USC Cancels Gubernatorial Debate Due To Absence Of Candidates Of Color Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org, The University of Southern California (USC) is under fire after canceling the California gubernatorial debate with less than 24 hours’ notice.  The reason? None of the polling candidates are people of color. It was a crushingly revealing moment in a state where universities have long defied voters who […]

Hegseth Declares ‘Pentagon Will Keep Negotiating With Bombs’ – Trump Seeks To Assure War Ending ‘Soon’ Summary Iran rejects US plan but says diplomacy continues (indirectly, apparently) – White House, Pentagon reviewing options for ‘final blow’ as Trump tells Iranians ‘get serious’ about talks. Hegseth: we’ll “negotiate through bombs”. Trump said to want ‘speedy end to war’ (WSJ) while at the same time warning Tehran of ‘no […]

US Postal Service Plans 8% Fuel Surcharge As Iran War Raises Transport Costs By Eric Kulisch of FreightWaves, The U.S. Postal Service is seeking permission to impose a fuel surcharge on parcel products for the first time ever to cover soaring transportation costs for gasoline and diesel fuel, which have jumped more than 30% since the invasion of Iran by the United States and Israel nearly a month ago. Parcel shipments would be […]

One Day Until Trump’s Self‑Imposed 5-Day Deadline On Iran But Markets Appear Increasingly Numb By Molly Schwartz, Cross Asset Macro Strategist at Rabobank More persistent inflation Yesterday, Iran rejected the US-proposed 15-point plan, instead laying out its own conditions in a 5-point plan; (1) halt the killing of Iranian officials; (2) means to make sure no other war is wage against it; (3) reparations for the war; […]

“Historic Injustice”: DOJ Settles With Retired Gen. Flynn For Malicious Russiagate Prosecution Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, The Department of Justice (DOJ) and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser in President Donald Trump’s first term, reached an undisclosed financial settlement Wednesday, according to court documents. Flynn sought a $50 million payout from the government for what […]

Iran “Laying Traps” And “Building Up Defenses” On Kharg Island, Preparing For U.S. Ground Attack Iran has recently bolstered its defenses around Kharg Island, anticipating a possible US move to seize the key oil export hub, CNN reported this week. The island is vital to Iran’s economy, handling roughly 90% of its crude shipments, and has become a focal point in escalating tensions. The Trump administration has explored the option […]

Jobless Claims Hover Near Record Lows Sustaining ‘No Hire, No Fire’ Narrative The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time was flat from the prior week at 210.5k (215k exp). Simply put, these numbers are hovering near their lowest levels since 1969… Source: Bloomberg Continuing claims also printed below expectations at 1.819 million Americans. This is the lowest level since May 2024… Source: […]

Stocks, Bonds Slide As Ceasefire Hopes Fade It’s Day 27 of the war: stocks and bonds fell globally as ceasefire optimism fades given mixed messages on progress toward ending the war in Iran and growing uncertainty over Iran’s willingness to engage in talks about a ceasefire in the Middle East sent oil prices higher. Futures gapped lower just after 5am ET, when Axios reported that the Pentagon is developing military options for a […]

Will AI Trigger The Next Great Depression? Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Our article title is certainly scary. The question we pose has become a hot topic following the release of “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” by Citrini Research. While evaluating the impact of AI on the labor market is complex, we can distill both optimistic and pessimistic views into two straightforward questions. […]

Western Intel Says Russia Preparing Kamikaze Drone Shipment To Iran A senior Western official told Financial Times reporters that new intelligence indicates Moscow is preparing to ship a batch of kamikaze drones to Iran as part of a broader support package, with the US-Iran conflict nearing the one-month mark. When asked about the drone shipment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told FT reporters, “There are a lot of fakes going […]

Saudis Bypass Hormuz As Oil Exports From Yanbu Surge Toward 5 Million Target One week ago, when fears that the Strait of Hormuz blockade would mean a permanent collapse in oil supply (we have since seen that Iran is allowing “friendly” ships to cross the strait, especially if they grease the toll-keeper with $2 million per crossing) hit a fever pitch and pushed the price of Brent to $120, we said that “Saudi Arabia Has Already […]

The ‘Blame Game’ In Private Credit Begins Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance This morning I warned (again) this wasn’t a normal market in private credit. It was a liquidity event. And today it’s becoming something else too. According to the Financial Times, the SEC is now questioning whether Egan-Jones, a small but deeply embedded credit rating agency in private credit, can “consistently produce credit ratings with […]

