Tag Archives: ABC

Consideration or realisation?

That is at times the question, because I was ‘informed’ of something I didn’t know (mostly because I don’t care) but it does set a different tone to other matters. We already knew that China is ‘market’ leader here, Some might have seen quotes no unlike this one “By the early 2020s, China accounted for roughly 70 percent of global rare-earth mining and more than 90 percent of processing and finished metal” some have seen this before and I am not vying for accuracy on this. I’ll accept it as is. So as America is so on the ball towards Greenland, the news I saw today has me stumped. We get from Discovery Alert (at https://discoveryalert.com.au/rare-earth-processing-saudi-arabia-2026-strategic-partnerships/) less than 12 hours ago ‘Saudi Arabia’s $1.5 Billion Rare Earth Processing Joint Venture’ with the added “The global rare earth elements sector stands at a critical juncture where supply chain concentration has created strategic vulnerabilities for advanced manufacturing industries worldwide. As dependencies on single-source processing capabilities intensify across defense, aerospace, and renewable energy sectors, alternative processing hubs have emerged as essential infrastructure for maintaining technological sovereignty. This analysis examines how new joint venture in Saudi Arabia for rare earth processing initiatives are reshaping market dynamics through strategic partnerships that leverage regional industrial advantages while addressing critical minerals energy transition needs.” Why would President Trump want to wage a losing war on the EU over Greenland? It is not national security, it seemingly is not about the rare earths, depending on what Greenland has and it does have diamonds there, but how much of that 3D carbon structure is there, I don’t know. And when the article comes to ‘Key Partnership Structures in Saudi Rare Earth Development’ we might get a clue. The agreement gives us: 

So is that it? You can see the roundup at https://www.criticalmetalscorp.com/projects/project-tanbreez/ and it gives us “The Tanbreez Rare Earth Project is an advanced, permitted asset poised to become a cornerstone in the global supply of rare earth elements (REEs) for North America and Europe. Positioned to deliver a sustainable, reliable, and long-term supply, this world-class project is set to meet the surging demand for critical minerals essential to national security, advanced technologies, defense systems, and the green energy transition.” Would it be THAT simple? The United States doesn’t want to share and doesn’t want Europe involved, so it does this? It gives my “America is broke” setting additional value, but does any nation want to go to war over this? It is an unspoken setting towards governmental greed and as far as I can tell the media is seemingly completely stumped on this. Now if these two sources are bogus, so is the mindset on this, but the second source has a whole range of ‘likable’ people completely with LinkedIn settings. As such how could the media have failed us all to this degree?

The second setting is Discovery Alert, if they are on the up and up or not. And it would be a fair question to ask this, but I have no idea and something this juicy I set in my blog. There is always the setting that they are the bamboozlers as such they can deal with the fallout that the Saudi government gives them as well as the Department of Justice. I am pretty sure that the White House is detesting to be used as a punching bag for any kind of media. 

But what if it is all true, how defining are these two documents on how broke The USA really is? Well first there was the debacle about the 51st state (Canada) and how great America’s healthcare really is (I still haven’t stop howling on that one as Canada’s healthcare is vastly superior), we then get all kinds of other reasons and Canada merely looks around and makes larger deals with Mexico, Seemingly the UAE, Europe and now China. So as I see it, Canada is coming out on top and the USA has a dwindling revenue setting. Then we get the Venezuela oil setting where the oil tycoon’s in the Unknown Settings of Avarice are bailing out as they don’t have the stomach to do this over there. I was of the mind to set up the refineries in Texas and ship all the crude to Texas for processing. It gives Texas the jobs, it gives America the revenue and you merely waste 2-3 tankers which will require intense scrubbing, but that is my oversimplified setting here. And after that we get the Greenland setting where ABC reported 10 hours ago ‘European troops won’t change Trump’s ambition for Greenland, says White House’, as such the question becomes is America that broke or is there something else going on? The two settings clash as I see it and as I see it, there is an unknown factor in the works, because no one is so mentally so unstable to take on Europe, especially as Europe is holding significant amounts of U.S. Treasury bonds (over $3 trillion in total debt, including the UK), viewing them initially as safe investments, but recent geopolitical tensions, especially regarding potential U.S. trade or foreign policy shifts and when Europe dumps those treasury bonds, the US debt rises to well over 40 trillion, because they cannot survive that setting. It will result in Japan and China dumping their bonds as well and the economy that the White House thought they had evaporates like snowflakes in a volcano. You can see that in action in Iceland, and they have a few other examples where snow evaporates really quickly. So I have to wonder as a non-economist, what am I not seeing? What more is there and what is the media keeping hidden (through embargo or other means). I wonder because I just saw a part being raised that I never considered before. I always keep in mind that I am missing something, but this is something the media should have reported on and I am not seeing anything on this. And come to think of this, why would someone mess with what is called “to deliver a sustainable, reliable, and long-term supply” I am grasping at straws here at present, because no-one wants a war with America, they won’t win but I have friends I Europe and It might be nice if they outlived me. And for that matter, my financial setting will not improve if the US dollar collapses because that is now also in the works.

Have a great day, it is almost Saturday brekkie time (in about 13 hours), so see you all for my next blog.

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The call from outside

That is at times the setting we anticipate, but is that always the case? The Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/12/jerome-powell-investigation-explained) gives us ‘Why is Trump’s justice department investigating Fed chair Jerome Powell?’ Personally when you make blunders the way President Trump is making them, you need one man in your corner and I reckon it is supposed to be Jerome Powell, the Fed chair is supposed to be impartial, as such he would be a tremendous ally, even as the setting stands, so what gives? Well, I reckon that some see that Stage four of the American collapse has begun. I think the same thing for other reasons but their voice fills the few gaps I had, so there it is. Ad the Guardian gives us “Powell publicly denounced the inquiry as punishment for not bowing to the president’s wishes on interest rates” too, right under the headline. As such we are also given that “Trump has long wanted the Fed to lower interest rates, claiming that cutting rates would save “$1tn a year” and spur economic activity.” But at present (as It stands) we are given “Economists have also sounded the alarm, warning that Trump’s attempts to influence the Fed could risk plunging the US into a period of 1970s-style inflation, and trigger a global backlash in financial markets.” And even as they have Jerome Powell, is not alone here. We are given “Powell alone does not set interest rates. He is part of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the 12-member board that votes eight times a year on any changes to interest rates. Though Powell is just one vote out of 12, he has enormous sway as the most influential voice on the state of the US economy.” And this comes with “Fed economists often refer to the central bank’s “dual mandate”: mitigating price increases, while keeping unemployment low. Cutting rates too quickly risks higher inflation in the long term, but rates that are too high can stagnate the labor market.” To translate this, we have a house, there are three element that can be set. The house can be built Fast<>Slow, The quality of the house can be High<> Low and the Price can be High<>Low. Now the game tells us that we can set two dials, the third is forced upon us. So we can have a high quality low priced house, but the speed will then be slow. You get the idea, the third dial never ever goes your way and that is what the Federal Exchange is working with and with that setting there are problems and the interest rates are the third dial. President Trump can blow all he wants like the big bad wolf, but the Exchange rates building is build out of bricks and mortar, not straw and not wood. So whilst he wants for pressure all around him, he is now facing the ‘beginning’ of what some call ‘Hyperinflation’, I am not one of them, because I lack the economic degrees to do this comfortably. But the signs have been out there. As Saudi Arabia and Chiba are selling the US Treasury bonds, the world is watching how America is drowning its own country. 

