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D-2⃣ Michigan Tech ( Michigan Tech MBB ) comes into Green Bay & pulls off 72-70 upset led by 30-pts from former AHS Athletics 🌟 Marcus Tomashek Included his go-ahead three pointer in final minute & last 7-pts for Huskies Phoenix have now lost 8⃣ straight games

Cody Krupp

3,755 subscribers

131,880 views • 1 year ago •via X (Twitter)

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3 Comments

Derrick Baer1 year ago

@mtumbb @AshwaubenonJags It’s almost poetic a kid from Ashwaubenon put up 30 points on em. I’m a proud Husky engineer today.

Noah Basketball2 years ago

Affordable solution for NBA-level live game shot tracking. Noah Backboard offers real-time shot charts and rim maps for teams and individual players during live games and scrimmages. #MakeMoreShots #WinMoreGames

TFulks1 year ago

@mtumbb @AshwaubenonJags yeeeee

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The #NHLBruins will battle to get back in the W column in a tough tilt vs the #VegasBorn. So, what are some things to 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫: 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 1st + 3rd 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬. VGK has given up the most goals in the first period (5) VGK has dominated third period with 7 goals this season VGK PK is off to a rough start at a 66.7% efficiency. 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐯. - Off to a lethal start and has a hard shot that he won’t think twice about sending off from mid + long range. - 7 of his 13 shots this season have come off the right side and he’s a lefty shooter (this can create tough scoring angles = no fun if he’s not scoring for you) - Leads Vegas with 5 goals through 4 games. - Plus, He has 4 goals in 3 meets vs the Bs. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. - Mark Stone has led the league in takeaways time and time again - Now add Mitch Marner to the mix who ranked 3rd in takeaways last season with 55 - This bleeds over into – I repeat – tame the turnovers. This paid in Tampa’s favor on Monday and Vegas will gladly cash in the chips. 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐃(high danger). ** Adin Hill injured in first period vs the Calgary Flames. - Akira Schmid through two games has been strong for Vegas with a .929 overall SV% BUT his high danger save percentage dips to a .727 as all three goals allowed have come from the danger zone. - 7 of 42 shots allowed by the Vegas D have come from the low slot - 14 of 42 shots allowed by the Vegas D have come from the right side of the ice. There are several elite skaters on Vegas’s roster. With that said, there were moments against Tampa where that defense appeared stalled out, a little slow to react. (Marner + Eichel can go the distance) 𝐈𝐧 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭: We’ve got two Bs sitting top ten for hardest shot in the NHL today: - Pasta is third in the league at 92.28 -Arvidsson is seventh in the league at 91.75 𝐁s to Watch: Pasta 14 points in 13 meets Geekie 6 goals in 11 meets Arvidsson has 11 points in 16 meets + has been a hound in scoring chances Mittelstadt 7 points in 11 meets, 5 of those 7 points are indeed goals. Happy Gameday 🖤

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Kasey Hudson

44,560 views • 9 months ago

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Matteo Piper Jenks 🧲 🇮🇹

618,412 views • 1 year ago

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The Sacred Scroll

29,061 views • 7 months ago

Sometimes I like to look at a player’s “worst game of the year” to see how bad it was (or wasn’t). For WR Caleb Douglas (according to PFF) that was the Arizona State game where he matched up with Keith Abney (R5) all day. This was a good battle between Douglas and Abney. But considering it was supposed to be Douglas’s worst outing, it wasn’t all that bad. Texas Tech lost, despite coming back from a 12 point deficit in the final 6 or 7 minutes to take a 3 point lead, after a successful 2-point conversion made possible by Douglas drawing a hold in the end zone on the first 2-point attempt. Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson worked their magic to go all the way down the field in the final minute and not just kick a tying FG, but actually score the go-ahead TD, leaving Texas Tech attempting a Hail Mary as the clock ran out. Things I noticed during the game: - The backup QB Will Hammond playing in place of Behren Morton had some issues with timing and ball placement. A couple of targets Douglas was open, Hammond missed him. Another one, instead of throwing the vertical Hammond patted the ball an extra beat and it threw off the timing. - I loved Caleb Douglas’s willingness to try and make a difference as a blocker. He got nasty with it. - Caleb had a bad drop. Abney got in there and contacted him and Douglas failed to put the ball away. But it’s interesting because Caleb also had one of the most impressive one-handed stabs you’ll see, on a play nobody noticed or cared about because it was a screen that didn’t break open. - On a lot of plays, if there wasn’t safety help, there was an egregious amount of cushion. This is something you see in a lot of Tech’s games. People had been trying, and frankly failing, to triangulate Douglas’s long speed, to where his 4.39 came as a surprise to some. And then when they’re wrong, the same tired excuse comes out, “He doesn’t play to his timed speed.” But the signs were always there. You had safeties stashed way out in the middle of nowhere to protect corners. You had corners giving 10-12 yards of cushion. - There was a lull where either the ball wasn’t coming Douglas’s way or it was inaccurate when it did, and it lasted nearly half the game. So I was looking for signs of Douglas checking out with his route running. That didn’t happen. He ran his routes hard the entire game. - Douglas dialed it up a notch during the comeback attempt at the end, particularly after the drop. He got wide open on a 3rd down vertical vs. physical coverage with no safety help over top (surviving an unflagged face mask in the process). Then he got open in the end zone twice, one of which forced a hold by Abney that did get flagged. I think the takeaway from me was, you’re playing against a good corner, you have a backup QB in, things don’t go well for you nor the offense for most of the game, but you stay locked in and make a difference at the end, mounting an unlikely comeback. I can see why Jon-Eric Sullivan would like his demeanor.

Sometimes I like to look at a player’s “worst game of the year” to see how bad it was (or wasn’t). For WR Caleb Douglas (according to PFF) that was the Arizona State game where he matched up with Keith Abney (R5) all day. This was a good battle between Douglas and Abney. But considering it was supposed to be Douglas’s worst outing, it wasn’t all that bad. Texas Tech lost, despite coming back from a 12 point deficit in the final 6 or 7 minutes to take a 3 point lead, after a successful 2-point conversion made possible by Douglas drawing a hold in the end zone on the first 2-point attempt. Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson worked their magic to go all the way down the field in the final minute and not just kick a tying FG, but actually score the go-ahead TD, leaving Texas Tech attempting a Hail Mary as the clock ran out. Things I noticed during the game: - The backup QB Will Hammond playing in place of Behren Morton had some issues with timing and ball placement. A couple of targets Douglas was open, Hammond missed him. Another one, instead of throwing the vertical Hammond patted the ball an extra beat and it threw off the timing. - I loved Caleb Douglas’s willingness to try and make a difference as a blocker. He got nasty with it. - Caleb had a bad drop. Abney got in there and contacted him and Douglas failed to put the ball away. But it’s interesting because Caleb also had one of the most impressive one-handed stabs you’ll see, on a play nobody noticed or cared about because it was a screen that didn’t break open. - On a lot of plays, if there wasn’t safety help, there was an egregious amount of cushion. This is something you see in a lot of Tech’s games. People had been trying, and frankly failing, to triangulate Douglas’s long speed, to where his 4.39 came as a surprise to some. And then when they’re wrong, the same tired excuse comes out, “He doesn’t play to his timed speed.” But the signs were always there. You had safeties stashed way out in the middle of nowhere to protect corners. You had corners giving 10-12 yards of cushion. - There was a lull where either the ball wasn’t coming Douglas’s way or it was inaccurate when it did, and it lasted nearly half the game. So I was looking for signs of Douglas checking out with his route running. That didn’t happen. He ran his routes hard the entire game. - Douglas dialed it up a notch during the comeback attempt at the end, particularly after the drop. He got wide open on a 3rd down vertical vs. physical coverage with no safety help over top (surviving an unflagged face mask in the process). Then he got open in the end zone twice, one of which forced a hold by Abney that did get flagged. I think the takeaway from me was, you’re playing against a good corner, you have a backup QB in, things don’t go well for you nor the offense for most of the game, but you stay locked in and make a difference at the end, mounting an unlikely comeback. I can see why Jon-Eric Sullivan would like his demeanor.

Chris Kouffman

38,519 views • 3 months ago

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Mario Nawfal

335,357 views • 1 year ago

$SAM ALTMAN IS PULLING OFF THE BIGGEST THEFT IN TECH HISTORY And his $100B Nvidia deal just collapsed because Jensen Huang caught on to his schemes. IT'S OVER FOR OPENAI But he's STILL trying to raise another $100B+ from Amazon, SoftBank, and sovereign wealth funds. The largest private VC round in history. But the numbers make zero sense. Let me break down why (Scam) Altman is the biggest grifter tech has ever seen: Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's $100B investment in OpenAI has completely stalled. The deal announced with tremendous fanfare in September? Dead. Jensen Huang privately told industry associates the agreement was "non-binding and not finalized." It was basically just a a press release designed to pump OpenAI's valuation. Meanwhile, Altman is flying around the world desperately seeking $100B more at an $830B valuation. Amazon is reportedly in talks for up to $50B. SoftBank just completed $41B and is discussing another $30B. The Financial Times called OpenAI an "era-defining money furnace." They're being kind. The actual numbers: OpenAI burned $8B in 2025. They project burning $17B in 2026. $35B in 2027. $47B in 2028. Cumulative cash burn through 2029? $115B. Yet they're valued at 65x revenue. At $13B in 2025 revenue and an $830B valuation, OpenAI trades at a multiple that doesn't exist in conventional SaaS benchmarking. Even in 2021, at the peak of the tech bubble, Snowflake only hit 50-80x. Meanwhile, Altman's promises keep evaporating. In May 2024, he said: "Ads plus AI is uniquely unsettling to me." He called advertising a "last resort." 20 months later: OpenAI announced ads in ChatGPT. The "last resort" arrived right on schedule. And the nonprofit-to-for-profit conversion is even worse... OpenAI started as a nonprofit with a mission to "benefit humanity." Elon Musk donated $38M based on that promise. Now the nonprofit foundation holds just 26% of the for-profit OpenAI Group. Microsoft owns 27%. Employees and investors own 47%. Greg Brockman's own words from the early days: "If we succeed, we believe we'll create orders of magnitude more value than any existing company, in which case all but a fraction is returned to the world." That fraction? It's now the majority going to private investors. Then there's Worldcoin. Altman's OTHER venture scans people's eyeballs in exchange for cryptocurrency. Kenya ordered the company to delete all biometric data after a court ruled they collected it without valid consent. Thailand demanded destruction of 1.2M iris scans. Spain banned operations. Portugal issued a 3 month suspension. Indonesia launched investigations. Hong Kong raided their offices. The pattern: target lower-income communities, offer crypto incentives, collect irreplaceable biometric data. But sure. Let's trust Sam Altman with $830B. Here's the investment reality: OpenAI projects positive cash flow in 2029 or 2030. That's assuming revenue hits $200B annually. They need 70-75% growth every year for five straight years. Only a handful of companies in history have achieved that. Meanwhile, their market share is eroding. Enterprise AI leadership dropped from 50% to 34% as Anthropic and Google gain ground. Anthropic expects to break even in 2028. OpenAI expects $74B in operating losses that same year. The company needs constant fundraising to survive. If markets cool on AI, the entire model collapses. This bait-and-switch scheme is so obvious and yet it succeeds: Promise world-changing technology. Burn through investor capital. Break every promise when the cash gets tight. The nonprofit mission: Gone The "no ads" promise: Gone The safety commitments that got former researchers to resign: Gone The $100B Nvidia deal: Gone What remains is a company valued at $830B that can't turn a profit, led by a CEO who built his fortune elsewhere while preaching about humanity's benefit. That's the oldest con in Silicon Valley. NOT innovation.$

SAM ALTMAN IS PULLING OFF THE BIGGEST THEFT IN TECH HISTORY And his $100B Nvidia deal just collapsed because Jensen Huang caught on to his schemes. IT'S OVER FOR OPENAI But he's STILL trying to raise another $100B+ from Amazon, SoftBank, and sovereign wealth funds. The largest private VC round in history. But the numbers make zero sense. Let me break down why (Scam) Altman is the biggest grifter tech has ever seen: Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's $100B investment in OpenAI has completely stalled. The deal announced with tremendous fanfare in September? Dead. Jensen Huang privately told industry associates the agreement was "non-binding and not finalized." It was basically just a a press release designed to pump OpenAI's valuation. Meanwhile, Altman is flying around the world desperately seeking $100B more at an $830B valuation. Amazon is reportedly in talks for up to $50B. SoftBank just completed $41B and is discussing another $30B. The Financial Times called OpenAI an "era-defining money furnace." They're being kind. The actual numbers: OpenAI burned $8B in 2025. They project burning $17B in 2026. $35B in 2027. $47B in 2028. Cumulative cash burn through 2029? $115B. Yet they're valued at 65x revenue. At $13B in 2025 revenue and an $830B valuation, OpenAI trades at a multiple that doesn't exist in conventional SaaS benchmarking. Even in 2021, at the peak of the tech bubble, Snowflake only hit 50-80x. Meanwhile, Altman's promises keep evaporating. In May 2024, he said: "Ads plus AI is uniquely unsettling to me." He called advertising a "last resort." 20 months later: OpenAI announced ads in ChatGPT. The "last resort" arrived right on schedule. And the nonprofit-to-for-profit conversion is even worse... OpenAI started as a nonprofit with a mission to "benefit humanity." Elon Musk donated $38M based on that promise. Now the nonprofit foundation holds just 26% of the for-profit OpenAI Group. Microsoft owns 27%. Employees and investors own 47%. Greg Brockman's own words from the early days: "If we succeed, we believe we'll create orders of magnitude more value than any existing company, in which case all but a fraction is returned to the world." That fraction? It's now the majority going to private investors. Then there's Worldcoin. Altman's OTHER venture scans people's eyeballs in exchange for cryptocurrency. Kenya ordered the company to delete all biometric data after a court ruled they collected it without valid consent. Thailand demanded destruction of 1.2M iris scans. Spain banned operations. Portugal issued a 3 month suspension. Indonesia launched investigations. Hong Kong raided their offices. The pattern: target lower-income communities, offer crypto incentives, collect irreplaceable biometric data. But sure. Let's trust Sam Altman with $830B. Here's the investment reality: OpenAI projects positive cash flow in 2029 or 2030. That's assuming revenue hits $200B annually. They need 70-75% growth every year for five straight years. Only a handful of companies in history have achieved that. Meanwhile, their market share is eroding. Enterprise AI leadership dropped from 50% to 34% as Anthropic and Google gain ground. Anthropic expects to break even in 2028. OpenAI expects $74B in operating losses that same year. The company needs constant fundraising to survive. If markets cool on AI, the entire model collapses. This bait-and-switch scheme is so obvious and yet it succeeds: Promise world-changing technology. Burn through investor capital. Break every promise when the cash gets tight. The nonprofit mission: Gone The "no ads" promise: Gone The safety commitments that got former researchers to resign: Gone The $100B Nvidia deal: Gone What remains is a company valued at $830B that can't turn a profit, led by a CEO who built his fortune elsewhere while preaching about humanity's benefit. That's the oldest con in Silicon Valley. NOT innovation.

