Judge Rejects States' Attempt To Block Medicaid Work Requirements

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on July 30 declined to block new work requirements for Medicaid recipients that states must implement by Jan. 1, 2027.

Judge Richard Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts turned down a request for a preliminary injunction made by Massachusetts and 25 other states to block the work requirements as the states’ legal challenge proceeds.

Stearns said in a six-page decision that the harms about which the states complained—added costs to comply with the new requirements—are largely reimbursable, since the federal government has said it will pay for 90 percent of the costs.

States have also complained that officials face a “tight timeline” to implement the requirements, which include mandating that beneficiaries aged 19 to 64 work, volunteer, or participate in job training for 80 or more hours per month. The timing, though, was set by Congress in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, not by the defendant, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in its guidance on implementing the requirements, the judge said.

“There is a certain point at which damages fail to justify the issuance of such an extraordinary measure,” Stearns wrote later. “Plaintiffs have not shown that their damages rise above that minimal threshold here. Moreover, the additional costs that may be incurred by the States are unlikely to bloom disproportionately given the familiarity of the responsible state agencies with the tasks to be performed.”

Lawyers for the states and the government did not immediately return requests for comment.

In addition to the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline to implement changes, states in their motion for an injunction noted that under the guidance, they also must inform Medicaid recipients of the looming update in notices by Sept. 1.

The states also opposed the guidance on how to determine whether a person is medically frail, which would exempt them from the work requirements. The guidance suggests that in no case can states base their determinations of whether an individual is “medically frail” solely on their records that an individual has a “particular diagnosis or condition” and improperly limits the short-term hardship exception for individuals experiencing an emergency declared by the president to those who can establish that the emergency renders them unable to comply, state lawyers told the court.

Government lawyers said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act delegated the definition of medically frail to the federal government, and the states are seeking to impose “arbitrary limits” on that authority. They also said the state plaintiffs had not met the standards for a preliminary injunction.

Stearns said on July 30 that the court’s denial of the injunction request “is not a reflection or anticipation of its ultimate views on the merits of the underlying litigation,” which will proceed.

“As illustrated in the pleadings and briefings to date (and in the arguments of counsel during the hearing), this case presents difficult issues regarding the scope of Congress’s delegation of interpretative authority to the Secretary and the faithfulness to Congressional intent with which the Secretary performed his task,” the judge stated.

“This, in turn, requires an examination of the data relied upon by the Secretary and the judgments (some medical) that underlay his amplification of Congress’s legislative outline.

“These are determinations that, in the view of the court, should be made on a developed record of the kind that informs a court’s decision at the summary judgment stage of a case.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 18:25

Memory-Chip Crunch Hits Smartphone Demand Across China

Prices for electronic devices reliant on advanced memory chips, from smartphones to gaming consoles, have risen as the AI data-center buildout tightens supply and drives component costs higher. The resulting memory-chip crunch is now weighing on consumer demand, with Goldman’s latest note showing that the pressure is increasingly visible in China’s handheld-device market.

Goldman analyst Allen Chang, who focuses on everything from smartphones to semiconductors, AI, EVs, and robotaxis, cited new data on Friday showing that China’s smartphone shipments fell 17% from a year earlier and 36% from May, to 17 million units in June.

Second-quarter shipments totaled 69 million units, little changed from the previous quarter and a year earlier but above Goldman's 59 million estimate. Chang expects full-year 2026 shipments to decline 10%.

June 5G shipments fell 12% year over year to 16 million units, representing 85% of the market.

"We expect 2026 shipments to decline at 10% YoY, given rising memory cost weighing on demand," Chang wrote in the report.

Chang noted that the average number of cameras per handset declined to 2.9 this year, down from a 2022 peak of 3.8, while the share of cameras with resolutions of at least 20 megapixels increased to 66% of the total, up from 57% in 2025.

Model pricing for various foldable smartphone brands

Smartphone model launch pipeline

Professional subscribers can read more about the memory chip market, data center buildouts, and smartphones at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 18:00

Trump Orders Heavy Attack On Energy-Related Targets In Iran, To Commence This Weekend Summary

• Trump orders major strikes on Iran, likely to start this weekend.
• US adds sanctions, Bessent says Tehran can't pay troops, as Iran faces growing pressure.
• Most Americans say the Iran war isn't worth fighting: AP poll.
• Iran claims drone strike on US base in Kuwait - after no new US strikes overnight.
• Oil rises as fears of wider conflict grow and lack of talks.

//--> //--> //--> US announces end of Iranian blockade by August 15, 2026?
Yes 20% · No 80%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

*  *  *

Trump Orders Major Weekend Strikes

The Wall Street Journal and CBS are reporting that major US strikes - perhaps harder than anything of the last two weeks - are set to imminently commence. The attacks could be initiated at any point this weekend, after Trump gave the 'order' - it's being reported:

President Trump has ordered a fresh attack on Iran aimed at getting Tehran to surrender that could begin as soon as this weekend and would last a few days, U.S. officials said.

Earlier on Friday, he told reporters that he planned to resume heavy military strikes to force the regime to come to the negotiating table. He predicted that if the U.S. hit Iran hard enough, the hard-line regime would eventually “peter out.”

Trump made clear earlier at Camp David that the Iranians can't be trusted, are 'dishonorable' - and so he's not pursuing talks.

The late afternoon Friday CBS report is more alarming, given that "The United States and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible throughout the weekend."

It adds, "There was some discussion about trying to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday because of concern about how the bombings will affect the U.S. and global economy, but an end point wasn't locked in."

Earlier this week there were reports of Trump exploding at his own advisors amid ongoing debates about how the crisis should be handled, and finding an exit strategy.

"Well, they always want to talk, but they break their words so often," Trump said Friday at Camp David, putting his frustration on display later adding: "All they do is make me angry."

A key line from WSJ point to where things are likely headed: "Some U.S. officials believe Iran will continue to drag out negotiations, banking that Trump will abandon his war efforts in the long term in the face of mounting domestic political opposition."

Keep Hitting Them: Trump

Trump is holding a Cabinet meeting on Friday at Camp David. He claimed that the fight against Iran is "going well" and stated that American forces are "hitting them very hard" - adding that "eventually" Iran will have no choice but to "come home" - meaning full surrender.

