Doomscroll News 🇺🇸

Author: David Gross

  • The Phoenix Plan: A Blueprint for American Rebirth

    The Phoenix Plan: A Blueprint for American Rebirth

    Prioritize national strength, economic independence, and internal order.

    Core Principles

    • Competent Government: Before voting on any bill, members of Congress must have one week to read it and pass a test to prove they understand it.
    • “Fortress America” Economy: The plan aims for a self-reliant economy. This includes:
      • Taxes: Making current individual tax rates permanent while eliminating special-interest loopholes, the Child Tax Credit, and complex corporate taxes.
      • Trade and Investment: Using tariffs to protect critical industries and offering residency to foreigners who make multi-million dollar investments in the U.S.
      • Ending Corporate Crime: Forcing companies to be specific about how they use investor money. Seized assets from convicted executives and banks will fund their own prosecution and imprisonment.
      • Nationalizing Crypto: Making all private cryptocurrency transactions illegal. The entire crypto system will be seized and reserved as a financial weapon for the military to use only during a declared war.
      • Honest Money: Transitioning away from the Federal Reserve to a system where the U.S. Treasury issues debt-free money directly.
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  • The Energy Doctrine: A Fantastical Strategy for Earth and Space

    The Energy Doctrine: A Fantastical Strategy for Earth and Space

    What follows is not a sober policy proposal. It is a thought experiment, a flight of fancy designed to shatter the narrow confines of the current energy debate. The public discourse pits solar against fossil fuels as if it were a schoolyard argument, while the real game of power operates on a level of complexity that is rarely, if ever, discussed. This article is a wild, speculative attempt to outline a more complete, if fantastical, doctrine for energy strategy across three domains: strategic deception, tactical resilience, and celestial dominance. None of this is to be taken too seriously.

    The Terrestrial Battlefield: The Art of Strategic Deception

    The first principle of this doctrine is that a nation’s true energy capacity should be its most closely guarded secret. The ancient military strategist Sun Tzu taught that all warfare is based on deception. Publicly available data on energy production is, in this light, a strategic blunder—it’s like handing your enemy the schematics to your fortress. A wiser, if more paranoid, approach would be to reveal only what a sophisticated AI predicts is the bare minimum necessary to project stability, while concealing the true depth of your power. The real strength lies in the undisclosed—the unexpected and the unseen.

    The Deception Layer: Power Beneath the Surface

    The ultimate expression of strategic energy deception lies in moving critical infrastructure where it cannot be seen or targeted: underground. To be truly secure, a nation must possess power generation that is impervious to satellite surveillance, drone attacks, and bunker-busting bombs. The most practical technologies for this are nuclear and geothermal. All forms of nuclear reactors, from today’s fission plants to tomorrow’s fusion concepts, can be housed in deep, hardened subterranean bunkers. Geothermal energy, which taps the planet’s own internal heat, is perhaps even more elegant. With a minimal surface footprint, these plants provide constant, 24/7 power, regardless of weather, time of day, or what’s happening on the surface. By creating a distributed network of hidden geothermal and nuclear sites, a nation could build an invisible power base, with energy transmitted via hardened, buried, or even laser-based systems to ensure a second-strike capability and industrial survival.

    The Solar Paradox and Strategic Response

    On the surface, solar infrastructure is a paradox. In a conflict, sprawling solar farms are a liability—fragile, indefensible, and far more costly to rebuild than the munitions needed to destroy them. If you were Ukraine, fields of glass panels would be an illogical investment. Furthermore, we must consider scenarios beyond conventional warfare. A massive earthquake, a super-volcano eruption like Yellowstone that blacks out the sky with ash, or a meteor strike would render solar power useless. There are even whispers of weather manipulation technologies that could blot out the sun over a target area—a potentially cheaper tactic than building a massive solar infrastructure in the first place.

    This is where the strategic value of natural gas becomes clear. It’s not about powering a peaceful nation; it’s about tactical response in a crisis. The ability to quickly spin up natural gas turbines provides the immediate power needed to launch a counter-attack, power essential services after a natural disaster, or simply keep the lights on in a command bunker when the sun has disappeared.

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  • The Debt is a Cancer, Not a Curve to Be Flattened

    The Debt is a Cancer, Not a Curve to Be Flattened

    The analogy comparing the national debt to the COVID-19 “flatten the curve” mantra is a profoundly misleading and dangerous simplification of the crisis we face. The comparison is particularly flawed when one recalls the data inconsistencies during the initial wave of COVID-19. In early 2020, many observers noted with suspicion that official data from sources like Johns Hopkins University showed a startlingly low number of recoveries in the United States. This data “weirdness,” born from the chaos of tracking a novel virus in real-time, highlights a key difference: the COVID-19 curve was a matter of incomplete, real-time data, while the national debt curve is a matter of precise, cumulative accounting.

