20250123

Hello, and thanks for reading! This week, I moderated a panel at a WEF event on investing in Cybersecurity. While I spoke about the importance of liquidity and cybersecurity at WEF, the conference felt like a shadow of its former self. Our talk came after a talk called “The Peace Train,” and statements like "quantum molecular sound healing” were being thrown around unironically, and a professional poet told us about the zodiac and AI. Try to picture how hard my eyes were rolling back into my head; I dare you! 🙄 

There were a few hundred people listening, and from photos, I saw another few hundred in the audience in Davos. That’s a far cry from the tens of thousands that used to show up at WEF events. To some extent, beyond the issues with WEF, I have to wonder, what hit the cutting room floor, exactly? Either way, WEF appears to be a place for people to meet people, and it is not at all related to its namesake. It was honestly shocking how bad and incoherent it was. Here is a lesson for you - never surround yourself with people who emphatically agree with you - that goes for you. I want you to disagree with me and let me know when you do. It sharpens me.

For my part, one of the non-woo-woo things we discussed was macroeconomic liquidity. Gold, for instance, is $2,733.19 an ounce and was $2,026.82 just one year ago. That's an increase of $706.37 an oz, at approximately 212,582 total tons mined, which equals 6,802,624,000 ounces. That's 4.8 trillion dollars locked up in gold that was available even one year ago. That’s a lot of liquidity that needs to find an eventual escape hatch back into the market - likely into bonds or long-term yielding instruments.

Let’s begin today talking about the Russian/Ukraine conflict, where North Korean troops have, as of late, proved to be physically adept, skilled marksmen, and fiercely loyal, even risking their lives to save the wounded under fire. That’s a big change from the original waves we once saw, so perhaps the first was the cannon fodder thrown in to inform the more elite troops. It’s hard to say what’s going on there.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian forces have upped their drone game, deploying advanced FPV repeater drones equipped with square patch antennas for superior signals built by Scream Industries. I was surprised they allowed such high-res and detailed photos of the antenna, but maybe there is more to the systems they want to protect.

A massive drone strike set the Smolensk aircraft manufacturing hub ablaze. This plant is vital for the Su-25 fighter jets and military aviation equipment, and its destruction hurts Putin’s already strained war machine. There is a concept called Lanchester’s laws where you can predict military forces over time. For instance, we are seeing a massive degradation in tanks, leading to hilarious things like horseback forces - no, really.

But you will never see Russian tanks go to zero because they can still make >0 tanks per year. So you might think the graph will go to zero eventually, but it never will. That is unless Ukraine destroys not just the tanks but the methods and means of fixing and creating tanks. That’s what’s happening with these airplane plants. Very interesting.

Adding to the chaos, an oil depot in Voronezh was targeted with surprisingly rudimentary defenses, including small-caliber rifle fire. The implications are that perhaps the bulk of the Russian air defenses have collapsed. 😬 

Speaking of air defenses—or lack thereof—Russian incompetence reached a new low when a residential building in Smolensk was destroyed by friendly fire. It’s one thing to lose oil depots and aircraft plants, but when your own defenses start taking out your citizens, the optics go from bad to catastrophic. It’s not clear how this missile was so badly missed, but perhaps the target was low-flying, and it confused the background of the static building with the target: either way, bad day.

Economically, Russia is faltering. Inflation is worsening, compounding the already dire conditions for average citizens. The article by theins.ru really is quite good - it talks about how the economy is tanking in part due to increased money supply and, in part, because of a lot of lending going on. The key rate is no longer able to keep the economy in check. That article is worth a read if you are an economics nerd.

Behind the Kremlin’s closed doors, cracks are appearing. Prominent Russian officials reportedly chafe at the growing dependency on China, describing it as reducing Russia to a "raw materials colony." This resentment could spell trouble for Moscow’s economic stability and geopolitical alliances with China. If it is true, it’s a pretty horrible situation to be in for Russia. Imagine selling commodities to China not just at a discount, but sometimes even losing money on each deal, just trying to divest instead of having the material never leaving your books. It’s an ugly situation that only accelerates if it continues.

