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Wall Street’s favorite monsters have some very powerful friends in the Beltway…

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The Swamp’s Favorite Wall Street Monsters

Private equity, the industry built around buying businesses, restructuring them, and selling them for a profit, has got lawmakers on the Hill antsy again.

But don’t get your hopes up.

These firms — the closest thing to real-life monsters on Wall Street — have massive impacts on the businesses they swallow up. For decades, critics have argued firms are more interested in squeezing every last dollar out of a company, leaving things like long-term viability, customer satisfaction, and cultural significance on the back burner.

Now, a few starry-eyed lawmakers want to put the brakes on the profit machine.

Congress did pass a bipartisan housing law this year that restricts these types of firms from buying up single-family homes. But hidden in the fine print is a parting gift: institutional investors get to keep the homes they’ve already bought.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren also reintroduced her Stop Wall Street Looting Act, which would make private equity firms responsible for certain debts and liabilities of the businesses they take over. She’s even teamed up with Republican Sen. Josh Hawley on a separate bill targeting consolidation in health care.

But hold your horses. Before you get excited that Washington might actually be fixing a problem for once, let’s look at their track record with these guys.

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Time to inject a little red, white, and blue into your veins,

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Kailo: The Remedy For Pain Anywhere On Your Body

For swimmers it’s the shoulder, for runners it’s the knees, and for seniors well, it could be anywhere. Aches, pains, soreness and stiffness can strike various parts of the body — but with Kailo, you’ll be prepared no matter where it hurts! This reusable pain patch that sticks onto your skin (anywhere there’s pain) and peels off without leaving residue. Put it on your tennis elbow, sore lower back or any place you need it.

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Call It Soccer. You Can Suck It, China.

There’s already plenty of reason to believe American football is the only real football, but if you need any more reassurance, look no further than the reaction and apologies that followed Kylian Mbappé’s joke about Mao Zedong.

Real Madrid’s star forward appeared in a backstage interview for a French online show, where they asked him about his favorite meme of himself. He picked one depicting him as a Chinese dictator, apparently referencing Mao Zedong.

First of all, really funny; second, Mbappe isn’t Chinese; and third, Mao Zedong is dead and evil, so who cares.

But alas, within days, the soccer star and La Liga’s president issued official apologies. That was, of course, after Chinese sponsors pulled the plug on the French player (or perhaps the CCP volun-told the companies to do so.)

All because someone made a funny joke about Mao Zedong.

The guy contributed to the deaths of tens of millions of people. Mao’s kill count surpasses Hitler and Stalin; he’s got them by more than 25 million bodies.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. This is exactly what happens when global corporations get a taste of that sweet Chinese revenue: the CCP’s demands become the same as their own.

And soccer isn’t the only sport guilty of this communist grifting.

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The GOP’s latest Happy Meal is sending voters home hungry…

Presented by: Kailo

Kailo: The Remedy For Pain Anywhere On Your Body

For swimmers it’s the shoulder, for runners it’s the knees, and for seniors well, it could be anywhere. Aches, pains, soreness and stiffness can strike various parts of the body — but with Kailo, you’ll be prepared no matter where it hurts! This reusable pain patch that sticks onto your skin (anywhere there’s pain) and peels off without leaving residue. Put it on your tennis elbow, sore lower back or any place you need it.

• Non-habit forming because Kailo is drug-free

• Saves you money vs. other wraps and bandages because it’s reusable

• Works 20X faster than painkillers, relieving pain in as little as 60 seconds

• Great for swimmers, joggers and bodybuilders because it’s waterproof

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Mike Lawler Put The Fries In The Bag. But It’s Not 2024 Anymore

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, fighting to keep his congressional seat, tried to recreate one of the most memorable moments from Trump’s 2024 campaign: his stint working at McDonald’s.

Unfortunately for Lawler, the sequel was nothing compared to the original.

When Trump donned the apron at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, it became one of the defining images of the 2024 election. It was a bit ridiculous, entertaining, and quintessentially Trump. But beneath the spectacle, it reinforced an important political message: Trump understood the Americans forgotten by Washington.

Two years later, Republicans seem to have forgotten that last bit.

Trump’s McDonald’s stunt wasn’t meant to prove to voters that he could make a mean McDouble. It showed that, contrary to the political establishment, he understood voters’ struggles and would actually do something about it.

