FIFA World Cup 2026

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Preface: This will be a serial piece, reporting on noteworthy events as they happen over the next few weeks through July 19.

The most prestigious international sporting event after the Olympics is the FIFA World Cup. Politics always plays a part in the World Cup, and the money involved is immense. Because of this, the World Cup organically invites & breeds corruption.

For the USMNT, it’s about advancing out of group play and finally winning a match in the knockout round. Note that there is a possibility the US could play Iran in Dallas, if both teams finish second in their groups, so watch for that. Iran has had issues getting visas for support personnel for their national team. Also, ticket allotments to Iranian national team fans have been reduced by FIFA. It must be understood that Donald Trump is closely allied with FIFA president Gianni Infantino for any of what’s going on to make any sense in this World Cup.

The game on the field matters less than ever, and that’s a shame. The USMNT has been handed a comfortable draw with Paraguay, Australia & Turkey in Group D. They didn’t have to qualify being a host nation, and that’s what kept the USMNT out of the World Cup 2018 in Russia. That year, 2018 was probably the lowest point for US men’s soccer since it came onto the international scene after hosting the 1994 World Cup and advancing out of group play for the first time.

The USMNT needs to advance to the round-of-32 and win at least one game for this World Cup to be successful for them. A problem with US men’s soccer is that there isn’t enough pressure on them to perform. No one who knows anything about futbol/football expects this team to do much, and it probably won’t. But the hype is there, that’s for sure.

By contrast, the US women’s national team has won the World Cup 4 times: 1991 (inaugural), 1999, 2015 & 2019. The US men haven’t been able to put any kind of competitive team on the World Cup stage ever, and 2026 represents a crossroads for men’s professional soccer in America. With all the advantages the US enjoys, not the least of which is having US imperialism literally destroy much of the global competition for the USMNT. Colombia, and much of Latin America can’t field a competitive team due to US-led violence unleashed on these impoverished nations. Iran surely has been diminished by US imperialism since Feb 28, 2026. Russia and it’s allies aren’t even allowed to compete, due to cynical US-led sanctions. Rotten politics permeate World Cup 2026.

The tournament has been expanded to 48 teams, from 32. This makes winning in the first knockout round (now a round-of-32, not 16) much easier for the USMNT, and it strangely feels like that was a primary reason for the expansion of the World Cup field. Anyway, more nations than ever are in the World Cup, but there has perhaps never been a greater disparity between the true contenders and the pretenders who are mostly just happy to be there.

Of course, every team wants to win, but the difference in quality between the world class teams and the rest will typically be made clear by the round-of-16. The US play Paraguay in its opener, just an hour away as of this publication. The US is playing in Los Angeles and should win easily, as they are better and have every advantage. The problem is, this is when the USMNT has historically spit the bit and laid an egg. Those are the storylines going in. It’s now time to let the players & teams decide the matter, as much as they are allowed. More on all this when the game is over.

Fri 12 Jun 2026 10:10 PM CDT

Mandatory hydration breaks by FIFA this World Cup have turned these games from two halves into four quarters, more resembling American sports. It’s an acknowledgement of global warming, and the need for player safety especially after Qatar 2022, Brazil 2014 & South Africa 2010 where world class athletes were being broken by the heat. I believe it helps the USMNT to play with this rule. Of course, the real purpose of this FIFA rule is to insert another round of commercials during each half, similar to when NASCAR went to stage racing a decade ago.

Coincidentally, a US player finally scored after the first hydration break in its opening match against Paraguay on their way to a 3-0 lead at halftime. Not much of a match, with Paraguay unable to clear the ball out their zone, repeatedly turning the ball over, giving the US multiple resets in the box, barely mounting a serious attack of their own, while tallying an own goal in the process. Hardly a game, and an illustrative example of how far away from competing these small & impoverished nations are in the World Cup.

The US has definitely improved from its disastrous setbacks of the 2010’s, where they completely lost their direction. The USMNT made the quarterfinals in Japan 2002, which is their best result ever in a World Cup, but have flopped since. The USMNT is definitely better organized, and there is finally some real talent on the team that can put the ball in the net, but I’m not convinced they can hold up against serious competition, which they probably won’t face until the round-of-16 at the earliest. Therefore I don’t get too excited over the USMNT dismantling Paraguay 4-1. The result virtually ensures the US will go on to the knockout stage, especially with their goal differential, so it’s a nice start but not much of a test.

The inaugural World Cup was in 1930, with 1942 & 1946 cancelled due to World War II. Brazil (5) has won it the most, with Germany & Italy (4 apiece), Argentina (3), and France & Uruguay (2 apiece) as the only multiple World Cup winners. England (1966) & Spain (2010) also won it. That’s the list. France is considered the favorite in 2026. Spain, England, Brazil & Argentina (2022 winner) all have strong teams and can win it. Beyond that there is a tier of 4-6 teams that can be dangerous. The USMNT isn’t considered to be on that list.

Early impressions: With FIFA expanding the field to 48 teams, the World Cup has been severely diluted, and the ramifications should be understood. Normally in the traditional 32-team World Cup field, there are 3-4 teams that have a poor showings and don’t win or draw a game in group play. They have a hard time even scoring a goal, and are sent home early in ignominy.

This time there will be ~20 teams that really don’t belong in the World Cup– ~40% of the field. Increasing the field by 50% only dilutes the quality of play, as FIFA has allowed too many third-rate national teams into World Cup 2026. Qualifying has traditionally been the method of ensuring only the best make this tournament. Now it’s a much lower bar to qualify, which doesn’t help the game.

This aggressive expansion will lead to many tedious games that will be sparsely attended & hardly watched. High ticket prices aren’t helping either. On average, ticket prices for World Cup 2026 are 5x higher than Qatar 2022. Who in America is interested in the Ivory Coast v Curacao match? Saudi Arabia v Uruguay, etc? Who will win Brazil v Haiti? Mismatches, along with boring match-ups are the story of group play in World Cup 2026. It was all done so FIFA could extract more money from fans & sponsors.

There are now 12 groups instead of 8, with some having 2-3 teams/group that aren’t internationally competitive. See Groups E, G, H & J, and decide for yourself. These ‘also-rans’ will win a few games, because they are playing opponents (40% of the field) who are at their level, but they aren’t World Cup teams in any traditional sense. The ‘group of death’ moniker no longer applies, as all the best teams are alone at top of their groups with a bunch of cupcakes below them.

Travel restrictions have also become an issue, as many foreign fans have decided to not attend the World Cup in North America for these reasons discussed above. Being detained by ICE is a very real risk, and who wants to pay inflated prices for inferior competition, while exposing yourself to the danger of being detained by the American gestapo?

The vastness of North America is also an issue, as the distance between the stadium venues is hundreds, if not thousands of miles. That’s too much travel, in an era of high gas prices along with the soaring costs of attending major sporting events. Watching the World Cup on television is simply a more sensible option for the vast majority of football/soccer fans in 2026.

Sat 13 Jun 2026 03:20 PM CDT

Video Assisted Replay (VAR): Switzerland v Qatar had an event which illustrates the corruption that is FIFA. At 17 minutes into the first half, after a Swiss buildup, the ball is played deep into the Qatar box, resulting in a violent collision between the goalkeeper and a Swiss attacker. A penalty kick was correctly awarded by the referee. All of these calls are reviewed by VAR these days. We the TV viewers get one quick look at what appears to be the Swiss attacker being offside. A VAR ruling of offside would nullify the penalty kick. We the viewers never got a VAR look of the play, even though Fox had “VAR check” on the screen and everyone is waiting for a decision. Why weren’t we given a VAR look at that play? Thierry Henry asked that same question at halftime after he analyzed the play. Clearly, the reason was the Swiss player was indeed offside, but FIFA wanted Switzerland to have the PK. Switzerland leads 1-0 at halftime. They outclass Qatar, but that is blatant VAR prejudice from FIFA. This is what fans mean when they say it’s less about the game on the field than ever. Click.

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Automated Balls & Strikes (ABS) has come to MLB in 2026, and it was long overdue. What really annoys sports fans are players who spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about calls to the umps, refs, and officials. ABS has elegantly taken care of much of that in MLB. My favorite ABS moment so far was a game a week or so ago when a hitter challenged strike 1, and strike 3 in a single at-bat– and lost them both as it wasn’t even close on either call. He foolishly & arrogantly exhausted his team’s challenges in the middle-innings, on a low-leverage plate appearance, and hurt his team while making himself look really bad. It was quite a feat to behold. I was so glad I finally saw something like that happen. As a neutral fan watching the game, I’m on my feet in front of the TV saying, “STFU & hit!” I’m guessing his manager & teammates also said something similar to him after the game, out of earshot of the media.

Flopping is the soccer equivalent of arguing balls & strikes in baseball. FIFA uses VAR to review all fouls, questionable offside, touchline in/out, and will even advise the referee to issue a card. VAR is an advance, but only if it is used fairly. Flopping is the biggest competitive issue on the field in football/soccer. Kids are taught at a young age to flop, so by the time they’ve reached the professional levels they’re experts. Each flopper has their own style, an individual reflection of their need for attention & special consideration, channeled into team sports tactics. It’s not only how you flop, it’s also when & where you flop. If you flop in front of a home crowd, during an important moment in a match when emotions are running high, this can often induce a desired whistle from the referee, along with a friendly nod & wink from FIFA VAR. This could win the World Cup for your country someday, so every flopper out there is trying their hardest at this. Click.