    The national debt isn’t a virus that will simply “burn out” or be defeated by a short-term, emergency response. It is a chronic, metastasizing cancer on the body politic, the result of decades of policy decisions. Proposals for a “debt ceiling app” or other simple fixes are shortsighted political theater. Congress has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to raise the debt ceiling, rendering it more of a talking point than a genuine constraint.

    The real technological revolution that offers a path forward is not in financial gimmicks, but in artificial intelligence, LLMs, and robotics. Their promise is not magical “growth,” but something far more valuable: the ruthless elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse. The potential for automation to overhaul the medical and insurance industries—the true drivers of our debt—is immense. Imagine humanoid robots, like Tesla’s Optimus, providing comprehensive elder care. These machines could handle everything from showering a grandparent to monitoring their vitals, ending the soul-crushing and financially ruinous nursing home industry. This isn’t science fiction; it is a necessary step to slash the costs that are bankrupting our nation.

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  • Information Blockade: A Flawed System, Tainted Actors, and the COVID-19 Response

    Information Blockade: A Flawed System, Tainted Actors, and the COVID-19 Response

    A defective system governing taxpayer-funded research, coupled with questionable corporate actors, hampered the nation’s ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This information blockade had dire consequences, not only for public health but also for the very companies that were supposed to be at the forefront of innovation.

    The problem stems from a long-standing policy that has prioritized corporate profits over public access to critical information. In 2013, the Obama administration’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), then led by Director John P. Holdren, issued a memorandum entitled “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” This memo established a 12-month embargo period, allowing publishers to lock away taxpayer-funded research for a full year.This delay, a significant impediment in a rapidly evolving public health crisis, was a compromise to appease the highly profitable academic publishing industry.

    This dysfunctional system created a breeding ground for opportunism and mismanagement.

    • Delayed Access, Stalled Innovation: The 12-month embargo meant that crucial data on clinical trials, epidemiological models, and virology was often obsolete by the time it became freely available. This left not only the American public in the dark, but also the very companies developing diagnostic tools. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process, which should have provided a swift path to public data, was also rendered ineffective, with requests for vital information stalled for years, well beyond the supposed two-week turnaround for a clear and present danger.
    • Corporate Casualties and Questionable Practices: The story of Lucira Health exemplifies the devastating consequences of this information bottleneck. The company, which developed a promising combined COVID-19 and flu test, was financed by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Hercules Capital, securing a debt facility of up to $80 million. However, Lucira was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a slower-than-anticipated FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process for its new test created a fatal cash crunch. Pfizer then acquired the company’s assets for a mere $36.4 million. The collapse of SVB, which held deposits for numerous Chinese companies, has also raised concerns. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed that uninsured depositors in SVB, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, would be made whole by the American banking system. This has led to questions about potential conflicts of interest, especially given the belief that the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.
    • A System Admitting Failure: In a tacit admission of the system’s shortcomings, the White House OSTP issued a new memo in August 2022, mandating that all taxpayer-funded research be made freely and immediately available by the end of 2025, effectively ending the 12-month embargo. While a welcome change, this comes as cold comfort for the companies and the public who were failed by a system that prioritized profits and secrecy over transparency and innovation during a critical time of need.

    David Gross

    Follow me at https://x.com/dgapps and https://davidgrossapps.com

  • Mamdani’s 2018 Naturalization: Who Was Responsible? A FOIA Strategy to Expose the Decision

    Zohran Mamdani’s naturalization in 2018 occurred during the Trump administration. The agency responsible for approving citizenship applications is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While the specific officer who stamped his approval is protected by privacy, the ultimate responsibility lies with the leadership in place at that time. A best estimate of the top officials most responsible would be:

    1. Lee Francis Cissna: The Director of USCIS from October 2017 to June 2019. He was the head of the entire agency and directly responsible for its policies and adjudications during the period Mamdani was naturalized.
    2. Kirstjen Nielsen: The Secretary of Homeland Security from December 2017 to April 2019. As the cabinet-level head of DHS, she had ultimate authority over USCIS.
    3. Stephen Miller: As Senior Advisor to the President for Policy, Miller was the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. While he had no direct line authority over USCIS adjudications, he exerted immense influence on the agency’s policy direction and leadership.
    4. The USCIS New York City Field Office Director (2018): This individual (whose name is not readily available in public searches) was in charge of the office that likely processed and adjudicated Mamdani’s application. They were responsible for the day-to-day operations and quality control of their officers.
    5. USCIS Chief Counsel (2018): This legal office would have been responsible for interpreting complex legal questions, such as whether specific rhetoric or affiliations would make an applicant ineligible for citizenship.