All this is happening whilst ABC gives us (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-12/criminal-investigation-opens-into-us-federal-reserve-chair/106220038) ‘US federal prosecutors open criminal inquiry into US Federal Reserve chair’ and heart we are given “US federal prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry into the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, he said on Sunday, local time. Mr Powell says he was threatened with criminal charges because he had set interest rates based on economic analysis rather than politics”, as well as “The legal threat amounts to a dramatic escalation in a fight between Mr Powell and US President Donald Trump, with analysts saying it could affect longer-term Australian interest rates.” As I personally see it, President Trump better come with massively verifiable evidence. There is every chance that Jerome Powell will stat some liability case with a pay out in the billions. I reckon that this will stump the economy to a much larger degree, because whomever fills that chair (I have no idea who does) better not play the political game until this president is gone, as such President Trump for the most lost all the marbles in this game and he will not get any other marbles. As such several states will seek safety FROM President Trump instead of with President Trump and the White House. I reckon that if Texas and California seek such a solution the age of the White House getting any input will be swayed towards other settings before long,. But this last part is pure speculation. But the sentiment rings true. And whilst China is dumping whatever US Bonds they might still have, it will hit America much harder that they bargained for. So whilst the ABC gives us ““On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June,” Mr Powell said in a statement. The testimony concerned, in part, a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings. “But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure,” he said. “This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. “I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No-one — certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law.”” But that opens up another an of worms, all the evidence concerning the Tariffs are now brought into the light, as such all the claims the American Administration made on the profits ‘gained’ can now be brought into the light and it will merely take one democratic voice to add this to any testimony that is given and the game is up for this Administration. As such I reckon that this is a really silly move. And when you consider the idea that this is not how this plays. Consider that one of the questions that are entertained “Why are the interest rates increasing?” And it only requires one of the following answers in any related subpoena: “The tariffs weren’t giving us the revenue we were told”, “Tourism had much less revenue in 2025 due to connected issues shutting down” or even “Canada has been cancelling orders for many billions and we have to get the articles somewhere else and more expensive” any of these three answers are needed and all three are expected to come into that setting and they would all have raised interest rates. So how about that? President Trump seemingly shot himself in the foot yet again. A folly from start to finish.

And all this is a given, because the Guardian gives us (at the end) “A statement signed by every living former Fed chair condemned the investigation, and warned that similar political attacks on independent central banks have led to unstable economies and higher costs of living.” Because that is what people want, a more expensive cost of life. As such the entire issues is stupid, ego driven and self deflating. All that because the ego of one person seemingly goes against economic rationality. So good luck with that. 

So are we watching into what some call stage 4 of the American economy? It seems to fit, but I cannot tell because I lack the economic education on this, but no one is seemingly asking the economy boffins of the media either. Have a great day today.

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Price of oil now $15

Yup, saw it myself, a gallon of sunflower oil now $15, as such I wonder why President Trump is panicking? Any grocer has it, so why settle for Venezuelan oil? OK, he has the bankrupt stigma over his head, but that is on the administration. And in that regard the BBC piece (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205dx61x76o) giving us the headline ‘Trump seeks $100bn for Venezuela oil, but Exxon boss says country ‘uninvestable’’ might not help him much. You know, I would have thought he would have investigated that BEFORE he put the lives of American soldiers in jeopardy. So when we are told “US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently “uninvestable”.

Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.” As such what did Chevron had to say? They were the one that were their in the first place. As such I reckon that the peaceful webcam of Nuuk might not be so peaceful for much longer. In that regard, was there really just one executive stating the uninvestable ploy? And one response was “Exxon’s chief executive Darren Woods said: “We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen and what is currently the state.”” In all this I am a little surprised. I would have had that meeting beforehand. It kinda makes me wonder of the belle at the ball meeting a well hung man stating ‘What am I supposed to do with that?’ That is one of those moments when ‘hoping for the best’ will come across as having a cold shower as the first dish of the ‘entertainment of the evening’ it might come across as a little cold, but that is what it looks like. Everything over the last 2 weeks looks like an exercise of how not to do things in any corporate setting. Especially when you start eyeing 300 billion barrels. In my mind the first question I had was why didn’t Venezuela set that in motion? And for that matter where were these tankers going to? What solutions do they have to process that much oil? Those are the first questions I had two weeks ago, as such that oil meeting was like a marketing cold call. And there is a setting for off shore processing in this case even if America will buy the oil, it is a simple setting to adding a taximeter to that processing plant. As such this entire setting is one of bad preparation. It’s like the man expecting a smooth ride at a brothel asking the question ‘What exactly is herpes?’ Which gets us the comical setting that the lady of the house asks ‘You don’t have herpes, do you? I don’t want to get that again’ You might smile but the reactions that President Trump is invoking with reaction views that the Venezuelan oil industry is looking like a dud more and more at present. 

Then there is the setting that ABC is leaving us with ‘Donald Trump says oil executives will have ‘total safety’ if they invest in Venezuela’ Can they really? As far as I can tell, these places tend to react flammable to any RPG thrown their way and President Maduro has a large following that are still roaming the streets of Caracas. As such ill-prepared and reacting in the stage of ‘total safety’ whilst that would require over 100,000 boots on the ground in Caracas and that is likely to set a different tone to that equation. So as America is heading towards at least two fronts (Greenland and Venezuela), I wonder if he read the papers on Napoleon making the very same mistake in 1814. He should look at the works of Ridley Scott, especially his movie Napoleon (2023), he might learn something. I know it is much better to read ‘1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March on Moscow’ by Adam Zamoyski, but that might be seemingly too dry for him. 

