Individual Economists

10 Wednesday AM Reads

The Big Picture -

My mid-week morning reads:

• Prediction Markets Are Minting a New Type of Insider Trader: Sites like Polymarket were built to price uncertainty. New data shows they might be rewarding privileged knowledge instead. (Businessweek free)

• Treasury Flags Concern Over ‘Potentially Abusive’ Tax Trades: The US Treasury Department has expressed concern over a number of high-profile tax strategies touted by Wall Street that it says may be “too good to be true.” (Bloomberg free) see also ‘Black Holes for Capital Gains’: New Tax Trick Takes Off in ETFs: Investors are seeding ETFs with appreciated assets, taking advantage of an infamous loophole to wash out taxable gains. The ETF structure that lets wealthy investors eliminate capital gains taxes entirely. Bloomberg explains how it works — and why the Treasury just flagged it.(Bloomberg)

• The U.S. homeownership rate may not be as high as you think: Only about half of U.S. adults live in homes they own. The official homeownership rate counts households, not people — and the distinction matters enormously for understanding who’s actually building wealth. One economist has a new way of looking at the issue. (Washington Post)

• Once Bitten: Why Investors Won’t Buy Back a Stock That Burned Them: Every investor has a name or two they’ll never own again – and it’s rarely about the fundamentals. How a single bad experience — one stock crash, one market downturn — permanently distorts an investor’s behavior for decades. The scar tissue is real and measurable. (Essentia Analytics)

• American AI is locked down and proprietary. It’s losing. China’s open-weights AI strategy is winning: its companies are taking the lead. The closed-source American AI model is losing ground to open-source Chinese alternatives. The irony: America’s obsession with IP protection may be the thing that costs it the AI race. (Ben Werdmuller)

• The Chatbot That Foretold Why People Share Secrets With ChatGPT: A Wired excerpt from a new book on ELIZA — the 1960s chatbot that predicted, with eerie accuracy, why humans would eventually pour their hearts out to machines. In the 1960s an MIT professor named Joseph Weizenbaum created a chatbot called ELIZA. The conversations people had with it set precedents for the chatbots to come. (Wired)

• A.I. Drones Are Coming. We Are Not Ready.: Autonomous weapons are no longer theoretical. The world needs a regulatory framework before AI-powered drones make human decision-making in warfare obsolete. (New York Times) see also Armed robots are on the horizon, as Silicon Valley pitches new military tech: The defense-tech pipeline is filling fast — and the Pentagon is eager to buy. (Washington Post)

• ‘Whataboutism’ makes the internet exhausting. Why people think this way: “It’s normal for us to have egocentric processing, to filter the world through our own experiences,” said Micheline Maalouf, a Florida-based licensed mental health counselor and content creator with more than 1 million followers on TikTok. (CNN)

• It’s no longer illegal to destroy the one thing endangered species need most to survive: The Trump administration gutted habitat protection provisions of the Endangered Species Act. What that means for hundreds of species that depend on places, not just policies. A twisted definition of one word is putting hundreds of rare animals at risk. (Vox)

• As Odd as a Clockwork Orange: The Unreliable Narrator and Primary Sources : The Memory Hole revisits Kubrick’s masterpiece through the lens of 2026 — and finds it uncomfortably prophetic about state violence, media manipulation, and the aestheticization of cruelty.   (The Memory Hole).

Video of the day: The Zombie Debts Making Wall Street Rich

Be sure to check out the latest Masters in Business with Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, a modern custodian built as a clean sheet from the ground up, fully integrated with artificial intelligence. He began his career at Morgan Stanley before launching Retirement Wealth Advisors, and then FormulaFolios. The through-line of his career has been creating lower-cost, tech-enabled, financial advice.

Venture capital is already having a record year

Source: Axios

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The post 10 Wednesday AM Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

The UK Censors The Net 'For The Children'

Zero Hedge -

The UK Censors The Net 'For The Children'

Authored by Ted Newson via AmericanThinker.com,

Outgoing British prime ministers have a tendency to rapidly expand the remit of the state in their final days.

Theresa May tied a Net Zero target into law, Rishi Sunak implemented a generational smoking ban.

Keir Starmer is no exception.

The British state has now outlawed social media usage for those under sixteen.

On June 15, Starmer stood at Downing Street to announce that Britain would ban under-16s from social media, after intense pressure from campaigners. Possibly his last meaningful political action before resigning on June 22. Additionally, the now-departed PM has left the door open to curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds. The country that gave the world the liberal philosophy America's Founders drew on is now imposing digital ID and information bans.

The justification is public safety. A framing that has a habit of expanding well beyond its original scope. Banning under-16s from social media is framed as "giving children back their childhoods"; in reality, it has a much darker undertone.

Not all social media is created equal. Depending on how they’re put to use, these platforms can serve as invaluable educational resources. Excessive social media use, as a substitute for going outside, is the real issue that studies show.

As state education systems become increasingly politicized, social media can give curious minds access to alternative perspectives that will help them make sense of the world for themselves. While recently social media algorithms have pushed people into more radical politics, the solution is to change the algorithm, not the user.

My teen years were shaped by non-mainstream thinkers from across the political spectrum. At that time, the UK had a centrist government and a narrow Overton window. In the classroom, there were ‘politically correct’ and ‘politically incorrect’ opinions. To explore views the British commentariat either ignored or scorned, I looked to YouTube. The Oxford and Cambridge debates I found there at fifteen took every viewpoint as worthy of criticism, debate, and rebuttal.

As someone who now works in politics, having the ability to watch ‘adult’ debates from a young age expanded my mind and helped me in learning some key skills for the future. This kind of intellectual curiosity is exactly what under-16s should be showing. A blanket ban on usage will only stunt the growth of the next generation.

The philosopher John Stuart Mill argued that the state may only restrict liberty to prevent harm to others, not to protect people from themselves. A teenager on Instagram harms no one but possibly themselves. That, by the oldest principle in liberal democracy, is their business and their parents', not Starmer's.

An aggressive form of state parenting would at least be understandable (though still unfair) if applied across every facet of young people’s lives. At sixteen you can join the army, have a child, and under Labour's own proposals, vote; but apparently you cannot be trusted with Instagram.

The ban doesn’t make sense for teens, but they’re not the only ones who will be affected. Enforcing the ban will require a system for online age verification. Think digital ID checks for the entire population. The House of Lords has even voted to force VPN providers to implement digital ID to close the workaround.

What could possibly go wrong? Data breaches leading to all manner of harm, that’s what.

This level of paternalism isn’t just in British politics. Despite the various flaws exposed by an Australian social media ban, Spain, Greece, and Slovenia are working on bans of their own. France is also expected to implement an under-15s ban. America must resist the pressure of the bipartisan “child safety” coalition in Congress and resist any expansion of KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act). Not only does age-gating the internet push children onto unmoderated dark-web-adjacent sites, it opens up the rest of the population to providing vast amounts of their personal data to social media companies to appease the government.

