Locator: 48593ARCHIVES.
ATF: I completely missed this; revolving doors:
- last week: FBI director Kash Patel was also Acting Director, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives).
- this week: US Army Secretary Daniel Patrick Driscoll replaces Kash Patel as a dual-hatted director.
- back story: first confirmed Director, ATF, since 2015, Steve Dettelbach would have been sacked by President Trump at the request of the NRA, had he not resigned the day before Trump took office.
- Dettelbach loathed by the NRA
- starting to sound like Henry VIII's wives
- Steve Dettelback: resigned before getting sacked
- Kash Patel: replaced
- Daniel Driscoll: acting
WTI: $50-oil looks likely.
DOD to reduce number of general officers; number of stars. Talked about for years; finally getting done. A Biden administration would have taken too much political heat cutting the number of general officers, but the Trump administration / GOP can take the heat.
According to Hegseth, there are currently 44 four-star and flag officers across the military, making for a ratio of one general to 1,400 troops, compared to the ratio during World War II of one general to 6,000 troops.
AI gets this completely wrong suggesting that firing the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a cut of one four-star general, but it does shed light where the cuts might come.
All forty-four four-star generals: wiki. When I go through the list, it looks like DOD will have a tough time coming up with a 20%reduction (20% of 44 = 8.8 = 10) because of "statutes."
Most interesting, "vice" positions are "safe" as four-stars due to statute. Could they make all joint combatant commanders 3-star unless war is officially called and then promote them to four stars. See all major generals at wiki.
Alcatraz. Not gonna happen but makes a great headline.
Skype: RIP.
OpenAI: biggest tech story today -- OpenAI reverses course -- will remain a nonprofit. Huge news for Musk's xAI; others.
North Dakota interstate 94: from 75 mph to 80 mph. Will join South Dakota and Montana. Restrictions apply.
HIMS: surging.
WMB: almost 2% better than consensus.
Measles: three more cases in northwestern North Dakota. Population, northwestern North Dakota: 9.
Palantir: is this the most talked-about tech stock today? Holy mackerel. It's all Palantir.
Apple: keeps dropping prices on its hardware; losing court battles on services; share price keeps dropping.
Rivian: gets $16 million from Illinois to build new supplier park. $16 million. That's from the state of Illinois. That's pocket change for Elon Musk.
Earthquakes in the Permian: yesterday, 5.4; today 3.6. Waste-water related. Move along; nothing to see here.
The most important thing to understand about American politics today, Trump's net approval, Rasmussen Reports:
- married men: +19%
- married women: 0%
- single men: +16%
- single women: -26%
But we need to know numbers in each demographic and percent that actually go out and vote.
Berkshire's earnings fell short: now being reported by Barron's. The blog noted that over the weekend. BRK's earnings didn't just fall short; they were atrocious.
Houthis: IDF (Israel) now striking Houthi targets. All well and good but strikes need to be directed to source of Houthis' munitions: Iran.
Gaza: Israel plans to occupy and flatten all of Gaza if no deal by Trump's trip, “next week.” Who should be worried?
- first, Egypt;
- then, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan
Generational mistakes:
- Buffett: didn't buy cryptocurrency. Or Palantir.
- Biden: didn't secure the southern border.
- EU: completely misread geopolitics when Biden defeated Trump. Putin’s window of opportunity.
- too early to tell, but tea leaves suggest the GOP is letting their opportunities slip away.
