Socialism + Corruption

 Socialism + Corruption

Here is another thing that doesn’t seem to matter: Democrats are freaked out because their nominee for mayor in New York City wants to run a pilot program with five municipal-owned grocery stores, which is “socialism” or something.

Meanwhile, last week the U.S. government became the largest shareholder in the mining company MP Materials. Which is, you know, kind of like socialism?

Now maybe in the case of rare-earth materials this is a wise move. I’m open to that idea. If you wanted to make the case, you’d say something like:

The rare-earth magnets that MP Materials mines are a vital strategic resource for America and the U.S. government had to ensure some measure of control over the supply. Buying a $400 million stake in the company achieves that goal while still keeping the operational aspects of in private hands.

Maybe that’s true? I want the government to nationalize SpaceX, so I’m not opposed to the Pentagon buying MP Materials in principle. But the level of corruption here seems kind of nuts.

Have a look at the MP Materials stock price over the last six months:

On May 27, MP began a sudden climb. After months of sitting around $25 a share, it moved consistently upward for a month, to almost $40. On June 20 a selloff started and the share price lost a quarter of its value over three weeks. The government announced its purchase on the morning of July 10 and MP went to the moon.

Any of this look to you like someone knew the score?

But that’s just the first layer of corruption.

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This morning, Apple announced that it would also contribute invest $500 million in MP stock.

That’s right: Apple, which is currently negotiating with Trump on the 25 percent tariffs the president wants to put on iPhones made in China, decided to do the government a solid and throw some cash behind Uncle Sam’s MP position, thus driving the price higher and forming a shareholder bloc that will, along with the government, be enough to control MP.

And since Apple’s business now depends on what the U.S. government allows it to do, I suspect Apple’s share will be a pure proxy for whatever the Trump administration’s wishes are.

Essentially, the government spent $400 million, but now controls $900 million-worth of MP because Apple has agreed to become its junior partner in the venture.

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There’s your actual, real-deal socialism.¹

The government invests in a private company—and then uses its gangster approach to force/persuade/entice another private company to amplify its position.

Meaning that the American government now has its hooks into not only MP but Apple, too.

And not only is this naked corruption so routine as to no longer even be worth noticing, but the people who have the vapors about Zohran Mamdani’s five grocery stores are silent as the grave.

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It’s not true that nothing matters.

My thesis for some time has been that we live in an unserious country filled with unserious people. If true, then we would expect our fellow citizens not to care about the government semi-nationalizing a private company, making insiders rich, and then coercing the world’s most valuable company into being its stooge—but to be utterly transfixed by the Jeffrey Epstein story.

Good luck, America.

NYC youth baseball coach says ICE agents approached members of team practicing in Riverside Park in Manhattan - ABC7 New York

NYC youth baseball coach says ICE agents approached members of team practicing in Riverside Park in Manhattan - ABC7 New York

BySonia Rincón 

Friday, July 11, 2025 10:17AM

Sonia Rincon spoke to Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy founder Yeoman Wilder about the incident.

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- A coach for youth baseball in Manhattan says a group of ICE agents approached members of his team while they were practicing in Riverside Park.

Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy founder Yeoman Wilder was coaching middle and high school students there on July 3, when he says six ICE officers walked through the Upper West Side park past the basketball courts.

"But I didn't really think too much about it. I just thought, eh, they're ICE officers, because I'd seen them in Washington Heights before," Wilder said.

But then, he says they approached the kids and started asking questions.

"Where they're from, who are their parents, and I just thought, 'whoa, whoa, this is... this is not good,'" Wilder said.

Wilder has a masters degree in law, and told them they didn't need to answer those questions.

"I told my kids to walk to the back of the cages, right here, and I said they're going to invoke their fifth amendment rights, they're not going to say anything," Wilder said.

He says one of the officers raised his voice.

"That's when I was called a YouTube lawyer, and I said, 'No, I just know how the Constitution works,'" Wilder said.

All of the kids, he says, are American citizens.

Favonian - welcome gentle breeze

Word of the Day - favonian | Dictionary.com

Welcome, gentle breeze!

Favonian describes something mild and favorable, especially when it comes to the wind. The word is derived from Favonius, the Roman god of a warm west wind that heralded the coming of spring. Picture yourself lounging at the beach as a calm breeze blows in from the ocean. That's favonian!

Tidal Power Breakthrough: Underwater Turbine Runs 6½ Years Off Scottish Coast

Tidal Power Breakthrough: Underwater Turbine Runs 6½ Years Off Scottish Coast

Author: Jennifer Mcdermott

First Minister of Scotland/flickr

Submerged in about 40 metres of water off Scotland’s coast, a turbine has been spinning for more than six years to harness the power of ocean tides for electricity—a durability mark that demonstrates the technology’s commercial viability, its proponents say.

