The Fugitive

I didn't watch a ton of TV when I was in high school - too busy trying to translate Latin without using a trot (cheat sheet), too busy mooning around listening to Bob Dylan - but I absolutely loved the show The Fugitive. (I just looked it up, and its run completely coincided with my high school years: 1963-1967.)

The premise was that Dr. Richard Kimble (played by David Janssen) is an innocent man who'd been convicted of murdering his wife. He escapes and travels all over the country in pursuit of "the one armed man," he'd seen running from his home just before hd discovered his wife's body. 

On the prison bus bringing him to the big house where he's going to be executed for the crime he didn't commit:

Richard Kimble ponders his fate as he looks at the world for the last time, and sees only darkness. But in that darkness, Fate moves its huge hand.

That was each episode's intro, but just so you know, Fate moved its huge hand by crashing the prison bus into a freight train, giving Dr. Kimble the opportunity to escape. 

Well, Rhode Island has its very own fugitive saga, only this time it's not a doctor convicted of killing his wife. It's a doctor convicted of sexual assault who takes off mid-trial and goes on the lam, only to be found 20 years later. (He was convicted in absentia.)

Unlike Dr. Richard Kimble, anesthesiologist Ronald Fischer didn't spend his time buzzing around trying to find a bad guy. No, he managed to create a new career for himself as a biotech consultant and executive who spent his spare time sailing on a luxe 56-foot sailboat. (A luxe sailboat was the site of the sexual assault he was convicted of. Prior to that conviction, Fischer had been charged with rape aboard his yacht. He pled down to assault and battery and received a suspended sentence. Because yacht-owning doctor, I suppose.)

As a fugitive, the alias Fischer used was Richard Graydon. (Not quite Richard Kimble, but almost.) An as Richard Graydon he self-published a book, “The Genetic Risks of Cancer: The Effects of DNA, Genomics and Inheritance on Aging and Survival.” So what if he self-published? So what if virtually no one read it? (There's just one review on Amazon. Three-star.) You can apparently parlay this sort of credential into some pretty impressive jobs.

Other than writing his book, it's not clear (from the article I saw) what Fischer/Graydon did between making his escape in 2005 and 2022. I read elsewhere that it was said that he did have money squirreled away, and a go-bag with papers that allowed him to disappear. 

Anyway, in 2022, Atossa Therapeutics hired Graydon as "its interim chief medical officer."

“We are privileged to welcome Richard to Atossa, where his deep experience in CAR-T cell therapy fits well with our current strategic direction as we explore our opportunities in cell therapy,” said Steven Quay, Atossa’s CEO, in a statement released at that time. “We look forward to collaborating with Richard to assess our strongest options and develop a pathway that provides our shareholders with strong results and enhanced shareholder value.” (Source: Boston Globe)

Richard Graydon must have been some mighty fine bullshitter. His background was as an anesthesiologist. He'd been on the run for more than a decade. But somehow he was able to create a resume that managed to get a biotech company to believe he was some sort of cell therapy expert who was going to enhance "shareholder value." 

Don't companies check resumes and references? How did Richard Graydon work his particular warped brand of magic?

Atossa wasn't the only biotech that was hoodwinked. There was also Immix, which brought Graydon on board last March:

When Immix hired Graydon as its new chief medical officer, the company described him as a board-certified hematologist-oncologist with over 20 years experience in clinical development. Graydon was said to have joined Immix from Merck and Johnson & Johnson, where he claimed to have led new and supplemental drug applications for Darzalex, Carvykti, Keytruda, and Imbruvica — some of the best-selling cancer medicines in the world, Immix said.

Board-certified hematologist-oncologist? Working on major cancer drugs for Merck and Johnson & Johnson? Are there no ways to check credentials? 

Call me dumbfounded.

As of a few weeks ago, Graydon has been terminated by Immx. But couldn't they have saved themselves a ton o' embarrassment if they'd given Graydon's application a bit more scrutiny? Ditto for Atossa. 

I'm pretty yikes on this one. And I'm also getting that a head or two in the hiring/non-vetting process will will roll now that the story is out there. 

Anyway, poetic justice-y, Ronald Fischer/Richard Grayson was apprehended on the Silver Lining, his $1.4M sailboat, in the waters off lower Manhattan. And he has been extradited back to Rhode Island. This time, he's being held without bail and, at the age of 70, faces life in prison. 

No more sailling for you, Dr. Ronald Fischer/Dr. Richard Graydon.

Oh, and, in the last episode of The Fugitive, the one-armed man on  is found and makes a deathbed confession to the murder of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife. Justice served!

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Image and Fugitive Intro Source: Wikipedia

Miller Time

There have been an awful lot of Millers in the news of late. First and most dreadful is, of course, the odious Stephen Miller, the malign White House presence who appears to be his boss's leading white nationalist whisperer. (And who himself looks like a villain from a 19th century penny-dreadful.) 

Of course, with Stephen Miller, there's a two-fer, as his equally vile wife, Katie Miller, is always edging into our consciousness through her social media presence. She recently caught my eye when she put out a snide, belittling tweet when Joe Biden commented - kindly, of course - on the death of Lindsey Graham.

Next up: Ohio Congressman Max Miller, a former Trump aide who was known when he worked in the White House during Trump's first term as "The Music Man." He earned this moniker because he was the staff member called in to figure out which show tune to play to jolly the president out of a bad mood or to calm him down when he was about to blow his stack. 

Post Trump 1.0, Miller managed to move on up to representing Ohio in Congress, and although he's in one of those safely gerrymandered districts that's solid red, he's facing down quite a scandal. He's embroiled in a nasty divorce from Emily Moreno, daughter of one of Ohio's senators. Miller maintains that the charges are just standard contentious divorce lies, but they include allegations of violence, and Moreno has filed for a restraining order. The one charge that seems to have been at least partially acknowledged by Miller is that he prevented someone from coming over to his place to pick up a stuffed blue teddy bear, his child's comfort toy, her lovie, which had been left behind after the kiddo had spent some time with him. (The little girl is two.) Miller only kept custody of the little blue bear overnight. Only 14 hours, which just goes by in such a flash when a small child, going through what is likely a traumatic time, is deprived of her comfort toy. 

Although many Republicans (not Trump, of course; he continues to back The Music Man) urged Max Miller to drop out, he decided to tough it out, and he's on the ballot. Only allegations...Fake news. We'll see what the voters say in November. They're obviiously okey-doke with a lot of atrocious behavior on the part of politicians, but keepng her lovie away from his toddler may be a bit of atrocious behavior too far.