George Noble

590,436 views • 6 months ago

The final scene in The Godfather Part II, with the family gathered around the dinner table, was originally going to include Marlon Brando, but he pulled out at the very last minute. Coppola had to rewrite a whole new ending the night before the shoot. He explains: “It’s a very interesting story, because I had written this scene that we go back to, around the period just before the first Godfather, when they were all young… My idea was that they would come together, finally, at the end, as a family. And the end of the movie would be a big, beautiful scene with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, sort of summing up the whole saga that had gone down. And I was negotiating with Marlon Brando right up to the last minute saying, “Marlon, please, just one day. We’ll give you this money.” But Marlon was so mad at Paramount - for ultimately not paying him any money on the first picture, or whatever he was mad about - And although I didn’t know it until the last day, ultimately, it wasn’t going to be possible to have him in the picture. So I went to bed that night really worried. I had lost the end of my movie. I had to shoot it the next day. I had no idea what to do. I was sleeping in the Chateau Marmont Hotel. I had this scene. I had paid all this money to get Jimmy Caan to come back and some of the other actors to be in the last scene. And in the middle of the night, I just had this idea. And I wrote it - which is that they were all gathered for a surprise birthday party for the Don. And so after this scene plays out, in which Michael’s decision to join the Marines is kind of examined relative to really what all we know is going to happen, and what this young, beautiful, collegiate man who’s a war hero, who goes straight, is going to end up to be: this man without a heart, who’s killed his own brother and alienated his wife… And I thought there could be one beautiful scene with him and Don Corleone as we remember him from the first movie. Since Marlon didn’t come, I made it the surprise party, and I built it up to the point where they all said, “Oh, he’s here. He’s here.” And they all run out of the room. And as you’re waiting for Marlon to come into the room, you just stay on Al… And I came up with the solution at, like - three in the morning. And the next day they said, “Well, Marlon’s not coming.” And I said, “That’s all right. I’ve got a scene we can do without him.” And it was this one. Also, I like that staging kind of, especially about families who ultimately dissolve in front of your eyes, the idea that you have a table full of people. And one by one, someone argues or someone goes off, and then you’re just left with one … And everything else now is just sound. The father comes, and you know he’s there, and you feel he’s there, but you’re left with Michael alone.” This quote comes from the director's commentary track off the Godfather Part II Blu-ray

The final scene in The Godfather Part II, with the family gathered around the dinner table, was originally going to include Marlon Brando, but he pulled out at the very last minute. Coppola had to rewrite a whole new ending the night before the shoot. He explains: “It’s a very interesting story, because I had written this scene that we go back to, around the period just before the first Godfather, when they were all young… My idea was that they would come together, finally, at the end, as a family. And the end of the movie would be a big, beautiful scene with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, sort of summing up the whole saga that had gone down. And I was negotiating with Marlon Brando right up to the last minute saying, “Marlon, please, just one day. We’ll give you this money.” But Marlon was so mad at Paramount - for ultimately not paying him any money on the first picture, or whatever he was mad about - And although I didn’t know it until the last day, ultimately, it wasn’t going to be possible to have him in the picture. So I went to bed that night really worried. I had lost the end of my movie. I had to shoot it the next day. I had no idea what to do. I was sleeping in the Chateau Marmont Hotel. I had this scene. I had paid all this money to get Jimmy Caan to come back and some of the other actors to be in the last scene. And in the middle of the night, I just had this idea. And I wrote it - which is that they were all gathered for a surprise birthday party for the Don. And so after this scene plays out, in which Michael’s decision to join the Marines is kind of examined relative to really what all we know is going to happen, and what this young, beautiful, collegiate man who’s a war hero, who goes straight, is going to end up to be: this man without a heart, who’s killed his own brother and alienated his wife… And I thought there could be one beautiful scene with him and Don Corleone as we remember him from the first movie. Since Marlon didn’t come, I made it the surprise party, and I built it up to the point where they all said, “Oh, he’s here. He’s here.” And they all run out of the room. And as you’re waiting for Marlon to come into the room, you just stay on Al… And I came up with the solution at, like - three in the morning. And the next day they said, “Well, Marlon’s not coming.” And I said, “That’s all right. I’ve got a scene we can do without him.” And it was this one. Also, I like that staging kind of, especially about families who ultimately dissolve in front of your eyes, the idea that you have a table full of people. And one by one, someone argues or someone goes off, and then you’re just left with one … And everything else now is just sound. The father comes, and you know he’s there, and you feel he’s there, but you’re left with Michael alone.” This quote comes from the director's commentary track off the Godfather Part II Blu-ray

Gangster Cinema Central

241,562 views • 1 month ago

Big Tech is destroying American farmland to build $700 BILLION data centers filled with chips that will be worthless within 3 years. They're literally lying to you about what the math actually looks like: Nvidia releases a new chip architecture every two years and now ships upgrades annually within each generation. Every release makes the previous generation economically dead for cutting-edge AI. Jensen Huang literally said it on stage: "When Blackwell starts shipping in volume, you couldn't give Hoppers away." The next generation, Vera Rubin, ships later this year. 10x the performance per watt. 10x cheaper inference. A Princeton study found that GPUs running standard AI workloads physically survive one to two years, three at most, before thermal stress destroys them. So the chips die fast and become obsolete even faster. But here's the accounting trick that makes the whole thing look profitable: Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon are depreciating these chips over 5 to 6 years on their books. They used to use 3 years but they extended the schedule right as AI spending exploded. Meta alone extended its depreciation timeline 3 separate times in 3 years, each extension conveniently boosting quarterly earnings by billions. If you depreciate a chip over 6 years but it becomes worthless in two, your reported profits are FAKE. You're spreading the cost over years where the asset generates zero value. Your earnings look incredible on paper while the actual hardware sits in a rack burning electricity for no economic reason. Michael Burry ran the numbers on this: He estimates that from 2026 to 2028, depreciation across the hyperscalers will be understated by $176 billion. That means these companies are overstating profits by over 20%. He put 79% of his final portfolio into bets AGAINST Nvidia and Palantir before shutting down his fund entirely. Now here's where it gets criminal... These data centers need to go somewhere. And Big Tech is shoving them into rural communities that have ZERO power to fight back. 67% of new data centers are being built outside cities on farmland and in small towns. Trump signed an executive order streamlining permitting for any project over $500 million, which effectively lets developers bypass local opposition entirely. A Michigan farm town just found out what that looks like in practice: Saline Township voted NO to a $16 billion OpenAI-Oracle data center. The board rejected it 4-1. But two days later, the developer sued. And the developer is Related Digital, founded by billionaire Stephen Ross, and one of its vice presidents is married to Michigan's Secretary of State who is now running for governor. The township couldn't afford a legal war against OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. So they settled - and construction started immediately. Over 100 communities across 12 states have tried to block data center builds this year. Electricity rates are up 32% in 5 years. And every few years the entire computing infrastructure inside these buildings gets ripped out and replaced with the next generation, consuming more power, more water, and more of the local grid each cycle. The buildings are permanent, the disruption is permanent, but the chips are disposable. These towns are not hosting infrastructure. They're just absorbing the physical consequences of a financial model that needs permanent construction and permanent replacement to keep quarterly earnings looking right. The executives will simply move on and throw away the chips. But the damage will stay.

Big Tech is destroying American farmland to build $700 BILLION data centers filled with chips that will be worthless within 3 years. They're literally lying to you about what the math actually looks like: Nvidia releases a new chip architecture every two years and now ships upgrades annually within each generation. Every release makes the previous generation economically dead for cutting-edge AI. Jensen Huang literally said it on stage: "When Blackwell starts shipping in volume, you couldn't give Hoppers away." The next generation, Vera Rubin, ships later this year. 10x the performance per watt. 10x cheaper inference. A Princeton study found that GPUs running standard AI workloads physically survive one to two years, three at most, before thermal stress destroys them. So the chips die fast and become obsolete even faster. But here's the accounting trick that makes the whole thing look profitable: Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon are depreciating these chips over 5 to 6 years on their books. They used to use 3 years but they extended the schedule right as AI spending exploded. Meta alone extended its depreciation timeline 3 separate times in 3 years, each extension conveniently boosting quarterly earnings by billions. If you depreciate a chip over 6 years but it becomes worthless in two, your reported profits are FAKE. You're spreading the cost over years where the asset generates zero value. Your earnings look incredible on paper while the actual hardware sits in a rack burning electricity for no economic reason. Michael Burry ran the numbers on this: He estimates that from 2026 to 2028, depreciation across the hyperscalers will be understated by $176 billion. That means these companies are overstating profits by over 20%. He put 79% of his final portfolio into bets AGAINST Nvidia and Palantir before shutting down his fund entirely. Now here's where it gets criminal... These data centers need to go somewhere. And Big Tech is shoving them into rural communities that have ZERO power to fight back. 67% of new data centers are being built outside cities on farmland and in small towns. Trump signed an executive order streamlining permitting for any project over $500 million, which effectively lets developers bypass local opposition entirely. A Michigan farm town just found out what that looks like in practice: Saline Township voted NO to a $16 billion OpenAI-Oracle data center. The board rejected it 4-1. But two days later, the developer sued. And the developer is Related Digital, founded by billionaire Stephen Ross, and one of its vice presidents is married to Michigan's Secretary of State who is now running for governor. The township couldn't afford a legal war against OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. So they settled - and construction started immediately. Over 100 communities across 12 states have tried to block data center builds this year. Electricity rates are up 32% in 5 years. And every few years the entire computing infrastructure inside these buildings gets ripped out and replaced with the next generation, consuming more power, more water, and more of the local grid each cycle. The buildings are permanent, the disruption is permanent, but the chips are disposable. These towns are not hosting infrastructure. They're just absorbing the physical consequences of a financial model that needs permanent construction and permanent replacement to keep quarterly earnings looking right. The executives will simply move on and throw away the chips. But the damage will stay.

Ricardo

52,328 views • 2 months ago

When Michael Jackson Collapsed backstage💔💔💔😭😭 Michael Jackson Collapsed Backstage — And What Happened Next Still Feels Unbelievable Tokyo, Japan. December 30, 1992. Tokyo Dome. The Dangerous World Tour. 55,000 fans had been waiting for hours. Michael Jackson was set to go on at 8:30 p.m. But at 8:27 p.m., inside a dressing room beneath the stadium, everything stopped. No warning. No buildup. His body simply shut down. His legs gave out. His consciousness faded. The tour doctor rushed in, checking vitals. The manager began preparing for the worst — how do you tell 55,000 people the show is canceled? Security was already bracing for chaos. Then, at 8:29 p.m. — one minute before showtime — Whitney Houston walked into the room. What happened over the next three minutes has never been fully revealed. But at 8:32 p.m., Michael Jackson stepped onto that stage… and performed for two full hours with an energy no one could explain. To understand those three minutes, you have to understand what led up to them. By late 1992, the Dangerous World Tour had pushed Michael to his limits. Night after night, he delivered two-hour performances filled with nonstop dancing, live vocals, and near-perfect precision. It wasn’t sustainable. “It was like running a marathon while singing,” one tour physician later recalled. “And then doing it again the next night… and the next.” By the time the tour reached Tokyo, the strain was visible. He was losing weight. Sleeping irregularly. Running purely on adrenaline and willpower. “Between shows, he looked drained,” said tour director Kenny Ortega. “But the moment he hit the stage… something switched on.” What no one fully realized was that he was running on empty. Each performance was pulling from a reserve that wasn’t being refilled. And eventually, the body collects its debt. December 30 was supposed to be the final Tokyo show before a short break. “Just one more show… then I can rest,” Michael kept saying. But he’d been saying that for weeks. That day started like any other. Light meal at 2 p.m. Vocal warm-ups at 4. Costume and makeup at 6. Everything seemed normal. Except for one detail. His hands were shaking. “I had never seen that before,” recalled makeup artist Karen Faye. “He always had steady hands. That day… there was a tremor.” When asked if he was okay, Michael brushed it off. “Just a little tired.” At 6:30 p.m., Whitney Houston arrived at the venue. She was in Tokyo for her own shows and had come to support him. The two shared a real friendship — built on mutual understanding of fame, pressure, and the cost of it all. She checked in with his team. “He seems tired, but okay,” they told her. She asked to see him before the show. Michael sent back a message: “I’ll see her after. I need to focus.” By 7:30 p.m., he was getting into costume. The gold pants. The military-style jacket. But he was moving slower than usual. Every movement looked deliberate… like it took effort. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Karen asked again. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just saving energy for the stage.” At 8:27 p.m., his body gave out. And three minutes later… somehow… he was back. What Whitney said. What she did. What happened in that room… No one has ever fully explained it. But the show went on. And for 55,000 people that night, it was just another unforgettable Michael Jackson performance. For the few who knew what happened backstage… It was something else entirely.

