Regulating Data Centers is Important - But So Is This
Okay - let’s talk about AI. I have a 10 part series that breaks down how I see the xAI issue - and my take on data centers and AI use. But this is not that - it’s coming - but this issue - the one I’m about to explain - in my opinion -…
A Court Just Called Pete Hegseth’s Trans Troop Ban a Cover Story
A federal court ruled Pete Hegseth's transgender military ban is likely unconstitutional and built on animus. The judge quoted Groucho Marx. Hegseth answered with four words.
Eric Trump and Don Jr. Learned the Phone Grift From Their Dad’s Licensing Deals
A Florida shell company took the $100 deposits. The Trumps got an undisclosed licensing fee. Same play as Trump Toronto, Trump Panama, Trump SoHo. Ready for some more receipts? Eric Trump and Don Jr. didn’t invent the gold phone grift, they learned it watching their dad license the Trump name onto buildings he didn’t finance,…
Trump Made AI Data Centers a National Security Issue So Locals Can’t Stop Them
The executive order, the military authority, and the ratepayer scam behind the AI infrastructure boom AI data centers are being treated like military projects when it comes to permits, environmental review, and federal land - and like private businesses when it comes to who collects the profits. So I guess we get the worst of…
Trump Promised a Free Ballroom. Now Republican Bills Would Charge Taxpayers $1.4 Billion
Trump said the ballroom would cost $200M and zero taxpayer dollars. It's now $400M from donors with regulatory asks, $400M more in a new GOP bill, and a proposed $1B for Secret Service security at the site, above ground and below. The math got worse every time he opened his mouth.
#10A The Playbook: From Asset to Authoritarian
Days after the 2016 election, a Kremlin-connected propagandist bragged that "our idea" all along was to put Trump in the White House. Here's the operation Russia actually ran - the troll farm and the hacking - what Trump did for Putin once he got there, and the cover-up. This is the final act.
#9 The Deal: Trump Tower Moscow and the ‘Nothing to Do With Russia’ Denial
Trump signed the letter of intent, and during the campaign his lawyer asked the Kremlin for help getting Trump Tower Moscow built. Felix Sater emailed: Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it.
#8 The International Pipeline: How the Network Took Trump’s Brand Global
Money from a steel deal financed by Putin's state bank went into Trump Toronto. A broker for Trump Panama said half his buyers were Russian - and some turned out to be mafia. Kushner bought part of a Manhattan building from a Putin-allied oligarch's company, then borrowed against it from Deutsche Bank. Same network, three continents.
#7 The Front Company: Why Bayrock Looks Like a KGB Business Inside Trump Tower
Bayrock Group set up shop in Trump Tower, founded by a former Soviet commerce official and run day to day by a convicted felon turned FBI informant, with Kazakh oligarchs reportedly behind it. Two of its own former executives sued, saying it moved Russian money through Trump-branded buildings. At Trump SoHo, 77% of units sold for cash, mostly to shell companies. I call it the KGB front company playbook with expensive suits.
#6 The Lifeline: Deutsche Bank, Russian Money, and Trump’s Biggest Lender
Nearly every big bank said no to Donald Trump. But Deutsche Bank - the same bank that got caught in a scheme that moved $10 billion out of Russia through its Moscow mirror trades - kept writing checks. Over $2 billion in loans.
#5 The Laundromat: How Trump’s Taj Mahal Kept Breaking the Money Laundering Rules
Trump didn't fail at the casino business. He succeeded at something else entirely. His Taj Mahal racked up 106 Bank Secrecy Act violations in its first 20 months, and in 2015 the feds fined it $10 million - at the time, the biggest penalty they'd ever given a casino.
#4 Brighton Beach: How the Russian Mob Set Up Shop in Trump’s Buildings
The Jackson-Vanik Amendment opened American doors to more than 500,000 Soviet emigrants. It also let in the Russian mafia. By the early 1980s, Brighton Beach was its American headquarters - and its money was finding its way into Trump's buildings.