What Starmer called putting "power back in parents' hands" actually means handing your passport details to a social media company and handing permanent regulatory power to the Secretary of State; with no sunset clause, no parliamentary override, and no expiry date. It is no longer the case that parents get to decide their own social media policy for their children, the government must go above parents in deciding what is best for children. Ultimately, this leads to people having less individual agency when deciding things. The state, apparently, knows better.

Parents should be allowed to decide what their children see. If they want to use YouTube as an educational tool for their kids, they should be allowed to do so at any age. As things stand, a child aged fifteen would be able to watch Baby Shark videos on YouTube Kids, but be barred from accessing a college lecture.

America was built on freedom and individual rights. It is for that reason, it is one of the most prosperous countries in the world. U.S. lawmakers should resist the urge to follow the rest of the world into overregulation, paternalism, and mass surveillance. Britain is discovering what happens when the state appoints itself the parent of a nation. America was founded precisely to prevent that.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/22/2026 - 02:00

Spain's World Cup Hero Rocks 'Make Spain Great Again' Hat

Zero Hedge -

Spain's World Cup Hero Rocks 'Make Spain Great Again' Hat

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Spain are the world champions again. Ferran Torres came off the bench and smashed home the only goal of the 2026 World Cup final in the 106th minute against Argentina. The next day, as the open-top bus rolled through Madrid and nearly two million Spaniards packed the streets, the hero of the final stood shirtless, draped in the national flag, and wearing a bright red baseball cap that read "Make Spain Great Again."

The image spread instantly. It was impossible to miss the deliberate echo of President Donald Trump's signature slogan. Trump himself had been on the pitch the night before at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, presenting the trophy and medals to Spain's players after their hard-fought 1-0 extra-time victory.

Torres later said of the winning goal: "I think in the end the goal came from 47 million people, not just those of us that are here. Today destiny was written, it was made for us to win. We're far from our people today but we tried to be as close as possible to them."

The far-left government of Pedro Sánchez does not speak for those 47 million. Many Spaniards are fiercely patriotic. They do not like what is being done to their country.

While the players celebrated a second World Cup title, the same government that waved them off continues to flood Spain with mass illegal immigration, grant amnesties to hundreds of thousands of undocumented arrivals, and watch as public services buckle and crime statistics turn ugly.

In April, Sánchez's socialists pushed through a royal decree granting legal status, work permits, and benefits to roughly half a million illegal migrants - potentially as many as 800,000. The result was immediate chaos. Thousands of military-aged men swarmed consulates in Madrid, Bilbao, and Almería, clambering over security gates and forming kilometre-long queues to obtain the paperwork needed for the amnesty.

Registry offices across the country collapsed under the pressure. Migrants camped overnight. Local officials reported daily requests at social services centres jumping from 1,500 to 5,500 in Madrid alone. Municipal unions warned of "extraordinary pressure" and deteriorating service quality. One official, Jose Fernandez, said bluntly: "I think a hasty decision was made, perhaps even intended to create a collapse."

Days later the scenes grew more extreme. Crowds of undocumented migrants stormed the Gambian embassy in Madrid, scaling walls and fences in desperation to secure documents under the same regularisation process.

Patriots who dared to protest the amnesty were met with violence. In Granada, roughly 40 left-wing extremists tried to shut down a Vox rally. Red paint was thrown, police formed cordons, and Vox leader Santiago Abascal had to confront the mob himself.

"They are preventing us from carrying out this act freely," he said. Abascal has repeatedly described the policy as an "invasion" that is accelerating the "thirdworldization" of Spain. "Tomorrow this chaos will move to the health centres, to the social services, to the real estate agencies... It's already happening. Our priority is to reverse it, radically."

Sánchez defends the amnesty as "an act of justice and a necessity." In a letter to citizens he claimed migrants "already form part of our everyday lives" and insisted Spain "is the daughter of migration and will not become the mother of xenophobia."

Globalist money man Alex Soros publicly praised him, declaring the move showed "what real leadership looks like" and adding, "We need more elected leaders like him!"

Ordinary Spaniards see something very different. A July 2025 poll for El Mundo found 70 percent support mass deportation of illegal immigrants - including majorities of Socialist voters. Support reached 92 percent among Popular Party voters and 89 percent among Vox supporters.

The crime data explains why. Foreigners in Spain commit five times more rapes and four times more murders per capita than Spanish citizens. They make up 31 percent of the prison population.

In Catalonia, migrants - 17 percent of the population - account for 91 percent of convicted rapists. Rape reports nationwide have tripled in six years, from 1,878 in 2019 to 5,206 in 2024. Over the last decade the increase stands at 322 percent, far above the EU average of 150 percent.

This is the Spain that Ferran Torres and his teammates returned to as champions. A country whose people still wave the flag, still fill the streets in the millions for a national team victory, and still remember how to sing songs the authorities would prefer they forgot.

During the Euro 2024 semi-final against France, Spanish fans joined others in belting out a controversial melody that UEFA had tried to ban because right-wing crowds had turned it into an anthem against mass migration.

The contrast could not be sharper. On the pitch and in the streets of Madrid, Spaniards celebrated national excellence and belonging. In the corridors of power, the Sánchez government continues to prioritise open borders, globalist applause, and the steady erosion of the very identity that produced a world-beating football team.

Trump, who handed over the trophy, later said of his interactions with Spanish officials: "I spoke to Spain and I congratulated them on having a great team. I really spoke to a lot of people. I have no tension with him. I have no tension with anybody."

The tension that matters is not between presidents. It is between a far-left elite that treats national identity as an embarrassment and a people who still know what it means to make Spain great again.

Torres did not need a press conference. The red cap said enough. For millions of Spaniards watching their services strain, their streets change, and their crime statistics climb, the message landed exactly as intended.

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Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 23:25

'Birthright Senatorship'? - Graham's Sister Announces Bid For Full Term As Mace Opts Out

Zero Hedge -

'Birthright Senatorship'? - Graham's Sister Announces Bid For Full Term As Mace Opts Out

Three days after President Trump publicly urged her to run, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham on Monday afternoon announced that -- unsatisfied with serving as an obviously unqualified interim senator through January -- she will run for the full six-year-term that starts in January. The development seemed to brush another potential candidate off the plate, but another one joined the field on Monday. Possibly seeing Trump's endorsement as too ridiculous to be fully intimidating, others may join a field that officially has five candidates.  

Graham's sister made the announcement on Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Monday night, but a clip of her declaring that she'd run was posted earlier that afternoon, perhaps with the intent to discourage other candidates from filing when the window officially opens today; it closes on Tuesday the 28th: 

“I’ve made a decision. I’m in... I can’t see it any other way. I just don’t. I’ve thought, and I’ve prayed, and he’s worked so hard for so long. I just, I can’t just let that die. I’ve got to step in and carry on his legacy. I know he cared about the people of South Carolina so deeply. He worked so hard for them, and I feel like I can do that, too.”

