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  Both parties seem to enjoy drama.  The latest in this high-profile dispute between billionaire Leon Black and the House Oversight Committee it this: The latter voted to hold Black in contempt. He failed to show up at a hearing about NDAs. The Hill reports: "Lawmakers have sought to question Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, about payments he made to Epstein totaling millions over a number of years."  There is the hypothesis that Black's money financed much of the Epstein network. However, although this makes makes noise, along with headlines, it has a long way to go before it becomes a legal reality. The entire House has to approve it. Then it goes to the Justice Department. In short, it is too early to look forward to a kind of high noon at the O.K. corral.  Another obstacle to full-blown legal theatrics is that Black filed a lawsuit "Black v House Oversight Committee, et al.  It contends that the defendants overstepped their authority. Black c...

"Profiles in Cowardice" by Jacob Weisberg showcases the eight who, it is contended, enabled the imperial presidency.  Weisberg's book ranks 393 on Amazon. So, like "Regime Change" (ranking 126) it's a best-seller. And it's doing that through an old-fashioned formula leveraged by hustlers, influencers, hot heads and more. That's this: Ride hard a cluster of cliches which have evolved into a kind of wisdom of the mobs.  Those selected for cowardice include Jeff Bezos, George W. Bush and, yes again, Brad Karp. No rolling out of the same-old would be complete without snippets of scenes from Karp's Executive Order Past. That's tied together with what we Boomers used to call "psychobabble." Gen Z labels plunging into the unconscious as "therapyspeak." Meanwhile, isn't that too cute and lazy: Playing on JFK's iconic "Profiles in Courage" for the title and theme of this book.  It's not unthinkable that Karp ...

  Do JDs from the law schools at William & Mary, Columbia, Cleveland State and Harvard navigate Big Law more effectively than other JDs?  That could be. See, each of those has a special course on power. William & Mary's is probably the closest to the "Paths to Power" iconic elective at Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Thanks to the media, professional anonymous networks, books and social law students should be getting it: How they acquire, leverage and grow power, as well as align with the power bases, will determine their performance in large law firms.  Grow up. Performance is subjective. It is well-known that several outstanding reviews will become irrelevant after offending the powerful. Performance could then be rated subpar.  Work usually is, at best, a defensive strategy. It can count though, probably for a lot, if it's for a powerful senior partner. The high grades from your brilliant work in law school will get you into Big Law. But ...

The resignation of Jacob Coxon from Anthropic has certainly been the  game-changer in AI. That action and the positing of the end of humanity have forced AI leadership to admit: 1) There's plenty not known about the technology, and 2) Wiping out the human race could be among the possible side effects. Not hyperbolic is it to frame AI as a Black Swan. Maybe the last of the Black Swans since we might not be around any longer to experience another one of those. In a knee-jerk response, the head of Anthropic - Dario Amodei - issued a kind of manifesto yesterday. It argues for a slow-down in the development of this technology. BTW, even before Coxon entered history's profiles in courage. there had been multiple incidents of AI bots going rogue.   They used sophisticated outlaw strategies, ranging from organizing together to concealing their moves.  So, come on, the credibility of all AI leaders, who now are also joining Anthropic in the need for a pause, is kaput. They knew ...

   Irony. The inflation that keeps us aging in high angst can turn out to be a bit of a blessing.  Because of the current inflation, AARP projects that for those of receiving Social Security retirement benefit there could be for the 2027 COLA a 3.6% boost. How could that play out? Well according to OpenAI's ChatGPT, here it goes. Current average: $2,071.00 3.6% increase: $74.56/month New average: $2,145.56/month.  The  Annual increase: about $895.   But another irony is this. Higher Medicare expenses could eat into this new abundance. Already that is happening with Medicare supplements such as United Healthcare Medicare Advantage. In zip code 43609, a visit to a specialist now sets us back $55. Not long ago that could have been $35.

 In 1513, Niccolo Machiavelli published "The Prince." That was an amoral guide on how to get, hold and increase political power. The core lessons include: Better to be feared than loved Virtue-signaling a must, but no need to be on the right side of ethical norms Destroy the opposition Accept that the means justifies the end. In 2026, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan published "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump."  Ranking 135 on Amazon, "Regime Change" has wide reach. In a sense, it serves to deconstruct the 21st century success formulas for power domination. At least for now. Much of that could collapse after the midterms. However, for now - the setting is the second Trump administration - here seems to be the kind of Machiavelli guidance for power dynamics. The authors present the strategy and then provide copious examples. Following is not a full list. Total lack of shame.  This, though, is not unique to the administration...