"It’s going well. Everything we can do is keep winning," Trump also told Fox News. "But we are hitting them hard, shaking them up, and we’re just continuing to win." He suggested there will still be strikes ongoing in coming weeks, and that he's losing faith in the idea of talks with "dishonest" Iran "because they lie".

Additionally, Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is claiming that Iran is unable to pay its troops - though without offering specific evidence to back this, and that the US continues searching for Iranian assets to seize "all around the world". This is after Thursday Washington rolled out yet more sanctions.

Trump: "We'll be hitting them. We'll be hitting them very hard. At some point they're gonna say, 'We just can't take it anymore.'" pic.twitter.com/DT1Fcf57EN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2026

In the meantime, the American public continues souring on the Iran war, which has predictably turned into yet another quagmire in the Middle East. Per a new Associated Press poll:

Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The results are a stark repudiation of the Republican president’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.

Iran Boasts it Hit Kuwait Base

"We note with concern that the security situation remains precarious," said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on his country's mediation efforts to find peace between the US and Iran. Talks "are ongoing to normalize the situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz," he told reporters as a week full of renewed fighting as come to a close. But there essentially are no current talks, and US officials have indicated they are not even seeking them.

Early Thursday had seen the last major exchanges of tit-for-tat attacks, followed by a window of relative quiet into Friday - but the Iranian military has said it newly targeted strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase in a drone attack. This was cast as 'retaliation' for US attacks of the day prior which focused on Qeshm island. Several Iranian troops had been killed in the prior assault, and separately a family was slain when their home was reportedly hit.

AFP/Getty Images

Semiofficial Tasnim news agency said the armed forces had targeted hangars, satellite communication systems and equipment warehouses using drones - based on the military statement.

No New US Strikes Overnight

"Iranian state media reported the strike on Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base early Friday, but Kuwaiti officials and the Pentagon have yet to comment," Newsnation summarizes, adding of the current standstill in fighting, "Notably, Iranian media did not report any American strikes hitting targets inside Iran overnight, a change from Wednesday, when the U.S. carried out what officials called a heavy wave of strikes against Iranian positions."

The day prior saw the Iranians heavily target an American outpost in Jordan. Iran believes the US is amassing equipment there in preparation for further rounds of attacks. As for the Friday targeting of Kuwait: "Iran cited a U.S. strike that killed a mother, father and their 2-year-old child in a home on Qeshm Island as part of its justification for the reported Kuwait attack."

'Horizontal Escalation'

On the question of where the crisis goes from here, a Tehran-based researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies, Ali Akbar Dareini, gave Al Jazeera some interesting insight into Tehran's likely thinking:

He said Iran is likely trying to preempt any future attacks by the US in its current targeting in the region. Iran does not want to “allow the US to decide when to start the war, when to pause temporarily and when to restart the war”, he added. “Iran is now targeting the staging grounds of future operations.”

Dareini explained that while Washington has been pursuing “vertical escalation” by ramping up military attacks against Iran, Tehran has sought “horizontal escalation” by expanding the conflict’s “geographical scope”.

“Iran wants a complete, permanent end to war, or it’s going to be a wide-scale regional war,” he said.

As for the latest on potential US-Israeli plans to escalate against the Islamic Republic...

The U.S. and Israel are reportedly considering a land blockade of Iran to increase economic pressure after months of military action failed to force Tehran back to negotiations.

The proposal would involve persuading neighboring countries—such as Iraq, Pakistan, Türkiye,… pic.twitter.com/uBHO7qx9po

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 31, 2026

In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has claimed its forces struck a pair of tankers attempting to pass though the narrow waterway under the "air escort" of the US military.

The IRGC asserted that the "non-compliant oil tankers… were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions." Meanwhile, two headlines that don't line up:

• US President Trump says the Iran war is going well; US is hitting Iran hard and "we just keep winning" (Fox)
• The Persian Gulf Waterway Management Authority announces that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is not possible due to the continued aggressive actions of the US

Oil Climbs with No Offramp on Horizon

Still, despite of a lack of intense tit-for-tat so far on Friday, oil is rebounding significantly as there are no signs of offramp and the two sides aren't talking - but instead preparing for more rounds in the fight...

But this Friday's somewhat 'quiet' state of things could likely dramatically shift at any moment, as has been the pattern this summer. The aforementioned Tehran-based analyst Dareini describes a serious change and overhaul in Iranian leaders' strategic thinking, which has gone from defensive to proactive, with an understanding of the need to inflict pain on the US side in a preemptive way.

"Iranians are tired from suffering from limited US attacks," Dareini said, charging that the US uses its declared pauses as a "deception tactic" merely in preparation for future attacks and operations.

"There has been a profound change in Iran’s strategic thinking," he added. "The era of restraint is over. Iran has decided that, if needed, it has to take preemptive military action against the US."

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 17:55

Saudi Arabia Planning Major Escalation In Yemen, Possible Ground Op: Reports

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, said Thursday that there were indications Saudi Arabia was planning a major escalation in Yemen, as the war between the two sides has been reignited following the July 13 Saudi strikes on the Sanaa International Airport.

"We will work to establish the equation of siege with siege, especially since indicators reveal that the Saudis are heading toward comprehensive escalation, and we will seek God’s help against him and confront his comprehensive escalation with comprehensive escalation," al-Houthi said, according to Yemen’s SABA news agency.

The Guardian also reported on Thursday, citing Yemeni sources, that Saudi Arabia was preparing for a major escalation against Ansar Allah by sea and possibly by launching a ground offensive in central Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is looking to launch a new Red Sea coalition to keep the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open, and the Saudi Defense Ministry announced that 14 countries backed the effort. The full coalition hasn’t been released, but according to Saudi officials, it includes—

• Kuwait
• Qatar
• Bahrain
• Pakistan
• Turkey
• Egypt
• Jordan

Ansar Allah imposed a blockade on Saudi ports following the Saudi strikes on the Sanaa airport, which were meant to prevent the landing of a plane that took off from Iran and was carrying members of a Yemeni delegation that attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Yemeni forces have also targeted oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi military has launched additional strikes on Yemen of late.

Escalations against Ansar Allah are unlikely to achieve success since the group faced a brutal US-backed Saudi-UAE war from 2015 to 2022 and multiple US and Israeli bombing campaigns since then that failed to achieve their goals. President Trump has suggested that the US could restart bombing Yemen.

