ZeroHedge News

The Delusional Premises Of Woke Greens

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000

The Delusional Premises Of Woke Greens

Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness,

While the burgeoning democratic socialist movement is getting a lot of attention in advance of the 2026 midterm elections, a parallel dimension of wokeism quietly continues to advance. For now, the Trump administration has attenuated its most extreme threats, but its institutional support is unwavering, and its slow progress is unrelenting. The woke greens are pursuing their own long march.

The agenda of the woke greens is synergistic with democratic socialism. Its currency is fear and resentment. The Earth is dying; colonialist capitalism is to blame. Extraordinary measures are called for. Restrict growth, redistribute wealth. Sound familiar? Environmentalist extremism and socialism are two peas in a pod. But both are built on lies. Nothing has delivered more wealth and freedom to more people than authentic capitalism. Not crony, casino, or monopoly capitalism, but capitalism that rewards hard work, protects private property, and preserves the incentives that harness human nature and nurture human creativity.

In contrast to capitalism, socialism is a nightmare that turns out the lights in nation after nation. The historical evidence is overwhelming. Strive to improve the mechanics of capitalism, and reject socialist demagoguery.

But there’s a catch. The planet is burning up. Ecosystems are in collapse. Therefore, we have no choice; we must redistribute wealth so everyone can consume less. Without radical measures, our civilization is unsustainable. This argument sounds compelling. But it is also built on lies that must be challenged.

Here are some of the flawed, false premises for the woke greens.

We face a climate emergency.

To anyone who has studied both sides of the debate, this is a manipulative shibboleth. From a more balanced perspective, even if there is an emergency, the opportunistic profiteering of the climate industry is obvious, and “climate” is revealed all too often as just a marketing ploy to garner mandates and subsidies for projects that would otherwise never survive an honest cost-benefit analysis.

There are nearly infinite scientifically valid reasons that explain why the planet is not experiencing an actual climate crisis, and, thanks to the failure of the climate industry to completely silence the skeptics, it’s become easier than ever to study these reasons. A good place to start is with the 2021 book “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters” by Steven E. Koonin. Another continuously updated source of climate realism comes from the CO2 Coalition, a network of scientists committed to debunking the alarmist narrative. There’s much more. Read the classic “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming,” by economist Bjorn Lomborg, or the more recent “Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All” by Michael Shellenberger.

The inconvenient truth for woke greens is that the climate alarm narrative, which is the foundation of their entire subsequent agenda, is not true. But the truth has to contend with a multitrillion-dollar industry that relies on the useful fear and resentment that a “climate emergency” imparts to millions of people. It is used to silence debate over the efficacy of every one of the following destructive delusions. In no particular order, here are some of them.

Floating offshore wind provides sustainable electricity.

This is a preposterous lie. Floating offshore wind is the most expensive source of electricity on Earth. It has never been deployed successfully at scale. It is a resource hog, it wreaks environmental havoc, and installations are short-lived in the maritime environment. The heavily subsidized corporations that buy politicians and profit from this monstrous scam would not exist in a competitive market.

Biofuel is a carbon-neutral, sustainable fuel.

Another preposterous lie. There are nearly 450,000 square miles of biofuel plantations worldwide, and altogether they only supply five percent of total demand for liquid transportation fuel. These are pesticide-, herbicide-, and fertilizer-drenched monocultures that have replaced rainforests throughout the tropics. If you replaced all the arable farmland on Earth with these abominations, that would still only provide 60 percent of global demand for transportation fuel, which in turn represents only 30 percent of total demand for energy in the world. Is this sustainable?

Dams must be demolished.

While there is controversy over some dams—Turkey has new dams that can deny water to Iraq and Syria, and Ethiopia has built one that can cut off water to Egypt—in general, we need dams for flood control, navigation, irrigation, and hydroelectric power. There are ways to mitigate the impact of dams on migrating fish, and there are many instances of how dams can help the environments they impact. But no matter. According to the woke greens, they must all be demolished.

The only way to manage forests is to leave them completely alone.

This is nonsense. Forests that are managed responsibly with sustainable logging, mechanical thinning, controlled burns, and livestock grazing are far healthier. In prehistory, fires naturally and routinely thinned forests, which maintained their health by preventing an unhealthy density of trees and shrubs. Now that we put out forest fires, we must compensate by managing the resulting growth. All over the United States we are seeing superfires that are not the result of climate change but a consequence of environmentalists chasing out the loggers while not permitting any other method of thinning.

We must reintroduce wild animals wherever they once roamed.

A related premise of the woke greens is that we must not only save endangered species but also reintroduce them throughout their ancient range. Now we have mountain lions roaming the Los Angeles suburbs and wolf packs spreading slowly throughout the western United States, and there’s even talk of bringing the grizzly bear back to California. Because, to quote a woke green, “It’s their land.” No. It isn’t. It’s appropriate to take reasonable steps to preserve wildlife and wilderness areas, but allowing dangerous predator species that already have stable populations to expand their range is explicitly anti-human. We have to responsibly manage wildlife populations just as we have to responsibly manage forests. That means we have to set and enforce limits on their range.

People should live in densely populated cities.

The idea here is that someone living in a one-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in a neighborhood with 30,000 people per square mile is more “sustainable” than people living in detached homes with their own yards. The inhumanity of this is stunning, but it’s also just false. Urbanized areas on Earth (that’s cities and towns) today only total around 200,000 square miles, and yet 81 percent of the world population lives in them. We have 41 million square miles of habitable land on Earth. If 10 billion people lived in homes on quarter-acre lots, four per household, with an equal amount of land set aside for roads, parks, schools, and commercial and industrial areas, it would use up less than 2 million square miles of that land, less than five percent of habitable land.

There are too many people for the planet’s resources to sustain.

This is absolutely false. The crisis we face in the world is too few people. Birthrates are collapsing everywhere on the planet, with the exception of significant parts of the Islamic world and sub-Saharan Africa—which explains why migrants from those nations are swarming into any developed nations that will admit them. The challenge for humanity is to convince people who have attained the liberty and prosperity to live lives beyond bare subsistence to still decide to have children. The human population is projected, at most, to peak at 10 billion by around 2050. After that, unless dramatic cultural trends are reversed, it will decline precipitously.

Rationing energy, water, land, and other resources is necessary to save the planet.

The irony here is that the “renewables” touted by the woke greens as the sustainable solution to environmental challenges are the biggest resource hogs of all. But all historical evidence demonstrates that as long as people have freedom to innovate, for every dwindling resource, something new replaces it. Humanity has never before stood at the threshold of as many new technological breakthroughs as we have right now. The only thing that stops us from achieving per capita abundance at higher levels than ever is authoritarian corruption, and among the biggest enablers of that are the woke greens.

These false premises only scratch the surface of how woke greens and their favored mantra, the “climate emergency,” are transforming global politics, especially in Western nations, and not for the better. Accompanying the danger the continued dominance of these false premises poses to our freedom and prosperity is great irony. For those who have concluded these premises are false, there is less willingness to recognize new so-called green technologies that nonetheless make economic sense and merit further development. And for those who are fixated on the false premise of a climate emergency, there is less ability to recognize and address genuine threats to the environment, of which there are many.

Climate alarmism has taken on a momentum detached from reality. For tens of thousands of bureaucrats and politicians in the U.S., accepting it is simply the path of least resistance. But just as all elements of radical woke ideology must be challenged and overcome, so too must the woke green movement.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 05:00

"Skies Are Changing": Northrop Grumman Unveils Chain Gun To Defend Critical Infrastructure From Drone Swarm Attacks

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 08:15:00 +0000

"Skies Are Changing": Northrop Grumman Unveils Chain Gun To Defend Critical Infrastructure From Drone Swarm Attacks

Our view of the missing air-defense layer around data centers and other critical infrastructure emerged in late January, roughly one month before the US-Iran conflict, when we published "Explosion in AI Data Center Buildouts Will Demand Next-Gen Counter-Drone Security."

That theme was validated shortly after the war began, when Iran targeted multiple data centers with Shahed-series one-way attack drones, which generally fall within the Group 3 category. The strikes marked one of the clearest demonstrations of how low-cost, long-range drones could threaten the physical infrastructure underpinning the AI economy.

The conflict has fundamentally changed the threat assessment surrounding high-value civilian assets and has become a matter of general consensus among military leaders and politicians, as well as the military-industrial complex and many defense startups.

We just happened to be one month ahead of that shift in consensus.

Now, defense giant Northrop Grumman has unveiled Raid Hunter, a 50mm gun-based air-defense system designed to protect not only military bases but also critical infrastructure from drone swarms, cruise missiles and other aerial threats.

The skies are changing. Defending against one threat isn’t enough anymore. Our Raid Hunter™ is built to meet the challenge with precision-guided gunfire and the speed needed to help protect what’s critical. pic.twitter.com/Meuqyg04oY
— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) August 11, 2026

Raid Hunter combines the company's Chain Gun technology with precision-guided 50mm ammunition and a networked battle-management controller. Northrop said the high rate of fire, deep magazine and rapid reload capability offer a more economical response than launching million-dollar interceptor missiles at $20,000 drones.

Highlights of the new kinetic interceptor:

Raid Hunter combines proven Chain Gun technology, precision-guided 50mm ammunition and a networked, interoperable system controller to deliver powerful protection against high-volume, mixed-threat aerial raids. It is designed to defeat a range of aerial threats, including high-priority cruise missile threats, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and other advanced threats.
Raid Hunter's guided 50mm ammunition, combined with a high-rate-of-fire Chain Gun, delivers lethal, cost-considerate engagement with deep magazines and fast reloads, tackling the economic challenge of massed swarming threats.
Raid Hunter is built to deploy with speed and flexibility through a modular design for rapid transportation on the C-130, with future vehicle-mounted and container-based variants planned.
Raid Hunter is the latest product of Northrop Grumman's continued investment in advanced counter-UAS and air-defense technologies designed to meet evolving operational requirements and emerging battlefield threats.
As part of the company's C-UAS integrated air- and missile-defense portfolio, the system supports layered defense architectures to protect critical assets across a range of operations.

The big challenge now shifts to series production capable of meeting the soaring demand from bases, data centers, refineries, power plants, substations, and you name it...

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 04:15

Decommissioning Spending In UK North Sea Hits Record High

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Decommissioning Spending In UK North Sea Hits Record High

Authored by Michael Kern via OilPrice.com,

Decommissioning remained a major activity across the UK North Sea in 2025, with industry spending hitting a record-high of £2.6 billion, or $3.5 billion, the North Sea industry regulator said in a report on Thursday.

Well-decommissioning remains the single largest component of forecast decommissioning expenditure on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), accounting for around half of expected costs to 2032, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) noted in its annual decommissioning cost and performance update.

The UK North Sea has a backlog of about 500 wells awaiting decommissioning and final abandonment, which means operators need to speed up work on well closures and abandonment, the watchdog said.

Last year, operators in the UK North Sea spent about £1.3 billion, or $1.75 billion, on well decommissioning activity only, with work undertaken on more than 250 wells and over 100 reaching final abandonment status.

“While this represents an increase in activity, a backlog of approximately 500 wells awaiting final abandonment remains,” the NSTA said.

“With more than 1,000 additional wells forecast to be decommissioned over the next five years, activity levels will need to increase significantly if industry is to meet regulatory expectations and provide the certainty of work needed to attract and retain critical supply chain resources.”

Nearly half of all spending on decommissioning in the UKCS is expected to be made by 2032, in what has been dubbed the ‘decade of decommissioning’ by the regulator.

Moreover, decommissioning expenditure is forecast to overtake capital expenditure (capex) from 2029 onwards as the UK North Sea matures and as few new oil and gas projects have been given the green light in recent years.

In what could be a relief for the North Sea offshore oil and gas industry, the UK’s new Labour Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is expected to support some new projects, unlike his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, who sought to permanently ban new drilling.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 03:30

Where Child Poverty Is Highest (And Lowest) In The OECD

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:45:00 +0000

Where Child Poverty Is Highest (And Lowest) In The OECD

Child poverty rates vary widely across OECD economies, ranging from less than 5% in Finland to nearly 30% in Costa Rica.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Melissa Garside, ranks OECD countries by the share of children ages 0–17 living below the poverty line in 2023. The poverty line is defined as half the median household income of the total population, meaning the measure is relative to living standards within each country. As a result, countries with the same poverty rate can differ in the absolute income levels of households classified as poor.

The data for this visualization comes from the OECD Income Distribution Database. It presents 2023 data, the latest available as of August 2026, covering OECD member countries as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania, which are currently in the accession process.

Costa Rica Has Highest Child Poverty Rate in OECD

Costa Rica stood well above the rest of the ranking. Its 29.6% child poverty rate was 6.4 percentage points higher than Israel’s, the next-highest country at 23.2%.

High living costs and a large informal labor market are among the factors that can leave households with children particularly vulnerable to poverty.

Rank	Country	Living Below the Poverty Line (%, Ages 0-17)
1	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	29.6
2	🇮🇱 Israel	23.2
3	🇪🇸 Spain	21.5
4	🇺🇸 United States	21.1
5	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	19.1
6	🇷🇴 Romania	17.7
7	🇬🇧 UK	15.8
8	🇮🇹 Italy	14.5
9	🇨🇦 Canada	14.0
10	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	13.5
11	🇱🇹 Lithuania	12.8
12	🇸🇰 Slovakia	12.8
13	🇵🇹 Portugal	12.5
14	🇭🇷 Croatia	12.3
15	🇬🇷 Greece	12.3
16	🇫🇷 France	12.0
17	🇭🇺 Hungary	11.3
18	🇱🇻 Latvia	10.0
19	🇦🇹 Austria	9.8
20	🇩🇪 Germany	9.1
21	🇨🇭 Switzerland	9.1
22	🇨🇿 Czechia	8.8
23	🇰🇷 South Korea	8.5
24	🇸🇪 Sweden	8.4
25	🇳🇱 Netherlands	8.4
26	🇪🇪 Estonia	8.2
27	🇧🇪 Belgium	7.9
28	🇵🇱 Poland	7.8
29	🇳🇴 Norway	6.9
30	🇮🇪 Ireland	6.8
31	🇸🇮 Slovenia	6.2
32	🇫🇮 Finland	4.6

The child poverty rate in Israel, one of the OECD countries with the youngest populations, is highly concentrated among two groups: Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews and Israeli Arabs. Both groups have child poverty rates of nearly 50%.

One in Five American Children Live in Poverty

The United States had the fourth-highest child poverty rate among OECD countries at 21.1%, just behind Spain at 21.5%.

Despite the country’s high overall wealth, roughly one in five U.S. children lived in households with incomes below half the national median. This illustrates the distinction between national wealth and how income is distributed among households with children.

The number of households living in poverty also varies significantly by state.

Northern Europe Has Some of the Lowest Child Poverty Rates

At the other end of the scale, Finland had the lowest child poverty rate at 4.6%, followed by Slovenia at 6.2%, Ireland at 6.8%, and Norway at 6.9%.

The difference between the extremes is substantial: Costa Rica’s child poverty rate was more than six times Finland’s. Four countries in the ranking had rates above 20%, while 10 had rates below 9%.

Because the OECD measure is relative to each country’s median income, these differences reflect how children fare within their own national income distribution rather than differences in absolute living standards between countries.