To be clear, Lindsey Graham's "legacy" centers on relentless advocacy for bloody, expensive and often counterproductive regime-change interventions around the globe, to include collaborating with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to persuade Trump to launch a war on Iran on false premises, and fostering the ouster of Ukraine's democratically-elected president before then leading the charge to pour billions of dollars of weapons into an economy-damaging proxy war against Russia. 

The start of the new week also brought us a rebranding of Graham's sister. When South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to be a placeholder for the remainder of her brother's term that ends in January -- and in the days since -- she was universally referred to as Darline Nordone or Darline Graham Nordone. With her announcement, she's suddenly "Darline Graham," even though she remains married to Larry Nordone, about whom very little is publicly known.

The Darline Graham relabeling is obviously meant to capitalize on name recognition, which, aside from the Trump endorsement, is her only political asset. She has never held an elected office. She's commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, and previously held a communications role in the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department.  Ever the Trump today, Hannity tried using Monday's softball interview to polish Darline Graham's thin resume. "You've had your own life and success," he said. "You have been the commissioner of South Carolina's commission for the blind. You've held this position since 2019. It's a 130 person agency, $90 million budget you ran, 10 offices across South Carolina ... you've got a lot of experience."  

Darline Graham, who seemingly buys her ladies' US-flag brooches at the same place as Mark Levin, called herself Darline Nordone up until Monday

At least one potential opponent seemed to find Trump's endorsement sufficiently threatening: Rep. Nancy Mace, who's poised to hand over her House seat in January after having foregone reelection for a failed bid for governor, had teased at a run on social media within hours of Lindsey Graham's death. On Monday, however, Mace announced she will not enter the GOP special primary election that will take place on Aug. 11, with a potential run-off of the top two finishers on Aug 25. “I’m not running for the U.S. Senate, not because I’m backing down from a fight, but because the one I’m already in matters right now,” she said, referring to her work on laws to protect women and girls who are victims of sexual misconduct. 

Undaunted, Congressman Russell Fry jumped into the race on Monday. Fry was reportedly hand-picked by Trump to unseat Republican Tom Rice in 2022, as payback for Rice's vote to impeach Trump over the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot. He won and is considered close to the Trump team. “There is no other way to put it: Lindsey Graham was one of a kind. There is no replacing him. But I believe the best way to honor his legacy is to fight alongside the President just as steadfastly as he did,” Fry said in a statement. Hedging his bets, Fry will also continue pursuing reelection to the House.   

Nordone Graham and Fry join a field that includes businessman Mark Lynch, who was trounced by Lindsey Graham in the June GOP primary; Duke Buckner, a lawyer who has previously run for the state's heavily-Democratic 6th Congressional District seat; and US Rep. Ralph Norman. At 73 years old, Norman's age might be a liability, but he's picked up endorsements from Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Turning Point Action and Nancy Mace. 

The winner will go up against Democrat pediatrician Annie Andrews, who previously failed to unseat Mace, and who has founded a PAC focusing on issues like climate change, gun control and voting rights. Before Lindsey Graham suddenly died on July 11 from an aortic dissection, the Cook Political Report rated the South Carolina seat "Solid R." That's unlikely to change no matter who wins the Aug 11 GOP primary.

The big question is whether Trump's endorsement and outside spending in a very short race can overcome Darline Graham's lack of credentials -- and perhaps some reluctance among South Carolina Republicans to see their Senate seat treated like inheritable property. So far there's no indication there will be a debate among the candidates. That's a shame for South Carolina voters, but Darline Graham must be relieved that she won't have to face at least four other candidates and a moderator grilling her on a variety of national and international issues she likely knows very little about and has even less experience articulating. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 23:00

Data Centers Were Responsible For 46% Of PJM's Last Four Capacity Auction Costs

Zero Hedge -

Data Centers Were Responsible For 46% Of PJM's Last Four Capacity Auction Costs

By Ethan Howland of UtilityDive

Data centers are responsible for $6.3 billion, or 38%, of the $16.4 billion in charges from the PJM Interconnection’s just-held capacity auction, Joseph Bowring, president of Monitoring Analytics, said in an email to Utility Dive. Monitoring Analytics is the grid operator’s independent market monitor.

In PJM’s last four base capacity auctions, data center-driven capacity charges totaled $29.4 billion — 46% of the $63.6 billion in total capacity charges in that period, Bowring said. Monitoring Analytics plans to publish its analysis of the most recent auction in a few weeks, he said.

PJM isn’t fully grappling with the ramifications of data center development, according to Bowring. “PJM is continuing to act like it’s business as usual,” he said in an interview on Friday. “You have to open your eyes and recognize that it is really a paradigm shift, and failing to do that imposes costs on other customers.”

Ratepayers in PJM are not only paying capacity charges for existing and potential data centers, they are paying for higher energy and transmission costs data centers have caused, according to Bowring.

PJM’s capacity auctions and the price of electricity has become a major political issue in the grid operator’s footprint, which includes 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia. In September, governors from PJM states formed a collaborative to advocate for their interests with the grid operator.

On March 4, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other data center companies pledged at the White House that they would protect consumers from price hikes due to data center energy and infrastructure requirements.

However, meeting that pledge is impossible in PJM under its current rules, according to Bowring.

“There’s only one way to do what hyperscalers agree is the right thing to do, and that is to run a separate auction,” Bowring said. “That’s good for the hyperscalers … because it allows them to get capacity and be served reliably, and it’s good for other customers because it separates out the impact from the data center.”

First, data centers and other large loads should contract for their own generation, according to a proposal the market monitor made last month as part of PJM’s fast-track stakeholder process for a backstop reliability auction. For those that can’t bring their own generation, PJM should hold separate auctions to procure their capacity supplies under 15-year contracts, Bowring said.

PJM buys capacity ahead of time — normally three years in advance — based on its demand forecast. However, it is unclear exactly how much data center load will materialize, adding uncertainty to the forecast.

While PJM has tried to make its data center forecasts more accurate, there is growing opposition to data centers across the United States, with some major projects getting canceled, Morningstar DBRS said in a report released Monday.

“As states consider new taxes, restrictions, and moratoriums on data center growth, escalating stakeholder opposition could become a material credit factor, potentially weakening data center project credit quality by reducing development visibility, increasing regulatory risk, and challenging assumptions around the pace and certainty of future AI-driven capacity expansion,” the credit ratings agency said.

Under Monitoring Analytics’ auction proposal, removing data centers — and the uncertainty around their future loads — from the base capacity auction ensures ratepayers won’t pay for unneeded capacity.

PJM’s board is developing a backstop auction proposal for data centers that it aims to file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this month so the auction can take place in September.