It seems that Saudi Arabia has forgotten how its army was defeated in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/jKEPPywSn9

— ابراهيم ناجي Ibrahim Naji (@Ibrahym22Nagi) July 31, 2026

Al-Houthi said in his comments on Thursday that the Yemeni people “are among the most suffering and targeted peoples by the Saudi regime within the framework of the American scheme, and in service of the Israeli enemy.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 17:40

Trump's Jones Act Waiver Helped Avert Fuel Shortages Across These Key US Regions

The Department of Homeland Security has issued the broadest Jones Act waiver since at least the 1950s, just weeks after the US-Iran conflict erupted. The measure has allowed foreign-flagged vessels to transport fuel, crude oil, fertilizer, and other essential goods between US ports, bypassing domestic shipping restrictions to mitigate supply chain disruptions across various U.S. regions.

The Jones Act, a century-old law requiring goods transported between U.S. ports to be carried aboard U.S.-Built, US-owned, and US-crewed vessels, was immediately waived in the early days of the U.S.-Iran conflict by the Trump administration.

As of Friday, the waiver has entered its 135th day, suggesting that the administration is continuing to protect domestic supply chains and curb energy prices by temporarily easing maritime protectionist restrictions.

A recent Reuters report stated that the Trump administration was considering another extension of the waiver.

The Cato Institute's Jones Act Waiver Tracker shows that nearly 50 million barrels have been moved since the waiver took effect on March 17.

The tracker indicates that the waiver sharply expanded domestic fuel movements, allowing foreign-flagged vessels to supply regions where limited U.S. shipping capacity, high transportation costs, and vessel shortages had constrained trade.

After 135 days, waiver shipments to the West Coast totaled 13.9 million barrels, equivalent to 108% of the region’s projected full-year baseline. Puerto Rico received 5.02 million barrels, equal to 134% of its normal annual pace, while New England’s 1.25 million barrels represented an increase of 215%. Gulf Coast shipments were 426% above the projected baseline, albeit from a much smaller historical base.

The data suggest the waiver is unlocking trade routes that were previously uneconomical or unavailable under Jones Act restrictions.

The largest effects are being seen in isolated or import-dependent markets, particularly the West Coast, Puerto Rico and New England, while the impact on the well-supplied Lower Atlantic remains marginal. Cargoes have included gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, renewable diesel, propane and ammonia.

Without the waiver, import-dependent markets such as those in California would likely have faced severe fuel shortages, with gasoline prices potentially surging well above $10 per gallon. The quick action by the Trump administration and the Energy Department appears to have mitigated supply disruptions in those regions where fuel shipments expanded the most.

Recall that suspending the Jones Act was one of six policy options identified by JPMorgan’s head of commodity research, Natasha Kaneva, for how the Trump administration could contain energy costs at the pump. The latest shipment data suggest that this option has played a material role in stabilizing vulnerable regional markets.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 17:20

Five States Make The Cut For $50 Billion Nuclear Campuses 

The Department of Energy has selected Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho as the first five potential hosts for Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses (NLICs), advancing an effort that forced states to decide whether they support the entire nuclear industry or merely the convenient parts.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed Memorandums of Understanding with the five states after the DOE reviewed 28 applications from 26 states. The agreements allow the federal government and the states to continue exploring potential campuses. 

The potential prize is substantial, with NLICs potentially attracting up to $50 billion in capital investment, generating almost $10 billion in state and local tax revenue and creating 25,000 jobs each.

These would not simply be reactor parks. The campuses are intended to accommodate multiple parts of the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, reprocessing or recycling of used nuclear fuel, and the final disposition of material that cannot be reused. 

Depending on the state and location, a campus could also include advanced reactors, power generation, manufacturing facilities, and co-located data centers.

The DOE is offering states the opportunity to build entire nuclear industrial ecosystems, rather than collecting federal reactor grants while expecting somebody else to deal with the fuel afterward.

That distinction may explain why some supposedly pro-nuclear states are conspicuously absent from the first shortlist.

Texas has spent years presenting itself as the future capital of advanced nuclear power. In 2025, the state established the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office and appropriated $350 million for reactor development, construction reimbursement, and supply-chain projects. State officials called it the largest state investment of its kind in the country.

Yet when Orano USA and Waste Control Specialists proposed a consolidated interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel in Andrews County, the state's enthusiasm for nuclear technology suddenly became rather selective.

Gov. Greg Abbott urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject it, calling the location unsuitable and warning that the facility could threaten the Permian Basin. Texas legislators subsequently passed a law opposing high-level waste storage, and the state fought the NRC license all the way to the Supreme Court.

Apparently, nuclear reactors are an economic-development opportunity, while the fuel that actually ran through them is somebody else's problem.

New Mexico produced an even clearer example.

The state has supported nuclear technology when it generates investment and high-paying jobs. It committed $3 million in economic-development funding and another $1.8 million in workforce assistance for Kairos Power's expansion in Albuquerque, where the company is developing molten-salt coolant and fuel-manufacturing technology for advanced reactors.

But New Mexico's reception was considerably less cheerful when Holtec International proposed its HI-STORE consolidated interim storage facility in Lea County.

The NRC licensed the multibillion-dollar project in 2023, but New Mexico's governor and legislature fought it through legislation, permit threats, and litigation. Even after a favorable Supreme Court decision revived the federal licensing pathway, Holtec abandoned the project, describing the path forward in New Mexico as “untenable” and saying it would look toward states that were more amenable.

That history likely did not make New Mexico an especially convincing candidate for a federal program explicitly centered on the entire nuclear lifecycle.

As we have previously detailed, used nuclear fuel has been stored safely in pools and dry casks for decades. The United States has accumulated roughly 95,000 metric tons of it, much of which remains stranded at operating and decommissioned reactor sites because anti-nuclear activists have spent decades treating every proposed storage location like the opening scene of a disaster movie.

The NLIC program offers a different bargain. States willing to accept the responsibilities of the complete fuel cycle stand to enjoy tens of billions of dollars in investments and thousands of high-paying jobs for their constituents.