Then there's Matt Miller of ESPN fame, who of late has found himself in trouble within trouble within more trouble. Since I pay zero attention to the NFL draft - this Miller's area of expertise - I had no idea who Matt Miller was. But he was a pretty big deal. And part of his big dealness was his:

...cultivating a brand that included a range of charitable endeavors: coat drives for children in need, scholarships for students of color, and supplies for teachers. He was, as one friend called him, a “local hero.”

But over the past two months, that image of Miller began to crack. Dozens of social media posts accused him of stiffing the winners of fantasy football leagues he ran, leagues he billed as benefiting charities. Commenters also questioned the legitimacy of the charity fundraisers he routinely held. The public outcry prompted an investigation by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which has received more than two dozen complaints. (Source: NY Times/Athletic)

Miller had begun paying back those he owed when things in his life went from bad to worse. Far worse.

In June, he was in a very serious car accident and ended up losing his arm. (When a Ford Bronco crosses the double yellow line and slams into a semi, the semi wins.)

He set up a GoFundMe to pay for his prosthetic and other expenses associated with his recovery and within a week managed to raise over $50K from well-wishers. However, the GoFundMe also elicted a raft of complaints to the state AG's office:

Those complaints were made by people who had paid for camps and participated in fantasy football leagues where no product or minimal product was delivered, according to the attorney general’s office. 

Although "Miller’s GoFundMe is not part of the investigation," it was suspended once those complaints started coming in. 

Speaking of suspended, Miller is also on leave from ESPN. And he's been kicked off the platform where he ran his fantasy leagues. 

So, he's got the AG on his tail about the fantasy football league payout problems; his charities are being looked into - he often collected charitable donations through personal PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts (not that there's anything suss about that); and he's lost an arm. And, oh year, his Bronco was totaled. And he's been charged with a misdemeanor for his bad driving. At least the truck driver wasn't injured. 

I realize that Miller is a pretty common name. 

But it sure has been a bad summer for Millers in the news. Make that a good summer for news about bad Millers. 

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Image Source: Bockles

The Gambler

From the long list of possible vices, gambling was never going to be my vice of choice. 

Oh, I'm still capable of yelling 'wanna bet?' when some factoid is in question - and I'm 100% sure I'm right. Of course, other than the small smug satisfaction of winning the bet, nothing material ever materializes. But other than buying an occasional lottery ticket, betting has no appeal to me whatsoever.

I've been to casinos, but my limit was always a roll of quarters for the slots - or whatever the electronic equivalent is these days. But once that ten bucks is exhausted, I'm out. In my twenties, I went a couple of times to the track (Narragansett, Suffolk Downs) with friends, where I'd make a couple of two-dollar bets on some nag, based on whether I liked its name or the jockey's colors. 

But gambling to me is one big meh, and I'm about as likely to get sucked into playing one of those betting apps as I am to go skydiving. Is there a probability that's less than zero?

Gambling, however - whether micro wagers on Fan Duel or other sports betting apps, or in the 'when's the next forest fire' prediction makets - has become a huge industry. And what it's doing in the process of growing the businesses, the industry, is getting a whole lot of folks ensnared in gambling. I.e., becoming addicted. And their lives can be pretty much ruined when they go into big, hideous debt. 

One ruinee is a fellow named Terry Thompson, whose road to financial perdition was via FanDuel. 

He began innocently enough, betting on the Philadelphia Eagles to win, but soon found himself "placing microbets, which are in-game wagers on something as small as whether the next play would be a pass or run."

Soon enough, he had wagered $18.5 million on the app. This figure does not, of course, represent total losses. Thompson was making his bets, rewagering his winnings, and (mostly) covering his losses. While FanDuel was taking their cut. 

Meanwhile, having been identified as a Big Spender, Thompson started getting comped. Tickets to Eagles, Flyers, and Sixers games. A couple of fully paid for trips to the Supoer Bowl with perks like invites to swank parties and pregame field access. 

Thompson was assigned a FanDuel relationship manager, Bryttanni Morgan, his VIP host for events like the Super Bowl. She also stayed in contact with Thompson via text, pretending to be his friend - with convos about family, etc. - while always turning the encounter around to urging Thompson to place more bets. 

But the house always wins, and the losses were getting steeper. 

Thompson was losing big time, mortgaging his home. Mortgaging it again. Selling share in a business he ran. He was desperate for the funds to keep fueling his addiction.

Then, one afternoon [in November 2024], he flicked open his phone and received a FanDuel reward that momentarily distracted him from his debts: a personalized video message from Philadelphia Phillies superstar. (Source: Philadelphia Inquirer)

Bryce Harper is a very big deal. He's a future Hall of Famer, playing his way through a $300M plus multi-year contract that nets him about $25M a year. He has a ton of endorsements as well. But there's never enough money, and if you can earn some extra coin by making a bunch of personalized video calls for your fans while you're sitting around with nothing to do but Scrooge McDuck count your money, why not add to the pile o' lucre?

So Harper recorded a video that Morgan sent Thompson that name checks Thompson's son, thanks Thompson for his support (support for Harpef? for FanDuel?), and wishes him a Happy Thanksgiving. 

The video was made through Cameo, the outfit that sells celebrity greetings. You can get an Englebert Humperdinck vid for $345. (Didn't know he was still alive. He's 90, and will be performing in the Boston area in December. Who knew?)

Red Sox great (and Hall of Famer) will give you a shout out for $600. And the price for Kevin O'Leary, Shark Tank ahole supreme, starts at $1,500. 

So Harper wasn't doing directly promotional work for FanDuel. It was via Cameo. But:

Harper mentions that he was reaching out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager, “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel.” 

So he kinda shoulda known that Thompson was a pretty big gambler to have a FanDuel "host" looking out for him.

You'd think so, no?

Anyway, Thompson ended up owing over a million bucks and spending time in "a psychiatric facility to undergo treatment for gambling addiction."

He's suing FanDuel and Morgan, and I hope he wins big (and that the winnings go into a trust that someone else manages for him). Sure, there's such a thing as free will, but these rotters knowingly prey on those who've become addicted to gambling. 

As for Harper, he's not named in the suit, but he's getting some heat for working with a betting outfit. He's blah-blah-ing about not doing anything directly with FanDuel, but since his message mentions the company, it's not as if he should be "shocked, shocked that gambling is going on in here," as Inspector Renault famously says in Casablanca, while accepting a bag of loot from the croupier at Rick's. 

Oh, FFS. Nothing he did was illegal, but we're sure on the border between ethical and unethical here, no?

