Mike Ritland

So all that would need to be done, I mean, you can imagine why, you know, BlackRock might want to pick up someone like Tom Donilon, who, you know, even if he had zero experience whatsoever as a banker or as a finance mogul, maybe, you know, Who knows if Mark Milley can even read a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or can even have a conversation with any of the quants who crunch the numbers.

They don't care about that. They want to know whether or not they can be the first mover and capture the entire market, for example, of the potential for lithium to open up in the Golden Triangle. Because what's the Biden administration going to do? Are they going to send in the Marines? Are they going to send in the boys? Are they going to do that in Iran?

They don't care about that. They want to know whether or not they can be the first mover and capture the entire market, for example, of the potential for lithium to open up in the Golden Triangle. Because what's the Biden administration going to do? Are they going to send in the Marines? Are they going to send in the boys? Are they going to do that in Iran?

They don't care about that. They want to know whether or not they can be the first mover and capture the entire market, for example, of the potential for lithium to open up in the Golden Triangle. Because what's the Biden administration going to do? Are they going to send in the Marines? Are they going to send in the boys? Are they going to do that in Iran?

What's going to happen with Russia and the $75 trillion worth of natural resources that Russia sits on? What parts of that? What regions? How about Africa? How about all the cobalt and lithium in the Congo? or the copper companies that are their portfolio companies, or the zinc, or the timber, the copper, the aluminum, the gold, the silver, everything.

What's going to happen with Russia and the $75 trillion worth of natural resources that Russia sits on? What parts of that? What regions? How about Africa? How about all the cobalt and lithium in the Congo? or the copper companies that are their portfolio companies, or the zinc, or the timber, the copper, the aluminum, the gold, the silver, everything.

What's going to happen with Russia and the $75 trillion worth of natural resources that Russia sits on? What parts of that? What regions? How about Africa? How about all the cobalt and lithium in the Congo? or the copper companies that are their portfolio companies, or the zinc, or the timber, the copper, the aluminum, the gold, the silver, everything.

And so, in theory, all that would need to happen was a conversation from Mike to his brother, Tom, and then suddenly, BlackRock has a first mover advantage of knowing exactly where, you know, the Wayne Gretzky quote, right? How are you so good? You're not even that fast. How are you so good at hockey? And he says, I don't skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going.

And so, in theory, all that would need to happen was a conversation from Mike to his brother, Tom, and then suddenly, BlackRock has a first mover advantage of knowing exactly where, you know, the Wayne Gretzky quote, right? How are you so good? You're not even that fast. How are you so good at hockey? And he says, I don't skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going.

And so, in theory, all that would need to happen was a conversation from Mike to his brother, Tom, and then suddenly, BlackRock has a first mover advantage of knowing exactly where, you know, the Wayne Gretzky quote, right? How are you so good? You're not even that fast. How are you so good at hockey? And he says, I don't skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going.

That's how it looks like I'm so fast. Well, speed of investment is everything.

That's how it looks like I'm so fast. Well, speed of investment is everything.

That's how it looks like I'm so fast. Well, speed of investment is everything.

So there's the direct – Now, all of this has moral hazard involved. All of this corrupts the domestic process and in some respect jeopardizes that sort of Smith-Muntz style protecting domestic people from foreign-facing operations type stuff whenever those media outlets pick winners and losers in domestic politics. But there are two variations of this that...

So there's the direct – Now, all of this has moral hazard involved. All of this corrupts the domestic process and in some respect jeopardizes that sort of Smith-Muntz style protecting domestic people from foreign-facing operations type stuff whenever those media outlets pick winners and losers in domestic politics. But there are two variations of this that...

So there's the direct – Now, all of this has moral hazard involved. All of this corrupts the domestic process and in some respect jeopardizes that sort of Smith-Muntz style protecting domestic people from foreign-facing operations type stuff whenever those media outlets pick winners and losers in domestic politics. But there are two variations of this that...

One of them you know is – well, let me explain them. So the first is a lot of people are just now seeing a lot of these very damning-looking USAID outflows to mainstream media outlets like Politico or to Reuters, for example. I mentioned that there's $300 million in –

One of them you know is – well, let me explain them. So the first is a lot of people are just now seeing a lot of these very damning-looking USAID outflows to mainstream media outlets like Politico or to Reuters, for example. I mentioned that there's $300 million in –

One of them you know is – well, let me explain them. So the first is a lot of people are just now seeing a lot of these very damning-looking USAID outflows to mainstream media outlets like Politico or to Reuters, for example. I mentioned that there's $300 million in –

grants that were given by the Biden administration from various government agencies to Reuters, while Reuters won a Pulitzer for, you know, Reuters was the tip of the spear for all anti-Trump reporting, and they won a Pulitzer in the year 2024 for their series on Elon Musk and malfeasance by Elon Musk and his companies at all of his different portfolio companies, you know.