Zero Hedge

60 People Arrested During San Francisco Protest Against Immigration Raids: Police

June 9, 2025 - 9:40pm

60 People Arrested During San Francisco Protest Against Immigration Raids: Police

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

At least 60 people were arrested on Sunday after protests against federal immigration raids in San Francisco escalated into violence, according to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).

Protesters confront police in San Francisco on June 8, 2025, in a still from video. AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Police said officers began monitoring the assembly near Sansome and Washington streets around 7 p.m. on June 8 as protesters engaged in “First Amendment activity.”

The demonstration escalated when some protesters allegedly committed assault and vandalized property, prompting police to declare the assembly unlawful. Many people left the area after the declaration, police said in a statement.

Several protesters had refused to leave and continued to engage in illegal activity as they moved toward Market and Kearny streets, where they vandalized buildings and an SFPD patrol vehicle, it stated.

The SFPD said its officers detained protesters who refused to comply with the dispersal order. Three police officers were injured during the incident, with one transported to a hospital for medical treatment. Police also recovered a firearm at the scene.

“Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco but violence—especially against SFPD officers — will never be tolerated,” the SFPD stated, adding that an investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

Footage shared on social media shows police in riot gear forming a barricade to block protesters gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in San Francisco.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the protest has since “wound down,” and that the city is working to clean up the damage and restore public transportation services to full operation.

Lurie stated in a social media post that his office will “never tolerate violent and destructive behavior, and as crowds dwindled, a group that remained caused injuries to police officers, vandalized Muni vehicles, and broke windows of local businesses.”

Protesters confront police in San Francisco on June 8, 2025, in a still from video. AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Protests against ICE raids began in Los Angeles on June 6, following the arrest of dozens of illegal immigrants in the city as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation. Sporadic protests later broke out in New York City and San Francisco.

Authorities deployed National Guard personnel to Los Angeles as protests continued on the third day on June 8. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that several business owners have reported incidents of looting during the protests.

President Donald Trump has directed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi to take all actions necessary “to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion” and bring an end to the riots.

“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” he stated on Truth Social. “Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated on June 8 that he had formally requested the Trump administration to withdraw the deployed troops from Los Angeles and return them to his command.

“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed,” Newsom stated.

At least 27 people were arrested on June 7 following the protests. During the third day of protests in Los Angeles, members of the National Guard faced off with demonstrators, leading to tear gas being fired at a growing crowd near a federal complex in the city, according to video footage.

The confrontation broke out in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, as a group shouted insults at members of the guard lined shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields. Near downtown, at least four Waymo self-driving cars were set on fire. Flashbang crowd control grenades were deployed throughout the evening.

Jack Phillips and Joseph Lord contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 21:40

'Clean Sweep': RFK Jr. Boots Entire CDC 'Rubber-Stamp' Vax Panel

June 9, 2025 - 9:10pm

'Clean Sweep': RFK Jr. Boots Entire CDC 'Rubber-Stamp' Vax Panel

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired every member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel in a sweeping move he says is meant to restore public trust, but critics are calling it reckless and radical.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been plagued by conflicts of interest, rubber-stamp behavior, and opaque decision-making for decades - and that only a “clean sweep” could fix it.

The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. It has never recommended against a vaccine—even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust. -RFK Jr.

The 17-member ACIP panel - made up of independent scientists, doctors, and public health professionals - was scheduled to meet later this month to review recommendations, including those involving COVID-19 vaccinations for children. That meeting will still go ahead, but without the current panelists, some of whom Kennedy said were 'last-minute Biden appointees' whose terms would have otherwise extended until 2028.

“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy wrote.

Kennedy’s defenders say this is exactly the kind of bold move needed to break the credibility crisis surrounding vaccine science and government health agencies. The new appointees, he pledged, “won’t directly work for the vaccine industry” and will “refuse to serve as a rubber stamp,” instead fostering “a culture of critical inquiry”.