These are a few insights one might need to reassess the insights that President Trump had last week as he was going to ‘fix oil infrastructure’, it seems that this meeting with the oil executives was one he needed to have before he made the claim to ‘fix oil infrastructure’. You know little things like that might fix his viewpoint in a more correct way beforehand. And I feel stupid for having to say this, but, no wait, I don’t have to the American Administration had to do this BEFORE they went in and stated that they were going against drugmakers. So how many drug houses were captured (call it freed) from Venezuela? And the ‘word’ is “Venezuela remains a major transit country for cocaine shipments via aerial, terrestrial, and maritime routes.” You see, in 1974 I learned (at the merchant navy academy) that transit means “conveyance of persons or things from one place to another. usually local transportation especially of people by public conveyance. a system engaged in such transportation.” So for the kiddies in the American administration, it means that merchant A ships goods B through Location C to Customers in location D. As such Venezuela is Location C, so the drugs are optimally only found in some ware house. So how many warehouses were captured with drugs? I failed to see that news. And when we get to the nasty setting that it was always about the oil. And as such that meeting the BBC raves on about should have been had at least 4 weeks ago and in all this the one who was there before (Chevron) is seemingly overlooked by all. What were their observation of Venezuelan oil processing? Little things like that. So are we getting the same failed narrative for Greenland and if it was about national security, what discussion were held over placing a base and a port in Greenland (or enlarge the port of Nuuk for Navy ships and perhaps a airfield for refueling options. So what ‘enlargements’ were planned for Pituffik Space Base? All questions that national security would have in the initial first instance and I see no reporting on that. But I reckon the news would have linked these settings like media coverage (e.g., Defense News), and internal DoD reports, all detailing military posture, strategy, budget, and operations, with the Secretary of Defense reporting to the President and Congress, and various agencies like the DIA and services providing intelligence and status updates. Perhaps the DoD was not entirely forthcoming on that, but they needed to have all the paperwork ready for this and I never saw anything on that. As such I get the feeling that Greenland is a simple resource grab to enlarge their credit portfolio. Nothing more and I reckon the this will anger Denmark, the EU, NATO and optionally Canada too. Most likely not in the order, but these elements are involved. All settings that the media would have been able to ask instead of getting the usual quotes (like) “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State” or my favourite, President Trump apparently said these words a week ago: “One Day, I Realized Nobody Was Coming to Save Me—So I Saved Myself” and it will become my favourite as he utters those words in the International Criminal Court in The Hague when he faces them, because there is 0% chance he will avoid that setting after the coming 1105 days. Whomever takes over the office will have such a mess to clean that they will hand him over in an instant act to relieve some of the pressures that successor faces on the global markets. In 1105 days he either find the correct amount to increase the Credit Card of the United States or Wall Street hands him over to anyone asking for him. This is of course massively speculative, but do you think I am wrong? The numbers don’t lie (they actually do, it is the interpretation that tends to be finicky) “Trump’s term low is 41% approval, which he first reached on Nov. 12. His disapproval also notched up to 56% on Nov. 19, a high for this term per the aggregator. As of Jan. 9, 2026, 43% approve and 55% disapprove, per the Times.” (Source: USA Today) As I see it, Wall Street will giftware him and Warren Buffet is likely to make the bow for the wrapping himself. And in all this he has ignored international law, just like Napoleon did and they gave him a hotel on Elba to relax. I don’t think President Trump is going to get that lucky. Too many are after him now and that list is getting more impressive by the day Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium (EU HQ, NATO HQ), Germany and a few more. To my knowledge Adolf Hitler was the last person to get this much personal attention of governments, not even Stalin pulled the one off. It might not be academic but it feels correct. 

Does it feel over emotional? No, I have merely attaching optionally non-related issues, because the Trump administration is making knee jerk corrections on something that should have been thought through BEFORE we had to watch the arrant pr President Maduro. Don’t get me wrong, as the details go he was seemingly a bad man, I have no doubt. But at what stage did that warrant America to go in and arrest him on the spot with a fleet of ships? When did America send the army into Iran and arrest Ali Khamenei, Supreme leader of Iran. Or perhaps Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, President of Columbia where the drugs seemingly come from. Where is that media snippet of reality? No, Venezuela was about oil and now it seems that it is seemingly as useful as horsepiss. (Quote from King Kong 1976, where the Petrox Corporation went in for oil too). As such it didn’t turn out that way and this example makes me wonder why the Trump Administration wasn’t ready for this. As such my idea for off shore processing and getting all oil tankers to go to an (optional) American location to process that oil might have been a better solution. I have no expertise in the Petrochemical industry, so I am going on a limb here, but to not explore that option on day one seems folly to me. So what shortcomings will we see when Greenland is up for ‘auction’?

Just my 2 cents of the matter and now it is time for brekkie, Have a great day all.

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The direction doesn’t matter

That is a weird stage to set things on, but for me in Australia, I am looking to events in the NW (actually WNW to North), Canada looks at it as events in the East (actually ESE) and Europe sees it as events to the South (actually SE), we look at things from a different perspective and in this the ABC (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-31/uae-saudi-arabia-yemen-strikes-port-weapons-shipment/106188568) we get ‘UAE withdraws personnel from Yemen after Saudi Arabia air strikes’ and the headline matters, but this is not the most important part. You see, I partially take offense to “The United Arab Emirates is pulling its personnel out of Yemen after Saudi Arabia’s bombing of an alleged shipment of weapons and vehicles it claimed had been going to a separatist group. The UAE Ministry of Defence said it would withdraw its remaining “counter-terrorism teams” from southern Yemen after Saudi Arabia issued a 24-hour deadline to the Emirates to leave and cease sending weapons and money to any group in the country.” This follows the issue I have with “Both Saudi Arabia and the Emirates intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, as the major players in a coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the north.” The ABC is wrong here, these aren’t Houthi rebels, they are Houthi Terrorists and they better realise their wrongful setting of the euphemism brush that they use in cases of Yemen events. As I see it,“A terrorist is an individual who uses or threatens violence against non-combatants (such as civilians) to create widespread fear and thereby achieve political, religious, or ideological goals.” And in all this Iran is equally guilty for enabling these terrorist events by delivering hardware and knowledge to the Houthi terrorists. We merely get “On 9 October 2021, Houthi forces launched two suicide drones on King Abdullah Airport in Jizan, Saudi Arabia. The attack left 10 wounded; six Saudi nationals, three Bangladeshi and one Sudanese as well as and minor damage to civilian property.” Yet, if the media took the trouble to question Colonel Turki bin Saleh al-Maliki of the Royal Saudi Air Force, they would get a number a lot higher and more recent of the attacks these terrorists made on Saudi Arabian soil, even though Yemeni hardware could never enabled these actions, neither was it possible to see the attacks on 14 September 2019, where drones were used to attack oil processing facilities. Houthi forces never had the knowhow and precision to follow through in that, making Iran the most likely culprit (I use culprit loosely as I never saw the evidence) and the western media is massively shy the reports on this, because that would enable Saudi Arabia to get the backing from the global population and that is a second setting the world was not ready for. It is all nice if one party is show to be the bad apple, but when too much evidence is showing to be incorrect, the people will ask questions and the media set themselves up for that stage. And there are developing stages here. As ABC gives us “But Dr Kendall said the Saudis and Emiratis supported different factions in southern Yemen, with Saudi Arabia preferring a united Yemen and the Emiratis supporting the separatist STC, which wants to create a new state in the south. That rivalry has intensified, especially after the UAE expanded its influence and military presence across southern Yemen and its islands, while Saudi Arabia responded by bombing the STC in Yemen’s eastern provinces last week. “Clashes have erupted in the past, most notably in 2019, but now is the most serious clash yet. This is a very serious disagreement about how, when and if the south should break away,” Dr Kendall said.” It shows that my knowledge is lacking involving Yemeni events and I blame the media for not keeping us up to date and that is the function of the media. ABC has been properly advising its readers (listeners and watchers too) of these events, but they likely have limiting resources. And as I see it, ABC stands mostly alone, whilst American, British and European news agencies let that chapter slide as (as I personally see it) Yemen isn’t sexy enough for the news. But that also implies that too many hand the bad card to Saudi Arabia whilst that is not the proper thing. As I see it, Iran is a lot more guilty of these bad cards than Saudi Arabia would have ever been entitled to.

We are also given ““The UAE categorically rejects any attempt to implicate the country in tensions among Yemeni parties and strongly denounces allegations that it exerted pressure on, or issued directives to, any Yemeni party to undertake military operations that would undermine the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or target its borders,” the Emirati government said in a statement.” I cannot counter that because the media never gave us the real deal, but I am willing to color both nations in happy green, whilst keeping Iran in evil red (as colours go in my view of things) and that makes coloring the borders a problem, because I have seen close (thought Arabian news sources) to half a dozen attacks on Saudi civilian targets, making the Houthi terrorist the guilty party. So why is the ABC labeling them ‘Houthi rebels’? 