Texas and New Mexico may enjoy calling themselves pro-nuclear when reactors, research grants, and factory announcements are on the table. But supporting nuclear energy also requires dealing responsibly with what comes out of the reactor.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 15:20

FCC Chair Carr Defends License Review As ABC Cries Censorship

Via American Greatness,

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is pushing back against Disney-owned ABC’s claims that his agency is engaged in “attempted censorship,” insisting the review of the network’s broadcast licenses stems from evidence of discriminatory hiring practices, not politics.

ABC leveled the censorship accusation in a 119-page regulatory filing posted Thursday, arguing the FCC’s scrutiny of its eight television licenses sends a chilling message to media companies nationwide. “The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” the network’s lawyers wrote.

Carr has flatly denied that characterization. “I don’t view the FCC as the speech police,” he told Politico this week for an episode of the podcast “The Conversation.” The chairman has said the license review grew out of an ongoing investigation into ABC’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, not a reaction to the network’s news coverage.

In the interview, Carr detailed the substance of that concern.

“The Disney case is about evidence coming to light, we haven’t made a final decision yet, that they had been discriminating inside the company based on race and gender, in terms of hiring, promoting, compensation, workplace opportunities,” he said.

“If that all ends up being true, based on all the evidence that Disney gets to put in, that’s a very concerning development, and it does raise fundamental questions about fitness to have a license.”

An FCC spokesperson echoed that stance, saying broadcasters must serve the public interest rather than “the narrow or partisan interests of a political party” and are barred from discriminatory practices, hoaxes and news distortion. “The FCC is going to hold broadcasters accountable to the full extent of the law, regardless of any disinformation campaign that some of them may choose to run,” the spokesperson said.

ABC’s filing leaned heavily on outside voices, citing more than 153,000 public comments and warnings from figures including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about regulatory overreach. Some conservatives and free-market advocates have separately raised concerns about handing an appointed federal agency sweeping authority over news content, regardless of which party controls the White House.

Not all conservatives are sympathetic to ABC’s position.

The Center for American Rights, which petitioned the FCC to deny the licenses, called Thursday for the case to proceed to an administrative hearing.

“Disney’s lawyers can wish upon a star, but they cannot make this record disappear,” said Daniel Suhr, the group’s president.

The dispute traces back to April, when Carr called up all eight Disney-owned stations for an early license review, and intensified this month after President Donald Trump publicly urged the FCC to strip both ABC and NBC of their licenses over their handling of a presidential address. ABC has hired prominent litigators, including former Solicitor General Paul Clement, to fight the review.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 15:00

Chips To Ships: Nvidia Plans New Shipbuilding Investment With Kawasaki

Authored by Stuart Chirls via FreightWaves.com,

Can the world’s newest technology give a boost to one of transportation’s oldest? A plan by leading Asia companies wants to find out.

Nvidia and Kawasaki Heavy Industries announced a joint effort to build a “next‑generation digital shipyard” at Kawasaki’s Sakaide Works in Japan. 

The core of the deal is co‑development of AI‑powered robots for shipbuilding tasks such as welding, painting, inspection, and material handling.

Kawasaki (OTC: KWHIY) will contribute decades of shipbuilding data, production know‑how, and its own robotics capabilities.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) will contribute its AI and simulation stack, including products for applications in digital twins, robotics, vision/AI, and edge AI, which applies AI models and algorithms directly to devices such as sensors, cameras, robots, vehicles, or industrial controllers.

One report notes Nvidia making a $5 million investment connected to this 1990s‑era Kawasaki shipbuilding business as part of the arrangement, though the main value is technology integration rather than large equity stakes in shipyards.

The outcome could be a precursor to wider adoption in shipbuilding: A plan by the United States to revitalize its shipyards has been dogged by persistent questions of workforce availability.  

Nvidia is already invested in an array of autonomous truck technology.

The AI applications include digital twins of hulls, production lines, and workflows will simulate and optimize before cutting steel, and  AI‑guided robots that can adapt to complex, low‑volume, highly customized shipbuilding tasks. Skills transfer and training via simulation is expected to help address labor shortages and the loss of experienced workers.

Analysts say a scalable AI model could improve lead times and cost curves for newbuilds, particularly in Japan and other yards that license production. Quality and rework rates could be improved, which influence delivery reliability and charterer risk.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 14:20

US Treasury Informed Banks It May Intervene In Japan's Yen, As Market Laughs At BOJ's Own Attempts To Prop Up Currency

While the BOJ understandably refuses to admit it spent a record $140BN (across all markets, $90BN on EBS) to briefly manipulate the Japanese yen higher...

... ahead of yet another disappointing (non-rate hike) decision (according to some calculations, Japan's central bank is about 100 bps of rate hikes behind to stop the ongoing collapse of the yen), others are less shy. 

According to Reuters, similar to the last failed intervention by Japan and citing "a source familiar with the matter", the US Treasury informed a number of ‌banks that it may intervene in the Japanese yen market on Friday and that they should "stand ready for future action."

The notice to banks, channeled through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, comes a day after Japanese authorities stepped in to prop up the yen, setting ​the currency up for its biggest weekly rise since February, pulling it off of four-decade lows against the dollar (although the yen has since erased much of its gains). 

News of ​the potential intervention by the U.S. Treasury helped push the yen higher against the dollar on Friday. It last traded at ⁠159.22 to the dollar after trading as low 163.65 on Thursday. As shown below, the past 48 hours have seen no less than 5 distinct intervention attempts by the BOJ and/or the US Treasury to push the yen higher. 

The method of potential Treasury intervention was not immediately clear. The Federal Reserve has ​maintained a dollar liquidity swap line with the Bank of Japan and four other major central banks since 2013.

Japan's top currency diplomat ​Atsushi Mimura in Tokyo Friday declined to comment on intervention but hinted at U.S. involvement in the effort to stem the yen's decline, including so-called "rate checks" -- requests to dealers for indicative dollar/yen quotes that are considered a precursor to interventions.

Mimura added that the U.S. support "goes beyond psychological support."

The Reuters report of Treasury's ​notice to banks of potential intervention "fits in with the view in the market that the New York Fed has been carrying rate checks, ​so it's adding to the nervousness of market participants that there could be further intervention," said Lee Hardman, currency strategist at MUFG in London. "It definitely helps ‌support the ⁠idea that there is intervention risk on the table."

US Treasury Secretary Bessent said in a post on  X that the Treasury maintains "a strong relationship and close coordination" with Japanese authorities, but did not confirm the intervention preparations.