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FIFA Men’s Rankings are linked here. Sponsored by Coke. There are 211 teams ranked, with San Marino currently last on their list. The lowest-ranked 2026 World Cup qualifiers (FIFA rank in parenthesis) are: New Zealand (85), Haiti (83), Curacao (82), Ghana (73), Cabo Verde (67), Jordan (64), Bosnia and Herzegovina (63), South Africa (61), Saudi Arabia (60), Iraq (57), Uzbekistan (51), Qatar (50), Congo DR (46), Tunisia (45), Czechia (43) & Paraguay (42); all of whom sit outside the FIFA top-40. These are all teams that shouldn’t be there, and wouldn’t be there with a traditional 32-team field. If you’ve seen any of these overmatched teams play already, and objectively watched their level of play, then you know.

Only an outlier or two outside the FIFA top-40 (at the most) traditionally qualifies for a World Cup. Sixteen are listed above. I sense a form of gerrymandering is going on behind the scenes as far as these qualifying groups go. This is where things get murky murky with FIFA.

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Alexi Lalas was a defender on the 1994 USMNT. Their success in that tournament springboarded soccer in America by establishing the MLS, and boosting the USWNT who finally broke through in 1999. Alexi Lalas was best known for his red afro with corresponding facial hair, and being an original MLS name player for the New England Revolution. “If you want American soccer players to stay in America, then you need to pay them,” was the quote I remember best from him after the USMNT was eliminated by Brazil in World Cup 1994. I remember it sounding more like a plea, than a threat to leave for Europe.

Alexi Lalas wasn’t coveted by the top teams in Europe. On the other hand, Colombian defender Andrés Escobar was. When asked to speak about his 1994 experience as a Fox analyst in 2026, Alexi Lalas didn’t mention Andrés Escobar.

The 1994 World Cup was won by Brazil over Italy in a shootout. The player who made the biggest impression on me was Hristo Stoichkov, the Bulgarian striker. The event I will never forget from World Cup 1994 was Andrés Escobar scoring a devastating own goal for the US in group play that virtually eliminated pre-tournament favorite Colombia. Andrés Escobar was murdered by drug-gang hooligans in Medellín, Colombia less than a week after Colombia was eliminated from the World Cup.

The dirty, US-led drug wars of the 1980’s & 1990’s devastated futbol in South America, Colombia in particular. Two Escobars (2010) tells this tragic story well. Any discussion of World Cup 1994 that fails to mention the tragedy of Andrés Escobar is disrespectful on every level.

Final thoughts on 1994: To be fair, it’s organically impossible for Alexi Lalas (or any other member of that USMNT) to say the truth about that World Cup– the first hosted by the US. The big money involved created a viable soccer league in the US when MLS was inaugurated in 1996. If he could be honest, Alexi Lalas would say, “We benefited greatly, more than most fans could ever know, by the destruction of Colombian soccer by the US government & military. It was probably the biggest reason the USMNT made the knockout round in 1994. US imperialism not only destroyed soccer in Latin America, it wrecked all of its societies with violence that maintained inequality, meaning poverty for the masses & soaring profits for American capitalists. We were used as a propaganda tool by FIFA, US imperialism & its corporate interests. I am proud of our team’s performance in 1994, but deeply ashamed of the cost that went into our achievements. That is why it is important to remember Andrés Escobar.”

Response to this statement from Fox would be swift & clear, “Alexi Lalas, you’re fired. You will never work in television again.”

Sun 14 Jun 2026 02:23 PM CDT

There’s not much left to say at this point. Football/futbol/soccer is the world game. The US was simply the last country to embrace that concept. Drunk Americans who incessantly chant, “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A,” expect a miracle from the USMNT– like Lake Placid in 1980. Of course, US hockey gold in 1980 wasn’t a miracle. Of Miracles and Men (2015) tells the rest of that story– which most Americans don’t want to hear either.

All this is why I don’t believe the hype on this USMNT. They need to beat a good team in the knockout round of the World Cup for me (& the rest of the world) to be a believer. Historically, the USMNT’s best players have been their goalies– Kasey Keller & Tim Howard. That speaks volumes about the level of football in the US. Today, the USMNT finally has some scoring talent on the pitch. They’re at least dangerous now, when before they were pushovers. In 1994 the USMNT packed everyone into their own box and held on for dear life against Brazil. Obviously you can’t win like that in the World Cup, so things had to change for the US to become respectable in international football. We won’t find out the answers to the USMNT until probably the round-of-16– due to this diluted field.

The stadiums are still full, despite massive price-gouging, visa issues & rising inflation. FIFA is still corrupt, with murky politics everywhere. Expansion of the field fits the interest of FIFA, so it’s here to stay. So are mandatory hydration breaks.  Fifty percent expansion has turned group play into a warm-up exercise for the best teams. They no longer have to worry about being eliminated in group play.

The best group play match-up was Brazil-Morocco- which ended in a 1-1 draw. Both teams played not-to-lose in the 3rd & 4th quarters. It was a gentleman’s draw, as the rest of their group are cupcakes. That was the best match-up in group play. The rest is an exercise in evaluating the best teams for when the knockout stage begins, or teams playing that absolutely won’t make the knockout round. This is day 4 of the World Cup and I’ve seen enough for now. I’ll check in on a few matches of interest as they arrive, but mostly this story is already written until there is a possibility that a good team could be eliminated from the World Cup.

Dilution means more product that is weaker. Also, just like the Olympics, many of these small nations have only a few players (if any) who were born or live in the nations they are playing for in the World Cup. Many have NCAA experience, and almost all have played professionally in Europe, the US, or South America. What this means is there isn’t really a Curacao national team. It’s a bunch of guys who have ancestral ties and can use that to become part of the World Cup. It helps their careers, and provides FIFA with cheap labor from which they profit handsomely. The few millions FIFA sends these impoverished nations for participating in the World Cup are pennies compared to the wealth they rake in broadcasting these diluted games. Germany over Curacao, 7-1. Alexi Lalas on Fox post-game refers to those criticizing this expanded World Cup field as “cynics.” Click.

Mon 15 Jun 2026 12:39 PM CDT

Late last week US president Donald Trump suddenly began pushing hard for a ceasefire deal with Iran. It seemingly came out-of-the-blue, for no apparent reason, as many things do with him. Trump never honestly explains why he does anything, so it’s left to people with functioning brains & integrity to figure it out and explain it to others who would like to know.

Trump’s reasons for signing a 60-day ceasefire agreement with Iran (terms of which are murky and to which Zionist Israel still hasn’t agreed) are: 1) this war was never popular, hasn’t achieved any of its stated objectives, and is hurting Trump & his party; 2) oil prices were about to spike dramatically as US reserves have nearly been exhausted; and 3) the World Cup match featuring Iran today in Los Angeles is expected to bring massive protests, which Trump wanted to blunt with this agreement. That explains his sudden rush to get a deal (any deal) done. All this is cynical public relations & optics– nothing more. Trump will renew hostilities with Iran whenever he pleases, with full approval of the Democrats. The entire world knows it, so don’t expect this worthless agreement to diminish any planned protests.

Iran plays New Zealand today at 6:00 PM PDT. The Iranian national team and its coaches have had to answer endless questions from the media that have nothing to do with New Zealand. They have been placed in an impossible situation, and therefore deserve every serious sports fan’s support.

Iranian head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, stated the other day, “We only think about our country. We are not political people.” Unfortunately this is ignorant babble, when clear thought & expression are desperately needed. In fact, countries are political entities by nature. Before capitalism, in the era of feudalism & the Church, nation states (countries) didn’t exist. It’s ridiculous that no one in the corporate media even points out this historical & political fact. If you strongly identify with your country, that defines your politics.

Those who insist politics should be kept separate from the World Cup are naive fools and/or cynical liars. The FIFA World Cup is an international event, which only ramps up the politics because every nation is competing against all others. Money, power & prestige are involved– which is politics. Visas are required to travel, and for that national teams, fans, media, etc, need host government approval. The process of being selected as a host nation by FIFA is highly political. I could go on & on– all politics.

“Diaspora” is a term that has been frequently used during the World Cup. It refers to a nationality that has spread globally, creating a larger pool of players and fans for a particular national team. As briefly discussed above, Curacao has a diaspora that has led to the formation of their national teams, etc. So when Amir Ghalenoei says to the American media, “The Iranian nation, we respect each and every one of the Iranians,” he is referring to the Iranian diaspora here in the US (& everywhere else) as well as the citizens of Iran. He is appealing to reactionary nationalism, as opposed to international solidarity. That’s the ignorance & danger of his words, which only adds fuel to the fire for Trump and his fascist cabal in the White House.

Diaspora means emigration & immigration. To have a diaspora, free movement of the global population needs to be possible. As we all know from bourgeois politicians & ICE on television every day, immigrants aren’t actually welcome in the US– or any other first-world nation. Especially poor immigrants. Yet the Fox announcers at the World Cup keep gushing about “diaspora” influencing the game of football in such a positive way, etc. The hypocrisy & cynicism is staggering, and often leads to the mute button in my World Cup viewing.

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In Group H play, Spain v Cape Verde ended in a 0-0 draw. This was a dud of a match, and another red flag. I watched the first quarter, then switched off at the mandatory hydration break to write & publish the installment above. I finished around the conclusion of this match. From what I saw (and I’m glad I didn’t see most of it), Spain didn’t even look interested in playing hard.