It is a setting that due to one sided and limited exposure a setting of question and whilst we might see the UAE and Saudi Arabia as the noble sides, there is more going on in Yemen and that could give us a setting of doubt and we are able and willing to be in doubt, because as I see it, most of the media isn’t doing their job (as I personally see it).

All whilst ABC gave us this image which is striking. There is a whole range of elements in action, some in the hearts of the Yemeni and the media just won’t give us the real deal. Why is that?

Have a great day and today is the last day of the year here, tomorrow will be another year.

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In opposition

I don’t go into ‘in opposition’ mode too often, because it tends to be an exercise of mopping the floor whilst the tap is spilling right on the floor. And you come to the conclusion that it is better to close the tap FIRST, before you start exercising with a mop. That is merely my opinion, but it holds water (as the phrase goes). The exercise is the ABC article (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-23/f-35-fighter-jet-sale-saudi-arabia-uae-australia-weapons-exports/106029218) giving us ‘Australian F-35 exports face fresh scrutiny as jets approved for Saudi Arabia’ where we get.

So, as we get blatant stupidity from Australian shores with “The president also contradicted the 2021 US intelligence assessment by saying the crown prince “knew nothing” about Khashoggi’s killing.” I countered this case on grounds of the United Nations report by UN comedian Egsy Calamari (aka Agnes Callamard) in the article ‘That was easy!’ I found a dozen shortfalls on that report (which also uses the US Intelligence assessment) and beyond that I left the largest folly unspoken. At no time were the tapes actually forensically tested. They could have been listening to a tape with recordings of the Shadow, listening to Orson Welles. I reckon they didn’t do that, but the blatant holes in that investigation were astounding and they are paid 6 figure incomes? For what?

And the least said about “Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among the groups who have called for arms bans to Saudi Arabia, especially after the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the country’s human rights record, and role in the Yemen war.” The better. They turning their backs on the actions of Hamas and Houthi terrorist actions is astounding. As such I do not give too much credence to the writings of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and it makes little sense, they were a force for good in the 80’s, how the world turns. 

So whilst we get “Andrew Witheford, international and crisis lead from Amnesty International Australia, said putting the highly-lethal jet into the hands of another country in the region was “problematic”.” Really? So how is that view going for America and its Venezuelan repertoire? And beyond the fact that Saudi Arabia is a stable monarchy, it is making great strides in several factors. But don’t worry China is willing to flog their Chengdu J-20 by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation at any time, and how will that help Australia? Oh, and I hereby claim my 1% bonus if Saudi Arabia switches to the Dragon, over that amount I would get (from China) $52 million, a nice retirement fund, so I can move to Toronto and Abu Dhabi, life can be fun at the autumn of your life.

How is anything that this article gives you all relevant to the setting? So as the ABC gives us “A Saudi-led coalition has been waging a war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015.” We need to realise that there are no Houthi rebels, there merely are Houthi terrorists.

But do not take my word for it, ask Colonel Turki bin Saleh Al-Maliki he has the recovered several drones used on Saudi civilian airports and civilian targets. The media was so great in filtering out those facts, I wonder if you do the same. Is there a setting where Saudi Arabia uses weapons in defence of IT’S OWN COUNTRY? Yes, there is, defence works that way. But the media is eager to avoid their gaze on the rough stuff, like the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013 where the population was hit by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin. It might not seem related, but it is, when the atrocities of terrorists are laid bare, the people will ask difficult questions of the media. And that is not good for the digital dollar, is it.

So back to the story, as we are given “The UN Arms Trade Treaty, to which Australia is a party, says states must regulate the export of “parts and components” used to assemble weapons if there is knowledge the arms would be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, or certain war crimes.” We see the uncomfortable truth that they do not address action of Hamas as it is not part of the UN Arms Treaty Trade, nicely played. But this sanctimonious setting is getting on the nerves of too many people and the setting of a journalist no one cares about has been playing out for 8 years. All whilst the people are pointing fingers at the one who states that he is innocent and for the better part there is no evidence, the media takes whatever they could to get more digital dollars whilst ignoring clear evidence. So as we now against get the US intelligence assessment, most will not be clued in that some of this is based on 

we need to consider ‘an intelligence service or operative simply has to make a stab at assimilating what all this means’, this can be surmised into one single word ‘Speculation!’, it is fair for Intelligence operatives to do, but in law it is set to evidence and there is none, something I saw in 10 minutes into the initial report.” as well as “The Special Rapporteur was not allowed to obtain clones of the recordings so she could not authenticate any of the recordings. Among other aspects, such authentication would have involved examination of the recordings’ metadata such as when, how the data were created, the time and date of creation and the source and the process used to create it.

The simplest setting of law, Evidence, you either have it or you do not and no one has any clear evidence and the US intelligence assessment of ‘Highly Likely’ does not hold water in court. 

The simplest of settings and it is interesting how the media is filled with Islamophobes drenched in anti Saudi sentiment, it is not a completely correct setting, but that is how I see it. As such I am in opposition for the simple reason of evidence. And consider this, Andrew Witheford, gives us  “The F-35 used to only be sold to essentially liberal democratic countries” is that not a from of discrimination? By the way if all sounds right, America has become a (according to some) an authoritarianism, as such why is Australia even producing the parts of the F-35? Just a small question to cleanse the pallet. 

Have a great day today, Monday is now less than 325 minutes away. 

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In dubious view I say

This is the continuation of the settings I gave yesterday on Venezuela. More ‘information’ was brought to light. I am not the one rallying behind dubious YouTube settings of someone stating that he heard the admiral say that all he acted after he got the word fro the president. For that dodo I give you that any admiral will follow orders if they are legal and will not divulge anything to anyone not part of the chain of command where that person needs to know. The Military and especially the American defence forces are excellently trained in this. So I need (as always) rely on the printed word and we are given by ABC (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-03/donald-trump-pardons-former-honduran-president-drug-trafficking/106095618) ‘What led Donald Trump to pardon a foreign leader convicted of helping to flood the US with drugs’ as we were given by the BBC “As part of his war on drugs”, so can anyone (in authority) give me why President Trump pardons Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández after he receives a 45 year sentence for DRUGS no less, more specifically releasing hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States? I have to ask that question, because this action gives us that the American setting of an upcoming war into Venezuela is nothing more than an alleged oil grab and a grab for rare earths. As It seems to be, I was right on the money with that article and only now is the media asking questions. I got there two days ago, so are they all stupid, our are they hindered by stakeholders and only released if others release the information, so that they do not look too stupid? I know, the last part is speculation, but in a stage of delayed warfare this is an option to consider, it is usually done by tank commanders as a tactical maneuver where tanks withdraw from combat to realign firepower whilst other tanks withdraw from the battle. These withdrawal tactics can be used to the media and they all ‘watch’ each other and they warn each other when someone sills the beans so that they can quickly release what they have. This is the speculative setting I see and that makes sense, especially as some are in a fix not to get their jobs burned and these editors have a backchannel that only they (the editors) can use.