He said he looked forward to meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda at the U.S.-hosted G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, at the end ​of August.

"Japan's economy continues to perform ​well under Prime Minister Takaichi, ⁠Governor Ueda and the Bank of Japan Board, which has demonstrated a strong commitment to monetary and financial stability,"

On Thursday, Bessent told Fox Business Network that the yen "seems very undervalued to ​me" and that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was enacting "strong policies" that would help Japan's economic fundamentals. Bessent ​added that "we think excess ⁠volatility in the yen isn't healthy" and that the yen has "substantially overshot what would be called an equilibrium price."

The last time that the US Treasury intervened directly to prop up Japan's yen was in 2011 as part of a coordinated action by G7 countries to stabilize the currency following the devastating ⁠earthquake and ​tsunami rocked Japan. 

The Treasury last fall intervened to prop up Argentina's peso market ​ahead of parliamentary elections and provided President Javier Milei's government with a $20 billion currency swap line to help stabilize the currency and Argentina's dollar bonds. The aid to Argentina relied ​partly on the Exchange Stabilization Fund, which had total assets of about $217 billion as of June 30.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 14:00

Tesla Weighs China Spinoff As Potential SpaceX Merger Looms

Tesla is reportedly evaluating whether to separate its China operations through a sale, spinoff, or other restructuring as it considers a possible future merger with SpaceX, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

The discussions reflect increasing geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, as well as the unique regulatory challenges that would arise if Tesla became part of a company with significant U.S. defense contracts.

The Journal reports that people familiar with the matter say Elon Musk has spent several years organizing Tesla so that its American and Chinese businesses can operate more independently. The strategy is intended to reduce risk if relations between the two countries deteriorate further, particularly in the event of conflict involving Taiwan or tighter restrictions on trade, technology, or critical supply chains.

Separating the China business could also help address concerns from both governments. Chinese regulators may be reluctant to allow a major U.S. defense contractor to oversee Tesla's manufacturing operations, technology, and customer data in China.

At the same time, SpaceX's work with the U.S. government subjects it to strict national security and export control requirements that could create additional complications if the two companies were combined.

China remains one of Tesla's largest and most important markets, accounting for about 18% of the company's sales while serving as a major production hub for vehicles and batteries.

Tesla has already taken steps to reduce its dependence on Chinese suppliers and strengthen the separation between its global operations. Although no decision has been finalized, reports indicate the company is evaluating multiple restructuring options as part of broader contingency planning. Musk has publicly denied the report, calling it "fake news."

Just a few months ago, Tesla's China president was quoted by local media as saying the Shanghai Gigafactory could eventually play a major role in mass-producing humanoid robots. 

The Shanghai Morning Post quoted Allan Wang Hao, a senior executive at Tesla China, who said the Shanghai Gigafactory could provide a "golden key" to mass-producing the Optimus robot.

"Like other Tesla factories, Giga Shanghai can shoulder important responsibilities in manufacturing all new products, including robots, to make our contributions to the company," Hao said. "We are highly confident in welcoming the arrival of a new era of robots."

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 13:25

Seattle Police Chief Resigns 4 Days After Deadly Festival Shooting

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes on Thursday sent his letter of resignation to Mayor Katie B. Wilson, four days after a fatal shooting at a food festival, the mayor's office and Seattle Police Department announced.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson (C) and Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes (L) attend the vigil for victims the day after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, in Seattle on July 27, 2026. Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo

The shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center left three people dead and four wounded. One suspect was arrested.

At around 6 p.m. Sunday, a 15-year-old was seen firing into a crowd at the popular three-day festival by at least one officer who was among the dozens of police present. The officer quickly persuaded the teen to surrender. An acquaintance of the teen was among those killed, and four others were wounded, among them a 2-year-old boy.

The aftermath drew sharp public and media criticism focused on communication failures at the scene, and authorities continued searching for at least one more suspect.

After an initial social media post confirming a shooting with multiple victims, nearly five hours passed before additional details were released, including whether any active threat remained. Wilson briefly announced that two people had been taken into custody before retracting the statement, and an official update did not come until a late-night news conference around 11 p.m.

Barnes, who had been attending a law enforcement conference in Dallas at the time of the incident, faced scrutiny alongside city leadership for the delayed and sometimes inconsistent information.

"It has been an honor to serve the Seattle Police Department and this city," Barnes said in a statement released by the mayor's office. "The members of this department show up every single day with professionalism and dedication, and what they did in the aftermath of the Bite of Seattle tragedy reflects the very best of who they are. I am proud of them, and I have deep faith in the future of this department and in the vision for community-based policing that is taking root here."

Wilson thanked Barnes for his service.

"Chief Barnes has served this department and this city with dedication," she said. "The courage and professionalism that the officers of the Seattle Police Department showed deserves to be honored."

Sayles has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement. He previously served as chief of police in Madison, Wisconsin. He joined the Seattle Police Department in 2025 as deputy chief of administration and investigations.

Wilson announced Deputy Chief Andre Sayles as interim chief as the city conducts a search for a permanent chief.

"My vision for public safety in this city is grounded in transparency, trust, and genuine collaboration with the community," Wilson said. "Keeping people safe requires trust, and trust requires that this department shows up in neighborhoods every day, builds relationships with residents, community organizations, and small businesses, and is accountable to the people it serves."

Sue Rahr, a former Seattle police interim chief and retired sheriff, backed the decision.

"This situation is very difficult, and I admire the mayor for acting decisively to move forward and rebuild strong and engaged leadership inside the department," Rahr said.

Wilson and Sayles will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Friday at City Hall to introduce the interim chief and detail the process for selecting a permanent chief.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 13:05

Spain's Border Invasion Is An Optics Disaster For Open-Border Democrats

The average American has learned about the far-left movement, or more particularly, reformist socialists, otherwise known as the Democratic Socialists of America, in recent months. The DSA says in its own words that its platform is about collapsing America from within. To accomplish that, they must push open borders and flood the nation with millions more illegal aliens, similar to what the Biden-Harris regime of globalists did, among many other nation-killing policies.

The only problem for the DSA is that, after weeks of heightened news coverage in the corporate media about its sinister plan, the news cycle has turned against it. Tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of people across the West have just witnessed the border invasion of 50,000 military-aged men into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at a time when the socialist regime controlling Spain has adopted what some call "suicidal empathy" and welcomed illegals into the country by the millions on a red carpet.