That promise helped deliver the GOP a trifecta in the swamp. Voters wanted lower prices, MAHA, an end to endless wars, and a government that put their interests before corporate lobbyists and political insiders.

Republicans had an opportunity to turn that coalition into a lasting political realignment. All they had to do was deliver.

Spoiler warning: they didn’t.

Instead, the GOP has spent much of its time in power undermining the very thing that got them there.

MAHA supporters bristled at the administration’s order to boost domestic glyphosate production; another war in the Middle East is squeezing Americans’ wallets; and some of the loudest advocates of mass deportations are accusing the White House of hiding statistics on the effort.

Meanwhile, many elected Republican officials have traded policymaking for loyalty, defending the White House instead of giving voters a compelling reason to keep them in power.

That leaves Republicans in a bind.

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They can’t distance themselves from Trump after spending the last two years defending him. But they also can’t run back the 2024 playbook.

They’re no longer the outsiders promising to fix Washington. They’re the establishment they promised would finally be held accountable.

Republicans want the political benefits of Trump’s populist messaging without delivering on the policy.

That’s why Lawler’s McDonald’s moment falls flat. The apron is the same, but the political appetite has disappeared.

And the man at the top isn’t making things any easier.

At a Sunday rally in Georgia, Trump encapsulated many people’s frustrations with the current administration. The president acknowledged advisors had warned him against talking about the country’s oil profits while Americans were getting hammered at the pump.

In other words, don’t brag about oil companies getting rich while Americans are paying a fortune just to get to work.

But, in true Trump fashion, he said it anyway:

“I don’t give a damn. I’m gonna say it. We’re making a freaking fortune.”

From The Editors’ Desk

Why So Many Men Aren’t Working — Keith Humphreys and Brent Orrell, The Atlantic

Some 6.7 million working-age American men have dropped out of the labor force, but a shortage of jobs may not be the problem. The Atlantic argues that video games, porn, weed and sports betting have made it easier than ever for men to check out of working life. The average jobless man now spends five and a half hours a day watching TV and movies alone.

Businesses Warn Another Round Of Price Increases Could Be Coming — Jack McGeever, Daily Caller News Foundation

Americans still reeling from inflation could be in for another round of sticker shock. Businesses are warning that rising energy costs, tariffs and expensive shipping could force them to hike prices as existing contracts expire. Gas prices already jumped 9.1% in September, and the Federal Reserve’s latest report suggests more pain could be on the way for consumers.

Republicans race to avoid a civil war over Israel — Shelby Talcott, Semafor

The GOP’s growing divide over Israel could become a major headache for JD Vance in 2028. While Trump remains firmly aligned with Netanyahu, Vance is trying to thread the needle between pro-Israel hawks and an increasingly skeptical America First wing. Semafor reports that frustration with Netanyahu is simmering even inside the White House, while younger Republican voters are far less supportive of the Israeli government than their elders.

How Florida Took the Lead in Battling Big Tech — Arian Campos-Flores, Wall Street Journal

Florida is becoming ground zero for the fight against Big Tech, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t waiting for Washington’s permission. His administration has gone after Meta, Discord and OpenAI over concerns about child safety, privacy and AI harms. The Wall Street Journal reports that Florida’s aggressive approach is putting it at odds with President Trump’s preference for keeping government regulation of AI to a minimum.

Democrats Are Losing Trust in Mail-In Ballots — Natalie Fertig, Washington Sun

After years of defending mail-in voting, some Democrats are suddenly souring on the practice. Fears that Trump could interfere with ballot delivery are driving more voters to cast their ballots in person, the Washington Sun reports. In Ohio, absentee ballot requests are down 28% compared to 2022, while early in-person voting has surged 196%.

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Hey everyone,

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The bots may not be conscious yet, but our brains are on the menu.

AI Was Supposed To Replace Us. Now Our Brains Are Inside Data Centers

Your utility bills are climbing, sprawling data centers are swallowing your communities, and residents are fighting desperately to keep these industrial behemoths out of their backyards, all to fuel an AI boom that threatens to make more and more of us replaceable.

And as if replacing human beings weren’t enough, the clankers are being built with pieces of us.

Yes, you read that right.

