By Targeting Dairy Farmers, ESG Wants To Decide Your Milk Authored by Samantha Fillmore via RealClearMarkets, It starts with a letter in the mail. A dairy farmer opens it to find new requirements from their milk processing plant. Herd data, energy usage, emissions figures. The letter calls it voluntary but if you don’t comply, the plant can’t take your milk. And if the plant can’t take your milk, you’re out of business. That’s […]

Social Security Recipients Could See Larger Payment Adjustment In 2027 Amid Higher Inflation Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A senior citizens group has forecast that the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security payments will increase by 3.9 percent next year, more than 1 percentage point higher than last month’s prediction. Blank U.S. Treasury checks are run through a printer at the […]

Complete Q1 13-F Summary: The Fireworks In Berkshire’s Post-Buffett Portfolio, And Everything Else Friday was the 15th of the month 45 days after quarter end, which means we got a flood of 13F reports indicating what asset managers were long as of March 31. We will do a summary recap below of all the biggest names, but as usual we start with Berkshire due to its traditional lack of turnover and corresponding price impact of the […]

Trump Secures $17 Billion Annual Chinese Commitment For U.S. Farm Goods Summary:  White House Says China Agreed To $17 Billion Annual Commitment To Purchase Agri Goods  China, U.S. Agree To Cut Levies On Select Products, Expand Agri Trade China, U.S. Reach Boeing Jet Purchase Agreement U.S. And China Agree To Establish Trade And Investment Boards Trump-Xi Summit Delivers Modest Trade Wins White House […]

“Taiwan Loses Its Strategic Importance In 18 Months,” Says Chamath Palihapitiya In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that aired Friday, President Trump said that he doesn’t want “to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war” over Taiwan. “I’m not looking to have somebody to go independent and, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war,” Trump told Baier. “I’m not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want […]

Iran Launches Crypto-Based “Hormuz Safe” Insurance Platform For Ships Crossing Strait Via The Cradle The Islamic Republic of Iran has launched a digital insurance platform, titled Hormuz Safe, in order to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and provide coverage for commercial vessels.  The platform will rely on cryptocurrency payments from vessels and is being advanced by the Iranian Economy Ministry, according to […]

Big Pharma RINO Bill Cassidy Smoked By Trump-Endorsed Candidate In Louisiana Senate Primary Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) came in third in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary on Saturday – marking the first time in nearly 15 years that a sitting US Senator has lost a primary in a regularly scheduled election.  Instead, Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow led with ~45% of the vote, while state Treasurer John Fleming came in second […]

Largest Ukrainian Drone Attack On Moscow In Over A Year Leaves Four Dead The Russian capital has just suffered possibly its single biggest and deadliest Ukrainian drone attack of the war – and certainly the largest attack wave on Moscow in the last year. It ironically comes exactly a week after President Zelensky signed on to a three day Russian ‘Victory Day’ ceasefire at the behest of President Trump. It also comes after several […]

YouTube, Snap, And TikTok Settle Kentucky School District’s Social Media Addiction Claims Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), YouTube, Snap, and TikTok have settled a Kentucky school district’s claims that the platforms fueled a youth mental health crisis that the school district said it was forced to manage. The Breathitt County School District in rural eastern Kentucky still plans to take Meta […]

DOJ Probes BlackRock Private Credit Fund Valuations After Dramatic Repricings It all started in late January, just before the Blue Owl debacle and the SAAS-palcypse sparked a historic crash in private credit.  It was then that in a rare off-cycle disclosure, BlackRock TCP Capital Corp., a publicly traded private-credit fund structured as a business development company (BDC), disclosed a 19% markdown in net asset value as troubled […]

Trump Tells Iran ‘Clock Is Ticking, Move Fast’ After New Peace Proposal As Analysts Predict Likely Return To War Update(1410ET): President Trump has warned Iran on Sunday that the “clock is ticking” as Pakistani-mediated talks have not only stalled, but show no signs at all of restarting anytime soon. “They better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” he wrote on Truth Social. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” He […]

The Fed Will Invent New Inflation Numbers Out Of Thin Air Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance The Federal Reserve is rapidly approaching the point where every available option becomes politically toxic, economically destructive, or both. Inflation remains stuck around 3.8% CPI, well above the Fed’s stated 2% target, and that number alone should theoretically eliminate any serious discussion of aggressive easing. Treasury yields […]