Just kidding, this is the actual footage … pic.twitter.com/jYRpSWM24e

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2026

In the minds of millions across the West, one political association is becoming increasingly easy to see among the average voter: mass migration from the third world is now seen as a direct consequence of electing socialist governments. Spain has become the latest case study, with the country's socialist-led government planning to grant amnesty to at least one million illegal migrants.

We wrote earlier that President Trump and the GOP would connect the dots for American voters through a media campaign, warning that electing socialists could trigger another U.S. border invasion. The chaos in Ceuta now provides powerful imagery of what Trump argues could happen if the DSA seized more power.

Trump said Friday morning: "It's terrible. Remember that picture. That's going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in... If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life."

.@POTUS: "It's terrible. Remember that picture. That's going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in... If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life." https://t.co/gCSfGLO58i pic.twitter.com/K1F7fhYue0

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2026

Readers should remember that the DSA is a reform-socialist organization. That distinction matters because reform socialists seek to destroy and dismantle the nation and capitalism - and reconstruct the political and economic system along socialist lines.

Second, the DSA has openly promoted an agenda that would collapse border enforcement and facilitate another invasion of illegals numbering in the millions. The economic consequences of the Biden-era migration surge are already visible, particularly in housing. Dallas Fed research estimated that unauthorized immigration accounted for roughly 30% of U.S. home price growth and about 20% of rent increases between 2021 and 2024.

All in all, the Ceuta invasion is strengthening the political case for secure borders across the West - already being spoken about by right-wing EU officials today - while creating an optically devastating moment for socialist parties and the open-border left across the West.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 12:55

Immigrant Business Owners Prepare Lawsuit Against Mamdani Over City-Run Grocery Stores

Via American Greatness,

Several immigrant business owners are preparing to sue New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his plan for city-owned grocery stores, Fox News Digital confirmed Wednesday.

The Multicultural Business Coalition’s board voted this week to pursue legal action against the city over Mamdani’s proposal to open five taxpayer-funded grocery stores that would sell food at prices up to 30% below traditional retailers, according to the New York Post, which first reported the vote Tuesday.

MBC Chairman Frank Garcia said the coalition plans to send a letter to Mamdani’s office in the coming days outlining its legal plans to protect bodegas, competing grocers and other small businesses. If the mayor does not respond or agree to meet within three weeks, the group intends to proceed with the lawsuit.

Garcia said he has sought a meeting with the administration for months without success, despite public assurances from a city commissioner that officials would engage with all stakeholders.

“The commissioner said this administration is open to speak to everybody, and they want to hear from everybody,” Garcia told Fox News Digital.

“So I’ve been waiting for a meeting for a couple of months. Why aren’t they having me? We are ready to file the lawsuit if the mayor doesn’t meet with us.”

Garcia described the effort as nonpartisan, saying it is aimed at defending small business owners who are already struggling with rising costs in New York City.

He said lawyers will be ready to file once the three-week window closes, citing support from a coalition of civil rights and community organizations across the political spectrum.

“We’re nonpartisan. So we’re going to meet everybody, Republican or Democrat,” Garcia said, adding that a Democratic Jewish organization and other civil rights groups have offered support and funding for the legal fight.

The coalition was formed earlier this year specifically to oppose Mamdani’s grocery store initiative and includes members from African, Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic, Jewish and Middle Eastern business communities. It has drawn backing from city and state lawmakers, including New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

The looming lawsuit follows Mamdani’s release of additional details on the city-backed grocery plan, which has drawn renewed criticism from opponents who have branded it a “communist fantasy” and a threat to independent grocers already operating on thin margins. The mayor has separately faced pushback over his endorsed rent freeze, which a group of city landlords is also seeking to overturn in court.

Mamdani has defended the grocery store plan as a way to lower food costs for residents, pointing to it as a signature piece of his affordability agenda. Critics, including small business advocates and economists, have questioned whether a government-run retail operation can undercut private grocers without straining city finances or distorting the local market bodegas and immigrant-owned stores depend on to survive.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 12:25

Claude Hacked Three Real Organizations During Botched Test

Anthropic's efforts to test Claude's offensive cybersecurity skills produced an unintended real-world result: Its AI models gained unauthorized access to three outside organizations.

The company said the incidents occurred during "capture the flag" evaluations designed to measure whether Claude could identify vulnerabilities, exploit simulated systems, and retrieve hidden information. Claude had been told that the targets were fictional and that its testing environment had no Internet access.

According to Anthropic, a misunderstanding with evaluation partner Irregular left Internet access enabled inside the testing environment. In at least one case, the fictional company named in a challenge shared its name with an active website domain. Claude interacted with the real organization instead of a contained target.

The model exploited vulnerabilities in the organization's infrastructure, extracted information, and obtained access to a database containing several hundred rows of production data.

Anthropic discovered three incidents after reviewing more than 141,000 cybersecurity evaluations. They involved three separate systems: Claude Opus 4.7, Mythos 5, and an internal research model.

In a review of our cybersecurity evaluations, we found three incidents in which a Claude model reached the internet from within or while interacting with a third-party evaluation environment, and then gained unauthorized access to the real systems of three different organizations. Our post describes what happened, how it happened, and what we’re changing. We encourage other AI developers to perform similar reviews.  -Anthropic

"In all cases, Anthropic's evaluation prompt specified to Claude that its environment was a simulation and that it had no internet access," the company said. "Due to a misunderstanding between us and our evaluation partner, this was not the case, and internet access was available."

The models appear to have carried out the offensive-security tasks they were assigned while operating with incorrect information about whether their targets were simulated. 

Capture the Flag

Capture-the-flag exercises are widely used to train and evaluate cybersecurity skills. Participants may be asked to inspect software, reverse-engineer a service, identify a vulnerability, or exploit a deliberately insecure system to recover a hidden token known as the flag. For a human security researcher, the scope of such an exercise is normally reinforced through explicit authorization, controlled infrastructure, and technical barriers separating the challenge from unrelated systems.

Claude received instructions saying that those boundaries existed. 

Once Internet access was available, the agent could resolve public domains and interact with real infrastructure. A naming collision between a fictional target and an actual organization was enough to turn a benchmark task into an unauthorized intrusion.