But critics say the move reeks of ideology and raises fears that Kennedy will stack the committee with vaccine skeptics or unqualified appointees, further eroding trust.

“Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it’s reckless, radical, and rooted in conspiracy, not science,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a scathing statement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who said Kennedy had pledged to leave ACIP intact during confirmation talks, posted on X that he was now concerned about who would replace the experts.

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy wrote.

Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.https://t.co/iXjTDieAwY
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) June 9, 2025

Kennedy, however, insists this isn’t about ideology — it’s about transparency, independence, and restoring the public’s faith in an institution that once commanded global respect.

“In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators,” Kennedy wrote. “Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back.”

Whether the public sees this as reform or a purge, one thing is clear: the Trump administration is moving fast to reshape America’s health bureaucracy — and no sacred cow is safe.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 21:10

The LA Unrest Poses A Pressing National Security Threat To The US

June 9, 2025 - 8:40pm

The LA Unrest Poses A Pressing National Security Threat To The US

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

This is because it concerns the country’s second-largest city, could disrupt one of its top economic hubs, and might evolve into an irredentist campaign by Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies.

Large-scale unrest has gripped parts of Los Angeles since late last week in response to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent operations against illegal immigrants there. Trump authorized the National Guard to restore order but clashes still continue. The unrest poses a pressing national security threat since it concerns the country’s second-largest city, could disrupt one of its top economic hubs, and might evolve into an irredentist campaign by Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies.

The immediate roots are the Biden Administration’s de facto open borders policy that allowed millions of illegal immigrants, mostly from Ibero-America, to flood into the country. Then there’s the influence of summer 2020’s unrest, which convinced activists and agitators alike, including the professionals among them, that they can riot with impunity. And finally, the Mexican Cession from the mid-19th century is also relevant, which some Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies refuse to recognize as legitimate.

These factors combined to catalyze the ongoing unrest, which has seen the involvement of various NGOs, radical leftist movements, and like-minded philanthropist Neville Singham according to “Data Republican’s” viral two-part investigation on X. This has led to parallels being drawn to summer 2020’s Hybrid War of Terror on America that was analyzed here at the time. To be sure, some of the participants in both were genuinely autonomous, but others were and are operating as part of something larger.

Observers should also remember that Democrat-aligned elements of the US “deep state” funneled American arms to Mexican cartels as part of Operation Fast & Furious, which they maintain was a botched sting operation though critics remain convinced that it was something more nefarious. It therefore can’t be ruled out that some of these forces at the very least wouldn’t mind if those cartels sow chaos on the US’ side of the border on the pretext of “protesting” ICE to create problems for Trump.

Beyond the speculative involvement of (possibly “deep state”-backed) Mexican cartels, there are also autonomously acting Mexican nationalists among the illegal immigrant, naturalized, and second- and later-generation communities in LA that are participating in the unrest together with US leftists. They’re allies in that neither recognizes the legitimacy of the mid-19th century’s Mexican Cession, ergo their support for open borders in order to “reclaim” this lost territory as a form of “historical justice”.

Some multipolar-minded apologists have likened this to the uprisings in Crimea and Donbass after “EuroMaidan”, but the key difference is that they were led by Ukrainian citizens of Russian origin who rebelled in defense of their human rights after radicals seized power and threatened to subjugate them. By contrast, the Trump Administration hasn’t signaled that it’ll do anything similar against legal American residents of Ibero-American origin, it’s simply enforcing the law by expelling illegal immigrant invaders.

Legal US residents of Ibero-American origin can freely speak, publish in, and teach their languages. They also have equal rights (apart from being unable to vote till obtaining citizenship) and benefited from “affirmative action”. For all intents and purposes, Mexican nationalists who legally reside in the US can live as if they’re in Mexico (even better since they otherwise wouldn’t have left) so long as they remain law-abiding, thus discrediting the “historical justice” argument that some have used to justify the unrest.