I can understand the lure of doing Cameo videos. It's almost free money. And I looked on the site, and a lot of the videos are offered for lesser lights than Bryce Harper. Plenty of them are for "celebrities" I never heard of. And I can understand why fans of celebrities would get a kick out of receiving a "personal" video, even if they know it's hooey.

But especially for the rich folks making these vids, why don't they do it through a charity? Let the Make a Wish Foundation, Saint Jude's Hospital, Habitat for Humanity make some money peddling these videos. They need the money more than Bryce Harper does. 

Sheesh.

Meanwhile, if it's okay wish best of luck to a gambler, best of luck to Terry Thompson. 

As for Bryce Harper, why not pay closer attention to what you're doing in your free time to make even more money than you'll ever possibility need.

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Image Source: Fantasy Costumes

Take a nice big gulp, Zuck.

The other day, I was at my volunteer job - basically, hanging out in the expressive therapy room in a large day shelter - and we started kicking around ideas for the title one of the art works. Our brainstorm was running on empty, when a fellow volunteer - a retired businessman who's roughly my age - decided to ask ChatGPT for a suggestion.

I kiddingly yelled at him - we've worked together for years, and I really like this guy - for using AI, but damned if AI didn't come up with a pretty good name for the picture.

Still, I stand by my opposition to using AI so cavalierly. 

There are times and places for AI, but this - IMHO - isn't one of them. I keep trying to turn AI search off, but every time I think I've figured it out, Google manages to sneak it in. (It's been easier to turn of text predictions and Microsoft's odious CoPilot.)

There are a number of reasons for my (mostly) fear and (mostly) loathing of AI. Promoting teen suicides. Providing wrong information - oops, that mushroom actually is poisonous. Job elimination, often just because some C-suite is enamored of the promise of saving big bucks by getting rid of humans - damn the short term and long term implications. And, of course, the environmental depredation that these AI data centers are causing. 

AI uses too damned much energy. It sucks up water resources, and the wastewater is often a pollutant. The noise pollution is driving folks with the misfortune to live close to one of these monster AI data centers nuts. 

And to what end? So a bunch of amoral tech bros can become even more billionaire-y? So the Family Trump can keep up with their cyber-grifting?

Given the havoc AI data centers are wreaking, I really shouldn't be paying any attention to what happened when a big ol' AI data center was being built in Wyoming. Which is really not causing mega problems.

And why not Wyoming as a great location for data centers, one might well ask? It's a big state with virtually no people. So what if those data centers hum all night? And Wyoming has wind. And natural gas. And oil. So they can probably power up without raising the electric bills of the 600K or so cowpokes who live in the state. (The relative handful of tech bros and Hollywood types who live in the Jackson Hole enclave can afford to pay more, so I won't waste any of my personal, finite supply of energy worrying about them.)

But what captured my eye about this Wyoming data center is that it belongs to Meta, a company that happens to be owned by one of the tech-bro-iest of 'em all, Mark Zuckerberg. 

Meta is building a mega data center in Cheyenne, which is slated to become operative in 2027:

...but its contractor has come under fire after city officials traced wastewater containing a rare bacterium to the project.

By bacteria standards, Cupriavidus gilardii (scary name aside) isn't all that awful, but:

While harmless to most healthy people, it can cause severe pneumonia, bloodstream and lung infections, and, in rare cases, death among people with weakened immune systems.

Officials stressed that it did not contaminate the city's drinking water, but said it disrupted the municipal reclaimed water system and required months of cleanup. (Source: Daily Mail)

And Meta has now permanently lost permission "to discharge wastewater from its fill-and-flush operations into Cheyenne's treatment system, where the water is recycled and later used to irrigate parks and other public spaces."

This is by no means the worst thing that one of these data centers is going to be responsible for. Some towns are experiencing low water pressure; sediment build up the gives residents brown water - just what you want to brush your teeth and wash your hair with, let alone bathe your baby; a whining, skull-piercing noise running 24/7. (Some of the sound levels aren't just annoying, they're harmful to hearing.) Oh, and the home values for those living in a data center neighborhood are declining. Which might be offset if data centers produced high paying jobs for folks living in the hood. But once construction is finished, data centers don't require a lot of employees to keep the centers humming. (And some of their jobs are going to - you guessed it - AI.)

Not that the masters of the universe clamoring for these data centers give a damn. Frankly, my dear, they don't. 

But I sure would like to see Mark Zuckerberg and his pals spend a night in humming distance of one of their data centers. And take a nice big gulp of water from the local taps whille they're at it.

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Image Source: Red Bubble

Diamonds (and rubies and emeralds) are a president's best friend?

You don't need me to tell you that the Grifter-in-Chief has vastly increased his wealth during Round Two of an administration that will live in infamy. Or is it ignominy? The latest in griftorama: charging $100K for a service through which subscribers get early releases of Trump's Truth Social market-moving pronouncements, so they'll have a jump on Wall Street (betting on actual instruments) and the prediction markets (betting on nothing). 

I'm old enough to recall the the radio payola scandal, in which record labels bribed dj's to play their records. How. Quaint.

And you don't need me to tell you that the gilt-obsessed (but apparently guilt-feelings-free) Decorator-in-Chief has the design sensibility of Liberace, without Liberace's sense of humor. The word tawdry doesn't do Trump's taste justice. (I'd say that his taste is all in his mouth, but given his daily ingestion of fast food and Diet Coke, I don't think he has much taste there, either.)

The gift to Trump from the Antwerp World Diamond Center may not be the most valuable that Trump has received. It's a ring worth an estimated $25k-35k, which is probably about what Trump spends per month on fast food and Diet Coke. 

But in terms of tackiness, it's gotta be right up there. 

Dozens of diamonds spell out two giant letter T's next to the Stars and Stripes and "1776" and "2026." Dozens more frame the numbers 45 and 47 in the shape of Superman's logo. A diamond-winged eagle carries a ruby shield and clutches an olive branch of emeralds, below a radiant "250" and atop the phrase "250 YEARS USA" etched in 18-karat gold.

All told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, to give to U.S. President Donald Trump. (Source: PBS)

Atypically, this was something of a tat for tit gift, a quo pro quid reversal, in that Trump had already removed tariffs on diamond imports before the diamond merchants sent him this bauble in thanks. Most of the bribes gifts bestowed on Trump yield a benefit after the fact. Donate a couple of million to some Trumpian effort - his inauguration, the building of the new ballroom - and get a big little something in return. Pave the way for a deal. Get awarded a major contract.

From a corporation's point of view, the return is beyond belief. You'd be crazy not to pay to play.