When Michael Jackson Collapsed backstage💔💔💔😭😭 Michael Jackson Collapsed Backstage — And What Happened Next Still Feels Unbelievable Tokyo, Japan. December 30, 1992. Tokyo Dome. The Dangerous World Tour. 55,000 fans had been waiting for hours. Michael Jackson was set to go on at 8:30 p.m. But at 8:27 p.m., inside a dressing room beneath the stadium, everything stopped. No warning. No buildup. His body simply shut down. His legs gave out. His consciousness faded. The tour doctor rushed in, checking vitals. The manager began preparing for the worst — how do you tell 55,000 people the show is canceled? Security was already bracing for chaos. Then, at 8:29 p.m. — one minute before showtime — Whitney Houston walked into the room. What happened over the next three minutes has never been fully revealed. But at 8:32 p.m., Michael Jackson stepped onto that stage… and performed for two full hours with an energy no one could explain. To understand those three minutes, you have to understand what led up to them. By late 1992, the Dangerous World Tour had pushed Michael to his limits. Night after night, he delivered two-hour performances filled with nonstop dancing, live vocals, and near-perfect precision. It wasn’t sustainable. “It was like running a marathon while singing,” one tour physician later recalled. “And then doing it again the next night… and the next.” By the time the tour reached Tokyo, the strain was visible. He was losing weight. Sleeping irregularly. Running purely on adrenaline and willpower. “Between shows, he looked drained,” said tour director Kenny Ortega. “But the moment he hit the stage… something switched on.” What no one fully realized was that he was running on empty. Each performance was pulling from a reserve that wasn’t being refilled. And eventually, the body collects its debt. December 30 was supposed to be the final Tokyo show before a short break. “Just one more show… then I can rest,” Michael kept saying. But he’d been saying that for weeks. That day started like any other. Light meal at 2 p.m. Vocal warm-ups at 4. Costume and makeup at 6. Everything seemed normal. Except for one detail. His hands were shaking. “I had never seen that before,” recalled makeup artist Karen Faye. “He always had steady hands. That day… there was a tremor.” When asked if he was okay, Michael brushed it off. “Just a little tired.” At 6:30 p.m., Whitney Houston arrived at the venue. She was in Tokyo for her own shows and had come to support him. The two shared a real friendship — built on mutual understanding of fame, pressure, and the cost of it all. She checked in with his team. “He seems tired, but okay,” they told her. She asked to see him before the show. Michael sent back a message: “I’ll see her after. I need to focus.” By 7:30 p.m., he was getting into costume. The gold pants. The military-style jacket. But he was moving slower than usual. Every movement looked deliberate… like it took effort. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Karen asked again. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just saving energy for the stage.” At 8:27 p.m., his body gave out. And three minutes later… somehow… he was back. What Whitney said. What she did. What happened in that room… No one has ever fully explained it. But the show went on. And for 55,000 people that night, it was just another unforgettable Michael Jackson performance. For the few who knew what happened backstage… It was something else entirely.

RickelleXO

13,487 views • 2 months ago

Abdul El-Sayed Is a Paper Doctor With an Empty Résumé The people's champ has never treated a patient, and the little work he has done hasn't improved health in Detroit By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff A cop told me recently that he got a call from a rich white man complaining about a suspicious black man roaming his neighborhood. Cops hate those kinds of calls. It puts them in a bad spot. But cops have to respond to calls. So he did. Turned out, the black man was an Amazon driver. And naturally, the white man had a sign in his yard that read “Black Lives Matter.” Now, there’s a new sign on the white man’s lawn: “Abdul for U.S. Senate.” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is running on a platform of good union jobs, money out of politics, and Medicare for All. I don’t understand the attraction. It’s doubtful the rich white man ever worked in a factory or has to worry about medical bills. Let’s call it virtue signaling for virtue’s sake. It takes the sting out of white privilege. For you workday humps who’d like to know something about the candidate beyond slick 30-second commercials, it’s worth noting that El-Sayed never worked in a factory, and aside from some part-time gigs at various colleges, his resume is thin. Very thin. The first thing you need to know is that El-Sayed is a paper doctor. He’s never treated a patient, is not licensed in Michigan, and never passed the board examinations. He can’t so much as dispense aspirin from an ambulance. The second thing you need to know is that El-Sayed, 41, has worked just two real jobs in his adult life, totaling less than four years, according to his resume. This from a guy who wants to be senator for life. What’s troubling is where he worked and what he actually accomplished: He was appointed as the top public health official in Detroit and then Wayne County. Both departments are an historical quagmire of corruption and incompetence. Believe me, I know, I helped put one director behind bars for, among other things, embezzling public health dollars to pay for hair plugs. For his part, El-Sayed was appointed as Detroit’s health director in 2015 by then-Mayor Mike Duggan. At that time, as the city was emerging from its historic bankruptcy, El-Sayed’s health department was funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into a pet program run by Duggan’s mistress. The program was supposed to lower infant mortality rates in the city. After just 17 months on the job, El-Sayed resigned to run for governor. Then Mistress-gate scandal exploded and infant mortality skyrocketed. Nothing changed. To El-Sayed’s credit, before resigning as health director, he commissioned a report that showed Duggan’s demolition blitz was poisoning the city’s children. That program is now the subject of a sprawling FBI investigation. However, El-Sayed the candidate has said little about it. A couple years and cups of coffee later, El-Sayed was appointed in 2023 as the medical chief of Wayne County. According to his own campaign commercial, El-Sayed’s biggest accomplishment was a partnership with a nonprofit that supplied 16,000 eye glasses to needy children. What the commercial does not tell you is that the nonprofit existed for a decade beforehand and the county’s portion was funded primarily by Biden’s Covid bucks. One-time inflationary federal dollars is no solution to a health crisis. All the while, life expectancy in Detroit continues to crater from pre-pandemic levels, hovering around 70 years old. That’s hardly an effective record. There are also serious questions about El-Sayed’s campaigns finance problems, including indications of straw donors, actual contributors blowing past legal limits, and a Super PAC committed to spending millions of dollars on his behalf. Then there are the disturbing questions regarding the mental fitness of those he surrounds himself with, including a former staffer charged with terrorism, a current staffer who says all white women are racist (ironically, that staffer herself is a white woman), and a prominent podcaster who once said America deserved 9/11. And can we get a timeline of when he actually lived in Michigan? But those are stories for another day. Go ahead and plant your yard signs rich white guy. That's your right. Just remember, you reap what you sow.

Abdul El-Sayed Is a Paper Doctor With an Empty Résumé The people's champ has never treated a patient, and the little work he has done hasn't improved health in Detroit By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff A cop told me recently that he got a call from a rich white man complaining about a suspicious black man roaming his neighborhood. Cops hate those kinds of calls. It puts them in a bad spot. But cops have to respond to calls. So he did. Turned out, the black man was an Amazon driver. And naturally, the white man had a sign in his yard that read “Black Lives Matter.” Now, there’s a new sign on the white man’s lawn: “Abdul for U.S. Senate.” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is running on a platform of good union jobs, money out of politics, and Medicare for All. I don’t understand the attraction. It’s doubtful the rich white man ever worked in a factory or has to worry about medical bills. Let’s call it virtue signaling for virtue’s sake. It takes the sting out of white privilege. For you workday humps who’d like to know something about the candidate beyond slick 30-second commercials, it’s worth noting that El-Sayed never worked in a factory, and aside from some part-time gigs at various colleges, his resume is thin. Very thin. The first thing you need to know is that El-Sayed is a paper doctor. He’s never treated a patient, is not licensed in Michigan, and never passed the board examinations. He can’t so much as dispense aspirin from an ambulance. The second thing you need to know is that El-Sayed, 41, has worked just two real jobs in his adult life, totaling less than four years, according to his resume. This from a guy who wants to be senator for life. What’s troubling is where he worked and what he actually accomplished: He was appointed as the top public health official in Detroit and then Wayne County. Both departments are an historical quagmire of corruption and incompetence. Believe me, I know, I helped put one director behind bars for, among other things, embezzling public health dollars to pay for hair plugs. For his part, El-Sayed was appointed as Detroit’s health director in 2015 by then-Mayor Mike Duggan. At that time, as the city was emerging from its historic bankruptcy, El-Sayed’s health department was funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into a pet program run by Duggan’s mistress. The program was supposed to lower infant mortality rates in the city. After just 17 months on the job, El-Sayed resigned to run for governor. Then Mistress-gate scandal exploded and infant mortality skyrocketed. Nothing changed. To El-Sayed’s credit, before resigning as health director, he commissioned a report that showed Duggan’s demolition blitz was poisoning the city’s children. That program is now the subject of a sprawling FBI investigation. However, El-Sayed the candidate has said little about it. A couple years and cups of coffee later, El-Sayed was appointed in 2023 as the medical chief of Wayne County. According to his own campaign commercial, El-Sayed’s biggest accomplishment was a partnership with a nonprofit that supplied 16,000 eye glasses to needy children. What the commercial does not tell you is that the nonprofit existed for a decade beforehand and the county’s portion was funded primarily by Biden’s Covid bucks. One-time inflationary federal dollars is no solution to a health crisis. All the while, life expectancy in Detroit continues to crater from pre-pandemic levels, hovering around 70 years old. That’s hardly an effective record. There are also serious questions about El-Sayed’s campaigns finance problems, including indications of straw donors, actual contributors blowing past legal limits, and a Super PAC committed to spending millions of dollars on his behalf. Then there are the disturbing questions regarding the mental fitness of those he surrounds himself with, including a former staffer charged with terrorism, a current staffer who says all white women are racist (ironically, that staffer herself is a white woman), and a prominent podcaster who once said America deserved 9/11. And can we get a timeline of when he actually lived in Michigan? But those are stories for another day. Go ahead and plant your yard signs rich white guy. That's your right. Just remember, you reap what you sow.

Michigan Enjoyer

47,109 views • 1 month ago

Nessel’s Pal Drained a Dying Woman’s Bank Account, and the AG Did Nothing to Stop It An Allegan County judge doesn’t think Kornak charging $100,000 a year to be a conservator is very reasonable By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Dana Nessel. I phoned her many times over these past three years. There was a vulnerable old woman who needed help. Instead of helping, Nessel killed the investigation that would have protected her. Now, the old woman is dead. And Nessel’s reckoning is near. A probate judge in Allegan County wondered aloud two weeks ago if the old woman’s bank account had been plundered by her court-appointed conservator, Traci Kornak. Kornak is a friend of Nessel. Kornak is a friend of Whitmer. Until recently, Kornak was one of the most powerful Democrats in Michigan. According to the probate court transcripts, Kornak made large withdrawals from the estate of Rose Burd, an elderly—and legally incapacitated—woman. Kornak offered no receipts to the court. It should be noted that the elderly woman lived in an assisted living facility. Her food, lodging, and care needs were paid directly to the facility by an insurance company. Those costs were significantly less than $100,000 a year. So what did Kornak actually do over the years for the kind of money she was paying herself from Burd’s savings? We may never know. There was a $10,000 transfer from the Burd’s account to Kornak’s personal account. Kornak also billed the 87-year-old woman $1,500 for sitting in a hospital waiting room. Then there were copious charges to Burd’s bank account for things like pizza, Comcast, and unspecified merchandise from a home-repair superstore. Incredibly, the day after the old woman’s death, there were several more transactions. According to the probate judge, Kornak redacted the nature of those transactions, thus preventing the judge from seeing what exactly those posthumous expenses were. “Essentially Ms. Kornak, you were making a significant living off Ms. Burd,” said Judge Jolene Clearwater, chief of the Allegan County Probate Court. “You charged this woman nearly $100,000 over the course of one year. I’m not certain that’s reasonable.” The judge may even schedule an evidentiary hearing into the matter of Kornack’s handling of the old woman’s money. “I am going to direct that you submit receipts for these expenses,” said Judge Clearwater. “The court is concerned that it does have your name on (her) account.” “That’s totally different than how it’s been done,” Kornak complained at one point as the judge explained what the court was after. “Just because your previous accounts were allowed by the court, I can’t go back and change those,” said Judge Clearwater. “But I am going to review more carefully this last final account.” It should never have gotten to this. Kornak is a slip-and-fall lawyer and former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party. She was accused in July 2022 by the director of a West Michigan nursing home of using the account of her elderly client to fraudulently bill an insurance company for nearly $50,000. Nessel promised not to intervene in that investigation of Kornak, but documents obtained under a freedom of information request show Nessel not only breached an ethical firewall created to prevent conflicts, but Nessel’s staff in December 2022 handed the active criminal file over to Kornak herself. What’s more, those documents also reveal that Kornak admitted to Nessel’s investigator that she had indeed removed the money from the old woman’s account in order to pay her daughter for extra care provided to Ms. Burd. Kornak told the investigator that she expected to reimburse the old woman once Kornak received the insurance settlement. But there is no documentation that Kornak’s daughter ever provided care. And Kornak never received a check from the insurance company. Then there is the Attorney Grievance Commission, which concluded earlier this year (three years after an initial complaint was filed) that there was no good evidence to initiate an investigation into Kornak. Neither the commission nor Nessel’s investigators ever contacted Joe LeBlanc, the director of the nursing home who blew the whistle and provided the documents. “It’s disappointing but it was expected,” said LeBlanc. “I thought it would be covered up. Sometimes you can’t tell people the truth you have to show them. And now people are seeing it. To the judge, I say thank you. Thank you.” Nessel’s makes a grand show about protecting our elderly. You can look it up on her social media accounts. But that’s just a cynical play. Nessel did less to protect a brain-damaged elderly woman than most anyone would do for a wet stray dog. She covered for a politically connected pal. If I were Nessel, and I’m glad I’m not, I’d lawyer up. “The evidence speaks for itself,” said LeBlanc. “Nessel reached out to everybody in her book but me. I’d be happy to testify. I hope to. I want to. I’m just waiting for the call.”