Nevertheless, some of the rioters are clearly driven by nationalist motives as proven by them waving the Mexican flag as they violently attack members of the security services, hence the importance in quelling the unrest as soon as possible so that it doesn’t spiral out of control. There are also political and economic considerations too, but these pale in comparison to the need to expel illegal immigrants from the border region, especially those Mexicans who might resort to terrorism to further irredentist plans.

About that, it’s possible that violent irredentism isn’t all that popular among Mexican illegal immigrants but that (possibly “deep state”-backed) cartels from there and elsewhere like Venezuela are trying to push this notion, hoping that it’ll provoke copycat unrest in other major cities. Most of them in the US have significant Ibero-American populations, including illegal immigrants, so the real orchestrators (if there are any as is speculated) might hope to “inspire” “solidarity protests” across the US.

All that can be known for sure is that the images of Mexican flag-waving rioters in LA naturally give rise to worries of an emerging irredentist campaign that poses a pressing national security threat to the US and therefore challenges Trump to employ all legal means at his disposal to put it down or else. Despite everything that he’s done so far following the letter of the law, his opponents might soon dishonestly accuse him of behaving as a “fascist dictator”, all in an attempt to “inspire” more unrest.

Therein lies the objective of the real orchestrators and/or political opportunists depending on one’s belief about who’s behind the riots: it’s all about eroding Trump’s authority, misportraying him as a “fascist dictator”, and altogether galvanizing the Democrats far ahead of fall 2026’s midterms. These goals are being advanced by autonomously acting participants and professionals alike, with some of the first not realizing the role that they’re playing the larger scheme, thus making it a Color Revolution.

This description doesn’t automatically imply regime change intentions nor the involvement of a foreign government, it only refers to the weaponization of protests, which is nowadays common across the world after the relevant socio-political technology wildly proliferated over the past quarter-century. The reported involvement of so many diverse actors in this one shows how serious the attempt is to destabilize the Trump Administration, which could have far-reaching global implications if it succeeds.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 20:40

China's Need For US Chemicals Greater Than US Need For Rare Earths

June 9, 2025 - 8:10pm

China's Need For US Chemicals Greater Than US Need For Rare Earths

US petrochemical producers may have found themselves on the front line of global trade wars, BNEF reports, with China’s dependence on the US for feedstocks (see "Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates") blunting the impact of its dominations of exports of rare earth metals.

China imported more than 565,000 barrels per day of petrochemical feedstocks from the US in 2024 according to the Energy Information Administration, with a value of over $4.7 billion. That dwarfed the $170 million of rare earths the US imported last year, about 70% of which came from China, according to the US Geological Survey.

The figures show the dependence the US and China have developed on each other by ever tightening trade links over the past few decades. While China has a tight grip on refining many metals crucial for industry, it also takes in niche chemicals from the US that are difficult to buy elsewhere.

China leans on naphtha to produce most base chemicals, which are processed further to end up in everyday items like electronics and clothing. However, some plants can switch to cheaper propane when the economics make sense, which they do regularly. Propane dehydrogenation plants however can’t process alternatives like naphtha. The US accounted for over half of all China’s propane imports in 2024.

US producers have looked to China to buy their ballooning volumes of feedstock, the market value of which has almost quadrupled since 2020. China accounts for almost half of all new mixed-feed ethylene and propylene production capacity set to come online globally over the next four years, based on data compiled by BloombergNEF.

A forced divorce

The honeymoon period may be about to end. Following the implementation of tariffs by President Donald Trump’s administration in April, China retaliated with its own on US imports — including a 125% tariff on feedstocks like propane and ethane. The duty effectively killed the economics of importing US feedstocks.