Even amidst this chaos, the Ukrainian military has demonstrated relentless innovation. Massive drone bombs, now capable of carrying unprecedented payloads, are turning the tide of engagements. I mean… look at those suckers below. Those are almost the same size as military aircraft drop not what you typically think of as something a drone would drop.

Onto the Middle East news, where after a temporary ceasefire brought a pause to the Gaza conflict, Israel redirected its focus to the West Bank, launching a large-scale operation targeting what it described as Iranian-backed militant groups in Jenin. The ceasefire in Gaza may have cooled tensions momentarily, but in the West Bank, the situation appears to be still hot.

In Gaza, the ideological extremism of Hamas remains unabated. A Palestinian prisoner, recently released, wasted no time rejoining Hamas and pledging to wage further war against Israel - remember, this is happening hours after his release. This is a grim pattern of recidivism.

Meanwhile, Iranian politics are stirring. Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince, has positioned himself as a vocal critic of the current regime, even addressing a letter to Donald Trump to that end. Honestly, he seems extremely moderate, and I do hope we find some way to work with him because he is against religious extremism and would like to turn Iran into a Western-style democracy. I’m rooting for him… for now.

On the North American news it’s mostly about Trump, but also Elon Musk, so we’ll start there. Was it a Nazi salute? Wasn’t it? Let’s look at the situation. AOC is convinced any time anyone uses such a gesture, especially repeatedly, it’s a Nazi salute. I might get on board with that if they also say things like “death to Israel” and “kill the zionists” and “from the river to the sea” and such. You know… like Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran and the Houthis do.

The Anti-Defamation League is sure that it wasn’t anti-semitic and claims Musk was just being awkward about sending his love to the voters. Why would the ADL protect a Nazi? It seems odd - especially when Elon hasn’t exactly been nice to them in the past, saying the ADL needs to be more vocal about where the real threats are coming from. I mean, maybe it’s because he thinks that decolonization implying Jewish genocide is unacceptable. Or maybe it’s because he calls out Hamas directly?

What does Musk want for Israel anyway?

Musk recommended that Israel do what Lycurgus did in forming Sparta. Lycurgus is credited with transforming Sparta into a disciplined, militaristic society through radical reforms emphasizing unity, austerity, and communal strength. In his opinion, Israel should focus on reshaping its society and policies to strengthen its resilience, cohesion, and ability to withstand external threats over the long term. Building a society that is strategically unassailable through reforms that address security, unity, and internal divisions might be a more sustainable and impactful way to blunt Hamas' objectives rather than relying solely on retributive actions, which could perpetuate the cycle of violence. I mean… what a Nazi POS, am I right?

Anyway, here’s a video of AOC giving a Nazi salute multiple times for emphasis. Oh, and here’s a photo of Kamala doing it. Some people are saying Elon hasn’t denied it and that makes him a Nazi. But AOC and Kamala also haven’t denied it, so I guess what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Everyone is a Nazi. Nazis everywhere.

Okay, enough of the sarcasm. If anything, it’s making the media look more belligerent and idiotic. Nazis are bad enough without claiming people who wear necklaces given to them by the families of Israeli hostages are Nazis. But the real anti-semites are extremely easy to find. They are the ones marching to kill Israel - they say it out loud. Believe them.

Trump’s return to the Oval Office brought a whirlwind of executive orders, from withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO to revoking security clearances for the infamous “51 intel agents” tied to the Hunter Biden laptop debacle. These 51 individuals aren’t just random people; some of these people, like Clapper, have been tied directly to the US spying apparatus - the part that spies on us, the US citizen.

It is not just a witch-hunt; these people, some of them anyway, knowingly involved themselves in American politics. One such example is John Sipher, who takes credit for swinging the 2020 election towards Biden by claiming Hunter’s laptop wasn’t real. Therefore, the information on it was Russian disinformation, not just about Hunter’s misdeeds but about the Burisma pipeline et al.. All lies. Now, heads will roll. These people, or at least some of them anyway, are deliberate traitors, not useful idiots.