Zelensky: Trump Pressuring Him To Give Up On Donbas And End War Soon With the Ukraine war now marching into its fifth year, and with the next weather-driven “fighting season” underway, a frustrated Ukrainian President Volydymyr Zelensky says the Trump administration is pressuring him to give up the Donbas region in exchange for US security guarantees. He also claims that Russia is offering to stop providing intelligence to Iran if […]

Iran Says “No Talks With US… Which Has Failed In War Goals” – Warns Of “Relentless” Response To Any Island Campaign Summary Iranian FM says there are no talks with the US, wants a permanent end to the conflict; Tehran demands a permanent end to the war and compensation for destruction. Ghalibaf warns against island campaign. Central Command Says Nearly 300 US Military Troops Injured in Iran War 3,000 elite Army Airborne […]

Net Zero Activists Stumped By Shock New Evidence Showing No Link Between CO2 & Temperature Over Last Three Million Years Authored by Chris Morrison via DailySceptic.org, The climate science world (‘settled’ division) is in shock following the discovery in ancient ice cores that levels of carbon dioxide remained stable as the world plunged into an ice age around 2.7 million years ago. Levels of CO2 at around 250 parts per […]

Hungary To Halt Gas Deliveries To Ukraine Over Its Energy ‘Blackmail’: Orban Hungary is moving to choke off gas flows to Ukraine, escalating an energy standoff after Kiev halted Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline. Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a fresh social media video address reiterated that Ukraine has blocked the Soviet-era route for a month, and he newly warned: “As long as Ukraine does not provide oil, it will not […]

The US Shows A Way Out Of Germany’s Energy Trap Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Big developments are underway in Tennessee and Alabama. Over the next five years, the joint Japanese-American project will bring several so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) of the BWRX-300 type online. Almost one percent of U.S. electricity production—slightly more than three gigawatts—will be added to the existing energy mix by reactors designed by […]

The One Market Where Meta’s New AI Glasses Can’t Be Sold Meta Platforms’ new AI Ray-Ban smart glasses with a built-in display are facing three major roadblocks in the European Union, where battery rules, AI regulations, and supply constraints have derailed plans to roll out the glasses across the continent. Bloomberg spoke with people familiar with the new AI glasses, an upgrade over the previous model, which lacked built-in […]

“Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!” Shakespeare’s Birthplace To Be “Decolonized” Authored by Jonathan Turley, In Hamlet, William Shakespeare famously wrote, “To thine own self be true.” The problem is when others want to present a different “truth” long after you are gone. Shakespeare is under an unrelenting attack in the United Kingdom from trigger warnings to censoring his prose. Now, Shakespeare’s Birthplace […]

Danish PM Resigns After Disastrous Election Losses For Social Democrats When challenging progressives to give an example of a socialized welfare state that actually works, they will invariably bring up Denmark with its extensive public subsidy programs.  However, the Danish system only functions when the population is small and generally homogeneous (mostly European).  In the past decade, the far-left Danish government under the […]

Germany’s Economy At The Point Of No Return Submitted by Thomas Kolbe If anyone still needed a concrete figure to illustrate the dramatic state of the German economy, the Federal Statistical Office has now delivered it. The country’s investment ratio is negative, as depreciation exceeds nominal investments. Slowly but surely, the lights are going out. Public discourse in Germany often sounds monocaudal and lacks complexity. […]

‘Guard Your Mind’: The Techno-Libertarian Manifesto Via zeptabot substack, Introduction The modern nation-state is not natural nor permanent. It’s a technological product of the industrial era’s logic of mass warfare, bureaucracy, and centralized taxation. That logic is breaking down. In a world of cyberspace, mobile capital, and digital commerce and geography, brute force lose much of their leverage. You cannot conquer the […]

New Lord Of The Rings Movie To Be Written By…Stephen Colbert? There is perhaps nothing more revealing about the desperate state of Hollywood than its obsession with digging up old franchises in a futile race to capitalize on audeince nostalgia.  In fact, it has been widely understood in the film industry for the past decade that almost no project will be greenlit unless it is a reboot, remake or “re-imagining” of a previously […]

Russia Launches Springtime Offensive On Ukraine, As “That Other War” Drags On Just days after we reported that trilateral peace negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the Trump administration had been suspended –  likely indefinitely – thanks to Washington’s escalating involvement in the Iran war, Reuters is now confirming the inevitable: Moscow is pressing ahead with a fresh springtime offensive while Kiev scrambles to hold the […]

Chevron Warns California Facing Historic Fuel Crisis As Diesel Hits Record $7 The world’s biggest energy execs are currently at the annual CERAWeek conclave in Houston where, understandably, they are dropping bulletin bombs reeking of fire and brimstone, and warning the already critical oil/gas situation will only get worse if the pre-war status quo isn’t restored (which incidentally will be great for their bottom lines… until the […]