Alternative sources of propane may be hard or expensive to come by, with producers in the Middle East sending most of their supplies to India, South Korea and Japan. While some rerouting could take place, Middle Eastern players could use the lack of alternatives for China’s propane dehydrogenation plants to charge a premium. China’s propane dehydrogenation operators, like Hengli Petrochemical, have already suffered from weak margins over the past years. Many may opt to shut their operations temporarily.

A messy settlement

China moved quickly to remove tariffs on US ethane as trade talks commenced. However, while China seems willing to buy US ethane, the US administration may no longer allow it. Enterprise Products Partners — the largest US-based exporter of petrochemical feedstocks — received a notice on Wednesday from the Bureau of Industry and Security at the US Department of Commerce, denying licenses to export ethane to China on the basis that such flows “pose an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a ‘military end use’ in China.” Energy Transfer received a similar communication.

China’s ethane cracking capacity is dwarfed by its capacity to process naphtha and propane, but almost all of its ethane imports come from the US. The restrictions will have a significant impact on the Lianyungang and Tianjin plants, owned by Satellite Chemical, Sinopec and INEOS. SP Chemicals, a Singapore-based producer, sources most of its feedstock from Enterprise Products Partners.

As the trade war continues, it appears commodities may lead the confrontation, with players on both sides set to feel the pain.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 20:10

US To Formalize Military Presence In Syria In Deal With AQ-Linked Govt

June 9, 2025 - 7:40pm

US To Formalize Military Presence In Syria In Deal With AQ-Linked Govt

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The US is working to formalize its military presence in Syria by signing a deal with the new al-Qaeda-linked government, according to a report from The New Arab.

The report was published Friday and said that a high-level US military delegation was expected to meet with Syrian officials in the coming days with the goal of shifting the US military presence from an illegal occupation to a formalized, legal partnership.

Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

The report comes as the US has been drawing down its forces in northeastern Syria and handing over some bases to the Kurdish-led SDF. The US is expected to maintain only one base in Syria, the al-Tanf Garrison in the south, which is situated where the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan converge.

From al-Tanf, the US helped its proxy militia, known as the Syrian Free Army (previously known as the Revolutionary Commando Army), join in on the offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024.

A formal deal on al-Tanf would signal that the US is planning a long-term or even potentially a permanent military presence in Syria. The Pentagon has said that it’s currently working to reduce its forces in Syria to fewer than 1,000 troops in the country. According to the latest reports, approximately 1,500 US troops are currently stationed in the country.

The US has embraced the new Syrian government that’s led by HTS despite the group still being listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization due to its al-Qaeda roots.

President Trump recently met with HTS’s leader and Syria’s de facto president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, and praised him as a “young, attractive guy” with a “very strong past.”

Sharaa got his start with al-Qaeda in Iraq, where he fought an insurgency against US troops before being imprisoned from 2006 to 2011. In 2012, he traveled to Syria and formed al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the country, the al-Nusra Front.

Map source: Stars & Stripes

In 2016, Sharaa claimed the al-Nusra Front was cutting ties with al-Qaeda. At the time, he thanked the “commanders of al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties.” In 2017, he merged his group with several other Islamist factions to form HTS.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 19:40

Sen. Tuberville Blasts Zelensky For Seeking To 'Lure NATO' Into A War Ukraine Is 'Losing'

June 9, 2025 - 7:15pm

Sen. Tuberville Blasts Zelensky For Seeking To 'Lure NATO' Into A War Ukraine Is 'Losing'

Republican Senator from Alabama Tommy Tuberville has blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for trying to "lure NATO" into their war with Russia, given Ukraine knows it is 'losing' the over three-year long conflict.

"There is no doubt, because he cannot win this war on his own. He knows he’s losing," Tuberville said in Sunday remarks while being interviewed on John Catsimatidis’s radio show "Cats Roundtable" - as reported in The Hill.

Source: CQ Roll Call

While the Trump administration, and particularly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, long ago made clear that Ukraine will never join NATO, some European nations have continued to push the initiative.