The ring was given to Ambassador Bill White at some sort of 250th celebration/fundraising event, during which over $5.5 million was collected from mega (MAGA?) US corporate sponsors like Lockheed Martin, Intel, Google, and Meta. And smaller Euro organization like chocolatiers Leonidas and Ferrero, and the Antwerp diamond-eers. 

After the ring was presented on a star-spangled stage in Brussels, musician Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sang the U.S. national anthem to more than 8,000 people drinking Budweiser and bourbon from Tennessee and Kentucky.

That must have been some treat. I've never had a boilermaker - a glass of beer combined with a shot of whisky - but if I'd had to be at this "star-spangled" event, I might have had to down a few.  

Presidents can, in fact, accept personal gifts from "friends" both domestic and foreign, and can decide for themselves whether the gift is personal or to the nation. (I can just imagine the current decision-making process.) An exception is foreign governments, whose gifts require congressional assent - as if that Constitutional nicety is still operative. Presidents can keep a gift if they reimburse the Treasury for the full value of it. As if...(As in the Qatari jet...)

Hope Trump enjoys his new ring. (/s)

What a colossal embarrasment this regime is.

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Image Source: PBS

And now, on the election fraud front...

Anne Manning Martin and Michael Walsh were both hoping to appear on the ballot in the upcoming Massachusetts primary, Martin as a candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, Walsh for the Republican nomination for attorney general. 

Unfortunately, there were a number of signatures on their nominating papers that weren't quite legit. Names appeared to be "written by the same person" and were listed on the papers for both candidates in "identical order." 

Moreover, both candidates also had nomination papers that listed signatures in the order they appeared in a voter database used by the Massachusetts Republican Party to help candidates find supporters. (Source: Boston Globe)

An expert - himself a signature gatherer - determined that:

...the mathematical likelihood of this occurring is zero and that these signatures are likely fraudulent.

Oh. 

When the Globe reached out to some of those whose signatures were falsely included on the nomination papers, one voter - who no longer lives in Massachusetts - said, "'I don't trust anybody anymore. It stinks.'" Another non-signer said "'I didn't write that. I don't even vote.'"

As a result of the chicanery, Manning Martin (who was campaigning as the de facto running mate of Mike Minogue who is odds-on likely to win the Republican gubernatorial primary come electionday on September 1) was tossed off the ballot. Due to a complaint-filing technicality, Walsh is still on.   

I can't really blame the candidates here, other than for procedural carelessness in not having someone on their team take a close look - or any look - at the signatures on the nominations petitions they submitted to appear on the ballot. And not notice that an awful lot of folks had the same signature.

Now, in a state where a lot of us olds went to parochial school back in the day, it is not entirely outside the realm of possibility that a lot of John Hancocks would show up, not with John Hancock's flowing script, but with drilled-in, never-forgotten Palmer Penmanship.

And you can't blame the candidates for hiring a signature gathering outfit to collect names for them. Yes, the magic number of 10,000 signatures can be gotten via grass roots efforts, but that's a big number, especially for a Republican in Massachusetts, where D's out number R's three-to-one. (Independents, which are the majority of Massachusetts voters, can sign nomination papers for candidates in either party. Thank you, Secretary of State Bill Galvin for your very informative web site.)

But some signature gatherer Joe Bronske, who "was paid thousands of dollars by Walsh and Manning Martin’s campaigns to collect signatures on their behalf, according to state records," turned out to be. 

When confronted, Bronske took the Fifth Amendment, as is done.

Bronske, a Republican operative who has served on the Board of (Election) Registrars in his town, of all things, has also been implicated in collecting bogus signatures for Republican secretary of state wannabe Anne Brensley. Many of her signatures were tossed, and she ended up not getting enough to appear on the ballot. She's now running as a write-in candidate.

Bronske's pitch to Brensley's campaign was:

For your campaign’s 10,000-signature requirement, I can:

• Map and target registered voters to ensure every collected signature is eligible and verifiable
• Recruit, train, and coordinate circulators across required districts
• Verify signatures against official voter registration databases
• Conduct internal audits to identify duplicates, errors, or incomplete entries before filing
• Coordinate filing with local election officials and the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
• Prepare documentation and records to defend against potential challenges by focusing only on certified voters and using a rigorous accuracy-first process, the campaign maximizes valid signatures while avoiding wasted effort or risk of disqualification. (Source: New Bedford Guide)

Which all would have been fine and dandy if Bronske had actually delivered on his proposal, which he apparently did not.

I'm quite sure that it's not easy to collect 10,000 signatures. That's a lot of spending a lot of Saturdays standing outside the Market Basket trying to get harried shoppers to stop and sign papers. People are in a rush. People are suspicious, they're wary of fraud. People don't want to be bothered.

Everytime I'm asked, I sign papers for candidates for office. It should come as no surprise that I'm a registered D, but frankly I'd be mostly okay with signing for an R, if allowed. (Or at least I would have been back in the day when Massachusetts R's were mostly palatable to this D's sensiblities.)

In any case, I feel bad for these candidates who trusted (and paid) Bronske to find the signatures they needed to get on the ballot.

I suspect that he'll be out of the signature-gathering biz. Brensley for one was considering legal action against him. There may be civil penalties for Bronske. And there's been some tiny mention of jail time. 

 What a nasty scammer he turned out to be. We really don't need any more a-holes underminng the integrity of our elections, that's for sure.

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Image Source: AAWU

Yet another thing that shouldn't be for profit

There are plenty of things that shouldn't be run on a for profit basis.

Prisons. Jails. Healthcare. Rehab. Armies. Student housing. And schools. Grammar schools. High schools. Colleges. And, yep, nursing schools. 

Across the boards, the need to maximize profits tends to lead to a lot of bad behaviors. Depending on the industry, this can mean pressure to grow in areas that shouldn't be expanding, but should be contracting. (Looking at you, prison industrial complex!) It can mean corner-cutting and shoddy service delivery to minimize expenses. (Dorms are supposed to be crappy, no? And that patient with bedsores can wait to get shifted in her bed. She's on her way out anyway.) 

For-profit schools for younger children often weed out the kids who are most likely to be poor learners in need of extra support and who would thus put some dents in a school's vaunted "outcomes" metrics.  

In higher education, profit maximization often means predatory marketing, pressure on the low-income students they recruit to take on more debt than they can afford, and folks ending up with a substandard, unrespected degree or credential. If they achieve that degree or credential at all. 

So like most of the insitutions of "higher education" that are run as money making schemes, for profit nursing schools are controversial. They tend to focus on non-traditional students who want their education to be fast and flexible. Who are easy to get sucked in.