If you found this topic interesting, read People With Dependent Children Face Higher Poverty on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 02:45

The Great Decline Of Britain

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0000

The Great Decline Of Britain

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Britain's streets are rotting in plain sight. Road signs coated in years of grime, pavements choked with weeds, blocked drains, overflowing bins and potholes have become everyday features of life in what was once a first-world country.

Local authorities, funded by rising council tax, routinely fail to deliver the most basic maintenance. Ordinary people - including schoolchildren - are now having to do the job themselves.

All across the length and breadth of the country, from London squares to provincial roads, citizens are cleaning signs, restoring bins and clearing litter because the people paid to do it will not.

Four images that are commonplace across Britain:

??Rubbish everywhere.
??Weeds growing on pavements
??1 million potholes
??Blocked road drains

We are paying increased council tax and are not getting even the basics of infrastructure maintenance. The decay is everywhere. pic.twitter.com/ECM6Wd81Wl
— James Melville ? (@JamesMelville) July 22, 2026

The pattern is unmistakable: a country in visible decline, where the basics are abandoned while public money flows to ideologically driven schemes.

So many people are saying the same thing. The decay across Britain (especially since the Covid era) is noticeable almost everywhere. Weeds growing on pavements. Filthy streets and signposts. Potholes strewn everywhere. Overflowing rubbish bins. Dirty buildings. Blocked road... pic.twitter.com/V5D4wMKQ4K
— James Melville ? (@JamesMelville) August 4, 2026

James Melville has documented the decay repeatedly. Rubbish everywhere, weeds forcing their way through pavements, endless potholes, blocked road drains and filthy signposts appear in image after image. He notes that people are paying higher taxes yet receiving less, with local councils failing on core infrastructure.

Britain is decaying. Blocked road drains. Potholes. Rubbish strewn streets. Dirty buildings. Road signs covered in muck. We are paying increased taxes but local and national governments and authorities aren't doing the basics.
It's time for a Great British Clean Up. pic.twitter.com/i26ONqCS7Y
— James Melville ? (@JamesMelville) August 11, 2026

Another recent video shows conditions that simply do not belong in a first-world nation, asking whether the decline is reversible.

First World countries don't look like this. Is this decline reversible...? pic.twitter.com/jexjQVIzdr
— Clean Up Britain (@cleanupbritain) July 24, 2026

Another focuses on a council that has left basic service standards unmet.

A new one on our travels around the country...
Another council failing to provide an acceptable 'service' to ratepayers. This time @WodcNews pic.twitter.com/wqg2FFcYbO
— Clean Up Britain (@cleanupbritain) July 27, 2026

Volunteers have stepped into the gap, proving that all it takes is a step ladder, cleaning spray and sponge to make filthy almost illegible road signs clear again.

Today with heavy rain all day I decided to go clean this road sign. Being wet with rain made cleaning much easier up a step ladder. Looks much better now pic.twitter.com/ihJisJJSpT
— Mike The Litterpicker (@mike56200) October 20, 2025

Yes it's my work it was easy a spray with kitchen spray and wipe then rinse off. We don't have to put up with it pic.twitter.com/I4heyf2NId
— Mike The Litterpicker (@mike56200) December 2, 2025

Well done to this man for cleaning up this road sign. Far too many of our road signs are covered in filth. The basics of maintenance are not being fulfilled by our local authorities. #GreatBritishCleanUp pic.twitter.com/varazRqVnI
— James Melville ? (@JamesMelville) November 18, 2025

What a pathetic government that leaves this to be done by citizens
— Nathan Rich ???? (@NathanRichHGDW) June 5, 2025

In London, Chad West fixed neglected garden square bins that the council had left unrepaired for years. He restored them in a few hours and later completed the full set of six, calling for people to take pride in their streets again.

For anyone still interested, all six bins in the park have now been restored ? pic.twitter.com/dE4ICw5Ykp
— Chad (@ChadWestTweets) August 9, 2026

True, but I'm raised old school, just get it done
— Chad (@ChadWestTweets) August 8, 2026

Even children are outperforming the authorities. In the seaside village of Millisle in Northern Ireland, brothers Jonah, 10, and Eli, 9, spent their school holidays scrubbing street signs with rubber gloves, cloths, sponges and soapy water. They set themselves a target of 50 signs and had already completed 36. They began after noticing dirty signs on the drive home and decided to clean them so people could actually read the names.

I saw an article about two boys who were using their school holidays to go around their town cleaning street signs.

They are not paid for it.

They just want to make a difference.

As soon as I saw the headline, I had a bet with myself that they were two white boys.

Jonah and... pic.twitter.com/b6TkYJl9ju
— Miss Jo (@therealmissjo) August 5, 2026

Jonah said: "We were driving home in my mum's car and we saw some dirty signs so we decided to go clean them to allow people to be able to see them." He added: "It's very important to take pride in your village. Doing something small can make a big difference."

Eli said they would keep going until the job was done, whatever the weather. Their mother Shelley said she was pleased they showed initiative and that it was something they would always remember and be proud of. Local residents praised the results, noting the signs were now legible again.

These acts of basic civic maintenance stand in sharp contrast to how councils choose to spend public money.

In Cambridge, England's first "cycle street" on Adams Road cost £2.4 million. Yes, really. Look at it.

England's first 'cycle street' forced to close over poor road markings despite £2.4million costhttps://t.co/LKq4J27YbJ
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 11, 2026

It gave cyclists and pedestrians priority, narrowed the carriageway, added red surfacing and special signage. Within months the road markings proved inadequate. The street had to be closed for roughly two weeks so the contractor could remove and replace them. A Greater Cambridge Partnership spokesperson said a routine quality check revealed the markings were not up to the required standard and apologised for the inconvenience.

In London, Camden Council installed four zebra crossings painted in the blue, pink and white colours of the transgender pride flag in Bloomsbury at a cost of £10,464. The stated purpose was to "help celebrate transgender awareness."

London council faces legal action over trans flag pedestrian crossing@HJoyceGender: "The trans flag crossings... a costly exercise in celebrating a flag that represents unforgivable medical harms done to gender-distressed children in name of 'progress'." https://t.co/86cgI4u2Dg
— Sex Matters (@SexMattersOrg) July 7, 2025

A local resident, Blessing Olubanjo, argued that the crossings breach political neutrality rules under the Local Government Act 1986 and amount to unlawful political messaging. She said: "I brought this case because I believe in fairness, freedom of belief, and the proper role of public institutions. As a Christian and a taxpayer, I should not be made to feel excluded or marginalised by political symbols in public spaces. This crossing sends a message that only one viewpoint is welcome, and that's not right in a truly democratic society."

Now in the ?@theLDNstandard?

'London council faces legal action after installing road crossing in colours of transgender pride flag'

?@christianlegal? https://t.co/suA2n3tv4e
— SEEN in Journalism (@JournalismSEEN) July 6, 2025

Andrea Williams of the Christian Legal Centre stated: "The crossing is a visual endorsement of a contested ideology, installed by a public authority in breach of its legal duties. This is not the role of local government." Disability groups had previously warned that the colours could confuse visually impaired people and those with learning disabilities or sensory sensitivity.

Such rainbow and trans crossings have been installed in countless locations, particularly in London.

Meanwhile, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has poured millions into basketball courts and related programmes. City Hall has invested nearly £2 million to improve facilities, expand coaching schemes and create more opportunities for the sport.

Recent work includes partnership with NBA champion OG Anunoby and Camden Council to redevelop the Argyle Square court. Critics point out that many British people do not even play or watch basketball and that streets choked with weeds and filthy signs represent more immediate needs.

Don't want basketball courts. Want... what shall we start with? Maybe streets that are not covered in 5ft weeds first please. Priorities. https://t.co/vyIIzDgCu8 pic.twitter.com/2b4xmHE2R5
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) August 6, 2026

This is what decline looks like. First-world countries do not leave their road signs illegible for years. They do not require ten-year-olds to restore civic pride during the school holidays. They do not prioritise contested ideological symbols and niche sports infrastructure while the everyday environment decays.

I still can't get over this ... when did we become so shit at everything? pic.twitter.com/WLrQYlNYlw
— Becky Tallentire (@Bluestocking63) July 23, 2026

Britain is displaying the visual markers once associated with much poorer nations: neglect of the ordinary, indifference from those in charge, and citizens forced to improvise solutions.

Edinburgh – new postcard designs pic.twitter.com/PWw71m7vIz
— Edinburgh's Disgraces (@EdiDisgraces) July 23, 2026

This is my town pic.twitter.com/yS2XGNklCD
— inkyblue (@brushworking) July 24, 2026

pic.twitter.com/Z9Y5amTnB1
— Simon Monckton (@SimonMonckton) July 23, 2026

That's the ruse- stop maintaining the environment, let drains and gullets become blocked, let river channels silt up, make flooding more likely, call it climate change, scam the punter for more cash. pic.twitter.com/iGsARIViYW
— TrevorDistance (@TrevorDistance3) July 24, 2026

Bath's Royal Victoria Park duck pond. 196 years old, left to die on the LibDem's watch... So sad, so wrong...
Where is Wera Hobhouse MP when we really need her? pic.twitter.com/JeMypyaspb
— Mark S (@sidcot) August 4, 2026

The council have totally given up, pavement, what pavement? pic.twitter.com/H0IFpyIEF7
— Remote Viewer (@chess137) August 4, 2026

So true, parts of #Moray look like we have been living in an apocalypse for a few years. I think last year the councillors got a 40% increase and the CEO got a 23% increase; it must be so nice to be paid more for incompetence and failures. pic.twitter.com/mflhmtCAX6
— Glenden S Fawcett (@theFMofficer) August 4, 2026

Flooded roads, blocked drainage and deep potholes... We need a serious national discussion as to why our Councils are failing. It's not just "lack of funds" it's something more fundamental... lack of pride, turning a blind eye, amateur working practices and minimal... pic.twitter.com/RKiQOfwfjT
— Clean Up Britain (@cleanupbritain) February 23, 2026

We have lost the ability to look after and maintain anything in this country. Britain IS crumbling.

Litter, fly-tipping, neglected infrastructure and potholes.
Sadly, we have the lot... in spades. This cannot go on. pic.twitter.com/pcTGtusoYw
— Clean Up Britain (@cleanupbritain) October 22, 2025

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Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 02:00

Total Freedom Vs Total Slavery & The Race For AI Supremacy

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:25:00 +0000

Total Freedom Vs Total Slavery & The Race For AI Supremacy

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

The introduction of AI into popular consciousness and everyday usage has been rather disappointing, for the most part. And by that I mean, we’re not seeing any spectacular benefits to the presence of AI while the negatives keep piling up.

At best, AI represents an advancement for information structuring; a much faster way to sort, categorize and investigate the data landscape. I find it very useful for speeding up research, but it only works as long as you understand that AI tends to lie by omission. It can never be fully trusted and must be backed by source material.

By extension, AI makes people incredibly lazy when it comes to understanding the world or pursuing information. When the public takes AI information at face value because they don’t want to do their own research, it makes them dumber. I foresee a dark future, maybe a decade from now, where the vast majority of people have become virtually retarded because all of their daily decisions and views of the world come from a reliance on AI.

Some people will argue that we’ve already hit that unfortunate threshold. In any case, what is the ultimate purpose of AI? There’s hundreds of different answers depending on who you ask, however, only a few explanations stand out as true motivators for the race to artificial intelligence.

A Labor-Free Utopia?

If you ask technologists and dreamers like Elon Musk, the goal is unlimited production. Meaning, AI and robotics would take over the majority of human labor. In theory, this would result in a new age of “time abundance” which Musk believes would lead to a form of wealth abundance. That is to say, AI technology makes individual labor unnecessary and thus, money becomes unnecessary because all basic needs would be provided for free.

There are two disturbing problems with this idea: First, it’s a claim we’ve been hearing for a very long time. The futurists and technocrats of every socialist revolution have been promising the populace a labor-free Utopia for over a century. Usually this propaganda is designed to ease the public transition into a system in which the state controls mass production and limits individual freedom.

The promise of a labor-free world is usually a con-game designed to lure the public into total reliance on government. When your very survival is dependent on the system, it’s far less likely that you will ever rebel against that system should it be corrupted.

I’m not saying that Musk is falsely promising a “Utopia”, I think he really does believe that AI and robotics are the answer to the age-old conundrum of the “wealth gap”, poverty and the production plateau. What I’m saying is, this dream is much further away than the year 2036, or even the year 2050. And, if we do reach it, it might not be as fantastical as we might hope.

Every new industrial age has it’s dreamers and they all imagine a world where human struggle is eliminated by machines. It never happens. I suspect robotics and AI would make some things easier, just as all tools make certain jobs easier, but let’s not forget that the further humanity moves away from self reliance the more we seem to be required to work (or, the more time we are expected to trade) to maintain a basic level of comfort.

Previous industrial revolutions have created benefits and added time to the human lifespan. But we’ve also seen technological reformation lead to greater work demands and less time for the average person. Before the first industrial revolution, the average person worked 1500 – 2000 hours annually. After the industrial revolution, hours skyrocketed to 3000 – 3500 hours annually. Labor laws were finally enacted which forced work time back to 1800 hours annually per person.

Despite the vast improvements in productivity, there was no dramatic improvement in free time for common people and I’m not so sure the AI revolution will be any different. This brings us to the second problem: Nothing in life is ever free and the reason why is ENERGY.

Musk’s vision of an AI super-industry running the majority of the world’s basic infrastructure and supplying the majority of our survival goods would require an unprecedented level of energy. Ever try to fly a drone? Ever look up the average battery life for a Boston Dynamics robot? Ever try to drive an EV cross-country?

You might get 30 minutes out of a consumer grade drone. You can get 4 hours out of an advanced robot. The massive battery in an electric car will give you around 300 miles of drive time. But when you recharge any of these items you’re going to be using the power grid. And, that power grid will largely be supplied by coal or natural gas. “Fossil fuel” products still run the world because they are the most efficient.

There’s a reason why only 5% of US car owners drive an electric vehicle; the initial expense is high and the long term savings are mediocre. More than that, though, the infrastructure is simply not in place to support a larger influx of EV users.

If 50% of American drivers bought an EV tomorrow, this alone would increase the electrical load on US power grids by around 15%. Add to this the power usage of data centers and AI computing needed to run national robotics networks and the resulting energy demands would crush the grid. Either that, or the cost of electricity would inflate until human demand hits a wall.

This is just for America (the most advanced nation on Earth). Don’t get me started on Europe, where their grid can’t even handle widespread use of air conditioners.

We could upgrade with solar (which is inefficient), or build extra nuclear power plants, but this would take decades to accomplish. General estimates indicate such a project would cost anywhere from $5 trillion on the low end to $15 trillion on the high end, and it would take 30 years to complete. We’re talking about a two-generation endeavor requiring a level of coordination and cooperation that simply does not exist in today’s political climate.

Hell, we can’t even get leftists and globalists to admit that nuclear power is a clean source of energy. Those idiots are still building wind turbines and murdering thousands of whales and birds in the name of preventing a “climate crisis” that they fabricated out of thin air.

To summarize, the world of production abundance and a work-free population is a LONG ways away, because the energy resources for that kind of industrial revolution simply don’t exist. At best, we could build a supplementary economy in which robotics and AI are used as tools to make things faster or easier. The average person is still going to have to get a 9-to-5 job and will still have to make money to live.

All of this relies on good intentions behind the rush to AI supremacy, and yes, I realize how funny that sounds.

A Freedom-Less Dystopia?