Massive Mushroom Cloud ‘Test’ Blast Rattles Uninformed Residents Outside Jerusalem Late Saturday night, a massive explosion and a bright fireball illuminated the skies over Israel’s Beit Shemesh, deeply rattling local residents and setting off rampant speculation in local media and online commentary.  The area lies just 19 miles west of Jerusalem, close enough to be located within Jerusalem District. Curiously, the state-owned […]

AI vs Affordability And Rates By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities Last week, we contemplated, for the first time, that we might need to Understand Universal Basic Income. The timing was very good as on Monday, South Korea floated the idea of transferring some AI-driven tax revenue to its citizens. As uncertainty around jobs, income, and costs continue to weigh on overall confidence, expect this subject to get more airtime in the […]

Axios Warns Cuba Stockpiled 300 Attack Drones With Crosshairs On U.S. Homeland Well, well, well. On Feb. 3, we first asked whether a Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0 was quietly taking shape on the collapsed, communist-run Caribbean island of Cuba. But instead of Soviet missiles, we warned that Havana may be stockpiling Russian-made Geranium one-way attack drones with the operational range to threaten major U.S. oil and gas refineries in […]

Remember: In A Crisis, Everyone Will Consider Themselves ‘The Good Guys’ Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via substack, The state has two monopolies it must protect whatever the cost: the monopoly on decreeing what is legal tender and on force. We’re entering an era in which push comes to shove will lead to immovable objects encountering irresistible forces. All sorts of verities and vanities will be bulldozed as kicking the […]

Americans Face The Highest Memorial Day Gas Prices On Record The nationwide average price of regular gasoline marginally increased on Thursday, after five straight days of decline, the American Automobile Association (AAA) said in a May 14 statement. The national average price is “at the same range as it was in 2022, the year gas prices hit record highs. Travelers are preparing to hit the road in record numbers next week, and […]

Market Leadership Is Narrow, Increasing Summer Risk Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, 📈Technical Backdrop – Friday Selloff Tests The Tape The S&P 500 closed Friday at 7,408.50, surrendering Thursday’s historic first close above 7,500 with a 1.24% decline. The semiconductor names that powered the rally became the source of Friday’s selling. Intel fell 5%, Micron 4%, AMD 3%, and Nvidia 4.4%. From […]

Attack Drone Hits Near UAE Nuclear Power Plant Abu Dhabi authorities report that a kamikaze drone struck an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Al Dhafra. Officials said there were no injuries, no impact on radiological safety levels, and no disruption to plant operations. Dubai-based newspaper Gulf News cited the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, which said the one-way […]

Most Americans Can’t Afford New Homes Most Americans can’t afford a new home. A new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that 65% of U.S. households are priced out of newly built homes, based on current prices and mortgage rates. In some parts of the country, the situation is even more extreme. More than 80% of households can’t afford a new home, highlighting how widespread the affordability […]

Mayor Sadiq Khan Claims London Devolving Into A Sh*thole Is Just AI-Driven Rage-Bait Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has claimed that the decline of the city is a myth and that it’s all just lies being spread by MAGA supporters, Russia, and China through AI-generated content. In a fresh escalation of his war on inconvenient truths, Khan pointed to a surge in online posts highlighting […]

Audemars Piguet x Swatch’s Affordable Watch Launch Sparks Lines Across World Luxury watchmakers Audemars Piguet and Swatch have done the unthinkable: unveiling a new, affordable collaboration aimed at younger buyers, with prices ranging from $400 to, of course, $420. Called the “Royal Pop,” the affordable handheld watch inspired by pop art is clearly a mass-market move aimed at stimulating the Swiss watch market after muted […]

Is A Future War Between The US And Europe Unavoidable? Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us, For those who might have been out of the loop over the past few months, there is a war going on between the US and Europe. Largely, it’s western European governments that are the problem – They started the conflict, they continue to perpetuate the conflict, and they tend to cry victim when they suffer any consequences for it. […]

Democrats Devastated After Supreme Court Rejects Attempt To Revive Virginia Congressional Map Hammering the last nail in the coffin of what could have been a significant midterm factor, the US Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia Democrats’ request to use a new congressional district map, which was drawn to flip four House seats into Democratic control. 🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL, WE WIN! “The US Supreme Court moments ago has ruled […]

Washington’s Joint Operation Against ISIS In Nigeria Sends A Message To The Sahelian Alliance Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, The scenario of a US-backed Nigerian anti-terrorist intervention in Mali is becoming increasingly likely. Trump announced over the weekend that the US and Nigeria carried out a joint operation against ISIS’ second-highest figure, which his counterpart Bola Ahmed Tinubu disclosed took place […]