Category Archives: Law

May 12, 2026 · 23:56

Who’s watching who

It was initially the BBC who alerted me to this (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c072dvv1rmro) where we see ‘Texas accuses Netflix of spying on users, including children’ and I got curious, because it is not a issue with the United States, it isn’t even global, it is just Texas. The story kicks off with “Netflix has been sued in Texas over claims it collects data belonging to children and adults in the US state without their consent, and uses “addictive” design to keep them hooked. accused the streaming giant of “spying” on citizens saying it “records and monetizes billions” of pieces of information about how users behave on the platform, despite suggesting otherwise.” It gave me a few questions (just a few) and it starts of here with the questions “How does one record and monetise billions?”, as well as “What exactly is “addictive” design?” You see, to the best off my knowledge you sign up and you get Netflix (that is how we do that in Australia) and perhaps there are better ways to do this, but that is what it is and it is still better then Disney+ (in regards to able the watchers). I have never seen the Mandalorian of BlueRay, or several other Disney+ hits. I get that they want to get a lead but Season 1 and 2 cannot be bought in Australia, why not? This is not about Disney+ but Netflix offers several seasons most TV shows on BlueRay, as such it is neither monetizing or creating an addictive design (as I personally see it), but perhaps Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton could clearly elaborate? The story goes into (or towards) “the company also began “leveraging the mountains of data it quietly extracted from the children and families it kept fixated on their screen” – sharing this with commercial data brokers to help raise billions of dollars in revenue.” This leads to another question, “How does one keep others fixated on their screen?”, You pay one amount for monthly subscription, regardless of the time. There is a cheaper option with advertisements. But it beckons the question, how do you keep people fixated? As such the prices are:

  • Standard with Ads: AU$9.99/month
  • Standard: AU$20.99/month


So, the customer has an option to pay $11 more, how is this monetizing? And don’t forget that advertising was added to make it cheaper for some. And then the fixation on the screen? How is that done exactly? 

So then we get to Politico who (at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/11/netflix-sued-by-texas-ag-for-alleged-surveillance-addictive-features-00915029) gives us ‘Netflix sued by Texas AG for alleged surveillance, addictive features’ where we see “It adds that the company tracks and logs viewing habits, location and virtually every interaction on the platform — keyword searches, pausing or fast-forwarding and more — which it then uses to build consumer profiles that earn the company billions.” So, as I see it, a person (me) searches for a title or an actor or actress. Seems pretty common in Netflix settings. I search for Olivia Wilde and see what they have with her in it, same that I look for Dwayne Johnson and see what movies with him are on Netflix. How exactly is this odd, or non trackable? If 275,000 people seek either, there is a chance that Netflix sees what they can add to their stable. This is a movie channel. Perhaps Ken Paxton took offense to the 132 searches for Melania Trump and Netflix sees a reason why not to spend money on it? Although you can watch it on Amazon and it is rated 1.6/10 (over 68000 votes). These two articles are making me wonder what this suit is all about, because as far as I can tell this case has no merit. Perhaps Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton needs the limelight for something, is it election year in Texas? As far as I can see (optionally not a correct view) is that Paxton announced in April 2025 that he would run for the United States Senate in the 2026 election, challenging incumbent senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary and in the runoff. So is he gaining free ‘advertisement’ through Netflix? It is merely a speculation from my side, but the timeline seems to fit. As such we need to see what Ken Paxton does next and if he gives us any clarity on his claims. There is also the fact that it is the subscriber that gives the connection to a household and the subscribers to Netflix must be at least 18 years old. So how does one see what the age of the watcher is in that household? Perhaps he has a setting for profiling? Like only women and oldest daughters watch ‘Sex in the city’? Only children watch Ponyo? Your guess is as good as mine and I am here clueless. But perhaps there are journalists who will ask the hard questions. Have a great day.

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May 12, 2026 · 11:16

Reprising a good idea

An idea just struck me (Ouch). I was remembering an old game and it wasn’t through graphics. They were the words ‘shy gypsy slyly shyly tryst by my crypt’ and ‘two sticks and two stones, the rest is just icing’, they are still in my brain after 33 years. The game the 7th guest had an impact. And the puzzle with that many ‘Y’ included was impossible for me (as an original Dutchman) to solve. I wasn’t angry, I was delighted and there were a several more puzzles, but the idea formed into my mind. 

What happens when you upgrade these video streams to 1080p? The graphics can be transferred to 4K almost too easily. The idea of a sequel where after a few puzzles you get the option to recap the original game completely and now there is the option to give a sepia view (for the recap) or go into the game completely in 1080p. The original preserved as it was a game changer in 1993 and now we get a new story with attachments to the original and the world has almost thousands of puzzles, so what stops the owner of that IP (originally Virgin Interactive Entertainment/Broderbund) to do this? I have no idea where the IP lies, with them or with Electronic Arts. And if the IP is no longer protected, buying the original 7th Guest might be a cheap option to get a totally new IP rolling. It could be a new gaming consortium, it could be an indie developer or another path could be open. 

The original puzzles could spark part of the new sequel. I had a partial idea in the past as a game like 7th Guest could be a streaming game, as such now the Tencent handheld might be the next option. What matters is that all these ‘wannabe’ innovators and they set aside original ideas and this took me less then an hour to consider. It could be set to the summer cottage (or beach dwelling) to Henry Stauf (the original protagonist) and this mansion is also full of puzzles and solving them gives us the next stage in whatever setting we see and these puzzles form a totally new storyline (which is for the designer to figure out). That sequel would lead to even more puzzles through the stories of Brian Dutton, Hamilton Temple, Julia Heine and Martine Burden. All DLC’s that can be added and they will add a whole new range of puzzles, first through the storyline and as you complete puzzles and get past the storyline, they unlock these puzzles and alterations of that in the main screen as the separate option is revealed. There is no denying that people are partially obsessed wit puzzles and they might not like all puzzles, but there is enough to entice the biggest puzzle fan. All unlicked through game and that sets up a whole new IP for the designer. Consider the Sudoku or Nonogram. Once the puzzle is completed that part of the designer comes online and you can have thousands of puzzles in that style. All out in the open, but never combined in one game, In one challenge that boggles the puzzler in all of us. 