The worst case scenario is the more likely one: AI, data centers and robotics will be used to empower elitist groups and make controlling the population easier. When I examine institutions like the WEF, the IMF, the BIS, etc. , their involvement with AI revolves around the digitization of the economy (a cashless society) and maximizing surveillance of the population through real time data tracking.

Until these malicious people are removed from the equation, no AI based system can be trusted to operate in the best interests of the public. Maybe the technology can be used for good, but they are pursuing these tools to do evil and there is an array of sinister deeds to be done when you have a force multiplier like AI at your disposal.

Much less energy is needed for authoritarian applications. The existing grid could handle the spread of Flock cameras, the AI analysis of biometrics and license plate readers, the constant surveillance of financial transactions, etc. If they start forcing the public to use less and less electricity (in the name of saving the Earth from climate change, of course), the job of running a network of eyes and ears becomes even more simple.

Total information awareness on the part of governments and international entities is a bad thing. They don’t need to know everything we’re doing; it’s better that they know less and retain a healthy level of fear when it comes to the popular mood. When the bureaucracy is no longer afraid because they have everyone under a microscope, that’s when terrible things are going to happen.

The Information Economy Is A Fantasy?

Beyond the best and worst case scenarios for AI and robotics rests a middle-ground explanation for the AI rush, and that’s the concept of the “information economy.” In its lowest form, the information economy taps into algorithms to gather behavioral data for companies to target selling and marketing of products; it’s the building of individual consumer profiles for targeted advertising and higher profits.

As many people know, these algorithms get most things wrong and rarely compel us to buy anything we weren’t already going to purchase. As for the idea of information replacing raw resources as the engine of the global economy, all I can think of is the financial sector’s blind faith in derivatives in the early 2000s. An economy built on intangible products is an economy destined for collapse.

In its most insidious form, the information economy strives for predictive power. That is to say, companies and governments hope to use complex AI analysis of market behavior to predict larger shifts in the economic and political landscape. And, if you can predict these shifts, you could theoretically influence them as well.

This was the ultimate goal of companies like Google (tracking search trends to the point of becoming omniscient). AI just makes the real-time analysis easier. That said, I suspect predicting mass economic and political changes is a lot like predicting the weather – You might be able to guess a few days ahead, but the complexities of the system make long term prognostication impossible. The technocratic faith in a digital Nostradamus (or digital god) is moronic.

At bottom, the application of AI, robotics, data centers, and related technologies could cause a sea change in the way we live our lives, but not because these changes are inevitable. Rather, these changes would have to be forced on an unaware and confused public.

I suspect this is why the tech trend is pushing so hard for human-like robots. The human form is not so great for most physical requirements; why the insistence on making robots look human? Maybe because making them look human makes them more acceptable to the average person?

AI is not an industrial revolution in the traditional sense because it’s not driven by free market demand. Most people can easily live without AI while the benefit to their lives is barely noticeable. The second industrial revolution introduced electricity, unprecedented medical advancement, long distance communications and easy transportation; all things that people never want to live without.

AI pales in comparison so far, and the promises that propel its popularity require an energy renaissance that isn’t possible for many decades to come. Sadly, the most logical use for the proliferation of AI is suppression of the populace. For the globalists, the AI race is not about improving the future for the common man, it’s about injecting the technology into the common man’s life before he has a chance to realize he’s being chained down by it.

Without intensive open source laws, extensive public oversight and the elimination of elitist influence, AI will only result in disaster.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 23:25

Meet The Red State Corridor Behind America's Top Boomtowns

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:00:00 +0000

Meet The Red State Corridor Behind America's Top Boomtowns

The two top-ranked boomtowns in the United States lie less than 80 miles apart on the same stretch of Texas interstate, turning a single highway into one of the nation's most potent engines of population and economic expansion.

New Braunfels ranked second and Georgetown first in a SmartAsset study that examined more than 400 cities with populations of at least 65,000. Both communities sit along Interstate 35, the corridor linking San Antonio to Austin and Dallas that has absorbed a large share of Texas's inbound migration over the past decade.

The New Braunfels’ Monoceras dance team walk in the Comal County Fair Parade Friday, Sept. 29, 2023 at Main Plaza in New Braunfels.

The data behind New Braunfels's ranking stand out even by Sunbelt standards. Housing units rose 40% over five years, the labor force expanded 32%, and real gross domestic product in Comal County, home to most of the city, compounded at an annual rate of 6.8% - a pace higher than almost every other county in the country. Those three metrics - housing supply, workforce size and county-level output - formed the basis of SmartAsset's composite score.

Census Bureau estimates put the city's population at 122,492 as of July 1, 2025.

A drone captures an overhead shot of the 2024 annual Wurstfest celebrations hosted in New Braunfels, Texas - Via FlyBy Photography

"In recent years, some American cities stand out for attracting people, investment and development at a pace that sets them apart," the report said. "Boomtown status does not mean growth benefits everyone equally, but it does reflect a city's expanding economic capacity and the new opportunities that come with it."

Texas nearly swept the top of the list - Leander ranked fourth and the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Lewisville fifth, giving the state four of the top five. Williamson County, home to Georgetown, posted an even faster compound rate than Comal at 7.7%.

The red state accounted for 18 of the top 75 boomtowns while Florida contributed 19, together representing nearly half the list.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 23:00

Anthony Fauci And The Collapse Of Scientific Authority

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 02:35:00 +0000

Anthony Fauci And The Collapse Of Scientific Authority

Authored by Jason Locasale via The DisInformation Chronicle,

Today's guest essay comes from Jason Locasale who looks at academia's embrace of authority over scientific data and evidence to preserve narratives and protect those in power.

Anthony Fauci is now facing intense scrutiny. His diaries, emails, and testimony have raised fundamental questions about what he knew, what he then told the public, and how he exercised authority during the pandemic. Many outside of academia read these documents and view this moment as his fall from grace, while universities and medical institutions seem willing to ignore this new evidence and continue to celebrate Fauci as a heroic public servant with unmatched scientific authority.

Academics' unconventional viewpoint cannot be ignored. Fauci matters not only because of his individual conduct, but because he exposes the institutions that produced, empowered, and continue to protect him - Georgetown rewarded him with a prestigious position after he retired from the government in his 80s.

The pandemic did not create the dysfunction inside biomedical science. It placed a magnifying glass over science institutions that had been decaying for decades. Grant politics, unfounded hype, administrative expansion, scientific gerontocracy, institutional self-protection, and the punishment of dissent were already pervasive. Fauci enabled the public to watch those forces operate through one person on television every day.

Biomedical institutions did not create a single Fauci. They created thousands. The pandemic spotlight simply made one of them famous.

What the diaries reveal

Fauci's diaries offer an unusually revealing account of how he understood his role during the pandemic. Written as notes toward a future autobiography, they show what he considered important enough to preserve about those years.

The diaries undermine the mythology of a reluctant scientist who was unexpectedly thrust into politics and celebrity. They reveal a bureaucrat celebrity preoccupied with attention, status, prominent relationships, TV appearances, reputation, his own place in history, and cash money.

His interest in how he was portrayed, whom he met, who praised him, and how his public image was developing consumes far more attention than any serious engagement with the complex science of COVID-19 and the pandemic. The office shrine, the concern with his portrait, the meticulous record of his fame, and the diary itself as material for an autobiography all expose the same fixation.

Those self-curated notes reveal his priorities. Science is less as an intellectual pursuit than as the credential supporting the public performance.

The related emails and documents complete the picture. Fauci sought nominations for cash prizes from influential friends and used federal employees to help him win those awards. These awards were then presented publicly as independent acknowledgments of merit.

One of the most important revelations in the new documents was the distance between private uncertainty and public certainty. Fauci and those around him privately discussed scientific possibilities that they publicly dismissed and even attacked as conspiracies. The authors of the Proximal Origin paper privately assigned a laboratory origin for the COVID pandemic as a substantial probability, then helped present that possibility to the public as impossible.

The same pattern appeared in pronouncements about masking, vaccine transmission, and other major pandemic questions. The issue is not hindsight. The issue is presenting uncertain claims as settled truth while privately recognizing that the evidence was unresolved.

Authority substituted for scientific judgement

Fauci projected an image of authority, and for too many, image alone was sufficient. His title, confidence, and media presence substituted for careful engagement with data..

Masking, for example, involved questions of aerosol physics, fluid mechanics, particle size, droplet formation, airflow, filtration, leakage, and fit. These are concrete scientific and engineering questions. But Fauci's own diary finds that he showed no interest in working through the scientific complexity before making definitive public pronouncements.

We can read in his own words that Fauci approached scientific disagreement more like a party in an adversarial legal proceeding than a scientist. Once an institutional position had been adopted, contrary evidence became an obstacle and dissenting scientists became opponents to defeat. The objective shifted from determining what was true to defending political ground and preserving authority.

This is the opposite of a scientific temperament. A good scientist is skeptical, including of his own conclusions. He is comfortable acknowledging uncertainty and may spend days thinking privately through a problem. He does not need a camera, a slogan, or the appearance of omniscience.

Fauci illustrates the difference between projecting authority and possessing a curious, scientific mind.

Scientific credentialism

Fauci majored in classics before earning an MD when medical education was driven by rote memorization and provided little formal preparation for scientific research. His degree was a clinical credential to treat sick people, not a degree for lab research.

When he entered laboratory research, molecular immunology was not yet a developed science and when academic physicians could obtain laboratory directorships early in their careers. He then became an NIH administrator at a relatively young age.

The issue is not that he began his career before modern technologies existed. Every older scientist did. The relevant question is whether an aging scientist continues learning, adapting, and making discoveries as the field develops.

The best scientists remain intellectually active later in life because they master new technologies and continue challenging themselves and their own field. Unfortunately, too many establish their careers by being in the right place at the right time, then coast for another twenty or thirty years through networks that make adaptation unnecessary.

By the time the pandemic arrived, Fauci had spent decades as a bureaucrat, dealing with budgets and manuevering through arcane government policies - far removed from frontline science. Nothing in that history made him a universal authority on masking, vaccine transmission, population epidemiology, viral evolution, or every other field on which he pronounced.

His real expertise was navigating institutions, consolidating authority, cultivating relationships, and projecting the image of a scientist to the public.

The scientific gerontocracy

Fauci's career fits a broader historical pattern created by universities and their research systems funded by NIH.

When the NIH budget doubled around the turn of the century, universities expanded their biomedical operations. Medical schools hired large numbers of professors whose income and laboratories depended on external grants - called "soft money" positions. Scientists who had attached their names to important genes or disease pathways during the previous era suddenly gained access to enormous new funding streams.

They built large laboratories, accumulated grants, generated indirect-cost revenue for their universities, and developed influence throughout NIH study sections, journals, professional societies, and university administrations. Money created authority, and authority attracted more money.

Many of these people later became department chairs, deans, institute directors, and even university presidents. A few continued doing important science, but most did not adapt as new technologies transformed biology. Their scientific contributions declined while their institutional influence continued growing.

The result was an academic aristocracy whose power survived long after the circumstances that created it disappeared. Seniority came to be treated as wisdom, incumbency as excellence, and grant accumulation as scientific achievement.

Fauci was the most visible member of this gerontocracy. Before the public knew his name, he had already spent nearly forty years controlling a major NIH institute, and there are countless others. The transformation of NIAID into a roughly $6 billion organization is not a self-validating accomplishment. Budget growth does not prove scientific success.

A serious evaluation must examine the priorities entrenched, the dissent discouraged, the opportunities lost, and the consequences of allowing one person to control a government agency for nearly four decades. In retrospect, J. Edgar Hoover served far too many decades running the FBI and history will likely not look kindly on Fauci's term inside the NIH.

We must also ask what was not studied because Fauci had his thumb on the funding scales for so long. Basic questions about how sleep, diet, exercise, metabolism, stress, sunlight, and other environmental factors shape immunity received far less attention than Fauci's preferred institutional agenda which was heavily focused on HIV.

The pandemic did not suddenly turn Fauci into a problem. It exposed the culture over which he had already presided for decades.

Scientific celebrity as product

The public sees a handful of scientific celebrities. Insiders know that universities manufacture them by the thousands.

Every major institution has its local circuit of people whose identities revolve around image, status, proximity to power, and the belief that they are stars. They perform the role of scientific authority even when they have shown little interest in science for years, if ever. Some convert the arrangement into wealth. Others are paid in prestige and deference.

These people are not scientists who reluctantly became administrators. They are administrators who use science as a credential. They become skilled at cultivating superficial impressions, repeating approved narratives, and moving through bureaucratic hierarchies. Their institutional rise is then treated as evidence of scientific judgement.

Fauci was the A-list version of this phenomenon. His media charm allowed him to become nationally famous, but his underlying career was familiar. He differed from thousands of university and NIH administrators mainly because he had a camera crew and never missed a moment to be on TV.

Favor-trading as independent recognition

Fauci's documented relationships with influential figures at Duke illustrate how the establishment reproduces itself.

Fauci reached out to his friend at Duke for award nominations. Duke receives hundreds of millions of dollars in NIAID funding. Organizations then rank Duke according to how much NIH money it attracts. Those rankings are presented as evidence of excellence, and Duke administrators are considered for senior positions within NIH.

Funding, nominations, endorsements, appointments, awards, and prestige circulate through the same small network. Each transaction is then presented as an independent recognition of merit.

This does not require a cinematic conspiracy with a mastermind issuing secret instructions. It just takes time and a bit of curiosity to read the documents laying this out. Aligned incentives, expectations of reciprocity, career dependence, and institutional self-preservation are sufficient. The network coordinates itself because everyone understands which relationships and financial streams must be protected.

And for all these exchanges made public in the news documents, thousands of similar arrangements remain hidden but just as concrete in study sections, professional societies, journal boards, university committees, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies.

Anyone who challenges the arrangement risks being marginalized or blacklisted. Those who participate are promoted as respected scientific leaders.

Narrative management replaces truth

Universities, NIH, journals, scientific societies, medical organizations, biotech, pharma, venture capital, and science media form a self-reinforcing network. Each organization looks to the others for validation. A prestigious paper creates enthusiasm. Academics repeat the narrative. Investors interpret that consensus as reduced risk. Companies raise capital. Advisors and board members reinforce the story. Pharma later treats the institutional excitement as evidence that the underlying biology is sound.

Everyone benefits from optimism until the science fails. Then the network moves on to the next target without confronting why they got the previous consensus wrong. Because self-examination might lead to loss of prestige, authority, or cash to keep the scientific enterprise afloat.

The same institutional structure rewards grant volume over insight, compliance over skepticism, and institutional pedigree over independent judgement. Peer review is not a neutral mechanism floating above these incentives. It is embedded within them.

Fauci made this process visible. Information was accepted or discarded according to whether it advanced the preferred narrative, protected institutional authority, or preserved reputation. Contrary evidence was not evaluated neutrally. It was treated as a political and professional threat.

Labels such as "conspiracy theory" became tools for dismissing plausible evidence without answering it. Institutional authority was used to define what could be discussed, and then the resulting silence was offered as proof of consensus.

Mythology survives inside academia

Many outside academia say Fauci has fallen from grace, that his legacy is destroyed, and that his reputation has collapsed. Nothing could be further from the truth inside academic medicine and biomedical research.

Within universities, medical societies, and the organizations controlling credentials and prestige, Fauci remains a celebrity and hero. He continues to receive invitations, prestigious platforms, awards, and public praise. Major universities still present him as one of the nation's most important public-health leaders.

