Laurel

My views are a personal "special arrangement sanctioned by history"

Postwar Germany antitrust saga @econliberties

[Laurel @BalanceCrafting]

Servile men will insinuate "with a plausible affectation of wisdom and concern, How prudent it is to please the powerful—How dangerous to provoke them." 1768

[Matthew Noah Smith @MattNoahSmith]

Funny from Corey Robin:

[Molotov @ipoolgian]

🚨 IMPORTANTE

Exclusiva de Reuters muestra el verdadero móvil de la operación militar que llevó a la captura de Maduro

La investigación reveló que una semana antes de la operación militar del 3 de enero, el vicepresidente JD Vance abordó la futura venta del crudo venezolano con un operador de la firma Vitol y megadonante de su campaña, allanando el camino para que Vitol y Trafigura recibieran sin licitación el monopolio de comercialización petrolera que ya les ha generado cientos de millones de dólares.

Registros de vuelo ubican el avión oficial de JD Vance y el jet privado de John Addison (operador de Vitol) juntos el 27 de diciembre en Bozeman, Montana, rumbo al exclusivo Yellowstone Club.

Según una fuente enterada del encuentro, Vance preguntó qué tan rápido podrían vender el crudo venezolano si EEUE tomaba el control del suministro.

Aunque Addison negociaba gasolina en EEUU y carecía de experiencia técnica en contratos internacionales de crudo, había donado 300.000 dólares a Vance en 2022 y 7 millones de dólares a comités de Trump en 2024 (el mismo año en que Vitol pagó 50 millones en California por un caso de manipulación de precios donde Addison fue señalado).

Recomendado por Vance, Addison recibió el 5 de enero (dos días después de la operación) la llamada del secretario de Energía, Chris Wright.

La Casa Blanca omitió la licitación pública y el 9 de enero Vitol y Trafigura ya tenían las licencias.

Con más de 200 millones de barriles exportados en lo que va de 2026, expertos estiman que los operadores ganan entre 3 y 3,50 dólares por barril (un margen de 3,5 % a 4 %, superior al 1 %–3 % habitual de Vitol). Ambas firmas mantienen en secreto sus contratos con PDVSA, y Vitol confirmó tener además relación comercial con NABEP, la petrolera de Alejandro Betancourt

Este reporte se suma a la filtración del informe de KPMG publicada ayer por The New York Times, según la cual Vitol y Trafigura concentraron el 61 % de los 12.260 millones de dólares ingresados a la Cuenta de Custodia de Venezuela antes de que Washington transfiriera casi la totalidad de esos fondos de vuelta al Banco Central de Venezuela

Es decir:

Una semana antes del ataque militar, el gobierno de Trump ya estaba coordinando en un club privado de esquí cómo repartir la comercialización del petróleo venezolano a sus megadonantes de campaña sin licitación pública.

https://t.co/U3MFGkmOn9

[Psychedelic Alpha @Psyched_Alpha]

According to Reuters, FDA has shelved the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) pilot program, which aimed to cut final review times for drugs aligned with “national priorities” to just one or two months. The program was launched in June 2025 by former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who left the agency in May.

Citing six sources and internal documents, Reuters reports that no new vouchers have been awarded since Makary’s departure, and that the council of political appointees that oversaw voucher reviews is now dormant. For the 9 drugs still in the programme, career scientists have reportedly resumed oversight of review timelines, while an HHS spokesperson told Reuters the pilot is ongoing.

This is a breaking story, and it is as yet unclear what it means for the psychedelic programmes in receipt of CNPVs, if anything. (Those are Compass Pathways’ psilocybin for TRD, Usona Institute’s psilocybin for MDD, and Otsuka’s methylone for PTSD.) 

Reuters notes that Merck’s Pergoveris, which received a CNPV, remains unapproved 3 months after FDA accepted its final application following an 8-month rolling review. Like Pergoveris, both psilocybin applications have benefited from rolling review and target non-oncology indications.

