Hard Pass

pictured: swear jar is empty, :3 jar is full

Conservative MP Michael Chong is travelling to Taiwan this week in a self-described bid to assert Canadian sovereignty.

The former cabinet minister says the trip is to show solidarity with Taiwan, and also to spite China’s ambassador to Canada.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail last month, Beijing’s envoy to Canada said any MPs travelling to Taiwan would risk damaging the new partnership between the two countries Prime Minister Mark Carney signed this year.

In a news release, Chong said Canadians “do not take direction from a foreign government about where Canadian MPs can travel internationally.”

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Will 2026 finally be the year when a critical mass of Americans wakes up and realizes that Republicans always screw up the economy?

Donald Trump inherited an economy from Joe Biden that was perhaps not firing on all cylinders but was in pretty good shape all the same.

For the third straight time, a Democratic president handed a Republican president an economy that was at the least pretty good, and at most (Bill Clinton) really humming along very nicely. And, for the third straight time, the Republican has made things worse. Which also means that Democratic presidents have to clean up messes left by their GOP predecessors.

The Trump administration on Monday announced the creation a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”

Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a “corrupt” and unprecedented resolution, warning that the arrangement would unjustly enrich people close to the president with taxpayer dollars and open the door to meritless claims of political persecution.

Trump’s lawyers disclosed the dismissal of the case in a filing Monday in federal court in Florida, where the president sued earlier this year.

The fund would represent not only a highly unorthodox resolution but also a further demonstration of the administration’s eagerness to reward allies who before Trump came to power were investigated and in some cases charged and convicted. Most notably, the president on his first day back in office pardoned or commuted the sentences of supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His Justice Department since then has approved payouts to supporters entangled in the Trump-Russia investigation and investigated and prosecuted some of his perceived adversaries.

“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

Trump’s attorneys suggested in their court filing seeking to dismiss the case that the resolution would not be reviewable by a judge. But a group of 93 members of Congress filed a brief teeing up a challenge.

The Justice Department has announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who “suffered weaponization and lawfare” as part of its settlement with President Trump in his suit against the Internal Revenue Service

In short, a slush fund for people who committed felonies and were prosecuted for it

The Justice Department has announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who “suffered weaponization and lawfare” as part of its settlement with President Trump in his suit against the Internal Revenue Service

In short, a slush fund for people who committed felonies and were prosecuted for it

Well of course they should pay for their own power!! They’re private companies! What am I missing here?

“ Data centers must pay for the grid upgrades they require and can’t siphon power from existing power plants, according to the bill. It also directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to update its rules related to transmission lines — which transport electricity — to allow data centers to reduce demand during peak energy hours. “

This seems reasonable to me.

This is more than the average fossil car owner pays in gas taxes, and really bad policy during a world fuel shortage.

Excerpt:

The IPO Math Forces the Issue

Both OpenAI and Anthropic are on IPO timelines for the second half of 2026. OpenAI completed the largest private funding round in history in April, $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Anthropic has reportedly surpassed $30 billion in annualized revenue. Massive numbers, both of them. Also both attached to companies that are still burning cash at extraordinary rates.

Public markets will not tolerate the gap between subscription revenue and compute cost that has defined the past three years. The moment either company files, analysts will demand unit economics that show a path to margin. Usage-based billing is the fastest way to demonstrate that path.

None of this contradicts the repricing thesis. The pricing war is the last land grab before the gate closes. Both companies are spending aggressively now to lock in users whose switching costs will make them sticky when prices rise. OpenAI offers two months free. Anthropic offers 50% more capacity. Both expire in July. What comes after July is the real pricing.

Listen to the audio, its pathetic.

This shit calls the pharmacy nonstop asking if adderall is in stock. What can we say that will blow their budget?

Greenlandic officials worry about the direction of the negotiations aimed at defusing President Trump’s threats to seize their island. But they have little leverage.

Trump still wants lebensraum

One is instructed to always tell the truth, one is instructed to always lie. Neither have the ability to confidently validate that they are following those instructions. How do you determine which one is giving you accurate information about the stock market?