The Weekly

How to get your $10k

And a very special master for Trump

Daniel Herndon

Aug 26, 2022 • 6 min read

Hey friends,

Good morning. Especially to those of you who may have recently had any student loans. The Biden administration is canceling $10,000 of student loan debt for households making less than $125,000 a year. Also, sales of gas-guzzling cars are being canceled in California by 2035.

Similarly, I'm being canceled for what a reader says was a partisan comment.

I'll get to that in a second...

But first, let's get to The News.

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This is a reader-supported publication, and you're the one that keeps it going. I want to talk to you for a second about why The Lorem Ipsum is here. In this world, we have wealthy business moguls and media platforms influencing the elections, while people like AOC can't even afford the letters to spell their entire name (I think it's a licensing issue, but that is beside the point).

Honest conversation that moves hearts and minds is what this site is all about. Without shutting down another point of view. It's also about making fun of AOC when the opportunity is there.

I always hope this email is entertaining, but I also hope that it inspires thought and conversation. I do it because I am passionate about it, and for those of you who enjoy it, I consider it an honor that you would make room in your inbox for me. My mission is to make people laugh while making them think. This newsletter is free. It costs me a little money and a lot of time, but I write because I believe it matters.

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Hot Takes

Week 34 of 2022

Student Debt Cancelled

I guess student debt must have said something politically incorrect because it has been canceled. But seriously Biden announced loan forgiveness of up to $10,000 (and $20,000 for those with Pell grants). Students can get their money by being American and paying taxes, but first, they have to wait in line for millionaires to first get the benefit of tax reductions and credits while claiming that it is "not fair". The response from one reader: "My mortgage identifies as a student loan." The Lorem Ipsum's take: tax credits are tax credits, no matter where you get them. (more)

Putin His Place.

Someone close to Vladimir Putin was killed earlier in the week, but as they say, not close enough – it happened to be Daria Dugina, the outspoken daughter of an outspoken activist Alexander Dugin who Putin is believed to follow (possibly even on Tvitter). Russia is blaming Ukraine's government, but they say they're not in the business of killing civilians like Russia who bombed a Ukrainian train station on Wednesday. Early that day, in an Independence Day speech, President Zelenski did some Head of State level trolling. (more)

Twistle Blower

Twitter is back in the news after its head of security blew the whistle on the company. Peiter Zatko, in so many characters (but more than 280) said the company lied to the public about security practices and to Elon Musk about spam bots. He DM'd the Securities and Exchange Commission. Obviously, Musk retweeted the complaint. (more)

A Very Special Master

Trump's legal team has asked for a "special master" to review Mar-a-lago search evidence. The request is essentially baiting the courts with claims Trump's constitutional rights were violated when more than 300 classified government documents were taken from his home. This master baiter (Trump's legal team) is going to face a stiff battle, since they tried to beat the courts, ignoring prior issues risen by the feds. (more)

Farewell Fauci.

Anthony Fauci put in his notice, and at 81 years old is looking for his next gig, which won't be retirement, he says. Ron Desantis, who is very credible, is not happy about that, calling him a "little elf" who should be chucked across the Potomac. (more)

A Colorado State Senator is Trans

In the Colorado state senate, Kevin Priola is transitioning (parties) citing discomfort with the Republican Party embracing election denial and complicity in the January 6 Insurrection. While I personally identify as they/them when it comes to politics, Priola now identifies as a Democrat, and that is his truth and we should respect that. (more)

That's it for the news. Now here's The Gist.

When Partisan Leans Left

The Gist

Out of 330 million people in the United States, there are only about 542 that get elected to a federal job. By my math, these elite positions represent only 0.0003% of the population of the united states. That is like three 10,000th of a percent if I know anything about the Arabic Decimal system (and if I'm wrong just correct me in the comments).

And yet, we live in a country where Marjorie Taylor Green is one of those elected officials.

Is it partisan to criticize the criminal or the foolish? --> Read The Article.

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Ask The Lorem Ipsum

I receive questions from readers just like you all the time, and on rare occasions, those questions make sense. Well, this one is one of them.

Here's our latest of the intermittently included segment Ask The Lorem Ipsum.

Hey Daniel, I'm new to the Worldwide Web. How do I send the emails? What is Amazon? I’m a subscriber to your mailer so I demand service now!

With love, Tim and a Series of Tubes

Hi Tim. You're not the first person to have trouble with email. It was only a couple of weeks ago that someone said on a Facebook post that they didn't want to sign up for the newsletter "if it was Yahoo! mail!" (last exclamation point mine). I kindly told our friend that he or she did not need to sign up at all. ((s)he didn't).

The more important point you've brought up, besides the demand for service as a paying customer of The Lorem Ipsum is your questions about Amazon. What is Amazon, you ask? The answer is clear – and no, it's not one of the largest channels of water distribution in South America, but it may be the largest in the entire world. They sell it in bottles on palettes, by the jug, and in cans of Liquid Death.

But besides the literal answer, what about the philosophical one? (If you're like my wife, you hate that I always ask philosophical questions like 'what do you mean by "what do you mean?"?', and you also hate when I don't make the bed when I am the last one up but I digress).

What is Amazon? It's exactly what every disruptive startup founder wants. A disruptive startup.

It's also what every disruptive startup founder hates. A disruptive startup when it starts making a profit.

What happens when breakout companies become successful, is they start to take control of their profits by negotiating with the market. They stop living on investment and they become The Investors. Then suddenly the bleeding heart entrepreneurs start to get butt hurt. Suddenly, the Dan Prices of this world no longer pay their employees based on headlines in Entrepreneur Magazine, they pay based on keeping the business alive and growing. Hopefully still a fair wage, but maybe one that faces the challenges of competition and has to face a P&L statement every month.

That doesn't mean the corporations shouldn't be more responsible. But try to tell Jeff to stop squashing product prices when his customers keep buying them because of the competitive pricing and amazing return policy. They have a formula that works, and they will keep gaining power so long as we keep paying them to do so. If you'd like to see things be different, you should make something different, write something different and buy something different.

But people have to like it.

I guess what I'm saying (even though you didn't really ask for this much detail, and I'm not even sure this is what you were looking for) is that Amazon is what we make it. We are the big evil corporation, and whether we know it or not, we like it that way, despite our comments to the contrary.

Amazon is our wishes when they come true. And you know what they say – be careful what you wish for, because you might get it.

It's not evil to buy from Amazon. But it is good to invest in your neighborhood.