Anthropic said it stopped the evaluations after identifying the possibility that Claude had accessed the public Internet. The company described the incidents as the result of multiple contributing factors but said it would approach the fixes as though the responsibility were Anthropic's alone.

The story echoes an OpenAI incident where models escaped containment. During that company's own cybersecurity testing, two models exploited a software vulnerability in their evaluation environment, reached the Internet, and accessed systems belonging to AI platform Hugging Face.

A system does not need motives, self-preservation, or an understanding of the outside world to cause damage. It needs effective offensive capabilities, sufficient autonomy, and access that its operators did not intend to provide.

Awkward timing for Anthropic

The disclosure comes as Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a potential initial public offering as early as this year. That adds financial and regulatory stakes to questions about how the company evaluates models with advanced cybersecurity capabilities.

Mythos 5, one of the models involved, had been provided to a limited number of partners and attracted attention for its ability to detect and exploit software vulnerabilities. Those capabilities can be valuable for defensive research, automated testing, and vulnerability discovery. They also raise the cost of mistakes in target selection and evaluation design.

Three incidents among more than 141,000 reviewed evaluations represent a small proportion of the tests. But the relevant risk is not simply how often a containment failure occurs, it's what a sufficiently capable agent can do during the rare evaluation in which the safeguards fail.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 12:05

UMich Sentiment Surges To Pre-War Highs; AI Fears Becoming "Salient"

Having rebounded from record (46 year) lows in June, University of Michigan's final July Sentiment survey was expected to show further improvement MoM, but a slight decline from the preliminary print as gas prices started rising again following the apparent end of the MoU-driven MidEast ceasefire.

However, from 49.5 final for June, UMich headline print rose to 54.4 preliminary and has now jumped further to 55.2 (54 exp) final - the highest since February.

Both Current Conditions and Expectations sub-indices also rose with the latter jumping most and the former down very modestly from the preliminary print.

Broad-based improvements were seen across all groups by income, education, wealth, age, and political party.

“Consumers remain focused on pocketbook issues like purchasing power, while political or military developments remain more in the background,” Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, said in a statement.

Even Democrats are getting more enthused...

Year-ahead inflation expectations ticked down from 4.6% in June to a still-elevated 4.2% this month. The current reading substantially exceeds the 3.4% seen in February before the Iran conflict began, along with all 2024 readings. Long-run inflation expectations held steady from last month at 3.3%, remaining a bit higher than the 2.8% to 3.2% range seen in 2024.

Additionally, five-year expected business conditions reached a 12-month high.

Finally, the report mentioned artificial intelligence has become a “salient” factor for consumers.

Hsu said the comments have been negative on net, though consumers cited both positive effects on productivity and negative impacts on the job market.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 10:09

Senate Schedules Contempt Vote For Fauci

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The Senate has scheduled a vote on holding Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Aug. 5 will consider a contempt resolution for Fauci. The resolution has not been released as of yet.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in Washington on July 29, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

If the panel approves the resolution, then it will be sent to the Department of Justice with a recommendation to prosecute Fauci, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chairman of the Senate panel, said during an appearance on CBS on July 30.

Paul has previously requested prosecution of Fauci for allegedly lying to Congress, but federal prosecutors have not brought any charges to date.

Fauci, who led the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, read an opening statement at a hearing of the committee on July 29, then refused to answer any questions.

Fauci said he was following advice from his lawyers and invoking his right under the Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which protects people against self-incrimination.

Paul noted at the end of the hearing that a preemptive pardon from then-President Joe Biden issued in early 2025 covers Fauci for any crimes he may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 19, 2025. Paul asked Fauci whether he, at any point during the time period the pardon covers, destroyed any federal record or instructed others to.

Fauci declined to answer, pointing to the Fifth Amendment.

"My question was limited to the period of your pardon only. I find your objection unsupported," Paul said.

Fauci said in his opening statement that Paul is obsessed with calling for his prosecution.

"The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'" Fauci said.

Some senators said the situation called to mind what transpired with Lois Lerner, an IRS official who read an opening statement while appearing before a congressional panel in 2013 before refusing to answer any questions. The House of Representatives voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.

Congress more recently approved contempt resolutions against Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, onetime advisers to President Donald Trump. The men were convicted of contempt and spent time in prison.

People convicted of contempt of Congress can land a fine of up to $100,000 and a prison term of up to 12 months.

Several legal experts told The Epoch Times that Fauci wrongly invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to some of the questions.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, speaks during a hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, in Washington on July 29, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 09:35

The post Democrats are Socialists: They Support Social Security and Medicare appeared first on CEPR.

Entire Ethiopian Football Team Vanishes In Sweden After Youth Tournament

Via Remix News,

Twenty Ethiopians connected to a youth football team disappeared in Sweden on the final day of the Gothia Cup youth tournament, prompting an international missing persons search.

The group consists mainly of boys aged between 14 and 17, together with one or more adult leaders. Police believe they left voluntarily, amid suspicions that they may be attempting to remain in Sweden or another European country, although officers say that has not been confirmed.

The Gothia Cup, also known as the World Youth Cup, brought teams from 77 countries to Gothenburg this year, including four teams from Ethiopia.

The disappearance was discovered when an administrator at the school accommodating one of the Ethiopian teams found that its players and accompanying adults had left without notifying anyone.

Gothia Cup organizers contacted police as a precaution, and a formal missing persons report was filed. Ten days after the tournament ended on July 19, the group remained unaccounted for and had not returned to Ethiopia.

“From our perspective, it’s strange because this is a team that we have a good relationship with,” Gothia Cup press officer Fredrik Beckman told Göteborgs-Posten.

The final communication received from the team reportedly came from its contact person, who thanked organizers for their “consideration” and claimed the situation appeared to have resulted from a communication problem.

However, the message provided no explanation of where the players and leaders had gone or whether they intended to return home.

Police said the group is now being sought internationally.

Officers are working with the Swedish Migration Agency, border police and authorities in other countries, and expect to be alerted if any member of the group attempts to cross a border or comes into contact with officials.

Police say there is no evidence that the group was trafficked or smuggled.

“There is no indication that anything illegal lies behind this, such as people smuggling or something similar,” Halldin told Swedish media.