It’s not just the 51 people being targeted. There will be a lot more people who have been near or involved in various crimes or lies in the past. Rachel Vidman lamented that her family wasn’t offered pardons. So, likely, she will be in the crosshairs regarding the Trump impeachment.

I got in a bit of heat from one of my readers about saying once you accept a pardon, you are accepting guilt. It’s true that that is contested, but it’s largely understood that it is true or has been true historically. Preemptive pardons are a bit of a weird beast, but according to the Biden administration’s DOJ it would qualify in at least the case of the 1,500 pardons that Trump is issuing for the J6 prisoners. At a minimum it more or less removes the ability for people like Fauci to plead the 5th, except perhaps in the case of state laws that they could have broken for which a federal pardon does not cover. Either way, I am sorry if that wasn’t clear, but I am working mostly on information the Biden DOJ has issued since the Trump administration is so new.

Incidentally, I think people who broke into government offices and people who broke into businesses and public buildings in Portland and other sanctuary cities all belong in jail. No, they didn’t get pardons in Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, etc… but their DAs wouldn’t even review the cases. It’s a legal loophole either way. I don’t think one side is virtuous in this regard. Lawlessness needs a bar for civil society to exist, and I think we should uniformly apply legal standards. That is what makes me moderate, incidentally, I see both sides being in the wrong on this one.

In other random domestic news, Pam Bondi might go after the Epstein files - we shall see about that one, but it could be enormous to see who is caught up in that. In a twist few saw coming, Ross Ulbricht, founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, walked free after 11 years. By the way, Ross almost made my life a living hell - the whole story can be found here at the 37:44 mark. Long story, you can listen to it if you want, but he’s definitely a criminal and likely a very dangerous person - not dissimilar from El Chapo (the cartels are now using signal jammers, by the way - great) or the lesser known Paul Le Roux. Nerds make extremely dangerous bad guys. Read the short story “The Mastermind” about Paul Le Roux, the inventor of TrueCrypt; if you don’t believe me - trust me, it’s a very crazy read. My take is that this was a bad move. I see no upside and have lots of potential for downside with this one.

Speaking of more bad moves, the Trump coin is seeing massive declines in value. You might have guessed that this looks like it’s likely a rug pull totaling around $66 million across Trump and Melania-branded coins and going. It would be funny if people weren’t losing everything.

Onto tech news, where Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank claims to be placing a $500 billion bet on what he calls the "Golden Age of AI." Son’s grand promises to double down on his original $100 billion pledge speak volumes about the burgeoning AI race. But behind the scenes, this investment frenzy underscores just how pivotal this region will be in shaping AI’s future, from infrastructure to innovation. But Elon Musk isn’t buying the hype, pointing to the company’s $15 billion projected loss in 2025 and a Softbank capitalization of less than $10bn. This might be one of those fake it until you make it situations, or maybe the other partners have backdoor offers to Softbank; either way, I hope it is true because we will need more tech innovation on American soil.

There is a new way to decloak users on Discord, Signal, and other platforms using the caching system built into Cloudflare. Long story short, you send an image, and the image is pulled from the nearest location, usually within a handful of miles from the user then, the attacker enumerates all of the Cloudflare instances to see which ones had a cached hit and which ones didn’t. The one that has it cached is the user's location who received the image.

DeepSeek’s new 7b model, an open-source competitor to o1, revealed an unnerving pro-China bias. But it does show how we need US-made AI, not Chinese-made AI. Normally, DeepSeek performs some “thinking” operations when you ask it questions, but definitely NOT when you ask it anything about Tiananmen Square. Here is a raw output from a test I ran where you can see it won’t even begin the process of thinking it just ends the thought process immediately:

Funny enough, this is what I mean when I say that censorship is the same as lobotomizing AI. You can see it happening right in front of your eyes - it won’t think. It can’t think. It’s not allowed to. Of course, you can switch over to a Meta trained Llama model vs a Qwen model, but the default is the Chinese Qwen - of course, it acts exactly the same for these questions regardless of the model. There is an uncensored version based on Qwen 7B that’s objectively similarly censored. As one man once so eloquently said: Fuck this communist piece of shit.

