Suit & Times Daily Briefing – Jun 2, 2025

🔹 Top Stories at a Glance

• 👁️ Big Brother? Trump Pushes Centralized Database Across DHS, IRS, and Social Security
  The Trump administration is deepening its partnership with Palantir to pool vast amounts of personal data from Homeland Security, the IRS, Social Security, and other agencies into a single, centralized system—even as critics warn of privacy risks.

• 🚀 Blue Origin Completes 12th Crewed New Shepard Suborbital Flight
  Blue Origin’s New Shepard carried six passengers to an altitude of 105 km and safely returned them, marking its 12th crewed launch and testing technologies for future New Glenn and lunar lander missions.

• 💉 Blockbuster Breast Cancer Drug Combo Set to Transform Treatment
  Combining Gilead’s Trodelvy with Merck’s Keytruda reduced progression risk by 35% in triple-negative breast cancer patients, likely establishing a new frontline standard of care for this aggressive disease.

• 🍌 Bitcoin Price Watch: Market Stalls at $104K—What Comes Next?
  Bitcoin has consolidated between $103 K and $105 K, forming an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on the hourly chart that suggests a potential breakout—while a drop below $103 K would signal further downside risk.

• 🩺 Johnson Says 4.8 Million Americans Won’t Lose Medicaid Access ‘Unless They Choose to Do So’
  House Speaker Mike Johnson maintains that proposed work-requirements won’t strip coverage from low-income adults who fulfill a 20-hour weekly work or volunteer mandate, despite CBO projections to the contrary.

📈 The Ledger

Tracking key market indexes to give you a pulse on global financial movements. 

These indexes cover U.S. markets, global equities, small-cap stocks, volatility, and economic trends, offering a snapshot of where the market is heading.

🔹 Why These Indexes Matter:

• Broad Market Trends: The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq show how major U.S. companies are performing.

• Volatility & Risk: The VIX measures market uncertainty and investor sentiment.

• Global Perspective: FTSE 100, Nikkei 225, and MSCI World reflect international market health.

👁️ Big Brother? Trump Pushes Centralized Database Across DHS, IRS, and Social Security

The Story: The Trump administration is quietly expanding a sweeping effort to pool government data on millions of Americans and immigrants, partnering with Elon Musk–aligned Palantir to merge records from agencies like Homeland Security, ICE, the IRS, and Social Security. Critics warn this “information silo” elimination could be used to monitor migrants, political dissidents, and vulnerable populations—and possibly weaponize or sell the data.

By the numbers:

• $113 million+ paid by Trump’s government to Palantir since January 2021.

• $795 million in new Pentagon contracts awarded to Palantir for big-data tools.

• 4–5 major agencies (DHS, ICE, IRS, Social Security, Department of Education) tapped for centralization.

• 60 days: proposed duration of a draft DHS plan to merge immigration, IRS, SSA, and voter records for real-time tracking.

• Scores of lawsuits filed by staff and privacy groups challenging “DOGE” data grabs at Treasury and Social Security.

Why it matters:

• ⚠️ Privacy at Risk: Combining tax, immigration, and benefit records creates a single point of access that could be misused to target immigrants, activists, and minority communities.

• 🕵️‍♂️ Surveillance Concerns: Tools under development would allow real-time tracking of migrants and cross-referencing with voter rolls, potentially chilling free speech and due-process rights.

• ⚖️ Legal Backlash: Pushback from senior agency staff, former Palantir employees, and Congress has sparked lawsuits—and a GAO audit—over unauthorized attempts to override privacy safeguards.

• 🔓 Data Vulnerabilities: Whistleblowers warn that Palantir’s engineers have created unchecked “super-access” to multiple agency databases, raising fears of data breaches or abuse.

• 🔄 Eroding Checks & Balances: By consolidating power over disparate government records, the administration undercuts long-standing norms of departmental autonomy and civilian oversight.

If unchecked, this initiative could mark a historic shift toward an all-encompassing federal dossier on U.S. residents—echoing “Big Brother” scenarios and posing profound questions about civil liberties in the digital age.

