Zero Hedge

"Temporary Disruptions": Cyberattack On Whole Foods Supplier Sparks Store Shortages

"Temporary Disruptions": Cyberattack On Whole Foods Supplier Sparks Store Shortages

North American grocery wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI), the primary distributor for Whole Foods Market, has been hit by a cyberattack that temporarily paralyzed U.S. operations. The company is working to restore systems by the weekend. The disruption has already led to reports of empty shelves at some Whole Foods locations due to delayed shipments.

Last Thursday, UNFI revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it "activated its incident response plan and implemented containment measures, including proactively taking certain systems offline," after uncovering unauthorized network activity on its systems. 

"The incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, temporary disruptions to the Company's business operations," the Form 8-K continued, adding, "The Company is working actively to assess, mitigate, and remediate the incident with the assistance of third-party cybersecurity professionals and has notified law enforcement."

Fast forward to Monday, UNFI told customers in an email obtained by Bloomberg that it was "working toward the goal of returning to full operational capacity by Sunday or sooner," while apologizing for the disruption.

What's happened so far (via Bloomberg): 

  • Operations Halted: UNFI shut down all business systems, including ordering and shipping, after detecting intruders in its network.

  • Customer Impact: Forklift operators were sent home, and some resumed work using pen-and-paper systems. Clients like National Co+op Grocers made special requests to keep top-selling products moving.

  • Response: UNFI is working with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and has reported the incident to the FBI. CEO Sandy Douglas said the situation is being handled by "a strong team of experts."

  • No Payroll Disruptions Expected.

  • Whole Foods: Confirmed supply disruptions; shelves in some Manhattan stores were visibly empty. 

UNFI CEO Sandy Douglas informed investors during a Tuesday earnings call that intruders had compromised its IT systems, and backend systems related to the supply chain were down. 

"We believe we are managing the incident capably with a very strong team of inside and outside professionals, including specialized experts," Douglas said, adding, "We will continue to keep our customers, suppliers and associates regularly updated on our progress and next steps."

Bloomberg reported that at least one Whole Foods location in Manhattan had partially empty shelves as a result of the disruption.

X users report disruptions...

Tech blog BleepingComputer noted about the increasing cyber threats targeting America's food supply chain:

UNFI is just the latest company in the food industry to have been breached in recent years. For instance, in March, ​Walmart-owned warehouse supermarket chain Sam's Club disclosed it was investigating claims of a Clop ransomware breach. Food giant JBS Foods, the world's largest beef producer, also paid an $11 million ransom in 2021 after a REvil ransomware attack forced it to shut down production at multiple sites worldwide.

The key takeaway: UNFI's cyberattack underscores the fragility of the U.S. just-in-time supply chain and its heavy reliance on vulnerable IT infrastructure. 

Our view—well known to readers—is clear: Take control of your food supply. Whether that means planting a garden, raising chickens, or building direct relationships with local ranchers and farmers, the message is the same: stop relying on globalist multinational corporations. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 06:55

Energy Winners Should Be Chosen By Consumers, Not Government

Energy Winners Should Be Chosen By Consumers, Not Government

Authored by Gary Abernathy via The Empowerment Alliance,

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” – designed to put most of President Trump’s campaign promises into action – squeaked through the House of Representatives on May 22 and was immediately greeted by expressions of horror from activists and corporations invested in so-called “alternative” energy.

The big business interests that drive the solar and wind boom have for years operated at a huge advantage. Most startups historically identify a need and create a quality product or service to meet the demand in the hope of becoming profitable within a few years. By contrast, the “renewables” industry has had the backing of the United States government in the form of tax incentives designed to virtually guarantee success. Even with so much government largesse, it’s astounding how many solar companies have been so badly managed that they have gone out of business.

Still, with Uncle Sam cheering them on, solar companies have converted more than a million acres of cropland and pastures to unsightly collections of solar panels. The rapid deployment often stirred controversy, pitted neighbor against neighbor, and sent state lawmakers scurrying to craft new and evolving rules and regulations.

Many people viewed the encroachment of solar as a blight on generational farmland, as ugly glass and metal panels replaced corn, soybean, wheat and other crops. Some landowners, though, eagerly grabbed the lifeline offered by solar companies in the form of per-acre sale or lease prices that were far above average market values, in many cases allowing them to escape mountains of farming debt.

As I wrote in a Washington Post column a few short years ago about a public hearing I attended on the topic of solar developments in southern Ohio, “The testimony was sometimes heart-wrenching. Some members of multigenerational farm families who have made deals with the solar companies spoke with tears in their eyes. Farming is in their blood, and in a perfect world they would continue the family tradition. But for them, it’s been a long time since the world was perfect.”

The kicker, of course, is that solar companies were able to offer such lucrative deals almost entirely because of subsidies and tax incentives offered by the Obama administration, curtailed somewhat by the first Trump administration, but reinvigorated on steroids by the Biden administration’s misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act.

In a follow-up Post column in 2021, I noted that suspicions about the solar installations were increasing. “Questions are growing about neighboring property values and environmental issues,” I wrote. “What about responsible land practices such as plant maintenance, erosion protection and water runoff? When the solar fields are dismantled someday, will the soil be safe for reuse? Solar companies are providing answers, but trust is not always evident.”

For solar, the return of Trump and GOP congressional control means the gravy train might be rolling to a stop. The budget passed by the House ended many tax credits for companies installing rooftop solar panels, but, more importantly, the bill “also ends the investment and electricity production credits for clean energy facilities that begin construction 60 days after the legislation is enacted or enter service after Dec. 31, 2028. Those credits have played a key role in the rapid expansion of utility-scale solar projects in the U.S.,” as CNBC reported. Solar stocks immediately plunged.

But political considerations are always in play, and it’s telling that the House budget bill “left the manufacturing tax credit relatively unscathed.” That’s almost certainly because of the fact that domestic solar component manufacturing is well underway, including in many red states where members of Congress aren’t anxious to pull the plug on jobs that benefit local communities – even if they are based on the artificial tax subsidies from a government picking winners and losers.

When it comes to energy, the House bill will likely see some revisions in the Senate. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was probably smart, politically, when he said he would push for a slower phase-out of clean energy subsidies.

“For companies that have made major capital deployment decisions, we need to respect that or people are going to start thinking that the United States has massive changes in policy every two years in this space, and that will be devastating to the U.S.’s current position as the innovation leader,” Tillis said.

As Doc Holliday said in the movie “Tombstone,” that’s the damnable misery of it. Subsidies have backed the manufacture of solar initiatives in state after state, so while there are endless unknowns about the future, jobs are here now, at least in the short term. Abruptly shutting them down would give Democrats an election issue that a slow phaseout might help to avoid, or at least alleviate.

An “all-of-the-above” approach to energy is a popular political slogan, and indeed, alternatives will continue to be part of our energy mix. But recent blackouts, brownouts and general grid failures around the world due to an overreliance on solar demonstrate that the various resources that make up “all of the above” are not created equal. They do not generate equal energy, or give consumers the same dollar-for-dollar value.

The success of “alternatives” should be based on merit. Are they affordable? Are they effective? Are they reliable? Are they in demand? Our system of capitalism decides winners and losers. When government bureaucrats try to make those calls, taxpayers end up footing inflated bills for inferior products. That outcome should be an alternative no one supports.

Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation. Abernathy’s “TEA Takes” column will be published every Wednesday and delivered to your inbox!

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 06:30

Jefferies Goes On Hiring Binge As Outsourced Trading Booms

Jefferies Goes On Hiring Binge As Outsourced Trading Booms

Jefferies Financial Group is ramping up its outsourced trading business by hiring 17 new traders, aiming to tap into the growing trend of asset managers looking to cut costs and expand their trading capabilities, according to Bloomberg.

The firm has already recruited nine traders and plans to hire eight more, extending its services to fixed-income products in addition to its existing equities desk.

This expansion comes as more asset managers consider outsourcing their trading operations. UBS’s exit from the outsourced trading business earlier this year has opened opportunities for competitors to gain market share. “A main theme has been the increase in the larger asset managers looking at this,” said Amy Thorne at Northern Trust. “This is not just a cost play.”

Outsourced trading allows money managers to execute trades during busy periods, access new markets, or even replace their entire trading divisions. Advocates say it provides better pricing and access to major counterparties, while critics worry it could erode market knowledge and relationships.

Jesse Forster at Crisil Coalition Greenwich said, “The buy-side’s doing more with less these days. So those hesitancies are wearing away, but there is still an element of: ‘Hey, I’m giving up a little bit of control. Is my boss going to like them better than me? Are they going to do too good of a job?’”

Bloomberg writes that to address potential conflicts, Jefferies stresses that its outsourced traders operate independently. “The information barriers we have in place ensure full segregation of order flow,” said Dean Gray, Jefferies’ head of international outsourced trading.

Other firms are also entering the market. Clear Street has hired six traders so far, with plans to grow to 20 within 18 months. Cantor Fitzgerald is expanding its offering to crypto, while Northern Trust and Marex Group are scaling up globally. “They don’t have to build their own infrastructure and capability, that’s what these firms are plugging into,” said Jack Seibald at Marex.

Data from a 2024 State Street survey shows nearly three-quarters of institutional investors plan to use outsourced trading for foreign exchange, and 67% plan to use it for derivatives.

Rebecca Crowe at Bank of New York Mellon said, “Eventually the drive for returns and client outcomes has to win.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 05:45

Gun Used In Shooting Colombian Presidential Candidate Traced To Arizona

Gun Used In Shooting Colombian Presidential Candidate Traced To Arizona

Authored by Yeny Sora Robles via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The pistol used to shoot Colombian presidential candidate Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay was purchased in the U.S. state of Arizona, the South American country’s top police officer said Monday.  

Forensic experts work at the crime scene where Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot and wounded in the Modelia neighborhood in Bogota on June 7, 2025. Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images

Speaking at a press event, Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana of the Colombian National Police said, “According to the verification carried out by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, within the framework of international cooperation, the firearm was purchased on August 6, 2020, in Arizona, United States, that is, it was purchased legally.”