Okay, onto the articles!

America’s decline is over, according to President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, promising renewed American strength and prosperity.

• Trump promises to reclaim sovereignty, restore safety, and rebalance justice.

• The second Trump administration will prioritize creating a 'proud, prosperous, and free' nation.

[RSnake: We shall see! I think, at least for the short term, we are going to see some upheaval due to immigration and tariffs at a minimum, and I would put that in the best-case scenario. We are already seeing push-back from weak “strong men” like Trudeau - hasn’t he quit yet? I think austerity is the best bet here for Americans until we see how these policies shape up.]

Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-promises-golden-age-of-america-in-inauguration-speech

Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and three others face federal charges for participating in a bribery scheme linked to nearly $90 million in city contracts. The indictment alleges that Thao offered influence and contracts to benefit a housing company in exchange for campaign support and financial favors, with illegal activities dating back to her election campaign and beyond.

• Sheng Thao is accused of bribery and corruption involving city contracts.

• Federal investigations include actions by the FBI and IRS related to the alleged scheme.

[RSnake: It’s not terribly surprising. I often get the feeling that the people in city government are grifting. Here is one such data point.]

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-oakland-mayor-charged-alleged-corruption-scheme

The United States is moving towards a withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) under President Trump's administration, potentially affecting global disease management and public health coordination. This decision may reduce funding and resources for the WHO, which could hinder efforts to control infectious diseases and prepare for future health emergencies. Legal challenges and international responses are expected as public health experts express concern over the implications of this withdrawal for both the U.S. and global health security.

• The U.S. is planning to withdraw from the WHO, which traditionally receives a significant portion of its funding from the U.S.

• Experts warn that this move could weaken global health surveillance and response capabilities, making the U.S. more vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks.

[RSnake: I generally think the WHO’s mission is a good one. But I really do not like the idea of Europe mandating our CDC, especially when it has been indicated that NATO troops could and maybe even should enforce lockdowns if American citizens don’t comply during a pandemic. No, thank you. That is a bridge too far. Data sharing is one thing, this is quite another, especially when they run interference for Chinese lies about COVID. No thanks - I would like those tax dollars back, please.]

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/trump-plan-to-leave-the-who-health-disaster/

The United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. President Trump has signed executive orders to prioritize fossil fuel extraction, particularly in Alaska, while rolling back previous environmental regulations and climate initiatives put in place by the Biden administration.

• The US is exiting the Paris Agreement, signaling a shift in climate policy.

• Executive orders from the new administration prioritize oil and gas drilling and eliminate Biden-era environmental protections.

[RSnake: As long as China refuses there is an energy imbalance and a pollution imbalance. We can manage our own emissions, like we did with Los Angeles in the 80’s compared to now. That said, I expect some environmental catastrophes to happen - the breaking an egg to make omelets analogy applies here.]

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-day-one-executive-orders-are-an-environmental-catastrophe/

Uyghur detainees in Thailand face the threat of deportation back to China, where they may encounter severe repression, detainment, or harsher penalties. Currently, 48 Uyghurs are held in appalling conditions at an immigration detention center in Bangkok, while attempts to convince them to consent to deportation have reportedly taken place amid ongoing pressure from the Chinese government.

• Uyghurs held in Thailand's detention center may soon be deported back to China.

• Conditions in the detention center are described as overcrowded and unsanitary.

[RSnake: The louder they are, the worse it will be for them when they are deported. The CCP is very racist.]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ye63grvyko

The U.S. Navy is increasing the production of its Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) to 32 units per month in response to rising tensions with China in the Pacific. The initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance military readiness and leverage advanced unmanned technologies, particularly in light of recent conflicts that have showcased the effectiveness of these platforms in naval warfare.