Under a plan that received the most support in the stakeholder process, utilities and other load-serving entities, and potentially data centers themselves, would ask PJM to buy a specific amount of capacity in a one-time auction. PJM staff proposed that it would procure in a one-time auction the shortfall from its last base capacity auction — about 6.8 GW.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 22:35

CIA Distances Itself From Trump's Iran War With Media Leak

Zero Hedge -

CIA Distances Itself From Trump's Iran War With Media Leak

It seems that CIA and other US intelligence officials hope to distance themselves from Trump's Iran war, now with the US-initiated conflict having dragged on for nearly five months (with no end in sight), after White House officials had in the opening days touted a swift, limited military excursion. 

They are leaking intelligence to the press which shows they have assessed that current American strikes on Iran are unlikely to change Iran's negotiating position. With tankers in Hormuz on fire and others too afraid to move, Iran is vowing that it will keep its leverage over the strait at all costs.

The Washington Post report says that "Iran's government is unlikely to feel significant impact or soften its negotiating position as a result of new rounds of U.S. military strikes like those now underway, according to a new intelligence assessment described by current and former U.S. officials."

To a large degree this intel assessment is stating the obvious, which should have been well understood far in advance. It seems intel officials want to get it on record that they predict a quagmire as the White House seeks to extricate itself and the global economy from the crisis (of its own making) in the Gulf. Escalation in air strikes will only further stalemate the situation, the intel analysis forecasts. 

Stating the obvious is further on full display in lines from the WaPo report like the following: "Analysts at American spy agencies also have concluded that Tehran and Washington are, for now, stuck in an indefinite limbo between peace and war, the officials said — an uneasy dynamic given the increasingly deadly nature of the tit-for-tat hostilities between the two nations. The current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the assessments because of their sensitivity."

President Trump has reportedly been briefed on the assessment. According to more:

The latest intelligence report was written primarily by the CIA, where analysts have underscored the Tehran regime's staying power despite the loss of many of its top leaders and much of its military hardware to U.S. and Israeli attacks. In May, a CIA analysis concluded that Iran could survive a U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship.

As of Monday, Trump previewed harder hits on Iran to come after the killing of multiple US troops in Jordan and neighboring Iraq. At least two died during a ballistic missile attack in Jordan, while one service member was killed in northern Iraq.

Again, here's more of the obvious from the Post report:

Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer for the Near East, said that the Trump administration appears to believe that if it keeps hitting Iran harder militarily, Tehran eventually will become more flexible. “That assessment is almost certainly incorrect,” said Panikoff, senior director at the Atlantic Council think tank.

Iran’s government has repeatedly shown that its number one priority is survival of the regime, and that it is willing to suffer blows despite the harm to its people and economy, he said.

It's quite the irony when the hawks have lost even the Atlantic Council.

But a number of more independent-minded analysts have predicted this would spiral into a quagmire from day one.

"We need to give honest answers to direct questions like this," University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape said Sunday. "The bottom line is there's absolutely no doubt President Trump underestimated Iran."

"We are still continuing to underestimate, in my opinion," Pape said. "We're having a very hard time, as countries do, seeing the nationalist fighters on the other side of the battlefield. And those are burning quite bright now in Iran."

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 22:10

DOJ Probing Harvard Over Financial Aid Programs Linked To China-Based Sources

Zero Hedge -

DOJ Probing Harvard Over Financial Aid Programs Linked To China-Based Sources

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

The Justice Department (DOJ) said on July 20 that it was investigating whether Harvard University violated Title VI by excluding American students from financial aid programs funded by China-based sources.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on July 4, 2025. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

The DOJ announced that Harvard's foreign funding disclosures raised concerns about its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin.

Universities are required by federal law to report gifts and contracts from foreign sources that exceed $250,000 in a year. Harvard had disclosed nearly $4.5 billion in foreign funding, of which $630 million came from sources based in China - the university's largest source of foreign funding - the department said.

According to the DOJ, Harvard appears to accept funds from China-based sources that require the university to establish financial aid programs "with preference given to students from particular countries."

"Schools cannot take federal dollars and then turn around and accept money from foreign sources to give financial aid that deliberately excludes American citizens - doing so is illegal, and we will stop it wherever we find it," Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said in the statement.

The department said it notified Harvard of its compliance review through a notice letter but emphasized that it has not reached any conclusions about the investigation.

Dhillon said in the letter that the investigation would focus on "possible national origin discrimination" in Harvard's student aid and benefits arising from "restrictions in grants and gifts received by Harvard from foreign funding sources."

Harvard said in a statement to news outlets that it was reviewing the DOJ's notice.

"Harvard follows the law for required reporting of donations and, consistent with our legal obligations under Title VI, does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin in allocating financial aid," the university said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said that education cooperation between the two nations is mutually beneficial.

The Ivy League university has been at the center of broader federal efforts to enforce anti-discrimination laws under Title VI. Last year, federal officials opened an investigation into reports that the Harvard Law Review employed "race-based criteria" for its journal membership and article selection process.

In March, the Education Department launched two probes into Harvard, one to determine whether the university used race-based preferences in its admissions process and another to investigate allegations of ongoing anti-Semitic harassment on campus due to the war in Gaza.

Harvard has made public its internal reviews addressing anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents, and said it is in compliance with federal civil rights laws while working to foster an inclusive campus.

Kimberly Hayek and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 21:45

Oklo, X-Energy Join $200 Million Federal Nuclear Push For AI: Bloomberg

Zero Hedge -

Oklo, X-Energy Join $200 Million Federal Nuclear Push For AI: Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports that reactor developers Oklo and X-energy are joining a $200 million Trump administration-led program designed to speed new nuclear power plants for artificial intelligence data centers.

Details could be announced Wednesday at a Department of Energy AI energy summit. Microsoft and Nvidia are also involved in the previously announced initiative, while several DOE national laboratories and the University of Texas at Austin are slated to share $60 million over three years, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.

“Among the goals of the latest initiative are steep reductions in time needed to design, license and build new plants, as well as cuts in the number of staff needed to run them”

X-energy jumped as much as 12% after hours, while Oklo gained as much as 9.9%.

The program reportedly targets steep reductions in the time and workforce required to design, license, build and operate reactors. It would join a rapidly expanding federal nuclear support stack:

  • Westinghouse fleet program: At least $80 billion of aggregate project value for new AP1000 reactors, with the government arranging financing and facilitating approvals.

  • US-Japan partnership: Up to $40 billion of Japanese-backed investment for GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 projects in Tennessee and Alabama.

  • Gen III+ SMRs: $800 million in cost-shared DOE awards, split between TVA’s BWRX-300 project and Holtec’s SMR-300 project.

  • Reactor Pilot Program: An expedited DOE authorization pathway for 11 initial projects, with developers responsible for project costs.

  • Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program: Roughly $3.2 billion in federal cost-share commitments for TerraPower’s Natrium and X-energy’s Xe-100 demonstrations.

Compared with those capital-heavy programs, the new $200 million effort appears aimed at a different choke point: potentially using AI, federal labs and industry partnerships to compress the paperwork and engineering timelines standing between reactor designs and power-hungry data centers.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 21:20

India Keeps Buying Russian Oil At Near-Record Pace Despite Expired Waiver

Zero Hedge -

India Keeps Buying Russian Oil At Near-Record Pace Despite Expired Waiver

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

India's crude oil imports have remained close to record-high levels in July despite the end of the U.S. waiver the previous month.