Monday’s media event follows Uribe’s being shot twice at close range in the head and once in the leg during a pre-campaign event in the Modelia neighborhood of Bogotá on Saturday. Uribe, 39, who is of the conservative Centro Democrático party, remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Triana further told the media that the Colombian Attorney General’s Office is investigating the shooting with the assistance of the country’s army and international cooperation to investigate how the weapon entered the country.

Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, attorney general of Colombia, told the media event that investigators are also trying to identify whether the firearm used against Uribe has been involved in other similar attacks.

The alleged shooter, a 15-year-old boy from a poor neighborhood in Bogotá, was shot in the leg by police as he attempted to flee the scene and was captured. 

The motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Condition Is ‘Extremely Serious’

 The Santa Fe Foundation clinic, which is treating Uribe, issued a statement about his condition early on Monday.

“After completing the neurosurgical and left thigh procedures, he was transferred to intensive care for postoperative stabilization. His condition is extremely serious, and the prognosis is reserved,” the foundation stated on Monday.

His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, sent a message asking people to pray for him.

“Miguel is currently fighting for his life. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him. I ask everyone to join us in a chain of prayer for Miguel’s life. I put my faith in God,” she said in a post on X.

Uribe is the son of journalist Diana Turbay, who was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel and killed during a botched rescue operation in 1991. He is also the grandson of former President Julio César Turbay, who served as the country’s leader from 1978 to 1982. Uribe was a councilman in Bogotá, secretary of government in Enrique Peñalosa’s mayoral office, and, since 2022, has held a seat in the Senate for the Democratic Center.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 05:00

UK Announces $19.3 Billion Funding For New Nuclear Power Project

UK Announces $19.3 Billion Funding For New Nuclear Power Project

Weeks after Germany decided to reverse course and 're-embrace' nuclear power following their supreme idiocy on the matter, the UK government announced on Tuesday that it would invest 14.2 billion pounds (US$19.3 billion) to build a new nuclear plant in the southeast of England.

Sizewell B nuclear power station, in Sizewell, England, on Sept. 1, 2022. Chris Radburn/AFP via Getty Images

The move was revealed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of its broader spending review, which will lay out priorities for the next four years.

The new plant, named Sizewell C, will be located in Suffolk county, and is predicted to create around 10,000 jobs during construction, according to a government statement. Once operational, it will create enough electricity power roughly 6 million homes.

"We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis," said Energy Minister Ed Miliband. "This is the government’s clean energy mission in action, investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security."

As the Epoch Times notes further, the UK has also been tapping up new investors to fund the construction of Sizewell C, but no new partners were mentioned in the announcement.

Neither the total cost of construction nor a date for expected completion has been announced.

Sizewell C was originally an EDF Energy project but is now majority-owned by the British government, with EDF Energy a minority shareholder.

EDF Energy is the British arm of Électricité de France (EDF), which is wholly owned by the French state.

The UK government’s stake was 83.8 percent and EDF’s stake was 16.2 percent at the end of December, EDF’s financial results showed in February.

Sizewell C would be just the second new nuclear plant built in Britain in more than 20 years, after another EDF project, Hinkley Point C, which was first announced in 2010.

Hinkley Point C, based in Somerset, southwest England, has been beleaguered by delays and budget overruns and is currently expected to come online in 2029.

Sizewell C would be the third power station built on the site after Sizewell A and Sizewell B, both of which are currently in the process of being decommissioned.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero also announced that it had picked Rolls-Royce SMR to build Britain’s first small modular reactors (SMRs).

About 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) of government funds will be dedicated to the SMR program over the next four years, in a bid to get one of Europe’s first small-scale nuclear industries going.

SMRs are usually around the size of two football fields and composed of parts that can be assembled in a factory, making them quicker and cheaper to build than conventional plants.

The moves by Britain come amid a renewed interest in nuclear power across Europe, sparked by spiraling energy costs due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which is hampering the continent’s supply of natural gas.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a keynote speech in August 2024 that the European Union needed more nuclear power.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 03:30

Foreign Meddling: US Ambassador Lobbies Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Against Forcing New Elections

Foreign Meddling: US Ambassador Lobbies Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Against Forcing New Elections

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling government coalition stands on the brink of being toppled by a bill that would dissolve the country's parliament and force new elections, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has controversially inserted himself into the country's domestic affairs by lobbying ultra-Orthodox members of Netanyahu's coalition -- urging them to rethink their plans to vote in favor of the measure.

The rebellion by the ultra-Orthodox parties springs from their anger over the prospect of ultra-Orthodox youth being included in the country's military draft -- after having been exempt from conscription since Israel's 1948 founding. Last summer, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the government must start drafting the Haredi men, who typically dedicate their entire lives to religious study. Since then, the ultra-Orthodox have been pushing hard for the Knesset to pass legislation to render the Supreme Court decision on the subject moot. With the IDF poised to conscript 54,000 Haredi yeshiva students in July, the parties have been boycotting various votes and are now poised to tip the scales in favor of new elections. 

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (ACLJ graphic)

According to polling, Netanyahu would be thrown to the curb in a new election. Enter Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor and fervent Evangelical Christian Zionist has been meeting with senior Haredi politicians, imploring them to give Netanyahu more time to solve the draft crisis. His pitches reportedly include a caution that “government stability is important for dealing with the Iranian issue.” (Pursuing a resolution of tensions over Iran's nuclear program, Trump administration diplomats will have a sixth round of talks with Iranian counterparts on Sunday in Oman's capital, Muscat.) Another report has Huckabee telling ultra-Orthodox leaders that "Washington will have difficulty supporting Israel during an election period," though it isn't clear what means, exactly. 

As you might expect, Huckabee's intervention isn't appreciated by opposition members working to trigger new elections. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid diplomatically said he hoped the reports were untrue: 

“Since I have no doubt that Ambassador Huckabee respects Israel’s independence and its democracy, I hope and believe that the report that he is interfering in Israel’s internal politics and trying to help Netanyahu [deal with] the ultra-Orthodox in the military draft law crisis are not true. Israel is not a protectorate.”

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist opposition Yesh Atid party and prime minister for six months in 2022, said Huckabee would be wrong to interfere in Israel's internal politics (AP photo)

So far, Huckabee has been tight-lipped about his machinations. “He is holding meetings with various Israeli figures. The content of those conversations remains private,” a Huckabee spokesperson told Channel 13. The outlet reported that Netanyahu is aware of Huckabee's lobbying and is pleased about it. Huckabee has long been aligned with right-wing, expansionist elements in Israel. “I consider [the two-state solution] no solution whatsoever,” he told a Republican Jewish Coalition audience in 2015, insisting that Israel has a "God-given...title deed" to all the land it controls -- including the West Bank -- or, as he insists on calling it, "Judea and Samaria." 

The measure to dissolve the parliament was introduced last week by Israel's largest opposition party. There are 120 seats in the Knesset, and Netanyahu's coalition controls 68 of them. Of his coalition, 18 come from Israel's two main ultra-Orthodox parties, which means their defection would guarantee the dissolution of the Knesset and a new round of elections. Last week, two spiritual leaders of a faction of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party instructed members to move forward with an attempt to topple Netanyahu's government over the draft issue.

Netanyahu has been also been making the rounds with ultra-Orthodox Knesset members. On Monday, Israel's Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu as telling Haredi lawmakers, “We are in a dramatic period. There are extraordinary challenges on the table. This is a historic window of opportunity that will not return, and therefore, under no circumstances should the foundations of the government be shaken.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 02:45

Russia's Arrival In Dnipropetrovsk Puts Ukraine In A Dilemma

Russia's Arrival In Dnipropetrovsk Puts Ukraine In A Dilemma

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

It’s very difficult to imagine how Ukraine can prevent any further Russian advances after this...

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that their forces had entered Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed is part of Putin’s buffer zone plan. This was foreseen as early as late August once the Battle of Pokrovsk began but has been achieved even without capturing that strategic fortress town. Russian forces simply went around it after breaking through the southern Donbass front. This development puts Ukraine in a dilemma.

It’ll now have to simultaneously fortify the Dnipropetrovsk front together with the southern Kharkov and northern Zaporozhye ones in case Russia uses its new position to launch offensives into any of those three. This could put serious strain on the Ukrainian Armed Forces as they’re already struggling to prevent a major breakthrough in Sumy Region from Kursk. Coupled with depleting manpower and questions about continued US military-intelligence aid, this might be enough to collapse the frontlines.

To be sure, that scenario has been bandied about many times over the past more than 1,200 days, but it nowadays appears tantalizingly closer than ever. Observers also shouldn’t forget that Putin told Trump that he’ll respond to Ukraine’s strategic drone strikes earlier this month, which could combine with the abovementioned two factors to achieve this long-desired breakthrough. Of course, it might just be a symbolic demonstration of force, but it could also be something more significant as well.

Ukraine’s best chances of preventing this are for the US to either get Russia to agree to freeze the frontlines or to go on another offensive.

The first possibility could be advanced by the carrot-and-stick approach of proposing a better resource-centric strategic partnership than has already been offered in exchange on pain of imposing crippling secondary sanctions on its energy clients (specifically China and India with likely waivers for the EU) and/or doubling down on military-intelligence aid if it still refuses.

As for the second, the 120,000 troops that Ukraine has assembled along the Belarusian border according to President Alexander Lukashenko last summer could either cross that frontier and/or one of Russia’s internationally recognized frontiers. Objectively speaking, however, both possibilities only stand a slim chance of success: Russia has made it clear that it must achieve more of its goals in the conflict before agreeing to any ceasefire while its success in pushing Ukraine out of Kursk bodes ill for other invasions.

The likelihood of Ukraine cutting its losses by agreeing to more of Russia’s demands for peace is nil. Therefore, it might inevitably opt, whether in lieu of the aforesaid scenarios or in parallel with one or both of them, to intensify its “unconventional operations” against Russia. This refers to assassinations, strategic drone strikes, and terrorism. All that will do, however, is provoke more (probably outsized) conventional retaliation from Russia and thus painfully delay Ukraine’s seemingly inevitable defeat.