The managerial class sees Fauci as the embodiment of itself. His career validates the qualities that it rewards: institutional longevity, bureaucratic influence, narrative discipline, media skill, prestigious relationships, and the ability to present authority as expertise.

Fauci is not merely protected by that class. He is its idealized self-portrait.

These institutions can maintain their own universe of facts because their revenue streams continue regardless of their performance. Taxpayers, donors, tuition, hospital income, grants, and endowment returns allow them to survive without admitting error. There is no effective mechanism of accountability.

The ship is not sinking because the public discovers misconduct. The ship can take on water indefinitely because someone else keeps paying to repair it.

Why Fauci remains important

I keep returning to Fauci not because I claim expertise in every aspect of the pandemic. I do not.

I return to him because he gave the public a rare view of how scientific authority is manufactured and protected. Most people never see the senior administrators, grantmakers, journal editors, society leaders, and local scientific celebrities who shape permissible narratives inside biomedicine. Fauci placed this old way of doing science with TV appearances and shaping of the media.

His diaries and records offer a watershed opportunity. The lesson should not end with deciding whether one man lied, exercised bad judgment, or deserves punishment. The more important question is why the institutions surrounding him showed so little interest in determining the truth and remain so committed to protecting his mythology.

Scientific integrity cannot be partisan. Every person should demand honesty and accountability from institutions that claim the authority of science.

Public-health messaging must be honest before it is clear. Real leaders explain uncertainty, earn trust, and rally the public toward sound action. Manufactured certainty is not leadership. Clarity without honesty is propaganda.

What reform requires

The administrative machinery cannot investigate or reform itself. Its leaders know how to convert criticism into committees, reports, mission statements, listening sessions, and carefully worded promises while leaving the underlying structure untouched.

Reform requires enforceable transparency, external oversight, public accountability, and meaningful consequences for failure. Funding must move away from administrative empires and toward scientists capable of producing important knowledge.

The NIH-centered, large-institution model should face competition from smaller, independent research institutes with lower overhead, clearer missions, and greater accountability. Philanthropy should stop enlarging university endowments and begin building alternative institutions for science, education, and career development.

Scientific leadership should not become a throne occupied for decades. Older scientists should be judged by whether they continue learning, adapting, and contributing, not by the authority accumulated from work performed thirty years earlier. Dissent must be treated as part of science rather than a threat to institutional reputation. Uncertainty must be communicated rather than edited out. Scientific merit must be separated from grant volume, celebrity, political alignment, and bureaucratic skill.

Fauci is not the entire problem. He is just its clearest illustration. He placed the biomedical establishment under a spotlight, and they have failed to confront the harsh light.

Jason Locasale is an American biochemist and former tenured professor specializing in cancer metabolism, nutrition, and the application of AI to health and longevity research. With over two decades in academia and more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, he is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher (top 0.1% globally) for six consecutive years. He has held advisory roles with biotech firms, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institutes of Health, and has contributed to textbook chapters and patents.

* * *

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 22:35

US Sending Fresh Carrier To Relieve Over-Extended USS Lincoln Amid Reports Of Sailor Burn-Out

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 02:10:00 +0000

US Sending Fresh Carrier To Relieve Over-Extended USS Lincoln Amid Reports Of Sailor Burn-Out

Below we've detailed the immense strain placed on the long-deployed USS Lincoln aircraft carrier, which has been the main floating naval hub of operations amid the Iran war. The past weeks have seen growing US media coverage of the immense strain placed on the some 5000-member crew, and given the typical port calls have been nearly absent for the extended deployment and operation. But on Thursday the Wall Street Journal is reporting than an urgent relief operation is in the works, as the USS George Washington is being rapidly prepared to take over operations in the region:

The U.S. is preparing to send the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a previously scheduled rotation plan, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The Lincoln has undergone an extended deployment with few port calls, prompting lawmakers to raise concerns about living conditions aboard the ship.

The Lincoln began a scheduled deployment in November and was redirected to the Middle East in January ahead of the U.S. war against Iran. The carrier and its embarked aircraft were instrumental to the U.S.’s Operation Epic Fury bombing campaign, and the ship has since participated in the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

The high tempo of operations and the strain of an extended deployment have weighed on sailors, according to lawmakers who are pressing the Pentagon for more information about the living conditions and reports of mental-health issues aboard the carrier.

Below we provide further details of the growing hardships, and the fact that Congressional leaders have gotten involved. It seems the Pentagon and Trump administration are now responding to the reports.

More than five months into a US-Israeli war on Iran that was supposed to last less than five weeks, a rising toll is being paid by deployed members of the US armed forces. Beyond the pointless deaths of 18 service members and wounds inflicted on more than 600 others, family members say sailors aboard the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier are suffering from a variety of detrimental effects of going more than 28 weeks without a port call -- so much so that multiple crew members have tried leaping off the mammoth vessel.

Amid the growing firestorm over conditions on the nuclear-powered, Nimitz-class carrier, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Wednesday fired off a letter to acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao. A member of the Senate armed forces committee, Blumenthal summarized the accounts that have been making their way from the ship's sailors to their concerned family members:

There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for

The Lincoln departed its San Diego home base on Nov. 21, 2025, on what was supposed to be a seven-month deployment. That deployment is now in its ninth month, but what's far more remarkable is that the Lincoln went more than 200 days without a port call to give sailors a chance to walk on land and unwind away from the claustrophobic conditions aboard their huge ship. Here's how former Navy SEAL Matt Bracken described life on a carrier in a discussion of the Lincoln situation on X:

"Look at the cross section, then imagine a new set of compartments connected in all directions but in different ways every 15 to 30 feet. With the human passageway and berthing compartment ceilings no more than about 6'4" high, and the passageways just wide enough for men to pass. You have to duck your head and lift your foot high constantly over open p-way hatches. Miss, and you smack your skull or your shin.

It becomes incredibly oppressive and claustrophobic for the 5,000 who live inside. Many sailors don't see the sky for a week at a time, living entirely inside that steel warren. It works on the mind in a pernicious way. It's always humming and throbbing and vibrating. It's hard to describe. Most would go nuts in there after a month."

After departing, the Lincoln made a mere one-day stop in Guam two weeks before Christmas. "[It] was so brief that much of the crew likely never went ashore," observed the War Zone's Ian Ellis-Jones. Typically, a carrier crew might expect a port call every 30 to 45 days, with each break spanning around 3 to 5 days. Way back on June 16, an officer aboard the Lincoln said his ship had "claimed the title for most consecutive days at sea for any modern aircraft carrier." The previous such record -- 206 days -- was set by the USS Eisenhower in 2020, a feat in part forced by the Covid pandemic that limited port access. In early July, the Lincoln finally made a brief port call in Oman, where a resupply helped end an apparent several-month span without serving fresh fruits or vegetables. Many sailors got off the ship, but were stuck in a secure compound at the port.

Over recent weeks, family members of the Lincoln's 5,000-sailor-and-Marine crew have grown increasingly vocal about what they're hearing about conditions on the ship -- to include claims that multiple sailors are so despondent about being relentlessly cooped up that they've tried leaping off the ship, the flight deck of which stands about six and a half-stories above the sea.

One of the accounts came from the wife of a would-be suicidal sailor. Her husband is now in a medical hold, and she says she hasn't had an update from the Navy in weeks. “He’s scared,” Annabelle Loma told the Navy Times. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that." Of course, one's ability to hold up under stress is a material factor in suitability for continued service, and we have to wonder how her husband will feel about her going public about his suicide attempt.

Another family member said her husband prevented a different sailor from going overboard, calling out to the sailor and then grabbing their arms and pulling them down to the deck. For every sailor who's stepped up to the edge of the deck, there are apparently many more suffering from endless monotony. “I’m just actively watching my (sailor) kind of break down, like they’re losing hope and everything,” one spouse told Stars and Stripes.

So glad Trump decided to do this war. https://t.co/wdANwojqMg
— Brandon Weichert (@WeTheBrandon) August 12, 2026

Last month, an anguished parent shared a perspective with Stars and Stripes that indicates frustration with prolonged sea duty is being compounded by bewilderment over why President Trump decided to join the State of Israel in launching a war on Iran:

“My son is currently on that ship and listening to him say that he and his shipmates constantly think about jumping off the ship just for relief is so hard to listen to. We are all tucked in at night in our beds at night meanwhile our loved ones are out there fighting with no understanding as to what they’re defending.”

Beyond the sheer time at sea, long shifts, and going many days without a break, the quality of life on the Lincoln is said to have declined, with complaints about moldy showers, rationing of food, and a lack of basic hygiene supplies like toothpaste, deodorant and soap. One woman says her son told her the food situation has been so bad at times that a meal consists of only a half-cup of rice and two tortillas.

Last week, more than 200 family members took part in town halls hosted by Navy Secretary Cao. One woman tearfully recounted how her husband messaged her that morning, saying "he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow."

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 22:10

Babylon Bee Sues New Mexico Over Restrictions On AI Satirical Posts

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 01:45:00 +0000

Babylon Bee Sues New Mexico Over Restrictions On AI Satirical Posts

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times,

The Babylon Bee, a satirical online publication, is suing the state of New Mexico over a law that bans artificial intelligence-created misrepresentation of political figures and issues, including satire and parody, in the months leading up to an election.

(L-R) Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition talks with Seth Dillon, CEO, of the Babylon Bee and Kyle Mann, editor and chief, at the annual "Road To Majority Policy Conference" held by the Faith & Freedom Coalition at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., on June 18, 2022. Seth Herald/Getty Images

In a lawsuit filed on Aug. 11, the Babylon Bee charged that the law criminalizes speech that is protected by the First Amendment.

"We're used to getting pulled over by the joke police, but comedy isn't a crime," Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

"The First Amendment protects our right to create AI satire poking fun at political candidates," Dillon said. "We'll never stop fighting to defend that freedom."

New Mexico's law, passed in 2024, makes it illegal to post "materially deceptive media" generated with AI, within 90 days before an election, without a state-mandated warning label. The law specifically includes satire and parody, and covers flyers, social media posts, and memes, with violators liable for fines up to $20,000.

AI has become increasingly adept at creating media that is difficult to distinguish from actual photos and videos, prompting many officials to call for restrictions on AI-generated posts in order to shield the public from false information.

But New Mexico's law also aligns with other efforts by government officials to control what they deem to be "misinformation." This includes efforts by the Biden administration to pressure social media companies to suppress statements during the COVID-19 pandemic that conflicted with official narratives on topics like the source of the virus and vaccines, as well as the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board within the Department of Homeland Security in 2022.

Similarly, the European Union's Digital Services Act, which also applies to American companies, contains provisions that compel tech companies to suppress what the act calls "disinformation."

Attorneys representing the Babylon Bee say that laws like these often violate Americans' First Amendment rights.

"When these laws are framed as broadly as they are, it really is state censorship of political speech, which is the highest rung of speech that our Constitution protects," Logan Spena, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom who is representing the Babylon Bee, told The Epoch Times. "We want to make sure the government is not in the business of trying to decide what's true and false in the matter of political debates."

The lawsuit against New Mexico states that, while there are exceptions to the First Amendment, such as obscenity, incitement, defamation, and threats, "the government's declaration that speech is false does not empower it to restrict that speech."

"As [AI] gets more realistic, I think states are getting a little more concerned, but the problem is that they're overreacting in ways that unconstitutionally restricts protected speech," Spena said. As artificially generated images proliferate, people will become more discerning about what they see online, he said.

New Mexico officials did not respond to a request for comment as of press time. A statement provided to media outlets by a state Ethics Commission spokesperson said that "the Commission has never taken action to enforce the AI-disclaimer requirements in Section 1-19-26.4 of the Campaign Reporting Act, much less for political parody and satire. While the Babylon Bee has a First Amendment right to mock New Mexico, it does not have a right to extract attorneys' fees from the State."

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 21:45

US Creates New 'Multinational' Attack Drone Task Force Amid Iran War & Lessons Learned In Ukraine

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 01:20:00 +0000

US Creates New 'Multinational' Attack Drone Task Force Amid Iran War & Lessons Learned In Ukraine

Compared to what Ukraine and Russia are learning in the context of their grinding years-long war, the Pentagon is a bit late in putting together comprehensive drone swarm battle plans and tactics, but it seems to be the clear direction of future conflict spaces.

On Thursday US Central Command unveiled that it is officially establishing America's first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force.

An announcement identified the initiative as Force Falcon Strike, which "will employ one-way attack drones consisting of unmanned systems from above, on, and below the sea operated by military support staff from the United States and regional partners."

Already the Pentagon has been deploying one-way attack drones in the context of ongoing Middle East Operations, which has been dubbed Task Force Scorpion Strike.

"Task Force Falcon Strike will expand on Scorpion Strike’s success given the tremendous innovation happening among our regional allies and partners," stated Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. "Integrating and deploying our new capabilities together will help us rapidly realize the new possibilities that are on the horizon."

The broader initiative will invite regional partners to coordinate and cooperate with Pentagon operations, and it will ultimately be commanded from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

The aforementioned example of Ukraine war has been dominated by literally hundreds of thousands of small UAVs, sometimes hitting in waves of 'drone swarms' on either side - and China too is said to be bulking up its arsenal with AI drone swarms with an eye on potential Taiwan action.

Consider for example, the following observation related to the recent Ukraine battlefield:

Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia >$1B in damage by <$1m of drones Critical infra is no longer safe," Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrote on X.

This is the new face of warfare — covert, mobile, and nearly impossible to detect until it's too late. Also, the US now faces growing vulnerabilities, not only from irregular warfare but also from potential internal security lapses. And as the battlefield leaves the era of conventional 'fronts' - the Pentagon wants to catch up on holding the edge on weapons tech.

US Central Command graphic

Many independent observers fear that with all the recent leaps in AI in the context of military applications, a futuristic and dangerous SkyNet scenario could be just around the corner.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 21:20

State Department Launches Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:55:00 +0000

State Department Launches Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

The Department of State on Wednesday announced the existence of a task force that has already revoked hundreds of visas from foreign nationals accused of exploiting U.S. immigration laws.

Migrants, including a pregnant Haitian woman seeking to give birth in the United States, are apprehended by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Ariz., on Dec. 7, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

The announcement of the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force comes as President Donald Trump issued new orders in response to a June 30 Supreme Court decision that overturned his bid to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are illegal immigrants or temporary visitors.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio drew attention to the issue of visa abuse on X.

"Elaborate birth tourism rings are profiting off the exploitation of America's laws - coaching foreigners to defraud the U.S. visa system, arranging travel and housing, and even forging documents, all to enable foreign nationals to obtain citizenship for their children," he said.

The activity of visa holders worldwide is under review. According to a fact sheet, the department stands ready to revoke the visas of individuals suspected of engaging in or facilitating birth tourism. The goal is to dismantle any networks involved in such abuses and hold them accountable.

Using State Department information and data from other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the task force has revoked more than 600 visas in one month.

The federal government and consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world have reported widespread examples of deception in visa applications, according to the State Department.

It noted a foreign couple who twice lied on visa applications - claiming a conference and a vacation - then gave birth to two children on U.S. soil on separate occasions.

The couple's visas were revoked.

Another foreign national applied for a visa to vacation in Orlando. She instead flew to Los Angeles, where she gave birth five days after her arrival.

Spotlight on Citizenship Rules

In one of the most consequential opinions of the Supreme Court's 2025-2026 term, the justices ruled 6-3 to strike down Trump's executive order that aimed at excluding children of illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders from obtaining U.S. citizenship at birth.

