As K-Shaped Consumer Breakdown Widens, Bessent Points To Brighter 2026 At the start of the week, commenting on Black Friday sales figures, Goldman analyst Natasha de la Grense said there has been increased focus on the “K-shaped” economy. As outlined in our previous notes (here and here), this widening behavioral gap is becoming more pronounced among working-poor and high-income households. New data from Goldman analyst Ronnie […]

Explosion Rocks Part Of Russia’s Strategic Druzhba Pipeline – All Caught On Camera While Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are in Moscow working to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, a series of attacks on Russia-linked oil tankers unfolded both before and during their visit. Now, reports are also emerging of an explosion along the Druzhba oil pipeline. On Wednesday morning, Kyiv […]

Europe’s Energy Transition Destroyed its Economy You can have cheap, dependable electricity to encourage economic growth and prosperity, or you can have a grid supported by wind and solar energy. Europe chose the latter. So far, the promise of “abundant solar and wind energy” has only succeeded at one thing: slashing carbon emissions by 30% from 2005 levels. Thankfully, food for European families is paid for by reducing […]

A Third Of Glasgow Schoolchildren Don’t Speak English Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Nearly one in three children in Glasgow’s primary schools do not speak English as their first language, according to new council data, highlighting a dramatic shift driven by record migration levels that are overwhelming local resources and raising urgent questions about integration and public services. The figures, revealed in […]

Serbia Faces ‘Lights Out’ As US Denies Sanctions Waiver To Russian-Owned Oil Refinery In the wake of the recent US sanctions on Russia’s two biggest energy giants, Serbia is in desperate need of a sanctions-waiver if the country hopes to keep the lights on. Serbia’s government is this week warning it could slide into a severe energy and economic crisis unless Washington grants a 90-day exemption from US sanctions. Officials are […]

UK Agrees To Pay More For US Medicines After Trade Negotiations Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times, The UK’s National Health Service will pay 25 percent more for new, patented U.S. medicines under the terms of a new trade agreement between the two nations. The deal is the latest in a series of agreements in which the United States has leveraged tariffs to secure concessions on prescription drug prices. This is the […]

China-Japan Spat Looks To Be Boon For Russian Tourism & Industry In yet another sign of deepening Russia-China ties on all levels, which has also included cooperation on the military front in the context of the Ukraine war, President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on Monday temporarily lifting visa requirements for visitors from China. Chinese travelers can now enter Russia without a visa for up to 30 days, either for […]

Letter Bombs And Hammer Attacks – US Adds European Antifa Groups To Terror List Authored by Janice Hisle and Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times, An official U.S. terrorist list dominated by jihadist groups and a clutch of cartels has its first European additions in more than two decades: four Antifa groups. Designating groups as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) empowers U.S. federal authorities to investigate […]

Trump Tells Netanyahu Don’t Hinder Syria’s Stability In Rare Rebuke President Trump has issued a rare criticism and brush back of Israel’s expansionist policy in Syria, where in the south of the country Israel’s military has launched recent deadly ground and aerial raids which go way beyond just the Golan Heights. Trump has warned that the future of Syria’s stability is at stake. He wrote in a Monday post on Truth Social, “The […]

Undercover Agent? Left-Wing Satirist? Questions Swirl After Fiery ‘Hitler-Like’ Speech At AfD Youth Congress Via Remix News, After a flamboyant speaker went viral at the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Youth Congress, there are questions about Alexander Eichwald. Speculation is growing about whether he is an undercover agent, a left-wing satirist, or actually just a genuine AfD supporter. Regardless of the truth, the AfD is already […]

This Chemist May Have Cracked America’s Rare Earth Problem Authored by Eva Fu & Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), One flash is all it takes. That’s how James Tour said the United States can tackle China’s rare earth dominance. James Tour, chemist and nanotechnologist at Houston’s Rice University, in Scottsdale, Ariz All he needs is discarded electronics—of which the United States has mountains. And from […]

Herzog Admits A Netanyahu Pardon Would Spark Outrage, Destabilize Israeli Society Israeli President Isaac Herzog acknowledged this week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in his corruption trial is generating significant debate and division within Israeli society. Herzog said that Netanyahu’s formal petition for the charges and case to be dismissed “will be addressed with full care and precision,” and […]

Republican Matt Van Epps Wins Tennessee Special Election Republicans will hold onto Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District despite a push by Democrats to flip the deep-red seat, the Associated Press projected Tuesday, as Republican candidate Matt Van Epps was set to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn. The former state commissioner and Army helicopter pilot defeated the Democratic nominee, Aftyn Behn, with 53.9 percent of the vote in the […]