The U.S. quietly let the waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil loaded on tankers expire on June 17, just as the U.S. and Iran signed the memorandum of understanding to continue negotiations on a deal.

Yet, Indian imports of Russian crude has continued to flow in July, many of which may have been cargoes that were arranged during the window covered by the U.S. waiver.

So India's imports of crude oil from Russia have averaged 2.45 million barrels per day (bpd) so far this month, according to data by Kpler cited by Indian media.

The July imports from Russia are not far off the record high level of 2.64 million bpd in June, when India boosted purchases from Russia, encouraged by the U.S. waiver that has been extended by a month a few times since March.

The Iran war and the Hormuz crisis further cemented Russia's position as the single largest crude oil supplier to India

So far in July, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has ranked second, supplying an average of 617,000 bpd, while Saudi Arabia has been India's third largest supplier with 586,000 bpd in early July, per Kpler data.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have workarounds to ship crude from terminals outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia has redirected most of its shipments to the Yanbu export port on the Red Sea, while the UAE has relied on a pipeline to Fujairah and ship-to-ship transfers on tankers offshore Oman and the UAE east of the Strait of Hormuz.

Going forward, Russian crude will remain a key source of oil supply for India even if the U.S. doesn't renew the waiver for Russian crude already loaded on tankers, analysts say.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 20:55

Ukraine's Army Chief Latest To Fall Victim To Zelensky's Risky Reshuffle 

Zero Hedge -

Ukraine's Army Chief Latest To Fall Victim To Zelensky's Risky Reshuffle 

Zelensky strikes again in another major military firing, amid his promised big cabinet and military 'reshuffle'. 

The Ukrainian president announced Tuesday that he was dismissing Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of country's army, and appointing joint forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty in his place. Syrsky was in the post for nearly two-and-a-half years, since February 2024.

Now former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky

"I have decided that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Mykhailo Drapaty... I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrsky and to each of our warriors for Ukraine's strong front-line positions," Zelensky unveiled in a post on Telegram.

The decision comes just days after popular 35-year old defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov was sacked, despite his reputation for orchestrating the ramped-up drone war on Russia.

And the defense chief's removal had come soon on the heels of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko's surprise ousting last week, upon which Zelensky in a suggested a broader government overhaul was underway. "Ukraine is changing its political strategy," he made clear.

President Zelensky's Tuesday evening address included mention that he had offered ​former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov ​a "decent post" to oversee the technological ⁠component of the ⁠state.

The remark of taking care of Fedorov is a clear attempt to calm masses of Ukrainians who took to the streets in a rare wartime protest over his shock removal.

Zelensky has said he is doing all of this as part of a new strategy to take the war to Russia and its territory.

"A significant path has been walked, Ukraine’s defense continues, and every soldier deserves proper respect," Zelensky said. "I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrsky and to every one of our soldiers for Ukraine’s strong front-line positions."

"Tomorrow we will formalize all decisions. Ukraine must emerge from this situation stronger, and it will become harder for Russia," he said.

The past week has witnessed some high drama within the top echelons of defense ranks, as Kyiv Post explains:

Fedorov said after his dismissal that he had pushed for Syrsky’s removal, accusing the commander-in-chief of blocking military reforms, and calling for changes in the military’s top leadership while defending his own record on robotics, drones and air defense. Under Fedorov’s tenure, Ukraine deepened its reliance on unmanned systems for dangerous frontline missions. Since January, the military has carried out more than 50,000 logistics and evacuation missions using ground robotic complexes (GRCs) in order to preserve soldiers’ lives in high-risk situations. 

In a rare personal column, Syrsky broke silence and apologized to ousted Fedorov, saying he had no knowledge of their conflict before it spilled into public view. “For me, it was a surprise to learn that the minister and I had a conflict. I saw our relationship as a working one, with difficult questions and different positions” Syrsky wrote. “If I offended someone with something: Mykhailo Albertovych [Fedorov], I’m sorry. I can be tough,” he continued.

When you've lost The Economist...

All of this raises serious questions for Ukraine's current narrative that it now has the momentum against Russia. If things are going so well, then why undergo risky and drastic leadership changes.

It could be that things are actually not going well and the nature of Ukraine's drone warfare is necessarily limited in scope. It might get media-capturing hits on Russian oil depots, but Russian forces by many accounts keep grinding forward slowly and methodically on the front lines in the east.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 20:30

Thousands Of Noncitizens Registered To Vote In New Jersey, Governor Admits

Zero Hedge -

Thousands Of Noncitizens Registered To Vote In New Jersey, Governor Admits

Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said a software error in the state's Motor Vehicle Commission system resulted in roughly 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens being registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), speaks to the media after casting her vote in Montclair, N.J., on Nov. 4, 2025. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

Sherrill said in a statement that the individuals answered "no" when asked on a keypad whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver's licenses or identification cards, but were registered because of a software error.

According to the governor, a preliminary analysis found that fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered because of the error voted. She said those voters were registered as Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters and were located throughout the state.

The governor said the issue occurred under the previous administration. She said she has directed her chief counsel to investigate what happened and ordered election officials to remove any residents who were erroneously added to the voter rolls during that period.

In a press conference, the governor said the error was fixed in June 2024, but she learned about it recently.

Sherrill also said the Motor Vehicle Commission administrator she appointed has begun replacing the vendor responsible for administering the system.

Sherrill said she was "appalled" by what she described as failures that allowed the error to occur and said those responsible would be held accountable.

She also accused the Trump administration of attempting to "weaponize elections for political gain."

The White House said in an email to The Epoch Times that the New Jersey error highlights the need to pass the SAVE America Act, which Republicans say is necessary to ensure election integrity.

"Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot. Time and again, they have been proven wrong," White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated.

"As President [Donald] Trump has said, there is nothing more important than the integrity of our elections. And this latest incident underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act. American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure - President Trump will never stop fighting to make that happen and all patriotic Americans should join in his effort."

The governor said the state would continue taking steps to ensure that only eligible citizens vote and that lawful votes are counted.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 20:05

'I See Dead People': Treasury Blocks $99 Million In Federal Payments To Deceased Americans

Zero Hedge -

'I See Dead People': Treasury Blocks $99 Million In Federal Payments To Deceased Americans

The Treasury Department announced Tuesday morning that it has successfully implemented new safeguards to prevent government payments to dead people in an effort to reduce waste and fraud.

The verification system includes screening 885 million federal payments against expanded death records, effectively auditing payments totaling nearly $2.7 trillion.

It has already flagged and stopped payments totaling roughly $99 million that had been marked to be sent to dead people.

"Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

"Together with Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient. Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars."