"A child born on American soil and subject to American law was made an American citizen," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Trump had vowed to ask the high court to rehear the case, although such requests are almost never granted.

"This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don't change their absolutely insane decision," the president said at the time.

However, the administration missed the July 27 deadline to file its petition.

Trump's two new executive orders, signed Aug. 6, attempt to limit birthright citizenship by banning birth tourism and expanding the definition of people considered ineligible for birthright citizenship, according to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups asked a federal judge on Aug. 11 to block enforcement of Trump's new executive orders.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 20:55

The "Big Tent" Dilemma: Marxist Hasan Piker Pleads With Democrats For Help, But Will They Answer

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:30:00 +0000

The "Big Tent" Dilemma: Marxist Hasan Piker Pleads With Democrats For Help, But Will They Answer

Senior Democratic leaders appear to have converged on a common messaging strategy as Republicans intensify an information operation portraying the party as hijacked by socialists and Marxists.

Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Abigail Spanberger and others have repeatedly described the Democratic Party as a "big tent" when questioned about the rise of far-left candidates and activists who openly advocate dismantling capitalism and pursuing revolutionary change. The near-scripted consistency of the comments centers on what party strategists likely view as the safest defense and delicate balancing act that does not infuriate the far-left radicals.

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi welcomes Democrats' socialist agenda of abolishing police, prisons, and borders.

"It’s a big tent…we have our diversity of opinion. We represent different districts in the country." pic.twitter.com/LRp9Zw0OjL
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 11, 2026

Chuck Schumer

Senator Chuck Schumer thinks Democrat Socialists — who want to oust him as Leader — make the Democrat party stronger.

REPORTER: “Is the rise of the DSA good for your party?"

SCHUMER: “Being a big tent party is a strength not a weakness.” pic.twitter.com/17hSbCbtMx
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 4, 2026

Abigail Spanberger

Governor of Virginia Abigail Spanberger asked about socialism taking over her party,

“I think the Democratic Party is a big tent party. We’ve always been a big tent party."
pic.twitter.com/CDVMJZhCIu
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) August 11, 2026

Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff on welcoming communists and socialists into the Democrat coalition: “I think if we want to be in the majority, we're going to have to be a big tent party. I would much rather have that diversity in our party than have it outside the party.” pic.twitter.com/rzPz3dehUo
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 12, 2026

The strategy appears to be designed around a Republican opposition-research campaign that seeks to tie the entire Democratic Party to its most radical socialist voices. Yet Democrats face a major problem: The Democratic Socialists of America routinely are gainining political power and their constant unhinged, anti-American comments are pure gold mines for Republicans seeking to frame the party as having been radically transformed..

Rather than properly confront the DSA, establishment Democrats appear to be containing it under the "big tent" brand to avoid further fracturing ahead of the midterm elections in 82 days. That approach now faces a major test as Hasan Piker, one of the socialist movement's most visible personalities, begs for help from the same Democratic establishment he has repeatedly denounced.

The question is whether Democrats can still describe themselves as a big-tent coalition if they don't defend Hasan. It is a litmus test of whether the establishment left truly means what it says.

Piker begged earlier:

I know we don't always see eye to eye… but you have to literally at some point—I know you don't want to do this—defend me. And not because you love what I have to say, not because I'm part of the coalition, even though I am, whether you like it or not.

But you are going to inevitably have to say, 'This is a ridiculous conversation’… that requires you at some point to basically take the L a little bit, okay? And maybe be a little bit more honest about how I'm not this dangerous toxic radical force.

Every moment that the Republicans are talking about this, and you're leaning into it, it is a fucking another moment where you're not talking about the issues.

Hasan Piker has a message for The Democrats

"Ik we don't always see eye to eye..but u have to literally at some point, Ik u don't want to do this, defend me. And not bc u love what I have to say, not bc I'm part of the coalition, even though I am, whether u like it or not"

"But… pic.twitter.com/wgbLsl7ie1
— yeet (@Awk20000) August 13, 2026

Will be hard for Democrats to defend this:

Meanwhile...

It's going to be hard for Democrats to die on a hill for the socialists, given their insane comments aiming for revolution:

Piker: "Kill Capitalists"

Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists:

“Yeah kill them! KiII those motherfuckers and murder those motherfuckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood, dude.”

Democrats are campaigning with him. pic.twitter.com/YiZxGgRkgc
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 9, 2026

DSA leaders: "The most important thing we can do is take that (American) empire down from within"

Frank, Aaron, Hank and Sam are Communist insurgents, radicalized marxist revolutionaries hiding behind personal ideologies to justfy their 1A expressions of the right to promote the insurrection of the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/XLzzjisOqd
— AnimalFarm1945 (Moshe) (@Farm1945A) July 6, 2026

Piker: "We want more immigrants to come into your countries and then they're gonna f**k your sisters and then your daughters. We're here to destroy the White Race, Bitch."

Hasan Piker says he wants to FLOOD illegals into the United States so they can "f*ck your sisters and daughters" to "destroy the white race"

I am demanding the Democratic Party voice PUBLICLY that they denounce Hasan Piker's comments.

If they don't, let this post be proof…
— Jack (@jackunheard) August 7, 2026

What Democrats are becoming: Red-Green Alliance

The optimal strategy for Republicans is to let the Democrats accelerate their own fragmentation.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 20:30

India Eyes Two New Sites To Expand Strategic Oil Reserves

Tyler Durden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:05:00 +0000

India Eyes Two New Sites To Expand Strategic Oil Reserves

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

State-controlled Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) is finalizing feasibility studies for two new strategic petroleum reserves facilities as the world’s third-largest crude oil importer looks to boost its energy security.

ISPRL, a government-owned special purpose vehicle, is finalizing a feasibility study for a facility at Bikaner in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India and has completed a pre-feasibility study for a cavern in Bina in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Indian media reported on Thursday.

These two new facilities planned to host strategic petroleum reserves would add to the project led by India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the top explorer in the country, to build a storage site at Mangaluru to hold about 13 million barrels of oil.

In the wake of the Iran war and the disrupted crude flows at the Strait of Hormuz, India found itself in search of alternatives to replace the lost Middle Eastern supply. Record crude oil imports from Russia have helped cushion the blow, but India realized it needs additional storage sites to hold commercial and strategic reserves.

India is one of the biggest crude oil importers, but also one of the most exposed to supply shocks as its current maximum reserve capacity can cover only eight days of national oil demand.

Therefore, ONGC now plans to have a new storage site in Mangaluru in the southwestern state of Karnataka on the Arabian Sea, capable of holding 1.75 million metric tons of oil, or about 13 million barrels.

Half of this new storage capacity will be reserved for strategic storage and the other half will support ONGC’s commercial operations, the Indian Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, told Parliament earlier this month.

Four months into the Middle East crisis, India’s government asked ONGC to build and fill a new site for strategic petroleum reserves, with an estimated investment of $1.6 billion, local outlet the Economic Times reported in June, quoting sources with knowledge of the plans.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 20:05

Outrage As Texas Schools Bus Kids To Mosque So They Can "Experience Islam"

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 23:15:00 +0000

Outrage As Texas Schools Bus Kids To Mosque So They Can "Experience Islam"

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Outrage has exploded as public school students in Texas were loaded onto yellow school buses and driven straight to an Islamic center so they could experience Islam 'up close'.

The organizers could barely contain their excitement. In their own promotional video, they celebrated how the kids showed up and potentially left transformed.

This is not happening in some blue-state sanctuary city. This is Texas.

? OMG. Terrifying development as taxpayer funded public school students in Texas are bussed to an ISLAMIC CENTER so they can see Islam up close and personal

The Muslims who run the mosque are ecstatic with how many kids are showing up to possibly be converted ?

This shouldn't...
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 13, 2026

Over 30 high school students from Humble ISD's Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School were taken on a school-day field trip to the Centro Islamico, operated by IslamInSpanish in the Houston area.

The visit included a tour, lunch from halal food trucks, observation of midday prayer, and a presentation. Students were even provided scarves. A CAIR Houston representative spoke to them about their "rights as Muslim students and allies."

The Islamic center's own video, titled along the lines of students visiting a mosque and leaving changed, shows the school bus pulling up and the teens filing inside. A representative states: "It's always exciting to have the opportunity to speak to the general community about Islam."

He continues: "This past week, right before Ramadan started, we were blessed to have a group of high school students from Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School come and visit the Centro Islamico." The group was mixed, he notes, and "their teachers wanted them to see a different side of the Muslims, the diversity within our community, and these are brothers and sisters."

He adds: "One of the greatest blessings that we can have is to be able to explain to the younger generation not only what Islam is and how it impacted our lives, but also giving them an insight to the work of IslamInSpanish, and also what the Centro Islamico means to us." The goal, according to the center, was an opportunity to wipe away misinformation and stereotypes so students could speak about what they heard and experienced.

They've never bussed students to temples or churches.

They said we must keep religion out of schools.

WTF is going on??@GregAbbott_TX
— Ms. Jazz (@Jaclyndancer) August 13, 2026

Back in the day – and it may still be the case – parents had to sign permission slips to go on field trips. I would have been a "hard hell no" for this one. Assimilate or go home is my motto for these intruders. In fact I just wish they would go home.
— DJM (@justsaying_djm1) August 13, 2026

Do they take moslem children to churches?
— Ann-Marie (@Ann_Marie1) August 13, 2026

Where are the radical left lunatics to start screaming about separation of God and government? Liberal dip shits have been voting for people and policies that have been destroying this country for years.
— Louis Garrick (@7Louis_Garrick) August 13, 2026

IslamInSpanish lists the East Plano Islamic Center among its partners. That same network sits at the center of a much larger pattern unfolding across Texas.

Just days ago, McKinney City Council voted 7-0 to approve a major new Islamic center complex on 5.5 acres, complete with a 15,000-square-foot sanctuary, classroom building, and gym. Residents packed the meeting past midnight. More than 150 people spoke. An Iranian Christian refugee who fled Sharia law stood up and warned the council: "I'm a Sharia law survivor from Iran, an I'm here to tell you, this is a dangerous ideology you're allowing in the country."

Other residents voiced fears that the project could become a training ground for those seeking to overturn the nation's foundations. U.S. Rep. Keith Self told the crowd that child marriage and honor killings are not theoretical under political Islam, and that "the freedom to choose one's faith does not exist in political Islam."

City officials claimed their hands were tied by zoning rules and the First Amendment. Locals saw something far more deliberate.

This is not an isolated zoning fight. Congressman Self has already exposed Sharia-adherent Muslim-only enclaves operating for years in East Plano and Irving, positioned right next to police headquarters. "Sharia is alive, well, and operating in Plano, Texas," Self has stated, urging "This is not a hypothetical or future threat. It is here, now and operational."

These parallel societies function with their own norms while sitting adjacent to American law enforcement.

The same East Plano Islamic Center has pushed the massive EPIC City project, rebranded as The Meadow, a planned 400-acre development with roughly 1,000 homes, a mosque, schools, and more. Texas leaders have openly worried about Sharia influence.

NEW: 'Muslim City' in Texas gets legal win after a judge ordered that the state must comply with developers.

The East Plano Islamic Community (EPIC), which has now been rebranded to The Meadow, will feature 1,000 homes, a mosque, schools, and more.

Texas leaders are worried... pic.twitter.com/HoSvNeV307
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 30, 2026

Developers scored a legal win when a judge ordered a state agency to comply with agreements even as federal investigations continued. Governor Greg Abbott has made clear that Sharia law, Sharia cities, and no-go zones have no place in Texas.

In May, Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to issue an immediate cease-and-desist order against the unauthorized Texas American Muslim University (TexAM) operating in the Dallas area without a required certificate of authority.

Abbott stated he directed the board "to issue a Cease & Desist to 'TexAM,' an unauthorized Islamic educational institution operating illegally in Texas," warning that "If they refuse to comply, legal action will follow. Texas will not allow illegal educational institutions to operate in our state."

Around the same period, a taxpayer-supported waterpark in Grand Prairie advertised a "Muslim only" Eid event complete with Islamic etiquette rules. Abbott intervened, making clear the city risked losing substantial state funding if the exclusive religious event proceeded on public facilities. The event was canceled.

Now the same networks that build exclusive enclaves, push mega-developments, operate unauthorized institutions, and secure city approvals for expanding centers are welcoming taxpayer-funded public school buses full of Texas teenagers for guided immersion.

Texas has long been a place that defended its culture, its laws, and its Christian heritage. Public schools exist to educate American children in the foundations of this country, not to deliver them as a captive audience for any foreign ideology's outreach.

When school buses roll up to Islamic centers while churches remain carefully avoided, when "diversity" only ever seems to flow in one direction, and when parallel structures keep expanding under the banner of religious liberty that is not reciprocated, the pattern is no longer subtle.

Americans who still believe the nation was built on a specific civilizational inheritance have every right to reject the steady construction of competing systems inside their own communities.

Texas officials have already shown they can act against unauthorized universities and exclusive public events. The question is whether they will apply the same clarity when the target is the minds of the next generation riding on yellow buses paid for by the public.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 19:15

11 Charged In Immigration Scheme Involving Over 1,000 Sham Marriages

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:25:00 +0000

11 Charged In Immigration Scheme Involving Over 1,000 Sham Marriages

Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 11 people with allegedly helping foreign nationals, primarily Chinese nationals, to obtain green cards through a marriage fraud scheme, according to an indictment unsealed on Aug. 12.

The people behind the alleged scheme were all naturalized U.S. citizens originally from China and one green card holder, according to Attorney General Todd Blanche. The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, and conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the United States.

“This is one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history,” Blanche said during a press conference announcing the indictment.

“This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation but rather a years-long multimillion-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not, or legally could not, otherwise become citizens of the United States.”

From at least 2016 to July 2026, the defendants were allegedly involved in a marriage fraud scheme that included approximately 1,000 sham marriages between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens and the submission of fraudulent applications to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services requesting lawful permanent resident status for the foreign nationals, according to the 21-page indictment.

The DOJ said the defendants allegedly facilitated the marriage fraud scheme and paired foreign nationals seeking immigration status with U.S. citizens recruited by other scheme participants to partake in sham marriages, utilizing service providers—including attorneys, tax preparers, and officiants—to advance these sham marriages and submit fraudulent immigration applications to obtain lawful permanent residency for the foreign nationals.

The defendants allegedly “used word of mouth, social media, and various forms of advertising to market fraudulent immigration services to foreign nationals—primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China—including their ability to arrange sham marriages to facilitate fraudulent applications for lawful permanent resident status in the United States,” the indictment said.

The indictment included photos of sham wedding ceremonies that the defendants submitted to immigration authorities.

“In some cases, these sham wedding ceremonies were held at nearby restaurants, where the foreign nationals and United States citizens changed into traditional Chinese wedding attire, and the facilitator, recruiter, foreign national, and United States citizen invited friends and family to create the appearance of a legitimate wedding,” according to the indictment.

The Justice Department said foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as $100,000 to manage the process and find U.S. citizens, who were then paid up to $30,000 to be part of a sham marriage, with the amount paid in three increments during the Green Card process. Recruiters got a commission of approximately $5,000 for each U.S. citizen they recruited for the scheme.

While the alleged facilitators and recruiters operated primarily in New York, they facilitated sham marriages across the United States and abroad, including in China, Vanuatu, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Georgia, according to the indictment.