Florida's Carleen Noreus was the president (owner operator) of two eponymous schools in Florida: Carleen Home Health School, Inc. in Plantation, and Carleen Home Health School II, Inc. in West Palm. (Really? She gave her schools her first name? That should have been BIG RED FLAG #1.) But teaching nursing was apparently way too much work for Carleen Noreus. Those who can, teach. Those who can't teach - or just don't want to - can just sell fake diplomas. Both of Carleen's schools have been shuttered, but while she was open for business:

Prosecutors said she conspired with others to sell fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts to people who hadn't completed the required coursework, enabling them to take national nursing board examinations.

Between April 2018 and October 2025, Noreus was responsible for providing 2,956 fraudulent nursing diplomas through the schools, prosecutors said.

Of those, around 2,274 passed nursing board examinations, allowing them to obtain nursing licenses and work as nurses in Florida and across the country, authorities said. (Source: NBC Miami)

The fake credentials she provided were for RN's, LPN's, and for BSN degrees. And goody good that the majority of those who short-cutted their way out of nursing school managed to pass their licensing exams. But baddy bad that they did so without completing important coursework AND without critical clinical experience. 

As a result of her "work," Noreus - who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering - is facing lengthy prison time once she's sentenced. Not clear what happens to the 2,274 certified nurses who passed their tests with flying colors. Presumably their licenses will be revoked and their careers will crash and burn.

Noreus was one of 13 defendants in this case, which was brought by the DOJ's South Florida District. It's certainly good to know that the DOJ is still capable of focusing on something other than selective persecutions prosecutions of those on Trump's enemies list. 

This prosecution is part of the second phase of Operation Nightingale (such a great name!) "a nationwide effort targeting fraudulent nursing diploma schemes operated by for-profit nursing schools in South Florida." (During Operation Nightingale's first phase, 30 miscreants were convicted.) Florida, huh? Why am I not surprised.

“Nursing licenses must be earned through education, training, and demonstrated competence, not purchased through fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “By selling thousands of fraudulent diplomas and transcripts, the defendant undermined the integrity of the nursing profession and our healthcare system. The Southern District of Florida remains committed to holding accountable those who profit by corrupting professional licensing processes and placing the public at risk.” (Source: US Department of Justice)

Nurses. RNs. LPNs. BSNs. PAs. NPs. 

I respect and admire nurses. Sure, they're not all Florence Nightingales. Not all Edith Clavells. (A WWI nurse-martyr.) They're not all the nurse Cherry Ames-es, the nurse Sue Bartons, of the insipid book series I consumed as a kid. Some nurses are no doubt Nurse Ratchets.

But to me, they've been the human and humane face of medicine. The ones who have more time and patience for their patients.  

I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with nurses, both personally and through second-hand observation. One of the most supportive professionals we encountered during my husband's long cancer fight was the NP who worked with Jim's oncologist. During one particularly gruesome period near Jim's end of life, I emailed Kelly at 5 a.m. on her day off, hoping that she'd get back to me the next day. She got back to me at 5:15 a.m.

My ortho is a PA. When needs be, he consults with the orthopedic surgeon he works with to review XRays and MRIs, and I have 100% trust in him. 

Sure, those 2,274 wannabe nurses passed their licensing exams. Who knows what prompted them to participate in this scam. They ran out of money. They flunked an exam and didn't want to take a course over. Who knows?

But I wouldn't want one of them showing up at my bedside, that's for sure.

I guess this is just what happens when you put the profit motive first. 

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Image Source: Daily Nurse

ICE, ICE, Baby. (This is absolutely chilling..)

First, it was Paigelynne Gonyea. She's a Syracuse, NY, digital content creator. She's also a poll worker. In June, she was working the state primary election when she got a call from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gonyea invited them into the polling place - there were no voters there at the time - where they were not supposed to go.  Only voters and election workers are allowed in. But Gonyea felt that the Syracuse Central Library polling location was a safer place to have her close encounter with ICE than being on the outside. Quite reasonably, she had a bit of fear about being roughed up, dragged off, or worse.

The agents handed Gonyea a form letter that says they were investigating threats made against ICE personnel. The form says the agents had identified an Instagram account they believe breaks federal law. They asked her to remove and discontinue the behavior, according to the unsigned document she shared on Instagram.

“This notice officially informs you that it is unlawful to threaten to assault, kidnap, and/or murder a federal official or that federal official’s immediate family member with the intent to impede, intimidate, and/or interfere with the federal official’s duties or retaliate against a federal official due to the performance of their duties,” the document said.

The document said she could be subject to both federal and state prosecution. (Source: Syracuse.com)

The agents were armed with copies of some of her social media posts - and her driver's license. 

Trouble was, Paigelynne Gonyea hadn't exactly been threatening much of anything. She had named the individual who shot and killed Renee Good - his name was by then public knowledge - and suggested that he should be indicted. Seems to me to be a pretty common opinion among folks who oppose the violent tactics ICE has been known to employ. 

The agents accused her of doxxing, but Gonyea didn't recall giving out anyone's address or phone number: just his name, which was all over the news. ICE counterclaims that she had, indeed, posted the guy's address. Mostly, I'm thinking that it tends to be pretty easy to find someone's address on the 'net. Still, it might be ill-advised to publicize it, given how many loosely wired people there are out there who might take a listing of someone's address as license to go after them. Best not play that game. And god knows I wouldn't want someone putting my particulars out on social media. Let someone google for themselves if they feel the need to know.

But I do have this question: if information is in the public domain, how is putting it out there - however nasty and ill-intentioned -  a crime?

The entire episode was so far-fetched that a Republican election official thought it was a hoax, and called a contact at DHS to see whether it was legit. It was.

Things got even worse for another Upstate NY resident. 

David Streever is a journalist/tech marketing guy. His wife is an Episcopalian priest. They live with their two kids in Rochester, NY. 

When the ICE agents showed up on his doorstep - the same day as their encounter with Gonyea - Streever wasn't home. He was in Finland with his older child, visiting an amusement park. But he saw the agents on his phone via his doorbell camera app - Yay, technology! There's no escape! - and the agents did speak with his wife, home with their little one. 

The two federal agents told Streever’s wife they had come Tuesday afternoon to deliver a warning letter about an email Streever had sent in January to Todd Lyons, then the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Source: Syracuse.com)

In the email, Streever - undestandably upset about the killing of Renee Good, of Alex Pretti - had compared Lyons to Reinhard Heydrich, a notorious Nazi who was monstrous even by monstrous Nazi standards. He wrote to Lyons that:

“You will never know peace. You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”

Are we no longer allowed to tell those in high places what we think of them? 