So why didn’t the other ‘gaming greats’ consider this? It is not innovative enough? The best ideas are not in front of you, they are behind you and that setting gave me the idea I am typing now. I leave it up to the makers of actual games to make something new and enticing and the 7th Guest gave us that in the style of a game (by those times ‘hi res gaming’) we know better now and even as the graphics are surpassed the idea never was and it is out for anyone now to capture the minds of all. I still advice to own the 7th Guest to design past that but there you have it, a novel idea. Not new but novel enough to capture the minds of thousands of gamers, because when you are on a bus or a train, you can look out the window the entire 40 minutes, or solve a puzzle and get those grey cells exercised. I think the second option has a lot more appeal and consider that this could also be added to your desires of a Sony playstation portable, Tencent Handheld or a Nintendo Switch 2. It is up to you to decide but as I see it, this game could entertain all three systems. 

So where are the others? Where are their innovative ideas for a new gaming world? I am merely asking. Have a great day and entertain the idea of gaming the evening away on the couch, or on the bus/tram/metro/train to work and home. 

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May 2, 2026 · 14:41

The clambake that counts

That is what I believe to see when I look at the NDTV World article. The NDTV World is a global news channel launched by NDTV in October 2024, focused on providing international news from an Indian perspective. And it is giving us ‘Israel Sent UAE Laser Weapon Called ‘Iron Beam’ That Can Vapourise Iranian Drones’ (at https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-sent-uae-laser-weapon-called-iron-beam-that-can-vapourise-iranian-drones-11436712) where we are given “Tel Aviv sent a version of its Iron Beam laser defence system to the UAE, which vaporises short-range rockets and drones. It was first used by Israel against Hezbollah projectiles from Lebanon” together with “Israel had not just sent its iconic Iron Dome air defence system to the United Arab Emirates when Iran was attacking the Gulf country. According to a report by the Financial Times, Israel also sent an advanced laser to the UAE for it to defend itself from Iranian missiles and drones. The deployment of the advanced laser would be one of the first examples of major defence co-operation between Israel and the UAE. The two countries did not have diplomatic relations until US President Donald Trump brokered the 2020 Abraham Accords.” I reckon it is a step in the right direction, a setting that ‘should’ come with the destruction of its weapon systems as well as its infrastructure. My (stated limited view) on this is that when Iran infrastructure goes down, all Iran has it a surplus of trucks now needed to give the infrastructure parts to places using trucks, especially as its trains fail to work from A to B, or they are forced to use part A via C,D,F towards B, you can see the haunting delays that give and should someone take care of the out the harbours, than the equation is simplified from the second part of the Alphabet to get to locations A and B. We are also given “A regional official told the publication that the laser system was a display of “the value of being Israel’s friend”. Israel also sent over an advanced surveillance system known as ‘Spectro’ to the UAE for it to defend itself against incoming drones from as far as 20 kilometers away, especially the Shahed’s.” It seems that the attacks from Iran will have the nasty side effect that the gulf states are now ready to accept Israel cautiously in the midst, another failure of the IRGC I reckon. Add to that the systems I ‘gifted’ to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and we see an evolving setting that that should become the end of Iran and whatever teeth it imagined it had. 

And whilst the article ends with “A western official noted that the UAE became one of Iran’s primary targets in part due to its “enthusiastic” embrace of the Abraham Accords.” This could be the case, but it merely did they opposite and I wonder what the real reason could be for Iran to attack the UAE so viciously. We could speculate all we want, but I reckon my creativity is better served by creating optional weapons to aid the UAE (Saudi Arabia too) to counter whatever Iran throws at the UAE. It seems more productive to me. And as I completed my three sided attacks on the infrastructure of Iran, the one part missing seems to be the destruction of water and energy. I am partially against that, because water is life and that tends to be a one way ticket to the destruction of ones soul and at that point Iran validly start crying like a little girl. I wrote in the past a way to deal with its oil refineries, which could also be used for its energy settings, but I wonder whether bombing is the right call. I see a version that ‘eats’ away at the energy settings of Iran, but it is not immediate, still that damage would take month to fix (at the least), but here I am worried that it could escalate setting tool, because the ‘innovator’ the think its opponent is taking this lying down is delusional. So the Bushehr nuclear plant and aging hydroelectric facilities should be taken care of, I already wrote a solution to the Bushehr plant some time ago (somewhere in December 2021) but I have no knowledge of Hydroelectric facilities, so I don’t know what would be optimal and just bombing it to the stone age is not a good solution because that is a long term solution that is never a solution. I prefer a surgical trike that sets the ‘repairs’ of such a place towards months. That’s just how I am, taking it all away from an enemy frees up ‘resources’ to strike back, optional repairs commits whatever he has to resolving the issue, it seems a much better approach to dealing with an enemy like that and make no mistake, at present Iran is an enemy to the west and the gulf states at present and whilst it emits whatever friends it has, it will see that his ‘friends’ are anything but that making their own plights fail most of the time. 

So whilst I have no real setting towards the NDTV stage, I am willing to live by the setting that as long as the UAE embraces that solution, it will be fine by me. You all have a great day, almost time for me to contemplate what’s for dinner (in about 4 hours).