So as ABC releases “the US president has just pardoned and released a man who was in jail for overseeing one of the world’s worst drug conspiracies. Juan Orlando Hernandez used his position as the president of Honduras to help flood the US with billions of hits of cocaine, a New York court was told last year.” His excuse that the attacks on Venezuela will be done to stop the war on drugs goes straight out of the window, as such oil and rare earths becomes the actual stage of the upcoming war and as Reuters gives us ‘US lawmakers to force vote on war powers if Trump attacks Venezuela’ with “Three House of Representatives lawmakers – Democrats Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Joaquin Castro of Texas and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky – filed their own resolution on Tuesday that also would block the Trump administration from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

U.S. troops have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since early September, killing at least 83 people as Trump escalates a military buildup against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.” And this wasn’t in the cards before the USS Gerald R. Ford was dispensed to that theatre of escalations? More important, what were the orders given to Capt. David Skarosi who commands that vessel? I understand that there is a setting of concealment (as it is defence and national interests) but I reckon that the secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) in this case John Phelan has some of the goods and as we are getting a president saying one thing and doing something else, these two should make sure that the integrity of the Navy is not being endangered. They have a duty to their navy and the American people as I personally see it. We see the word of these representative lawmakers and it is none that they get the limelight, but did they engage with these two parties on the dangers that President Trump is acting in an optional self-centered consideration of needs (a presumption I assure you) and we see all kinds of saber rattling, but there is a chain of command, was it employed to get to the right answers? 

Because the setting above would seem a lot more powerful when it is given in this way:
 “Three House of Representatives lawmakers – Democrats Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Joaquin Castro of Texas and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky – filed their own resolution on Tuesday that also would block the Trump administration from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela without congressional authorization. And they have met with John Phelan, secretary of the Navy to voice their concerns and they were assured that the SECNAV would be in contact with Capt. David Skarosi captain of the USS Gerald R. Ford to get clarity of its function where it has been deployed and that no settings that belongs to US congress was transgressed upon.” It seems a lot clearer when there is a connection to a chain of command and not some speculative setting in the hands of three whomever they are and not part of the Naval hierarchy. Did I oversimplify that setting, I apologise? 

Then we get the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/02/trump-threatens-strikes-drugs-venezuela) giving us ‘Trump threatens strikes on any country he claims makes drugs for US’ where the Guardian starts of with “Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that any country he believes is making drugs destined illegally for the US is vulnerable to a military attack.” Is that is true, why pardon a president drug ‘champion’ who is serving 45 years? It’s not too weird a question, is it? Followed by “The exchange with reporters followed a lengthy cabinet meeting at which Trump and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, moved to put the responsibility with a navy admiral for the extrajudicial killing of two survivors of an attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat in September.” So whilst the flim flam bickering is going on, others have clear questions, in the first degree what the United Nations is doing with the half baked answers given from there. It seems that they are more motivated attacking the defense of Israel then the alleged upcoming invasion of Venezuela. 

And other places like OtherWords (at https://otherwords.org/trumps-aggression-toward-venezuela-should-be-setting-off-alarm-bells/) is seeing the same settings evolve, a piece by Farrah Hassen. Although, her piece has issues we are given “Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford is stationed off the coast of Venezuela and Trump has ordered the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the country. And he declared on November 29 that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela is “to be closed in its entirety.”” How does she know what orders the CIA has received, does she have a source? In addition, she gives us “A secret Department of Justice memo has gone so far as to name fentanyl as a “chemical weapon threat” from these “drug boats.” But neither U.S. nor international assessments have found that Venezuela is a primary producer or international shipment point of narcotics, including fentanyl.” So how does she have access to secret memo’s? The part that is interesting is “neither U.S. nor international assessments have found that Venezuela is a primary producer or international shipment point of narcotics, including fentanyl” it is interesting because Venezuela is right next to Colombia, a known source of drugs. So is anyone considering the data involved or are we all happy to blame AI for it all and give the statement ‘Oops’ afterwards?

There were. Few more issues, but it is important to give you these two as news sources seem to copy each other and slip in a few statements by not so high ranked sources. And in this political minefield, it is important to get as clear as possible and It doesn’t get any higher than military sources. They tend to not lie, an important side setting as I see it.

This Venezuela setting has all the trademarks of a bay of pigs setting, but here the centre chess piece is a stage of 1000 years of crude oil, a setting America desperately needs. Are we ready to go to war with a world because America cannot control its budget? Have fun with that one.

Have a great day today and let’s see if we can avoid war in the next 24 hours.

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Lost thoughts

The is where I am, lost in thoughts. Drawn between my personal conviction that the AI bubble is real and the set fake thoughts on LinkedIn and Youtube making ‘their’ case on the AI bubble. One is set on thoughts of doubts considering the technology we are currently at, the other thoughts are all fake perceptions by influencers trying to gain a following. So how can any one get any thought straight? Yet in all these there are several people in doubt on their own set (justified) fringes. One of them is ABC who gives us ‘US risks AI debt bubble as China faces its ‘arithmetic problem’, leading analysts warn’ (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-11/marc-sumerlin-federal-reserve-michael-pettis-china/105992570) So in the first setting, what is the US doing with the AI debt? Didn’t they learn their lesson in 2008? In the first setting we get “Mr Sumerlin says he is increasingly worried about a slowing economy and a debt bubble in the artificial intelligence sector.” That is fair (to a certain degree) a US Federal Reserve chair contender has the economic settings, but as I look back to 2008, that game put hundreds of thousands on the brink of desperation and now it isn’t a boom of CDO’s and stocks. Now it is a dozen firms who will demand an umbrella from that same Federal Reserve to stay in business. And Mr. Sumerlin gives us “He is increasingly concerned about a slowdown in the US economy, which is why he thinks the Fed needs to cut interest rates again in December and perhaps a couple more times next year.” I cannot comment on that, but it sounds fair (I lack economic degrees) and outside of this AI bubble setting we are given “US President Donald Trump has recently posted on his social media account about giving all Americans not on high incomes, a $US2,000 tariff “dividend” — an idea which Mr Sumerlin, a one-time economic adviser to former US president George W Bush, said could stoke inflation.” I get it, but it sounds unfair, the idea that an AI bubble is forming is real, the setting that people get a dividend that could stoke inflation might be real (they didn’t get the money yet) but they are unrelated inflation settings and they could give a much larger rise to the dangers of the AI bubble but that doesn’t make it so. The bubble is already real because technology is warped and the class cases we will see coming in 2026 is base on ‘allegedly fraudulent’ sales towards the AI setting and if you wonder what happens, is that these firms buying into that AI solution will cry havoc (no return on AI investment) when that happens and it will happen, of that I have very little doubt. 

So then we get to the second setting and that is the clam that ‘China has an arithmetic problem’, I am at a loss as to what they mean and the ABC explanation is “But if you have a GDP growth target, and you can’t get consumption to grow more quickly, you can’t allow investment to grow more slowly because together they add up to growth. They’re over-invested almost across the board, so policy consists of trying to find out which sectors are least likely to be harmed by additional over-investment.”

Professor Pettis said that, to curry favour with the central government, local governments had skewed over-investment into areas such as solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and other industries deemed a priority by Beijing.” This kinda makes sense to me, but as I see it, that is an economic setting, not an AI setting. What I think is happening that both USA and China have their own bubble settings and these bubbles will collide in the most unfortunate ways possible. 