With an eye towards the endgame, it appears as though an inflection point is about to be reached or already has been in the sense of irreversibly shifting the military-strategic dynamics in Russia’s favor. It’s very difficult to imagine how Ukraine can extricate itself from this dilemma. All signs point to this being impossible, though the conflict has already surprised observers on both sides before, so it can’t be ruled out. Nevertheless, it’s a far-fetched scenario, and it’s more likely that Ukraine’s official defeat is nigh.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/11/2025 - 02:00

NIH Nixes Fauci Pet Project As Scripps' Kristian Andersen Fixes To Flee The Country

NIH Nixes Fauci Pet Project As Scripps' Kristian Andersen Fixes To Flee The Country

Authored by Paul Thacker via The DisInformation Chronicle,

Senior officials inside the NIH are working to shut down a Tony Fauci initiative launched in 2020 called the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases or “CREID.” Meanwhile, attorneys inside the Justice Department have launched initial inquiries into one of the CREID grants awarded to Scripps Research Institute researcher Kristian Andersen, who is now in the process of fleeing the United States for a position being created for him at the University of Oslo.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but an NIH spokesperson confirmed the agency is shutting down the CREID grants. “Though the grants have been properly terminated, money will be released to the grantees to assure safe shutdown of these programs in terms of biosafety and security,” said an NIH spokesperson, adding that pandemic preparedness remains important but the dangers of health comorbidities in infectious disease outbreaks was further underlined during COVID. “Strengthening overall health through proactive disease prevention offers a more resilient foundation for responding to future health threats—beyond reliance on vaccines or treatments for yet-unknown pathogens.”

Tony Fauci announced the formation of CREIDs in 2020, awarding 11 grants worth around $17 million, with $82 million in expected funding in succeeding years. NIH did not explain how much of the $82 million slated for CREID had already been spent. Two CREID grantees have been the focus of intense scrutiny since Fauci’s announcement: Peter Daszak of the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance and Kristian Andersen of Scripps.

Daszak was later discovered to have undisclosed ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), having provided an NIH subaward to WIV researcher Shi Zhengli. At the close of the Biden Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally debarred EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak from receiving federal funds, in part because “in response to NIH’s multiple safety-related requests” EcoHealth Alliance had not provided WIV records.

Andersen also faced close inspection for his CREID grant. Some months before Fauci gave final sign off on Andersen’s CREID award, Andersen and other researchers published a paper in Nature Medicine titled, “Proximal Origin” that dismissed the possibility of a Wuhan lab accident. Andersen’s paper was widely hailed by scientists as proof, at the time, that discussions of a COVID lab accident was a conspiracy.

Nature Medicine’s editor-in-chief, Joao Monteiro, tweeted that the “Proximal Origin” paper “put conspiracy theories” about the pandemic’s possible lab origin to rest.

Andersen echoed Monteiro’s statement days later, associating “conspiracy theorists” worried about a possible lab accident with people who doubt the Moon landing.

The paper would go on to become one of the most heavily cited scientific papers in 2020. However, emails made public through freedom of information act requests and by congressional investigators later found that the papers’ authors had run it past funders—Collins and Fauci at the NIH, as well as with Jeremy Farrar, then at the Wellcome Trust and now with the World Health Organization.

Congressional Republicans later charged that Fauci had helped orchestrate the paper, while House Democrats pointed the finger at Jeremey Farrar, publishing a report that concluded Farrar helped “organize and facilitate” and “led the drafting process of the paper.”

The group BioSafety Now has demanded Nature Medicine retract the “Proximal Origin” paper, calling it a “a product of scientific misconduct.” Two weeks ago, The DisInformation Chronicle reported that the Justice Department began an initial inquiry into the paper, sending Nature Medicine a list of questions that included, “How do you handle allegations that authors of works in your journals may have misled their readers?” The existence of the Justice Department letter to Nature Medicine had not been previously reported.

Justice Department officials opened the inquiry as they suspect the paper may have been a quid pro quo, published by the authors to dismiss the possibility of a lab accident in exchange for the Fauci CREID grant. Andersen addressed these bribery allegations two years ago during a congressional hearing.

“There is no connection between the grant and the conclusions we reached about the origin of the pandemic,” Andersen wrote in sworn testimony to Congress in July 2023. “We applied for this grant in June 2019, and it was scored and reviewed by independent experts in November 2019.”

The Intercept later reported that Andersen “knew that was false.” NIH records show the Fauci CREID grant to Andersen wasn’t finalized until May 21, 2020, two months after Andersen published “Proximal Origin” in March 2020.

Misleading intelligence agencies

Justice Department officials are also likely to examine Andersen’s possible role in misleading US intelligence agencies. A week after Nature Medicine published “Proximal Origin,” the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) published an intelligence report that circulated inside security agencies. First reported by The DisInformation Chronicle, the INR report is marked “UNCLASSIFIED/FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.”

The INR report documents a briefing that non-government scientists gave to State Department officials, downplaying the possibility of a Chinese lab accident and citing the “Proximal Origin” paper. The names of the scientists who briefed State remained unknown until a couple years ago, when emails found that one of the scientists was Kristian Andersen, who is apparently a citizen of Denmark, not the US.

Did we have a foreign national parading into the intel agencies and convincing senior officials to not look into a matter?” said a State Department official who is not cleared to speak to the media. “That’s a counter intelligence matter. We need a professional law enforcement investigation.”

Andersen’s involvement came to light in a late 2020 email sent by State Department official David Feith in which Feith wrote that Andersen had briefed State for their March 2020 INR report. “In fact, I'm told that in a briefing organized by INR earlier this year, [Andersen] said that several features that had initially raised questions in his mind were subsequently put to rest by more detailed analysis,” Feith explained by email. “Notably, it was that subsequent follow-on analysis, referred to by Anderson in the INR discussion….”

Based on the briefing by Andersen and colleagues, State’s INR report concluded there was no evidence the virus originated in a lab. “U.S. scientists said that while they cannot completely rule out that scenario, it was improbable and not supported by available evidence.”

But on April 16, 2020, a month after briefing the State Department, Andersen sent a Slack message to his “Proximal Origin” co-authors. This message contradicts what scientists told the State Department.

“I’m still not fully convinced that no culture was involved,” Andersen wrote his co-authors, a month after briefing State that a lab accident was not supported by evidence. “We also can't fully rule out engineering (for basic research).” Andersen added that a critical part of the virus called the furin cleavage site “still could have been inserted” into the virus.

Researcher Andreas Martin Lisewski with Germany’s Constructor University published a recent study supporting Andersen’s suspicion that a furin cleavage site was inserted into the COVID virus called SARS-CoV-2. After analyzing the sequence, Lisewski concluded the SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site came from a laboratory-constructed MERS virus. Although legacy media have ignored these findings, virologist Christian Drosten of Charité University in Berlin presented these conclusions that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was not natural at a World Health Organization meeting last February.

I don’t see how this not a criminal misleading and counterintelligence matter,” said the State Department official. “This is way beyond the threshold needed for a grand jury.”

During a sworn congressional deposition, Andersen testified that he also briefed the CIA and FBI, although the nature and timing of those discussions is unclear.

As the noose continues to tighten on Andersen, he has been looking to move outside the United States and has apparently found a new home at the University of Oslo. The move would be a precipitous fall in status for Andersen, as Scripps Research Institute has been ranked as one of the most influential scientific programs in the world.

Andersen did not respond to questions and repeated requests for comment sent to his Scripps email.

Finding refuge

“I have heard from several sources that there is an ongoing effort from a group of scientists at the University of Oslo to recruit Andersen, and that this might be finalized in the near future,” said Sigrid Bratlie, a molecular biologist and senior advisor at Norway’s Langsikt Policy Centre.

The campaign to find a position for Andersen at the University of Oslo apparently began last October when professors Anne Spurkland, Rein Aasland, and Nils Christian Stenseth invited Andersen to give a lecture on the Oslo campus. Nelseth has long trumpeted Andersen’s research. In 2021, he published a paper with WIV scientist Shi Zhengli that dismissed the possibility of a Wuhan lab accident, citing Andersen’s “Proximal Origin” paper.

Covering the “facts and the fiction” of the COVID pandemic, Andersen claimed during the October lecture that critiques of his research were mere political attacks that had been spread by conspiracy theorists, naming two Oslo researchers sitting in the audience: Sigrid Bratlie and Gunnveig Grødeland, a professor at the University of Oslo.

Andersen’s Oslo talk was sponsored by the Norwegian Society for Immunology which later released an apology. “Kristian Andersen’s lecture concluded by asserting that, based on his findings, SARS-CoV-2 necessarily originated from an animal at the Wuhan wet market,” the statement reads. “In retrospect, unfortunately, it seems the purpose of his lecture was just as much about stopping the free debate in Norway on this topic.”

Undeterred, Stenseth, Spurkland and Aasland then helped nominate Andersen for membership in the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Two months ago, the Academy accepted Andersen’s nomination.

The exact position being created for Andersen at the University of Oslo is unclear. Stenseth, Spurkland, and Aasland did not respond to questions and repeated requests for comment sent by email. University of Oslo officials also contacted by email did not reply.

Andersen’s arrival in Oslo is likely to be greeted with some trepidation. Last week, Bratlie published a book to positive reviews in Norway titled, “The Wuhan Mystery – the hunt for the origins of the covid pandemic.” Bratlie’s book argues that the pandemic likely started from a lab accident in Wuhan, evidence that was then covered up by international scientists to protect reputations, jobs, and funding. This cover-up, she argues, impedes society’s ability to prepare for future pandemics.

Bratlie said that scientists have legitimate worries about the current climate for research in Trump’s America, but these concerns should be balanced with the need to protect democratic principles and academic integrity.

“I would be absolutely devastated on behalf of Norwegian academia if this recruitment happens,” Bratlie said of the University of Oslo’s bid to bring Andersen to her country. “If Andersen has contributed to a cover-up of the origins of the pandemic, potentially extending to criminal acts, he should be held accountable and not be given amnesty or academic shield in Norway.”

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 23:05

Wuhan Researcher Charged With Smuggling Biological Materials Into US Lab

Wuhan Researcher Charged With Smuggling Biological Materials Into US Lab

Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. prosecutors have charged another Chinese national for smuggling biological materials into the United States and lying about the scheme.

