Thoughts

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House Oversight Democrats have published a Web3 is Going Great-style “Trump Family Digital Grift” counter.

This goes with their recent staff report, “Professionalized Corruption: How Donald Trump is abusing power and accepting digital kickbacks from foreign and criminal interests to cash in on the presidency like never before”.

The report cites some of my writing on Trump’s USD1 stablecoin.

Trump Family Digital Grift Profits $2,255,399,364.28 Total Trump Family Digital Grift Wealth $8,712,974,364.28 Trump Family Digital Grift Profits from Foreign Interests $437,004,026.96 While Americans struggle to buy groceries and pay rent, Donald Trump is making his family richer through digital grift schemes— collecting profits through digital wallets and granting pardons to the highest bidders. While Trump and his family are using the White House to make billions, we are tracking every cent. As of January 2026, our Committee’s analysis shows that these schemes have contributed to an estimated $2.25 billion in realized profits for Trump from foreign payments, corrupt oligarchs, and others. This total rises to as much as $9.7 billion when the value of Trump’s digital assets is factored in, with as much as $436 million coming from foreign interests. President Trump should be serving the American people—not his own pockets.

Great background on why Coinbase sank the crypto bill they’d just spent months lobbying for, and the fundamental conflict between the banking lobby and the crypto lobby when it comes to stablecoin interest.

“Monopoly Round-Up: The Slow Death of Banking in America”.
Matt Stoller in BIG by Matt Stoller.
Crypto interests came after the local banker last week in a bitter Congressional fight. They didn't win, but it's not over. Plus, the "Mamdani effect" is real, and Canada aligns with China.

If anyone was still pretending this isn’t just about excluding trans kids from public life, the Trump administration just opened a Title IX investigation into a Maine school district because a trans student is on a co-ed cheerleading squad.

“​Newport co-ed cheerleading team is at center of Trump transgender athlete crackdown​”.
Billy Kobin and Emily Duggan in The Portland Press Herald.
The U.S. Department of Education announced a slew of Title IX-related investigations this week that include 2 school districts in Maine.

spotted on ravelry: the pattern to knit the sock pictured on the Wikipedia article for "sock"

"As seen on Wikipedia socks"<br>Photo: a handknit sock in lightweight cream colored yarn with a variety of vertical cables
Ravelry description: From December of 2010 to the time of writing, the key photo on the Wikipedia ‘sock’ page has been a hand knitted sock. If you’ve ever looked at that picture and thought, “I wish I had those socks!”, then this is the pattern for you! This is a cuff down traveling stitch cable sock pattern, with a standard heel flap construction and charted design. The pattern includes instructions for four sizes, both with and without calf shaping. The sock shown on Wikipedia is the medium size with no calf shaping.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/as-seen-on-wikipedia-socks

gotta love the Maine elections coming up where people are going to vote for King or Pingree in the gubernatorial thinking they're their parents (Senator and Congresswoman), or Baldacci in CD-2 thinking he's his brother (former governor)

to her credit, Hannah Pingree's yard signs say "HANNAH"

(i think Angus King III's might also say "ANGUS" but that's less helpful as the son of Angus King Sr. Perhaps he should print a run of signs that say "NOT MY DAD")