But there is also a hindsight. As I see it Huawei is chasing their own AI dream in a novel way that relies on a mere fraction of what the west needs and as I see it, they will be coming up short soon, a setting that Huawei is not facing at present and as I see it, they will be rolling out their centers in multiple ways when the western settings will be running out of juice (as the expression goes). 

Is this going to happen? I think so, but it depends on a number of settings that have not played out yet, so the fear is partially too soon and based on too little information. But on the side I have been powering my brain to another setting. As time goes I have ben thinking through the third Dr. Strange movie and here I had the novel idea which could give us a nice setting where the strain is between too rigid and too flexible and it is a (sort of) stage between Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) the idea was to set the given stage of being too rigid (Mordo) against overly flexible (Strange) and in-between are the settings of Mordo’s African village and as Mordo is protecting them we see the optional settings that Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) get involved and that gets Dr. Strange in the mix. The nice setting is that neither is evil, they tend to fight evil and it is the label that gets seen. Anyway that was a setting I went through this morning. 

You might wonder why I mentioned this. You see, Bubbles are just as much labels as anything and it becomes a bubble when asset prices surge rapidly, far exceeding their intrinsic value, often fueled by speculation and investor orgasms. This is followed by a sharp and sudden market crash, or “burst,” when prices collapse, leading to significant rather weighty losses for investors. And they will then cry like little girls over the losses in their wallets. But that too is a label. Just like an IT bubble, the players tend to be rigid and whole focussed on their profits and they tend to go with the ‘roll with it’ philosophy and that is where the AI is at present, they don’t care that the technology isn’t ready yet and they do not care about DML and LLM and they want to program around the AI negativity, but that negativity could be averted in larger streams when proper DML information if given to the customers and they dug their own graves here as the customer demands AI, they might not know what it is (but they want it) and they learned in Comic Books what AI was, and they embrace that. Not the reality given by Alan Turing, but what Marvel fed them through Brainiac. And there is a overlap of what is perceived and what is real and that is what will fuel the AI bubble towards implosion (a massive one) and I personally reckon that 2026 will fuel it through the class actions and the beginning is already here. As the Conversation hands us “Anthropic, an AI startup founded in 2021, has reached a groundbreaking US$1.5 billion settlement (AU$2.28 billion) in a class-action copyright lawsuit. The case was initiated in 2024 by novelist Andrea Bartz and non-fiction writers Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson.” Which we get from ‘An AI startup has agreed to a $2.2 billion copyright settlement. But will Australian writers benefit?’ (At https://theconversation.com/an-ai-startup-has-agreed-to-a-2-2-billion-copyright-settlement-but-will-australian-writers-benefit-264771) less then 6 weeks ago. And the entire AI setting has a few more class actions coming their way. So before you judge me on being crazy (which might be fair too) the news is already out there, the question is what lobbyists are quieting down the noise because that is noise according to their elected voters. You might wonder how one affect the other. Well, that is a fair question, but it hold water, as these so called AI (I call them Near Intelligent Parses, or NIP) require training materials and when the materials are thrown out of the stage, there is no learning and no half baked AI will holds its own water and that is what is coming. 

A simple setting that could be seen by anyone who saw the technology to the degree it had to. Have a great day this mid week day.

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The start of something bad

That is how I saw the news (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/tech/dubais-10000-ai-firms-goal-to-redefine-competitiveness-power-uaes-startup-vision) with the headline ‘Dubai’s 10,000 AI-firms goal to redefine competitiveness,  power UAE’s startup vision’ there is always a risk when you start a new startup, but the drive to something that doesn’t even exist is downright folly (as I see it) and now it is driven to a 10,000 times setting of folly. That is what I perceive. But lets go through the setting to explain what I am seeing.

First there is the novel setting and it is one that needs explaining. You see AI doesn’t yet exist, even what we have now is merely DML (Deeper Machine Learning) and it is accompanied at times with LLM (Large Language Models) and these solutions can actually be great, but the foundations of AI are not yet met and take it from me it matters. Actually never take my word, so lets throw some settings at you. First there is ‘Deloitte to pay money back to Albanese government after using AI in $440,000 report’ and then we get to ‘Lawyer caught using AI-generated false citations in court case penalised in Australian first’ (sources for both is the Guardian). There is something behind this. The setting of verification is adamant in both, You see, whatever we now call AI isn’t it and whatever data is thrown at it is taken almost literally at face value. Data Verification is overlooked at nearly every corner and then we get to Microsoft with its ‘support’ of builder.ai with the mention that it was goo. It lasted less than a month and the ‘backing’ of a billion dollar went away like snow in a heatwave. They used 700 engineers to do what could not be done (as I personally see it). So we have these settings that is already out there. 

Then (two weeks ago) the Guardian gives us (at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/08/bank-of-england-warns-of-growing-risk-that-ai-bubble-could-burst) ‘Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst’ with the byline “Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee” now consider this setting with the valuation of 10,000 firms getting a rather large ‘market correction’ and I think that this happens when it is the least opportune for the UAE. This take me to the old expression we had in the 80’s “You can lose your money in three ways, first there are women, which is the prettiest way to lose your money, then through gambling, which is the quickest way to lose your money and third way is thought IT, which is the surest way to lost your money” and now I would like to add “the fourth way is AI, which is both quick and sure to lose your money” that is the prefix to the equation. And the setting we aren’t given is set out in several pieces all over the place. One of them was given to us in ABC News (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-20/ai-crypto-bubbles-speculative-mania/105884508) with ‘If AI and crypto aren’t bubbles, we could be in big trouble’ where we see “What if the trillions of dollars placed on those bets turn out to be good investments? The disruption will be epic, and terrible. A lot of speculative manias are just fun for a while and then the last in lose their shirts, not much harm done, like the tulips of 1635, and the comic book and silver bubbles of the late 1980s. Sometimes the losses are so great that banks go broke as well, which leads to a frozen financial system, recession and unemployment, as in 1929 and 2008.” As I personally see it, America is going all in as they are already beyond broke, so they have nothing to lose, but the UAE and Saudi Arabia have plenty to lose and the American first are good to squander whatever these two have. I reckon that Oracle has its fallback position so it is largely of, but OpenAI is willing to chance it all. And that is the American portfolio, Microsoft and a few others. They are playing bluff with as I see it, the wrong players and when others are ignoring the warnings of the Bank of England they merely get what is coming for them and it is a game I do not approve of, because it is based on the bluff that gets us ‘we are too big to fail’ and I do not agree, but they will say that it is all based on retirement numbers and other ‘needly’ things. This is why America needs Canada to become the 51st state so desperately, they are (as I personally see it) ready to use whatever troll army they have to smear Canada. But I am not having it and as I see “Dubai’s bold target to attract 10,000 artificial intelligence firms by 2030 is evolving from vision to execution, signaling a new phase in the emirate’s transformation into a global technology powerhouse. As a follow-up to earlier announcements positioning the UAE as the “Startup Capital of the World,” recent developments in AI infrastructure, capital inflows, and global partnerships show how this goal is being operationalised — potentially reshaping Dubai’s economic structure and reinforcing its competitive edge in the global digital economy.” I believe that those behind this are having the best interests at heard for the Emirati, but I do not trust the people behind this drive (outside of the UAE). I believe that this bubble will burst after the funds are met with smiles only for these people to go out of business with a bulky severance check. It is almost like the role Ryan Gosling played in the Big Short where Jared Vennett receives a bonus of $47 million for profits made on his CDSs. It feels almost too alike. And I feel I have to speak up. Now, if someone can sink my logic, I am fine with that, but let those running to this future verify whatever they have and not merely accept what is said. I am happy to be wrong but the setting feels off (by a lot) and I rather be wrong then be silent on this, because as I see it, when there is a ‘market correction’ of $2,000,000,000,000 you can consider yourself sold down the river because there is a cost of such a correction and it should 100% be on the American shores and 0% of the Arabic, Commonwealth or European shores. But that is merely my short sighted view on the matter. 