    A FOIA Strategy to Expose the Decision

    A targeted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) strategy could uncover the political environment and policies that allowed Mamdani’s naturalization. Since requesting his personal A-File is not possible without his consent, the strategy should focus on the system itself:

    • Request Target: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
    • Request 1: Policy and Guidance Memos. Submit a request for “All policy memoranda, field guidance, training materials, and internal communications issued by the USCIS Director’s Office and the Office of Chief Counsel between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018, pertaining to the adjudication of N-400 applications involving applicants with known or suspected affiliations with socialist, communist, or anti-Zionist organizations.”
    • Request 2: The ‘Holy Land Five’ Connection. Submit a request for “Any and all internal communications, policy guidance, or legal opinions within USCIS from 2017-2019 that reference the ‘Holy Land Foundation’ or the ‘Holy Land Five’ in the context of determining good moral character for naturalization applicants.”
    • Request 3: Communications with Political Leadership. Submit a request for “All non-personal email communications and meeting minutes between the USCIS Director’s Office and the office of the DHS Secretary and/or the White House Domestic Policy Council (specifically mentioning Stephen Miller) regarding naturalization adjudication priorities for fiscal year 2018.”
  • New York’s Final Chapter

    New York’s Final Chapter

    The mythology of New York City is dead. The idea of a thriving metropolis of boundless energy and opportunity is a fantasy. The city has been in a malaise for years, powered by a 24/7 party scene of clubs and consumption, not actual progress. Now, it faces a figure who represents the logical conclusion of this decline. Zohran Mamdani’s political platform is not a plan to fix a struggling city; it is a program of economic suicide designed to pull the plug.

    His proposal to force a $30 minimum wage on the city is a theatrical gesture that will trigger a wave of bankruptcies, not prosperity. To fund this and other schemes, he points to NYC’s AI sector as a cash cow ready for slaughter.

    Let’s be real about this so-called NYC AI sector. It’s bullshit. It is overwhelmingly composed of:

    • Bloated Consulting Firms: Companies like PwC are not core AI developers; they are middlemen who will be the first to be cut in a real economy.
    • Gimmicky “Feature-AI” Companies: Firms like Grammarly and Rokt are not foundational. They build features on top of existing innovation and will be rendered obsolete by the next technological leap.
    • Cash-Burning Startups: The rest are overwhelmingly small-time ventures with no viable business models, destined to go up in flames the second venture capital dries up.
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  • The Phoenix Blueprint: A Health Plan to Erase the National Debt

    The Phoenix Blueprint: A Health Plan to Erase the National Debt

    Our nation is on life support. A $37 trillion national debt is not a number; it is a mortal wound. At the heart of this fiscal cancer lies a bloated, failed healthcare system that acts as a conveyor belt to national bankruptcy. Tinkering is over.

    This is The Phoenix Mandate, a declaration of war on the debt that threatens to extinguish America. It is a national survival plan built on five pillars of strength, innovation, and absolute, non-negotiable accountability.

    Pillar 1: Forging the Resilient Citizen & The American Sovereignty Rider

    We will end the religion of constant, wasteful care by fostering a culture of health independence. A key part of this is embracing the Personal Health Revolution, led by devices like the Apple Watch, which put the power of a lab on your wrist.

    However, we recognize that the supply chain for these critical devices represents a dangerous vulnerability to our adversary, China. This is unacceptable.

    The American Sovereignty Rider: If any adversary threatens our access to the critical components for these devices, the President will immediately invoke the Defense Production Act. A national mandate will be issued to a new coalition of loyal American companies, led by the chip-making power of Intel and the advanced manufacturing of Corning. They will be directed to produce a “Sovereign Device”—a secure, American-made digital lifeline to guarantee every citizen access to essential health monitoring. We will not allow our national health to be held hostage.

    Pillar 2: Bringing Our Elders Home

    The modern nursing home is a moral and financial catastrophe. We will dismantle this cruel and inefficient model. The second pillar of the Phoenix Mandate is to empower our elders to age with dignity in their own homes through a technology-driven revolution in elder care, deploying telepresence robots, smart home safety nets, and an on-demand system of human care that provides better results at a fraction of the cost.

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