Petri dishes and notes found in intercepted packages that Chinese researcher Han Chengxuan allegedly smuggled into the United States. Department of Justice

Han Chengxuan, a PhD candidate from Wuhan in central China, was arrested upon landing at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on June 8. An FBI agent said authorities had intercepted four packages of biological materials that Han allegedly sent to members of a University of Michigan laboratory.

She was the third Chinese national charged in a week for smuggling materials for biological research. The previous two, accused of smuggling a crop-killing fungus, include a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan’s Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction. The criminal complaint said Han was a Chinese Communist Party member who has shown loyalty to the Party.

The complaint said Han admitted to shipping an estimated five to 10 packages, but several were lost in transit. She said that her professors at both the Chinese and U.S. universities, as well as the recipients, had no knowledge of what she sent, characterizing them as a “surprises,” according to the FBI agent.

The packages contain neither the correct documentation nor the permit required for importing roundworm-related materials, the complaint noted.

The shipments allegedly went to two recipients: one active member of the lab and another among the faculty and staff at the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan.

Han initially lied to the customs agents at the airport about the content of the packages, claiming they were plastic cups and a book, according to a court filing. Pressed, she admitted that the packages contained petri dishes of nematode growth medium for growing roundworms, as well as small circular DNA molecules called plasmids in an envelope, the FBI agent said.

Han, who is studying at the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, arrived on an exchange visitor visa; she has an offer letter presenting her as a visiting scholar to the Michigan lab, according to prosecutors. Han told the FBI that she was coming to the University of Michigan for one year for her research on roundworms.

She stated that she had produced the desired plasmids using E. coli, isolated and injected them into roundworms as a primary method for her research, according to the filing. The FBI agent noted that plasmids are often used as a vehicle for introducing genetic modifications in organisms like roundworms.

Han’s immigration paperwork said she researches how animals detect sensory cues such as touch, chemicals, and light, and how neural circuits process such information for behavioral outcome, and how genes and drugs affect such processes, the complaint said. She has co-authored two research papers on roundworms, known scientifically as C.elegans.

A U.S. consular officer initially rejected Han’s J1 visa application on March 18 due to her struggle to conduct the interview in English, which was essential for her obtaining the visa. She secured the visa successfully nine days later, with an officer noting that she “spoke credibly about her educational background, current studies, and post graduate plans,” the complaint stated.

Han tried to conceal the content of the shipment with written notes and a book, including one reading: “Hello! This is a fun letter with interesting patterns. I hope you can enjoy the pleasure within it,” according to the court document.

Labels on the same note contain terms consistent with roundworm research, the filing said. Han allegedly told the customs agent she created a “picture game” in the book and that the recipient of her note would sequence the plasmids—a process each taking about a week—to identify what they were “for fun,” the filing said.

Han allegedly deleted the content of her electronic device before coming to the United States. She stated she wanted to “start afresh” when questioned by federal agents.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome Gorgon, said the alleged smuggling from a Wuhan university marks “part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security.”

“The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions,” he said in a statement.

John Nowak, Customs and Border Protection’s acting director of field operations, said the alleged actions compromise the integrity of U.S. research institutions.

“The guidelines for importing biological materials into the U.S. for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” he said, adding that his agency will not tolerate the smuggling of “potentially dangerous goods” through U.S. ports of entry.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 22:15

Debt, Leverage, And Fiat Come To Bitcoin

Debt, Leverage, And Fiat Come To Bitcoin

Authored by Kane McGukin via Bombthrower.com,

Money has always been strategic, providing the foundation of nations and empires for centuries.

Owning capital and controlling its flow isn’t just about survival; it’s about building something that lasts.

If Bitcoin 2024 was the year of political invasion and intelligence acknowledgement, 2025 was a confirmation.

My key takeaway is that what started as an emergent behavior, Bitcoin, has made its way to center stage in 21st-century capital formation. New age dollars are backed once again with layers of sound money and innovative tech rails (stablecoins) that will extend our ability to build the future in both our digital and physical worlds.

This year’s conference laid out how Bitcoin + Stablecoins will be incorporated into balance sheets, national stockpiles, and act as a financial reserve asset. Backing traditional assets, new financial instruments (bitbonds), and resetting the geopolitical landscape while driving growth in the 21st Century.

“Bitcoin is now becoming one of the largest asset classes in the world. … The US needs to be able to defend Bitcoin or use it as an offensive weapon…” – Fred Theil, Mara

“The Executive Order specifically named Bitcoin… as a strategic asset because of its scarcity… and that was a signal being sent to the American population as well as the global population of other national leaders… The US Government sees Bitcoin as a Strategic asset… Is this a signal of a strategic shift? … I think that’s still an uncertain question, but I think we’re leaning towards the latter.” – Matthew Pines

Strategic reserves aren’t just about oil or Swiss cheese anymore. They’re about Bitcoin and the future of money as statecraft – Matthew Sigel, VanEck

A Historical Perspective of How We Got to Bitcoin

Money began with kings and blacksmiths, then shifted to vaults and shipping lanes as industrialized nations arose. To power this evolution, a global information and logistics network emerged: wires stretched across continents, barges moved gold port to port, and boots on the ground gathered local intelligence. Routed it back through government think tanks and major global bank trading desks. These old-fashioned and manual networks are what FED the dollar money machine, creating an unrivaled capital engine in the US.

By the 1960s and 1980s, a new era began. Derivatives became the norm, and information moved faster, requiring one to have financial trading desks around the globe to capture profitable information and support national security. Bankers ruled supreme. Bitcoin 2025 made it clear there is new capital in town, but this time is no different.

In recent decades, social networks began outperforming diplomats and spies. Capital shifted from hard assets to liquid and digital instruments. This accelerated the tempo of our world. We must rebuild that complex network of global banks, but with the advantage of nodes over buildings. In the new realm, VCs, software developers, and engineers rule supreme.

If one theme echoed throughout this year’s conference, it was this: Monetary information is a weapon, and the dollar network needs an extension. A new innovation to carry its weight around the world faster. That’s why Bitcoin is more than Number Go Up (NGU) technology.

Throughout the conference, if you heard it once, you heard it numerous times. Bitcoin won’t replace the dollar, it will expand and deepen the vast power of the dollar network. Moving forward, BTC will be the basis of capital formation, buying power, and geopolitical edge. Its volatility will be harvested and embedded into the balance sheets of public companies (Bitcoin Treasury Companies).

Stablecoins Were Everywhere

The x.com post/meme above is funny and sums up the stablecoin mania. This was an inevitable route, and there was no loss in the opportunity to weave it into almost every session. Stablecoins will lead the way in transforming our money market and dollar payment networks. They bring them up-to-date with modern technology and making “money” fully digital and usable.

Making money move at the speed with which people live today. Tether’s (USDT) Paolo Ardoino proved this in his session. He effectively showed that we’re moving from an era of tech stacks to an era of monetary tech stacks.

If you want value, it must be backed by truth and sustainability. Not rhetoric, corruption, merry-go-rounding, and nothingness.

Underneath the most popular stablecoin USDT sits: sound money assets (Bitcoin and Gold), paper yield-bearing monetary assets (US Treasuries), private company profits, Bitcoin mining and AI datacenter infrastructure, independent media tools, privacy chat tools, and more. Tether has built the future of what a monetary tech stack likely looks like. A combination of all forms of assets we might want in our society today.

“There are many senior folks in the Trump administration directly around the stablecoin space, and this was the same philosophy that really gave rise to the growth of US-based, world-dominant multinational corporations. It was not just the love of Pepsi and Coke as products. It was that they served as instruments of US statecraft, and there was a deep financial overlap between the profits of the large multinational corporations and the reach and acquisitions of the American Empire. … I think that there is a kind of belief that Stablecoins and the Bitcoin market can effectively do for the dollar what multinational corporations did in the 20th Century for the reach of the Empire.” – Mike Benz

As we’ve seen across centuries, intelligence is once again being embedded and synchronized. As power has shifted to technology networks, we’re seeing the importance these leaders are now playing in government.

Much like we saw with old Wall Street revolving doors that allowed leaders to bounce back and forth between Goldman, JP Morgan, Black Rock, The Federal Reserve, and other government institutions. We’re now seeing the same with technology companies, too.

Given the posturing around Bitcoin and AI, it would not be a shock for Bitcoin and stablecoin companies to be the next vector. After all, the power of a monetary network is in the information and profit its operators control.

As capital competition intensifies, it is clear that economic dominance and even warfare have moved from the battlefields to bandwidth.

All of this, Bitcoin’s integration, the rise of stablecoins, and the evolution of monetary tech stacks point to a deeper truth: our current financial system isn’t just adapting, it’s straining while monetary architecture is quickly becoming the next battleground.

This strain comes from a design flaw baked into the system itself: its dependency on endless growth. Its dependency on debt-backed growth.

The Problem of Scale and Constant Growth

“Basically, the way the system is constructed. … it relies on constant growth. It’s like a shark that can’t stop swimming, otherwise it drowns, ironically.” – Lyn Alden

What Lyn describes here with the shark analogy is the premise of Geoffrey West’s book Scale – The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies.

Eventually, superexponential growth systems (like financial systems) reach finite time singularity where the energy and growth required to maintain pace become catastrophically unsustainable.

The only way to avoid the inevitable collapse is through innovation. Ironically, Bitcoin is an innovation for both our financial system and our information system. Both are on unsustainable resource burn paths just to maintain themselves. For the financial system, it’s a debt issue. For the internet, it’s an energy and volume of content/information/value issue.

These dilemmas, though not Triffin’s, make the points highlighted by Vice President JD Vance even more important.

For starters, unfortunately, he made it clear that Bitcoin is now political; continued voice and action are required. As he posed, Bitcoin and AI together should be considered the two most important tools for our future.

As a reminder, empires and stability are built on one’s ability to collect, process, and profit from information. Both work nicely in these capacities. So, the undue interest does make sense.

As a reminder, those who reign are the ones who best showcase the ability to monetize the value in networks.