Nessel’s Pal Drained a Dying Woman’s Bank Account, and the AG Did Nothing to Stop It An Allegan County judge doesn’t think Kornak charging $100,000 a year to be a conservator is very reasonable By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Dana Nessel. I phoned her many times over these past three years. There was a vulnerable old woman who needed help. Instead of helping, Nessel killed the investigation that would have protected her. Now, the old woman is dead. And Nessel’s reckoning is near. A probate judge in Allegan County wondered aloud two weeks ago if the old woman’s bank account had been plundered by her court-appointed conservator, Traci Kornak. Kornak is a friend of Nessel. Kornak is a friend of Whitmer. Until recently, Kornak was one of the most powerful Democrats in Michigan. According to the probate court transcripts, Kornak made large withdrawals from the estate of Rose Burd, an elderly—and legally incapacitated—woman. Kornak offered no receipts to the court. It should be noted that the elderly woman lived in an assisted living facility. Her food, lodging, and care needs were paid directly to the facility by an insurance company. Those costs were significantly less than $100,000 a year. So what did Kornak actually do over the years for the kind of money she was paying herself from Burd’s savings? We may never know. There was a $10,000 transfer from the Burd’s account to Kornak’s personal account. Kornak also billed the 87-year-old woman $1,500 for sitting in a hospital waiting room. Then there were copious charges to Burd’s bank account for things like pizza, Comcast, and unspecified merchandise from a home-repair superstore. Incredibly, the day after the old woman’s death, there were several more transactions. According to the probate judge, Kornak redacted the nature of those transactions, thus preventing the judge from seeing what exactly those posthumous expenses were. “Essentially Ms. Kornak, you were making a significant living off Ms. Burd,” said Judge Jolene Clearwater, chief of the Allegan County Probate Court. “You charged this woman nearly $100,000 over the course of one year. I’m not certain that’s reasonable.” The judge may even schedule an evidentiary hearing into the matter of Kornack’s handling of the old woman’s money. “I am going to direct that you submit receipts for these expenses,” said Judge Clearwater. “The court is concerned that it does have your name on (her) account.” “That’s totally different than how it’s been done,” Kornak complained at one point as the judge explained what the court was after. “Just because your previous accounts were allowed by the court, I can’t go back and change those,” said Judge Clearwater. “But I am going to review more carefully this last final account.” It should never have gotten to this. Kornak is a slip-and-fall lawyer and former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party. She was accused in July 2022 by the director of a West Michigan nursing home of using the account of her elderly client to fraudulently bill an insurance company for nearly $50,000. Nessel promised not to intervene in that investigation of Kornak, but documents obtained under a freedom of information request show Nessel not only breached an ethical firewall created to prevent conflicts, but Nessel’s staff in December 2022 handed the active criminal file over to Kornak herself. What’s more, those documents also reveal that Kornak admitted to Nessel’s investigator that she had indeed removed the money from the old woman’s account in order to pay her daughter for extra care provided to Ms. Burd. Kornak told the investigator that she expected to reimburse the old woman once Kornak received the insurance settlement. But there is no documentation that Kornak’s daughter ever provided care. And Kornak never received a check from the insurance company. Then there is the Attorney Grievance Commission, which concluded earlier this year (three years after an initial complaint was filed) that there was no good evidence to initiate an investigation into Kornak. Neither the commission nor Nessel’s investigators ever contacted Joe LeBlanc, the director of the nursing home who blew the whistle and provided the documents. “It’s disappointing but it was expected,” said LeBlanc. “I thought it would be covered up. Sometimes you can’t tell people the truth you have to show them. And now people are seeing it. To the judge, I say thank you. Thank you.” Nessel’s makes a grand show about protecting our elderly. You can look it up on her social media accounts. But that’s just a cynical play. Nessel did less to protect a brain-damaged elderly woman than most anyone would do for a wet stray dog. She covered for a politically connected pal. If I were Nessel, and I’m glad I’m not, I’d lawyer up. “The evidence speaks for itself,” said LeBlanc. “Nessel reached out to everybody in her book but me. I’d be happy to testify. I hope to. I want to. I’m just waiting for the call.”

Michigan Enjoyer

47,782 views • 9 months ago

Mike Duggan’s Poisoned Dirt Scandal Is Unraveling The city suspended a contractor for dumping bad dirt into demo holes, and now a sprawling organized crime investigation is underway By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — An ancient Buddhist proverb says there are three things that cannot long be hidden: The Sun, The Moon, and The Truth. In the “new” Detroit there is now a fourth: The Dirt. The city has quietly put out bid requests to dig up and replace poisoned dirt used by a contractor to fill demolition holes. That contractor, Brian McKinney, was suspended from city work last month after an independent investigation alleged that his company, Gayanga, used contaminated soil from the old Northland Mall to backfill holes in Detroit neighborhoods where houses once stood. McKinney, who once served prison time for weapon and drug possession, has also been banished from the city’s wrecking board pending a final report from the city’s Office of Inspector General. McKinney is appealing his suspension, claiming he got the dirt from a city-approved source. And now the whole sordid affair is starting to unravel. Michigan Enjoyer has since learned that McKinney and the city’s demolition practices are now the subject of a sprawling organized crime investigation. We have also learned that the office of Mayor Mike Duggan has ordered the name and likeness of McKinney and his companies not be mentioned or posted on the city’s social media accounts. That’s a remarkable change by Hizzoner: disappearing the man he once touted at the State of the City address as a model of minority contracting. McKinney donated to politicians, rubbed elbows with Detroit’s high society, and was even appointed to the board of Detroit Institute of Arts. McKinney—a demolition contractor by trade—rose so high in the world of fine art that he was named co-chair of the DIA’s 2024 gala. In just a few short years under Duggan’s tutelage, McKinney also became fantastically wealthy, winning $64 million in city demolition contracts alone. brian mckinney partying He leaves behind a string of angry former employees and subcontractors who claim they’ve been stiffed by McKinney for work provided. Mckinney did not respond to requests for comment on this story. How far this goes is anyone’s guess. According to city records, McKinney’s company tore down approximately 2,500 houses in the city. A random sampling of 40 of those sites revealed that 33 (80%) were filled with toxic fill dirt containing arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, and cadmium among other potential killers. This isn’t the first instance. Last year, the cost of cleaning up just one poisoned site like this was $60,000. At that price, the city might very well slide back into insolvency. Even Big Oil thinks McKinney is too toxic to deal with. On the city’s southwest side, near the Marathon refinery, sits another hellscape created by McKinney’s company. At least a dozen structures were ground up and dumped in their holes. They remain there, covered in plastic, next to lots where children live. It’s so bad, Gayanga got kicked off the job. “We have hired and onboarded a new demolition contractor,” said Amy Nusbaum, a spokeswoman for Marathon Petroleum Corp. “We are aware that Gayanga Company’s contract was suspended by the City of Detroit.” That’s of little consolation to residents of Liebold Street, who have battled the company and the city for decades over health concerns. “All I want to say is they need to clean up all this,” said Mary, an elderly woman whose grandchild was peeking through the plate glass. “Kid’s can’t play. No sidewalk. Nothing.” “They forgot all about you,” I said. “I guess so.” There is no doubt in my mind that the mayor and the city council knew about the grift in the demolition program. How could they not? I’ve been telling them for years. I sat in their offices and walked them through the documents. I wrote dozens of articles. Did a dozen television reports. So did other media outlets. There was a federal grand jury empaneled. A raid of the Land Bank Authority. A yearslong multi-million-dollar Treasury Department investigation. It all disappeared under Joe Biden, Duggan’s close friend. Now Biden is gone, and Duggan’s moving on. But the people of Detroit are still here and so is the poison. Duggan’s demolition program is quite likely Michigan’s biggest environmental catastrophe of the century. But just like the sun, the truth is finally coming out.

Mike Duggan’s Poisoned Dirt Scandal Is Unraveling The city suspended a contractor for dumping bad dirt into demo holes, and now a sprawling organized crime investigation is underway By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — An ancient Buddhist proverb says there are three things that cannot long be hidden: The Sun, The Moon, and The Truth. In the “new” Detroit there is now a fourth: The Dirt. The city has quietly put out bid requests to dig up and replace poisoned dirt used by a contractor to fill demolition holes. That contractor, Brian McKinney, was suspended from city work last month after an independent investigation alleged that his company, Gayanga, used contaminated soil from the old Northland Mall to backfill holes in Detroit neighborhoods where houses once stood. McKinney, who once served prison time for weapon and drug possession, has also been banished from the city’s wrecking board pending a final report from the city’s Office of Inspector General. McKinney is appealing his suspension, claiming he got the dirt from a city-approved source. And now the whole sordid affair is starting to unravel. Michigan Enjoyer has since learned that McKinney and the city’s demolition practices are now the subject of a sprawling organized crime investigation. We have also learned that the office of Mayor Mike Duggan has ordered the name and likeness of McKinney and his companies not be mentioned or posted on the city’s social media accounts. That’s a remarkable change by Hizzoner: disappearing the man he once touted at the State of the City address as a model of minority contracting. McKinney donated to politicians, rubbed elbows with Detroit’s high society, and was even appointed to the board of Detroit Institute of Arts. McKinney—a demolition contractor by trade—rose so high in the world of fine art that he was named co-chair of the DIA’s 2024 gala. In just a few short years under Duggan’s tutelage, McKinney also became fantastically wealthy, winning $64 million in city demolition contracts alone. brian mckinney partying He leaves behind a string of angry former employees and subcontractors who claim they’ve been stiffed by McKinney for work provided. Mckinney did not respond to requests for comment on this story. How far this goes is anyone’s guess. According to city records, McKinney’s company tore down approximately 2,500 houses in the city. A random sampling of 40 of those sites revealed that 33 (80%) were filled with toxic fill dirt containing arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, and cadmium among other potential killers. This isn’t the first instance. Last year, the cost of cleaning up just one poisoned site like this was $60,000. At that price, the city might very well slide back into insolvency. Even Big Oil thinks McKinney is too toxic to deal with. On the city’s southwest side, near the Marathon refinery, sits another hellscape created by McKinney’s company. At least a dozen structures were ground up and dumped in their holes. They remain there, covered in plastic, next to lots where children live. It’s so bad, Gayanga got kicked off the job. “We have hired and onboarded a new demolition contractor,” said Amy Nusbaum, a spokeswoman for Marathon Petroleum Corp. “We are aware that Gayanga Company’s contract was suspended by the City of Detroit.” That’s of little consolation to residents of Liebold Street, who have battled the company and the city for decades over health concerns. “All I want to say is they need to clean up all this,” said Mary, an elderly woman whose grandchild was peeking through the plate glass. “Kid’s can’t play. No sidewalk. Nothing.” “They forgot all about you,” I said. “I guess so.” There is no doubt in my mind that the mayor and the city council knew about the grift in the demolition program. How could they not? I’ve been telling them for years. I sat in their offices and walked them through the documents. I wrote dozens of articles. Did a dozen television reports. So did other media outlets. There was a federal grand jury empaneled. A raid of the Land Bank Authority. A yearslong multi-million-dollar Treasury Department investigation. It all disappeared under Joe Biden, Duggan’s close friend. Now Biden is gone, and Duggan’s moving on. But the people of Detroit are still here and so is the poison. Duggan’s demolition program is quite likely Michigan’s biggest environmental catastrophe of the century. But just like the sun, the truth is finally coming out.

Michigan Enjoyer

32,342 views • 9 months ago

Catherine Austin Fitts on "breakthrough" tech funded by taxpayers' "missing money" "they've built an awful lot of infrastructure... ships in the sky... stuff going on underground... we can run cars from water... [and] if they can get the price of graphene down... what you can do with materials is unbelievable" This clip of Fitts, a former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, investment banker, and founder of the Solari Report (The Solari Report | Catherine Austin Fitts), is taken from a discussion with Versan Aljarrah (Versan | Black Swan Capitalist), the founder of Black Swan Capitalist, posted to YouTube on July 2, 2026. ---------------Partial transcription of clip--------------- "I've tried to trace where the money theoretically could go, sort of as a conceptual matter, but I think they've built an awful lot of infrastructure which is not something we don't see when we walk around— "So, much more impressive ships in the sky, much more stuff going on underground... And especially because we're, as a society, we're using 50- and 100- year-old legacy technology. "And we know, I mean, I just know I'm in the Netherlands because my partners here I first met in 2012 because they led the breakthrough energy conferences in, in, in the Netherlands and the US, as well as the secret space program. "Because a lot of the breakthrough energy is associated with the sort of the space programs. And if you just look at the technology we've had for over 100 years to dramatically reduce the price of energy, we know this technology works. We know we can run cars from water. "We know all of this stuff is feasible. And the question is, when is it going to be allowed and integrated into the regular economy? Your guess is as good as mine, but somebody's got it. "So when the head of Lockheed Skunk Works said in 1996, we now have the technology to take ET home— That tech, I, I'm taking him for his word, I think he was telling the truth, but I don't think we've— It was, I don't know if you saw this Lockheed CEO the other day sometime in the last year on a conference call with investors was talking about the incredible technology they, they've developed, they've just developed that he can't talk about.... "I think there's a lot of technology that's going to come out of the lab over the next 10 to 15 years. And, you know, so the other day they, they built literally a modular nuclear plant that they can put in an airplane and fly to a military base. Right? "You know, you have a lot of practical applications coming. If you just look in material science, if they can get the price of graphene down, I mean, what you can do with materials is just unbelievable. "So I think, when, when Trump or these guys talk about a golden age. I don't think they're being ridiculous. I think they understand the possibilities of this technology and they get all excited about it. "But the problem is there's no way to communicate it in a way that people can really understand because the guys who want to make money from it want to, you know, keep it to themselves. So you have a— there's, there are real conflict issues on, on how this technology comes out and who knows about it. But I think the potential for technology to dramatically improve productivity is enormous."

Catherine Austin Fitts on "breakthrough" tech funded by taxpayers' "missing money" "they've built an awful lot of infrastructure... ships in the sky... stuff going on underground... we can run cars from water... [and] if they can get the price of graphene down... what you can do with materials is unbelievable" This clip of Fitts, a former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, investment banker, and founder of the Solari Report (The Solari Report | Catherine Austin Fitts), is taken from a discussion with Versan Aljarrah (Versan | Black Swan Capitalist), the founder of Black Swan Capitalist, posted to YouTube on July 2, 2026. ---------------Partial transcription of clip--------------- "I've tried to trace where the money theoretically could go, sort of as a conceptual matter, but I think they've built an awful lot of infrastructure which is not something we don't see when we walk around— "So, much more impressive ships in the sky, much more stuff going on underground... And especially because we're, as a society, we're using 50- and 100- year-old legacy technology. "And we know, I mean, I just know I'm in the Netherlands because my partners here I first met in 2012 because they led the breakthrough energy conferences in, in, in the Netherlands and the US, as well as the secret space program. "Because a lot of the breakthrough energy is associated with the sort of the space programs. And if you just look at the technology we've had for over 100 years to dramatically reduce the price of energy, we know this technology works. We know we can run cars from water. "We know all of this stuff is feasible. And the question is, when is it going to be allowed and integrated into the regular economy? Your guess is as good as mine, but somebody's got it. "So when the head of Lockheed Skunk Works said in 1996, we now have the technology to take ET home— That tech, I, I'm taking him for his word, I think he was telling the truth, but I don't think we've— It was, I don't know if you saw this Lockheed CEO the other day sometime in the last year on a conference call with investors was talking about the incredible technology they, they've developed, they've just developed that he can't talk about.... "I think there's a lot of technology that's going to come out of the lab over the next 10 to 15 years. And, you know, so the other day they, they built literally a modular nuclear plant that they can put in an airplane and fly to a military base. Right? "You know, you have a lot of practical applications coming. If you just look in material science, if they can get the price of graphene down, I mean, what you can do with materials is just unbelievable. "So I think, when, when Trump or these guys talk about a golden age. I don't think they're being ridiculous. I think they understand the possibilities of this technology and they get all excited about it. "But the problem is there's no way to communicate it in a way that people can really understand because the guys who want to make money from it want to, you know, keep it to themselves. So you have a— there's, there are real conflict issues on, on how this technology comes out and who knows about it. But I think the potential for technology to dramatically improve productivity is enormous."