The National University of Singapore is now home to 20 biological computing units that make up an experimental biological data center — a nauseating phrase in and of itself, but the details are somehow worse.

They’re using millions of living, human-derived neurons to process information. We’re not just talking about conventional computer chips, but actual human neurons grown from stem cells in a lab, connected to electrodes on silicon chips and kept alive by a dedicated life-support system.

I’ve watched quite a few sci-fi movies in my time (Alien is one of the best movies ever made) but somehow, a real-life data center has managed to make my skin crawl more than any horror flick.

And here’s the part that should really give you nightmares: The cells can learn.

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Just in case the FBI, CIA, NSA, ODNI, and the rest we don’t know about weren’t enough!

Meet The Latest Addition To The Deep State

Custom hacking tools, clandestinely planted faulty components, and covert sabotage operations — think Mission: Impossible — have quietly arrived at the Pentagon.

And, I’ll admit, at first I thought it sounded pretty awesome.

But you know what else sounded perfectly reasonable at first? Every other U.S. intelligence agency.

The unfortunate truth is when you mix large sums of undisclosed government spending with the most power-hungry among us, it’ll never end well.

The Pentagon established the Technology Support Office, or TSO, without its usual pomp and circumstance. Formed in April, the office brought together the Pentagon’s efforts to develop tools and strategies to disrupt foreign defense tech, all under one covert umbrella, according to Politico.

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Our AI overlords have settled on the price of progress,

Fifty Dead For Your Newest Chatbot

How many lives does an AI model need to risk before the government can stop it?

Politico scooped Anthropic’s latest pitch to Congress, and it’s a shock to the conscience.

Under their proposal, which echoes California’s SB 53, the government could block a model’s release or use only if it poses a foreseeable, imminent risk of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people — or alternatively causing more than $1 billion in damages.

Fifty people.

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Some campaigns would rather air dirty laundry than make their case,

The Lost Art Of Good Opposition Research

Millennials were supposed to be a gold mine for ingenious political attack ads just waiting to be made.

They were the first generation to grow up documenting their lives online, leaving behind years of posts, tweets and candid videos chock-full of questionable hot takes. And they did it all before anyone fully understood the consequences of putting their entire lives on the internet.

So by the time they started running for office, campaigns would have more material than ever to sift through, right? Wrong.

Somehow, all that information seems to have made political operatives lazier.

Campaigns have decided embarrassing an opponent is easier than making a convincing case against them — and we’re worse off for it.

The playbook is practically identical from state to state and district to district: Find something that makes voters squirm and hope the discomfort does the persuading. What campaigns increasingly skip is the harder part — explaining why any of the personal jabs matter to the job their opponents are asking voters to let them do.

Before digging into the decline of the political attack ad, let’s revisit one of the greats: Mitch McConnell’s bloodhound ad.

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Prepare yourselves; it’ll be a bloodbath for control,

The Quiet Battle To Shape The GOP After Trump

More than 500 conservative officials, election administrators, policymakers, and civic leaders.

More than 30 gatherings across 20-plus states. And, for the most part, conversations happening behind closed doors.

That’s the picture Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute and the R Street Institute painted in a report published this September, detailing three years of work to build what they call the “Civic Right” — a network of Republicans claiming to be focused on election trust, governing institutions, and the future of their movement.

The initiative’s organizers argue that conservatives need better infrastructure to connect leaders and turn their ideas into sustained political action.

Not exactly the most eye-catching stuff, but it offers a glimpse into the fight over what comes next for the Republican Party, a fight that is playing out beyond the boundaries of Washington’s catfights.

For some, the party’s future means doubling down on Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. For others, it means returning to the old guard of neoconservatism. And for others still, it means turning the page on both and looking for a new cause that’ll resonate with everyday Americans.

Amid all this, the mysterious Civic Right has been meeting privately to discuss what comes next.

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Remember when Trump promised to fight for the little guy?

The GOP Has Billionaires. But Where Are The Voters?

Senate campaigns have tallied their third-quarter cash hauls; the contrast is about as subtle as a brick through a window.

Across nine Senate races, Democrats brought in $231.2 million in the third quarter. Republicans? A meager $48.5 million.

In case you’re just as bad at math as I am, that’s nearly five times as much cash flowing into Democratic campaigns.