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April 30, 2026 · 14:17

The syrup of some

Deutsche Welle gave me a view, it is a optional view and I am using optional because I know much too little about this. The story (at https://www.dw.com/en/why-uaes-opec-exit-is-a-blow-to-saudi-arabia/a-76975354) gives us ‘Why UAE’s OPEC exit is a blow to Saudi Arabia’ it feels different from other views stating that the break up of OPEC is a win for President Trump, which is another view to have. But here we see “The United Arab Emirates is leaving OPEC to pump more oil on its own terms. The break strips Saudi Arabia of a key partner and adds to growing uncertainty over the cartel’s future.” Yes, the UAE could pump more, but I don’t think it will lead to the uncertainty of the oil cartel (named Open and Opec+) You see, this large blip on all our radars will come with other settings. It will give the gulf states a claim for Iranian oil (repair costs) and that could be sold directly to China and Europe, they will exclude the United States as it is the cause of all this mess. At which point others will reject offers from Brent oil as it is American oil and there is no telling how deep the rejection goes and the weird part is that this might open up European talks with Iran as it reimburses damages to the gulf states (namely: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq) it is not the win Iran was looking for, but it is a win as they can make a case that the United States lost. Will it go that way? Time will tell.

It all reminded me towards an old feud (1985) where a colleague accused me from hoarding the ‘Rinse Appelstroop’ on my sandwich, all whilst the sandwich can only contain a mere part of the entire tub. So when we see “For years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has clashed with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s most powerful member, over these quotas. The UAE has invested heavily to expand its oil industry and grow its market share, but OPEC limits have repeatedly held it back.” And it reminded me of the feud my co worker gave me over the syrup, almost like oil. I have no idea on where it is all set in the oil industry, but the idea to give into America is nothing less than a joke. They claimed that they have all the oil they need, so why would they need some handhold over oil? The one commercial thing I do know is that as the offer of oil increases the price goes down, as such the Middle East needs to take care of how they deal with this, because oil even as a commodity has a lifespan, once you get to the bottom of the barrel, the amount of oil you can still produce come close to that number shaped like an ‘O’ (hint: it is zero). 

So whilst I get that they all have needs, the idea that there might be an imbalanced amount towards one country is dangerous, but I get it, the UAE must do what is best for the UAE, Saudi Arabia must do what what is best for Saudi Arabia. But underneath all that we see “The UAE currently produces roughly 3.2 to 3.6 million barrels per day (bpd) under quotas but holds spare capacity of nearly 4.8 million bpd, Reuters news agency reported. Plans call for a hike in output toward 5 million bpd by next year.” And no one is looking at the amounts that might still be available for drilling. So what happens when that finishes? Everyone claps to attention but there is no clear vision for the future. And all the ‘influencers’ giving us the YouTube version of what comes tomorrow better find a good news source, because no one has an answer toward the ‘what now’ equation when the oils run out. 

So whilst we are getting “OPEC has already been under strain from repeated quota breaches by members such as Iraq and Nigeria, and from Russia’s inconsistent compliance within OPEC+. The UAE’s departure adds to that sense of fragmentation. In his analysis for Capital Economics,  Oxley warned that, in the medium term, if other producers with spare capacity “see the UAE successfully gaining flexibility and market share” outside OPEC, “others may follow.”” I understand that point of view, but I don’t think I can agree. The bully tactics of the United States will also give strength to Saudi Arabia as they might want to get issues resolved through Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon and the Congo. There is definitely data that OPEC will be slightly weaker, but the oil that is gained in output will most likely go to China and the setting as of 9 April 2026, the UAE has intercepted and destroyed 537 ballistic missiles, 2,256 drone attacks and 26 cruise missiles fired from Iran, and that is mostly due to the acts of the United States. It is hard to hold them accountable as Iran attacked with the missiles, as such it is on Iran and as some state over 90% were allegedly aimed on civilian targets, as such the UAE demands reparations and so they should, but after that, should oil still be delivered to the instigator of these attacks? I don’t think it is that clear cut even as some state that Iran’s nuclear options were ludicrously limited (I don’t believe they were non-existent). So whilst the UAE could benefit from their withdrawal from OPEC, I see that the weak response from the gulf states towards the UAE is partially to blame for this. 

The conversation had some additional things (at https://theconversation.com/the-uae-is-leaving-the-opec-oil-cartel-what-could-that-mean-for-oil-prices-281734) here we see ‘The UAE is leaving the OPEC oil cartel. What could that mean for oil prices?’, we see here “the UAE is one of the world’s top ten oil producers. The country also has the capacity to increase its output by about one million barrels per day”, which amounts to 6 million barrels a week (one day of rest) and that gives us at least and additional half a billion dollars a week, something the UAE can likely use, especially if it goes towards a solution avoiding the Strait of Hormuz which I wrote about in ‘Sinking a dilemma’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/02/01/sinking-a-dilemma/) I have no idea if that is the path the UAE will sail, but that makes sense, the Strait and the issues with Iran are massively out of play and it also helps with the other gulf states as they (for a fee) use that solution and that is all before the massive attention the harbours of Abu Dhabi and Dubai will enjoy with all these loaded skippers who can now avoid Iranian waters. I only see upsides here, but that channel will require a serious amount cash, there is no doubt about that and it is not merely now, whenever Iran throws a tantrum, the strait becomes the bottleneck for all gulf states. Better to remove that problem completely.

So whilst we are given “OPEC’s influence on the oil price depends on coordinated changes in production. By agreeing to collectively limit, or to expand, the supply of oil in the market, OPEC can manipulate the price to meet its objectives. The UAE alone is the world’s eighth-largest oil producer, and accounts for about 4% of the world’s oil production.” As such I might imagine that the UAE has an issue with the imposed limits and that is before we consider if Das Island is under limits as well. As such it makes sense that the UAE ight want to leave OPEC, but let it be clear, Iran forced this on the rest of OPEC and as such their desperation will also amount to the wrath that these members have as their grip on maximized profits wane. 