If anything, it strikes me that Streever is assuming the best of Lyons: that he has a conscience, and that what ICE is doing is going to live with him forever. 

Anyway, a couple of days later, Streever and his little girl headed home. After landing at JFK, they headed off to a hotel to crash before heading back to Rochester. 

At 9:55 p.m., the front desk rang his hotel room. A special agent named Trevor Pitts had come looking for him, the staff said. The hotel staff did not tell the agent that Streever and his daughter were upstairs, Streever said. The agent left his card.

Now Streever was really creeped out: How did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security know he was in a hotel in New York City? And why was his email from January suddenly so urgent? 

With a bit of googling, Streever discovered Paigelynne Gonyea, and, inspired by her speaking out about her meet up with ICE, decided to go public as well.  

“A threat is when someone tells someone else that they’re going to do a thing to them, and there’s nothing in the email of what I will do to him,” he said. “It’s really about how he will feel and what his boss will do [i.e., 'even Trump will turn on you'], which I think was right on both counts.”

Bad enough showing up on his doorstep, but tracking him from his vaction in Finland to his airport hotel at JFK? Absolutely chilling. 

Streever and Gonyea aren't mad bombers. They're not threatening death and destruction. They're exercising their rights - and courageously opposing what they view as terrible behavior on the part of a terrible regime. 

Like pretty much everyone else in this country, I'm all in favor of ICE going after the bad guys: immigrants (here legally or not) who are committing heinous crimes. By all means, get rid of the gang bangers, the drug runners, the bad actors. (Note: but still don't deprive them of their rights and use violence where not needed.] But that's not what they're doing. In their eagerness to meet their deportation goals, the government's catching all sorts of folks in their dragnets. The vast majority have no criminal record. Many are trying to pursue legal avenues to stay here. Many have been here since they were kids and know no other life. A few weeks back, they even rounded up a Catholic nun on her way to Mass. 

Pro tip: if you don't want someone to compare you to a Nazi, don't act like a Nazi.  

As of this writing, Gonyea is exploring her legal options. Streever is suing DHS/ICE. Good!

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Image Source: Homeland Security Employee Gift Shop

Firing Offense? Well...

Although I don't typically root, root, root for teams from New York, I was delighted when the Knicks won the NBA championship. The games were exciting - some unbelievably so - and NY is such a basketball town, it was good to see them win after a drought of over 50 years since their last NBA title.

That was back in 1973, and I learned of their win while hitchhiking in Ireland. We were picked up by an American - I think he was a priest: the black slacks the giveaway - who was from NYC and gave us the news. We were Celtics fans, but okay. We were happy for Father Knicksfan.

This year, there were a couple of good story lines for the Knicks. My favorite was that three of their starting five had also been teammates on the 2016 Villanova team that won the NCAA championship. (Second favorite: Trump being booed to the rafters.)

Anyway, I was happy to see the Knicks win. It was fun seeing the watch parties throughout all the boroughs - I guess Brooklynites can be forgiven for forgetting that their borough has their own team (the Nets) - and it was fun watching the exuberant ticker-tape parade. 

It is colossally enjoyable to see fans - longtime and johnny-come-lately bandwagoners - out in the streets screaming their heads off.

Love, hate, or be 100% indifferent to sports, they can be a great unifying force. 

The celebrations can, of course, get out of hand. Occasional drunken revelers puking and pissing in the streets. Occasional violence (well beyond trash talk) directed at fans of the other guys (so much for the unifying force theorem, I guess). Occasional wanton acts of destruction. And occasional acts of sheer stupidity that don't fall under any of the above categories.

Into this bucket, I'd put the behavior of one Angie Baez who got totally carried away by carrying away a special Knicks tribute trash can, property of the City of New York. If she'd just carried it away, it might have been one thing. But she was caught on camera dumping the overflowing can onto the sidewalk, leaving a big ugly mess of trash strewn there for sanitation workers to clean up. 

If only Angie had ducked into a bodega or Korean corner store, bought some big old black Hefties, and emptied the trash can into a trash bag or two, she might have been okay. But, nope.

And it would have been one thing if she were a twenty-year old knucklehead caught up in the moment. But, nope. Angie Baez is a 40 year old professional who, until her celebratory madness went viral, was the director of executive director of the community and industry engagement program at JP Morgan Chase. No longer.  

She had returned the trash can, and paid a $175 fine for littering. But that was apparently not enough for her to keep her job, which is rumored to have been worth well into the six-figures. (I saw a couple of estimates that her package would have been between $250K and $350K. That is going to be difficult to replace...)

If only Angie Baez had waited, she might have learned that she could have bought one legitimately. 

Meaghan Chillianis, the chief operating officer for OnlyNY, which is selling both full-size and miniature versions of the cans (the mini runs $58), said the company had partnered with the city sanitation department to “celebrate the city’s championship season in a way that felt authentic.” (Source: NY Times)

Instead, poor Angie acted in haste and will no doubt be repenting in leisure.

People have swiped stuff lying around untethered since, like, forever. 

How many college dorm rooms are decorated with No Parking signs? Traffic cones? 

I don't think anyone thinks about grabbing this sort of stuff one way or the other.

A popular "found object" of my era was the plastic milk crate which, depending on the dairy, came in all sorts of swell colors. Perfect for storing record albums. (Ask me how I know.) They became such a popular item that companies started producing them for sale. Which kind of took some of the fun out of it. (Ask me how I know.)

Sometimes the thievery is more seriously thieving. One example: every couple of years some jerks manage to dislodge one of the (expensive bronze) Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Boston Public Garden and make their way off with it. 

But garden-variety stupidity-fueled pilfering by a twenty year old is one thing. One would think that a 40 year old could manage to keep her inner 20 year old reveler tamped down.

Do I think that Angie Baez should have been fired because of this? Not really. Assuming that she was taking Paid Time Off, and given that she was fully decked out in Knicks gear, and wasn't sporting a JP Morgan Chase quarter zip or polo shirt, I don't see why this is a firing offense. Sure, it's an embarrassment to the organization, her making a spectacle of herself. But I think they should have let her profusely apologize and grovel to keep her job. With a warning to grow TF up. 

I'm pretty sure that, among the 300,000+ JP Morgan Chase employees there are at least a handful who've done worse without repercussion. 

Management was probably looking for an opportunity to placate those leading the current anti-diversity zeitgeist anyway. And here was Angie Baez, offering herself up if not on a silver platter, then in a blue-and-orange Knicks trash can.