🔗 Read the full story → The Independent

🚀 Blue Origin Completes 12th Crewed New Shepard Suborbital Flight

The Story: Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule carried six private passengers to 105 km altitude on May 31, marking the vehicle’s 12th crewed mission and its role as both a revenue-generating service and a technology testbed.

Flight overview:

• Launch & Landing: Lift-off from Launch Site One in West Texas at 9:39 a.m. ET; capsule and booster landed safely ~10 minutes later.

• Passengers on NS-32:

  • Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge: Texas teacher, flight sponsored by Farmacias Similares (Mexico)

  • Gretchen Green: Doctor and entrepreneur

  • Jaime Alemán: Panamanian lawyer, former ambassador to the U.S. (first Panamanian in space)

  • Jesse Williams: Canadian entrepreneur and adventurer

  • Mark Rocket: New Zealand businessman (first New Zealander in space; early Rocket Lab investor)

  • Paul Jeris: Real estate developer

By the numbers:

• 12 crewed New Shepard flights to date, carrying 64 people (4 have flown twice).

• 105 km apogee reached, just above the Kármán line.

• 4 New Shepard flights so far in 2025 (3 crewed, 1 payload-only lunar-gravity simulation).

• 2 first-ever astronauts: Jaime Alemán (Panama) and Mark Rocket (New Zealand).

Why it matters:

• 💰 Commercial viability: Despite undisclosed pricing, Blue Origin sees “insatiable demand” for suborbital tourism and research.

• 🧪 Tech testbed: New Shepard flight tests avionics destined for New Glenn and lidar sensors for Blue Moon lunar lander.

• 🌖 Lunar ambitions: Data gathered on suborbital flights will inform Blue Origin’s upcoming Blue Moon Mark 1 lander mission, expected later this year.

• 🚀 Service continuity: Blue Origin maintains New Shepard operations even as New Glenn and other programs advance.

• 👩‍🚀 Inspiring firsts: Carrying the first New Zealander and Panamanian to space underscores the global reach of private suborbital travel.

Blue Origin’s NS-32 mission underscores New Shepard’s dual role as a profitable orbital tourism service and a proving ground for hardware that will power future New Glenn launches and lunar landing systems.

🔗 Read the full report → Space News

💉 Blockbuster Breast Cancer Drug Combo Set to Transform Treatment

The Story: A combination of Gilead’s Trodelvy and Merck’s Keytruda dramatically reduced disease progression in aggressive triple-negative breast cancer, suggesting a new frontline standard for young patients and other hard-to-treat cases.

Key findings:

• 35% reduction in progression risk: Patients receiving Trodelvy plus Keytruda as first-line therapy saw a 35% lower chance of their cancer worsening compared to those on standard chemo and Keytruda.

• Extended progression-free survival: The combo group went a median of 11.2 months without progression versus 7.9 months in the chemotherapy-plus-Keytruda arm.

• Prolonged treatment response: Median response duration reached 16.5 months with Trodelvy/Keytruda, compared to 9.2 months for patients on chemo and Keytruda.

Why it matters:

• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 10–20% of breast cancer cases and resists hormone therapies, leaving few effective options.

• Trodelvy, an antibody–drug conjugate, targets cancer cells more precisely than traditional chemotherapy.

• Combining Trodelvy with immunotherapy Keytruda amplifies anti-tumor activity, offering patients a potent new defense.

Additional breakthrough in hormone receptor–positive cancer:

• A separate ASCO-presented trial showed that adding Roche’s inavolisib to Pfizer’s palbociclib and fulvestrant delayed progression by 10 months and extended chemotherapy-free survival by two years in aggressive hormone-driven breast cancer.

• Patients on the triple regimen lived seven months longer than those on palbociclib and fulvestrant alone.

The Trodelvy/Keytruda findings mark a pivotal shift for TNBC, offering clinicians a targeted, more durable option for patients who previously faced rapid progression and limited therapies.

🔗 Read the full story → New York Post

🍌 Bitcoin Price Watch: Market Stalls at $104K—What Comes Next?

The Story: Bitcoin price is consolidating around $104,000 after a modest pullback from recent highs, with technical indicators pointing to a pivotal decision point between a bullish reversal or further downside.