What nation-states, public entities, and those in statecraft seem to grasp is we’ve shifted from a world of “he who holds the gold makes the rules” to a world of “he who holds the data gets the value”.

It now appears to be an arms race to see who can amass critical capital. Because in times of geopolitical instability, strategic resources are what give control. They are what lead to historical transitions. Once again, we find ourselves in the midst of a paradigm shift, with Bitcoin at the center.

Money, information, and supply chains are the battlegrounds of the moment that will define the lanes of the future.

“We have to start thinking about the long-term strategic implications of Bitcoin. Where Bitcoin is going is as a strategically important asset for the United States over the next decades.” – JD Vance

And yet, while the Bitcoin Conference conversations touched on geopolitics, network theory, and systemic fragility, there was also something personal about this year’s conference.

One moment that captured this shift in narrative was from none other than Jack Mallers.

Mr. Mallers is Aging… A Conference Farewell

Lastly, a Bitcoin Conference would not be complete without a passionate ending from Jack Mallers.

However, this year was a bit of a flip of the script. Rather than promoting HODLing or stacking sats forever, Mallers promoted spending bitcoin and even taking loans against them… debt… because the reality is, as you become an adult, there are things in life Bitcoin can’t buy. There are real moments, real bills quoted and accepted only in USD. This realization helps us understand the simple line Jack quoted:

“Money is a means, it’s not an end.” – Jack Mallers

Money is a savings technology > Spending is for memories and life.

Jack Mallers Bitcoin 2025 Keynote Speech: The HODLers Dilemma

Get on the Bombthrower mailing list here and receive a free copy of The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto and The CBDC Survival Guide when it drops.   Subscribe to Kane McGukin’s Substack here.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 20:35

Waste Of The Day: Secrecy Surrounds California Capitol Annex

Waste Of The Day: Secrecy Surrounds California Capitol Annex

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

Topline: An annex to California’s Capitol Building was supposed to cost $543 million, but the price has doubled to $1.1 billion and now includes hallways designed to hide lawmakers from journalists.

Key facts: KCRA 3 reported that the annex will include a new parking garage and visitor’s center and office space for 120 state lawmakers. The news station pointed out it is almost as expensive as the $1.3 billion spent on Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers’ football stadium that seats 68,500 people.

KCRA 3’s sources revealed the annex will include private hallways. The building’s current layout means lawmakers must walk through a public “swing space” to get from hearing rooms to the elevators, where journalists can ask them questions about the day’s proceedings. The new layout will allow lawmakers to avoid the swing space.

Other details are still unknown. There has not been a public update on how tax dollars are being spent since 2021. The Joint Rules Committee of the state legislature, which is overseeing the project, denied KCRA 3’s request for an interview and did not provide diagrams of the private hallways.

Taxpayers might have learned more from the project’s environmental impact report, which all public construction projects must complete under the California Environmental Quality Act. But lawmakers wrote a bill that exempts the Capitol annex from the report and signed it into law just 10 days later. The law was upheld by a state court of appeals.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com

Supporting quote:  State Senate Pro Tempore Mike McGuire told KCRA 3, “Secure corridors have always been included in plans for the new annex … and are designed to help ensure the safety and security of lawmakers, which is even more important today given the events that unfolded on January 6th at our nation’s capital building and the active threats public officials continue to face. Regardless, legislators will continue to be accessible and responsive to the public, staff, and reporters no matter what hallway, elevator or stairwell they choose to use.”

Critical quote: “I think this is the height of hypocrisy,” state Assemblyman Josh Hoover told KCRA 3 about the hallways. “You are using taxpayer dollars for a taxpayer-funded facility and yet you are going to design it in a way that shields you from the public and shields you from accountability.”

Summary: A $1.1 billion taxpayer-funded project should have full transparency and be in the public’s best interest. California’s new Capitol annex might not meet either of those criteria.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 19:45

China Sends Two Aircraft Carriers Deeper Into Pacific For First Time, After NATO Bolstered Presence

China Sends Two Aircraft Carriers Deeper Into Pacific For First Time, After NATO Bolstered Presence

Western media and American allies in east Asia are hyperventilating over Chinese warships being deployed in... regional waters off China.

"In a display of Beijing’s growing military reach, the Chinese Navy sent two aircraft carriers into the Pacific Ocean, far from the country’s coast, for the first time to conduct exercises together, Japan’s defense minister, Gen Nakatani, said," writes the NY Times on Tuesday. Let's compare this 'threat' to the eleven active nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that America currently has in action, with worldwide patrol and reach.

Nakatani informed reporters that the pair of PLA Navy carriers engaged in exercises which included jet fighters launching and landing, in an area to the east of Iwo Jima, about 750 miles south of Tokyo. Of course, this area has had a strong permanent American military presence going back to WW2.

Tokyo confirmed that Japan's tiny navy monitored the activities of the Chinese carriers from afar, given it was a first instance that the carriers had operated together in the Pacific beyond the islands of Japan.

The Liaoning and the Shandong were accompanied by PLA warship escort vessels, as is common with carrier groups.

And why would China want to bolster its navy and send it's paltry sum of two carriers deeper into the Pacific?

...it could be because Chinese officials in Beijing are used to opening up their daily newspapers and seeing provocative headlines like the following: 

But Washington and its regional allies are keeping a close eye on China's rapid naval expansion, given also a third aircraft carrier has been built, the Fujian, and is currently undergoing sea trials before official active deployment. And a fourth carrier is further being constructed.

Again, might China have real reason to worry? And all the while the US Navy (and increasingly other Western navies) routinely send warships through the contested Taiwan Strait, typically accompanied by jingoistic statements of American neocon Congressmen threatening all-out war should Beijing ever attempt to unite the self-ruled island of Taiwan with the mainland.

The question remains: can most Americans find Taiwan on a map? Well, yes it's true they might start caring when the world's supply of semiconductors comes under direct threat, and the iPhone addicted out-of-shape masses might have to put down their devices for a moment.

Even NATO, which is fundamentally a European, trans-Atlantic military alliance, is getting in on the Pacific action with an eye on China... in China's own backyard.

Bloomberg reported last August that "NATO is bolstering its presence in the Western Pacific by sending warships to more places, a move that risks stoking tensions with China, which is worried about the alliance’s growing influence in the region."

Even Italian vessels are seeking to flex: "The latest entrant is the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour, the first time Rome has deployed its lone carrier to the Pacific. The Cavour and an Italian frigate recently held exercises with the US carrier USS Abraham Lincoln near the island of Guam. A day later, F-35 stealth jets and AV-8B Harriers launched from the Cavour," Bloomberg wrote. Italy?... 

Sensationalist MSM headlines, if they were written from the opposite perspective...

So at least from a realist and strategic point of view, China wanting to extend its carriers sphere of patrol and influence makes perfect sense. This is simply the way the world works, and how the 'great powers' operate. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 19:20

Border Czar Homan Says Trump Admin Has 'No Intention' To Arrest Newsom

Border Czar Homan Says Trump Admin Has 'No Intention' To Arrest Newsom

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

White House border czar Tom Homan said on Monday that he has “no intention to arrest” California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the Democratic governor dared him to arrest him as protests and riots persist in Los Angeles.

Homan told CBS News that talk about arresting Newsom has “been taken out of context” and that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “haven’t crossed a line yet.”

“If you cross that line, I don’t care who they are—the governor, the mayor, whatever—and when you commit a crime against ICE officers, we will seek prosecution,” Homan added, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In another interview with NewsNation, Homan said that “there is no threat to arrest Gov. Newsom” but that a previous comment about arresting anybody who impedes ICE efforts to enforce laws against illegal immigrants still stands.

“If he crosses that line of impeding ICE enforcement efforts, if he knowingly harbors and conceals an alien, that’s a crime,” he told the outlet.

“We would ask … the attorney general to seek prosecution,” he added. “My words were taken out of context, but it is what it is.”

At one point on Sunday, Newsom was asked by an NBC News reporter about the possibility of being arrested. “Come and get me, tough guy,” he replied.

And when a reporter at the White House asked President Donald Trump on Monday about Newsom being arrested by Homan, the president said, “I'd do it if I were Tom,” adding: “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”

The Trump administration and Newsom have been sharply critical of one another in the handling of unrest in Los Angeles over the past several days, which was sparked by protests against ICE efforts across the city. Trump and Homan have said that Newsom hasn’t been able to quell the violence, prompting the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines over the past several days.

In response, Newsom said that the troop deployments are a form of overreach and that Trump’s actions are an incitement to more violence. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the deployment on Monday.

Newsom said that the deployment of Marines, which was confirmed by U.S. Northern Command on Monday, is a form of escalation that he described as “completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented.”

Homan has told media outlets that ICE agents were serving criminal search warrants at a Los Angeles worksite last week as part of a probe into customs fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.

Speaking to the “Dr. Phil” show, Homan said that 41 people were arrested and that the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Internal Revenue Service were also involved.

“We took a lot of bad people off the street that day,” he told NewsNation in another interview, adding that those enforcement measures were “targeted” instead of being a random sweep.

In a directive on Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

The Northern Command said in its Monday statement that the 700 or so Marines “will seamlessly integrate” with troops “who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.”

Meanwhile, Monday’s demonstrations were far less raucous, with thousands peacefully attending a rally at City Hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex, which includes a detention center where some illegal immigrants are being held following workplace operations across the city.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 17:20

Steel Stocks Slide After US Nears Deal With Mexico To Cut Steel Duties, Cap Imports

Steel Stocks Slide After US Nears Deal With Mexico To Cut Steel Duties, Cap Imports

After weeks of quiet, Trump's trade deals are starting to take shape: first it is the ongoing negotiations with China which are "going well", then we learned that an interim deal with India was largely completed, and now Bloomberg reports that in the third positive trade news of the day, the US and Mexico are closing in on a deal that would remove cut steel duties - including Trump’s 50% tariffs on steel imports up to a certain volume - in a revamp of a similar deal between the trade partners during his first term. 

The talks are being led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and since Trump hasn’t been directly involved in the negotiations he would need to sign off on any deal.