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Image Source: Instragram

Was the Peppa Pig themed birthday party worth it, Ms. Mayor?

I'm like a broken record here, but stories about people with their hand in the workplace till NEVER fail to amaze me. Do these folks think they'll pay back what they've embezzled before it gets found out? Do they think that they're going to get away with it, outsmarting the system? (Maybe a lot of them do and that the ones who get caught are in the minority.)

I suppose that many/most embezzlers start small, and once they get away with the initial theft, they just keep upping the ante. 

It just completely shocks me that there are so many people that are willing to grab at easy money only to end up doing time.

Politician thieves are another category altogether, as a lot of times they get caught using government and/or campaign funds to settle illegitimate expenses. After all, politicians being politicians, I'm sure that they can convince themselves that the fancy night out, the spa day, the pricey car, are necessary for them to stay in office. They let themselves stretch the bonds of what faithfully executing their oath of office entails. 

The latest saga to amaze me is that of New Britain, Connecticut's former mayor (in office from 2013 to 2025) Erin Stewart.

Stewart was on the course to get the Republican nomination for governor when details about fraudulent spending came out and she ended her campaign. If she'd gotten her party's nod, it's unlikely that she would have won the gubernatorial race come November. Connecticut is pretty reliably Democratic, and Ned Lamont, the incumbent, is quite popular. (Lamont does have a Democratic challenger, but is likely to be nominated this summer.)

Still, Stewart is young - she's only 39 - and running for statewide office is a credential-builder even if you don't manage to win. Things change over time. Who knows? She might have had a political future. Even reliably blue states have a habit of electing Republicans to state office as long as they temper their fiscal conservatism with social moderation. (C.f., Massachusetts governors Weld and Romney, among others.)

I doubt Stewart has much of a political future now. 

Not after it appears that she spent a lot of dimes on New Britain's account during her mayoral tenure. 

A law firm hired by the city found that Ms. Stewart had racked up $123,018 in expenses from June 2016 to November 2025 that had no supporting documentation to justify them.

The items included clothing, gifts for her husband, diapers, groceries and a membership in a members-only social club in Hartford. The goods were delivered to her home, ordered from Amazon, Instacart, Costco and other retailers, according to investigators, who combed through Ms. Stewart’s social media photos for images of items that she had purchased.

“The findings of this investigation point not to isolated lapses in judgment, but to a pattern of behavior that violated public trust and the standards expected of an elected official entrusted with taxpayer funds for nearly a decade,” said the report, prepared by the Crumbie Law Group in Hartford. (Source: NY Times)

Among the myriad personal expenses Stewart made were party supplies for her daughter's second birthday party, which was "tropical Peppa Pig-themed." State investigators matched these are other dubious expenses to party posts to Stewart's Facebook accounts. Some of her wanton spending had no supporting justification/receipts; some was noted as "office supplies."

An awful lot can fall under the category "office supplies" that would never be found out. But Peppa Pig decorations? Come on, ex-Mayor Stewart. Peppa Pig's cute and all, but please get a little real. 

Stewart also used her government card to buy clothing and jewelry for herself and her family, and baby supplies for her second child. 

All told, the law firm investigation Stewart's spending found over $100K worth of spending with no supporting documentation (and which was pretty much unsupportable, with or without documentation). 

That may not sound like much when, say, compared to the enormity of the multi-billion grift underway by the Trump family, but it's still pretty significant, especially in a blue-collar town like New Britain. And Stewart, although she has said she "will take I will take accountability for any mistakes," and that she "intend(s) to make full and complete restitution to the City of New Britain — my home — for anything that" she ends up owing, she could be in for some non-trivial hurt.

The Connecticut State Police confirmed on Thursday that they had opened an investigation into the matter after the state’s Division of Criminal Justice received a complaint.

I can't imagine that she'll do any time, but she's no doubt out of politics for good. She'll have to come up with the $100K plus payback. And she has to live with the colossal embarrassment.

Sheesh, do people just not think that misdeeds like this may one day catch up with them? Was that Peppa Pig themed birthday party worth it, Ms. Mayor?

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Additional information source: CT Insider

Image Source: Craiyon

Should've stuck to bubble gum...

When the story was first reported, it looked as if Ipswich school administrators were way over-reacting by suspending from play six members of the lacrosse team for posting pics of themselves, on graduation day, in their gowns and with big (unlit) stogies in their mouths.

The Ipswich Six weren't being allowed to play in the state boys lacrosse semi-finals in their division because they were in violation of state sports regulations that prohibit high school athletes from using alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. In order to participate in sports, the young athletes have to sign this agreement.

But if the cigars were unlit, as douche-y and bro as the pictures of these young men depict them to be, what's the BFD? They may have been cocking a snook at school administration, but what else is new.

And supposedly, the a stogie-pic on graduation day is some grand high school tradition in some quarters. So what if this tradition is obnoxious and noxious? If the 'gars weren't lit, no harm, no foul, right? (If the 'gars weren't lit, you must acquit.)

Well, the admin was quick to point out, there was another picture showing the boys puffing away, wreathed in cigar smoke. Thus, a violation.

Meanwhile, when the notice went out that the six students would not be allowed to play, three other team members said that, out of loyalty to their supposedly wrongly accused teammates, they wouldn't play. The team at that point didn't have enough players to arm with cudgels, so the remaining members voted to forfeit the game to Cohasset. (Coincidentally, Cohasset and Ipswich are both picturesque, affluent, ocean-front communities: Cohasset on Boston's South Shore, Ipswich on the North.)

Some parents went haywire.

So what if their boys posted a picture of themselves with cigars in their mouths? So what, even, if they were found to have smoked them. The cigars, one father claimed, were fake. He, in fact, had taken the real cigars, removed the tobacco, and had stuffed them with a combo of chamomile and English breakfast tea leaves. So there!

Forget for a moment that even an emptied out cigar is still tobacco, as the wrapper is a tobacco leaf. (This is unlike a cigarette, which is tobacco rolled in paper.) So if the cigars were mostly fake, that shows that the kids just wanted to appear to be smoking and weren't deliberately flouting the just-say-no regulation.

The fake cigar-making dad went so far as to submit a store receipt showing that he'd purchased the tea at Shaw's Market. Sure, the time and date stamp were smudged, but proof is proof, no?

Well, not if it's fake proof, as the Ipswich crack administators found out when they went into full Law & Order, CSI, Columbo mode and brought the receipt to Shaw's to check out whether it was legit. Well, Shaw's had a duplicate, and the receipt was legit. But when the time and date weren't smudged out, the time and date showed that the purchase had been made a few minutes after the email went out informing the lacrosse players that there had likely been a rules violation. 