So when we get to “Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, said the goal reflects the UAE’s determination to lead globally in frontier technology. “Dubai’s target to attract 10,000 AI companies over the next five years is not a dream — it is a commitment to building the world’s most dynamic and future-ready digital economy,” he said. “We already host more than 1,500 pure AI companies — the highest number in the region — but this is just the beginning. Our strategy is to bring in creators and producers of technology, not just users. That’s how we sustain competitiveness and shape the industries of tomorrow.”” I am slightly worried, because there is an impact of these 1,500 companies. Now, be warned there are plenty of great applications of DML and LLM and these firms should be protected. But the setting of 10,000 AI companies worry me, as AI doesn’t yet exist and the stage for Agentic programming is clear and certain. I would like to rephrase this into “We should keep a clear line of achievements in what is referred to as AI and what AI companies are supposed to see as clear achievements” This requires explanation as I see whatever is called as AI as NIP (Near Intelligent Parsing) and that is currently the impact of DML and LLM and I have seen several good projects but that is set onto a stage that has a definite pipeline of achievements and interests parties. And for the most the threshold is a curve of verifiable data. That data is scrutinized to a larger degree and tends to be (at times) based on the first legacy data. It still requires cleaning but to a smaller degree to dat that comes from wherever. 

So do not dissuade from your plans to enter the AI field, but be clear about what it is based on and particularly the data that is being used. So have a great day and as we get to my lunch time there is ample space for that now. Enjoy your day.

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The light goes on

That was the setting and it is all on me. You see, when you consider the setting of a greedy billionaire ‘wannabe’ (President Donald Trump) I would be settled in the knowledge that he knows what he was doing (silly me). Yet the interview that someone had with Jen Psaki gives us a whole new ballgame and the facts she hands us might fit the premise. I use might, because she is a democrat and they have a natural fear/distrust of Republicans. So I was set on the opposing view, but as we are seeing. The way he basically destroyed American Tourism, the distrust he gave all international travelers who are unlikely to return until close to a year after he vacates the White House. The way he is dealing with the Russian setting that is going on at present and a whole range of other settings (like tariffs) and the way he made an enemy of Canada gives her explanation some credit. 

We see it in MSNBC (at https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/psaki-trump-may-be-too-clueless-to-understand-consequences-of-his-shutdown-249077317970) the title ‘Trump may be too clueless to understand consequences of his shutdown’ is a rather rude wake up call. And if he is apparently that clueless, is there a greed driven setting to his $500,000,000,000 Stargate project? So when we get “Jen Psaki points out examples of Donald Trump not being aware of what his own administration is doing, or of the fallout of his own actions, raising questions about whether Trump understands the political consequences of the harm he is causing the American people with his shutdown of the federal government” we are getting second thoughts on the political views that America has. Could it be this simple? And as we get this, how can Americans be safe from the dealings of some person who is clever enough to grasp 1+1, but fails the concept of 2+2? We might think this is a mere offset of 100%, but the implications are seen when we consider that 5 AI and 5 AI is not 10 AI, but goes somewhere towards 496 AI clusters, you do need the implied grasp of Near Intelligent Parsing (AI does not yet exist) and as Jen points out, there is seemingly a lack of communications in this White House administration. And that is enforced with the ABC view we were given on Saturday when we saw ‘Trump reverses $187M funding cuts for New York counterterrorism after bipartisan outcry’, the fact that New York got any cuts in the first place makes me wonder how clever that person was and $187 million is a whole mountain of money and it wasn’t that the so called New York City Police Department (NYPD), which divides the city into 78 precincts and various specialized units like Counterterrorism, Emergency Service Unit, and K-9 units, and the New York State Police (NYSP), organized into 11 troops for statewide law enforcement had a whole lot of money to begin with. That is one of the oldest police forces on the planet consisting of roughly 50,676 individuals. So did anyone get the memo how the $187 million cut was achieved? I don’t care if it was reversed, that cut could be seen as evidence that this white house isn’t fit to address milk money for the United States kindergartens. 

And all this is seemingly a day after Jen Psaki gave us ‘‘A perfect storm of ugly’: Trump’s policies are devastating U.S. farmers’ where we get “Jen Psaki reports on how Donald Trump’s trade war, combined with his weird favoritism for his international buddies like Argentine President Javier Milei, has resulted in brutal economic conditions for American farmers. Not only is Trump devastating their businesses, but Trump’s policies are hurting their living expenses and particularly their health care costs.” And that is where we get the US shutdown, the Democrats are refusing so sign anything that is cutting healthcare as it is done. Millions will end without healthcare and that is on top of the hardship given to them by decreased incomes because the tourists have been driven away. Did anyone consider the damage that 15% less tourism costs? We see that ‘generic’ $12.5B less, but the impact is a lot more. Farmers, B&B business (and all connected businesses) and that is happening in Florida, California, Nevada and New York. I got to $80B-$135B (it is hard to get a precise reading. Yet there is a chance that January will reveal somewhere around $100B and there are posts that I did not consider, so it might end up being worse. But not to fret, AI will make it all fine. That is until you realise that AI at present does not yet exist and that is where you might wonder what the $500B was used for. Some are giving the setting that it is bout mass monitoring of the people in the United States. I have no idea, but I do know that these Oracle implementations will be considered essential as they are the only one to make it work either way and as we are considering the setting that this is an essential setting no matter how it goes, consider the setting that Jen Psaki gives us with “Donald Trump not being aware of what his own administration is doing” it seems like a heartless and anti republican speech, but what we have seen gives rise to all this and considering that these ‘data centers’ are requiring power, the setting that I evoked with ‘How is this powered?’ We see a failing of media and administrations scurrying to give some excuse, all whilst that setting cannot continue without massive verification and massive power influxes and there is seemingly no sign of that. 

So what happens when someone switches the power on in these data centers and the power goes off (for the most) in Austin and San Antonio? I am just asking but the premise that Jen Psaki gives us is one that required mulling and the press is seemingly not doing that and hasn’t done that for at least a year. So what are they here for? Playing courtesan to the digital dollar?

Food for thought, so as I have had my brekky, it is time to become a nuisance again for at least 15 hours. Have a great day.

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The time has come

I have been sitting on a story for about three days. I have been hesitant as it is a field I am thoroughly unaware off, but it could hit me in the future and as we are given (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-19/first-guardian-shield-collapse-asic-and-superannuation-flaws/105783328) the setting of ‘First Guardian, Shield superannuation disasters expose deep flaws in Australia’s $4.3 trillion retirement system’ we see that ABC is giving us not only cause for pause, but also cause for alarm we are set in a stage of almost desperate inability to protect our retirements. And lets be clear if Australia is set to a $4.3 trillion danger, what is the dangers towards America, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany? 