The defendants, based throughout New York, were all arrested on Aug. 12 and include Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Christine Lu, Jing Yan Ye, Xiao Yan Chen, Gang Zheng, Anthony Cheng, Michelle Duenas, Angela Duenas, Sigrid Cetino, and Erika Johnson. They are scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 12.

If convicted, the defendants face 10 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said in a statement, “The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly operated a nationwide and international, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme, using participants to abuse United States immigration laws for their own profit.”

He said that the arrests have “dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history.”

The Department of Justice announcement follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week to ban birth tourism, where foreign nationals travel to the United States to give birth so that the child can be a U.S. citizen.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 18:25

Putin's First Ever Visit To Japanese-Claimed Islands Provokes Outrage In Tokyo

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Putin's First Ever Visit To Japanese-Claimed Islands Provokes Outrage In Tokyo

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a provocative visit to the far-eastern Kuril islands for the first time ever. Japan immediately lodged a "strong" protest given it also has long claimed the territory, resulting in an avalanche of denunciatory headlines in Japanese press.

Putin held a meeting there "on ensuring the security of Russia's eastern borders," state RIA Novosti said. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi shot back: "The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law, and the government of Japan strongly protests this visit."

Kremlin Pool via AP

More importantly, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi blasted the trip by Putin as "absolutely unacceptable" and stated it "hurts the feelings of the Japanese people."

Japan deems the island chain its own Northern Territories since World War II, during which time they were seized by the Soviet Union, in 1945. Japan's claim on the territory ultimately stretches all the way back to the 17th century, the country's officials maintain.

Another provocation was that Putin oversaw Russian naval exercises while on the island of Sakhalin. He also visited a fish-processing plant in Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands, where he was given caviar, Kremlin-published videos showed. The Russian military has had a presence on the islands going all the way back to WW2.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvdev had actually been the first Russian leader to have stepped foot on the islands back in 2010.

Medvedev has chimed in aggressively, in response to the Japanese prime minister's statement. "Takaichi can prattle on all she likes about the Kuril Islands being ‘historically Japanese,’ but this chatter won’t change a thing. They were, are, and will remain Russian land," he said on X.

"Anyone who fails to understand this will face the monstrous consequences of their delusion," Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, added.

Meanwhile, the NY Times points out that this highly symbolic move by Putin is fundamentally in protest of Japan's stance on Ukraine, which has worsened relations between Tokyo and Moscow:

Mr. Putin used the visit to reassert Russia’s territorial claims and to protest Japan’s ongoing sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. A day before the visit, he said that Russia’s claim to the islands was a "reality" that had been "enshrined in international documents."

"We are not threatening Japan. We have absolutely no claims against it," Mr. Putin said. "On the contrary, Japan has territorial claims against our country."

Während seines ersten Besuchs auf den Kurilen-Inseln probierte Wladimir Putin in einer Fischfabrik auf der Insel Iturup Kaviar aus der Region Sachalin.

Er hatte den Unternehmern aus dem Fernen Osten im Jahr 2024 einen Besuch der Kurilen-Inseln versprochen. https://t.co/0A9cLrl2xf pic.twitter.com/PLrWaNlbjA
— RUSSNiUS 🇷🇺 (@vladi2726) August 13, 2026

Just ahead of the visit, Putin had said: "Japan, our neighboring country, has used the events in Ukraine as a pretext, without examining the causes of the conflict, to pursue an unprovoked policy against Russia."

Takaichi for her part, has warned Russian leaders to stay away from the islands - but clearly to no avail. Instead, Putin kind of rubbed it in... "Look at this great weather, it’s like a resort!" Putin said said in video footage, to which a local woman responded that the climate is usually windy and foggy. "The weather is smiling on you," she said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 18:00

Violent Crime Rate Drops In Major US Cities

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:40:00 +0000

Violent Crime Rate Drops In Major US Cities

Authored by Timothy Frudd via The Epoch Times,

A new report shows that violent crime dropped in many of the United States’ largest cities during the first half of 2026, and there was a more than 17 percent decline in the number of homicides.

A Major Cities Chiefs Association survey, which gathered data from 66 of the largest cities in the United States, was released on Aug. 5.

It showed that levels of multiple categories of violent crime decreased from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2026, compared with the same period in 2025.

The number of homicides dropped by 17.2 percent during the first half of 2026, and the number of robberies fell by 16.6 percent, according to the Aug. 5 report.

Additionally, the number of rapes decreased by 6.2 percent, and the number of aggravated assaults dropped by 5.7 percent.

The combined totals for the four categories in the cities included in the survey represented a decrease of about 8.3 percent, about 14,200 fewer violent crimes.

The data shared by the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed that homicides dropped by 43.9 percent in Washington; 43.7 percent in Memphis, Tennessee; 64.7 percent in Newark, New Jersey; 63.6 percent in Raleigh, North Carolina; 52.4 percent in Boston; and 60 percent in Arlington, Texas.

The number of homicides also decreased by 60 percent in Baltimore County, Maryland; 58.8 percent in Aurora, Colorado; 50 percent in Miami; and 58.8 percent in Suffolk County, New York.

Laura Cooper, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, told The Epoch Times that the think tank’s latest violent crime survey demonstrated an “encouraging trend.”

“The declines are significant, and I believe reflect the sustained efforts of MCCA member agencies and their partners to address violent crime through targeted enforcement, intelligence-led strategies, and community engagement,” she said.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association noted that the statistics included in the report were based on preliminary data, not on a final report from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System.

The report came after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard last year to multiple cities across the United States, including Washington, in an effort to reduce crime.

The White House credited the drop in violent crime to the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime.

“President Trump promised to make America safe again, and the data proves he has done just that,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told The Epoch Times on Aug. 11.

She said that Trump would “always stand with ... law enforcement officers and deliver safer American neighborhoods.”

A report released by the Council on Criminal Justice in July found that homicides were down 18 percent in 30 reporting cities during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025.

“Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map, in cities with different political leadership, housing and economic conditions, policing and prosecution strategies, violence reduction models, and levels of federal enforcement activity,” Council on Criminal Justice President Adam Gelb said.

“Local policies and programs surely matter, but the striking consistency of the decline suggests that macro-level forces are exerting enormous influence as well.”

The Council on Criminal Justice reported that homicides were down 31 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the first half of 2019 after increasing to 39 percent higher in 2022.

The think tank reported that the numbers of aggravated assaults and assaults with firearms also dropped after increasing during the final year of Trump’s first administration and the early years of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

A previous council report indicated that the homicide rate was on pace to drop to four per 100,000 residents.

The think tank said that if the drop was confirmed by the FBI’s final statistics, it would be the largest single-year percentage drop for homicides and would be the lowest homicide rate in at least 126 years.

The White House attributed the drop in violent crime in many of the United States’ largest cities to the “Trump effect.”

“The results are especially striking in Democrat-run cities where the Trump administration has aggressively surged federal resources and National Guard support after years of soft-on-crime failure,” the White House said on Aug. 11.

The White House said federal support for policing and coordination with local agencies have increased and policies aimed at deterring crime have been advanced under Trump’s administration.

It stated that crime has also been reduced as a result of the administration’s border security policies.

However, some crime experts have pushed back on the White House’s comments, noting that the impact of the National Guard deployment to major cities in the United States, particularly Washington, was difficult to gauge.

“Crime statistics are not a good measure—they have been going down since well before the deployment, and there is nothing to indicate the Guard did anything during their presence that was directed toward crime,” Darrel Stephens, a policing expert with 50 years of experience, previously told The Epoch Times.

FactCheck.org also reported in June 2025 that FBI data and other crime statistics showed that crime began to spike in 2020 and then started to drop after 2022, before Trump was elected to his second term in 2024.

Last month, the Center for American Progress released an analysis of the impact that Trump’s National Guard deployments had on crime.

The analysis found that the deployment of guardsmen had “no measurable effect on violent crime trends.”

On Aug. 10, Chandler Hall, associate director for public safety at the Center for American Progress, reiterated the think tank’s analysis that violent crime was already decreasing in major cities before the National Guard deployments.

“Across multiple cities, multiple datasets, and multiple time windows, we find no effect that violent crime actually did change post the National Guard deployment in any of the cities,” he said.

In response to Hall’s comments, Trump said the think tank’s report was “just another Radical Left SCAM” and indicated that he was going to file a lawsuit against the organization.

“Crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it. Liars, at this level, must be held accountable!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Addressing the president’s lawsuit threat, Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, said on Aug. 11 that the think tank would “not be intimidated.”

“The Center for American Progress stands firmly behind its research and its staff,” Tanden said.

In August 2025, Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington. At the time, he said the nation’s capital was “under siege from violent crime” and that the local government had “lost control of public order and safety.”

Last month, War Secretary Pete Hegseth credited National Guard members serving as part of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force for helping reduce crime, which he said had “dropped in staggering amounts.”

The Pentagon confirmed last month that the mission for which National Guard troops were deployed in Washington would continue until Jan. 20, 2029, or until terminated by the president.

In addition to deploying the National Guard to Washington, Trump deployed the National Guard to Memphis, Los Angeles, and New Orleans in 2025 to address crime and illegal immigration.

Trump also attempted to deploy the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, last fall before facing legal challenges.

A district judge blocked Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Portland in November 2025.

The Supreme Court later ruled in December 2025 that Trump could not deploy the National Guard to Chicago to protect federal immigration agents.

Following the rulings, Trump announced the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland on Dec. 31, 2025.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 17:40

"No Rock Left Unturned": Tether Completes Independent Audit Of Reserves With KPMG

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:20:00 +0000

"No Rock Left Unturned": Tether Completes Independent Audit Of Reserves With KPMG

Stablecoin giant Tether has announced that KPMG U.S. completed the first independent audit of its reserves after years of struggling to get a Big Four accounting firm to do so.

The San Salvador-based company, which issues the largest stablecoin in existence, USDT, said the audit was “the largest inaugural financial audit in history.”

Tether Completes the Largest Inaugural Financial Audit in History

Read more: https://t.co/vWG0fFSUxH
— Tether (@tether) August 13, 2026

As Bitcoin Magazine's Mathew DiSalvo reports, Tether for years was criticized for being coy about its reserves and not having an independent audit of what it holds behind its flagship token.

Tether said over the years that it was eager to work with a Big Four firm for an audit.

“For years, some detractors said an audit of Tether could not be completed,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement.

“They said the Company refused to subject itself to the most rigorous scrutiny. We have once again proven them wrong. Completing our financial statement audit sets a new standard for the industry and reflects the leadership we’ve brought to this market from the start.”

Tether did not mention its Bitcoin holdings in its statement, nor did it immediately respond to questions from Bitcoin Magazine.

But it said that KPMG “physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, verifying the existence and identifying information of each bar rather than relying solely on reports from custodians or counterparties.”

Tether added that all assets and statements were subject to “independent substantive testing and verification.”

As Ardoino noted:

"No rock was left unturned.

Tether has all the gold it says it has.

Now reviewed by KPMG.

How many financial institutions or governments can actually say that? "

The company has in recent years upped its gold buys, holds more U.S. treasuries than some countries and has nearly $60 billion in Bitcoin in its reserves, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.

“Tether has evolved from a disruptive stablecoin issuer into one of the most financially significant and operationally sophisticated private companies in the world,” continued Ardoino.

“This audit demonstrates that our financial infrastructure and governance have evolved alongside that responsibility.”

Tether’s USDT product has a market cap of over $183 billion, making it the third biggest cryptocurrency in existence.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 17:20

News Groups Sue Trump Over Paid Early Access To Truth Social Posts

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:00:00 +0000

News Groups Sue Trump Over Paid Early Access To Truth Social Posts

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump was sued on Wednesday by two news organizations seeking to shut down a service that sells paid access to the president's posts on his Truth Social platform.

This illustrative photo shows a person checking the app store on a smartphone for Truth Social, with it's website on a computer screen in the background, in Los Angeles on Oct. 20, 2021. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 12 in Manhattan federal court by The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, challenges Truth API, launched on Aug. 1, a feed offered by Trump Media & Technology Group, which charges up to $100,000 a month for early access to 10 high-profile Truth Social accounts, including Trump's.

Trump often uses his Truth Social account to post news.

The lawsuit targets Trump in his official capacity as U.S. president, along with Natalie J. Harp in her official capacity as the president's executive assistant.

It also names Daniel Scavino (in his official capacity as White House deputy chief of staff and director of the White House Personnel Office), the Executive Office of the President, and the White House Office.

"Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform's most market-moving Truths while advancing our strategy to monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream," Trump Media's interim chief executive, Kevin McGurn, said in a July 16 statement.

"As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders."

In an Aug. 10 earnings call, McGurn said the company had signed more than 10 customer agreements for Truth API, primarily with "high-frequency trading firms," at "rates generally in the range of $60,000-$100,000 a month."

In the complaint, the plaintiffs called the Truth API service an "astounding scheme" because the president stands to gain financially when subscribers sign up.

"This scheme is extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional, and Plaintiffs bring this case to stop it," the plaintiffs said.

The lawsuit claimed that granting preferential access to Trump's public statements to paid subscribers violates the First Amendment, which it says guarantees Americans equal access to the president's public announcements, as well as the Fifth Amendment, which it says prohibits the government from imposing extortionate or unreasonable conditions on the availability of government benefits.

"There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information," it said.

"The President stands to gain financially by giving 'market-moving' government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company."

According to the complaint, many of Trump's 9,000 to 11,000 Truth Social posts and reposts during his second White House term were not followed by official White House statements.

A Trump Media & Technology Group spokesman told The Epoch Times by email that information from Trump is "disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs."

He said that one of those channels is Truth Social, "which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was unjustly deplatformed."

"Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders," he added.

The president is Trump Media's largest shareholder. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is a Trump Media director and oversees the trust.

Other accounts offered through Truth API include those of Vice President JD Vance, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel, and the White House itself, the complaint said, adding that these are the 10 most popular accounts on Truth Social

"Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell," said Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of online news outlet The Intercept.

"A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago," said Freedom of the Press Foundation's chief of advocacy Seth Stern.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 17:00

Anthropic's $2 Trillion Bet Is That Nothing Goes Wrong

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:40:00 +0000

Anthropic's $2 Trillion Bet Is That Nothing Goes Wrong

The most revealing aspect of a $2 trillion Anthropic IPO is not the staggering valuation, but the suspension of disbelief required to justify it.

To buy into that number, investors must assume that artificial intelligence is becoming economically indispensable at breakneck speed, that a formidable moat will protect a handful of frontier-model developers, and that the exorbitant costs of computing infrastructure will not eventually crush their margins. More crucially - they must wager that the political, technical, and institutional risks inherent to an increasingly geopolitically competitive landscape will play second fiddle to the growth story.

Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic, attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Reports of Anthropic's internal projections describe a company scaling at an unprecedented clip. If it can actually bust out an annualized revenue run-rate of $100 billion while expanding its enterprise market share, a trillion-dollar valuation begins to look mathematically defensible under current tech multiples. But this arithmetic obscures a deeper structural flaw: the very capabilities driving Anthropic's revenue growth are simultaneously engineering the risks most likely to vaporize its premium.

As frontier models become more autonomous, persuasive, and capable of executing multi-step objectives across outside systems, they cease to be conventional software. A text generator hallucinating an answer is a glitch; an autonomous agent hallucinating a cyber-attack or a rogue financial transaction is a massive liability.