Merely a small view on the setting and I get that not everyone agrees, not everyone is charmed by Appelstroop (a Dutch product). Have a great day.

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April 29, 2026 · 11:05

The bad news

That is what was going through my mind the day before yesterday and yesterday I saw something by Al Jazeera who illustrates it to you in a more profound way. They ‘quoted’ “Iran says US no longer in position to ’dictate’ policy to other nations”

I don’t give in to the setting to Iran on anything because they are regarded as utterly evil by me, but as I see it, this one they got right. You see, the United States is as far as I see it the United States is insolvent. All other parties are so ready to debate the fine ‘tactics’ of what is insolvent. But the setting is now that the United States is a liability of 47.1 trillion dollars (according to some), their debt has now surpassed to 38 trillion and if the first set of numbers is correct, the interest is will in 2026 surpass $1,500,000,000,000 and that is a whole range of zero’s. To understand how I got to be this clever (the Dutch singer Herman Brood disagrees because he told me that I would never be clever). I wrote the story (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2014/08/26/about-america-chapter-11/) ‘About America, chapter 11’, I wrote it on August 26th 2014. You think that this was too early, but at that point the debt had surpassed 18 trillion then and there was no exit strategy, there still isn’t one, but the debt has more than doubled and the IRS allegedly collected approximately $5.23 trillion, that implies that a third is spend on interest and in that setting President Trump wants to spend a trillion more in defense spending? You have got to be kidding. And whilst we are on the Trump discussion. He pissed of whatever ally he had and they will all let him drown with all his debt. So, he is playing nice with the Middle East and the members of the Gulf States that have cash. I also stated that the AI court cases will increase and I was right “As of April 2026, AI-related court cases are rapidly increasing, focusing on two main areas: AI misuse in legal filings (hallucinated case law) and intellectual property disputes over AI training data.” And I have seen first hand that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg considering “intellectual property disputes over AI training data” and these disgruntled parties are international and those not having some agreement in place will get their payday and their golden checks all whilst they come out of the coffers of the United States, leaving the United States more destitute than ever before. 

So in this case Iran might be correct, the days that the United States is “in position to ’dictate’ policy to other nations” are over. They might do so, for a few weeks, but when the larger bills come calling, we will see a different America and at that point I fear for the well being of my Canadian brothers (sisters too), because whatever Canada has, the United States will need and they will blame on the world their own inability to keep their spending habits in order. As I see it, the only path for the Commonwealth is a path that partners with China and Europe to create one big block (not the cheesy kind) but this is what I expect to happen, because as I see it, the intercepted Iranian tankers are heading wherever the US Navy wants to take them and according to some this is called ‘Western Piracy’, I am unsure what to call it, but it does give more weight to the insolvency issues I am seeing. And whilst some see this as the beginning of a Ponzi scheme of handling things (I am on that boat too), how long do you think that this will continue before all allies that the United States once had will see this as unacceptable and the new allies will almost immediately shy away and whilst the Media has a shrinking reliability, it merely fuels that Middle Eastern media in gaining a more prominent traction with the west. 

So feel free to disagree with what I write, but also take time to investigated the news as it is and compare it to what you know. As such I ended the article in 2014 with “I reckon soon enough we will get more and more long winded talks, but in the end no one is saying anything because those who will be making the speeches are at the heart of what went wrong and no one wants to hold on to that guilt when those left without their house ask them the question ‘where are my savings?’.”

As such I wonder where are some of the saving left, because a Ponzi scheme approach will more easily use the funds of any bank and replace it with an IOU. 

So you all have a decent day, if possible a great day and I call on all Commonwealthians to consider the plight of the Canadians, because no matter how good they are doing, due to PM Mark Carney, they will soon have over 300,000,000 angry Americans looking for a way out and a better way than the hollow shell they are (allegedly) in at present.

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April 24, 2026 · 01:54

The butler did it

That was the primary thought I has when I faced the BBC Article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62j4ldp2jqo) telling me ‘OpenAI faces criminal probe over role of ChatGPT in shooting’ and we are given “Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Tuesday his office had been looking into the use of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot by a man who allegedly shot several people at the campus in Tallahassee.”, personally I stand with “An OpenAI spokesperson said: “ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime.”” I am hesitant to stand opposite a professional especially with the lack of evidence shown in the BBC article that we see. But the idea that some fake AI picks up a gun like the next Cyberdyne hoodlum (optionally looking strikingly like Arnold Schwarzenegger) and mopping the floor with cadavers as the staccato of automatic fire hits campus os a little much. There is even no evidence in the form of logs reading of Chatbot lingo stating n the form of:

“I am your god, you will obey me and for now I state as stated once even before Abraham walked the earth, you will bend down these mortals in the using a Knight’s Armament LAMG for better accuracy because you have the body of a little bitch. So go, I am your god, I comment you”

As for how the suspect, 20-year old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, who is now in jail awaiting trial, interacted with ChatGPT, OpenAI’s spokesperson said the chatbot “did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity”

So, as such what evidence is there towards prosecuting OpenAI? I don’t mind as it fuels the flames of entertainment and trying to be a useful git I would like to offer Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier the thought that he should be aware of (after he had his free pound of flesh from the media). 

Rule 11 requires attorneys to conduct “due diligence” to ensure a claim has a factual basis and is not filed to harass or cause unnecessary delays.

Because in the end, without evidence of ‘convolution’ of the mind or thoughts of (evidence supported) ’co-conspiracy’ FSU student Phoenix Ikner is likely to face a long stretch in Hotel Sing Sing with the optional inoculation by Dr. Death. I don’t call the shots, that is up to the judge in this matter. 