Perhaps it’s somehow to Spain’s advantage if Cape Verde makes the knockout round, or there were diplomatic issues involved, etc? Or maybe Spain just didn’t care to compete in this diluted field. Spain possessed the ball for a staggering 74% of the match time, but showed little energy, with their players being passive with the ball and not really attacking. That’s what I saw at the beginning & the end. I’m sure if I had the sound on, I would have heard Fox announcers hyping the performance of Cape Verde as historic, a boost to their national pride, etc.

How many Cape Verde national team players actually live in Cape Verde? I asked Google AI: one. The rest are diaspora. How can the population of Cape Verde be proud (from a nationalist perspective) of a national team that has only one citizen on it? Will there be a “homecoming” for this national team after the World Cup, so Cape Verdians can celebrate with “their” players– most of whom they have never met & don’t know? Identity is so fluid these days, it’s hard to take any of it seriously. There is a mercenary, free agent quality to many of these lesser-known national teams that outweighs the humanitarian, feel-good narrative.

One thing people who have never played need to realize is that it is very difficult to score a goal in football. It’s probably the hardest thing in major sports, and that’s why most professional matches end 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, etc. If you pack everyone into the box and stay there, it’s difficult for even a very good opponent to find the net. Overmatched teams often employ this strategy because the World Cup is about results. Cape Verde gets their national glory in a 0-0 draw, Maybe someday the Cape Verde national team will score a goal against a good team in the World Cup. Anything is possible. There is an element of nationalist enabling and ‘participation trophyism’ that rings hollow in all this.

Gonzo journalism: I suppose you could call this ‘gonzo journalism’ if you’re reading me here. I was never a huge fan of Hunter Thompson, but he had the right idea in that it’s about a lot more than the game on the field. Other people’s thoughts & ideas matter just as much, if not more. Without fans there is no spectacle, and the World Cup is a massive global spectacle. Gonzo journalism becomes an influential style when it grasps & reveals deeper truths that most participants miss. It means no rules, no bourgeois editors censoring content– in a word, freedom. I prefer to bring a rational, materialist, and yes Trotskyist perspective to my gonzo writings, as opposed to confused, drug-crazed anarchism.

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Hunter Thompson is a complex figure. I spent one summer in college reading books from the library. I spent a week on Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, Henry Miller, etc, and didn’t like any of them. I can read them in bits & pieces, but they jump around, drop existing threads to go off on tangents, and generally can’t hold a story together– which frustrates me. I don’t read to be frustrated, so I usually leave them on the shelf, so to say. Hunter Thompson arguably worked best in a magazine format. This allowed installments, which are easier to deliver than a good finished book, which typically takes years.

I don’t like a lot of things Hunter Thompson did & said, but I credit him for contributing a very important concept to modern writing. BTW, this is a good way to negate prejudice towards a flawed person, by crediting them on something important. Also note italics as a gonzo technique. It’s about cutting through the noise and getting directly to a hungry reader with something exciting & important.

Readers always crave enlightening gonzo journalism because the corporate media is all propaganda & lies, as Hunter Thompson recognized. You aren’t allowed to say that on television, even though most people know it. Bourgeois society is afflicted with a severe case of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Gonzo journalism brings free-form humor & humanity to all this madness, which “serious news” people aren’t allowed to present. All they do is selectively recite numbers and lifelessly churn out narratives. If done well today, gonzo journalism easily eclipses all corporate media content, because truth matters foremost.

More than ever we need gonzo, so thank you Hunter Thompson. To all this, I imagine Hunter Thompson would tell me to fuck off, and that’s fine. He has that right & freedom. As long as he doesn’t slander or violently attack me, he can do what he wants. Since Hunter Thompson is long dead, I am addressing his fans who carry on his thoughts & ideas. It’s really hard to find people who respect each other and think this way anymore, and that’s surely what frustrated Hunter Thompson into becoming a gonzo journalist. People aren’t black or white, they are many shades of grey; and therefore people who insist on black-white binary thinking need to be outed as reactionary philistines. That’s the aim of gonzo journalism.

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Elon Musk’s big money grab

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This SpaceX IPO, set for today, is the largest scam in financial history. Roughly 93% of its projected $1.75T value is in AI, and Elon Musk’s xAI/Grok models are garbage.

Only Starlink makes money, as all other SpaceX divisions lose money. SpaceX leases CPU to Anthropic, it’s competitor, and that is SpaceX’s biggest revenue stream in AI. In other words, it’s an AI infrastructure leasing company being given a big tech valuation. Just how is a leasing company considered an AI innovator?

Their IPO prospectus (sample above) is a joke, an exercise in science fiction & fudging the numbers. SpaceX is claiming a ‘total addressable market’ of $28.5T, which is almost the entire US GDP ($30T). Shareholders will have no vote or say in how SpaceX is run, as Elon Musk will control 85% of the shareholding vote, meaning he can never be fired and will pick his successor, etc. He can even start a new rival company that competes with SpaceX, if that suits him. This is a huge circular deal that rewards all of Elon Musk’s cronies, and keeps him afloat despite SpaceX’s annual net losses & massive debt obligations.

This deal is being hyped because all the right people are getting paid and it keeps the music going. This IPO is also how Elon Musk is meeting his debt obligations for his overpay of Twitter in 2022. There is massive working class resentment over this institutionalized graft, which is widely understood in online comments, blogs & forums, but isn’t seriously discussed or analyzed in the corporate media which accepts this blatant fraud as legitimate business.

Here’s a good video explaining this SpaceX IPO fraud in detail:

As mentioned in an earlier article, SpaceX according to its IPO disclosure holds 18,700 bitcoins purchased at ~$35k each. Therefore, crypto Kool-Aid drinkers are expecting a bitcoin price bump with this IPO, even though there is no rational reason why. Bitcoin has been backsliding since its primary booster, Michael Saylor’s Strategy, sold 32 bitcoins in late May to pay stock dividend obligations. Because Elon Musk is a big crypto booster, and Space X has a sizable stash of bitcoin, this IPO must be a bitcoin price booster. That’s the logic of the market, where casual correlations become influential narratives, and no one cares to explain how it all happens.

Bitcoin/crypto, like the SpaceX IPO, is a huge con built on the cult of personality. Both mirror when Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) went public in March 2024, This fake company, TMTG, operates the Truth Social platform and World Liberty Financial, Trump’s crypto venture. TMTG operates at a heavy loss, with little revenue. Trump Media & Technology Group’s IPO price was ~$79, and just over two years later it trades at $8.25 per share. As of this publication, Trump’s WLFI tokens exchange for $0.06. This should give anyone with any financial sense, a clear idea where SpaceX’s IPO is heading. That 2024 TMTG IPO was simply a handout to Donald Trump from his wealthy supporters, as he desperately needed the cash; just as SpaceX’s 2026 IPO is nothing more than a supporter-backed bailout for Elon Musk.

In conclusion, the IPO price for SpaceX has been set at $135 per share, with a $1.7T valuation because Elon Musk says so. That’s not normally how it works, but we are in a new era of high finance. It’s all in that ridiculous prospectus, which the banks who are making hundreds of millions of dollars off this fraud, barely scrutinize. This IPO is expected to raise $75B for SpaceX, and make Elon Musk the first trillionaire. Of course all this is fictitious value, as all of the value of SpaceX is based on lies & cooked numbers— especially its bitcoin. Elon Musk simply put himself at the head of the line when it comes to AI-company IPOs, and that’s what’s getting him top dollar for his SpaceX junk. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

OpenAI & Anthropic are expected to follow with ~$1T IPO valuations. These companies actually have workable AI technology that people use, but they are part of a massive tech bubble that will burst upon us all. By the time these companies go bankrupt, they will have looted all the money that can be squeezed out of the system. They will be among the biggest companies in the world, and thus deemed too-big-to-fail, and we know what that means: More taxpayer bailouts for these fraudsters, because all the wealthy elites & political players are in on it. The ruling oligarchy tell us what’s what, and we the workers must always obey them. Those are the rules, until a revolution comes along and consigns all this detritus into the dustbin of history.

Fri 12 Jun 2026 05:52 PM CDT

Epilogue: SpaceX stock opened at $150 and rose 19% to $160, after reaching an early high of $172. One particular aspect that has serious investors upset is Nasdaq changing its own eligibility rules for index funds, which acts as yet another hidden boost for Elon Musk. How does he do it? Most human commentors on social media believe the pre-IPO buyers will take their money and wait for the crash, then buy the dip & hold. Plenty of xAI bots attacking these comments. What a rigged charade, as at least two-thirds of the American people aren’t the least bit fooled by this orchestrated fraud.

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Trump crashes at MSG

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On the ABC pregame, NBA commissioner Adam Silver covered for Trump by saying he’s a long-time Knicks fan who was invited by owner James Dolan to attend, and that sports shouldn’t be divisive, etc… Question: If sports are to bring us all together, then why does Trump need so much security & isolation at MSG?

Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Draymond Green, Shaq & Ernie Johnson just sat there quietly during Adam Silver’s false explanation, even though every basketball fan knew how hoops fans really felt about it. If any of these analysts had contradicted Adam Silver, they would have been fired. Disgraceful coercion & capitulation all-around. It was nothing more than a photo-op and a chance to insert himself into the narrative of the NBA finals, everyone knew it, and it was a complete disaster for Trump.