I tried to illustrate dangers like this in ‘Wages of fear’ which I wrote in May 2023, two years ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/05/02/wages-of-fear/) and there I wrote “Lets be clear, this was NOT his fault, but the point where we cannot avoid what comes next was achieved. If only people had woken up a lot sooner. But there we got past a point where the problems would accelerate and now we are almost at that point. And the banks will be no help. I tried to warn you a few times over. Some of their risk and liquidity is in US bonds and when the US forfeits payment your 401K and many other things will become worth close to nothing” Now the fair question is, is this the same? I don’t think it is, but there is a larger failing into the retirement systems as it is not a hands on pathway. ABC in another story hands us “Ms Wohlers is one of about 12,000 Australians haunted by the loss of more than $1 billion of retirement savings after the collapses of First Guardian and Shield.” As well as “ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court, who has commonly described the First Guardian and Shield cases as “industrial-scale misconduct”, says the regulator acted as soon as it could. “We don’t think we missed red flags,” she told ABC News ahead of ASIC’s appearance at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, when she was grilled by politicians about whether it was a tough cop on the beat properly identifying financial misconduct.” And it relates to the story we are given with ‘140 targeted by ASIC on Shield, First Guardian’ as I see it, a mess of a disastrous kind. Where the latter gives us “So, for example, the financial advisers are saying to us ‘you can’t hold us accountable for this because the ratings house had rated the Shield Master Fund as of investment grade’, while superannuation fund trustees are telling us the same – ‘well, we relied on the ratings houses’, or ‘we relied on the fact that these members had financial advice’,” (Source: Financial Newswire) I see it as a setting where there is a ring setting with no beginning and no end. I am in a setting where Microsoft could steal my IP and my only defense would be to convict 280,000 Microsoft employees to death and kill them myself. I get that this is utter madness, but that would be the result of one party just playing a game with other whilst that party knows that they cannot be held to account. I remember the rating houses in 2008 and they got away whilst millions lost it all. I see the simpler setting “You take from me, I take from you” and the setting that Microsoft losing over 45% of its staff (I am utterly destined to fail) making it implode on itself. Now take that to the setting of rating houses and the the truth comes out (if it ever does) the people need to react and react harshly. It is not ‘business as usual’ it will become business at the cost of souls and that is a harsh reality to face.

So whilst some will lawyer up and that is their right, they should not be allowed to walk away with even a dime. I reckon that they will sue the rating houses and those rating houses will need to get sanitized (to some extent) because losing billions is a larger setting and when Australia with their billions in losses (up to 4,300 billion) the setting for America and Canada is a lot more severe. And America up to ten times as much as Canada faces. And about a month ago we were given ‘ASIC takes further action against Ferras Merhi over First Guardian and Shield superannuation advice’ where we are given “ASIC has sought leave from the Federal Court to expand its existing proceeding against former financial adviser Ferras Merhi to allege he engaged in unconscionable conduct, failed to act in the best interests of clients, gave conflicted advice, and provided defective statements of advice whilst receiving millions of dollars.” Yet my question becomes did Ferras Merhi do anything illegal? You see, in my setting I would be, but did he do anything illegal? The setting revolves around “provided defective statements of advice whilst receiving millions of dollars”, so what makes a statement ‘defective’? You see, I am not protecting Ferras Mehri. I am looking at the following:

s12CB of the ASIC Act – engaging in conduct in connection with the supply or possible supply of financial services, which was in all the circumstances unconscionable.

So, what makes the setting of “all the circumstances unconscionable” an economist looks at this in one way and I as a law graduate and IT technician in another way. 

Then we get:
s952E of the Corporations Act – providing defective disclosure documents. As such, what makes the documents “defective disclosure documents”, I do not know and I look at them separately as that is what the law does and when merely one law falters, it all collapses (it matters later on).

Then we get:
s961B of the Corporations Act – failure to act in their client’s best interests, and what is that at the start? Most clients are ‘greed’ driven, they want the highest return and that is ‘their’ best interest. It is a hard lesson to learn that looking back the client gave the wrong advice to the advisor. I myself only work a balanced portfolio, I will never make large leaps but then again I am unlikely to lose a lot either. 

So in that setting we see:
the Court made interim freezing orders over Mr Merhi’s property. These orders remain in place until 12 December 2025 (25-024MR).
ASIC cancelled the AFSL of FSGA, effective 7 June 2025 and permanently banned its responsible manager (25-102MR).
In July 2025, the Court made travel restraint orders against Mr Merhi. Those orders prevent him from leaving or attempting to leave Australia until 12 December 2025, or until further order of the Court (25-024MR).

That is fair enough I reckon. But now we get to the settings that ABC at the top gave. We see there “In all of these cases, no criminal charges have been laid, but ASIC is heading to court to make allegations against the people at the centre of the Shield and First Guardian funds — those involved in managing and promoting the schemes.” The no criminal charges gives pause to consider that no criminal acts have transpired and when we look at some of the allegations the two that take the cake (a Tiramisu cake) is that the settings of “defective disclosure documents” must be proven and the lawyers will fight that. Then we get “all the circumstances unconscionable” and that is the ballgame, ‘unconscionable’ is not per se illegal and it is about the legality of the matter in court and that is the setting we see. So when I made a statement two years ago saying “Some of their risk and liquidity is in US bonds and when the US forfeits payment your 401K and many other things will become worth close to nothing” we see what bonds were worth 5 years ago. There we see “For the year, long-term U.S. Treasuries were by far the best-performing fixed-income investments, with a nearly 17% gain,” (source: Reuters) at present they are “the 10-year yield settled around 4.36%” that represents a loss of 13%, so who pays for that bond? This was a danger I saw 5 years ago (as uneconomical as I am) and 10 years ago I heard people to buy bonds as the interest is like free money and I stopped. There is no free ride and this is almost pushed into the AI field all whilst there is no verification in place. All settings that are interconnected and we now see the ABC giving us “expose deep flaws in Australia’s $4.3 trillion retirement system” so, what do you think you will end up with because as I see it, there is the chance that these people can do what they like all whilst there is no criminal accountability. Yes, he is stopped for now, but Ferras Merhi is about to walk away with more than $19 million in payments. As such he is willing to sweat it out for a few months. It is a lot more (like 79.2581 times more) than I ever made in my lifetime. 

So I see this case that ABC alerted me to with some suspicion. These people live by the setting of walking the edge of legality, there is no risk at that edge and I expect that Ferras Merhi is doing just that not doing anything illegal. As such 12,000 Australians are about to learn that they could lose it all without any illegal actions transpiring and I fault it to two settings (mentioned above) and we all considering setting the clocks to Islam where we see “Islamic banking prohibits the use of interest, speculation, and excessive risk. It emphasizes profit and loss sharing, fairness, honesty, and transparency in financial dealings.” By the way this setting was in place for hundreds of years. 

Have a great day and see that Statista gives us “Robusta, named because it can grow at a wider range of altitudes and temperatures, sold for 1.87 U.S. dollars in 2018, projected to sell at 5 U.S. dollars per kilogram in 2026” did you predict in 2018 that you would be setting your retirement to pay 267% for your coffee?

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