While the agreement hasn’t been finalized, under the current terms it would allow US buyers to import Mexican steel duty-free as long as they kept total shipments below a level based on historical trade volumes. The new cap would be higher than what was allowed under a similar deal during Trump’s first term, Bloomberg sources reported, which was never a fixed figure but designed to “prevent surges.”

Following the Bloomberg report, US steel stocks moved lower: Cleveland-Cliffs dropped more than 7%, and Nucor fell more than 4%. The Mexican peso trimmed losses.

At an event on Tuesday, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he told US officials in meetings last week that steel tariffs are not justified in Mexico’s case because the US sends more steel to Mexico than vice versa. Last Friday, he posted a picture that showed him shaking hands with a smiling Lutnick in Washington.

“We are waiting for their response, because on Friday we gave them the details of Mexico’s argument and we are right,” Ebrard told reporters Tuesday. “So we are going to wait for their response which will probably be this very week.”

Last week Trump announced he would double steel duties to 50% after saying he would approve the purchase of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, a move he said would protect the domestic industry and national security. While domestic steelmakers welcome the move, end-users have urged the administration to ease the tariffs. 

The negotiations come as Sheinbaum seeks an accommodation with Trump over immigration and drug trafficking across their shared border, which the US leader has demanded Mexico halt. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum Tuesday of “encouraging” more anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, where the US has deployed troops. Sheinbaum has called Noem’s claim “absolutely false.”

The talks also come ahead of a Group of Seven leaders summit in Canada, where the two presidents are likely to meet.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 17:09

Viral Footage Appears To Show Waymo Vehicles Fleeing Los Angeles After Riots 

Viral Footage Appears To Show Waymo Vehicles Fleeing Los Angeles After Riots 

Law-abiding Americans watched in disbelief as Marxist-aligned NGOs sparked chaos in downtown Los Angeles. Riots and looting raged overnight and entered the fourth day, with videos flooding X showing individuals—possibly illegal aliens, migrants, or even U.S. citizens—waving Mexican flags as they torched Waymo Jaguars. 

Waymo confirmed to CNBC on Monday that five of its vehicles were set on fire in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, prompting the company to suspend service across the metro area. 

As of Tuesday, Waymo's service remained suspended due to ongoing protests, with a company representative stating that "some areas are currently inaccessible because of the protest."

"There's no specific timeframe available at the moment; I recommend checking the app periodically for updates," the company representative continued. 

A viral video posted Monday evening by an X user claimed, "Waymo is moving their cars out of LA."

Viral images of Mexican flag-waving rioters torching vehicles and looting are spreading globally. The Democratic Party's color revolution against Trump is now fueling chaos in the streets of Los Angeles — and the optics are disastrous for Democrats, as it only strengthens Trump's case for a mass deportation mandate of criminal illegal aliens. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 17:00

Rogue NGOs Prepare For Nationwide Color Revolution; Walmart Heiress Calls For "Mobilization"

Rogue NGOs Prepare For Nationwide Color Revolution; Walmart Heiress Calls For "Mobilization"

A network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with known affiliations to Marxist-aligned political ideologies initiated coordinated protest activity across Los Angeles last Friday. Almost immediately, these protests escalated into widespread unrest, including acts of vandalism, arson, and looting, consistent with patterns observed in previous color revolution-style mobilizations by the Democratic Party. 

In response, President Trump authorized the deployment of National Guard units and Marines to secure high-risk areas and prevent further civil unrest, with looting and chaos continuing in the overnight hours...

There is reason to believe that an early staging of a coordinated national mobilization effort is underway to unleash a color revolution across cities, similar to BLM-style protests that morphed into riots in 2020, spearheaded by a group identifying itself as "No Kings." This organization appears to function as a front entity for broader far-left networks, with affiliated support from established rogue leftist NGOs, including Indivisible, a Soros-funded nonprofit previously linked to a failed color revolution targeting Elon Musk's Tesla earlier this year. 

Leftist news outlet Common Dreams stated that Indivisible's Leah Greenberg is one of the leading groups behind the "No Kings" movement.

This weekend's planned protest is receiving organizational backing—or, at the very least, logistical support—from nearly 200 groups, including a wide range of NGOs (get ready for the bussing of professional protesters to cities near you).

Here's a partial list of those groups...

Notably, the timing coincides with June 14, a symbolic convergence of Flag Day, President Trump's birthday, a military parade in Washington, DC, and the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, suggesting deliberate political signaling behind the mobilization effort. 

Map: Nationwide Mobilization Effort 

FBI Director Kash Patel told media outlet Just the News, "The FBI is investigating any and all monetary connections responsible for these riots." 

Patel might want to take a look at the funding Billionaire Walton Family Heir Christy Walton (one of the heirs to Walmart) could be involved in; the 50501 movement, the leftist group also partnered with No Kings, re-posted Walton's protest mobilization ad in the New York Times. 

"Who had Christy Walton, Walmart Heiress, on your Bingo Card paying for ads in The New York Times to promote: "No Kings", June 14, Nationwide Protests? Anyone?!?" 50501 movement wrote on Facebook. 

Riots and chaos in Los Angeles are creating terrible optics for the Democratic Party. The NGOs' deployment of migrants and radical leftists as frontline actors—some of whom are burning vehicles, looting, and causing chaos while waving foreign flags—has strongly reinforced President Trump's mandate from the American people regarding the urgent need to deport criminal illegal aliens.

"The protests the Left is calling "No Kings" for next Saturday should be consistently messaged as "the Left's Anti American Flag Day protests." That's what they are," author and commentator James Lindsay wrote on X. 

All in all, early indications suggest staging efforts nationwide are underway with the Democratic Party's color revolution operation against Trump, supported and funded by rogue NGOs, in an effort to shift public opinion polls. Democrats are using the same playbook from their 2020 BLM riots. 

There is growing public awareness of the Democratic Party's deployment of dark NGO networks to orchestrate domestic unrest through tactics resembling the 2020 BLM riots. The ongoing unrest that could potentially spread nationwide by the weekend is best characterized as a hybrid war—cultural and informational against the sitting president of the U.S.  

The central unresolved question remains: To what extent are these leftist NGO-linked operations influenced or financed by foreign actors?

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 16:40

We Are Being Amused & Abused To Death

We Are Being Amused & Abused To Death

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

“But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another—slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” – Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

 “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.” – Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

I find myself ruminating about whether there is anything myself or any other average Joe can do to make a difference in this world, controlled by psychopaths, satanists, egomaniacal billionaires, corrupt evil politicians, a cabal of greedy financiers, neocon warmongering globalists, and the propaganda entertainment complex. When a complex entity becomes too large, it becomes inefficient, bureaucratic, corrupt, and uncontrollable.

The corruption, waste, and purposeful use of governmental power to enrich politicians and their billionaire benefactors, to the detriment of the country and the average citizen, has grown to an incomprehensible and uncontainable level. Whether DOGE was a legitimate undertaking by Musk and his tech geniuses to cut wasteful spending and uncover fraud, or nothing more than a PR stunt designed to keep the MAGA army satiated with the appearance of making America great again, it appears to have sunk into the swamps of DC, foiled by the uni-party once again.

But the show must go on, and this past week’s episode of “As the Empire Crumbles” was certainly entertaining, with the most powerful politician in the world hurling insults at the richest man in the world, who responded by accusing the president of pedophilia, while calling for his impeachment and the creation of a new political party. The MAGA acolytes were flabbergasted, as their two heroes, who were going to usher in a new golden era, came to blows and have irreconcilably broken up. Who could have predicted that the two biggest egos on the planet would ultimately clash and dissolve their partnership? Many of the twitterati were convinced it was just more 4D chess, just as they believed the Q bullshit during Trump’s first term.

The world was captivated and enthralled by this trivial social media war, while NATO/Ukraine desperately attempted to initiate WW3 with their attacks on Russian airbases, the Crimean bridge, and Russian passenger trains. Thousands of tweets and hundreds of articles have been written about this Trump/Musk bickerfest, while the world is imploding and we are accelerating headlong towards a global war, initiated by the three stooges running France, U.K. and Germany, and cheered on by the likes of Lindsey Graham and Mike Pompeo.

Trump’s campaign trail promise to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours has proven to be nothing more than his predictable bloviating bullshit. It has become clear he has absolutely no sway over the EU warmongers, or his own Deep State CIA operatives carrying out the attacks on Russia, as his weak and ineffectual efforts to end the conflict start to diminish his presidency from the outset.

The Gaza genocide continues, with American financial and military support, even though Trump promised to end that conflict. Iran continues to resist efforts to stop its nuclear enrichment program. China pretends to be negotiating with Trump on tariffs but is content letting the Soros installed leftist judges across the country place roadblock after roadblock in the way of Trump’s tariff, deportation, and governmental downsizing agenda. Foreign leaders know they can wait out all of Trump’s threats by just slow walking negotiations and hoping the Republicans lose the House in 2026.

China is biding its time until they believe America is sufficiently preoccupied with its own domestic turmoil and its Ukraine quagmire, and they will initiate their inevitable Taiwan takeover. The United States has not won a war in 80 years and is in no position to wage war in Europe and Asia simultaneously. Trump professes to be for peace, but the Deep State actors controlling the government and the globalist billionaires pulling the strings will force him into WW3. That is how Fourth Turnings roll.

With the intense opposition to the Big Beautiful Bill from Musk and key Republicans in the Senate, the next few months could get messy on the fiscal front. Musk is entirely correct, calling the BBB a massive, outrageous, pork-filled disgusting abomination of congressional pork. When the mind numbingly stupid media outlets declare it will add $3 trillion to the national debt over ten years, that means $3 trillion more than the $21 trillion of additional debt already projected. And this assumes no recessions, no financial crisis, no wars, and no fake pandemics. They purposefully give the impression our national debt only goes up by $3 trillion over ten years.

I’m absolutely certain the average prole, distracted by their technological bread and circuses, has no clue our debt is on automatic pilot to increase by nearly 70% over the next ten years. The average person remains trapped in a false comfort zone, designed by their overlords, to keep them satiated with toxic foodstuff, propaganda disguised as entertainment, and believing going deeper and deeper into debt, buying trinkets and baubles makes them wealthy. Until that comfort zone is shattered by the bitter reality of the next financial implosion, the masses will do nothing to try and alter the disastrous course plotted by their overlords.