As for the Knicks, they had one of the greatest home court advantages in sports flipped on them because Trump had to make his presence felt. When the MSG crowd is right, they are feverishly cheering for the Knicks, appreciating extra effort & hustle, and exposing phonies on the opposing team. To understand what has happened, we need to take a step back.

The person most responsible for reviving the New York Knicks is Tom Thibodeau. As their head coach from 2020-25, he re-instilled defense as the Knicks bread-and-butter, echoing the Patrick Ewing years when the Knicks were last competitive. Tom Thibodeau is considered an innovator of basketball defense, insisting on player accountability, connectedness, and strict help-side rotations to clog up the middle. Players must rotate early & hard to force a kick out pass, then recover & contest. Repeat until the possession is over. This involves sitting in a stance and literally working your ass off. It takes a lot of serious coaching to get players to buy into this, but it’s what wins.

Knicks fans who have attended games at MSG over the years know & appreciate this. The Knicks made the finals this year because they came together defensively. This is the Knicks most-talented roster in decades, and that deserves most of the credit. The Knicks under Mike Brown now have the players to make Tom Thibodeau’s defensive system work effectively, and it’s gotten them this far.

That defensive energy translates directly to the basketball crowd at MSG. Even the entertainment celebrities understand it. But when someone who ALWAYS demands to be the center of attention, and it widely despised, proclaims that he will be at game 3 in MSG, it sucks a lot of juice out of the building. For the fans & players, it’s no longer about the game; it’s about Donald Trump, and that doesn’t help the home team.

It wasn’t just a jinx that Trump brought into MSG in game 3, it was all the crap we watch sports to forget about for a few hours. Every fan in the building felt it, because they all had to go through extra security, etc, and it diminished their experience of the game. When you pay what it costs to attend a game like that, you feel cheated. You’re angry, and it affects your ability to cheer for the home team. That is absolutely real, and has nothing to do with a jinx.

Game 4 will still have the remnants of Trump– extra security and longer waiting in line to get in. Donald Trump has managed to neutralize the MSG crowd, which severely hurts the Knicks. I didn’t think it was possible, but everyone saw it. How can Donald Trump call himself a Knicks fan after falling asleep in game 3? For the NBA record, Trump distracted everyone in the building who wanted the Knicks to win, and that is carrying over for the rest of the series.

As far as who will win the series, game 4 will tell us a lot. I believe the Spurs are a better team, but the Knicks are close & more experienced. The best team doesn’t always win (see Celtics 1984), and sometimes something that has nothing to do with basketball can influence events on the court. Not since COVID-19 temporarily halted the 2019-20 NBA season has such a disruptive outside force influenced the finals.

For context, what I have written here is from a basketball fan who is not a Knicks fan, but appreciates this historic NBA franchise. Below is a 10-minute video which shows how Knicks fans (& New Yorkers in general) feel about Trump. Warning: It turns into a shameless promo for the Democrats after ~5 minutes, but the first half captures the essence of the moment well enough in its NY style.

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Final WNBA scouting report on Caitlin Clark

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This is the third essay in a series on basketball. Part one is here. Part 2 is here.

I watched the Indiana Fever-New York Liberty game on CBS, and everything I’ve mentioned about Caitlin Clark’s poor defense helped lose a game the Indiana Fever should have won. Beyond that, Caitlin Clark’s offense is limited in ways that aren’t being discussed by WNBA announcers & analysts.

For starters, Caitlin Clark has no left hand– weak dribble, weaker passing, and won’t even try finishing in the paint with her off hand. For a guard, that needs to improve. She’s a good passer with excellent vision, but tries to make too many passes that aren’t really there. She’s trying to make her teammates batter with her passing, but it’s still too much of a mixed bag. No left hand (off hand) limits her as a player.

Beyond that, Kelsey Mitchell needs to be the one with the ball for the Indiana Fever, and Caitlin Clark needs to learn to play without the basketball. Playing effectively without the ball is an advanced offensive skill which requires complete court awareness & better spacing on Caitlin Clark’s part. She’s not the best player on her team anymore, so her game needs to adapt for her to be a winning player in this league. Learning to play on the weak side and being a spot-up 3-point threat is how her offensive game needs to develop. In short, her defense must improve; along with her left hand, and playing without the ball.

Reggie Miller

I’ve mentioned Steve Alford as Caitlin Clark’s best NBA comparable. The NBA player she needs to emulate to be successful in the WNBA is another Indiana basketball legend– Reggie Miller. As the Pacers shooting guard from 1987-2005, Reggie Miller was a master at coming off screens & moving without the ball. It takes patience & discipline to stayed properly spaced, until the time comes to shoot or move quickly & intelligently without the ball.

All her career Caitlin Clark has had the basketball in her hands, but her weak off-hand is leading to too many turnovers in the WNBA. She’s not quick enough, nor does she have the handles to be a point guard. Reggie Miller had to work hard just to become an average NBA defender, but that effort made him a Hall-of Famer because it kept him on the floor. He didn’t let his defensive effort become a liability that kept him off the court at crunch time. He didn’t often get into foul trouble, which would put him on the bench and the other team on the free throw line. Individual & team defense are separate, essential skills in basketball.

2008 Celtics

Caitlin Clark isn’t cut out to be the team leader, she’s not good enough, so she needs to channel Ray Allen with the Boston Celtics behind Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce. For the Indiana Fever, Kelsey Mitchell needs to be their primary facilitator & scorer, with Aliyah Boston as their option in the paint if there is a mismatch, and Caitlin Clark being a roving 3-point shooter. That’s (maybe) a championship formula that can eventually work if everybody does their part. It starts with having the game to compete, and then playing connected as a team, which isn’t happening on either end of the floor with the current Indiana Fever roster.

Team defense basics: As I mentioned in the first essay, A’ja Wilson is (far & away) the best player in the WNBA, the only player who needs to be double-teamed every time she touches the ball. To beat the Las Vegas Aces, opponents need to pressure the ball to deny her an easy entry pass, then come with a quick, hard double-team when she does get the ball and force her to pass out of it. WNBA teams all know how to double-team & rotate to open shooters on defense. Not all WNBA teams can actually execute it well, but all the coaches & players at least know what they should do, and that’s a measure of growth in the women’s game.

Rotating out of a double-team is objectively measured by who gets the open look and for how long. If the opponent’s second-best scoring option gets a clean look, then the rotation is poor. If the third option gets a look, it’s average at best. If the 4th or 5th option is the one made to shoot, then the defense is dictating and doing its job. If no one gets a look, or a turnover is created, that’s elite team defense. Team defense is five players on the floor, connected together, each busting their butts to cover for each other in order to prevent the opposition from scoring. A scouting eye sees this better than analytics.

Team defense is hard to measure & evaluate, largely because there are a lot of players (boys & girls at all levels) who don’t give much effort on defense, and have learned ways to blame others in order to deflect criticism. Your teammates can make you look bad in basketball, by not being there for you when you need help in recovering, etc. All kinds of egos are clashing in basketball, and trash talking is how a lot of it gets worked out amongst the players. Learn the game (old school), and your trash talking (new school) will take care of itself.

Team defense means you get on board, or you’re benched or traded. Team defense is an old school ethic, with new school science & applications. For example, in today’s game you can’t give up an open corner 3 to a good shooter, at any level, as that’s like giving up an open lay-up in the pre-3 era. For every player, team defense & playing without the ball are about being efficient & effective with angles & spacing to help your team win on both ends of the floor.

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Crypto plummets after Strategy sells 32 bitcoins

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In the latest crypto news, this article from CoinDesk on Monday June 1, set off a rush to exit in bitcoin. It reads, “Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million to fund dividend payments. The 8-K filing Monday says proceeds from the May 26-31 sale, executed at an average price of $77,135 a coin, will fund distributions on Strategy’s preferred stock.”

For context, bitcoin had “stabilized” at ~$73k for a few weeks, until this news hit. I still wonder how Michael Saylor got $77k for his bitcoin which was selling at $73k, but that’s perhaps only a trivial matter. The bigger story is that bitcoin has been falling ever since and is now hovering ~$60k with little industry hope for a recovery.

It’s incredible to know that someone who holds over 843,000 bitcoins can spook the entire crypto market to such a degree when he sells 32 bitcoins. I previously outlined the latest issues involved & billionaire nervousness with bitcoin, which centers around Michael Saylor fanatically buying bitcoin at an average price of $76k.

Strategy’s monthly stock dividends are becoming unpayable for Michael Saylor, who has hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. It’s a fact that the richest people in the world are often financially underwater, and therefore not rich at all. They just have infinite credit, which is nice.

Once Strategy sells more bitcoin (and Michael Saylor will have to) that will become an existential crisis for bitcoin/crypto. The US stock market keeps hitting records highs, but a crypto crash threatens to bankrupt everything. Hedge funds, venture capitalists, big banks, corporations, and Donald Trump & family are all invested.

It’s important to remember that every business Trump has led: casinos, the USFL, Trump University, Airlines, etc, has gone bankrupt. His latest venture is the crypto exchange Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which is tobogganing towards bankruptcy, as is the US Treasury under his second term as American president.

Trump tariffs (April 2025) have played a huge role in this impending insolvency, while his war on Iran has reached a level of surrealism, as the Iranian national team has just been allowed visas (by the Trump administration) to play in the World Cup. Iran’s national soccer team will play matches in Los Angeles & Seattle later this month, and it’s hard to imagine this happening in WW2 or any other serious conflict.