Sense Receptor

16,646 views • 1 month ago

In 2018, Jeff Bezos sat down for a 70-minute interview with David Rubenstein in front of Washington's most powerful crowd and explained exactly how he thinks, decides and lives. He didn't lecture on algorithms or logistics once. He talked about knee pads, regret and going to bed early: 1. Three good decisions a day is enough Most executives think leadership means firing off calls nonstop. Bezos rejects that entirely. He explained that "As a senior executive, you get paid to make a small number of high quality decisions." Then he made the number explicit: "If I make, like, three good decisions a day, that's enough. And they should be as high quality as I can make them." 2. Protect the hours when your brain actually works He doesn't schedule his day randomly. He books his hardest thinking early and is honest about when he runs out of gas. "I like to do my high IQ meetings before lunch," he says. "Because by 5 p.m., I'm like, 'I can't think about that today. Let's try this again tomorrow.'" 3. Sleep is a strategic decision, not a luxury Bezos ran the maths on cutting his sleep to squeeze in more decisions and rejected it outright, asking "Is that really worth it if the quality of these decisions might be lower because you're tired, or grouchy or any number of things?" For him the answer was simple: "I think better, I have more energy, my mood is better." 4. Puttering in the morning isn't wasted time He doesn't rush into his inbox the second he wakes up. "I like to putter in the mornings. I like to read the newspaper. I like to drink coffee." That slow start is what makes the sharp decisions later in the day possible. 5. Trust your gut on the decisions that matter most Most founders assume the biggest calls need the most data. Bezos found the opposite. "All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, guts, ... not analysis." He was careful to add the nuance though: "If you can make a decision with analysis, you should do so. But it turns out in life that your most important decisions are always made with instinct and intuition." 6. Everything you're impressed by started small People meet Bezos now and see a trillion-dollar company. He remembers something else. "Everything I've ever done has started small. It's hard to remember for you guys, but for me it's like yesterday I was driving the packages to the post office myself and hoping one day we could afford a forklift." 7. The best idea in the room usually isn't yours Early on, Bezos was packing boxes on a concrete floor at 1am and pitched a fix for his aching knees. He admits "I didn't have packing tables. I said to one of the software engineers who was packing alongside me, 'You know what we should do? We should get knee pads.'" The engineer wasn't impressed. "And he looked at me like I was the dumbest guy he had ever seen in his life, and he said 'Jeff, we should get packing tables.'" Bezos didn't defend his own idea. He bought the tables the next day. 8. Don't feel smarter when the stock goes up Amazon's share price has swung wildly for two decades, and Bezos has trained his whole company not to read into the swings. He repeats a version of this line at every all-hands: "When the stock is up 30 percent in a month, don't feel 30 percent smarter, because when the stock is down 30 percent in a month, it's not going to feel so good to feel 30 percent dumber." He leans on the Buffett line he can't stop quoting, that "in the short run the stock market is a voting machine, in the long run it's a weighing machine." 9. Regret is about the things you didn't try Weighing whether to leave a stable Wall Street job to sell books on the internet, Bezos didn't build a spreadsheet. He thought about which choice he'd regret more at 80. His conclusion: "Our regrets are acts of omission, they're things we didn't try, it's the path untraveled." That single idea, more than any business plan, is what got Amazon started. 10. Being scrutinised is the price of being big, not something personal Asked about regulators and critics circling the tech industry, Bezos didn't get defensive. "All big institutions of any kind are going to be and should be examined, scrutinized, inspected," he said. Then he added the line that reframes the whole thing: "It's not personal, it's kind of what we as a society want to have happen." Here's the thing though.... Bezos didn't need to give this interview. He was already the richest man alive before he sat down with Rubenstein that night. But by then he'd already made himself public, buying a newspaper, showing up on stages, letting cameras into rooms most billionaires avoid. T hat single 70-minute conversation about knee pads and regret has been quoted by CNBC, Fortune, Yahoo and Bloomberg for seven years and counting. The companies made him powerful. Choosing to be visible is what made every one of his sentences travel far beyond that room in Washington, and kept compounding long after the microphones switched off. Speaking of compounding: We build massive distribution and grow personal brands on X and beyond without our clients lifting a finger. If you're a founder or VC looking for that kind of exposure, book a call below. Over a billion views and $4m attributable revenue for 17 clients to date.

In 2018, Jeff Bezos sat down for a 70-minute interview with David Rubenstein in front of Washington's most powerful crowd and explained exactly how he thinks, decides and lives. He didn't lecture on algorithms or logistics once. He talked about knee pads, regret and going to bed early: 1. Three good decisions a day is enough Most executives think leadership means firing off calls nonstop. Bezos rejects that entirely. He explained that "As a senior executive, you get paid to make a small number of high quality decisions." Then he made the number explicit: "If I make, like, three good decisions a day, that's enough. And they should be as high quality as I can make them." 2. Protect the hours when your brain actually works He doesn't schedule his day randomly. He books his hardest thinking early and is honest about when he runs out of gas. "I like to do my high IQ meetings before lunch," he says. "Because by 5 p.m., I'm like, 'I can't think about that today. Let's try this again tomorrow.'" 3. Sleep is a strategic decision, not a luxury Bezos ran the maths on cutting his sleep to squeeze in more decisions and rejected it outright, asking "Is that really worth it if the quality of these decisions might be lower because you're tired, or grouchy or any number of things?" For him the answer was simple: "I think better, I have more energy, my mood is better." 4. Puttering in the morning isn't wasted time He doesn't rush into his inbox the second he wakes up. "I like to putter in the mornings. I like to read the newspaper. I like to drink coffee." That slow start is what makes the sharp decisions later in the day possible. 5. Trust your gut on the decisions that matter most Most founders assume the biggest calls need the most data. Bezos found the opposite. "All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, guts, ... not analysis." He was careful to add the nuance though: "If you can make a decision with analysis, you should do so. But it turns out in life that your most important decisions are always made with instinct and intuition." 6. Everything you're impressed by started small People meet Bezos now and see a trillion-dollar company. He remembers something else. "Everything I've ever done has started small. It's hard to remember for you guys, but for me it's like yesterday I was driving the packages to the post office myself and hoping one day we could afford a forklift." 7. The best idea in the room usually isn't yours Early on, Bezos was packing boxes on a concrete floor at 1am and pitched a fix for his aching knees. He admits "I didn't have packing tables. I said to one of the software engineers who was packing alongside me, 'You know what we should do? We should get knee pads.'" The engineer wasn't impressed. "And he looked at me like I was the dumbest guy he had ever seen in his life, and he said 'Jeff, we should get packing tables.'" Bezos didn't defend his own idea. He bought the tables the next day. 8. Don't feel smarter when the stock goes up Amazon's share price has swung wildly for two decades, and Bezos has trained his whole company not to read into the swings. He repeats a version of this line at every all-hands: "When the stock is up 30 percent in a month, don't feel 30 percent smarter, because when the stock is down 30 percent in a month, it's not going to feel so good to feel 30 percent dumber." He leans on the Buffett line he can't stop quoting, that "in the short run the stock market is a voting machine, in the long run it's a weighing machine." 9. Regret is about the things you didn't try Weighing whether to leave a stable Wall Street job to sell books on the internet, Bezos didn't build a spreadsheet. He thought about which choice he'd regret more at 80. His conclusion: "Our regrets are acts of omission, they're things we didn't try, it's the path untraveled." That single idea, more than any business plan, is what got Amazon started. 10. Being scrutinised is the price of being big, not something personal Asked about regulators and critics circling the tech industry, Bezos didn't get defensive. "All big institutions of any kind are going to be and should be examined, scrutinized, inspected," he said. Then he added the line that reframes the whole thing: "It's not personal, it's kind of what we as a society want to have happen." Here's the thing though.... Bezos didn't need to give this interview. He was already the richest man alive before he sat down with Rubenstein that night. But by then he'd already made himself public, buying a newspaper, showing up on stages, letting cameras into rooms most billionaires avoid. T hat single 70-minute conversation about knee pads and regret has been quoted by CNBC, Fortune, Yahoo and Bloomberg for seven years and counting. The companies made him powerful. Choosing to be visible is what made every one of his sentences travel far beyond that room in Washington, and kept compounding long after the microphones switched off. Speaking of compounding: We build massive distribution and grow personal brands on X and beyond without our clients lifting a finger. If you're a founder or VC looking for that kind of exposure, book a call below. Over a billion views and $4m attributable revenue for 17 clients to date.

Lewis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

15,749 views • 12 days ago

2009. Alex Karp goes on Charlie Rose. He almost never does television. He's running a company called Palantir that has zero salespeople, took three years to build before generating a dollar of revenue, and is named after the seeing stones in The Lord of the Rings. His resume makes no sense for a tech CEO. Stanford Law, then a PhD in neoclassical social philosophy at Goethe University in Frankfurt. He spent years studying questions like "what does it mean to know something," and says the work was intelligible to maybe 30 or 40 people on earth. He co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Peter Thiel and a group of former PayPal engineers because he believed Silicon Valley should be involved in the fight against terrorism. That's the actual origin story. A philosopher and a bunch of payment processing guys decided to go after Al-Qaeda. What he says in this interview is wild in hindsight. Everyone in government at the time was doing broad data mining, casting giant algorithmic nets across datasets and hoping something useful came back. Karp called that approach broken. His argument had two parts. One: terrorists are entrepreneurs. They figure out how the last guy got caught and change their patterns overnight. A static algorithm against someone who adapts every week is a losing game. Two: when algorithms nobody understands are scanning everyone, civil liberties disappear because there's no record of what the government actually looked at or why. So Palantir built the opposite. A platform where a human analyst sits in the loop, interacts with data directly, spots patterns in real time, and every single step gets tagged. If the government looked at you, there's a paper trail. Where did the evidence come from? Were they allowed to see it? Did they use data from one case and sneak it into another? Karp called it "predicate-based search." Find the needle. Leave the haystack alone. Then he drops this line about cyber warfare: "What would have taken a large government organization can now be done with two or three teenagers in a coffee shop." In 2009. He described the attribution problem years before most people had heard the word. You get attacked, you don't know if it's a nation-state or a kid in a basement, and you, as the president, have to decide how to respond. He warned that if Americans ever felt like there was a trade-off between security and freedom, "we'll lose." The company took 17 years to go public. Seventeen. They did a direct listing in September 2020 at $9.50 a share, valued at around $16 billion. Wall Street was skeptical. Many people hated Palantir for its government work. The stock trades around $155 today. Market cap is roughly $370 billion. That's the 30th-most-valuable company on Earth, with about 4,400 employees. Revenue has crossed $4 billion a year. The guy studying what it means to know something at a German university in the 1990s is now running one of the most important defense and AI companies alive, and the interview where he laid out exactly why is sitting on YouTube with barely any views.

2009. Alex Karp goes on Charlie Rose. He almost never does television. He's running a company called Palantir that has zero salespeople, took three years to build before generating a dollar of revenue, and is named after the seeing stones in The Lord of the Rings. His resume makes no sense for a tech CEO. Stanford Law, then a PhD in neoclassical social philosophy at Goethe University in Frankfurt. He spent years studying questions like "what does it mean to know something," and says the work was intelligible to maybe 30 or 40 people on earth. He co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Peter Thiel and a group of former PayPal engineers because he believed Silicon Valley should be involved in the fight against terrorism. That's the actual origin story. A philosopher and a bunch of payment processing guys decided to go after Al-Qaeda. What he says in this interview is wild in hindsight. Everyone in government at the time was doing broad data mining, casting giant algorithmic nets across datasets and hoping something useful came back. Karp called that approach broken. His argument had two parts. One: terrorists are entrepreneurs. They figure out how the last guy got caught and change their patterns overnight. A static algorithm against someone who adapts every week is a losing game. Two: when algorithms nobody understands are scanning everyone, civil liberties disappear because there's no record of what the government actually looked at or why. So Palantir built the opposite. A platform where a human analyst sits in the loop, interacts with data directly, spots patterns in real time, and every single step gets tagged. If the government looked at you, there's a paper trail. Where did the evidence come from? Were they allowed to see it? Did they use data from one case and sneak it into another? Karp called it "predicate-based search." Find the needle. Leave the haystack alone. Then he drops this line about cyber warfare: "What would have taken a large government organization can now be done with two or three teenagers in a coffee shop." In 2009. He described the attribution problem years before most people had heard the word. You get attacked, you don't know if it's a nation-state or a kid in a basement, and you, as the president, have to decide how to respond. He warned that if Americans ever felt like there was a trade-off between security and freedom, "we'll lose." The company took 17 years to go public. Seventeen. They did a direct listing in September 2020 at $9.50 a share, valued at around $16 billion. Wall Street was skeptical. Many people hated Palantir for its government work. The stock trades around $155 today. Market cap is roughly $370 billion. That's the 30th-most-valuable company on Earth, with about 4,400 employees. Revenue has crossed $4 billion a year. The guy studying what it means to know something at a German university in the 1990s is now running one of the most important defense and AI companies alive, and the interview where he laid out exactly why is sitting on YouTube with barely any views.