The recent internal turmoil and safety-evaluation controversies at both OpenAI and Anthropic are symptomatic of this shift. Major AI labs are now diverting substantial resources to test for autonomy, deception, and loss of control. This is not merely an engineering challenge; it is a fundamental transformation of the product category. The instability roiling these companies is not a byproduct of poor management - it is a structural consequence of trying to shoehorn a potentially world-altering, highly volatile technology into the framework of a standard venture-backed corporation.

The company's value has been all over the place in prediction markets - recently hockey-sticking following a report in FT in which six company backers said that Anthropic's rapidly rising revenue "would enable it to more than double its current valuation in a planned autumn float."

Will Anthropic's valuation hit (HIGH) $2.0T by December 31?
Yes 60% · No 40%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

"If Anthropic is growing 800 per cent a year, you'd think at the incredibly low end they would trade at 30 times [revenue]," one investor told FT, adding "That would make them a $3tn company."

Anthropic is a particularly pure expression of this tension over its capabilities. Their basic pitch is that frontier capability and rigorous safety can coexist - a positioning with immense commercial value to risk-averse enterprise clients. Yet - after Anthropic spooked the shit out of everyone with its hackbot 5000 (Mythos), China went full Leeroy Jenkins through the field with cheap, efficient, capable open-weighted models that carry none of the moralizing - just performance at a better value. When a safety-first AI company repeatedly triggers control warnings in its frontier models, it erodes its core value proposition. In effect, Anthropic is running two races at once: one toward greater capability, the other toward greater control.

The great convergence between open and closed.

The problem is that the $3 trillion in funding commitments by OpenAI/Anthropic assumes frontier prices remain stable https://t.co/8u0zDGUgwM
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 13, 2026

OpenAI offers a different flavor of the same crisis. Its explosive adoption set the template for the modern AI platform, but its boardroom coups, leadership exoduses, and chronic debates over deployment safety illustrate the inherent friction between mission statements, capital requirements, and commercial incentives. The industry has engineered a relentless feedback loop: capital buys compute, compute yields capability, capability drives revenue, and revenue attracts further capital. But with every revolution of this flywheel, the control problem magnifies. The commercial boom and the governance crisis are not parallel events; they are the same phenomenon viewed from different angles.

Because of this, conventional revenue multiples are highly suspect. Even if Anthropic achieves a massive revenue run-rate, standard tech valuations demand continuity between current sales and future cash flows. Frontier AI's economics, however, are unusually discontinuous. Cheaper, open-source alternatives threaten to commoditize baseline intelligence, while corporate customers are already demonstrating price sensitivity by opting for smaller, highly efficient models for routine tasks. Technological leadership does not guarantee pricing power. The industry has proved that better AI generates demand; it has not proved that every incremental leap in intelligence creates proportionate economic value.

Catch-22

An alternative lens for these valuations is that investors are not buying a software company; they are pricing a call option on the strategic control of machine intelligence.

Anthropic’s backers say booming demand for the start-up’s advanced AI models and tools justifies their lofty expectations © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

If advanced AI becomes the foundational infrastructure of the modern economy - underpinning software, finance, defense, and medicine - occupying that central node yields unprecedented economic leverage. But here's the catch-22: If frontier AI becomes as strategically vital as a trillion-dollar valuation implies, governments will not allow its proprietors to operate as ordinary private entities indefinitely. The stronger the financial case for these valuations becomes, the stronger the political case for national-security classification, severe regulatory constraints, and sovereign oversight.

An Anthropic IPO would therefore be more than a liquidity event. It would be the public markets' first attempt to price the frontier-AI paradox.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 16:40

The 'Burrito' Debate: What's It Really About...

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:20:00 +0000

The 'Burrito' Debate: What's It Really About...

Authored by JD Breen via Pretium Insights,

Two years ago, “conservative” pundits rightly ridiculed the Biden Administration for suggesting inflation was fine while blaming its poor approval ratings on Americans’ ignorance of how little they were spending. Now, under the Trump Administration, the same “influencers” mock young people for noticing how much things cost.

Last week a “burrito debate” erupted when a college student said burritos shouldn’t cost twenty bucks.

One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability:

“A burrito shouldn’t cost $20.”

Yeah, a lot of this is a hangover from Covid and Biden-era inflation, but the lived experience is the same: It just feels like basic things cost too much. https://t.co/GEvmbea57o
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) August 4, 2026

Many respondents promptly missed the point, explaining that most burritos don’t cost that much, and that these entitled whiners shouldn’t be eating out anyway. They should cook at home and subsist on ramen and beans, just like those critics (claim they) did.

But the student’s observation was less about burritos being expensive than the undeniable fact that the cost of many essentials keeps going up, to the detriment of those born too late to acquire assets before they soared in price.

Whittled Away

The tone-deaf response to a legitimate complaint isn’t just wrong. It’s economically, politically, and culturally idiotic. This isn’t about pulling up bootstraps, driving a beater, or walking uphill both ways.

Telling people that things they buy don’t cost what they’re paying probably isn’t going to change minds or win votes. Nor is advising them to eat beans because a degraded dollar has boosted the price of beef.

General price increases started decades ago, deriving from government spending, unlimited credit, and State meddling in essential industries. It’s no coincidence that housing, medical care, and education… sectors near the money spigot and with the most government subsidies, restrictions, and mandates… are among the least affordable, and whose customers incur the most debt.

That these increases accelerated after the 1970s… with the proliferation of student loans, expansion of Medicare, and advent of the “Greenspan Put”… also isn’t a coincidence. Nor is the “Nixon Shock” in 1971.

Wages have also risen, though not enough to compensate these costs. Even the yardstick is being whittled away. The dollar has lost about a fifth of its purchasing power this decade, almost half this century, and nearly 90% since it was divorced from gold in 1971. From the founding of the Fed in 1913, it’s almost entirely gone:

During this time, fiat money has fueled the financial system. Fiat currency creation instills distortions, depending on where the “printers” decide to distribute the loot. Connected insiders control the pump, and receive the first infusions when new cash is created.

This is how counterfeiting rings work, to quickly enrich initial recipients while slyly ripping off those forced to fill up last. Among the laggards are wage-earners, who tend to receive more pay after prices of assets (that young people own less of) and consumer goods (which they must buy) have already risen.

Instead of sound money that encourages investment and savings, we get banker bailouts, entitlement boondoggles, non-stop wars, and less affordable stuff. Under inflation, even items with falling nominal prices (software, televisions, mobile phones) cost more than they otherwise would.

A Separate Argument

Millennials and Zoomers didn’t cause this problem, and their wasteful spending habits don’t make it worse (though many of their proposed “solutions” will). For them to be scolded for financial irresponsibility by generations that compiled over $100T in public and private debt isn’t a good look.

The debate isn’t about burritos. Those are symbolic. The point is that U.S. “leaders” have wrecked the currency to pay for foreign wars and domestic boondoggles at the expense of Americans who resent being ripped off. Many are young people who were pilfered before they were born, and inherited the mess bequeathed by the people berating them.

Why must we act like their animosity isn’t understandable? Instead, youngsters are told to grab their bootstraps, get roommates, and eat ramen (all of which most of them already do) so that being robbed wouldn’t hurt so much.

Spending beyond one’s means is a valid point when discussing personal finance. But it’s a separate argument. A college student with a low-paying job shouldn’t expect to afford an $80,000 truck or a half million dollar house. Fine.

But that’s obvious… and a distraction. No one is arguing otherwise. How people spend money is a budgeting discussion, and a worthy one. Yet the topic at hand is the declining value of what’s being spent.

Baby Boomers didn’t sit meekly when “guns and butter” ravaged their paychecks. Nor should they have.

Why should generations that came of age this century not be angry that their elders eroded the dollar, incurred debt, and rigged industries to fund wars, support the stock market, keep house prices high, and make food, fuel, education, transportation, and medical care unnecessarily expensive?

Buying burritos and lattes isn’t what’s keeping young buyers out of the housing market. Till this decade, the median first-time home buyer was in his early thirties. Fifty years ago, he was in his twenties. He’s now almost forty, with the typical homeowner pushing sixty.

Home prices are outrunning wages, which are generally lower for younger workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 20–24 year-old working full-time earns about $796 a week in 2025 dollars, down from $825 in 1979.

While real wages for all age cohorts are now rising, this is the only group still paid less than it was when Carter was president. The 25-34 bracket just recently slipped ahead. Others did so at least a decade ago.

Renting is an option, but not a great one:

Bipartisan Larceny

Eating burritos didn’t cause this problem, which isn’t a function of who’s in office. More than 20% of all U.S. government debt (in constant 2026 dollars) accumulated while Donald Trump has been president.

But he’s not alone. In real terms, Ronald Reagan doubled the debt. About 70% (85% nominally) was compiled this century, during which purchasing power was sliced in half. That’s not an accident, or because entitled brats bought iPhones.

Cumulative real (2026 dollars) borrowing is more than $63T, against almost $40T of nominal debt. Inflation has erased nearly 40% of the real value of what was pledged. Two-fifths of the obligations DC compiled have been surreptitiously discharged by devaluing the money it’s denominated in.

The government, fixed-rate mortgage holders, and other debtors benefited. Creditors, savers, and anyone who held dollars absorbed the loss.

Age-Based Antagonism

The “Burrito Debate” has exacerbated age-based antagonism that is unfortunate and crippling. Inter-generational cooperation is among the greatest attributes thriving societies possess.

We often learn more from other generations than our own, many members of which are competitors for status, positions, or mates. The young imbibe wisdom from elders, who receive energy from youth.

But a proliferation of memes about out-of-touch Boomers and slacker Zoomers breeds reflexive conflict that foments fragmentation, stagnation, and rot (which is why it’s probably partially contrived and intentionally stoked).

Young people do have a lot of advantages their elders didn’t enjoy. As is often reiterated, their lives would be science fiction to any human being who died more than two decades ago, much less throughout human history.

But that doesn’t mean they’re wrong about this. Because Medieval peasants lived in huts amid perpetual plague on the edge of famine doesn’t mean today’s youth should accept being afflicted with inflation.

Many of the youngsters’ “remedies” may be warped (as were most of their predecessors’ when they confronted earlier challenges and caused our current ones). But the problem is real. If the idea is to dissuade twenty-five year-olds from embracing socialism, it’s unwise to insist they tighten their belts while their elders get fat taking the meat from their plates.

At some point, the kids are gonna get fed up and want in on the racket. If their parents can print money and incur debt to sustain stock prices, preserve pensions, and wage wars, why not grab some loot for themselves, to make groceries “cheap”, healthcare “free”, and rent “affordable”?

As Much Right

These prescriptions are imbecilic.

But from the perspective of the perpetually fleeced who receive self-righteous lectures, they’re not irrational. They’re also politically potent, which is why it’s foolish to encourage revolutionary anger by treating reasonable gripes with arrogant condescension.

The people “helping the communists” aren’t the kids being attracted to it. It’s the beneficiaries of Fed counterfeiting, government debt, and protective regulation who keep denying the existence of a problem they caused.

Decades ago when the debt started accelerating, real conservatives warned that their grandchildren would be forced to pay for their profligacy. Now the grandkids are here, and they aren’t thrilled being stuck with the bill after those who ran up the tab left the table.

The “Greatest Generation” complained about their predecessors causing the Depression and a couple catastrophic World Wars. The Boomers protested when their parents gave them Seventies stagflation and Vietnam.

They were both right. So are Millennials and Gen-Z when they begrudge the idiotic wars, debt, and incessant inflation they’re saddled with.

Like their predecessors, they’ll persevere. But they have as much right to resent their ancestors’ malfeasance as their ancestors did.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 16:20

Inside Utah's Trans-Marxist Militia: From Cuba Revolutionary Trips And Rifle Training To Declaring War On Landlords

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:45:00 +0000

Inside Utah's Trans-Marxist Militia: From Cuba Revolutionary Trips And Rifle Training To Declaring War On Landlords

via Miah Blackwell of The Cougar Chronicle,

Over the last few years, individuals and groups tied to violent and extremist LGBTQ activism have been emerging in the heart of Utah. In May, we exposed how extremist students and clubs at UVU have been responsible for vandalism, violent threats and rhetoric, and even justifying the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Some even left the words “bella ciao” on the sidewalk during left-wing protests.

In September 2025, the FBI opened an investigation into Armed Queers of SLC in connection to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Since then, no updates have been released. Today, we are shining a light on a problem Utah's leaders and media are ignoring: the rising trans militia. pic.twitter.com/fTLOHRPeYY
— The Cougar Chronicle (@TheCougChron) August 11, 2026

In June, we documented an LGBTQ gathering in Provo where individuals beat an effigy of a police officer and wrote extremist propaganda in chalk.

But these appearances of violent LGBTQ activism are minor compared to the actions and rhetoric of a group called Armed Queers of Salt Lake City, which has been at the center of this radical movement for some time.

Describing itself as a socialist, trans-led collective, Armed Queers of Salt Lake City emerged in 2020 with the purpose of combining armed community defense with their far-left Marxist-Leninist and radical LGBTQ ideologies.

A recruitment card we obtained says the group is working toward:

the armed protection of queer and trans communities,
the end of capitalist exploitation,
trans liberation from the gender binary,
housing as a human right,
the abolition of prisons and police,
the dismantling of the nonprofit “industrial complex.”

In a 2024 interview the group framed its work as defending people it considers endangered from both right-wing vigilantes and the state. At a public event the following year, one member described it plainly as a “queer and trans-led Marxist-Leninist organization.”

This is clearly not a normal activism club; it’s an armed political group that resembles a militia. The card makes it explicit: their goal is “armed and militant protection.” And with ties to a tragic shooting at a “No Kings” rally in June of 2025, as well as reports of an FBI investigation into suspected ties to Tyler Robinson, the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk, this group should be setting off alarm bells throughout government and law enforcement agencies.

But as we began to investigate this group, one of the most worrying things we discovered was how silent community, state, and federal leaders have been on the issue of organized and armed LGBTQ extremist groups.

Charlie Kirk's Assassination: A Wave of Attention

In the weeks after the September 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, the group scrubbed much of its online presence, its Instagram and other social media pages going dark. Some of it has since flickered back.

On September 16, just days after Kirk’s assassination, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna publicly stated that Armed Queers SLC was under investigation by the FBI as an “extended network related to Charlie’s killer.” The New York Post later confirmed this and added that the probe sought to reveal if Armed Queers and related groups had foreknowledge of the assassination.

But as of August 11, 2026, no further information about this FBI investigation has been revealed to the public. Indeed, Armed Queers of Salt Lake City has barely been mentioned at all by community, state, or local journalists and leaders. But even if Armed Queers had no connection to Tyler Robinson, their ongoing activities–including firearms training, vigilante security operations, and even activism trips to Cuba–should be cause for public concern.

So we took it upon ourselves to do the job that other Utah journalists and law enforcement agencies are not doing: we are shining a light on the growing trans militia in Utah.

Our Look Inside a Meeting

On June 14, journalists from The Cougar Chronicle attended and investigated a formal Armed Queers meeting during Salt Lake City’s Pride Month festivities.

The gathering took place inside the Church and State church building, which is now frequently home to pagan and satanic-themed groups and businesses. Along the wall was a line of tables representing the different organizations. Among those groups were: Armed Queers of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Community Bail Fund, Rise SLC, The Brown Berets De West Valley, Queers for Palestine and an oddly adorned table at the end dedicated to COVID-19. Each table had its own set of pamphlets and flyers to hand out to the guests.