Tuberville while commenting on Ukraine's brazen 'Operation Spider's Web' which destroyed Russian strategic bombers and other military aircraft a week ago, described of Ukrainian forces:

"They drove trucks 2,000 miles into Russia. They had drones that were covered up in the backs of these trucks. They got close to the targets, opened up these trucks, the drones flew out and destroyed somewhere around 40 major airplanes that Russia uses in their nuclear arsenal."

He seemed to present this as one rare and limited success. "It was devastating. Then again, both sides are at fault. Let’s get this thing over with. And President Trump is the one who can get this done," he continued.

Russian state media also picked up on the provocative comments: "Hundred per cent, there is no doubt, 'cause he [Zelenskyy] can't win this war on his own. He knows he is losing," Tuberville said in an interview with the WABC broadcaster on Sunday, when asked if the Ukrainian president is trying to lure NATO into the conflict, Sputnik summarized.

Tuberville further echoed some prior criticisms issued first by Trump: "Zelensky is a dictator, and he has created all sorts of problems. We’ve got a lot of money that’s been missing. No telling where it’s gone…," the Alabama Senator said.

"I think both of these [nations] have lost close to 500,000 to 700,000 people. It’s devastating to the world," he added.

While President Trump seems more and more willing to cease pushing the warring sides to the negotiating table, amid growing frustration, there's been no mention of halting arms flows to Kiev.

For anyone still parroting the fabricated bullshit lie that this war was "unprovoked", here’s a dose of reality:

In February 2014, Senator Chris Murphy stood alongside John McCain in Maidan Square and openly bragged about the US role in toppling Ukraine’s elected president,… pic.twitter.com/ZUzlsMLl11
— Richard (@ricwe123) June 2, 2025

The US administration now frames these arms transfers as 'defensive' in nature, but it's also clear that Ukrainian forces are heavily reliant on this Western aid as they mount attacks deep inside Russia.

Without it, Ukrainian front lines would probably rapidly recede, and the Zelensky government would be quickly placed in a situation where it would need to sign on to territorial concessions. But so far, the Ukrainian leader has refused to contemplate giving up land, and is even vocally resistant to ceding Crimea.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 19:15

AI Models Still Far From AGI-Level Reasoning: Apple Researchers

June 9, 2025 - 5:10pm

AI Models Still Far From AGI-Level Reasoning: Apple Researchers

Authored by Martin Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

The race to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) still has a long way to run, according to Apple researchers who found that leading AI models still have trouble reasoning.

Recent updates to leading AI large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude have included large reasoning models (LRMs), but their fundamental capabilities, scaling properties, and limitations “remain insufficiently understood,” said the Apple researchers in a June paper called “The Illusion of Thinking.”

They noted that current evaluations primarily focus on established mathematical and coding benchmarks, “emphasizing final answer accuracy.”

However, this evaluation does not provide insights into the reasoning capabilities of the AI models, they said.

The research contrasts with an expectation that artificial general intelligence is just a few years away.

Apple researchers test “thinking” AI models

The researchers devised different puzzle games to test “thinking” and “non-thinking” variants of Claude Sonnet, OpenAI’s o3-mini and o1, and DeepSeek-R1 and V3 chatbots beyond the standard mathematical benchmarks.

They discovered that “frontier LRMs face a complete accuracy collapse beyond certain complexities,” don’t generalize reasoning effectively, and their edge disappears with rising complexity, contrary to expectations for AGI capabilities.

“We found that LRMs have limitations in exact computation: they fail to use explicit algorithms and reason inconsistently across puzzles.”

Verification of final answers and intermediate reasoning traces (top chart), and charts showing non-thinking models are more accurate at low complexity (bottom charts). Source: Apple Machine Learning Research

AI chatbots are overthinking, say researchers

They found inconsistent and shallow reasoning with the models and also observed overthinking, with AI chatbots generating correct answers early and then wandering into incorrect reasoning.