Anish Moonka

112,435 views • 4 months ago

The age of the Democratic Party blocking fringe outsiders is officially over | David Marcus, Fox News There were two events on Tuesday that offered more proof of a national Democratic Party establishment that has lost control: One was a meeting, one an election, and both are harbingers of real danger on the American left. The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., between presumptive Maine Democratic Senate nominee, the Nazi tattoed, serial sexter Graham Platner and members of his party in that body. Some, mostly through wishcasting, thought this would be the end of the alleged oysters farmer’s run. Instead, it was a coronation, as was predicted in this column last week. A decade ago, one phone call from a party leader could have ended Platner’s run, but those days are gone. Today, the Democratic Socialists of America will no longer allow it. Here is what brave Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had to say about the scandal-ridden candidate: "I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate." No, if, ands, or buts. This was echoed by almost every smiling Democrat leaving the meeting. There will be no last-minute coup to oust the socialist. Instead, the party is pretending to be one big happy family. That, as they say, is that, and the reason for it is clear. Schumer and grand poobahs of the party simply no longer have any leverage over the socialist candidates storming their keep. Platner doesn’t need establishment endorsements. He has Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and commie podcaster Hasan Pike. He doesn’t need establishment money, as there are progressive billionaires more than happy to donate. Even the left-leaning media, always in lockstep with the establishment, have little influence over voters these days. As in Maine, in New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, the Democratic Party elites were unable to fend off the radical Muslim (and socialist) candidate Adam Hamawy, who not only testified on behalf of the terrorist behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but also volunteered for an Al Qaeda-linked group in Eastern Europe. At best here, the Democratic primary voters in the Garden State are trying to send a terrorist sympathizer to the halls of Congress. At worst, he is just a flat-out terrorist. At his point, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has been sounding the alarm about the craziness overtaking his party, isn’t just on an island. He’s on a whole different planet. Put bluntly, the far-left socialist extremists, with their Nazi and radical Islamic ties, are outflanking, often outspending, and absolutely outperforming the terrified geriatric leadership of the party. It’s become such a party of lunatics that, among the only partial wins the establishment notched Tuesday, in the primary to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district, was a weak first place finish for Scott Wiener, himself a leftist lunatic, now headed to a runoff. Wiener thinks that putting people on sex offender lists after sexual crimes is somehow anti-gay and would trans your toddler at the drop of a hat. But among his opponents was the former chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Democratic Socialists of America star Saikat Chakrabarti, who finished in third, failing to make the runoff. Even this seeming victory is hollow, though. Pelosi endorsed Wiener just two years after she wielded the power to tell then-President Joe Biden that his career was over. Today, she can’t get the candidate she endorsed in her own district over 50%. This realignment of Democratic Party power, away from the old-school, Ivy League establishment, into the hands of the socialists, the radical Muslims and the guys with Nazi tats, will have profound implications for the 2028 presidential race. In the last two competitive Democratic Party primary cycles, 2016 and 2020, Bernie Sanders was iced out by party leadership. Remember how, in 2020, after Biden’s surprise win in South Carolina, all the non-socialist candidates suddenly dropped out? That is how it used to work. A decade ago, the Republican Party was overtaken by Donald Trump, and the GOP establishment was left like Wile E. Coyote frantically running in the air, unaware it was already over the cliff. But Trump was part of something much bigger. In fact, he had been a member of the Reform Party, founded by H. Ross Perot in his historic 1992 third-party run and later championed by Pat Buchanan. This was a long-running populist ascendency. Today, it is the Democratic Party establishment losing touch and losing power, seeing their neoliberalism fade next to leftist populism, a populism of wealth redistribution, antisemitism and, to quote Trump, "Trans for everybody." Biden was fond of saying that today’s GOP is not "the Republican Party of your grandfather." Well, I have some news for you, Grandpa Joe: The socialist Democratic Party you left behind and the socialist barbarians you have left at the gates, don’t look a whole lot like the party that made Bill Clinton president, either. And likely, it never will again.

The age of the Democratic Party blocking fringe outsiders is officially over | David Marcus, Fox News There were two events on Tuesday that offered more proof of a national Democratic Party establishment that has lost control: One was a meeting, one an election, and both are harbingers of real danger on the American left. The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., between presumptive Maine Democratic Senate nominee, the Nazi tattoed, serial sexter Graham Platner and members of his party in that body. Some, mostly through wishcasting, thought this would be the end of the alleged oysters farmer’s run. Instead, it was a coronation, as was predicted in this column last week. A decade ago, one phone call from a party leader could have ended Platner’s run, but those days are gone. Today, the Democratic Socialists of America will no longer allow it. Here is what brave Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had to say about the scandal-ridden candidate: "I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate." No, if, ands, or buts. This was echoed by almost every smiling Democrat leaving the meeting. There will be no last-minute coup to oust the socialist. Instead, the party is pretending to be one big happy family. That, as they say, is that, and the reason for it is clear. Schumer and grand poobahs of the party simply no longer have any leverage over the socialist candidates storming their keep. Platner doesn’t need establishment endorsements. He has Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and commie podcaster Hasan Pike. He doesn’t need establishment money, as there are progressive billionaires more than happy to donate. Even the left-leaning media, always in lockstep with the establishment, have little influence over voters these days. As in Maine, in New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, the Democratic Party elites were unable to fend off the radical Muslim (and socialist) candidate Adam Hamawy, who not only testified on behalf of the terrorist behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but also volunteered for an Al Qaeda-linked group in Eastern Europe. At best here, the Democratic primary voters in the Garden State are trying to send a terrorist sympathizer to the halls of Congress. At worst, he is just a flat-out terrorist. At his point, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has been sounding the alarm about the craziness overtaking his party, isn’t just on an island. He’s on a whole different planet. Put bluntly, the far-left socialist extremists, with their Nazi and radical Islamic ties, are outflanking, often outspending, and absolutely outperforming the terrified geriatric leadership of the party. It’s become such a party of lunatics that, among the only partial wins the establishment notched Tuesday, in the primary to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district, was a weak first place finish for Scott Wiener, himself a leftist lunatic, now headed to a runoff. Wiener thinks that putting people on sex offender lists after sexual crimes is somehow anti-gay and would trans your toddler at the drop of a hat. But among his opponents was the former chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Democratic Socialists of America star Saikat Chakrabarti, who finished in third, failing to make the runoff. Even this seeming victory is hollow, though. Pelosi endorsed Wiener just two years after she wielded the power to tell then-President Joe Biden that his career was over. Today, she can’t get the candidate she endorsed in her own district over 50%. This realignment of Democratic Party power, away from the old-school, Ivy League establishment, into the hands of the socialists, the radical Muslims and the guys with Nazi tats, will have profound implications for the 2028 presidential race. In the last two competitive Democratic Party primary cycles, 2016 and 2020, Bernie Sanders was iced out by party leadership. Remember how, in 2020, after Biden’s surprise win in South Carolina, all the non-socialist candidates suddenly dropped out? That is how it used to work. A decade ago, the Republican Party was overtaken by Donald Trump, and the GOP establishment was left like Wile E. Coyote frantically running in the air, unaware it was already over the cliff. But Trump was part of something much bigger. In fact, he had been a member of the Reform Party, founded by H. Ross Perot in his historic 1992 third-party run and later championed by Pat Buchanan. This was a long-running populist ascendency. Today, it is the Democratic Party establishment losing touch and losing power, seeing their neoliberalism fade next to leftist populism, a populism of wealth redistribution, antisemitism and, to quote Trump, "Trans for everybody." Biden was fond of saying that today’s GOP is not "the Republican Party of your grandfather." Well, I have some news for you, Grandpa Joe: The socialist Democratic Party you left behind and the socialist barbarians you have left at the gates, don’t look a whole lot like the party that made Bill Clinton president, either. And likely, it never will again.

Owen Gregorian

26,711 views • 1 month ago

‡ The Pacific Classic Result It was unfortunate that Nysos was scratched, but the result was interesting, with Fierceness, the 1.6/1 second-favorite, comfortably handling Journalism, the (overbet) 2/5 choice. That the odds of the remaining five runners ranged between 22/1 and 72/1, underscored the yawning gap in quality between the top pair and the rest. So it was clearly no surprise that the "also-rans" toiled in their wake. What was surprising, at least at first glance, was how well Fierceness appeared to handle less than ideal conditions. But on closer inspection, his trip was actually far less challenging than the vast majority of post-race takes have suggested. His having ducked in soon after the start, almost making contact with the temporary extension rail, could have been a disaster, but it wasn't, and its importance has arguably been overblown. I say that because it was not similar to the trouble that he had encountered early in some of his previous races, in that he was in his own space, and was neither bumped, constricted, nor otherwise intimidated by other runners. This is an important distinction, because the mental weakness that he had previously displayed was related to close encounters with other horses, and his ducking-in after the break did not fall into that category. Inexperienced horses may suffer from that type of self-inflicted event, but given a mature, experienced runner, they are almost always forgotten quickly, which was clearly the case here. The fact that it was a long race also helped to mitigate the event, as there was no need for the rider to panic, or feel pressure to make up ground immediately. It is even possible that the early ground loss actually helped Fierceness, as had he been drawn closer to the pace early, it could have rendered him vulnerable in the late stages of the race. At the same time, due to the inside post, and how the race unfolded, Johnny Velasquez, who has done such a brilliant job keeping Fierceness outside and clear of his rivals in his previous wins, was forced to make the best of racing inside of horses. I understand why some are tempted to argue that Fierceness displayed a new dimension, as there were no obvious signs of him having been intimidated, despite the inside trip. But while I am willing to consider the possibility that he has gained confidence, I remain skeptical of any significant change, in part because it would be highly unusual for a horse to overcome that type of mental weakness midway through its four-year-old season, and/or in its 13th start. I also remain unconvinced for more subtle reasons. First, Fierceness was never bounced around, and with the possible exception of the first turn, he was never forced to race in especially tight quarters. Secondly, the rhythm of the race, after the initial duck-in, was actually smooth, and therefore beneficial to him. To understand why the above points are important, consider that Fierceness was never, so to speak, allergic to racing inside, but was more likely to face contact, be squeezed into a tight space, or have his rhythm thrown off when breaking from an inside post. In contrast, when breaking from an outside post, JV has invariably been able to place him clear of the pack, and in a comfortable, stalking rhythm. Fierceness is also essentially a free-runner, with a "light" mouth, and as such performs best when his rider allows him to dictate his own rhythm and pace. That is why, for example, Johnny V was not at all responsible for his loss in the Breeders' Cup Classic, as he is not the type of horse that a rider can take a strong hold of in order to restrain him further off of the pace, as that would discourage him. And to the great credit of both JV and Todd Pletcher, they picked up on this early on, and have done a superb job mitigating the colt's limitations, and maximizing his potential. In the Pacific Classic, despite racing on the inside, Johnny V remained cool and calm, and gave Fierceness another masterful ride. He and the colt's connections did benefit though, as none of his rivals, either intentionally or not, tightened things up significantly, or otherwise disrupted his rhythm. In fact, quite the opposite. Having tracked comfortably through much of the race, and with space around him, Fierceness displayed his trademark spurt on the final turn. And while the pan shot may suggest that he slipped though a tight opening, it was more like the red sea parting, as the embedded head-on view illustrates. If you are able to view the full head-on replay, you will find that despite racing inside, Fierceness actually enjoyed quite a comfortable trip, after the eventful few strides. A more subtle indication that we were watching the same horse as in his previous races comes :12-14 seconds into the embedded clip. When he was about to take the lead, he cocked his head to the right, as if he may have been worried about the horse outside of him. He was able to draw away from that one so quickly that it was ultimately of no practical consequence, but I would say that it implies that he hasn't suddenly developed the heart of a lion. *** Two qualities that have been crucial to Fierceness' success are his tactical speed, coupled with the separation that he produces on the final turn of his (two-turn) races. His ability to take command at that crucial stage has served him very well, particularly in his narrow win over Thorpedo Anna, and it was again on display in the Pacific Classic. A big part of the reason why that move has been such an important part of his arsenal is that it typically allows his him to take a "breather", before digging deep in an effort to fend off any late dangers. I encourage you to watch the (pan) replay of the Pacific Classic, and focus on Johnny V from around the 3/8th pole to the head of the stretch, as he was sitting like the proverbial statue. So for at least a furlong and a half, Fierceness was on cruise control, while Journalism, his only danger, was under pressure to make up ground, in an attempt to simply reach striking distance. But with all due credit to Fierceness and his rider for having produced fine efforts in the Pacific Classic, was this really an exceptionally outstanding performance, or was it at least partly a reflection of his only serious rival failing to run his best? I'm inclined to argue the latter. Despite Journalism having produced an unusually good 3yo campaign, capped by three Gr. I wins, including a Classic success in the Preakness, and never finishing worse than second, there have been some lingering questions. One of them is whether he is actually as well-suited to 10f. as he is to 8-9f. races. Yes, he was beaten in his two previous tries over 10f. by Sovereignty, a better horse. But in each race he was able to gain first-run on that one, an advantage that is typically difficult to overcome, yet lost ground late to the winner both times, and to Baeza as well, in the KY Derby. Some have suggested that he may have a tendency to loaf when in front, but I haven't seen any compelling evidence of that. And such horses typically dig in when passed, in efforts to re-engage, which we haven't seen, at least overtly, from Journalism. He also drew away from his rivals late in his first three wins. Alex Evers made this interesting comment about the kickback in the Pacific Classic: "I've photographed racing for 20 years, I've never seen kick back knock a jockeys goggles off like this." Here is a link to his supporting photos, which are typically excellent: Could that have discouraged Journalism? I suppose that it could have been an impediment, but he is such a tough and honest horse, that I would be surprised to learn that it was a meaningful factor. By contemporary standards, Journalism has also had a busy campaign, having raced a touch over once per month since March, all but one of which in Grade I events, and four times well away from his home base. So it is possible that he is beginning to feel the effects of those races, and travels. I have also noted that from a Beyer figure standpoint, he hasn't really moved forward, and it's worth noting that in contrast to Sovereignty and Baeza, both of which were late (May) foals, Journalism was a February foal, and may not have had quite as much room to improve. I don't know why he lagged so far behind in the early stages of the Pacific Classic, or if there was any tactical intention behind it. I had previously suggested that it might make sense to ride him more patiently, a tactic that is sometimes adopted when there are questions about a horse staying a trip. But I didn't notice any improved late kick, so it's difficult to interpret the performance. Fierceness earned a 107 Beyer figure for his victory, slower than his best three races last year, and merely equivalent to his comeback victory in the Gr. II Alysheba at Churchill Downs, in May. That doesn't suggest that it was a particularly outstanding performance. Journalism was given a 102, which implies that the return to his home court did not catalyze any notable forward move. *** I would say that there is one relevant pattern that has emerged, namely that Fierceness has an apparent affinity for the faster, high energy return track surfaces in California. He has now contested three races in CA (Beyer): 1st Breeders' Cup Juvenile (105) 2nd Breeders' Cup Classic (111) 1st Pacific Classic (107) It's also interesting to compare the colt's first and last half-mile fractions in his effort in last year's BCC, and the PC, both contested at Del Mar over 10f.: BCC – :45 1/5 • :51 3/5 PC – :46 1/5 • :50 2/5 Predictably, he finished better in the PC, thanks to more manageable early fractions. But would a repeat of that effort be nearly sufficient to win this year's Classic? Given the various points noted above, coupled with Sovereignty's continued improvement, and seemingly bottomless stamina, I would be inclined to say no. And that's before even factoring Sierra Leone, Mindframe, Forever Young, et al, into the conversation. But setting aside all of the fine parsing, I'm happy to congratulate Repole Stable, and Fierceness' other connections, for having shipped to California, and for being rewarded with an exciting, winning effort. Assuming that the colt makes it to the Breeders' Cup Classic in good order, he should minimally add spice to the race, and who knows, perhaps even provide a serious challenge to knock Sovereignty off of his current throne.

