T. Leo Curley

Facts It's great that Jeff Bezos thinks this way, because too many people who don't make money think that giving money to the government will solve a lot of their problems. They think these government programs are the answer, and it's clearly not. You can look at the federal level or at the state level, and you will see that a lot of government programs are simply waste.

A retailer with no advertising budget. Four thousand products on the shelf. A hot dog priced the same as it was when Reagan was president. Costco shouldn't be the most powerful brand in retail. But it is. The rule is almost annoyingly simple: cap markups at 14%. Most stores are at 20% or higher. Every dollar of efficiency gets handed back to the customer as a lower price. That's the flywheel. Lower prices bring more members. More members bring better supplier deals. Better deals bring lower prices. Run it for forty years and nobody can catch you. Ninety percent of members renew. Every year. For decades. You don't get loyalty like that from coupons. You get it from making people feel, every single visit, like they got away with something. Strip away the warehouses and the hot dogs and what's left is a simple decision: the customer eats first. Almost nobody has the discipline to actually do it.

The FBI Director has been handing out personalized bourbon bottles engraved with “Kash Patel FBI Director” and an FBI shield, alarming current and former bureau officials who say the behavior is unprecedented and unprofessional. Patel has distributed the bottles to FBI staff and civilians at official events, sometimes transporting cases of bourbon on DOJ aircraft. Source: The Atlantic

BREAKING: According to our analysis, ~$920 million worth of crude oil shorts were taken 70 minutes before an Axios report claimed the US and Iran were near a "14-point" deal to end the war. At 3:40 AM ET today, nearly 10,000 contracts worth of crude oil shorts were taken without any major news. This is equivalent to ~$920 million in notional value, an unusually large trade for 3:40 AM ET. At 4:50 AM ET, just 70 minutes later, Axios reported that the US is "close" to a "memorandum of understanding" to end the Iran War. By 7:00 AM ET, oil prices had fallen over -12% with these crude oil shorts gaining approximately +$125 million. Minutes later, Iran launched the "Persian Gulf Strait Authority" and oil prices surged +8%. What just happened?

BREAKING: Delta Air Lines will no longer offer free snacks or drinks on all flights starting May 19th (under 350 miles). Meanwhile, Delta CEO Ed Bastian received $27.1 million in 2024. Consumers lose, every single time.

Barack Obama says worrying about Trump and getting pulled back into politics has caused “genuine tension” with Michelle Obama, per Daily Beast.

DYSTOPIAN doesn't even begin to cover it. You'll want to sit down for this one.. hopefully it's not in your new black mirror vehicle. 👇 In new patents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (Serial No. 20250104469), Ford is envisioning a future where your pickup turns into a rolling police station. And we don’t mean just a bunch of new safety features; the new patents envision your truck as a 24/7 surveillance outpost. 👁️ Biometric Checks: From the comfort of your own driveway, your eyes will be scanned, and that iris and fingerprint checked against a database of criminals - real-time results received within seconds. 🧠 Did you know? Your car can put you in an Emotional Lockout! If your vehicle senses that you are in a “panic” driving state or have the “big eyes” (unintentionally locking onto an object for too long), the vehicle will determine that you are not fit to drive. The vehicle will remain in a Park state and will not allow the shifter to transition into the Drive state. 👂 Ad Spying – using acoustic waves to read your lips and display monitored conversations to you in order to serve you targeted ads for maximum monetization. 🚔 Law Enforcement: The live feeds in the footages "by Ford" are not encrypted and thus can be used for Law Enforcement Integration. Ford's own patent language for this feature describes the live feeds as "potentially useful for police". This isn't "coming soon" - it's already here. • Smart Eye monitoring software is already in use in over 4 million vehicles worldwide. • To comply with EU regulations such as the Future Truck 2025 concept, GSR, drowsiness system will be a mandatory feature on board. • Ford currently offers live in-cabin Ford Pro Telematics feeds to its fleet manager customers. The future is looking more like a world where you pay for your name and reputation , but everyone else profits off of your private information and influence. Surveillance society: It’s not just the new spying tech that’s the problem - it’s that all older vehicles are being gradually driven off the road and taken out of commission through legislation and a parts shortage, leaving drivers with a hollow choice. All is not lost. But we’re not just losing privacy. We’re losing the concept of an exit ramp. How long do you plan to keep your "analog" car on the road?