Russia isn’t allowed to compete in any international competition (Olympics, World Cup, etc) since it was provoked by Western imperialism to invade Ukraine in early 2022. Allowing Iran’s soccer team visas only proves this war on Iran isn’t serious, from a US perspective. Zionist Israel is taking it far more seriously, as they absolutely would not allow Iran to compete if they were hosting the event.

Competing ideologies among ruling elites is what makes this so murky. Trump wants to end the Iran war, as it’s hurting him and his party in the mid-terms to come, but the Democrats & Netanyahu won’t allow that. Trump can’t withdraw without victory, his ego, and more importantly– imperialism– won’t allow that.

US imperialism cynically insists on the government of Iran turning over its enriched uranium, which BTW Iran is allowed to have for peaceful purposes. There is nothing illegal about Iran having enriched uranium, as nuclear power is used globally, even by countries that don’t have nuclear weapons– such as Canada.

Nuclear bullying & misinformation are favorite strategies of US imperialism & its corporate partners, especially those in arms manufacturing. There’s so much profiteering going on, and all these entities are addicted to it, so it can’t be stopped. Halting this madness would be ‘bad for the economy’, pundits advise from their ivory towers.

That’s the logic of late-stage capitalism in its death throes. Reckless speculation, heavy spending & debt loads, media propaganda, and unlimited access to credit for those too-big-to-fail. Of course there are no rules that apply to this elite class. They are above the law, and in fact they are the law. They control the police & ICE, the DOJ & the courts, the department of corrections, the corporate media, and the two-party system. It’s why the Jeffery Epstein clients are all still at large, while activists, artists, leftists, students, rank-and-file labor organizers, anti-genocide protesters, etc, are the domestic targets of capitalist imperialism.

This layered look at our modern political economy reveals a corrupt web of lies & crimes against peace & humanity. The question all serious people are asking is: What will be the catalyst for the collapse of this massive house of cards? I believe it will be bitcoin, for all the reasons I’ve analyzed for years now. Crypto has more potential to explode into catastrophe than any other industry, primarily because it’s fake to the core. We have a massive fake economy that has been built around, and taken the profits from, the productive labor of those who do the real work, and bitcoin is the crystallization of phony.

Health care workers, educators, factory & construction workers, secretaries & janitors, etc, are the working class that produces all the economic value to society. The billionaires are the parasites, who employ a semi-educated upper-middle class of minions & bureaucratic functionaries to do their bidding. These are union representatives, upper level management in corporate, university faculty, etc. This educated class is assigned with the task of containing the working class & youth by isolation and keeping them in the dark politically. Identity politics is an ideology of isolation through half-truths, and it is the flip side of right-wing white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism, etc.

All this can be thrown into the dustbin of history when bitcoin crashes. As a crypto skeptic from the start, I’ve always advocated that bitcoin will eventually go to zero. Crypto is simply an elaborate, computerized Ponzi scheme.

But bitcoin doesn’t need to go to zero anymore for the crypto industry to crash & die. As discussed in an earlier piece, not all bitcoin holders are created equally. Satoshi Nakamoto/Adam Back has a large stash of cheap bitcoin, which he hoarded from the start because he invented bitcoin. It’s those who have bought at $90K/bitcoin and above who are wiped out. That price level isn’t returning, ever.

The real number for bitcoin to be worthless is far above zero. This has to do with the crazy accounting in high finance these days, which I will confess I don’t completely understand– nor do I want to. I know enough already. It’s entirely based on speculation & leveraging debt, with fundamentals such as use value, profitability, stability, etc, being thrown out the window. Capitalism is no longer serious about anything it has claimed to make it great in the past.

Innovation & artistry have been stifled by billionaire capitalists who have hijacked the internet and everything else of value for their own fascist agenda. The are all partners with the NSA, FBI, CIA, ICE, etc. I predict bitcoin will be where the buck stops for the international working class, because this crash will be so fast, so sudden and “out-of the blue” that heads will be spinning– as will political pundits of all bourgeois stripes. Everything happens faster in crypto, as it’s part of the addiction for the original Kool-Aid drinkers.

The crypto kill price for bitcoin is probably closer to $20k. At this level, virtually everyone in bitcoin will be wiped out, except Adam Back/Satoshi. It’s like when you win at Monopoly. Once the winner has everyone’s money, the game is over and it’s time do something else.

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New school & old school

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Preface: This is a continuation of previously published essay– WNBA mediocrity

I’ve used these terms a lot when discussing basketball without fully defining them. Old school is Red Auerbach. This means the coach/GM runs the organization and is considered the most important person. In old school, no player is above the coach or management. What they say goes, and players who complain or object are benched and/or traded away. Old school was too rigid & deeply unfair to the players, especially star players before free agency. The best players never had any leverage in salary negotiations, and that had to change– hence new school.

New school begins with free agency in any sport, and in basketball it really started with Michael Jordan who was the first player to be above his team because he was so, so great. The Chicago Bulls stunk when Michael Jordan was drafted in 1984, and he immediately made the Bulls the league’s hottest attraction. His Air Jordan shoe deal with Nike and the phenomenon it spawned made Michael Jordan the most popular athlete on the planet. That was the ESPN/cable-TV era of sports, pre-internet.

When I write that Michael Jordan was new school, it doesn’t mean he didn’t have any old school in him. Michael was a team player, who valued winning first, which are old school attributes. New school emphasizes self promotion & getting paid as the priority. Michael Jordan wanted to get paid, so he invented new school to take care of himself. In a pre-sneaker deal era, Michael Jordan would have been reduced to just being the best player, without him being the cultural icon he became in the 1980’s & beyond. It’s a combination of being ready to meet the moment, and society being ready for someone like Michael Jordan in the NBA.

New school means you have your own voice in the media. Media is defined as corporate outlets & social media. All professional athletes have a social media profile and manage it seriously. It’s how they speak directly to their fans & critics. It’s how they express their displeasure with the head coach over minutes, shots, and usage. There is no going back to old school on that.

The best athletes in any sport are the ones who maintain a healthy combination of old school & new school. You need to be able to express yourself publicly, but you also have to look yourself in the mirror first. If you aren’t putting in the work and your performance isn’t meeting expectations, then it’s best to shut up and get to work. This means going back to an old school mentality by listening to the coaches, accepting criticism, taking responsibility, etc. It’s taking an attitude that no one is bigger than the team or the game.

In the old school NBA days, if a ‘star player’ underperformed and started being a crybaby to the sports writers, a team enforcer would find a moment alone in the locker room to set that problem straight. Players simply weren’t allowed to throw a coach or a team under the bus without violent repercussions. With hazing now frowned upon in locker rooms (new school), these issues get handled differently today– for better or worse. The worse is when team drama gets dragged out because no one wants to have an uncomfortable discussion. Too many overpaid snowflakes being enabled is a new school issue.

The WNBA is all about drama. It’s just as much a soap opera as an athletic competition these days. This is different from all other sports leagues that have risen to prominence. The NFL, MLB & NBA all have drama going on behind the scenes, but the game remains the main attraction for the fans. In the WNBA, drama over Caitlin Clark dominates their daily narratives. More people know about that, than the defending WNBA champs. The primary narrative & financial driver for the WNBA is an unremarkable player named Caitlin Clark, and it represents new school at its worst.

Whatever temporary boost her popularity gives the league, in the long run the WNBA will be worse off for hyping Caitlin Clark as a great player. The issue here is all the basketball fans who recognize this garbage and call it out. The WNBA isn’t getting those fans back any time soon. What the WNBA has done with Caitlin C;lark is fundamentally disrespectful to the game, prioritizing hype over performance.

Up until Caitlin Clark came into the league in 2024, the WNBA was solid growing. Ownership embraced Caitlin Clark because she has caused franchise values to skyrocket. The Golden State Valkyries, a second year WNBA expansion franchise is now valued at $1B. The average WNBA franchise value is $460M according to Google. Ten years ago there wasn’t a single WNBA team that could get $100M in valuation.

The WNBA is a financial bubble, with insanely overestimated franchise values, and Caitlin Clark has been a tool for that. The WNBA needed a ‘great white hope’ and so they manufactured one in her. The element of racism that underlies all this is the elephant-in-the-room that can’t be discussed in the corporate media. It’s too uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, WNBA critics are labeled misogynist, racist or whatever semantic inversion they prefer in order to silence any discussion on the matter. The WNBA owners are the ones profiting from this hype, and when Caitlin Clark finally crashes, it will be perceived by them as the fault of those who correctly analyzed this from the start. Because myself (& others) have been critical we’re all slandered as ‘woman haters’, as that’s easier to understand than all the facts & issues involved. That’s NIL new school.

Thu 04 Jun 2026 10:00 AM CDT

Update: It’s been reported that the Indiana Fever revoked the press credentials for Scott Agness, the reporter who broke the story of Caitlin Clark not playing due to a sudden “back injury” on May 20. The team violated league rules by not reporting it on time, and was reprimanded by the WNBA for it as her unavailability was announced just before tip-off. All professional sports leagues take this seriously because of the wagering going on. Tanking (new school strategy) wasn’t the issue here. The Indiana Fever organization claims Scott Agness had his team credentials revoked for spreading “inaccurate and unsubstantiated information,” by referring to load management as the reason for the unavailability. What’s actually going on here is blatant retribution by snowflakes for reporting the truth, which isn’t popular with corporate institutions & their concocted narratives.