‡ The Pacific Classic Result It was unfortunate that Nysos was scratched, but the result was interesting, with Fierceness, the 1.6/1 second-favorite, comfortably handling Journalism, the (overbet) 2/5 choice. That the odds of the remaining five runners ranged between 22/1 and 72/1, underscored the yawning gap in quality between the top pair and the rest. So it was clearly no surprise that the "also-rans" toiled in their wake. What was surprising, at least at first glance, was how well Fierceness appeared to handle less than ideal conditions. But on closer inspection, his trip was actually far less challenging than the vast majority of post-race takes have suggested. His having ducked in soon after the start, almost making contact with the temporary extension rail, could have been a disaster, but it wasn't, and its importance has arguably been overblown. I say that because it was not similar to the trouble that he had encountered early in some of his previous races, in that he was in his own space, and was neither bumped, constricted, nor otherwise intimidated by other runners. This is an important distinction, because the mental weakness that he had previously displayed was related to close encounters with other horses, and his ducking-in after the break did not fall into that category. Inexperienced horses may suffer from that type of self-inflicted event, but given a mature, experienced runner, they are almost always forgotten quickly, which was clearly the case here. The fact that it was a long race also helped to mitigate the event, as there was no need for the rider to panic, or feel pressure to make up ground immediately. It is even possible that the early ground loss actually helped Fierceness, as had he been drawn closer to the pace early, it could have rendered him vulnerable in the late stages of the race. At the same time, due to the inside post, and how the race unfolded, Johnny Velasquez, who has done such a brilliant job keeping Fierceness outside and clear of his rivals in his previous wins, was forced to make the best of racing inside of horses. I understand why some are tempted to argue that Fierceness displayed a new dimension, as there were no obvious signs of him having been intimidated, despite the inside trip. But while I am willing to consider the possibility that he has gained confidence, I remain skeptical of any significant change, in part because it would be highly unusual for a horse to overcome that type of mental weakness midway through its four-year-old season, and/or in its 13th start. I also remain unconvinced for more subtle reasons. First, Fierceness was never bounced around, and with the possible exception of the first turn, he was never forced to race in especially tight quarters. Secondly, the rhythm of the race, after the initial duck-in, was actually smooth, and therefore beneficial to him. To understand why the above points are important, consider that Fierceness was never, so to speak, allergic to racing inside, but was more likely to face contact, be squeezed into a tight space, or have his rhythm thrown off when breaking from an inside post. In contrast, when breaking from an outside post, JV has invariably been able to place him clear of the pack, and in a comfortable, stalking rhythm. Fierceness is also essentially a free-runner, with a "light" mouth, and as such performs best when his rider allows him to dictate his own rhythm and pace. That is why, for example, Johnny V was not at all responsible for his loss in the Breeders' Cup Classic, as he is not the type of horse that a rider can take a strong hold of in order to restrain him further off of the pace, as that would discourage him. And to the great credit of both JV and Todd Pletcher, they picked up on this early on, and have done a superb job mitigating the colt's limitations, and maximizing his potential. In the Pacific Classic, despite racing on the inside, Johnny V remained cool and calm, and gave Fierceness another masterful ride. He and the colt's connections did benefit though, as none of his rivals, either intentionally or not, tightened things up significantly, or otherwise disrupted his rhythm. In fact, quite the opposite. Having tracked comfortably through much of the race, and with space around him, Fierceness displayed his trademark spurt on the final turn. And while the pan shot may suggest that he slipped though a tight opening, it was more like the red sea parting, as the embedded head-on view illustrates. If you are able to view the full head-on replay, you will find that despite racing inside, Fierceness actually enjoyed quite a comfortable trip, after the eventful few strides. A more subtle indication that we were watching the same horse as in his previous races comes :12-14 seconds into the embedded clip. When he was about to take the lead, he cocked his head to the right, as if he may have been worried about the horse outside of him. He was able to draw away from that one so quickly that it was ultimately of no practical consequence, but I would say that it implies that he hasn't suddenly developed the heart of a lion. * Two qualities that have been crucial to Fierceness' success are his tactical speed, coupled with the separation that he produces on the final turn of his (two-turn) races. His ability to take command at that crucial stage has served him very well, particularly in his narrow win over Thorpedo Anna, and it was again on display in the Pacific Classic. A big part of the reason why that move has been such an important part of his arsenal is that it typically allows his him to take a "breather", before digging deep in an effort to fend off any late dangers. I encourage you to watch the (pan) replay of the Pacific Classic, and focus on Johnny V from around the 3/8th pole to the head of the stretch, as he was sitting like the proverbial statue. So for at least a furlong and a half, Fierceness was on cruise control, while Journalism, his only danger, was under pressure to make up ground, in an attempt to simply reach striking distance. But with all due credit to Fierceness and his rider for having produced fine efforts in the Pacific Classic, was this really an exceptionally outstanding performance, or was it at least partly a reflection of his only serious rival failing to run his best? I'm inclined to argue the latter. Despite Journalism having produced an unusually good 3yo campaign, capped by three Gr. I wins, including a Classic success in the Preakness, and never finishing worse than second, there have been some lingering questions. One of them is whether he is actually as well-suited to 10f. as he is to 8-9f. races. Yes, he was beaten in his two previous tries over 10f. by Sovereignty, a better horse. But in each race he was able to gain first-run on that one, an advantage that is typically difficult to overcome, yet lost ground late to the winner both times, and to Baeza as well, in the KY Derby. Some have suggested that he may have a tendency to loaf when in front, but I haven't seen any compelling evidence of that. And such horses typically dig in when passed, in efforts to re-engage, which we haven't seen, at least overtly, from Journalism. He also drew away from his rivals late in his first three wins. Alex Evers made this interesting comment about the kickback in the Pacific Classic: "I've photographed racing for 20 years, I've never seen kick back knock a jockeys goggles off like this." Here is a link to his supporting photos, which are typically excellent: Could that have discouraged Journalism? I suppose that it could have been an impediment, but he is such a tough and honest horse, that I would be surprised to learn that it was a meaningful factor. By contemporary standards, Journalism has also had a busy campaign, having raced a touch over once per month since March, all but one of which in Grade I events, and four times well away from his home base. So it is possible that he is beginning to feel the effects of those races, and travels. I have also noted that from a Beyer figure standpoint, he hasn't really moved forward, and it's worth noting that in contrast to Sovereignty and Baeza, both of which were late (May) foals, Journalism was a February foal, and may not have had quite as much room to improve. I don't know why he lagged so far behind in the early stages of the Pacific Classic, or if there was any tactical intention behind it. I had previously suggested that it might make sense to ride him more patiently, a tactic that is sometimes adopted when there are questions about a horse staying a trip. But I didn't notice any improved late kick, so it's difficult to interpret the performance. Fierceness earned a 107 Beyer figure for his victory, slower than his best three races last year, and merely equivalent to his comeback victory in the Gr. II Alysheba at Churchill Downs, in May. That doesn't suggest that it was a particularly outstanding performance. Journalism was given a 102, which implies that the return to his home court did not catalyze any notable forward move. * I would say that there is one relevant pattern that has emerged, namely that Fierceness has an apparent affinity for the faster, high energy return track surfaces in California. He has now contested three races in CA (Beyer): 1st Breeders' Cup Juvenile (105) 2nd Breeders' Cup Classic (111) 1st Pacific Classic (107) It's also interesting to compare the colt's first and last half-mile fractions in his effort in last year's BCC, and the PC, both contested at Del Mar over 10f.: BCC – :45 1/5 • :51 3/5 PC – :46 1/5 • :50 2/5 Predictably, he finished better in the PC, thanks to more manageable early fractions. But would a repeat of that effort be nearly sufficient to win this year's Classic? Given the various points noted above, coupled with Sovereignty's continued improvement, and seemingly bottomless stamina, I would be inclined to say no. And that's before even factoring Sierra Leone, Mindframe, Forever Young, et al, into the conversation. But setting aside all of the fine parsing, I'm happy to congratulate Repole Stable, and Fierceness' other connections, for having shipped to California, and for being rewarded with an exciting, winning effort. Assuming that the colt makes it to the Breeders' Cup Classic in good order, he should minimally add spice to the race, and who knows, perhaps even provide a serious challenge to knock Sovereignty off of his current throne.

Tinky

10,516 views • 11 months ago

Ten Takeaways From 10/21/25 ONE) NBA on NBC Hello, friends. Welcome to the 2025-26 NBA season. It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? A whole lot has changed since we last spoke. We were reintroduced to the NBA on NBC. Can’t believe it’s been almost 25 years, but here we are again. They absolutely crushed it after having some early audio difficulties. I get how cliché it is, but I seriously got chills once “Roundball Rock” started playing. Thought Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady had contagious energy in the pre-game coverage. The graphics are clean and straightforward. Really like the team fouls tracking in the score bug—just a very pleasant experience. Looking forward to the “Prime” experience. God, can’t believe it costs $650 to watch basketball now. We need to talk about the MJ segment, though. If you’ve been living under a rock, NBC shocked the world and somehow convinced Michael Jordan to sign on as a “special contributor”. “Insights to Excellence” is sadly everything I thought it would be… nothing. He wasn’t in the studio or anything. Looked like some pre-recorded interview with Mike Tirico from who knows when at his house, talking about why he’s come out of hiding. The thing lasted about three and a half minutes. “To pay it forward. I had the obligation to basketball.” - MJ on the decision to join NBC Okay Mike. Hoping for some actual insight in future recordings. TWO) Champs Are Here OKC received their rings and raised their banner before the game. Vibes were immaculate. Dillon Jones was even in attendance. Good thing the Wizards waived him just in time for him to make his flight. Rockets weren’t having it, though. Ime Udoka said that they didn’t watch the ceremony and were instead focused on trying to ruin their night. Kevin Durant came out for warmups to loud boos, and so he booed them back. Everyone laughed. Meanwhile, Steven Adams still gets loud cheers because, well, who doesn’t love Steven Adams? It was a rough go-around for all Thunder not named Chet Holmgren (28 points, 11-17 FG) to start, especially SGA. He had just five points at the half on 40.0% shooting (2-5 FG), but you can only contain the league and Finals MVP for so long. He scored 24 of his 35 points in the 4th quarter and overtimes. What’s up with the four missed free throws (10-14 FT)? "I'm glad the guys enjoyed the ceremony. That's a great, great life event they had." - Mark Daigneault "It was surreal. I don't know how to describe it besides that. Seeing the banner raised was cool too... I'll remember it for the rest of my life." - SGA on the pregame ceremony THREE) Thunder Starters One of the more critical questions going into Opening Night was, “Who’s the 5th Thunder starter?” as we wait for JDub’s wrist to get right. SGA, Dort, Chet, and IHart felt obvious. Between Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins, and Cason Wallace, I leaned Cason mainly because of the bigger picture. Didn’t make sense to start Alex after managing him all last year, but then he started in every preseason game he played. Had to give that some sort of credit (and we did). Well, they ended up doing what they did a lot last year: change it up midway. Wallace started, and then Caruso started the second half… for Hartenstein. Here we go again. Cason’s playmaking looks improved. Daigneault went 11 deep (!!!) in the first quarter. Rookie, Brooks Barnhizer was the fourth sub off the bench, played about two minutes, and was never seen again. Part of that reason is Ajay Mitchell, who checked in after him (for Shai). There’s been some buzz, going back to his standout Summer League (19.8 ppg, 5.3 apg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 spg). He scored 12 of his 16 points in the second quarter. “Not surprised. He was playing like this before he got hurt last year.” - Mark Daigneault on Ajay Mitchell FOUR) Jumbo Lineup It’s not much of a surprise to see Udoka start with the Steven Adams/Alperen Sengun pairing after how dominant they looked at the end of last season (+29.9 net rating, 162 minutes)—especially given the matchup, with Holmgren and Hartenstein on the other side. The real shocker is how much they leaned into it. Alpi and Adams shared the court for over 30 minutes (+8). LIKE WTF?!!! This was Adams' first time touching 37 minutes since November 9, 2022. They did just sign him to a three-year extension. You’d think they might wanna be careful with their investment. The average height of this Rockets' starting lineup is 6'10 (Thompson, Durant, Smith, Sengun, Adams), LMAO FIVE) Alpi Dominance Continues Maybe what Sengun was doing at EuroBasket 2025 (21.6 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 6.6 apg, 1.0 spg, and 1.1 bpg) translates over? Not gonna lie, I certainly had my doubts, but no… he’s looking just as dominant (I know, one game). Alperen Sengun vs Thunder: 39 PTS 11 REB 7 AST 2 STL 5-8 3P (career-high) 10-11 FT 27.7% USG Yeah, I see it too. Second time in his career, he’s attempted eight threes. Dude averaged 1.2 attempts per game last year. The hitch in his shot appears to be gone, so hey, this could be real (doubt it). All I know is that if it is, it’ll do wonders for his ceiling on sites that reward threes (DK). Also, going 10 of 11 from the line is something worth paying attention to. He was a 69.2% free-throw shooter last season. On the flip side, Amen Thompson (18 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast) had seven attempts from behind the arc and missed them all. Sucks, but his shot still looks flat. There’s no lift. While we’re here on Thompson, he had to leave the game late because of cramps. SIX) The Reed Conundrum I’ll give Reed Sheppard (9 pts, 4 ast, 37.9% TS, 28 min) this; he’s a confident motherfucker, and I love that about him (in a cute way). It’s hilarious how many times he looked off KD in this game. He’s gonna have stretches where he’s feeling it and looks automatic, but is it really gonna be worth it if his defense looks this dreadful? He can’t stay in front of anyone. The Thunder hunted and won that matchup with ease all night. Amen getting cramped up in OT1 really salvaged his minutes, cause I didn’t think he was gonna see the court again. Again, I know it’s only one game, but a couple more performances like this and things could get ugly. SEVEN) KD Gets Away With One Or should that say gets away with none? Kevin Durant (23 points, 9 rebounds) made his Rockets debut, and there’re gonna be two things you take away from it. Why’d you trade for him again? He was pretty much non-existent when they needed him most down the stretch, with a 12.5 USG% in both OT’s. There shouldn’t have been a second overtime. KD was clearly seen calling for a timeout after a rebound with about a second left on the clock. The problem is, they didn’t have any–He Webber’d it. He should have been T’d up, giving the Thunder a free throw to potentially end the game. Zarba and his buddies even got together to talk it over once the buzzer sounded, but did nothing. Strange, but luckily, it didn’t end up mattering much since OKC won in the second overtime. “Kevin definitely called timeout 3 times… They just missed it.” - SGA The Thunder beat the Rockets 125-124. EIGHT) Kuminga Starts Gallagher and I both felt pretty confident (sounds so stupid saying that with Kerr) that had Mosey Moody been available for this one, he would have been named the fifth starter, but his calf’s still bothering him. Steve Kerr decided to start Jonathan Kuminga (17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 33 minutes) instead, rewarding him for a strong preseason. There might be some more rewards coming because, whew, this is exactly what they’ve been wanting to see from him for the last couple of years, especially the boards. You wouldn’t know it from looking at Luka’s box score, but JK did about as well as you could defending him; he made his threes (4-6 3PT) and consistently found the open man. I’m gonna go ahead and guess that he starts again against Denver on Thursday Let the showcasing begin. “When you ask for opportunity, you must deliver. He’s been very vocal about his opportunity and he delivered.” - Draymond Green on Jonathan Kuminga “I just wanna help JK be great… We’ve been kickin' it. Hanging out. Watching film and just working on our game together. I know how great he wants to be and how great he can be.” - Jimmy Butler on mentoring Jonathan Kuminga NINE) Jimmy Being Jimmy One of the funnier moments of the night came post-game, when Jimmy Butler talked about a bet he made with Draymond Green. The wager is that he’ll have a better free-throw percentage than Steph Curry this season. Deadass, hahaha. He admitted that it’s probably a bad bet but I still love that he does this type of shit. Two years ago, he said he was playfully aiming to shoot 50.0% from three. He obviously didn’t hit that mark, but he did shoot a career-best 41.4% that season. If you’re wondering how the bet is looking to start after Game 1: Jimmy Butler: 16-16 FT (100.0%) Steph Curry: 8-8 FT (100.0%) Will keep you updated as the season goes. Jesus, 16 free throw attempts. “No chance.” - Steph Curry when asked if Jimmy Butler has any shot at winning the bet Before we’re done with GS, a shoutout to Will Richard (5 points, 14 minutes). We tease Kerr all the time about playing these randos, but this kid looks like he can actually play. TEN) All Luka and Austin The Lakers are gonna struggle hard while LeBron’s out. They just don’t have any other guys on the team that can create. Luka Doncic (43 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 34.7% USG) and Austin Reaves (26 points, 9 assists, 30.1% USG) scored or assisted on 97 of the Lakers' 109 points. So wild. Marcus Smart (9 points) was the first sub off the bench. As for DeAndre Ayton’s debut (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 turnovers), let’s just say it didn’t take long for the Lakers’ fan base to turn on him. Poor guy looked lost out there. "We just started. This is probably the second game we've played together." - Rui Hachimura on what the difference was for the Lakers "The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team." - JJ Redick The Warriors beat the Lakers 119-109.