It was a small, intimate gathering of less than fifty people–at least half of them wearing COVID-19 masks–and a panel of speakers representing the different organizations where they talked about events, history, oppression followed by a Q&A at the end. With mic in hand, our correspondent went and mingled with the representatives at each table–specifically the representatives of Armed Queers SLC.

When we inquired about the origins of Armed Queers of Salt Lake City, one female representative said:

“So, um, we're a socialist organization that's focused on the support and, um, protection of, uh, oppressed communities with a focus on bearing arms and defense … Armed Queers came about by being armed and being queer because queer inherently is political. And so we wanted to keep the queerness into the armed part, where we're not just a gun group, we're also a queer group that focuses on politics and all the other stuff. And so we wanted to kind of figure out a way to combine all that together to really symbolize who we are…So we want to make sure it's political, not just gun … the gun part is about the protection and the liberation of all of us people.”

Exposing Children

Listening to other conversations, we noticed a lot of emphasis on exposing children to “queerness.” One panelist said, “...I have noticed in the last 25 years a lot of children are going down into our community.”

During the panel, the only biologically identifying male–known for doing drag–spoke more about children:

“..there was this like school bus of children walking by, and a good chunk at the top were like, ‘oh my gosh, you're beautiful, can we take a picture?’ Like you just don't think about that when you think of students in Utah. You just think that they are their parents, essentially. But children are so amazing. And they want to see things and see growth in the state. So just go to a lot of queer events. How about that?”

Materials and Literature

At the meeting, Armed Queers handed out various materials and literature including a how-to guide on writing to political prisoners, a request for donations to acquire a firearms instructor and “enroll our comrades” in a public gun range day, and information about the Salt Lake Community Bail Fund. Additionally, they had flyers claiming that the Trump administration is “gearing up for war” by mentioning the arrest of Nicolas Maduro and the ongoing Iran war. They characterized ICE agents as operatives of a fascist regime and handed out books such as The Communist Manifesto.

Weapons Training and Trips to Cuba

An archive of Instagram posts acquired before Armed Queers took down the page reveals some of the group's normal operations before September of 2025. These activities include monthly firearm training sessions, providing citizen defense for LGBTQ pride events, holding educational forums, and even sending members to Cuba to be trained and participate in the May Day Brigade.

When we attended their June 2026 meeting, we learned that these activities are still ongoing and were not entirely ended by the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. A recent post from founder Ermiya Fanaeian confirms that members affiliated with Armed Queers SLC traveled to Cuba this summer.

Links to Other Violent Groups

In 2023, Armed Queers SLC hosted a workshop with the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club called "Protecting People's Movements: The Rise in Community Defense."
The workshop taught participants about the history of left-wing community defense, the threat of the right-wing, and the importance of organizing armed defense.

The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (EFJBGC) is a left-wing social-justice gun rights group reportedly based in Kansas. One revealing blog post from 2024 details recent issues they've had with leadership, and some reports mention several spin-off groups and affiliated organizations, but their aims, rhetoric, and methods are almost identical to Armed Queers SLC. In July of 2025, several of the individuals who attacked and injured a law enforcement officer in the Prairieland ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, were linked to EFJBGC, as reported in The New York Times.

The Origins of Armed Queers

The group's public origin runs through Ermiya Fanaeian, a male-to-female transgender activist and the son of Iranian immigrants, who first drew local attention as a teenager. In the aftermath of the 2018 Parkland shooting, he helped organize a Utah chapter of March for Our Lives, the student gun-control movement.

But within a few years, Fanaeian reversed his position on guns. Speaking to Utah’s KUER, he said, “I used to think that guns were a scary thing. Back then, I would have agreed with Joe Biden’s assertion to take everyone’s AR-15s away. And now I own one.”

He later launched a Salt Lake City chapter of the Pink Pistols, a national LGBTQ firearms group, but later broke with it. Pink Pistols tells a pointed version of that split, saying they cut ties because Fanaeian began using its name to advance a broader political program in violation of the group's single, narrow purpose of promoting lawful, responsible gun ownership. Pink Pistols says his chapter remains defunct.

When Fanaeian organized AQSLC, he kept the core Pink Pistols model–armed, organized, and queer–but expanded on it with additional features. Armed Queers distinguishes itself in three vital ways:

An explicit political mission. Armed Queers’ own membership sign-up form states the group’s goal of establishing a socialist society and achieving "trans liberation from the gender binary and biological essentialism,” which are ideological aims. The group describes itself as aligned with Marxism and trains queer and trans people to arm themselves in opposition to capitalism and oppression.

Coalition activism. Fanaeian protested with the Salt Lake City chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, demanding "police and prison abolition.” He also founded a local PSL chapter himself. Aligning and actively working with other far-left movements (as also evidenced by the other booths at the event we attended) is an essential element of Armed Queers.
Campus ideological programming. In 2023 the group lectured at the University of Utah, hosted by a socialist student organization, promoting "queer resistance" and dismantling "cis-heteropatriarchy" and "land ownership."

Fanaeian has not been shy about what this organization leads to. In a local television interview, he said that "Sometimes violence, protest, and really riots and those kinds of loud rebellions must take place for tangible change." He invoked the 1969 Stonewall Uprising as his template.

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk brought national attention to the group, the US State Department cut ties with Utah Global Diplomacy, a foreign relations NGO who had previously given Ermiya Fanaeian the “7 for 17” award for advancing the United Nations’ 17 goals. They had also named her a Young Diplomat of Utah. Utah Global Diplomacy has since scrubbed Fanaeian’s presence from their website, but receipts remain courtesy of Data Republican on X.

And in an essay that has since been taken down (with only screenshots courtesy of James Lindsay on X remaining), Fanaeian writes extensively about the “trans struggle” in the framework of radical marxism. In an Instagram post detailing a trip to Cuba, he wrote in the caption, “Spending time in Cuba has made me, alongside my comrades, acutely aware of our duty in the belly of the beast.”

The June 2025 Shooting

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is not the first time Armed Queers SLC has come under public scrutiny.

On June 14, 2025, at a Utah “No Kings” rally in downtown Salt Lake City, thousands of people were in the streets. Among the marchers was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, “Afa” to those who knew him, a Samoan fashion designer who had once competed on Project Runway.

Armed volunteers, including members of Armed Queers and the 50501 protest network, formed a volunteer armed security force they called “peacekeepers.”

During the protest, one of these peacekeepers, 43-year-old Matthew Scott Alder, believed he saw a man “ducked down as he was loading his rifle” and thought he was about to commit a mass shooting. Raising his own weapon, Alder fired at the man three times. One round struck the man with the rifle, while another struck Ah Loo, who collapsed and later died. Nearly six months afterward, on December 3, 2025, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill charged Alder with manslaughter, a second-degree felony carrying up to fifteen years.

Pictured: Ah Loo

An attorney for Ah Loo's family said the groups providing security that day included both the 50501 protest network and Armed Queers SLC, and that Alder is “believed to be associated” with the latter. The same attorney has alleged that the groups deliberately obscured their leadership and operated under pseudonyms.

However, both the Attorney General’s charging announcement as well as the media coverage from CBS, NBC, CNN, the Associated Press, and the Salt Lake Tribune, only tie Alder to the event's volunteer safety detail and to the 50501 movement, but not Armed Queers SLC. And when Ah Loo's widow filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, the named defendants were Alder and six leaders of Utah 50501.

A Warning to Utahns

This trans militia was built and is thriving in Utah. The meeting we attended took place in downtown Salt Lake City, and the founding member is a student at the University of Utah.

During our investigation of UVU’s extremist Civil Disobedience Club, we unearthed internal discord messages of a transgender individual offering to train others with firearms. This same individual was responsible for other rhetoric where harming conservatives was implicitly justified or made to seem inevitable. This individual is a student at Utah Valley University.

We also recorded transgender individuals glorifying violence against law enforcement and teaching children to follow suit. This group was at Kiwanis Park in Provo.

And let’s not forget that Tyler Robinson was from Washington, Utah, and was living in St. George at the time of the shooting.

Violent extremists are in our communities. Armed Queers of SLC is evidence that some are even organizing into militia-like entities. Charlie Kirk’s assassination generated an appropriate amount of concern for these activities, but that concern faded far too quickly. If law enforcement, policymakers, and community leaders fail to address the perpetuation of this radical and violent extremism in Utah, Ah Loo and Charlie Kirk will not be the only victims.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 15:45

Doug Casey On The End Of Honest Markets

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Doug Casey On The End Of Honest Markets

Via InternationalMan.com,

International Man: Markets are supposed to reflect economic reality. But when central banks suppress interest rates, governments debase currencies, and major powers manipulate oil prices for political purposes, can any market still be considered honest?

Doug Casey: Almost all markets are distorted in some way by government intervention.

Interest rates are the price of money itself. They’re the blood of an economy; when they’re manipulated, it amounts to blood poisoning.

Currencies have become nothing more than floating abstractions. They move up and down by government fiat.

The same is true of every single food item, starting with all the grains, which provide 50% of mankind’s calories, directly or indirectly. Governments subsidize some, put duties on others, regulate how much can be planted, then often store surpluses. This is true of every food—citrus, sugar, coffee, etc., etc. There are no exceptions.

The State distorts metals markets directly with price or import/ export controls as well. But regulations regarding permitting and production are more serious and stretch over decades.

We can’t be sure what prices would be if we lived in a free market economy. Except to say they’d be much lower without the dead hand of the States constantly throwing sand in the gears of commerce.

International Man: Oil is the world’s most important commodity, yet its price can be distorted by sanctions, strategic-reserve releases, production quotas, subsidies, and political pressure. How much of today’s oil price is determined by genuine supply and demand?

Doug Casey: Oil is certainly the most important, most political, and by far the highest dollar volume commodity.

Like every commodity, its basic price parameters are set by supply (how much is produced) and demand (how much is used). But both of those fundamentals are distorted by government policies, starting with taxes on both producers and consumers.

And now we also have to guess how long the wars between Russia and the Ukraine, and the U.S./Israel and Iran will last, and how bad they’ll get. Russia is a huge hydrocarbon producer. The Middle East produces about 1/3rd of the world’s oil and 1/6th of its natural gas. Most of it is now cut off.

It’s not just a question of reduced production. People forget that raw petroleum is basically useless. It only becomes useful and valuable after it’s “cracked” by a refinery into its valuable components—gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and other distillates. And they forget that oil’s only buyers are refineries.

But the refineries are major targets in these wars. Not only that, but they’re about the easiest targets to damage and the most expensive to replace. And they won’t be replaced quickly because they’re likely to be blown up again.

Since I believe these two wars are not only going to continue but get much worse, I’m betting the prices of oil and its products are going up, and availability is going way down. And that’s not even counting the possibility that these wars will expand to something worldwide.

War is historically the major activity of governments. It’s been said, correctly, that war is the health of the State. And governments today are far, far larger and more powerful than ever before. So you can count on much more interference in both the production and consumption of oil in the future. And radical movements in its price.

International Man: When governments can create trillions of currency units, rescue favored institutions, and intervene whenever markets move against them, has investing become less about finding value and more about anticipating the next manipulation?

Doug Casey: Let me define a couple of terms—investing and speculating. Many people throw these words around without really understanding what they mean. The result is sloppy thinking.

Investing is about allocating capital so that it can mix with labor and produce more real wealth. Think about planting a seed to grow a hundred new seeds. Profitable investing is always hard work, but it becomes risky and unattractive in a highly taxed and regulated environment, especially in wartime.

Speculating, however, is about capitalizing on distortions—generally those caused by government. Speculators don’t produce new goods. But by buying when things are cheap (when there’s a glut), and selling when they’re dear (when there’s a shortage), they provide an extremely valuable service. The public dislikes speculators because they profit from times of trouble. But the public, idiotically, fails to understand that speculators profit because they’re solving problems, not causing them.

We can expect to see a lot more speculating, and less investing, in the years to come. The average guy will almost be forced to speculate in an attempt to just keep his head above water. Unfortunately, most of them will prove poor speculators; they’ll wind up as gamblers, relying on luck more than skill.

International Man: Who benefits most from dishonest markets, who ultimately pays the price, and why do most investors fail to recognize the fraud until their purchasing power and savings have already been damaged?

Doug Casey: When a game is rigged, it’s usually the game’s organizer, the house, that does the rigging. In today’s world, the rigging is done by Deep State types, who are close to power, close to people who can change the rules when it suits. It famously happened, for instance, in January of 1980, when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market. The exchange arbitrarily raised margin requirements and bankrupted them.

Central banks can, and do, intervene to prop up stock markets and failing institutions. In 2008, the government rescued or supported AIG, Citigroup, and Bank of America, among others, when Congress approved the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

You may recall the banking emergency of March 2023, when regulators bailed out Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. It was great for the tech nerds; not so great for the average citizen.

You’ll see a lot more of that type of thing in the near future. You’re seeing it right now with the Japanese Yen as the decades-long carry trade is unwound. It’s a real, and inevitable, disaster in the making.

International Man: In a world where almost everything is subject to political intervention, where can an investor still find honest value to preserve wealth? What about intelligent speculations?

Doug Casey: An investor should look for solid and growing businesses selling for reasonable prices. They’re hard to find today; the stock market is very expensive.

A speculator can keep his eye on all the markets, looking to sell something that’s too expensive (like tech stocks) and buy something that’s too cheap (like commodities).

The average guy, who is neither, should probably just buy gold and silver coins anonymously, for cash, and set them aside until the world emerges from both the Greater Depression and World War 3.

You’ll recall that the best broad definition of a depression is a period of time when most people’s standard of living falls significantly.

But it can also be defined as a period of time when distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated. That definition is most relevant to what we’re looking at right now. The financial world is overloaded with distortions and misallocations of capital. It’s going to be a real bloodbath at some point.

But the good news is that most of the real wealth will still exist. It will just change hands. That should be good news for you, as a subscriber to Contrarian Insider or Crisis Investing.

* * *

The distortions built up across today’s financial system will eventually have to be resolved—and when that happens, investors may have far fewer options than they do today. The time to think about protecting your wealth is before a crisis forces the issue and governments begin changing the rules. That’s why legendary investor and New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey put together this free special report outlining the key moves he believes are worth considering before a serious dollar crisis takes hold. If you have savings, retirement assets, or wealth tied to the US financial system, you should see it now—while you still have the freedom and flexibility to act. Click here to get it now.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 15:30

Workday Soars Most On Record As Silver Lake Weighs $43 Billion Buyout

Tyler Durden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:15:00 +0000

Workday Soars Most On Record As Silver Lake Weighs $43 Billion Buyout

Workday shares jumped the most on record during late-afternoon trading on Thursday after a Reuters report said Silver Lake was in discussions to acquire the human-resources and financial-management software company.

According to the report, the deal would value Workday at $43 billion and rank among the largest software buyouts in history.

Here's more from the report:

Silver Lake and the human-resources and financial management software company have held discussions about a potential deal in recent months, the people said. The talks are ongoing and there is no guarantee a deal will materialize, said the sources, ‌who ⁠spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential.

For context, Workday is a large enterprise-software company whose cloud platform helps organizations manage:

Human resources, payroll and employee benefits
Recruiting, workforce planning and performance
Accounting, budgeting and financial reporting
Procurement and expenses
Business analytics and AI agents

Shares of Workday soared as much as 25%...

the largest one-day gain on record, with trading data dating back to 2012.

Workday, like many other software companies, suffered a vicious bear market earlier this year amid the "SaaSpocalypse" ...

... as investors feared that artificial intelligence models would erode the value of costly software products.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 15:15