As the Boston Globe put it, "the fake cigar defense appears to be going up in smoke."

The whole sitch turned into a kertuffle, with parents screaming at admins and lawyering up, the father who fakely claimed to have made the fake cigars sticking to his story - “It’s a fake cigar, it’s been proven,” - and the cops being called in. 

“We fully understand the disappointment, frustration, and emotions that have accompanied this outcome,” administrators said. “As educators and school leaders, we are always disappointed when we must make difficult decisions such as this." (Source: Boston Globe)

Yes, it is disappointing to many that the team wasn't allowed to play in the state playoffs. (For the record, Cohasset, the team Ipswich forfeited to in the semi-finals, went on to beat Nantucket for and win the state's Division 4 boys lacrosse championship.)

And the underclassmen on the team, the kids who didn't smoke the cigars, have every right to be disappointed. What the kids who smoked the cigars - violating an agreement that they had signed, and then letting a parent lie about the cigars being fake - shouldn't be disappointed. They should be embarrased. And, if not ashamed of themselves for letting the lie proceed - and, yes, it is hard to stand up to your or someone else's father, even if they're in the wrong - they should be ashamed that they're part of this entirely shameful situation.

If they wanted to have the "traditional" cigar smoking pic, they could have waited until after their playoff game(s). Or they could have poked a bit of fun at the traditional and gone with bubble gum cigars.

Ipswich admin released this statement:

... “One of the most important lessons we teach young people is that choices have consequences, even when those consequences are difficult or painful,” [Principal Jonathan] Mitchell and [School Superintendent Brian] Blake said in their statement. “While this outcome was heartbreaking for the student-athletes, their families, their coaches, and our school community, we remain committed to applying our policies consistently and acting in what we believe to be the best interests of the integrity of our educational and athletic programs.”

Good for standing up for integrity in their "educational and athletic programs." But heartbreak, shmeartbreak. This is high school. I'm guessing that most kids from Ipswich (and all pf the lacrosse players) go on to college. My wish for all of them is that high school, as much as they may have enjoyed it, is not the be all and end all of their existence.  Glory Days, indeed.

As for those conniving, lying, idiotic parents who came up with the fake cigar scheme. Grow the f up!

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Image Source: Etsy

It's not that they're tone deaf. It's that they really don't care

Google. Salesforce. Oracle. Microsoft.

They've all been pinkslipping thousands of workers to help fund the buildout of the AI infrastructure they need to implement in order to get rid of everyone else in their workforce.

Unlike its confreres, Apple supposedly hasn't done any major AI-related layoffs. But I learned that from an AI search overview, which I thought I had disabled. (AI has a pernicious way of sneaking back in. I guess when you  ask Ask Gemini how to turn Ask Gemini off, it just has its inhuman little old self good little laugh.)

By comparison with what some of the other big techs have been doing in terms of the numbers of heads being chopped off, Meta's May announced number of 8,000 seems rather paltry. Unless of course, you're among the riffed.

And unless you were among the 1,400 Seattle-area Meta workers riffed, you may not have been aware that on the very same day in May that the latest round of layoffs was announced - impacting 20% of Seattle's Meta workforce - Mark Zuckerberg's $300M, 387 foot long (or is it $387M, 300 foot long?) superyacht, Launchpad, docked in Seattle's Lake Union. (Lake Union is a "renowned hub for high-end vessel servicing.")

Zuck was elsewhere at the time, but just the thought of Launchpad's presence - apparently right outside the office windows of a number of those who'll be losing their paychecks, perks, and badges come July...What could be more symbolic of the company's attitude towards its workers? Let 'em swab decks on my superyacht instead of Let 'em eat cake.

According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg from Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale, the aggressive restructuring is part of an ongoing effort to maximize company efficiency and balance the massive costs of new technological investments.

"This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here," Gale wrote. (Source:Fox13 Seattle)

First off, if there were ever a job title that needs to be retired it's Chief People Officer. CPO implies - or a naive worker might infer - that the company actually gives a) a damn; b) a rat's arse; c) a flying fuck; d) all of the above, about the actual humans who work there. Maybe we can ask ChatGPT to come up with a new title. Corporate Personnel Henchman? C-Suite Stooge?

OK, Janelle Gale is probably a perfectly nice person if you meet her IRL. I'm sure she volunteers. I'm sure she sits on boards. She's a PhD psychologist. I'm sure she's empathetic AF.

But at the end of the day, she's working for the man.

And the man, in this case Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the cadre - I almost wrote caldron, which also works - of super-brainiac tech bros enamored of emergent technology (whatever the cost in dollars or human terms), enamored with their own exceptional intelligence, and enamored of the idea of becoming trillionaires. Because billionaire is so, so, so, so very yesterday, and these bros, if nothing else, are forward thinking. For themselves, anyway.

Forget about Emotional Intelligence, which for a while there was a trait that was somewhat valued in the workplace. Exceptional Intelligence - you heard it here - is the new EQ. And that EQ is focused on perfecting the algo, and on grabbing as much power, glory, and money as you can.

And these EQ-ers do not appear in the least troubled by any of what they're doing, any of the human, humane, or environmental implications of AI-ing the world.

If Exceptional Intelligence is the new EQ, then amorality is the new humanity. Caring? Concern? Democracy? Fairness? Sissy-stuff! Real men swan around in superyachts. Real men lay off tens of thousands of workers because they've got to keep their eyes on their prize.

Last month, I was fortunate to get to Bruce Springsteen's brilliant and humane Hope and Dreams concert. On the setlist was "Badlands," with its famous lyrics:

Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything.

I read recently that, with AI, American GDP may well continue to grow, and that by using GDP as a measure, the economy will look healthy. But how healthy is an economy going to be with 8-10% (or more) unemployment?

So let's remember the opening lines to "Badlands."

Light's out tonight
Trouble in the heartland

Zuckerberg didn't sail his ship into Lake Union to taunt the laid-off workers. Hell, he probably didn't even know where Launchpad was. He's got plenty of somebodies to see to the details of his lfe. (Maybe someday those somebodies will be AIs.)

But it's not that they're tone deaf. It's that, like Melania Trump, they really don't care. (Do you?)

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This post is a shoutout to my sister Trish, who tomorrow begins her well-earned, well-deserved retirement.

First saw this story referenced by Dom Ervolina on BlueSky, who was referencing Ben Kershner (I think on Insta). Thanks, fellows.

Image Source: Amazon where the jacket goes by "Womens Melania Lady The United State I Really Don’t Care Do U Green Jacket Trump Coat"