But why should I care? Compared to what is coming, this is not even worth bitching about.

I hate this timeline.

. . . planned to profit by collecting the full refund if courts ruled the tariffs unlawful.

This was a con job/extortion from the jump. They knew the Supremes would invalidate Trump's emergency declaration.

These fuckers are ripping us off for billions. /end

"As of July 2025, reports indicated that Cantor Fitzgerald offered to purchase tariff refund rights from companies at a steep discount, paying 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. This allowed companies to get immediate liquidity, while Cantor, led by Howard Lutnick's sons . . . /1

And don't get phished! Even the most robust hardware and software can't protect you if you click on email, X or Facebook links, or answer a random phone call, and then give up personal financial data.

Hackers using AI will be based in foreign countries. If you get ripped off your money is gone.

Get a reputable password manager. Go through all your apps and sites and change EVERY password to something at least 20 random characters long. Every password must be different, no reused passwords. Use a long pass phrase that you can always remember to log into the password manager.

Keep your PC/phone/tablet and all apps up-to-date. Get and run anti-malware software; there are plenty of free options (I like Malwarebytes).

If you have multiple devices, keep one for your financial transactions. No games, no dating apps, no porn. Turn it on, update it, transact, turn it off.

If you are still running Windows 7, 8 or 10, or a Mac with a downrev macOS, or are using an old smart phone to do online transactions, you are just asking to be ripped off. It's like unlocking your front door and putting a sign up saying, "Take what you want, it's all free. Go ahead, move in!"

Not kidding people, shit is coming down.

Make sure you have an up-to-date Operating System and browser with all privacy options turned on.

If you have your own router, make sure that it is not End Of Life. If it is, get a new one that is still supported. If not, get the latest firmware update.

We really should have a jungle primary for the presidency and eliminate the tiny left (Green), tiny middle (Independent, Libertarian) and the tiny far right (Reform) candidates so that a candidate who doesn't get an absolute majority wins total
control of the government.

With credible reports there have been huge investments front running Trump's major announcements, I believe--from both technical and fundamental perspectives--the markets are currently untradeable.

The chaotic idiot and all his corrupt minions must be excised before I can invest again. /6

So what happened on February 28, 2026? The so-called Iran War. Bombs dropped after months of threats from Trump and Netanyahu, then a little rapprochement, then more "civilzation ending" threats, more bombing, more "negotiations," with the markets going up and down with each turn of events.

/5

This many extreme days should occur over a period of 4 years, not over a single month. This kind of volatility cannot be explained by normal market fluctuations.

Oil prices have seen similar volatility recently; the Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX) is near the highest level since 2010 (COVID). /4

Under a normal distribution, 3 standard deviations represents an extreme price movement; such a change is expected to occur only ~3 out of every 1,000 trading days. But . . .

March 03, 2026: -3.79%
March 20, 2026: -3.74%
March 31, 2026: + 3.55%

Three extreme events in a month. /3

Here's where I'm going to get wonky. All just IMO.

Analyzing the daily price changes over 12 months we find one standard deviation is +/- 1.15% (assuming that such changes are normally distributed). Three standard deviations -- a daily change +/- 3.39% -- should cover 99.7% of all likely events. /2

I was invested in VSGX, an international ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) fund. Very woke as far as investments go, and somewhat insulated from deprecitation of USD vs other currencies.

I had been doing quite well up until the end of February, up some 30% over the previous 12 months. /1

Pebble Island - Falkland Islands, South America - Private Islands Pebble Island, the third largest off-shore island in the Falklands is on the market. This is the...

Missed my chance.

www.privateislandsonline.com/south-americ...

Oh, hell no. Nopepity nope nope nope.

Needs to be 10x, at least.

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

And you will be able to teleport!

I have an Archer C7 I bought a few years ago (for 40% less than its current Amazon price) and recently installed OpenWRT. OpenWRT firmware is free and constantly updated, so I should be able to safely use this router for years rather than being forced to support Mad King Trump's extortion. /end

If your router is compatible you can also install OpenWRT and delete the obsolete firmware. Amazon and other retailers are selling routers which are already past end of life with firmware that hasn't been updated in years (Archer C7, for example). These routers are or will become vulnerable. /1

This is why climate collapse is inevitable.

Not because we can't, but because we won't.

TACO trade has been reloaded and we are go!

JFC they're going to keep manipulating the market forever, aren't they? Once the Iran gambit stops working they'll invade Cuba or annex Greenland or do something else that's totally fucking crazy.

You must be proud, John Roberts.

Soon we'll just be kicking radioactive rocks.

I need to get out of SoCal before my house becomes worthless.

Guess who had four minesweepers in the Persian Gulf but removed them in January 2026, just before hostilities began?

Seems like closing the Strait was the US's objective of the war, rather than an unforeseen consequence.

And now Trump is, um, trumpeting the empty oil carriers headed to the States.

Trump's probably feeding them NSA exploits for a share of the stolen funds.

Anthropic Claims Its New A.I. Model, Mythos, Is a Cybersecurity ‘Reckoning’

In the short term (months?) the real danger is that humans will use this AI to hack many (most? all?) compute devices. Capabilities include ". . . scanning for and exploiting so-called zero-day vulnerabilities in critical software programs. . ." even by amateurs.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/t...

If not 2026, certainly 2027.