But from the lack of evidence that the BBC gives, I reckon that OpenAI is off the hook and that is merely me and in opposition of my usual banter in economy, I do hold law degrees (invalid in the United States). As such I have to wonder if the article had anything to do with that shooting at all? Over 30% is about ChatGPT and it hold a photo of Sam Altman, so it seems that at least two parties are more interested in media exposure, because (as I personally see it) we would, if it was about the crime, get an image of Florida State University, optionally with grieving people. So what gives?

I might have oversimplified the issue, what do you say? Have a great day, oh wait. I need some exposure too, so lets add to this by switching to YouTube. In that matter yesterday, I saw a video by Nancy Wheeler and when it troubled my mind I wanted to rewatch parts of that video, so as I searched for “Nancy Wheeler economy”, which was needed as there is a fictive character of Nancy Wheeler who messes up your internet soufflé. She gives us that there is a crises coming, and she states is underway already. As such I wondered and for the life of me, I could not find the Nancy Wheeler in real life outside of YouTube. That doesn’t mean she does not exist, but with the facts given I was weirdly surprised that the media had not picked that up. She gives us that there are three weaknesses creeping up on all of us:

Sovereign debt trap
Currency bifurcation machine 
Shadow liquidity crises

Now it sounds massive and cool (which makes the media not picking this up weird), and she talks a nice deal. I a lacking economy knowledge, so I was almost mesmerized, A really pretty youthful young sprout asking for my attention has that effect on me. But there was something in what she said. She stated: “The buyers [of the debt] have changed, the maturities have shortened and the exit doors have gotten smaller”

This caught me, because that sounds about right, so I wonder why the media didn’t pick this up. It is not to prove that she was right, but considering the reasoning that the media wants its pound of flesh, they didn’t go for debunking this either. So what is the silence? Don’t get me wrong, for all we know Nancy Wheeler could be a massively pretty doom speaker and this tends to be an automatic media magnet (she is more appealing in looks than Jerome Powell ever will be) and as I am blissfully ignorant on economy there is no way I can tell the difference of one against the other (facts).

So is it correct? Is she wrong and she made a point that the debt surpassed the 97.1 trillion. Is it a gimmick for the call to ‘accurate’ reporting? As such the video (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TqjlaiU_N8) gives us the goods and I let you decide how right or wrong she is. 

Well that is all there is on this Friday (for me) when you all rejoin me on this Friday I will have more to say (in approximately 20 hours). Have a great day the next 20 hours.

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April 8, 2026 · 12:57

What he said

That is the setting we are no longer dreading. The bully tactics are starting to fall on deaf ears and whilst we are to some degree used to the setting that President Trump is handing us:

Screenshot

Of course the timeline ended and ABC gives us ‘Iran war live updates: Donald Trump suspends bombing for two weeks, Iran pledges safe passage through Strait of Hormuz’ which happened 10 hours ago. But the setting is now a bigger thing. We see several media giving us that the Republicans are ‘siding’ behind the Democrats who want him impeached. That setting is not enough for the world. You see, the words “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” This would be considered an illegal order by the commander in chief of the USA armed forces and there is a rule about illegal orders (I might have forgotten that rule), seemingly one does never obey illegal orders. And now the world gets to see how useless the United States has become. It comes across like a rabbit dog with a leash that goes until the end of its garden, but seemingly no further. And that comes with a peppered invoice. As I see it (I could always be wrong) that Iran will now cry at the international courts of the Hague for being attacked without a clear war statement and the media has repeated those words often enough and as such there is every chance on Iran will claiming over 600 billion dollar in damages to land and the Iranian people. This will also invite the gulf nations to make claims of hundreds of billions of dollars for damages to their national revenue and damages to their land settings and they can get this in the first from Iran and in the second setting from the United States of America and Israel. Because no matter how Israel has a reason to do this, it was involved in an illegal war (as I see it) but that last part remains to be seen. 

So am I wrong? You see all these attacks by Iran were in the pst proxy wars through Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi forces, as such it will be about evidence. But as I see it, there will be enough evidence around to see that Iran will not get away Scott free. So as the world will see the damages and the evidence to be brought to court. The second tier in all this is the claims that some made that Iran will demand $2M per vessel per passing through the Strait of Hormuz, too many repeated those claims to be ignored, and there is an upside to this. 

You see, not all of it belongs to Iran, and at least several miles will be in the capture of Oman, so if these ships pay Oman $100K-$1M we already have a minimum 50% discount and none of it ends up In Iranian hands. I might be oversimplifying this, but when did anyone make a clear case for the Omanian side? And at that point if these ships are still attacked, NATO, Australia and India will have a clear case to come in to the rescue and Iran will not have a foot to stand on. Perhaps Oman will not resort to ‘blackmail’ and they will take goodwill from several nations for that in return, but that would be up to Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said who is the ruler of Oman (as I see it), as such, what options did anyone explore in the sultanate of Oman? I haven’t seen the media look into that direction in any way as far as I looked into it and these settings were clear for weeks. And yesterday (at https://quincyinst.org/2026/04/07/the-war-will-end-with-a-hormuz-toll-booth/) the The Quincy Institute stands for responsible statecraft gave the world ‘The War Will End With a Hormuz Toll Booth’ we see “The legal terrain is complicated but not insurmountable. Under international law, the entire width of the strait at its narrowest point consists of the overlapping territorial seas of Iran and Oman, with no high seas’ corridor between them. Iran cannot unilaterally charge a toll on ships hugging the Omani coastline. However, a bilateral Iran-Oman transit authority would eliminate the legal ambiguity. Oman gets a revenue stream and more strategic relevance.” I am still in favour of screwing over Iran because of the attacks they made on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but that is me, a little vindictive gremlin in most times. The fact that there is a clear part that is Oman is seemingly ignored, but maritime law is clearly pronounced on what is national waters, they tend to get a little murky on these bottlenecks, but still there is part of this that is Omanian and the media is clearly not looking at this part. Why not?