Along with this is a new article in the Athletic that is critical of Caitlin Clark’s defense, referring to her as a “sitting duck during hunting season.” None of this is untrue, yet the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark fans are (again) in a tizzy over this. It’s been branded a “hit piece” by Caitlin Clark supporters, when the fact is she is a poor defender and a liability to her team for it. The flak from her adoring sycophants is the head coach has the wrong scheme, and isn’t protecting her on the court as she should, etc. This comes mostly from people with money & influence who aren’t experienced enough to coach a JV basketball team, yet insist know best. Ball players counter that if she stinks on defense, that’s her fault and when her coaches call her out Caitlin Clark throws tantrums instead of sucking it up and improving her effort.

Fact: The WNBA still doesn’t make a profit, with annual revenues of only $300M and operating costs being much higher. Now that the CBA has been settled, franchise valuations are what matter most to the league. The hype over Caitlin Clark, and the extreme sensitivity over any criticism of her performance is part of this. The ‘chosen one’ has to be protected (enabled) to maintain these wildly inflated WNBA franchise values. That’s the source of all this media hysteria.

This is nothing more than new school nonsense taking over the game, in which performance doesn’t matter so much, as there’s always an excuse to protect its top attraction. If the Indiana Fever don’t do everything in their power to deflect criticism of Caitlin Clark, then her head coach will be fired, other players will be traded, or perhaps Clark will finally demand a trade. She has all that leverage, simply by being in the right place at the right time. Those are the new school rules in play, and it rubs many in the game the wrong way. Old school would involve what’s been discussed above, and apparently Caitlin Clark isn’t interested in that. This is just the latest dramatic episode in As the WNBA World Turns. It won’t be long before this tired act gets tuned out, which spells big trouble for the WNBA. That’s the Faustian bargain they’ve made which will eventually come home to roost.

To use a NFL analogy sports fans can appreciate, if you are Ryan Leaf instead of Peyton Manning, fans will learn the difference– sooner or later. That may feel extremely harsh to Caitlin Clark, but it’s much closer to the truth than the narratives being floated through the corporate media and onto social media. All this protective enabling isn’t doing Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever, or the WNBA any good. The sugar high of inflated franchise values will eventually turn into diabetes of the WNBA, meaning it will cost the league much more than it has gained. This lying & racist ‘great white hope’ campaign is hurting the league’s credibility.

Old school means you work for your rewards, making them sweeter when they are finally achieved. And if you fall short, at least you gave it your best. New school is demanding the reward up front, then deciding if you want to put in the work or not. It’s turned the WNBA into an exercise in projections & speculation. Caitlin Clark isn’t measured by her performance, she’s measured in futures. Like the derivatives market in finance & investing, all the money thrown at her is about image & what bettors believe her future will bring. To honestly assess that, one needs to objectively look at her current professional track record which isn’t favorable. With these examples drawn out in ~1,800 words, lies the difference between old school & new school.

Post script: Defense is half the game. That’s actually an understatement of fact. Good defense leads to easy offense, while bad defense gives easy offense to the opponent. One energizes and the other demoralizes. Defense wins championships. Everyone in basketball knows this. All your teammates & coaches care about is are you an asset or liability on the floor? If you give up too many easy looks & baskets then you are a negative on +/- player rating. That’s a losing player. People who try to spin the truth on basketball don’t discuss defense seriously. For more on old school defense, read this.  For new school defense, read here.

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WNBA mediocrity

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The expansion franchise Portland Fire are currently the 5th seed, while the Toronto Tempo are currently the 7th seed in the WNBA standings. Second year franchise, the Golden State Valkyries are tied for the second-best record in the WNBA early in the 2026 season. Expansion teams, from the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc, are historically awful in their inception, so what explains this?

How about the fact that the WNBA really isn’t that good? The WNBA talent level is a mediocre mish-mash across the board, which allows expansion teams with rosters that are only a few months old to be competitive at the highest level of women’s professional basketball. Sad, but true. Remember there was a WNBA labor impasse due to the protracted CBA negotiations this past winter, so the WNBA expansion draft wasn’t held until April 3. These expansion teams have been together for less than two months, and yet the Portland Fire just rolled the Indiana Fever with Caitlin Clark. That’s not supposed to happen, as it creates an uncomfortable narrative for the WNBA.

While the Indiana Fever were getting pounded on CBS, real basketball fans were watching the Spurs-Thunder Western Conference finals, game 7 on NBC. The Portland Fire-Indiana Fever WNBA game was a sellout with 19,347 people at the Moda Center. Not one person in attendance at the Moda Center can claim to be a real basketball fan because if they were, they would have been watching the Spurs-Thunder game. It’s about respect for the game of basketball, as the Spurs-Thunder is as good as it gets, making it “must see.”

This leads to an important discovery concerning the WNBA– the quality of basketball doesn’t matter because the WNBA isn’t about basketball. The WNBA is about money, hype & promoting its feminist/DEI agenda. Caitlin Clark is the poster-girl for the WNBA bubble that has sent franchise values skyrocketing. The WNBA is all over TV at this point, replacing MLB & NASCAR which have largely gone to paid subscription & Amazon Prime, etc.

During breaks in the Spurs-Thunder game (and there were quite a few), I switched to the Fire-Fever WNBA match-up. When I watch Caitlin Clark play I think to myself, “This girl is not committed defensively, turns the ball over too much, and doesn’t help her team on the boards. She doesn’t connect with her teammates, who are probably jealous of her promotional earnings and frustrated with her inability to be a leader and help them win. She’s weak in her core & upper body, which probably accounts for her re-occurring back problems that have limited her games played & production in her 2+ years in the league. She’s also slow afoot with poorly-developed legs. If she doesn’t dedicate herself to getting stronger and more ‘basketball fit’, she’ll never be a great player. Caitlin Clark is still basically the same player she was when she came into the league in 2024, which is a red flag. I think she cares more about promoting herself than being a great basketball player.”

That’s my capsule scouting report on Caitlin Clark, and if I can see this, then surely management and the Fever coaching staff know this too. The problem is they can’t say it. Caitlin Clark isn’t even the best player on her team. Aliyah Boston is the best Indiana Fever player, or else it’s Kelsey Mitchell. This is a problem for the Fever because the face of the league can’t be your third-best player on a mediocre team, but that’s Caitlin Clark & the Indiana Fever.

Normally, if a star player in the NBA is under performing on a bad team, he gets traded. But in the WNBA, the Indiana Fever have ‘the chosen one’ in Caitlin Clark, who by herself has taken the league to new heights in popularity, largely based on white racism & corporate hype. It comes down to ownership priority, do the Indiana Fever want to win– or make money? It’s an easy choice, all they have to do is keep Caitlin Clark and they will continue to make money. If the Fever trade Caitlin Clark, they might get better but they will lose financially, and making money is the name of the WNBA game.

Inconvenient fact: the WNBA is 70% black, but 8 of the top 10 “most promotable” WNBA players are white. What explains that?

Caitlin Clark has parlayed an outstanding NCAA career at the University of Iowa into promotional gold, and it’s largely because she’s white. Everyone knows this, but no one is allowed to say it publicly. If you’ve noticed, WNBA crowds are mostly upper-middle class whites. There is a strong element of voyeurism in every WNBA crowd. Fans aren’t there for the quality of basketball, otherwise they would be watching the Spurs-Thunder, they are there to dream about themselves and their kids being on the court, making WNBA money, etc…

It starts with NIL deals in high school, then a NCAA scholarship to a Power 4 conference school, and then the WNBA. It’s so easy these days, and there is so much expansion going on now that you don’t have to be that good to play in the WNBA. It’s all there right in front of the fans to dream about, and that’s what they are doing most of the game, as they certainly aren’t watching these games critically.

Feminist, black racialist, and lesbian narratives rule the WNBA. There is a large segment of the sports-watching population that is hostile to the WNBA for this Democratic Party politicking that has infiltrated the women’s game. Support for the WNBA is strong, but the backlash is perhaps stronger. People watch sports to forget about politics, and yet the WNBA throws it in everyone’s face over & over. And when Caitlin Clark doesn’t live up to the hype, it’s always someone else’s fault, etc. The apologetics in her name are embarrassing.

This type of enabling is the opposite of compelling sport. It makes sports lovers cynical to the point where they change the channel in disgust, because none of this is real, much less good. To a certain degree, the WNBA has boxed itself in with its success. It can’t deliver on what it is promising. The league is mediocre, as regular season winners (see the 2025 Minnesota Lynx) are often eliminated early in the playoffs, while expansion teams are immediately competitive, revealing the flaky nature of success in women’s professional basketball.

Conclusion: A’ja Wilson is the undisputed best player in the WNBA, and her Las Vegas Aces are the dominate team of this era. But who are the new players that will transform the WNBA? They aren’t Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese or Paige Bueckers who all fall into a level of mediocrity that defines the current WNBA. NCAA glory doesn’t always translate into professional success as today’s game is physically demanding and has more foreign players than ever. The heavily-favored US women’s Olympic team was lucky to beat France in the finals at Paris 2024, so I no longer buy the ‘American superpower theory’ in women’s hoops.

Caitlin Clark dominated at Iowa largely because women’s NCAA hoops is still thin compared to the men. When facing consistently tougher professional competition, Caitlin Clark’s limitations are revealed, so I don’t blame her for doing so many promotions. It’s easy money compared to competing against better players. Anyone would take it. It’s those who are offering her all that money who are to blame. The root WNBA problem is that its most promoted players aren’t close to being their best players. It’s all being done for the wrong reasons and this level of enabling is new in sports. How long this lasts and how the WNBA will evolve remain very open to question.