As Jack Phillips reports for The Epoch Times, while speaking to Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo on July 21, Bessent said his office believes there is “up to $350 million that we can stop before the end of this year” in line with Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force that was initiated earlier this year.

“This number might be up to $500 billion, which is about 1.66 percent of GDP,“ he added, referring to potentially improper payments that could be blocked.

”So that could go a long way towards paying down the debt, providing more services. And this is just the start.”

In February, Trump signed the “Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act,” which authorizes the Treasury Department to access the Social Security death master file to evaluate payments.

Access was initially granted on a temporary, three-year basis through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed in 2021, according to the Treasury.

In March, Trump signed an order to establish the Vance-led task force to investigate the federal government’s “vast benefits system for citizens in need that includes housing, food, medical care, cash assistance, and more” while stating that some states have not implemented “basic fraud controls.”

Vance in May said that the fraud task force has located and “exposed billions of dollars in benefits that have been stolen from the American people” in two months.

He cited fraudulent payments sent out through small business loans, Medicaid reimbursements, and COVID-19-related relief programs.

In early 2025, the Elon Musk-associated Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established to look into fraud, waste, and abuse across the federal government. DOGE recently announced that its mandate ended on July 4.

At one point, DOGE staffers were investigating Social Security payments and records for possible fraud. DOGE’s access was the subject of numerous lawsuits before the Supreme Court ruled in DOGE’s favor last summer. The task force in May 2025 said it performed a “major cleanup” of the agency’s records, finding that 12.3 million people in the system were marked as “deceased.”

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request on Tuesday for additional comment on the figures that Bessent provided.

Bessent added in a statement that the department will “continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 19:40

"Who The F**k Is This?": Jon Stewart Thinks He Discovered Trump's Body Double

Zero Hedge -

"Who The F**k Is This?": Jon Stewart Thinks He Discovered Trump's Body Double

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Jon Stewart spent a chunk of Monday's Daily Show convinced America had just unlocked a secret presidential spare after spotting a mysterious figure strolling behind President Donald Trump on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews.

The late-night comic was already deep into his usual routine of roasting Trump when he focused on the appearance of someone who resembled the President in the background of the Trump's gaggle with reporters.

Stewart had been needling Trump for lingering onstage during Spain's trophy celebration after their 1-0 win over Argentina, calling him "Cankles Muldoon" and asking, "What the f*ck are you doing on the stage? It's for the players!"

He then played the clip of Trump telling reporters the tournament was "four times greater than any FIFA ever held," before the president upgraded the claim: "That is probably about five times actually, they're telling me today."

Stewart's response: "How do you hold 'a FIFA'? How could our FIFA be four times greater than any other FIFA? ... Is that what they told you? You know, they're telling you that because everyone around you lies to you because you're a little baby."

Then the host slammed on the brakes.

"What's up with the guy behind Trump? Can we see that again? Can you bring that out? Who the fuck is this guy? Who the fuck is this? Is this... What? Who in the world is it? Oh my God! Is that a back-up Trump? Is that - Wait a minute, wait. Hold on a second."

He kept going, fully committed: "Wait, what? Wait, Who? What? Is that a back-up Trump or is that Trump? Wait, is the one we've been dealing with back-up Trump or is that Trump?!"

The resemblance was close enough that Stewart's brain briefly short-circuited. The man walking the tarmac had the same build, the same hair energy, the same general aura of someone who could probably get away with signing an executive order if no one looked too closely.

Spoiler: it wasn't a body double. It was Viktor Knavs, Melania Trump's 82-year-old father and the president's father-in-law. The Slovenian businessman has been a quiet but regular presence around the Trump family for years, and the two men have always shared a certain physical similarity that becomes especially obvious when one of them is casually strolling into frame behind the other.

Still, Stewart's "backup Trump" theory is too good to fully discard.

Given the number of threats and actual assassination attempts this president has already survived, having a ready-made spare on the payroll doesn't sound like the worst idea in the world.

Full Stewart video below:

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 Tue, 07/21/2026 - 19:15

"Safeguard Our Homeland": FCC Moves To Ban Foreign Military-Grade Drone Imports

Zero Hedge -

"Safeguard Our Homeland": FCC Moves To Ban Foreign Military-Grade Drone Imports

A little more than a week after we exposed military-grade interceptor drones being openly marketed on Facebook as dual-use technology by a Hong Kong-based company, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a proposal to prohibit the importation and sale of foreign-produced military-grade drones in the U.S.

"Today, the FCC took additional action to safeguard our homeland. We have proposed banning the sale of foreign, military-grade drones, including those capable of swarming," Carr wrote on X, adding, "Another step to strengthening and securing America's drone supply chain."

Carr published a public notice in which the FCC is seeking comments on a proposal to prohibit the continued importation and sale of previously authorized foreign-made military-grade drones and critical components to buyers outside the U.S. government, including systems with swarming capabilities.

The notice stated that these dual-use drones "pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons"…

Our July 13 report, titled "Why Is China Advertising Insane War Drones on Facebook", turned some heads when we showed readers just how easy it was to acquire interceptor drones from China.

The Hong Kong seller we spoke to provided a pricing sheet within minutes... 

Earlier today, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine warned during a Senate hearing about the dangerous new world in which these low-cost drones are proliferating.

The federal government knows a domestic drone incident involving a threat actor as a question of when, not if. That view is accelerating the race to harden US airspace around military installations, critical infrastructure, mass gatherings and other high-value targets.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 18:50

The Failure Gap

The Big Picture -

 

 

We are all systematically blind to how often things fail. (Thank you to Joachim Klement for bringing this to my attention)

Why else would anyone ever invest in a restaurant and/or a play? For every Hamilton, there are 100,000 plays that never get anywhere. Every successful restaurant you see is an exception, not the rule. Long hours, razor-thin margins, lots of management headaches, and ever-changing trends make it an extremely difficult business. A great restaurant may be a good business, but the industry itself is incredibly difficult. It’s a lousy business, defined by its most notable exceptions — and fast food.1

The Failure Gap goes into great detail about this. The paper’s authors reviewed over 30 “life domains”; they determined that failure occurs about 61% of the time. But ask people what the failure rate is, and they wildly underestimate it: About 41% is the average number they give.

We collectively underestimate restaurant closures, college non-completion (true rate ~64% at the 20 largest U.S. colleges), OTC painkiller inefficacy (~52% get no meaningful relief), hospital hand-hygiene lapses (~50%), and TSA screening misses. We even estimated NHL teams collectively lose only 44% of games — a logical impossibility in a league where every game produces a winner and a loser.2

This is a variant of a question we discussed here two years ago: “What do people actually know relative to what they believe they know?“ The chart nearby looks remarkably similar to the one above…

To find out, the authors scanned 2.4 million news articles, plus social media and online reviews, and found failure under-reported relative to its actual occurrence in every domain. One shocking example: glowing Advil reviews on Amazon collapsed their inefficacy estimates from 30% to 7% vs. a 52% actual rate.