• The U.S. Navy is mobilizing unmanned surface vessels as part of its counter-strategy against China.

• Increased GARC production is aimed at improving the Navy's operational capabilities by 2027.

[RSnake: These are autonomous dingies - which doesn’t sound quite as cool as GARC.]

Source: https://www.eurasiantimes.com/?p=227189

Poland is facing security challenges at its border with Belarus as it attempts to manage an influx of migrants, many of whom are aided by Belarus and Russia. The Polish government has implemented strict border measures and a tightening of its asylum policies to address concerns over organized mass crossings and potential destabilization from migrant inflows.

• Poland has bolstered its border security with 13,000 guards and soldiers to manage increased migration from Belarus.

• The Polish government is considering new laws to close its borders during crises involving mass border crossings.

[RSnake: Poland gets it. They need to lock down their border. They are the front line. They and Lithuania and obviously Ukraine will get the brunt of any outside aggression, just by virtue of their location with regard to the Eurasian continents.]

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/20/poland-wants-eu-focused-security-its-border-belarus-highlights-challenges.html

A ceasefire has been established in Gaza following a 15-month conflict, allowing some families to recover the remains of loved ones. However, many others are still searching for missing family members, with an estimated 10,000 bodies believed to be under debris in the region.

• A ceasefire has been implemented in Gaza after a prolonged conflict.

• There are significant efforts to locate missing individuals, with many bodies still unaccounted for.

[RSnake: Don’t hold your breath. That thing cannot last very long. There is no foundation for durable peace built into it aside from the threat of extreme violence, which was already there and has been for a year.]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2025/1/20/palestinians-find-dozens-of-bodies-under-rubble-in-gaza?traffic_source=rss

Ransomware gangs are increasingly using email and posing as tech support in Microsoft Teams calls to trick employees into installing malware that provides access to company networks.

• Ransomware gangs are adopting email bombing tactics followed by posing as tech support in Microsoft Teams calls.

• These attacks allow attackers to trick employees into installing malware that provides remote access to company networks.

[RSnake: The oldest trick in the book. This, by the way, is one of the reasons we have to be wary of CVSS - it says that drive-by downloads are “remote” attacks. No, they are privileged user-initiated attacks. This is why we need to assume everything can and will get breached and build resilience atop that. Users, bless their hearts, will not get better, so we have to.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-pose-as-it-support-in-microsoft-teams-phishing-attacks/

The acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has terminated all advisory committee memberships, including those on the Cyber Safety Review Board, which was investigating state-sponsored cyber threats. This abrupt action raises questions about the future of cybersecurity oversight in the U.S. and the administration's commitment to addressing significant cyber incidents.

• The Cyber Safety Review Board, which was established under the previous administration, is no longer operational due to the termination of its advisory committee members.

• This move reflects a shift in priorities within the Department of Homeland Security regarding how it approaches cybersecurity threats.

[RSnake: I saw this posted online in a number of places. Mostly, this likely won’t change much. Most of that group seems pretty useless to me, and I have every reason to get buddy-buddy with those teams, given what I do. But there were a few groups that were monitoring and reacting to APT teams like China’s Salt Typhoon, which could be really nasty if we don’t replace them with… something.]

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/trump-fires-cyber-safety-board-salt-typhoon-hackers

An advanced persistent threat (APT) group, is exploiting malicious Android applications to conduct intelligence-gathering operations targeting individuals linked to the country's intelligence community. These applications disguise themselves as chat tools but are designed to harvest sensitive information from compromised devices, representing a continued effort by the group to monitor national security interests and associated threats in South Asia.

• The DONOT Team APT group is targeting individuals connected to India's intelligence community.

• Malicious apps are designed to harvest sensitive information by eliciting user permissions.