The GOP passage of $9.4 billion of DOGE cuts is nothing more than a PR stunt to convince the ignorant masses they are actually doing something about the deficit. The dopes making bets on Draft Kings and posting videos on Instagram have no concept about how ridiculously out of control our government has become. They add $6 billion to the national debt every single day, so their $9.4 of “cuts” will be gone in 37 hours. Our deficits are big, but they are not beautiful. Our deficit in FY24 was $1.8 trillion. Through the first 7 months of FY25 the deficit is $1.049 trillion. At the current rate of spending, the deficit will be $2.2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year.

Interest on the national debt is now the second biggest expenditure and has gone from $500 billion during Trump’s first term to $1.3 trillion today. These deficits are clearly unsustainable, and anything which is unsustainable will not be sustained. But the corrupt, captured politicians and insatiably avaricious Wall Street bankers will keep dancing until the music stops. Then they will use their next engineered financial crisis to take more of our money and further restrict our liberties and freedom. CBDCs and social credit scores anyone?

The real reason Trump and the GOP need to pass the big beautiful, bloated pig of a bill is because our Ponzi scheme economy depends upon the never-ending issuance of trillions in debt every year to give the fabricated appearance of stability. This is why the GOP applauds Musk’s low hanging fruit DOGE cost savings and ignores them in their outrageously corpulent budget bill. The truth is any actual reduction in government spending (36% of GDP) would ripple through an economy entirely dependent upon government largess and immediately create a massive recession and probable depression.

Ponzi schemes have to keep growing until they run out of suckers believing the bullshit underlying the Ponzi. This is where those controlling the levers of society (Bernays’ invisible government) utilize their limitless well of propaganda techniques, technological distractions, and mindless entertainment venues to keep the ignorant masses amused, delusional, and living in denial of the reality staring them in the face.

Since the 2008 financial crisis we have been muddling through economically at a 10,000 feet macro level, with periodic crisis episodes (housing collapse, fake pandemic) utilized by the powers that be to issue trillions more debt as the antidote to the initial crisis created by too much debt. At a micro level, the average American has seen a significant decline in their standard of living, as official government reported inflation has eroded 40% of their purchasing power, when in reality they have lost more than 60% of their purchasing power. The reality for the average American prole is debt slavery, either self-imposed to keep up with the Joneses or forced upon them to survive this globalist-imposed death by a thousand cuts economy.

Credit card debt of $1.3 trillion is at an all-time high, up $350 billion (35%) since 2020. The average balance on those credit cards is over $7,000 and the average interest rate on those unpaid balances is over 21%. Student loan debt of $1.8 trillion is at an all-time high, up $100 billion since 2020, with over 25% of these loans in default. Auto loan debt of $1.7 trillion is at an all-time high, up $350 billion (27%) since 2020. The average length of these loans is now 70 months. The borrower is underwater by the fifth year of these loans. Shockingly, credit card and auto loan delinquencies have been soaring in the last year, with credit card delinquencies above 3% for the first time since 2012, and auto loan delinquencies surpassed 8% for the first time since 2010. Does that sound like a consumer on solid ground?

In addition, the housing market is a disaster looking for a trigger. The Wall Street hedge funds (Blackrock) bought up millions of homes, driving prices 140% (Case Siller Index) higher than the 2012 low, while outstanding mortgage debt has risen from the 2012 low of $13 trillion to $21 trillion today. Prices are ridiculously high and mortgage rates of 7% make it virtually impossible for an average working stiff to buy even a small home. The market is frozen.

This is why Trump and his GOP minions must avoid a recession at all costs by continuing to rack up $2 trillion annual deficits. A recession would result in millions of layoffs, which would mean unpaid mortgages, which would mean foreclosures and slashing of home prices, which would trigger housing collapse 2.0, which would turn the recession into a depression, causing a stock market collapse. Now you know why they are desperate to pass this big, beautiful behemoth of bilge.

The Fed is in a precarious position of their own making, with all choices pointing towards disastrous outcomes. They are already sitting on over $1 trillion of unrealized bond losses, while their Wall Street owners sit on another $400 billion of unrealized bond losses. If these entities ever have to realize those losses, our entire banking system would collapse. The Fed has cut rates by 1%, but market rates went up, as their power to mislead market players diminishes.

They have reduced their balance sheet from $9 trillion to $6.7 trillion. The last time they tried to reduce their balance sheet in 2019, the repo market spasmed and they used the Covid cover to drastically print more fiat. Trump is mocking Powell and demanding interest rate cuts. Powell is pretending to be independent, but he is praying for some kind of crisis to again set the printing presses to hyper-speed. I’m sure the ruling oligarchs are hatching a new crisis to expand their wealth, power, and control, while further impoverishing and enslaving the plebs.

It is clear at least to me, we stand on the precipice of an economic conflagration capable of putting the final nail in the coffin of this empire of debt. At the same time there are unrelenting evil forces who are frantically creating the casus-belli to initiate World War III and the massive death and destruction that would produce. The simultaneous commencement of these two events would produce the type of climax expected in the waning years of a Fourth Turning, with a final resolution expected by 2032.

Most people are blissfully unaware of the imminent demise of their comfortable existence, so addicted to their techno-gadgets and mindless social media performance art, they are incapable of critical thought regarding the dystopian world they inhabit.

“People will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think” ― Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.” ― Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

If you ever needed proof politics is nothing but show business, it is this big, beautiful bill episode of drama, fiction, comedy, and tragedy. Excellence, clarity, and honesty have no part in this absurd psychodrama of lies, accusations, and continued downward spiral of this empire of debt. We know Huxley believed the masses could be sufficiently distracted by their own ego driven pursuits, but I don’t think even he realized how much power the technological “advances” of our times (TV based mass media, the internet, corporate/government controlled social media, Big Pharma) would be used by the ruling elite to control, manipulate, sedate, and scare the ignorant masses into voluntary subservience. Everything we are witnessing and living through is nothing more than a theater production, designed by Bernays’ invisible governing authorities to herd us towards their technological gulag, with the slaughterhouse as the other alternative.

Huxley’s 1932 dystopian vision, which he believed was more likely than Orwell’s 1949 dystopian vision of the future, and reinforced in a letter to Orwell in 1949 shortly before his death, has been the pre-dominant method used by our overlords to rule over, manipulate, and exploit the foibles of the unthinking masses. They have kept their citizens distracted with pleasures, drugged into passivity, taught to feel rather than think in government run indoctrination centers (public schools) and overloaded with so much useless trivial information, they are incapable of distinguishing between good and evil – actually believing their servitude is freedom.

While Huxley’s dystopia continues, the ruling class fears their passive mind control methods aren’t as effective in achieving their great reset agenda, and in need of some Orwellian censorship, disinformation, brute force, government intimidation, harsh mind control, and guaranteeing compliance through fear. Aren’t we lucky to be experiencing the best of both dystopian visions. Those controlling the levers of society have used the school system to create a soulless amalgamation of hedonistic mass consumers; purposeless, apathetic, with muddled brains unable to understand their unintended enslavement to the evil demons running our world and controlling their lives.

Knowing most of what we see on our screens and hear from supposed “experts”, left wing corporate media talking heads, and Fox News bimbos, is gibberish and propaganda, it is hard to distinguish real threats from clickbait, purposeful disinformation, and scare tactics designed to make you do what they want you to do. The precarious financial situation of the country is real. The danger from an AI cage built through a tech-state merger with Palantir to surveil and digitally profile everyone is real.

The threat of the Ukraine-Russia conflict morphing into WW3 is real. The desire by billionaire globalists to introduce a Great ResetGreat Taking, and CBDCs is real. The planned, funded, and executed invasion of our southern border during the Basement Dummy administration by third world dregs, with the sole intention of destroying the social fabric and finances of the country, run by the Soros/Clinton/Obama triumvirate is real.

Even with the dismantling of their USAID insurrection funding source, this week’s festivities in Los Angeles kicked off the summer of civil war. There is nothing real or spontaneous about these riots. Whenever pallets of bricks suddenly show up on streets in city centers, you know Soros and his ilk are behind the organized destruction of that particular city. The brick and bomb throwers are being paid to riot and take photo ops. This will assuredly be rolled out in our other Democrat controlled urban shitholes across the land. The governor of California and the communist mayor of Los Angeles are paid acolytes of Soros, stoking insurrection and should be arrested and thrown into the dungeons of DC, like the grandmothers and patriots who sauntered through the Capitol on January 6.

We find ourselves on the precipice of a financial, social, and military calamity, all driven by the three driving forces of this Fourth Turning: debt, civic decay, global disorder. Anyone not noticing events are intensifying, conflict is expanding, anger is building, and the world is accelerating towards that precipice at breakneck speed, is simply ignorant or their minds are so numbed by their i-gadgets and government school indoctrination, that it’s beyond their comprehension to acknowledge reality.

At this point in history, I do not believe there are enough awakened critical thinking citizens to make a difference during the waning years of this Fourth Turning. We can’t vote our way out. We likely can’t shoot our way out. We can’t buy our way out. When the majority are proud of their ignorance and believe it is superior to actual knowledge, your society is pretty much fucked.

“What is happening here is that television is altering the meaning of ‘being informed’ by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation. I am using this world almost in the precise sense in which it is used by spies in the CIA or KGB. Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information–misplace, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information – information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing. I am saying something far more serious than that we are being deprived of authentic information. I am saying we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed. Ignorance is always correctable. But what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge?” ― Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

The existing financial, social and political paradigms will have to collapse and be swept away for any real change to occur. The problem is it appears that is exactly what the billionaire globalist elite are trying to trigger. In the aftermath, amidst chaos, financial ruin, civil and global war, social strife, and a political vacuum, they envision establishing an authoritarian global world order, with CBDCs, social credit scores, 15-minute cities, and Big Brother level surveillance. If this vision prevails, Orwell wins the award over Huxley for the most accurate dystopian nightmare.

