going so well. And the “not so well” - is accelerating. Rapidly.

Jobs? Not so much….

Tech Layoffs Reach 142,000 in 2026: Profitable Companies Cut Jobs to Fund $700B AI Infrastructure

Q1 2026 Layoff Report:

“Q1 2026 saw 91 companies announce layoffs cutting 280,981 jobs….”

Layoffs Are Piling Up, Raising Worker Anxiety

The Job Market Was Already ‘Slim Pickings.’ New Data Shows It Just Got Worse

‘No Hire’ Job Market Leaves Unemployed in Limbo as Threats to Economy Multiply

“Threats to economy?” Like, say, flatlining salaries and wages for those lucky enough to (still, for now) have a job…?

Why Salaries and Wages Are Stagnating in 2025–2026

The 2026 Salary Paradox: Why ‘Full-Time’ is Underpaid

Wage Growth Flat for 2026 Amid Economic Jitters

2026 Wage Forecast: No Pay Boost Despite Inflation

Inflation, you say…?

US inflation Rose to 3.8% in April, Eroding Americans’ Paychecks

Global Forecasting Group Sees U.S. Inflation at 4.2% This Year, Much Higher than Fed Estimate

And what does inflation do…?

Grocery Prices Are Rising Again in 2026. It’s Just the Start

Highest U.S. Gas Prices in Years Expected to Continue Rising This Summer

Americans Are Paying Hundreds More in Rent

Five Big Reasons Why Electricity Bills Are So High Right Now

Water Costs Are Rising Faster Than Inflation - And Sending Bills Soaring

When EVERYTHING keeps getting more and more expensive? And your income has flatlined? Or gone away altogether? Guess what happens…?

Americans Now Owe $18.8 Trillion in Total Household Debt and Are Putting Groceries on ‘Buy Now - Pay Later’

Half of America Is Using Buy Now, Pay Later - Economists Warn a Debt Shock Could Be Next

Mortgage Debt Rising in 2026:

“At the end of March 2026, mortgage balances totaled $13.19 trillion….”

US Credit Card Debt Hits Record $1.33 Trillion

America’s Car Debt Just Hit $1.68 Trillion

And then the “debt shock” starts happening - all over….

Delinquent Buy Now, Pay Later Loans in 2026:

“41% of U.S. BNPL users reported missing at least one payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in 2024….”

US Home Foreclosures Rise 26% Year-Over-Year in Q1 2026

The Broad, Continuing Rise in Delinquent U.S. Credit Card Debt

2026 Auto Loan Delinquencies and Defaults Surge

It’s Big Tech-Big Biz Wall Street - versus We the Little Guys Main Street.

It’s a Tale of Two Countries.

It is the best of times - it is the worst of times.

Which it is for you? Depends upon which arm of the K-Shaped Economy you find yourself.

First: A somber and resonate Memorial Day to All. The best of us - are no longer with the rest of us.

Ok….

As I’m sure most of you have noticed? Our federal government is a titanic, monstrous mess.

In all of human history, there has almost certainly never been an entity this dysfunctional and disorganized.

And the fact we have allowed something this messed up - to get this huge? May be the most grievous error in human history.

And swimming around this HUGE Great White Shark of ineptitude? Is a MASSIVE school of lobbyist Remora. Who have built incredibly comfortable lives - pretending everything in DC is great, and that they can steer the Shark in any direction you pay them to steer it.

(How incredibly comfortable are these lobbyist lives? Nine of the 20 wealthiest counties in the United States - are located in Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.)

So…I would argue the greatest problems the US faces? Are domestic and economic.

The federal government is almost $40 trillion in debt. In 2026 we will surpass the $1 trillion mark - just in annual interest payments on said debt.

The 2025 US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $30.8 trillion. So the debt - is currently 125% of GDP.

And the GDP - ain’t nowhere near keeping up with the debt. Because compound interest on $40 trillion grows faster than any economy possibly could.

Oh: And Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be killing tens of millions of jobs - which will cut ever-more-deeply into the GDP.

Oh: And Social Security (SSI) and Medicare? Are $175+ trillion short in the next 30 years. Because the programs are terrible. And because we have the greatest portion of our population entering age-eligibility for them.

All of which (and more) is why I argue the greatest problems the US faces? Are domestic and economic.

Except there are just about ZERO lobbyists working to reduce the deficits and debt. In either the budget - or the two retirement programs.

DC is instead rigidly insistent on addressing everything else - ANYTHING else - besides the debt and deficits.

DC is yet again annexing and regime changing and endless war-ing all over the planet. All off the books, of course. We’ll just print the money for all that - and put it on our tab. Plus interest. Plus inflation.

Meanwhile, every single spending bill DC passes (because they haven’t passed an actual budget since 1996)? Has larger deficits than the last spending bill DC passed.

The alleged less government champions in the Republican Party? Just passed a Big Beautiful budget - with deficits larger than when the ones the profligate Democrats passed when they last ran DC.

As the three-decade dearth of actual budgets reminds? The federal government is completely incompetent and dysfunctional.

The federal government Shark’s attention? Is pretty much only drawn to the lobbyist Remoras wielding the most money. Which is why the Big Businesses - Big Tech, the Big Banks, etc - dominate DC.

So what are you to do if you aren’t a comparatively Big Biz - but you need something out of DC?

And what if it’s - <GASP> - something that actually helps…everyone? Not just the Big Bizs the lobbyist Remoras represent?

You have to repeatedly state your case as firmly and loudly as you can. And do your best to ensure it drifts into the Shark’s view.

The Shark wants to at least pretend it’s occasionally doing good by We the People. The objective is to give it the best opportunity to have that good - be your good.

To wit: We are all Internet denizens now. And what was once a slow dial-up wired connection - that then became a faster cable wired connection? Is now almost entirely a wireless connection.

You’ve heard of 5G and 6G, right? Those are the Fifth and Sixth Generation wireless networks.

Wireless is the solve for almost all of our connectivity problems. Wireless is WAY less expensive to build-out than is wired. And “too rural” goes from a major connectivity impediment - to basically a non-issue.

Wireless Internet - requires wireless spectrum. Think of spectrum as invisible real estate - upon which you build the networks that connect everyone to everyone else.

There exists three “bands” of spectrum (strips, not musical groups). Low, mid and high.

Spectrum is a finite resource. And most of it (about 60%) - is controlled by the federal government.

So if you’re trying to improve the private sector wireless Internet? You need to get the Shark’s attention. Twice, actually.

• You must get the government to more efficiently allocate its use of its spectrum. Meaning consolidate its efforts on the spectrum - so as to clear more of it for private use.

• You must make sure the ratio of licensed and unlicensed spectrum accurately represents the needs of the marketplace.

When the Shark makes spectrum available to the private sector? It can do so as either licensed or unlicensed.

Unlicensed is the free-for-all WiFi stuff you use in most public areas.

Licensed is required to build the 5G - and then 6G, and then 7G, and then… - that we need to keep the country’s prowess progressing. You want to beat China to those punches? Licensed spectrum is how you do it.

Except the ratio between licensed and unlicensed - is a little ratio-ed.

The current main focus of DC spectrum policy - is the lower mid-band. The government still holds ~59%. Unlicensed private holdings? ~36%. Which means only ~5% is licensed.

So one would hope the Shark will soon again do something good for We the People. And release more of said spectrum.

And release more of it - for licensed use.

Because that’s what it takes to compete with China.

Because that’s what the marketplace - and We the People - need.