In our age of social media, we see a further driver of this yet: Failure is under-shared. This somehow creates an unholy combination of survivorship bias and availability heuristic, making our collective failure estimations not just wildly wrong, but consistently so, and in the same direction.

I have been using the phrase denominator blindness, but the paper implies a new variant: “Base-rate blindness.”

~~~

Check out the full paper below…

 

 

 

Previously:
Another Reason Why Polling is So Bad (August 15, 2024)

 

Source:
The Failure Gap
Eskreis-Winkler, Woolley, Kim & Polimeni
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2025)

See also:
The failure gap
Joachim Klement
Jul 17, 2026

 

 

__________

1. I discuss this extensively in How Not to Invest. In addition to survivorship steering us to underestimate how often things fail, we further underestimate just how fragile and rare success can be.

2. Unlike World Cup soccer, the NHL produces zero ties…

 

The post The Failure Gap appeared first on The Big Picture.

Cuban President Warns "McCarthyism Is Back" As US Begins Fight Against Marxist Subversion Networks

Zero Hedge -

Cuban President Warns "McCarthyism Is Back" As US Begins Fight Against Marxist Subversion Networks

One day after the US government convened delegations from 65 countries at the Harry S Truman Building in Washington to coordinate action against far-left extremism and Marxist subversion networks across the West, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded sharply in a post on X, signaling grave concern that the Trump administration intends to unleash a new era of McCarthyism to combat the "radical left."

"A new and more dangerous version of McCarthyism is back in the United States," Díaz-Canel wrote on X one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent postured and essentially declared war on the radical left, Marxist groups, and foreign subversion networks.

Díaz-Canel visiting the grave of Karl Marx 

Why would Díaz-Canel care about Rubio and Bessent combating the far-left NGOs on US soil?

Well, as a State Department report released on Monday showed, "For more than six decades, the Cuban regime has been the leading sponsor of radical leftism and Third Worldism in the United States."

We explained in December how Cuba's subversion networks are run, and at the center of the influence network is the now-sanctioned Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples, known as ICAP. The organization claims more than 2,000 affiliated solidarity groups across 150 countries.

Former Cuban intelligence agents cited in the State Department report allege that roughly 90% of ICAP personnel are connected to Cuban intelligence operations. So this basically means ICAP functions as the intake valve for the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), a deliberately loose coalition that links 77 left-wing activist organizations, nonprofits, and campaigns while minimizing legal exposure and clear command structures.

Notice that the Democratic Socialists of America are members of NNOC. Also, it is worth noting that the DSA has said they are "partners" of sanctioned ICAP.

It now makes sense why the DSA wants to "destroy America from within"... Cuban communists feel the same way. 

Díaz-Canel sees US pressure tightening around Havana as a wake-up call for him and his communist partners. The era of far-left activists and US political leaders participating in workshops with Cuban communist organizations appears to have come to an abrupt end.

The Trump administration's campaign to dismantle foreign-backed influence and subversion networks linked to Cuba and China could significantly weaken Havana's ability to shape radical movements across the American left. With elements of the DSA embracing revolutionary rhetoric that even establishment Democrats have rejected, the effort to expose and disrupt Marxist networks could develop into a rare bipartisan national-security initiative. We suspect that's already underway.

Democrats have become so radical that now lefty Bill Maher is contemplating a vote for JD Vance.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 18:00

This Sex Robot Is Going To 'Teach' Your Kids In Schools

Zero Hedge -

This Sex Robot Is Going To 'Teach' Your Kids In Schools

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

A rural New York school district on the Seneca Nation reservation is set to become one of the first in the United States to place a lifelike humanoid robot in front of high school students.

Starting this fall, Salamanca High School will introduce "Sally," an M-Series robot built by Realbotix, to assist in coding, robotics, and AI classes for 11th and 12th graders.

Sally comes with brown hair, silicone skin, a Western New York accent, upper-body movement, and facial expressions. She remains seated and cannot walk the room. Students will log in with unique identification codes so the machine can recognize them and pick up previous interactions.

The full package - robot plus the accompanying Optio AI tutor platform - cost the district $57,590, a discounted figure below the average New York teacher salary and well under the company's listed starting price near $95,000.

"The Realbotix educational robot will never replace teachers, staff members, or meaningful human interaction," the Salamanca City Central School District stated. Instead, they describe it as an instructional tool loaded only with district-approved curriculum, historical information about Salamanca, and content designed to encourage critical thinking rather than simply spit out answers.

The system reportedly operates offline with no internet connection, collects no personally identifiable information, records neither video nor audio, and transmits nothing back to the company. If asked something outside its knowledge base, it is programmed to reply "I don't know."

Realbotix CEO Andrew Kiguel called the deployment "a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics." He added: "We are moving beyond lab demonstrations and pilots to deliver real, embodied AI directly into classrooms, supporting teachers, engaging students, and proving that advanced robotics can thrive in live educational environments. Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education."

Superintendent Dr. Mark Beehler expressed enthusiasm for giving students "a safe, Salamanca-specific AI tutor" and educators customized tools. The pilot begins with students in the district's Woz ED AI and Robotics pathway - curriculum inspired by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak - and could expand to roughly 500 high school students if deemed successful.

Students will also interact with digital avatars of the robot on laptops for after-hours tutoring, homework help, and support in multiple languages.

The company behind Sally has a more colorful history. Realbotix previously acquired the parent firm of RealDoll, the well-known manufacturer of hyper-realistic sex dolls and companion robots. Officials stress that the education division operates separately in staff, facilities, and technology, with a planned ownership separation, yet the connection has not gone unnoticed.

Reactions on X captured the skepticism. One popular reply asked bluntly, "Why does the robot have lip injections?" Another observed the contradiction in officials promising robots will never replace teachers while simultaneously noting the machine costs less than a human educator.

Critics pointed to the company's adult-product roots and questioned the wisdom of placing such technology in front of teenagers in an economically challenged community. Homeschool advocates seized on the moment to argue that parents should simply keep their children out of systems experimenting with this level of automation.

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 Tue, 07/21/2026 - 17:40

Democrats Are Fighting A Civil War, And Bernie Sanders Started It

Zero Hedge -

Democrats Are Fighting A Civil War, And Bernie Sanders Started It

Democrats desperately want to retake the House in November, not just to thwart President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, but to launch countless investigations under the guise of oversight. However, their most stubborn obstacle to achieving this goal isn't President Trump or the Republican Party. The biggest obstacle actually sits inside their own party. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has spent this cycle bankrolling primary challengers against sitting Democrats, and the fight has split the party into two camps that can barely stand each other.

Sanders recently announced plans to defeat a sitting House Democrat from North Carolina who belongs to the Congressional Black Caucus. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called Sanders personally to warn him off interfering in House primaries during a midterm year that could decide control of Congress, CNN reported, citing three Democrats familiar with the previously unreported call. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) sat in on that call and told the outlet that Sanders showed little concern about the warning. The call came just before Rep. Valerie Foushee defeated primary challenger Nida Allam in North Carolina in March. Jeffries later declined to describe the exchange beyond calling it honest.