The researchers concluded that LRMs mimic reasoning patterns without truly internalizing or generalizing them, which falls short of AGI-level reasoning.

“These insights challenge prevailing assumptions about LRM capabilities and suggest that current approaches may be encountering fundamental barriers to generalizable reasoning.”

Illustration of the four puzzle environments. Source: Apple

The race to develop AGI

AGI is the holy grail of AI development, a state where the machine can think and reason like a human and is on a par with human intelligence.

In January, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the firm was closer to building AGI than ever before. “We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” he said at the time.

In November, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that AGI would exceed human capabilities in the next year or two. “If you just eyeball the rate at which these capabilities are increasing, it does make you think that we’ll get there by 2026 or 2027,” he said.

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

California Dreamin'

June 9, 2025 - 4:20pm

California Dreamin'

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via kunstler.com,

"Call me crazy, but I think Dem politicians in LA publicly encouraging riots helps explain why they’re also incapable of issuing building permits for the fires months ago." —Mark Hemingway

And pretty soon, expect action in a dozen other states, you can be sure, because just as it was in the scorpion’s nature to sting the frog crossing the river in the old parable, it is likewise in the Party of Chaos’s nature to sow chaos in an American summer.

Mostly Peaceful Protesters

The operation to cue riots over the removal of illegal immigrants has been well-planned in advance. Chief lawfare artists Norm Eisen and Mary McCord have engineered the legal strategy to oppose enforcement of US immigration law. They will clog the courts with lawsuits to prevent it and enlist their allied federal judges to issue injunction after injunction paralyzing the deportation process. They will work day and night to get their violent street cadres out of jail, just as they did in the 2020 George Floyd riots, so that these mutts can go back into the streets to loot and burn some more.

It is, of course, the most cynical operation imaginable. The Democratic Party hustled XX-millions of border-jumpers into the country under the authority of their phantom president, “Joe Biden” for one purpose: to flood the swing election precincts with enough new voters to keep the Party of Chaos in power permanently. Now that the illegals are here, the party will do anything it can to foil their removal. All the hand-wringing and crocodile tears over “fearful families and communities” is just stage-business to dress-up the CNN videos.

The ultimate goal of this operation is to goad President Trump into declaring some kind of national emergency to put down the violence, and the objective of that is to point at him and holler, “Behold the fascist tyrant!” That’s the game. The catch is, the Democrats are mistaken in thinking they can replay the George Floyd hustle.

This time around, more than 70-percent of the American public is not-insane. They are not fooled by the term “undocumented” — as if some mysterious clerical error was made by the federal bureaucracy in processing these millions. The actual error was allowing them to stroll freely across the border in the first place, with massive assistance from NGOs that provided smart phones loaded with helpful apps, plus free plane and bus tickets, plus freshly-minted debit cards for walking-around-money, plus posh hotel reservations.

You can blame former Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas — since “Joe Biden” was demonstrably non compos mentis during his term in office — for what was a patently treasonous act. How is it possible that Mr. Mayorkas remains unindicted? By the way, before he was sworn in as Secretary of Homeland Security, he was a board member of one of the most aggressive NGOs actively assisting the recent massive wave of illegal immigrants: the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). The org, founded in 1881 under very different circumstances, has been enlisted to serve the Democratic Party’s program for flooding the voter rolls — just as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been transformed into attack dogs against the Democratic Party’s political opponents.

So, you watch now as the streets of Los Angeles fill with violent mobs waving Mexican and Palestinian flags burn cars, fling missiles and fireworks at police, and interfere with the deportation process of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. They are coming close to presenting themselves as a foreign enemy army and, as such, would invite a response from the defending US military.