Final game notes: The game of basketball is about respect. Michael Jordan always said he considered Madison Square Garden to be the “Mecca of Basketball” because that crowd appreciates greatness & can spot a phony. The true performers will rise to the occasion on the biggest stage, so to say. In contrast, during the Spurs-Thunder game 7, All-Star Chet Holmgren looked like he wanted no part of MSG as he was on the bench as the OKC Thunder season ended. That’s what Wemby did to him. Everyone in basketball respects that, and is excited for the Spurs-Knicks finals.

As mentioned above, the only difference-maker in today’s WNBA is A’ja Wilson. For perspective, in an all-time WNBA draft it’s either her or a young Cheryl Miller at #1. Without A’ja Wilson, France would have won gold at Paris 2024. The rest of the WNBA is a group of players with differing levels of ability, but none are difference-makers. That’s the overall mediocrity of the WNBA that allows one player to dominate.

As for Caitlin Clark, if you are overrated & overpaid this hurts your team because respect at the professional level is (more than ever) measured in dollars– salary & endorsements. The hysterical (and all-too-easy) solution for the Indiana Fever is to fire their head coach in order to protect the underperforming “star player.” This allows a temporary reset, but doesn’t fix the underlying problem, which is Caitlin Clark’s performance & commitment to the game, teammates & organization. Her commitments to be the face of the WNBA are clearly more than she can handle.

Steve Alford is Caitlin Clark’s best historical comparable in the men’s game. All-American under Bobby Knight at Indiana University when the Hoosiers won the NCAA tournament in 1987, Steve Alford didn’t have the physique or game to be a successful NBA player.

Caitlin Clark needs to publicly admit that she is currently the third-best player on her team. This would help take the pressure off her head coach and earn some trust from her teammates by taking responsibility for not being the player she has been hyped to be. I believe Caitlin Clark can be a helpful piece on a championship WNBA team because shooters are always needed, but she isn’t a team leader or primary option. She doesn’t have that game.

This essay has been a critical analysis of the WNBA, something that has been sorely lacking in the corporate media. Most critics of the WNBA simply hate on it. My critical approach is that of a recreational basketball player who respects the game and can differentiate good play from poor. You have to base every critical judgment on performance & numbers. What are you doing to help your team win? What aren’t you doing that you need to be doing, etc? True leaders are accountable in all situations. Too many people running the WNBA don’t want to be accountable, they just want to be paid.

Handling the media is a component every modern professional athlete must deal with. As the saying goes, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame.” Throwing coaches under the bus is what players do in the modern NBA. Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Ben Simmons come to mind as legendary coach killers. Old school NEVER allowed that, but this is new school. Shoot the 3, and if it doesn’t go in, then complain about the coach not using you correctly, etc. Players in all leagues are paid much more now, and thus the head coach has to regularly take bullets for his players in the media to stay solid with them. It’s part of the job, and for which the coach will eventually be fired. In this NIL era, talent & marketability rules the game.

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Billionaires dumping bitcoin: an unmistakable sign of the coming crypto apocalypse

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Major crypto supporter & tech billionaire Mark Cuban has reportedly sold most of his bitcoin because “it didn’t act as an inflation hedge” during a time of crisis, which we have now due to Trump’s war on Iran. The Trump tariffs haven’t helped crypto/bitcoin, contributing to higher mining & maintenance costs with higher interest rates.

In the past few years there has been a massive wave of consolidations, layoffs & bankruptcies in the crypto industry. The narrative of bitcoin as “decentralized finance” has now been proven a fiction, as a few billionaires control bitcoin and through it the entire crypto industry. The derivatives market is manipulating bitcoin’s price through futures betting. Bitcoin is so thin on liquidity (meaning no one wants to buy it) that derivatives traders can now control the price (exert downward pressure) through shorting.

When we speak of crypto, and bitcoin in particular, it’s very important to understand that it’s a handful of billionaires & financial swindlers that are running the entire show. Adam Back is Satoshi Nakamoto, the largest individual bitcoin holder with an estimated 1.1 million bitcoins. Adam Back is the crypto king because he acquired his bitcoin at the lowest cost, before most people ever heard of bitcoin.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy & Blackrock ETF each hold ~818,000 bitcoins according to Google. Michael Saylor has paid ~$76K per bitcoin, which makes his financial position more precarious because he levered-up so much to acquire his stash, and has virtually no equity at this point with bitcoin currently at ~$77k. His borrowing costs are huge compared to Adam Back. Blackrock also bought high on bitcoin.

Crypto exchanges Coinbase (~958,000 BTC) & Binance (~634,000 BTC) rule the industry through their bitcoin holdings, which gives legitimacy to everything crypto– according to Kool-Aid drinkers. Interestingly, the US government holds ~328,000 BTC through seizures, while the Chinese government holds ~190,000 BTC.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, according to its IPO disclosure just made public, holds 18,700 bitcoins purchased at ~$35k each. Tesla currently holds ~11,500 BTC, after Elon Musk sold 75% of Tesla’s bitcoin stash in July 2022 at a huge loss in order to cover costs.

And finally, Trump Media originally acquired 11,542 bitcoins at an average price of $118,522, which Trump Media is now dumping at a huge loss. What does that tell you?

Recall that president Donald Trump stated (over & over) he wanted Fed Chairman Jerome Powell gone because he wouldn’t lower interest rates– which is what the crypto industry always wants. Now Trump has ignited global inflation, and new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh whom Trump handpicked has already been told by the bond market that interest rates must go up again– soon.

Credit is being tightened mostly for consumers & small businesses in need. The coming taxpayer bailout will be for the rich who caused all this mess. Pundits will proclaim with heated exasperation, “Who could have predicted all this?”

Wed 27 May 2026 11:00 AM CDT

Addendum: Huge outflows on Blackrock’s ETF. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor’s Strategy is burning through cash to pay his debts, after claiming bitcoin would now be trading at $40,000-$50,000 if he hadn’t been making such huge buys. In other words, one person has been propping up this entire house of cards.

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Victor Wembanyama

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Victor Wembanyama is something new & amazing in basketball. The Spurs-Thunder Western conference finals match-up has been much-anticipated throughout the NBA season. The OKC Thunder feature the reigning two-time league MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who looked like just another player on the court with no answer for Wemby in Game 1.

Victor Wembanyama is a problem for all NBA teams. His 7-4 frame, commitment to strength & flexibility, and basketball skill & IQ make him the most unstoppable force in the game today. Wemby is the most feared rim protector in the NBA since the era when Wilt Chamberlain was allowed to goal tend & basket interfere.

Due to his strength & mobility, Victor Wembanyama can rebound over any opponent on both ends. Wemby always wins the jump ball, and doing that twice in the Game 1 overtime win over OKC shows what an advantage that can become. The Spurs got an extra possession at the beginning of each overtime because Wemby always wins the tip.

It’s just another “not since Wilt” aspect to his game that astounds basketball fans. Wilt did it in an era where his only competitive peer was Bill Russell. Today, outside of the bottom third of the league tanking, the NBA is extremely competitive from top-to-middle. Basketball is also a much more global game, with Victor Wembanyama as an example of that coming over from France.

Victor Wembanyama obviously knew he was going to the NBA at a young age, so he learned English and did everything else he needed to do to become successful with his talents. The best comparisons for Wemby in the modern era probably start with Hakeem Olajuwan, Kevin Garnett & Giannis Antetokounmpo. Those players were/are athletic big men who could really defend the painted area, as well as close-out on perimeter shooters.

On the offensive end, you need to be able to score everywhere to be the best. Free throws are often an Achilles Heel for big men. I’ve divided a list below into two eras, with Kareem being the end of ‘old school’, and Olajuwan marking ‘new school’ for basketball big men. Here are their comparative NBA FT%.

Wilt Chamberlain 51.1%
Bill Russell 56.1%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 71.2%

Hakeem Olajuwon 71.2%
Shaquille O’Neal 52.7%
Tim Duncan 69.6%
Kevin Garnett 78.9%
Giannis Antetokounmpo 69.1%
Victor Wembanyama 81.7%

Only Kevin Garnett is close to Wemby in FT%. For the record, Nikola Jokić shoots 82.5%, but isn’t the active defensive force of Olajuwon, Garnett or Wemby. Kareem, Russell & Wilt played in an era before intentional fouling was widely used as a tactic on defense.

Conversely, an unstoppable force like Shaq in the 1990’s & 2000’s was fouled as soon as he caught the ball in scoring position and forced to make his free throws. If the targeted big man can’t do that consistently, then he’s of limited value offensively at the end of close games. Missing too many free throws means empty possessions for his team. That’s why Shaq needed closers like Kobe & D-Wade to win a title.

Jim Valvano at NC State in 1983 used NCAA Tournament pressure with perpetual 1-and-1 free throw situations for targeted players to great success. That rule was since changed, to 1-and-1 on non-shooting team fouls 7-9, and two shots on 10+. NC State upset Houston and won the national championship as a lesser team with that strategy.

In the NBA, Phil Jackson with the Chicago Bulls & coach Larry Bird with the Indiana Pacers created Hack-a-Shaq. Phil Jackson had three big guys he rotated in to foul Shaquille O’Neal and send him to the line. Larry Bird would have a player with no fouls (usually Reggie Miller) pull down Shaq’s Lakers shorts as a signal to the refs to call a foul away from the ball.

