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Heat Your Home With Bitcoin Mining: The 2026 Guide

The Bitaxe, Explained: The Open-Source Bitcoin Miner Anyone Can Run

A Gut Check on the AI Bull Thesis
Paul Kedrosky on Hidden Forces gives the most reasoned gut check on the AI bull thesis: falling returns on training, normal people who can't tell the models apart and a crisis setup with all four ingredients. Plus an Isr…

National Guard units in all 50 states are reportedly mobilizing for next week's elections, per journalist @kenklippenstein. His Substack report cites anonymous military sources. The mission reportedly includes supporting federal cybersecurity, observing ballot drop boxes and polling places, and safeguarding critical infrastructure. The Pentagon, the National Guard Bureau and state governments have not confirmed it. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has said there are no plans to send federal military personnel or federalized Guard to polling places.
"I pitched 35 or 40 banks. None of them were a buyer. Then Buffett buys NetJets for $750 million and I just happened to be the guy who saw the banks last." Kenn Ricci to @davidsenra on how he landed $300M in financing. x.com/TFTC21/status/…

"I think we're going to get a strong GDP number for the third quarter. Atlanta Fed is well over 3%." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushing back on the idea that further rate hikes would be a policy mistake.
"They're making money from issuance, not from holding. They're not keeping the debt. They're making money from fees." @pkedrosky on why capital markets keep fueling AI spending that now exceeds every buildout in 150 years except highways and WWII. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
Mike Schmidt broke down Bitcoin Core v32.1 and surfaced something important: Core updated its disclosure policy specifically because LLM tools are making bugs easier to find. "Core's recently updated policy fast-tracks the disclosure of easily discoverable vulnerabilities. LLM-assisted security scans helped motivate the change." All three vulnerabilities disclosed today were found by Project Loupe, an AI-powered scanner built at Spiral. If defenders can find them with LLMs, attackers can too. Beyond security, v32.1 packs 715 merged PRs from 111 authors. Fee estimation now factors in live mempool conditions. Initial sync is 1.2-3x faster. The libevent dependency is fully replaced with in-house code. Stratum v2 keeps advancing. The infrastructure keeps getting stronger.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says a future version of ChatGPT could have "perfect context of your whole life, everything you see." He says we are close to that world.

Flavio Bolsonaro has issued a statement from the US declaring himself the "true president-elect of Brazil," citing allegations of electoral fraud. He says he will stay in the US and keep fighting to "free the Brazilian people." @ggreenwald: "While Trump has casually said he thinks there was fraud, the US Government has not said if it shares this view." So far, that is a casual comment from Trump and no formal position from Washington.
The University of Florida pulled an H-1B Financial Analyst job posting after @chrisbrunet flagged it online. President Stuart Bell said: "This job was posted without my approval or authorization, and it has been removed. The University of Florida will continue to remain in full compliance with Governor DeSantis' direction on H-1B hires." @LayoffAI says it's the first time they've seen a reversal like this, and is asking about the other 230 LCAs UF filed in FY2026.
"They'll hate you if you don't." Charlie Munger's advice on giving your kids their inheritance now. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
"The first company to stop training new models would actually be the winner because their costs would collapse. The data suggests someone should have done that already. It's not happening." @pkedrosky on why the AI race dynamic traps everyone. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh says the Fed will cut rate-decision meetings from 8 a year to 6 by 2028. From fall 2027, one meeting drops the rate vote. By 2028, two of the eight will be strategy-only.
"The company has $27,000 in the bank so I think I can just use their own money to buy them." Kenn Ricci telling @davidsenra how he bought his first aviation company for $27,500 and built it into a $4 billion private jet empire. x.com/TFTC21/status/…

National Guard units in all 50 states are reportedly mobilizing for next week's elections, per journalist @kenklippenstein. His Substack report cites anonymous military sources. The mission reportedly includes supporting federal cybersecurity, observing ballot drop boxes and polling places, and safeguarding critical infrastructure. The Pentagon, the National Guard Bureau and state governments have not confirmed it. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has said there are no plans to send federal military personnel or federalized Guard to polling places.
"I pitched 35 or 40 banks. None of them were a buyer. Then Buffett buys NetJets for $750 million and I just happened to be the guy who saw the banks last." Kenn Ricci to @davidsenra on how he landed $300M in financing. x.com/TFTC21/status/…

"I think we're going to get a strong GDP number for the third quarter. Atlanta Fed is well over 3%." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushing back on the idea that further rate hikes would be a policy mistake.
"They're making money from issuance, not from holding. They're not keeping the debt. They're making money from fees." @pkedrosky on why capital markets keep fueling AI spending that now exceeds every buildout in 150 years except highways and WWII. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
Mike Schmidt broke down Bitcoin Core v32.1 and surfaced something important: Core updated its disclosure policy specifically because LLM tools are making bugs easier to find. "Core's recently updated policy fast-tracks the disclosure of easily discoverable vulnerabilities. LLM-assisted security scans helped motivate the change." All three vulnerabilities disclosed today were found by Project Loupe, an AI-powered scanner built at Spiral. If defenders can find them with LLMs, attackers can too. Beyond security, v32.1 packs 715 merged PRs from 111 authors. Fee estimation now factors in live mempool conditions. Initial sync is 1.2-3x faster. The libevent dependency is fully replaced with in-house code. Stratum v2 keeps advancing. The infrastructure keeps getting stronger.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says a future version of ChatGPT could have "perfect context of your whole life, everything you see." He says we are close to that world.

Flavio Bolsonaro has issued a statement from the US declaring himself the "true president-elect of Brazil," citing allegations of electoral fraud. He says he will stay in the US and keep fighting to "free the Brazilian people." @ggreenwald: "While Trump has casually said he thinks there was fraud, the US Government has not said if it shares this view." So far, that is a casual comment from Trump and no formal position from Washington.
The University of Florida pulled an H-1B Financial Analyst job posting after @chrisbrunet flagged it online. President Stuart Bell said: "This job was posted without my approval or authorization, and it has been removed. The University of Florida will continue to remain in full compliance with Governor DeSantis' direction on H-1B hires." @LayoffAI says it's the first time they've seen a reversal like this, and is asking about the other 230 LCAs UF filed in FY2026.
"They'll hate you if you don't." Charlie Munger's advice on giving your kids their inheritance now. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
"The first company to stop training new models would actually be the winner because their costs would collapse. The data suggests someone should have done that already. It's not happening." @pkedrosky on why the AI race dynamic traps everyone. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh says the Fed will cut rate-decision meetings from 8 a year to 6 by 2028. From fall 2027, one meeting drops the rate vote. By 2028, two of the eight will be strategy-only.
"The company has $27,000 in the bank so I think I can just use their own money to buy them." Kenn Ricci telling @davidsenra how he bought his first aviation company for $27,500 and built it into a $4 billion private jet empire. x.com/TFTC21/status/…
The Commoner
Marty's daily dispatch. The most-read issues of the last 30 days.

No Hedge on Earth

The Banks Above the Law
Oct 16, 2026
The BIS Says Money Needs Them
Oct 15, 2026
AI Found the Bug. Then It Leaked
Oct 22, 2026Podcasts
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The Commoner
Truth for the Commoner, every weekday. Money, machines, and the people trying to control both.
Independent writing by Marty Bent at TFTC since 2017. Money, markets, AI, energy and privacy, delivered free to your inbox.
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