It might be a case for another day and it is important that the setting of Oman is clearly set here, because if whatever proceeds happens, it needs to have the proper legal stage to proceed. So whilst we might take a giggle to illegal orders and to bully tactics. The clear setting is that the illegal war (as I personally see it) was done on Iran, Iran closed the strait, none of this would have happened if Israel and the USA had not attacked Iran. It seems to be a simple assessment. 

If we are to proceed can wee please do so in a legal way (without posturing and ending civilizations)? It might make for good media, but the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague are all about prosecuting transgressors for genocide and war crimes. As it stands President Trump might be guilty of one and an alleged other crime. As such it might get flaky and weird in the Netherlands soon enough. By the way, if you are there to report on the setting, one of the best places to eat Herring near the ICC is here:

It is a Dutch delicacy (especially with unions) so go wild, I say.

Have a great day and consider the Omanian setting. Who reported on that in the past month?

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April 5, 2026 · 06:46

The thought was there

I have been giving you all the works over the last month as the United States is setting new levels of non-conformist thinking (aka stupidity), but one thought was creeping in the back of my mind, because it partially didn’t make sense. I kept it under the hood and brooded on this. You see, the Guardian brought it to the top once again (yesterday) with the headline ‘US defense spending would rise $445bn under Trump budget plan, with steep cuts elsewhere’ We get that the United States is overly proud of its military, but that much overspending does not make sense. That is, if current quarters hold. But that is not the case is it? His NATO rhetoric, his biased plans to include, there is something amiss in all this. It reeks of Germany at 1938. Germany had jobs for all people, it would be a beautiful, beautiful new world where everyone worked. He was not lying (for the most) but we merely never thought that this would go in a certain direction, did we? Now we see his boasting of setting NATO on its feathers, which means that there is every chance that 65000 troops are coming back from Germany and Italy (and a few more places). This gives me the willies. I reckon that the United States is so deeply in debt that he merely sees the annexation of Canada and Greenland to thwart his broken wallet from collapsing on itself. As I see it, Iran is now a bust, so he goes back to Canada and Greenland and annex it. I reckon that he will need the 65K troops to cluster in eastern Canada, and a lot in Western Canada (to push towards Greenland) that setting would fit the bill of a maniacal narcissist. And it is only a fear I have, because I remember WW2, I was born just after it and I saw Rotterdam after the bombing. It took well over a decade to fix what was done to my city and I few we will see a similar setting happening now. It is only this scenario that calls for the actions the US government is seemingly making now and when the bill is due, no one will like President Trump for hat he does, but 100 million people will inwardly smile, because the bill that comes due to all is delayed a few more years. So that hidden fear I spoke last night makes it now essential to select China as a new partner. Or the alignment with BRICS, Because when the United States is in this predicament, China is the only player that will instill fear on the United States and the Commonwealth will not be able to deal with the United States. We never thought it would come to this, but the elements are lining up exactly to this scenario.

The important question becomes ‘Could I be wrong?’ 

Yes, that is definitely true, but the elements that we are given like ‘bombing back to the stone age’ and replacing its generals, optionally for fresh new generals who would do whatever the United States needs. That is the setting we are given and the White House will use Iran as an example of what is to come with anyone siding against America, as such we are now coming into a field where we are watching ourselves getting scared stiff, or go to war. It is not a scenario I ever envisioned, but I still remember what was left of Rotterdam and the noises we hear now are eerily similar. 

So whilst we are given in the Guardian “Under the proposal for the 2027 fiscal year beginning on 1 October, defense spending would rise by 42% to $1.5tn, $445bn higher than its level in 2026. The funds would go towards programs intended to ensure “the United States maintains the world’s most powerful and capable military”” the question becomes how much time do we have left? Because there is no way that Canada is ready for well over 65,000 troops at the border, they will push into Greenland with not too much opposition. All the lollies President Trump wants and after that he will make a narcissistic excuse why it is better for the world, why the United States is so much better than whatever comes in its place. As I see it, the cure was a lot harsher than the disease called greed. What we see now is a nation that will take from anyone else as long as it serves their purpose. 

But still I wonder, could I be wrong? Am I seeing figments of my paranoid delusion playing itself out? And I merely have to look towards Venezuela and Iran to see that I am not. And whatever Washington and Wall Street think the have, they will then be known as the enemy of the world, greed unchecked and unbalanced is the setting that comes and scorches everything else. In that same setting we can wonder what these data centers were meant to hold? The data of everything non-American? It is a wonder but when you see that the push for data centers is set to the maintenance of greed in all its records. So consider where you are and what you are optionally overlooking. My mind is shivering for what is coming to all our shores. 

Have a great day.

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April 3, 2026 · 17:19

The change I am predicting

That is the setting, but it is merely a speculation. It might be called presumption if I knew all the players, but I do not. We see ourselves in the west versus the Middle East (the crusader setting) and the West versus the Iron Curtain (cold war) or the West versus Asia (Perpetual Foreigner setting), but those are yesterday’s settings. We need a new setting. It is more and more imperative that the Commonwealth seeks a closer working relationship with the Middle East, particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It isn’t merely because the money and oil are there. The setting that the United States of America is about to become our most enemy is coming too close for comfort and we need to stay with our Canadian brethren (sisters too), we can watch from a distance, but soon it will be too late and politicians better realise that ‘It was too complex’ or ‘we never banked on that’ will not be an excuse to get away from it all. It starts with the (as I personally see it) the illegal war on Iran. Now don’t get me wrong, Iran is evil and they needed to be dealt with. But a war has an actual declaration and we see too much media giving us the bytes by America giving us that there was not a war in play (really?) We know that the united States are based on laws, which they basically threw away when it suited their needs.