But you can’t do that if the big man shoots 82% from the line like Wemby does. He also shoots logo 3’s, can get to the basket off the dribble, and has unstoppable low post moves. He can dunk over other players with either hand. It’s hard for most basketball players to imagine being able to do that.

Victor Wembanyama is a freak, and if he stays healthy will become the dominant player of this era. This is the up-and-down, shoot-the-three era. Defense & rebounding is critical as always, just in different ways. Wemby can close out on any shooter and at least distract them. FG% against the Spurs while Wemby is on the floor tells you everything about his impact on the game. It drops to approximately to half of what it is while he’s on the bench.

Wemby discourages shooters from shooting, and it’s hard to find stats that measure that, but that’s the case and it has a major affect on the Spurs winning.

For basketball fans, this was the most-anticipated NBA series since the Warrriors-Cavs 2016 NBA Finals. Everyone anticipates the winner of the Thunder-Spurs series to win the NBA Finals. Most thought it would be a 7-game series, but the truth after Game 1 is if the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder don’t win Game 2, they’re getting swept. That’s what Wemby does for the San Antonio Spurs.

Sat 23 May 2026 12:30 PM CDT

Update: The OKC Thunder have come back strong to win games 2 & 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. This series is coming down to injuries & depth. Injuries are the X-factor in the playoffs. If a main guy gets hurt, his team has little-to-no chance of winning a title– see Jayson Tatum & Tyrese Haliburton in 2025.

For the Spurs this series it’s De’Aaron Fox & Dylan Harper getting hurt that’s created a depth issue at guard which OKC is exploiting. Overwhelming OKC pressure is creating turnovers before Wemby can get the ball in scoring position. The hamstring injury to OKC guard Jalen Williams can be covered with bench depth, which the Spurs don’t have. The disparity in production off the bench is the difference in this series.

Like Michael Jordan coming up with the Chicago Bulls in the 1980’s, Victor Wembanyama needs a little more time for the roster to fill out around him before he can lead his team to a title. One of the biggest reasons Magic won more titles than Bird was because the Lakers always had better bench depth. That and Kareem.

One man can’t do it by himself, and it appears the Spurs are going to come up short in Wemby’s third season. It’s been a meteoric rise for the Spurs who had struggled since Tim Duncan retired. The OKC Thunder are a young team with management that knows what it’s doing. They have a great head coach who knows his players and what his options are in all situations. These two teams are going to be competing for NBA titles for the foreseeable future.

In other sports news…

Kyle Busch 1985-2026

Kyle Busch was a jerk who won a lot of races. No one outside of NASCAR cared about this dickweed or even knew who he was until a few days ago. Amongst drivers he competed against sentiment is mixed at best. Apparently he died of pneumonia, and it’s a big loss for NASCAR because Kyle Busch invested so heavily in their racing series. NASCAR wants & needs good ol boys like Kyle Busch and now he’s gone. Danica Patrick was always a much better bet as a racing ambassador, but NASCAR didn’t want her. Watch the Indianapolis 500 this Memorial Day weekend and decide for yourself on this. Kyle Busch v Danica proves that winning isn’t everything.

Since I am a doctor and a man of science I can’t gloat over the death of another. From an atheist perspective, Kyle Busch has simply joined the great majority, as someday we all will. But letting an illness such as pneumonia go undiagnosed & untreated until it was too late is inexcusable for age-41 Kyle Busch. He had all the necessary resources to prevent this tragedy from happening, so it all falls on him. It’s a bad way to die and it becomes a big part of his legacy. The lesson is don’t overlook early warning signs that your body isn’t well. Money, fame, and racing wins can’t buy Kyle Busch one more breath of life– which is what matters most.

Life is what you do with it. What did you dedicate your soul to? This is how people remember those among the great majority. It’s not how much money & glory you accumulated, but how much you loved & helped others– especially those less fortunate. Racking up wins in the lesser Xfinity & truck NASCAR series is like a varsity team rolling the JV. Kyle Busch was the best driver with the best equipment and most money to spend in these series. What’s left now? In hindsight, which we now have, it’s a hollow legacy. That’s what we mourn.

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Beatles Evolution & Revolution

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If you are going to be successful as an act, you need management & a producer.

Brian Epstein was an ambitious music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in August 1967. Epstein signed the Beatles with EMI’s Parlophone label, which became Capitol Records, and today is owned by Universal Music Group. Beatles songs were all produced by George Martin and remain a huge money maker, testifying to Brian Epstein’s ability to recognize talent, which itself is a talent, and then pair it with the necessary recording talent.

For the record, Brian Epstein was gay and like many stars & others of his era he died young (age 32) of a combined alcohol & barbiturate overdose, ruled accidental. Being gay is a difficult lifestyle, because apparently at some point there becomes an overwhelming need to separate from the mainstream. None of that conventional stuff satisfies. Beyond that, much of the conservative mainstream rejects gay, openly declaring its hostility.

Drugs & alcohol can become a refuge. Gay parties are different from straight parties. In my experience, there are much more drugs & sex going on at gay parties. Much of it is reckless & unprotected, as the attitude among many who are gay is to live it up today & die young. Many don’t want to live into old age, as they are in pain over their sexuality, and once it diminishes, their mental agony can become excruciating. Sadly this emotional pain leads to many early deaths.

Relationship building is an area where many people have issues. It’s especially hard for gays who have come out of the closet to trust straight people, because all straights said or did something offensive to their sensibilities at some point. It’s tempting for gays to become snowflakes on this, which doesn’t help anyone. Rehabilitation & education need to work together for there to be progress in sexual healing, but currently that is being cut out in favor of quackery, prejudice & identity politics. The real work that needs to be done is being actively resisted by all this.

After Epstein’s death, the Beatles attempted to manage themselves with Apple Records and it was a disaster. It wasn’t until after they officially broke up in the spring of 1970 that the Fab Four got they legal & financial issues in order so they could all get paid. Northern Songs was the famous Lennon-McCartney publishing company created under Epstein’s guidance. This got John & Paul paid equally on all their compositions.

George founded Harrisongs in 1964 which ensured he would get paid for his music. Ringo founded his own music publishing company, Startling Music Ltd, in 1968 after his deal with Northern Songs expired. Before the Beatles had begum to disintegrate as a band, each member was legally taken care of as far as songwriting, publishing & royalties. Those are the typical issues that break-up successful bands, and the Beatles showed the world how to handle it as it happened. “Creative differences” between band members is often rooted in legal issues that affect the commerciality of the act, along with who gets paid.

I’ve written in earlier posts that the Beatles wouldn’t be allowed to be successful in this 21-century era. The music industry has learned from the Beatles, punk rock, and 1990’s alternative rock/hip-hop. Those were times when popular music got out of their control and the industry doesn’t like that, even though it makes them billions of dollars. The industry wants to bottle everything up and endlessly sell it back to new generations of consumers, while never allowing another revolution in popular music. Historically, losing Frank Sinatra’s audience to rock & roll in 1955 started all this upheaval for the music industry. Charlie Parker & Sun Ra did the same in jazz.

You can’t stop history, which is metaphorically a raging river with unstoppable momentum & overwhelming power. Rock & roll is here to stay, and you can’t kill it. Same for reggae, rap, salsa, electronica, etc. Once a genre conquers the world, it becomes immortalized and can’t die because too many people, particularly kids, love it. It just keeps growing & flowing, increasing its influence as it goes along. All one can do is attempt to direct the flow. A revolutionary artist finds the best channel and directs all his/her energy into that historical task.

If the Beatles came along today and got their big audition on American Idol, Simon Cowell & company would listen for a bit, then insist to Paul that John be fired. Brian Epstein would be pushed out over a drug/sex scandal, etc, and Universal would handle all management through one of their preferred star agencies. This means Paul would be represented by CCA and be recognized as the undisputed band leader who gets all the songwriting & publishing money, while George & Ringo are a step above session musicians in this gig. If either protest they can easily be replaced. Drum machines that sample Pete Best & AI guitarists work much cheaper, making these new & improved Beatles more cost-efficient to the industry. This is the only way these new Beatles could be economically viable.

George Martin’s talents wouldn’t be applicable to these Beatles. Industry braintrust would surely prefer the guy who produced the Black Keys or Foo Fighters. New Beatles music would need that production edge with everything they’re missing, and George Martin is too subtle and respectful towards the artist to work in contemporary rock music which is now a top-down corporate-controlled project.

Under these conditions, John will struggle to get another opportunity as he’s too outside-the-box for this corporate era of music. He’s not sponsor friendly, so how can you market him? This is how all the gatekeepers & industry experts would understand a young John Lennon today. In this industry-created world, Paul McCartney & his New & Improved Beatles could become more popular than One Direction featuring Harry Styles. Of course, there wouldn’t be 1/10th the great songs from this new UK supergroup, but that’s just a cost of doing business.

Conclusion: There are great aspiring artists with the ability to make meaningful music, but it’s all being suppressed by ruling-class corporate which controls marketing, distribution & sales through its network of business partners, to which outsiders have no access. If you’re reading this, then you’ve discovered a real musical artist of the 21st-century. We’re all underground, censored & blacklisted by the establishment which has near-complete control over TV & the internet. It’s all dirty politics & big money that keeps us suppressed. Eventually the river of history will wash away all their detritus. This will happen when youth & working people unite in action, using music as a tool for revolutionary inspiration.

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