[RSnake: So, who would have a deep-seated reason to go after India? My bet is China, Pakistan, or Iran. In that order.]

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/donot-group-malicious-android-apps-india

A new AI model, DeepSeek-R1, has been released, demonstrating advanced reasoning capabilities through large-scale reinforcement learning. It has shown performance comparable to other leading models and has been open-sourced to support the research community, enabling further advancements in smaller, powerful AI models.

• DeepSeek-R1-Zero was trained without supervised fine-tuning and exhibits unique reasoning behaviors.

• DeepSeek-R1 offers comparable performance to existing models while being open-sourced for community research.

[RSnake: I am using it so that you don’t have to. Avoid it unless you really know what you are doing.]

Source: https://github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1

AI-driven drug discovery is rapidly advancing, with significant investments and collaborations between technology startups and pharmaceutical companies. Major players like Isomorphic Labs are expected to initiate clinical trials for AI-designed drugs within the year, potentially revolutionizing drug development processes that typically take many years.

• Isomorphic Labs plans to test its first AI-designed drugs in clinical trials by the end of 2025.

• Over 460 AI startups are working on drug discovery, with substantial global investment exceeding $60 billion.

[RSnake: This and chemical research in general are hugely benefited by AI models. I can see this having a renaissance, along with fluid dynamics in engines, etc.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/europe-ai-drug-discovery-deepmind-spinoff-isomorphic-trials

A new $500 billion initiative called 'Stargate' has been announced in the U.S. to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure, aiming to establish the country as a leader in the technology. The project, backed by major tech executives, is expected to create over 100,000 jobs and focus on advancements in healthcare through AI, including early disease detection and personalized treatments.

• The Stargate project aims to attract AI talent and resources to the U.S.

• The initiative is projected to create over 100,000 jobs and advance healthcare through AI technology.

[RSnake: This will not be your tax dollars at play, thankfully. Even if it is a good idea, I think it is better for the government to keep their hands off of AI.]

Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-announces-500-billion-stargate-project-to-make-u-s-lead-the-world-in-ai-development

The Internet is experiencing an increase in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks driven by compromised Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Multiple botnets are targeting vulnerabilities in home and office devices, causing record levels of junk traffic and showcasing the ongoing threat posed by lax IoT security.

• IoT botnets are delivering record levels of DDoS attacks.

• Multiple botnets are exploiting vulnerabilities in various IoT devices.

[RSnake: This won’t go away any time soon. That is why CloudFlare will continue to be an ever-increasingly important platform and why you will start to see more tools for the home and companies to monitor and neuter IOT devices. It’s a thorny problem because the Internet of Things is super useful, just very difficult to protect. Not even to mention when they aren’t intentionally malicious.]

Source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/01/the-internet-is-once-again-awash-with-iot-botnets-delivering-record-ddoses/

Netflix experienced significant growth in Q4 2024, including a record addition of 18.91 million new subscribers and a revenue increase of 16% year-over-year, pushing its stock to an all-time high. The company also announced a price hike and a $15 billion stock buyback, while projecting a successful 2025 with strong cash flow expectations despite headwinds from foreign exchange rates.

• Netflix reported a record addition of 18.91 million subscribers in Q4 2024.

• The company announced a $15 billion stock buyback and a price hike across most plans.

[RSnake: Interesting. People are looking for an escape. I often consider canceling all of our subscriptions, but with a kiddo in the house, that would make life a lot more complicated, not to mention I often feel like I need to let my brain relax at the end of the day and keep up to date with popular culture is important in my line of work. But that said, most TV is brain rot.]

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/netflix-erupts-all-time-high-blowout-earnings-record-subscriber-adds-price-hike-and-new-15

US shippers are preparing for potential emergency tariffs that could be enacted swiftly under the International Economic Powers Act, impacting costs and demand for imported goods. The tariffs may affect all countries, including key trading partners such as Mexico and Canada, and could prove particularly burdensome for small to medium-sized companies without the capacity to absorb sudden costs.