Keeping a large, grid-scale, turbine in place in the harsh sea environment that long is a record that helps pave the way for bigger tidal energy farms and makes it far more appealing to investors, according to the trade association Ocean Energy Europe. Tidal energy projects would be prohibitively expensive if the turbines had to be taken out of the water for maintenance every couple of years.

Tidal energy technologies are still in the early days of their commercial development, The Associated Press reports, but their potential for generating clean energy is big. According to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, marine energy, a term researchers use to refer to power generated from tides, currents, waves, or temperature gradients, is the world’s largest untapped renewable energy resource.

Years ago, Project Drawdown estimated that wave and tidal power could save 9.2 billion tons of climate pollution by 2050 if the technologies could be fully deployed.

The MeyGen tidal energy project off the coast of Scotland has four turbines producing 1.5 megawatts each, enough electricity collectively to power up to 7,000 homes annually. Last Thursday, the Swedish company SKF announced that its bearings and seals on one of the turbines had passed the 6½-year mark without needing unplanned or disruptive maintenance. It has been working closely with the industry for a decade on design and testing.

Achieving six years in the water with constant operations is a “very significant milestone” that bodes well for the future of tidal energy, said Rémi Gruet, CEO of Ocean Energy Europe.

Scotland and the United Kingdom are global leaders in tidal energy. The MeyGen site, operated by SAE Renewables, has been sending electricity to the grid for about eight years.

There are very few tidal energy projects generating electricity continuously. Most have been tests and demonstrations, said Andrea Copping, an expert in marine renewable energy development. Copping said there are still large hurdles to overcome before tidal energy can be adopted more widely, including regulatory issues, potential environmental effects, and conflicts with other ocean users.

Still, the Scotland project seems to have addressed the question of whether the turbines can last in seawater, added Copping, a distinguished faculty fellow in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington.

“I think they have checked the boxes,” she said. “Because skeptics, and that includes investors of course and governments, said, ‘How on Earth are you going to operate these things especially for any length of time in this very tough environment?’ And that’s what I think they proved.”

It’s very hard to take what is essentially a wind turbine normally found on land and put it under water, said Fraser Johnson, operations and maintenance manager at MeyGen. The record-setting turbine should keep going for at least another year before it needs to come out of the water for maintenance, he added.

The four turbines are in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, a narrow channel between the Scottish mainland and Stroma Island known for strong tidal currents. Tidal energy systems need strong currents to generate electricity efficiently. MeyGen plans to add 20 turbines in 2030 to produce more power, after needed upgrades to the electricity grid are finished. The site could eventually hold as many as 130 turbines that are more powerful than those at the site today.

The MeyGen site is in the open water, while another type of tidal project involves creating a dam-like structure called a barrage across tidal waters. With four turbines, MeyGen is considered the largest tidal energy project of its kind worldwide, said Johnson.

“It’s a title we wish we didn’t have. We want more, we want others,” he said. “Unfortunately, others are having difficulty achieving what MeyGen has achieved. But working with SKF moving forward, we’ll push the industry forward.”

Wallyrocket 51 review: Is this the world's fastest new raceboat (on handicap)?

Wallyrocket 51 review: Is this the world’s fastest new raceboat (on handicap)?

• Toby Hodges
 
• July 29, 2025

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The new wallyrocket51 is designed to be the fastest racing boat on handicap in the world – A TP52 beater, a one-design and more. Toby Hodges sails the prototype

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You have to admire the ambition. A goal to create the fastest race boat in the world (on corrected time) is no small feat, and a particularly punchy thing to claim from the outset, 18 months before splashing the first boat. To then produce a yacht that looks this go-fast good with the Marvel-like heroic name to back it up… It’s brave, it’s brash, it’s bullish. Perhaps only a brand such as Wally could hope to pull it off.

Racing yacht designs are typically fickle things, their potential success often at the mercy of trends and rules. To ensure some longevity, they not only have to prove successful on the water, to give their owners enjoyment and a chance at silverware, but they also need some versatility. Swan, for example, achieves this with its ‘Club’ world of regatta circuits – and by insisting on fitted interiors for after-sales after life.

Wally is another big brand which thinks big. To put its vision in place and try to ensure the Rocket will do what it claims, it involved some heavyweight partners. With the TP52 as the long-proven benchmark in the inshore/coastal Grand Prix scene, Wally took the most successful designers and sailors from this circuit to develop a TP beater. Essentially, it sought a Botin to beat the Botins.

Combine this with founder Luca Bassani’s long-proven forward-thinking ability and the result is a red-hot, water-ballasted 50-footer with trim tab and ultra-efficient hydraulic controls.

Wally used the might of its parent company, the Ferretti Group, to construct these new one-design Rockets in a new top-tech carbon facility. It’s now using the first boat to launch as a prototype, to be wetted most stringently and to sail in the most high-profile regattas in its first season, before the next five on order launch.