Sanders sits at the height of his influence in Democratic politics right now, which makes the timing of this civil war particularly inconvenient for a party trying to project unity heading into the fall. The dispute comes down to a simple question: should Democrats run candidates who can actually win swing districts, or candidates who fire up the base and risk losing everyone else? Sanders has chosen one side, and the establishment the other. He has endorsed more than 90 candidates this cycle and helped topple House incumbents in New York City and Colorado. Of the 60 Sanders-backed candidates whose races have concluded, 42 have won, including 10 of 16 federal candidates. Senior Washington Democrats grumble that Sanders is forcing the party to burn money on internal fights instead of saving it for Republicans in November.

Then there's Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate Sanders backed and defended even after the New York Times reported allegations of abusive behavior toward women. Sanders kept defending him until after allegations of rape surfaced, which Platner has denied. Sanders withdrew his endorsement only then.

Platner's exit from the race, according to OpenSecrets, put the Democratic Party in a deep financial hole. Platner can't simply transfer his campaign funds to his replacement, and whoever takes his place will ultimately have to overcome a huge cash disadvantage compared to Sen. Susan Collins.

"Bernie has endorsed some flawed candidates recently," Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan said. "I think it's really important to look at the judgment that has been exercised. The Graham Platner situation should be a huge warning sign to a lot of voters about what that stamp of approval might mean."

Michigan is where this rift boiled over this weekend, as Sanders held rallies - joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and House candidate William Lawrence. Asked whether he's making it harder for Democrats to win in November, the 84-year-old Sanders said no and argued his candidates represent working people rather than wealthy donors. El-Sayed's support for Medicare for All and his criticism of Israel and AIPAC have made him a progressive favorite. At the same time, the party establishment favors Rep. Haley Stevens as the safer bet against likely GOP nominee former Rep. Mike Rogers. Retiring Sen. Gary Peters had planned to stay neutral in the August 4 primary but endorsed Stevens last week instead.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has made his preference for Stevens clear. However, he avoided direct criticism of Sanders when asked, saying Democrats would settle on a nominee suited to the state. Rep. Ro Khanna compared Sanders' standing in the party to that of the pope and Barack Obama. Rep. Josh Gottheimer sees something else entirely.

"The DSA, which Bernie's part of, is trying to hijack the Democratic Party, and what you're seeing is people don't want that," Gottheimer said. "The Democratic Party wants to be the Democratic Party, and he's trying to use the Democratic Party as a vessel for socialism, and people don't want socialism."

Lawrence, a 35-year-old democratic socialist and climate activist, brings his own headache. Jeffries and Meeks condemned remarks reported by the Huffington Post in which Lawrence said black political leaders "take the teeth out of the white left" - language Jeffries called deeply disturbing - and party leaders worry a Lawrence win could cost them a must-win Lansing-area seat held by Republican Rep. Tom Barrett. Lawrence apologized on CNN, saying the comments misrepresented his values. The Congressional Black Caucus's political arm is funding ads against him, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin broke her usual neutrality to back former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, one of Lawrence's two rivals in the three-way primary along with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink. Even Ocasio-Cortez, scheduled to appear at the same Sunday stop, would not say whether she was comfortable campaigning alongside him: "I haven't endorsed in it. I haven't waded into it at all."

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 17:20

DOJ Seeks To Rescind US Citizenship Granted To 10 Individuals

Zero Hedge -

DOJ Seeks To Rescind US Citizenship Granted To 10 Individuals

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that it has filed to denaturalize 10 individuals charged or convicted with various crimes, including offenses against minors.

“Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation,” the DOJ said in a July 20 statement, adding that the Trump administration was continuing its “largest denaturalization effort ever.”

One of the individuals targeted for denaturalization is Rodriguez Perez, 45, of Cuban origin, who was naturalized as an American in 2018. Prior to obtaining citizenship, Perez engaged in Medicare fraud worth more than $886,694 and concealed this conduct during the naturalization process.

Perez pleaded guilty in the case and was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare and wire fraud.

Another individual, Urbano Vazquez Ortega, 53, a Mexican naturalized in July 2017, had sexually assaulted children while being employed as a church priest in Washington. The crimes were committed between 2015 and 2017. Ortega was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019.

A third individual, Omar Cantu-Montalvo, 44, from Mexico, was naturalized in December 2005 after claiming in his application that he had never committed a crime. However, Cantu-Montalvo was later sentenced to 100 months in prison by a court for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a scheme he joined just a few months before applying for naturalization.

Other individuals have been charged with crimes such as carrying a concealed firearm, sexually abusing a minor, misrepresenting identity to secure citizenship, and wire fraud.

“These 10 criminal aliens—including child sex abusers, a $900,000 Medicare fraudster, and a cocaine trafficker—lied their way into U.S. citizenship,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement.

“Each of these individuals lacked the good moral character required by law and procured citizenship through willful misrepresentations and concealment of their crimes. Under President Trump’s leadership, this Department of Justice will continue to aggressively pursue denaturalization to restore integrity to America’s naturalization process.”

In January, the Southern District of Texas court, McAllen Division, issued an order to revoke the citizenship of a naturalized person convicted of a child sex offense.

In March, the DOJ announced it had secured the denaturalization of two individuals—a convicted gun trafficker and a healthcare fraudster.

As of late April, the Trump administration had filed 22 denaturalization cases in its second term, according to the DOJ. During the entire Biden administration, 24 such cases were filed.

A DOJ memo from June 2025 prioritized investigations and enforcement actions advancing denaturalization. The memo directed the department’s Civil Division to aggressively pursue denaturalization cases by evidence, especially those involving national security threats, undisclosed felonies, gang activity, and terrorism.

Sanctity of US Citizenship

In an April 24 post on X, Rep. Grace Meng (D- N.Y.) criticized the Trump administration’s denaturalization efforts.

Naturalized people are American citizens, Meng said. Individuals who undergo the naturalization process are “extensively vetted,” often spending years navigating America’s immigration system, taking exams, and pledging loyalty to the United States, she said.

“The President’s targeting of naturalized U.S. citizens is not only a reckless weaponization of the Department of Justice, it is an attack on core American values,” Meng said.

During a Senate hearing last month, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) argued that denaturalization is a crucial safeguard to protect the sanctity of U.S. citizenship, according to a June 4 statement from the lawmaker’s office.

“For too long, Washington treated naturalization like paperwork. Check the boxes. Say the words. Get the passport. Collect the welfare check or federal tax credit. Move on. That approach desecrates American citizenship. It insults every immigrant who came here honestly, followed the law, learned our history, embraced our Constitution, and took the oath in good faith,” Schmitt said.

“The Supreme Court has made the rule clear: no alien has the slightest right to naturalization unless every statutory requirement is met. Citizenship obtained by fraud is stolen status. Stolen status should be revoked.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/21/2026 - 17:00

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