Energy Secretary: Backup Generators At Commercial Sites Could Unlock 35 Nuclear Plants Energy Secretary Chris Wright has floated an unusual but very creative plan to quickly expand U.S. grid capacity: tapping the industrial diesel generators already sitting at data centers, big-box retailers, and other commercial sites. The proposal comes as multiple regional grids strain under the explosive power demand driven by the data-center […]

Pentagon Seeks To Explain A Little-Known, Forgotten ‘Forever War’ Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, The US Department of War insisted on Tuesday that it’s not waging a “forever war” in Somalia despite the fact that the Trump administration has shattered the record for annual airstrikes in the country. Liam Cosgrove, a reporter for ZeroHedge, noted during a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday that the US has launched 101 […]

“Power Up America” Needs 500,000 Highly Skilled Workers We’ve already pointed out that money isn’t the problem in America’s unprecedented data center construction buildout. Big Tech’s AI capex splurge is effectively endless thanks to “circle-jerk” vendor-financing schemes, and land is plentiful. The real bottleneck? First, it was power – or rather, the lack of it – as the grid struggles to hook up hyperscalers sprinting toward […]

Why Healthcare Is In A Death Spiral: Follow The Money Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, If each of these is not a part of any ‘reform,’ than all that is being done is pouring money into a monopolizing cartel, just in a slightly different way. Unbeknownst to those of us with little inside knowledge of the complex financial plumbing of the US healthcare system, healthcare is in a death spiral that will surprise […]

U.S. Navy’s “Doomsday” Aircraft Vanishes Over Atlantic On Mysterious Mission A Boeing E-6B Mercury operated by the U.S. Navy, one of the service’s airborne nuclear command posts commonly known as the “Doomsday plane,” disappeared from civilian flight-tracking platforms Friday morning while operating over the Atlantic Ocean, according to tracking data, the Daily Mail reports. One of just 16 specialized ‘Doomsday planes,’ […]

National Teachers Union Training Members To Promote LGBT Ideology, Parents Group Says Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The nation’s largest teachers union is planning a workshop on “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice,” prompting criticism from a conservative national parent group that obtained the training handouts and released them to the public ahead of the session. Third grade literacy instructor […]

Alabama Zoning Commission Rejects Proposal For Muslim School After Town Erupts In Fury A Hoover, Alabama zoning commission unanimously rejected a rezoning request Monday that would have allowed a Muslim K-12 academy to relocate to an office building in the Birmingham suburb, capping a contentious public hearing that packed roughly 170 residents into the room and erupted with heated testimony over concerns of growing Islamification […]

She Saved Her Life. 7-Eleven Fired Her Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearPolitics, Stephanie Dilyard is lucky to be alive. Yet last week, 7-Eleven fired the 25-year-old after she used her gun to save her own life. Private companies have every right to set rules for employee behavior, but many corporate policies that require workers to remain passive and comply with criminals’ demands rest on a deeply mistaken view of […]

Chinese Magnet-Makers Find Loopholes To Dodge Beijing’s Rare-Earth Export Controls Chinese rare-earth magnet makers are quietly developing legal workarounds to Beijing’s tightened export rules, aiming to keep sales to Western customers moving even as China’s new licensing regime slows or blocks shipments of restricted materials, according to the Wall Street Journal. After Beijing imposed export controls this spring—part of […]

Energy Affordability Has Become The Kitchen-Table Issue Of The 2020s Authored by William Murray via RealClearEnergy, A not-so-glowing attribute of American democracy is the ability of voters to act shocked and blame whoever is in charge when things don’t go well. So, it makes twisted sense that, as 2026 approaches, the Trump administration should pay the political price for bad energy policies inherited from the Biden […]

Democrat Mayor Asks For Federal Help After Mass Shooting At Child’s Birthday Party In a surprising act of political awareness, Democrat Mayor of Stockton, CA, Christina Fugazi, announced her intention this week to ask the federal government for manpower to stop rising crime after a horrific mass shooting at a child’s birthday party resulted in the deaths of 4 people and 11 wounded.  Though the investigation is ongoing, officials […]

The AI Challenge: Palantir, The Pope, And Paul Kingsnorth Authored by Peter Berkowitz via RealClearPolitics, As artificial intelligence extends to every corner of contemporary life, it brings remarkable capabilities and opportunities – along with dangers that strike at the foundations of individual freedom, human dignity, and the common good. Many incline to either extol AI’s blessings or condemn it as a curse. The savvy who […]