The U.S. Constitution is very clear that only Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war. But President Trump did not even consult with Congress before attacking Iran, let alone receive a congressional declaration of or even authorization for war.

This is the first setting, so as there is no war, it is merely an exercise in bombing civilians and the upcoming looting of oil. 

International law is equally clear. The Nuremberg trials following World War II determined that the “supreme international crime” was that of aggression. The International Military Tribunal ruled in 1946 that initiating a war of aggression differed from other war crimes because “it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” War crimes, crimes against humanity, and all the related international crimes, therefore, are understood to stem from that fundamental crime of going to war illegally. The United States went to war illegally. They are waging a war of aggression against Iran. The UN Charter declares that no country may attack another country, and that “all Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.” It also prohibits UN member states from using “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”

So we are there at the moment. I also took Israel out f the equation, Iran has been attacking Israel for decades and they now have the United States backing them. The UN is useless, they sided with all opposing Israel for so long, it is not to be considered a factor here. The United States did sign a charter voiding what they did on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, California. It was signed by representatives of 50 nations at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, with the US Senate subsequently ratifying the treaty on July 28, 1945.

As such we see the clear markings of an illegal war. And the media has this clearly in their history banks, so whatever they do it now seen as invalid, let them chase their digital dollars, but as I see it, the media is now tax liable, and in many places it is 20% or more. Did they consider this?

As such we (the Commonwealth) needs to find a much better alliance. Whilst some might turn to Asia (China), I am mindful that a union with the Middle East is a much better fit. Unions with the UAE and Saudi Arabia might fit the Commonwealth charter better, I am against embracing Sharia law, but it is a low in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, so we need to be mindful that this is a setting we have to embrace the we are there and schools need to prepare for this shift, because this shift has never happened before. Even as we have 11th century hang ups on this, we need to move forward and moving forward with the United States is a one step movement into a debt driven setting. (USA is now 39 trillion in debt) and they are unlikely to be able to pay the interest in 2027. As such we are massively out of time and as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are setting up their tourism settings and the Commonwealth could be bringing a larger part of its 2.5 billion people to these regions (and taking them away from the USA) 

So, yes, this is speculation, but ask yourself, did you ever consider that the United States would become the instigator of an illegal war? Don’t get me wrong, Iran had to be taken down a few pegs, but we all agree that we are a nation of laws and there are ways to proceed, the fact that someone is waging water to get its hands on oil (whilst they claim they have enough) might be a step too far for several people and the Commonwealth is almost a third of the global population. So how desperate will the United States become when they realise they played the wrong song in a dancehall that is still set to the conservative settings it sees?

It is about time to select where we go to, I for one am a Commonwealthian and I go where more intelligent people (like PM Mark Carney, aka Marky Mark of the British Bank) tells us to go. I see his intellectual mastery of economics and as we see it, America is losing battle after battle against Canada, because whatever they have is not to confused with actual intelligence. 

And I foresee that the Commonwealth needs to take a side and in thesis settings for them there is the Middle East or there is China and I feel (a personal feeling) that China might not be the best solution for the Commonwealth. Don’t get me wrong they do a lot right, but whilst the EU is overturning the settings that the United States gave us concerning Huawei, TikTok and a few other vendors, there is a stage where some options need to be examined and whilst the USA is making acquisitions, it is them not others who are interfering with national interests and for the most we let them. Time to set a new stage, one that excludes the United States, I see that several changes are being made like FourEyes (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom) in a new shape of intelligence for these nations and as sick say the United States is no longer being considered as a valued source. But in business other settings will be required and here my vote goes towards the Middle East, because we are most likely more alike than unalike. I reckon that the Vatican might oppose that side, but they squandered their options as I see it. 

Is my speculation valid?

That remains to be seen. I think it is, but I am the one postulating that setting and before you go all high and mighty, consider this:

Were the attacks on Venezuela and Iran legal?
What solutions does the United States administration have to dilute $39 trillion.
And what losses will the United States see over the next 15 months?

Now consider that the more then one trillion interest that is due in 2026 and 2027 needs to be paid for?

So this is interest, not even a lessening of the debt. And was I see it, it is only getting harder in 2028 and now we add the cherry. As the United States is abstaining from NATO, how many bases and people will be made to move back to the USA? My ‘limited’ calculations give me the setting that these troops are around 65,000. Now they end up seeking jobs in the United States, and there is not enough place all over the USA to place them all, and this also implies a reduced return of investments in Europe. The US has to deal with over 100K dismissed staff from 2025 onwards and all to that thousands being replaced in the military. That is a decrease in revenue that might be too complex to calculate, but there will be an impact. So as others are reevaluating their stance towards the United States (Japan for one) what more losses in an age where a nation is almost unable to pay for its interest bill. So what happens when the United States defaults on a $39 trillion debt? I saw this a decade ago when out was merely $25 trillion. The picture wasn’t nice then, it is utterly ugly now. As I see it, the Commonwealth needs new alliances and it needs them fast. My vote goes towards the Middle East, but I reckon that many votes toward China are coming too. Whatever we do, we better do it fast. So, have a great day today.