“It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” ― Samuel Adams

“The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.” – George Washington

Our only hope resides in the hubris and arrogance of the ruling class. Once the collapse is underway, its course is unpredictable and unstable. The best laid plans have a way of going awry. This could offer an opportunity for normal rational people to make their stand. If a liberty movement, backed by the 300 million firearms residing in the red states, could re-ignite the brush fires of freedom in the minds of men, maybe we could reset the course of our country. The odds probably aren’t worse than they were in 1776. At this point, all we can do is prepare mentally, physically, and spiritually for the coming storm. Buy supplies, guns and ammo. And remember what your forefathers accomplished with far less. The choice is slavery or freedom.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 16:20

'Several Agencies' Spied On Foreign Musk Associates During Biden Years: Report

'Several Agencies' Spied On Foreign Musk Associates During Biden Years: Report

In the final years of President Biden’s term, as Elon Musk began publicly criticizing Democrats and shifted his support to Donald Trump, multiple federal agencies launched a quiet but sweeping inquiry into Musk's foreign associates.  

Francis Chung/POLITICO

The investigation, reported by the Wall Street Journal, involved the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and included briefings to officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It focused on foreign nationals — particularly from Eastern Europe and other sensitive geopolitical regions - who were seen traveling to and from Musk’s private properties in 2022 and 2023.

While the probe never led to formal charges and its current status remains unclear, it smacks of yet another politically motivated investigation, while government defenders may argue it was warranted given Musk's proximity to America’s most closely guarded government secrets. The inquiry predated Trump’s return to power in January and was allegedly prompted in part by concerns that foreign actors could attempt to sway or compromise the influential CEO.

The timing, of course, makes that assertion highly suspect. 

Musk, who runs five companies including SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), has enjoyed privileged access to senior government officials and oversees ventures that contract directly with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies. SpaceX, in particular, holds highly sensitive launch and satellite surveillance agreements with the Pentagon.

Trump administration officials, when asked about the prior investigation, said they had no knowledge of it. Since returning to office, the president has cracked down on foreign influence, issuing a series of executive orders restricting international travel and enrollment in American universities, and imposing new vetting requirements on political donors and campaign associates with ties abroad.

The irony, current and former officials note, is that one of Trump’s closest political allies had already been the subject of a counterintelligence review under his predecessor.

Musk’s relationship with Trump has unraveled dramatically in recent days following a public feud that erupted on social media and spilled into news conferences. Once described by insiders as the administration’s “shadow budget director,” Musk had briefly served as a special government employee tasked with streamlining federal expenditures. He was also the primary benefactor behind America PAC, a political action committee that poured more than $250 million into Trump’s reelection campaign, much of it from Musk’s own fortune.

According to the report, as Musk’s influence grew, so too did concern among his political and corporate peers about the people in his orbit.

Even as they worked together over the past few months, however, there had been signs of tension over Musk’s association with foreign nationals.

Musk traveled with foreigners to such an extent that the staff of his super PAC, which he started last year to help re-elect Trump, became concerned about who was joining him at meetings and events, two people familiar with the group’s operations said.

An official at the group, called America PAC, said they had to institute extensive vetting to keep foreigners out of their efforts. Two campaign staffers also said they were worried about Musk’s coterie of foreign nationals. -WSJ

Muh Russia...

And here we go again... the Journal of course goes into a report they broke in October - the peak of Trump-Musk campaigning before the election, that Musk had maintained direct contact with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin since late 2022, sparking internal alarm among national security officials and raising questions about the propriety of such outreach during an active conflict in Ukraine.

The Journal also claims that SpaceX attorneys advised Musk against pursuing a higher security clearance, fearing that formal disclosure of his foreign communications could either jeopardize the application or trigger its revocation.

Still, Musk remains a figure of enormous influence inside and outside government. His ventures span commercial spaceflight, artificial intelligence, transportation, and social media - sectors deeply entwined with U.S. national security and public discourse. His naturalized U.S. citizenship, obtained after emigrating from South Africa, does not exempt him from the types of scrutiny often applied to private individuals with sensitive access and overseas entanglements.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 15:40

Staked Ethereum Hits All-Time High As ETH ETF Inflows Surge

Staked Ethereum Hits All-Time High As ETH ETF Inflows Surge

Ethereum surged to a four month high this morning, just shy of $2800 (a key resistance zone) as ETF inflows and Staking have reignited interest in the smart contracts ecosystem.

BlackRock's ETH ETF has become a major focal point in Ethereum investment, and its recent activity is nothing short of impressive. For nine straight trading days, the fund has attracted over $490 million of fresh capital - a streak that has drawn attention from investors and analysts alike.

As themerkele.com's Will Izuchukwu reports, a wider embrace of Ethereum by institutions is reflected in the inflows to Ethereum ETFs, which have notched up a 14-day winning streak— the longest streak yet in 2025.

These inflows are coming when Ethereum is returning to prominence among blockchain networks for fee generation, which is a really important indicator of network activity and demand.

CoinTelegraph's Martin Young notes that staked Ethereum has clocked a new record as the asset’s price reclaimed a 12-day high amid major institutional accumulation. 

The amount of Ether staked on the Beacon Chain reached a record high of 34.65 million ETH on Sunday, eclipsing the previous high on Nov. 10, 2024. 

The amount of Ether staked has been relatively stable, above 33 million for the past year. However, it started to tick up again in June, according to the network explorer Beaconcha.in.

The higher staking level indicates that more holders are not prepared to sell at current levels, preferring a yield from staking instead. 

Almost 30% of supply staked 

A Dune Analytics dashboard confirmed the record figure, reporting that 34.8 million ETH was staked as of Monday, while Ultrasound.Money reports 34.7 million staked. 

The analytics platform also reports that the current amount staked is equivalent to 28.7% of the current circulating supply of Ether, which is 120.8 million, as issuance returned to inflationary in February. 

ETF staking coming soon?

The milestone also comes as the industry anticipates the approval of spot Ether ETF staking by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Analysts have suggested that staked Ether ETFs could debut “within the next few weeks,” following a recent filing by ETF provider REX Shares that used “regulatory workarounds.”

Finally, the last few weeks have seen Ethereum significantly outperform Bitcoin...

...after bouncing off the 2019/2020 ratio low support.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 15:00

'Invest Now Or Learn Russian Later': NATO Chief Wants 400% Increase In Europe's Air Defense Spending

'Invest Now Or Learn Russian Later': NATO Chief Wants 400% Increase In Europe's Air Defense Spending

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday urged the European allies to make a "quantum leap" in military spending to deter Russia, which affirms Trump's own longtime message, as the NATO chief called for a whopping 400% increase in the Continent’s air and missile defense budget.

"The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defense," Rutte said before an audience of the London-based think tank Chatham House. "The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends."

The comments came days after he stated provocatively that Europe must invest heavily in defense now, or learn Russian later.

"If we don't act now, the next three years, we are fine, but we have to start now, because otherwise, from three, four or five years from now, we are really under threat," he had said. "I really mean this. Then you have to get your Russian language course out, or go to New Zealand."

NBC reviews that all of this is happening just ahead of a key NATO meeting later in June:

Trump's call for NATO allies to up their minimum defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP was once seen as outlandish; but last month Rutte too backed this idea and said he expected it to be adopted at NATO's June 24-25 summit.

On Monday he made a similarly ambitious call. He asked for a "400% increase in air and missile defense" and added that "militaries also need thousands more armored vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells, and we must double our enabling capabilities, such as logistics, supply, transportation, and medical support."

Canada is already seeking to demonstrate to Washington and NATO that it is taking significant strides to meet the challenge:

Canada, under pressure to spend more on its military, vowed on Monday to boost funding for the armed forces and hit NATO's 2% military spending target this fiscal year, five years earlier than promised.

Prime Minister Mark Carney also said Canada was likely in future to devote a greater percentage of GDP on defense, given the need to replace outdated equipment and reduce its heavy reliance on Washington.

NATO defense ministers are further expected to soon formalize the following increase in spending policies:

  • They’ve agreed that 3.5% of GDP would be used for "core defence spending" - such as heavy weapons, tanks, air defence.
  • 1.5% of GDP per year will be spent on defense- and security-related areas such as infrastructure, surveillance, and cyber. However, the full list of flexibility has not yet been negotiated. 
  • "These targets describe exactly what capabilities Allies need to invest in over the coming years," Rutte told journalists. 

Washington could step back from Ukraine support...

This is being collectively pushed for amid heightened Cold War-style rhetoric regarding Moscow's intentions. 

"The threats facing NATO are growing and our adversaries are certainly not waiting for us to re-arm or be ready for them to make the first move," Rutte has also said. "We would prefer our allies move out urgently on reaching the 5%."

Kremlin officials grab popcorn, set for more inter-NATO turmoil over the future of the alliance...

But this assumes that Moscow's war in Ukraine is fundamentally expansionist in nature, and this has not been demonstrated - it is simply assumed. It remains that President Putin has shown no interest even in some kind of outright military occupation of Kiev.

So the idea that he's ready to invade Poland or anywhere else on NATO's 'Eastern flank' next is a huge assumption. Moscow has all along pointed out that it's the NATO alliance which expanded itself right up to Russia's doorstep.

Unhinged fear-mongering... engaged:

* * *

A note from Rabobank:

It’s unclear how much chickening out there is in geopolitics. Ukrainian drones just hit another Russian military target, destroying two fighter jets, as Germany’s outgoing spy boss and NATO chief Rutte both warned Russia could launch an attack against it within five years.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the eastern flank. There is no east or west, there is just NATO,” Mr Rutte said, and the danger “will not disappear when the war in Ukraine ends.” Rutte specifically told the UK: “Spend more or learn to speak Russian.”

To help Brits appalled at the idea of learning a foreign language, and those who believe it might be better than vast state spending when fiscal deficits and public debt are sky high: “Когда мне снизят центральную банковскую процентную ставку?” (‘When do I get my rate cut?’ – that’s all that matters, right?) Even Canada is moving its Coast Guard to national defence and PM Carney will announce defence spending will be NATO’s 2% of GDP target this fiscal year - just in time for it to rise to 5% at its upcoming summit.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 14:45

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