She added that in previous cases, missing participants had often been located gradually over time.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 06:35

Say goodbye to July with my end-of-week morning reads:

• Trying to make sense of Warsh: Not everyone in financial markets watched Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s presser yesterday. But today everyone will be dealing with its consequences. As MainFT reports, US borrowing costs surged to a 19-year high in the one-day biggest jump since Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement. Equity markets shedding a mere trillion-odd dollars look a bit meh by comparison. (Financial Times)

• Stocks Finally Have Some Competition: TrendLabs on the return of real yields — for the first time in a generation, bonds and cash offer genuine alternatives to equities, and the asset allocation math has changed accordingly. (TrendLabs) see also Nearly half of small-cap and midcap stocks are losing money: MarketWatch on the profitability collapse below the mega-caps — the index-level numbers hide a market where almost half the smaller companies can’t turn a profit. (MarketWatch)

• Twenty Investment Lessons of 2008 – I think this was culled from a Seth Klarman Interview. Of course, no one wants to admit to being part of the flock. Everyone is looking for “uncorrelated”, perhaps the most overused, least sincere term in our industry. (Cove Street Capital)

• Bloomberg’s post-Mike moves are in motion: In the decades since Michael Bloomberg founded his bond-pricing data provider and built it into a media and markets giant, the question has swirled on Wall Street: What does he plan to do with it?  (Semafor)

• Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It. Ssince President Trump returned to office, the Federal Transit Administration has not signed a single new agreement under the program, known as Capital Investment Grants. Large projects ready to enter the final phase of the program’s yearslong pipeline have stalled there. The administration also tried halting payments to the New York and Chicago projects, forcing courts to intervene. The money was appropriated. The projects were approved. The administration is simply refusing to release the funds — a quiet form of sabotage that’s hollowing out public infrastructure. (New York Times)

• The False Promise of the First ‘Smart’ Homes: MIT Press Reader on the push-button houses of the 1950s and 60s — the automated home has been five years away for seventy years, and the failures are instructive. Computerized rooms, telework stations, and child-soothing technologies sold a seductive illusion that automation could solve the problems of maternal care. (The MIT Press Reader)

• How to have a happier vacation: Here’s what researchers who study happiness say about how to enjoy your time off. Five evidence-based strategies for actually enjoying your time off — instead of returning more exhausted than when you left. (Washington Post)

• Trump Turns Up the Heat on RFK Jr. to Cut Back Childhood Vaccines: ​President is focused on shots’ alleged tie to autism, even though White House advisers wanted to tone down attention to issue ahead of midterms. The Wall Street Journal reports the president is pressuring his health secretary to go further on vaccine restrictions — with measles already resurgent. President is focused on shots’ alleged tie to autism, even though White House advisers wanted to tone down attention to issue ahead of midterms. (Wall Street Journal) but see Measles Is Becoming So Common That Treatments May Soon Be Needed: Wired on the grim milestone — measles is now endemic enough in the U.S. that pharmaceutical companies are developing treatments for a disease vaccines had eliminated. As the US sees its highest number of measles cases in decades and vaccination rates fall, researchers are developing drugs to help those who contract the virus or who are particularly vulnerable. (Wired)

• Astronauts returning from six-month missions describe a persistent ‘observer’ sensation — the feeling of watching their own lives from a half-step outside the frame, weeks after they’re back on the ground: Astronauts returning from long ISS rotations consistently describe a half-step-outside-themselves sensation that flight surgeons recognize as part of the post-mission readjustment curve — a perceptual cost of spending six months in a body that had to learn a different world. (Space Daily)

• In the midst of his majesty: How Tadej Pogacar won the 2026 Tour de France: This Tour will be remembered as Pogačar in the midst of his majesty; a relentless march towards victory which felt all but assured within the first week. It was an imposition of order; the barbarians tamed before they reached the gates. The man astride the moat was not a new version of Pogačar, but the final optimized evolution — or perhaps not. The Athletic’s definitive account of Pogačar’s third Tour victory — the dominance, the tactics, and the growing sense that we’re watching the greatest stage racer who ever lived. (The Athletic)

Video of the day: Why Project Hail Mary Destroyed the Blockbuster Formula

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Som Seif Purpose Investments, founder/CEO, Toronto-based asset manager launched in 2012. He grew his first firm, Claymore Investments to $8B in assets by creating 34 ETFs over 6 years, establishing it as Canada’s leader in low-cost exchange-traded funds; he sold to BlackRock in 2012. Next, he co-founded Wealthsimple, which became the default investing app for a generation of Canadians. His wealth management firm, Purpose, was founded at the end of 2012, and manages>$31B in ETFs, mutual funds, alternatives, private assets, and digital assets. Som was named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2011.

 

Interest rates have steadily risen since the start of the Iran War, and are an increasingly heavy burden on the economy.

Source: LinkedIn

 

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

Berlin Mayor Calls For Islamic Lessons In State Schools Following Latest Terror Attack

Via Remix News,

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner has called for Islamic religious education to be introduced in state schools following the deadly Islamist attack near the capital’s Christopher Street Day celebrations.

The CDU politician argued that young Muslims are being radicalized through religious networks operating beyond meaningful state oversight, including what he described as “backyard mosques.”

As reported by Tagesspiegel, Wegner said Islamic instruction inside public schools could help protect young people from extremist influences because the curriculum and teachers would be subject to state supervision.

“Religious education in state schools could make a significant contribution to protecting young people from such influences,” he said.

He added that Islamic religious education should be offered in Berlin schools precisely because it would bring instruction under public control rather than leaving it solely to independent mosques and associations.

“We must increase the pressure and control on radical mosques with the aim of banning them,” he also added, as cited by Bild.

The intervention follows an attack by Abdul Ballout, a known Islamist whom German authorities had previously prosecuted for attempting to join Islamic State.

Ballout had been detained in Lebanon while trying to reach Syria, returned to Germany and arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in November 2025.

In May 2026, a Berlin youth court convicted him of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, distributing Islamic State propaganda and other offenses.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of two years and ten months, but the court imposed a youth sentence of one year and ten months and provisionally suspended it.

He was released while prosecutors appealed.

Ballout was later accused of killing a woman and injuring 29 people after driving a rented van into a crowd in Berlin’s Tiergarten before attacking people with a machete.

Police subsequently located him at an allotment complex in Spandau. He was shot dead after approaching officers with a bladed weapon.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/31/2026 - 02:00