Bitcoin currently trades between $103,997 and $104,281, with a $2.06 trillion market cap and $15.8 billion in 24-hour volume—reflecting a narrow $103,127–$104,947 intraday range.

By the charts:

• Hourly (1h): Bitcoin is wedged in a consolidation band ($103,127–$104,947) with rising volume on green candles. An inverse head and shoulders pattern is emerging; a decisive breakout above $104,900–$105,000 on strong volume could trigger a short-term rally. A drop below $103,000 would negate this bullish setup.

• 4-Hour (4h): The 4h timeframe shows a classic downtrend from $110,789 to $103,127, marked by lower highs and lower lows. High volume on red candles signals panic selling. Price action near $103,000 hints at a potential bottom, but reclaiming $105,000 is essential to confirm a reversal. Failure to do so risks renewed selling pressure.

• Daily (1d): On the daily chart, Bitcoin’s broader uptrend from $92,846 to $112,000 has retraced to $104,000. A bearish engulfing candle at the peak and successive lower-high red bars signal hesitation. Declining sell-off volume suggests profit-taking rather than panic.

Oscillator snapshot:

• Neutral stance: RSI ~50, stochastic ~22, CCI ~–61.

• Bearish signals: Momentum at –7,624 and MACD at 1,843 point to lingering selling pressure. ADX (~25) and the Awesome Oscillator (~2,809) both indicate a neutral to slightly bearish bias.

Moving averages:

• Short-term (10/20/30-period EMAs & SMAs): Lean bearish, with most trading below these averages.

• Long-term (50/100/200-period EMAs & SMAs): All remain bullish, underscoring major support and an overall uptrend. This divergence highlights a healthy correction phase.

Bull Verdict:

• A confirmed break above $105,000 on strong volume—especially completing the inverse head and shoulders—could shift momentum to buyers. Supported by long-term moving averages and evident accumulation around $103,000–$104,000, Bitcoin may retest $110,000–$112,000 in the coming sessions.

Bear Verdict:

• Without a clear breakout above $105,000, selling pressure may persist. Bearish momentum and MACD readings, coupled with short-term moving averages sloping downward, threaten further declines. A drop below $103,000 would invalidate bullish patterns and likely accelerate losses toward sub-$100,000 support zones.

🔗 Read the full story → Bitcoin News

🩺 Johnson Says 4.8 Million Americans Won’t Lose Medicaid Access ‘Unless They Choose to Do So’

The Story: House Speaker Mike Johnson insists that new Medicaid work‐requirement provisions in the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” won’t strip coverage from low‐income adults who can fulfill the 20‐hour weekly work or volunteer mandate, despite CBO projections to the contrary.

During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Johnson pushed back on independent estimates that 4.8 million childless adults could lose Medicaid, arguing that “those 4.8 million people will not lose their Medicaid unless they choose to do so.” He framed the 20‐hour work/volunteer requirement for able‐bodied adults (ages 19–64) as “common sense” and “good for their dignity, their purpose, and the community.”

By the numbers:
• 4.8 million – CBO’s estimate of people projected to lose Medicaid coverage under the proposed work requirements.
• 20 hours – Weekly work or volunteer commitment required for able‐bodied, childless adults to remain eligible.
• $625 billion – Estimated Medicaid and health‐care savings over 10 years from tightening eligibility rules.

Why it matters:
• Coverage controversy – Critics warn that many low‐income individuals struggle with paperwork and job access, risking unintended loss of essential health insurance.
• Political fallout – Grassroots backlash at GOP town halls highlights growing concerns about cutting coverage for working‐age adults without dependents.
• Legislative stakes – Medicaid reforms are key to meeting Republicans’ $800 billion budget‐reduction target, putting pressure on lawmakers to balance cost savings with access to care.

If implemented, these provisions would reshape Medicaid for able‐bodied adults, requiring them to work or volunteer to keep coverage—an approach Johnson terms “heroic,” but one that faces intense scrutiny and potential pushback from affected communities.

🔗 Read the full story → The Hill

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💡 That’s it for today’s briefing. Stay sharp, stay informed, and we’ll see you tomorrow!