James Talarico alone raked in an eye-watering $64 million, with his campaign reporting 97 percent of donations were under $100. When Axios told GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno about Talarico’s haul, Moreno responded, “Oh my God, holy crap. I mean, that’s a number that’s mind-blowing.”

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff wasn’t doing too bad himself, pulling in $33.1 million from more than 760,000 contributions, averaging just $46 apiece.

Turns out, a whole lot of regular folk tossing in a few bucks can build one hell of a war chest. But it’s more than the bank statements. It’s who’s opening their wallets, who’s closing them, and what that means for November.

Trump won in ‘24 by assembling a coalition of working-class, young, and disaffected voters. He promised lower prices, good jobs, and a government that had their backs.

Two years later, that coalition is cracking.

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After diving into this rabbit hole, I’m not sure if I’m more scared of AI or its creators.

In Partnership with Ground News

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There’s more news published every day than anyone could possibly keep up with. And depending on where you look, you can come away with a very different sense of which stories matter and what parts of them deserve the most attention.

That’s where Ground News comes in. It pulls together coverage from thousands of sources and groups reporting on the same story in one place, so you can see how outlets across the political spectrum are covering it without opening 15 different tabs.

One feature I like is Coverage Details, which shows you how many articles have been published about a story and gives you a better sense of just how much attention it’s getting across the media. You can also compare how that coverage breaks down across publications with different political leanings.

But, the Blindspot feed might be my favorite part. It highlights stories getting significant coverage from one side of the political spectrum and relatively little from the other. Spend enough time on it and you start spotting stories and differences in coverage you probably would have missed otherwise.

Ground News isn’t there to tell you what to think. It gives you a wider view of what’s being covered, how it’s being covered and where the gaps are, then lets you make up your own mind.

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At The Altar Of The Clanker

Imagine taking a stroll through San Francisco.

After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, you stumble upon a gaggle of scrawny tech bros passing around a pack of Marlboros.

You’d expect these guys to be sucking on vape pens, but apparently old-fashioned cigarettes are making a comeback in Silicon Valley.

AI researchers have begun smoking cigs, at least according to Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar.

And they’re not lighting up because they want to star in the next Tips From Former Smokers campaign — they’re convinced artificial intelligence will cure cancer before cigarettes can kill them.

Treating your lungs like a disposable subscription service, confident that the next software update will fix them, is certainly a choice. But as bizarre as it sounds, the ideology behind this form of techno-worship is even more disturbing than the prospect of a bunch of programmers chain-smoking their way to immortality.

Meet the AI successionists: a collection of nerds who believe humanity’s greatest achievement will be engineering its own replacement.

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I watched the South Carolina Senate debate so you don’t have to…

So I Guess Warmongering Is Genetic

The IC [U.S. Intelligence Community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.

That was Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, delivering the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment just three months before American bombers struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.

More than a year later, the U.S. is embroiled in a war that has dragged on for nearly eight months, with attacks spreading across the region and no clear end in sight. Yet preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons remains one of the central justifications for continuing the fight.

At Sunday night’s debate — her first and only face-off with Democratic challenger Dr. Annie Andrews before the November election — Republican South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham insisted the U.S. was close to finishing the job.

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I know you saw the reports; can we bring some decency back to diplomacy?

The Guilfoyle Garbage Fire

Kimberly Guilfoyle has never portrayed herself as the epitome of diplomatic restraint, nor could she. But after a Wall Street Journal investigation reported that she was soliciting money through back channels shortly before her confirmation hearing, the caricature of Guilfoyle as all beauty, no brains suddenly looked a lot less like a caricature.

The Journal’s reporting painted a fascinatingly frightening picture of the woman now serving as the United States ambassador to Greece. According to the Journal, Guilfoyle allegedly pressured Trump donor Eric Deters to pay off her six-figure AmEx bill while offering to help him with legal and tax troubles through her political connections.

And that’s before we get to separate reports of getting wasted at 4 a.m. and berating staffers for… more ice? She reportedly demoted a member of her security detail the following day over his failure to produce the much-needed cubes. Other drivers were allegedly demoted because she didn’t like the way they made left turns.

Guilfoyle has disputed the authenticity of the messages reported by the Journal. But the allegations, to be generous, raise questions about her judgment.

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