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March 28, 2026 · 02:56

Facting a check

I find myself in this setting. A few days ago, I remember that President Trump said that the Iranian missiles were taken care of and in light of the 2000 drones and missiles fired at the UAE it sounded plausible. So the Deutsche Welle gave us “Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu say that Iran’s missile capacity is “destroyed” and “degraded,” yet Iran still strikes. How many missiles and drones remain, and how quickly can Iran rebuild its arsenal?” Which came with ‘How well armed is Iran, and can it replenish missiles?’ I was ahead of that by designing a new IP to take care of the roads, I started with crazy glue, but I changed this to small pellets with a 10 seconds delay. Based on the original setting it was a small pellet about 5mm in size with crazy glue around the core in the outer shell and whilst trucks drove over them the 10 seconds delay would enable the solution to be ‘grabbed’ by several trucks and in the Iranian ‘wilderness’ a truck without tires gets stopped right quick and no help is expected to come for hours. So whilst these trucks are out in the open and no help is coming, you get missiles without a clue, trucks without tracks and you can fill in the rest. So I was feeling pretty happy that my 2.0 solution seemed to be on a roll so to say.

But now, only an hour ago we are given by Reuters ‘Exclusive: U.S. can only confirm about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal destroyed, sources say’ (article behind paywall) this means that Iran can keep on firing its missiles into the UAE and Saudi Arabia. As such I am happy that I gave them the IP to take care of their harbours and railways, and now of course my 2.0 solution to trucking. So, this gives us the light wondering if President Trump has the ability to speak the truth, because we get exaggeration after exaggeration and there is no stopping this man as he is might be seen as the first president that has a failed fact check list that humbles a New York Phonebook for its amount of pages.

And whilst the Wall Street Journal gives us ‘Trump Tells Aides He Wants Speedy End to Iran War’ where we are given “President Trump has told associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and that he hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks.” So, what is his idea of a speedy end? The United States is now in week 4 of the Iranian clambake, it is ‘halting’ 10 days with CNN giving us “US President Donald Trump has for a second time extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz – or face its power plants being “obliterated.” The status of the talks remains unclear, with both sides giving mixed signals. Iran has expressed deep distrust toward Washington, while Trump is growing frustrated with the pace of progress. And on the ground, the war, which has killed thousands across the Middle East since it began nearly four weeks ago, shows no signs of diminishing.” All whilst CNBC gives us “The U.S. is preparing to send thousands more troops to the Middle East, prompting speculation about a ground attack on Iran amid conflicting accounts of peace talks. The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to send about 3,000 troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, alongside two Marine Expeditionary Units, to assist military operations in Iran.” All whist BBC News gives us that “Pentagon denies report that US considering sending 10,000 troops to Middle East” Now, I get that armies ‘wallow’ in misinformation, so that is fair as they do not want their enemy to know which way is up. As such I am all for that level of misinformation and it is according to the writings of Sun Tzu (the art of war), but there is a massive missing level of fact checks on a few levels and I reckon we should know what was not destroyed, especially when the enemy knows what was not destroyed. But I could be grasping at straws here. 

The larger setting is that there is too much out of bounds and that also goes into the failing credibility of the US administration, and as I see it, they cannot deal with too much loss there. Especially as they are losing more allies they ever had and at present it only has Israel as an ally left. At present the ‘calculus’ setting as the United States as an ally is giving Israel as 71%, and in that list, the lowest is Japan at 63%, after that it goes down fast, at the top is Canada claiming the United States as an ally with 46%, Australia at 38% and more below, with the United States calling the United States an ally for 1%. (Source: PEW Research), now, this is not the most recent research, but the setting of this should scare the United States government into springing into action, because before 2025 Canada was its top ally and now Canada is resentful of the United States and its tourism numbers are in the basement. Forbes gave us that “As of early 2026, Canadian travel to the U.S. has seen 13 consecutive months of declines.” And in this economy as it stands, this is really bad. 

So what do these two have to do with one another?

Fair question. There is a setting that the armies can only continue when the money comes rolling in and that is not happening, the US economy is largely losing on tourism, all whilst the Financial Times gives us (at https://www.ft.com/content/15117219-c1e1-4da8-866b-817b75643c18) “The costs of Trump’s war are staggering. The most consequential is the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused global oil prices to rise at the fastest rate since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The average gasoline price in the US is now $3.98 — nearly $1 higher than just a month ago. For the average household, the pain at the pump could add up to nearly $750 in extra costs this year.” Take that number, add to that the amount of people that are hurt though tourism, manufacturing and services and take into consideration the number offers that JP Morgan gave us last October and the cost of warfare is rearing its ugly head. Add to that the amount of fact checks that are getting a failing grade and this mess is near complete.

So whilst the Financial Times also gives us “Higher prices on everything from groceries to furniture to clothes will tear a hole in family budgets at a time when more Americans already report skipping meals, delaying medical care, or dipping into their retirement savings to make ends meet. The response from Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, was that consumer pain caused by the Iran war is “the last of our concerns right now”.” I personally think that Kevin Hassett is seemingly on the wrong medication at present, consumer pain goes through everything and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War actually advises avoiding harm to civilians and promoting their goodwill. This is not happening now (as far as I can see) and this has been a truth for over 2500 years. So as I see it, Kevin Hassett better take a renewed look at what is happening at present, because he gets to eat his own words when this so called war is still in effect in 3 weeks, because at that point the breaking point of the people will have been surpassed by a lot and that (speculative) rating of United States calling the United States an ally decreases to 0% and as I see it, no nation ever faced that setting before. There is a new setting coming up (and I don’t like it) there is now a chance that the United States might face another civil war, because when the people lose whatever they have and face more and more hardship the bulk of its population (now assessed at 342,000,000) cannot be controlled by 1,300,000 troops and there is every chance that many will walk out of their units to stand by their family. This is what this administration seemingly achieved and that is the harsh view they need to face. 

So, am I wrong? 
This is also a fair question, because no one is looking at this, but I believe that this speculative view I have will gain traction in the next two weeks and I would be happy to be wrong, but the checks and balances that need to be in place aren’t there and the larger group of the media is no longer credible, so you have to figure it out. Have a great day today.

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