Ten Takeaways From 10/21/25 ONE) NBA on NBC Hello, friends. Welcome to the 2025-26 NBA season. It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? A whole lot has changed since we last spoke. We were reintroduced to the NBA on NBC. Can’t believe it’s been almost 25 years, but here we are again. They absolutely crushed it after having some early audio difficulties. I get how cliché it is, but I seriously got chills once “Roundball Rock” started playing. Thought Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady had contagious energy in the pre-game coverage. The graphics are clean and straightforward. Really like the team fouls tracking in the score bug—just a very pleasant experience. Looking forward to the “Prime” experience. God, can’t believe it costs $650 to watch basketball now. We need to talk about the MJ segment, though. If you’ve been living under a rock, NBC shocked the world and somehow convinced Michael Jordan to sign on as a “special contributor”. “Insights to Excellence” is sadly everything I thought it would be… nothing. He wasn’t in the studio or anything. Looked like some pre-recorded interview with Mike Tirico from who knows when at his house, talking about why he’s come out of hiding. The thing lasted about three and a half minutes. “To pay it forward. I had the obligation to basketball.” - MJ on the decision to join NBC Okay Mike. Hoping for some actual insight in future recordings. TWO) Champs Are Here OKC received their rings and raised their banner before the game. Vibes were immaculate. Dillon Jones was even in attendance. Good thing the Wizards waived him just in time for him to make his flight. Rockets weren’t having it, though. Ime Udoka said that they didn’t watch the ceremony and were instead focused on trying to ruin their night. Kevin Durant came out for warmups to loud boos, and so he booed them back. Everyone laughed. Meanwhile, Steven Adams still gets loud cheers because, well, who doesn’t love Steven Adams? It was a rough go-around for all Thunder not named Chet Holmgren (28 points, 11-17 FG) to start, especially SGA. He had just five points at the half on 40.0% shooting (2-5 FG), but you can only contain the league and Finals MVP for so long. He scored 24 of his 35 points in the 4th quarter and overtimes. What’s up with the four missed free throws (10-14 FT)? "I'm glad the guys enjoyed the ceremony. That's a great, great life event they had." - Mark Daigneault "It was surreal. I don't know how to describe it besides that. Seeing the banner raised was cool too... I'll remember it for the rest of my life." - SGA on the pregame ceremony THREE) Thunder Starters One of the more critical questions going into Opening Night was, “Who’s the 5th Thunder starter?” as we wait for JDub’s wrist to get right. SGA, Dort, Chet, and IHart felt obvious. Between Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins, and Cason Wallace, I leaned Cason mainly because of the bigger picture. Didn’t make sense to start Alex after managing him all last year, but then he started in every preseason game he played. Had to give that some sort of credit (and we did). Well, they ended up doing what they did a lot last year: change it up midway. Wallace started, and then Caruso started the second half… for Hartenstein. Here we go again. Cason’s playmaking looks improved. Daigneault went 11 deep (!!!) in the first quarter. Rookie, Brooks Barnhizer was the fourth sub off the bench, played about two minutes, and was never seen again. Part of that reason is Ajay Mitchell, who checked in after him (for Shai). There’s been some buzz, going back to his standout Summer League (19.8 ppg, 5.3 apg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 spg). He scored 12 of his 16 points in the second quarter. “Not surprised. He was playing like this before he got hurt last year.” - Mark Daigneault on Ajay Mitchell FOUR) Jumbo Lineup It’s not much of a surprise to see Udoka start with the Steven Adams/Alperen Sengun pairing after how dominant they looked at the end of last season (+29.9 net rating, 162 minutes)—especially given the matchup, with Holmgren and Hartenstein on the other side. The real shocker is how much they leaned into it. Alpi and Adams shared the court for over 30 minutes (+8). LIKE WTF?!!! This was Adams' first time touching 37 minutes since November 9, 2022. They did just sign him to a three-year extension. You’d think they might wanna be careful with their investment. The average height of this Rockets' starting lineup is 6'10 (Thompson, Durant, Smith, Sengun, Adams), LMAO FIVE) Alpi Dominance Continues Maybe what Sengun was doing at EuroBasket 2025 (21.6 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 6.6 apg, 1.0 spg, and 1.1 bpg) translates over? Not gonna lie, I certainly had my doubts, but no… he’s looking just as dominant (I know, one game). Alperen Sengun vs Thunder: 39 PTS 11 REB 7 AST 2 STL 5-8 3P (career-high) 10-11 FT 27.7% USG Yeah, I see it too. Second time in his career, he’s attempted eight threes. Dude averaged 1.2 attempts per game last year. The hitch in his shot appears to be gone, so hey, this could be real (doubt it). All I know is that if it is, it’ll do wonders for his ceiling on sites that reward threes (DK). Also, going 10 of 11 from the line is something worth paying attention to. He was a 69.2% free-throw shooter last season. On the flip side, Amen Thompson (18 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast) had seven attempts from behind the arc and missed them all. Sucks, but his shot still looks flat. There’s no lift. While we’re here on Thompson, he had to leave the game late because of cramps. SIX) The Reed Conundrum I’ll give Reed Sheppard (9 pts, 4 ast, 37.9% TS, 28 min) this; he’s a confident motherfucker, and I love that about him (in a cute way). It’s hilarious how many times he looked off KD in this game. He’s gonna have stretches where he’s feeling it and looks automatic, but is it really gonna be worth it if his defense looks this dreadful? He can’t stay in front of anyone. The Thunder hunted and won that matchup with ease all night. Amen getting cramped up in OT1 really salvaged his minutes, cause I didn’t think he was gonna see the court again. Again, I know it’s only one game, but a couple more performances like this and things could get ugly. SEVEN) KD Gets Away With One Or should that say gets away with none? Kevin Durant (23 points, 9 rebounds) made his Rockets debut, and there’re gonna be two things you take away from it. Why’d you trade for him again? He was pretty much non-existent when they needed him most down the stretch, with a 12.5 USG% in both OT’s. There shouldn’t have been a second overtime. KD was clearly seen calling for a timeout after a rebound with about a second left on the clock. The problem is, they didn’t have any–He Webber’d it. He should have been T’d up, giving the Thunder a free throw to potentially end the game. Zarba and his buddies even got together to talk it over once the buzzer sounded, but did nothing. Strange, but luckily, it didn’t end up mattering much since OKC won in the second overtime. “Kevin definitely called timeout 3 times… They just missed it.” - SGA The Thunder beat the Rockets 125-124. EIGHT) Kuminga Starts Gallagher and I both felt pretty confident (sounds so stupid saying that with Kerr) that had Mosey Moody been available for this one, he would have been named the fifth starter, but his calf’s still bothering him. Steve Kerr decided to start Jonathan Kuminga (17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 33 minutes) instead, rewarding him for a strong preseason. There might be some more rewards coming because, whew, this is exactly what they’ve been wanting to see from him for the last couple of years, especially the boards. You wouldn’t know it from looking at Luka’s box score, but JK did about as well as you could defending him; he made his threes (4-6 3PT) and consistently found the open man. I’m gonna go ahead and guess that he starts again against Denver on Thursday Let the showcasing begin. “When you ask for opportunity, you must deliver. He’s been very vocal about his opportunity and he delivered.” - Draymond Green on Jonathan Kuminga “I just wanna help JK be great… We’ve been kickin' it. Hanging out. Watching film and just working on our game together. I know how great he wants to be and how great he can be.” - Jimmy Butler on mentoring Jonathan Kuminga NINE) Jimmy Being Jimmy One of the funnier moments of the night came post-game, when Jimmy Butler talked about a bet he made with Draymond Green. The wager is that he’ll have a better free-throw percentage than Steph Curry this season. Deadass, hahaha. He admitted that it’s probably a bad bet but I still love that he does this type of shit. Two years ago, he said he was playfully aiming to shoot 50.0% from three. He obviously didn’t hit that mark, but he did shoot a career-best 41.4% that season. If you’re wondering how the bet is looking to start after Game 1: Jimmy Butler: 16-16 FT (100.0%) Steph Curry: 8-8 FT (100.0%) Will keep you updated as the season goes. Jesus, 16 free throw attempts. “No chance.” - Steph Curry when asked if Jimmy Butler has any shot at winning the bet Before we’re done with GS, a shoutout to Will Richard (5 points, 14 minutes). We tease Kerr all the time about playing these randos, but this kid looks like he can actually play. TEN) All Luka and Austin The Lakers are gonna struggle hard while LeBron’s out. They just don’t have any other guys on the team that can create. Luka Doncic (43 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 34.7% USG) and Austin Reaves (26 points, 9 assists, 30.1% USG) scored or assisted on 97 of the Lakers' 109 points. So wild. Marcus Smart (9 points) was the first sub off the bench. As for DeAndre Ayton’s debut (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 turnovers), let’s just say it didn’t take long for the Lakers’ fan base to turn on him. Poor guy looked lost out there. "We just started. This is probably the second game we've played together." - Rui Hachimura on what the difference was for the Lakers "The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team." - JJ Redick The Warriors beat the Lakers 119-109.

Establish The Run NBA

13,499 views • 9 months ago

In all my years of broadcasting, I'd never gotten emotional on air until tonight. It was impossible to hold back the tears. Jack Piccione of Tappan Zee lost his father suddenly last Sept. 1. Matthew Piccione died of a heart attack minutes after playing pickleball with friends. He was 51. Over the last three years, I got to know Matthew Piccione fairly well. One day back in 2023, he asked coach George Gaine for my number so he could call me just to say thank you for calling out Jack's contributions during Tappan Zee's championship run. Jack was a role player who averaged maybe 5 points a game as a freshman. But he started and never came off the court. "I know he doesn't score a lot of points," Matthew Piccione said. "But you are one of the only people who appreciates what he does for the team." Matthew Piccione kept a very low profile at games and reinforced in his son to be the emodiment of all the things that make Tappan Zee basketball different than any other program in the state. Play unselfish. Defend. Be coachable. Defend. Draw charges. Pass. Sacrifice for your teammates. And, of course, defend some more. Nobody in the history of Tappan Zee basketball since I have been covering has ever played that role better than Jack Piccione. He's the best best defensive player in the program and is on an elite level of players I've been around in Section 1. When Matthew died in September, I worried about Jack. I wondered what his senior season might be like. The person most responsible for instilling and reinforcing the values that made Jack great was now tragically gone. Tonight, Jack Piccione scored 5 points in the Section 1 Championship game. FIVE. Yet not only did his team because of his performance, I had the honor of handing him the MVP Trophy to prove it. In the final 90 seconds of the game, I shared the story of Matthew Piccione and his passing. You will hear the emotion in my voice. It's genuine, not because of any relationship I had with him. You just can't be a sports parent and not relate to loving your child and always wanting what's best for them. Because here's what I am going to tell you. And I really want all parents to read this and remember it: Your kids' youth - not just athletics, but all of it - is short and it's precious. You don't get this time back when it's over. It goes way too quick. And some don't even get to see it to the end. You have a choice: You can spend this period of their lives stressing about how many points they score, what awards or accolades they receive, begging people to vote in the online poll for Player of the Week, emailing the coach and complaining about playing time or lamenting the number of shots they get in a game. Go ahead. You can make all of that important for yourself and your child. Trust me, you won't be alone in doing so. Or you can do what Matthew Piccione did. Sit in the stands and enjoy watching your children compete. Teach them that it's team above all else, stress what it means to sacrifice and ensure them that, when you do those things and have success, the feeling of hanging a banner will far exceed any of the personal accolades think are important. And, sadly, God might choose that you won't be around to see it all anyway. Matthew didn't get to give his son a hug after he won tonight. And Jack didn't get to see the pride in his father's face. Think about that. If you are a parent, try to put your child in Jack's shoes. If God forbid your child was confronted with the same tragedy, you'd want them looking back on this sacred period of their lives the way Jack will forever recall them with his dad. Tonight was complete validation for Jack Piccione and all of the things his father always told him. Jack scored 5 points and won the MVP on his way to becoming the most decorated basketball player in Tappan Zee history. Nobody has ever won more in a TZ uniform than the most unselfish player they've ever had. He wouldn't trade his career with anyone, either. Take a moment to listen to myself and Pleasantville coach Nick Bonura from tonight's SportsEngine Play broadcast of DutchmenAthletics TZ Boys Basketball

Kevin Devaney Jr.

191,542 views • 4 months ago