• Emergency tariffs could be applied immediately, affecting businesses that have not factored in these costs.

• The potential for tariffs expands beyond China, affecting global supply chains and increasing prices for consumers.

[RSnake: And prepare they should.]

Source: https://gcaptain.com/?p=220762

Donald Trump has successfully launched several cryptocurrency ventures, including the World Liberty Financial project which raised $1 billion, and a meme coin known as $TRUMP that spiked in market value shortly after its introduction. The cryptocurrency market is reacting positively to Trump's promise of a 'golden age' for digital currencies, contrasting sharply with the regulatory environment established during the Biden administration. These developments have garnered significant attention and raised ethical and regulatory questions within the crypto community.

• World Liberty Financial raised $1 billion in token sales.

• Trump's $TRUMP meme coin surged significantly after its launch, contributing to a rally in cryptocurrency prices.

• The cryptocurrency ventures are raising questions about ethics and regulation in the political context.

[RSnake: Buyer beware. Seriously.]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/1/20/trumps-new-meme-coin-and-crypto-token-soar-on-his-first-day-in-office?traffic_source=rss

The Supreme Court is set to hear a case regarding the FDA's authority over e-cigarette marketing, specifically involving R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company's challenge to the FDA's denial of its menthol-flavored e-cigarette application. The case raises questions about the proper jurisdiction for appeals against the FDA's decisions, as well as implications for how companies might navigate legal avenues to contest agency actions.

• The FDA regulates tobacco products and denies marketing applications that do not demonstrate public health protections.

• R.J. Reynolds is attempting to challenge the FDA's ruling in a circuit that might be more favorable than the one designated by law.

[RSnake: Good. They should treat it the same way as cigarettes. Yes, it may be slightly healthier due to the lower operating temperatures, but the added chemicals for flavoring, which are designed especially for kids, are anything but healthy.]

Source: https://www.scotusblog.com/?p=318618

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has received approval for a new tank design that allows for the safe transport and storage of liquid hydrogen, a step towards supporting the growing demand for hydrogen as an energy source. The design features a vacuum insulation system that maintains very low temperatures necessary for hydrogen storage. Collaboration among global energy and shipping companies is underway to develop a large-scale liquid hydrogen carrier, reflecting a significant advancement in the maritime industry's efforts to facilitate the energy transition.

• HD KSOE's new tank design improves the safety and efficiency of liquid hydrogen transport.

• Collaboration with major global companies indicates a significant push towards hydrogen energy adoption in shipping.

[RSnake: The nice part about transporting hydrogen is if the tank goes up in flames, we don’t have a large-scale environmental catastrophe; we just have one very explosive ship.]

Source: https://gcaptain.com/?p=220866

A power struggle is unfolding between two families over the control of Korea Zinc, the world's largest zinc producer, which is crucial to global supply chains. This conflict is reflective of broader tensions within South Korea’s chaebol system, as the fight for management rights has implications for corporate governance in the country, especially regarding companies with strategic significance outside of China's influence.

• Two families, the Chois and the Changs, are in a fierce dispute over the management of Korea Zinc.

• The outcome of this conflict may influence the future of chaebols and corporate governance in South Korea.

[RSnake: Zinc is useful for all kinds of things, from vitamins to sunscreen to galvanization.]

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/business/korea-zinc-young-poong.html

A Delaware judge has sanctioned Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta, for allegedly deleting emails related to a shareholder lawsuit. This lawsuit accuses Meta officials of violating a Federal Trade Commission order by mishandling user data, with significant previous penalties issued against Meta for similar violations.

• Sheryl Sandberg has been sanctioned for deleting emails related to a shareholder lawsuit against Meta.

• The lawsuit involves allegations of violations related to user data handling and previous Federal Trade Commission penalties.

[RSnake: Ooh, that’s not good. If she’s lucky, that won’t end up landing her in jail, but covering up evidence of a crime is not a good look. Judges tend to frown on that.]

Source: https://techcrunch.com/?p=2950216