[Burgess Everett @burgessev]

A week after the election, House and Senate Democrats are plotting out quick legislative action next year on health care and other issues and coordinating an agenda

- The current thinking is to try and pass bills with bipartisan support from 4+ GOP senators and send them to Trump's desk before turning to reconciliation bills
- If Republicans start blocking their agenda then Democrats would move more quickly to reconciliation
- They are also planning an oversight agenda aimed at meshing with the legislative agenda rather than a discordant one
- The best laid plans can get quickly overtaken by events so everything is in flux

[Laurel @BalanceCrafting]

@CNBC https://t.co/gxH3MXNTBR

[Charles Benoit @Charles_Benoit]

A century ago, in 1926, 🇺🇸 was enjoying the inheritance of a century's worth of protective tariffs.

Our import reliance was down to silk, rubber, coffee and tea.

For sugar, we'd gone from total import reliance during the first 50 years of the Republic up to supply half of our own consumption.

Sugar is the only product to have benefited from protection since the early 1990s, and as a result, 75% of the sugar consumed today in America is produced here.

I hope to live to see at least one other agricultural crop get this home market protection!

[CNBC @CNBC]

Elon Musk says it would be an 'honor' to hire Nvidia's Jensen Huang https://t.co/GwyLGaZunT

[The Washington Sun @washingtonsun]

The residents want Delaware to regain its former second congressional district, which the state lost to reapportionment in the 19th century. https://t.co/z3Adduzs1r

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Some companies are offering office plants and gardening as a covered insurance benefit under the umbrella of wellness. https://t.co/nlx8jkKVg2

[Reuters Legal @ReutersLegal]

A trio of House Republicans are unlikely to allow Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to send his company's general counsel to answer questions on his behalf about his alleged relationship with a Chinese spy, according to a person familiar with the discussions. https://t.co/o5O10KkDJ7

[Ed Zitron @edzitron]

Analysts are just ignoring the smuggling story. This is absolutely astonishing! A failure across the industry

[Max Chafkin @chafkin]

strange how easily Huang’s peers are giving him a pass given how much they like to talk about our “race with China” in AI. Lying about an affair with an accused Chinese spy seems pretty bad if you’re in the advanced chip business! Or maybe that was just an excuse to deregulate?

[Jessica Livingston @jesslivingston]

Now that everyone's talking about Elizabeth Holmes again, we should recalibrate by hearing the story of the original whistleblower, Tyler Shultz.

https://t.co/20btEDsT1z

[Laurel @BalanceCrafting]

@MajorityDems @mattcorridoni *except for the free press you keep kicking out

[Laurel @BalanceCrafting]

@MajorityDems @mattcorridoni *except for the free press you keep kicking out

[David Dayen @ddayen]

So Sirota raised a stink and @MajorityDems let their guys in.
And now the day before the conference, our guy has been kicked out. I guess we're scarier!

[Grace Blakeley @graceblakeley]

The hyperscalers are morphing into vertically integrated behemoths that control everything from copper mining, to power generation, to infrastructure investment.

This kind of concentrated corporate power hasn't been seen since the trusts of the Gilded Age
https://t.co/UAGBbBPaTh

[Jason Kint @jason_kint]

wow, missed this. As press did, too. DC Attorney General just won motion to consolidate in its Zuckerberg lawsuit. Meta also lost Summary Judgment setting stage for trial for case largely similar to $25B penalty in New Mexico last month. Cambridge Analytica scandal 10+yrs out.

[Laurel @BalanceCrafting]

.@MajorityDems to the free press, again

[David Dayen @ddayen]

So Sirota raised a stink and @MajorityDems let their guys in.
And now the day before the conference, our guy has been kicked out. I guess we're scarier!

[David Dayen @ddayen]

So Sirota raised a stink and @MajorityDems let their guys in.
And now the day before the conference, our guy has been kicked out. I guess we're scarier!

[Ed Zitron @edzitron]

Jensen Huang oversaw two different accounting scandals (2002 and 2022), created a disgraceful circular financing ecosystem to inflate demand, threatened and mistreated reviewers of his GPUs, and had at least two affairs. Spare me any “good man” bullshit