"Billionaires are evil."

The wealth gap, growing, is a real issue as America teeters on the brink. Haves having more than ever. Have Nots less. Lessons from history, French Revolutions and Russian Revolutions, going entirely unheeded by the Mark Zuckerbergs, Elon Musks and Jeff Bezoses of this once-great nation.

Real quick, though, did you listen to Kai Lenny’s former BFF on the Joe Rogan podcast, recently, touting his commitment to free speech and whatnot? A ludicrous little man sprouting wild hair and wearing gold chains, these days.

The dictionary definition of “goober.”

Well, in other ostentatious news, a mega-yacht pulled into San Diego’s harbor, over the weekend, and was met with derisive hoots from the city’s many and varied surfers.

The Attessa IV, worth one half of a billion dollars, arrived in America’s Finest City and thereby caused a firestorm of complaint.

“It doesn’t even look good. Sad,’ one surfer declared on Reddit, while another claimed, “Y’all should trash these yachts. Stop letting billionaires pollute the earth.”

“I don’t know the owner, but I already know I don’t like them. The audacity it takes to have a 150 million dollar yacht. Billionaires are evil,” yet another chimed.

The owner, Dennis Washington, made his filthy lucre via marine shipping, railroads and mining. Old school financial rape, I suppose.

Boat International shared details surrounding the refitting of the superyacht:

Washington’s concept for Attessa IV was ambitious: new bow, new stern, new foredeck tender garage, new spa, new superstructure shape, all new helipad, and totally new interior layout, including crew areas. The yacht originally had a large karaoke bar, 15 owner and guest cabins and room for 21 crew in rather packed conditions.

The main deck and above were gutted to the shell, the mains and generators overhauled, virtually every bolt and wire was replaced, engines re-bedded, fuel tanks moved, flume tanks removed and the space stripped, soundproofed and painted. That and reconfiguring the crew areas, extending and widening the bow section, adding the folding mast, a forward tender garage with gull-wing doors, bulwarks that slide down and aft simultaneously to allow the large tenders — an 11.5-metre Novurania Chase and a 10-metre Riva — to be launched over the side, and the huge aluminium stern door that disappears completely from view down and under the aft deck sole.

Washington, as noted, liked the yacht’s size and overall structure, but thought it looked entirely too commercial, like a cruise ship. The puzzle he worked on was how to keep such a large vessel intimate, both inside and out. To control the vastness of the space, he envisioned Attessa IV having a waist at the area of the central ventilation and exhaust trunks amidships, and flares to widen the side decks fore and aft.

But let’s pretend, for one moment, that you were unfathomably wealthy. Would you superyacht?

Or supernot?

The Attessa IV once smacked a fishing boat killing folk.

More as the story develops.

"What a repulsive 'photo op' they achieved. They are 'touring the damage'?"

If there was one extremely interesting subplot of the year just past, it was Prince Harry’s full embrace of the Surf Ranch life. The spare heir to the British throne has taken his talents to the Lemoore, California facility a handful of times, now, even potentially learning to barrel, though a visit in October was met with scorn. “The contrast of King Charles interrupting his cancer treatment to perform royal duties on the other side of the world with his self-indulgent 40 year old wastrel son at a surf park is a very stark one …” conservative Australian columnist Gray Connelly penned at the time.

Undaunted, the carrot-topped prodigal took his young son to Surf Ranch to share the joys of artifice and was even captured on film by the legendary Raimana van Bastolear, Derek Rielly sharing, “In the deleted photo, we see Harry and Archie or, to use the lil man’s correct title, Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, sitting on Raimana’s jetski, waiting for the train to roll down its track and create the famous perfect wave.”

Criticism was muted, that time around, with pundits seemingly happy for a peek into the fancy life or maybe they were just keeping their powder dry, saving it up for a later date which appeared to come yesterday.

Prince Harry and his wife Princess Megan Markle visited fire-scorched Los Angeles over the weekend, touring destroyed areas etc. though their relief efforts were not enjoyed by all.

Actress and twin Justine Bateman took to X, posting a video of the couple possibly handing out bottles of water and declaring, “Meghan Markle and Harry are no better than ambulance chasers. What a repulsive ‘photo op’ they achieved. They are ‘touring the damage’? Are they politicians now? They don’t live here; they are tourists. Disaster Tourists.”

Ouch.

Not yet done, Bateman went upon the news to slam Los Angeles’ handling of the deadly firestorm, demanding heads on spikes.

Thoughts about who’s to blame or was there no way to prevent the scope and scale of the disaster being called one of the worst in U.S. history?

Opportunity knocking?

Playboy Dan Bilzerian was once a frequent-esque subject on these very pages. The micro man who looks very much like a garden gnome enjoyed a life of unchecked hedonism, sharing his various yacht rides with bikini-clad gals and, of course, his wrangling big waves to social media platforms. The self-described “King of Instagram” claim his wealth flowed from a successful poker career, though professional players cast doubt upon the assertion.

Well, Bilzerian is back in the news, today, but for all the wrong reasons. His 38, 289 square foot Las Vegas mansion, once the most expensive property in Sin City, is languishing on the market, price recently slashed by over $5 million, from an original listing of $25 million down to $19.9 million.

It is now, officially, not the most expensive property in the Mojave.

The Spanish Colonial sits upon a five-acre lot and is described as a “monument to excess.” It was built in 2006 and features a full-sized basketball court that can also be used as a roller hockey rink, a poker room, home cinema and golf simulator. Not included is a Kelly Slater Surf Ranch though Bilzerian has enjoyed time in Lemoore.

Losing the most expensive property in Las Vegas title is not the only bummer the human growth hormone-enthusiast is currently dealing with. His company Ignite International Brands is currently being investigated by the federal government, he is suing his father for kicking him out of Ignite’s CEO role and he only posted two Instagram photographs during the whole of 2024.

Dark days but take a tour of his home, here, and maybe think about putting an offer in.