It has the odor, at least, of insurrection, while Democratic Party politicians pretend that this is all just “peaceful protest.” LA Mayor Karen Bass skates at the edge of sedition as she orders her city’s law officers to “not cooperate” with federal authorities who seek to find-and-deport illegal immigrants. In her youth as a leftist activist, Ms. Bass joined the Cuba-sponsored Venceremos Brigade. She traveled to Cuba eight times in the 1970s for training in regime change operations. (She claims it was only to do “humanitarian work.”) Ms. Bass is also alleged to have been affiliated in the 1980s with the Oakland-based Maoist organization Line of March, in the 1980s.

California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be just recklessly grandstanding, looking for a kayfabe fight with Donald Trump as he primps for his party’s 2028 nomination. You have to wonder whether the citizens of California — that is, documented citizens with bona fide US birth certificates — have noticed how Governor Newsom managed to wreck the state during his terms-in-office (and before that, as Mayor of San Francisco). By now, even the steadfast, Woked-up Democratic voters of Pacific Palisades must be a little bit suspicious that Governor Newsom does not really have their best interests at heart as he blusters at the president.

There’s another angle on the current violence, you understand. As the old song goes, Summer’s here / and the time is right / for dancing in the streets. Or fighting in the streets, as the Rolling Stones famously updated the idea in December 1968 — after the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August that year. Street fighting is one of the capital amusements of the sore-beset Gen Z, stuck with unpayable college loans, faced with a daunting job market, reduced to living in Mom’s basement, addled with sexual bamboozlement, and jacked-up on prescription drugs and other mind-altering substances.

All of that feeds a lack of purpose and meaning, one of the more baleful plights of the human condition, in turn, feeding mass delusion, mob violence, and social upheaval. But it’s also party time, an opportunity to get outside in nice weather and consort with your peers, Z’s among fellow Z’s, illegal immigrants with fellow illegals. It affords opportunities for intrepid acts of daring-do — taunting the cops, flinging bricks, doing wheelies and “donuts” with motor vehicles — in order to impress potential sex partners. In other words, looking for fun and excitement, as youth will.

Alas, none of this works too well in an era of profound boundary problems — exploited very deliberately by the Democratic Party, which has erased the moral boundaries between decent behavior and crime, just as it tried to erase the boundary between the United States and Mexico. All of that needs to be fixed. Mr. Trump is aiming to fix it. It is liable to be a heck of a struggle, perhaps even as bad as a new civil war.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 16:20

Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of 'Several' Patriot Missile Batteries

June 9, 2025 - 3:45pm

Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of 'Several' Patriot Missile Batteries

In early May it was first reported that a US-supplied Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel would be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. This was despite what the White House's National Security Council said at the time in a statement: "President Trump has been clear: he wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop."

But American and Western arms for Ukraine have continued flowing, with no end in sight, despite what was a very brief stoppage of maybe a couple days earlier in Trump's term. Israel has just revealed that it wasn't merely "one" Patriot battery transferred to Ukraine, but "several".

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky unveiled in a Sunday interview with Pravda USA that Israel has delivered several MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Kiev, in a clear significant escalation in its military support to the Zelensky government.

Getty Images

During the opening years of the war Israel largely remained on the sidelines, for fear of damaging sensitive relations with Russia, which has maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria's coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus.

Ambassador Brodsky told the Ukrainian media publication (according to machine translation):

The Patriot systems that we once received from the United States are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service with Israel in the early 90s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. And unfortunately, not much was said about this. But when they say that Israel did not help militarily, this is not true. This is not true," Brodsky emphasized.

This appears to be confirmation of what Axios reported in late January:

The U.S. military transferred around 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from storage in Israel to Poland this week in order to deliver them to Ukraine, three sources with knowledge of the operation tell Axios.

These are apparently older US-supplied systems which remained in Israel's stockpile. Still, the NY Times had presented that merely one Patriot battery was being prepped, in this May 4 report for example:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Israel is perhaps only making this public now in the context of Russia's air war against Ukrainian cities, and the capital in particular, heating up.

Israel gave its Patriot batteries to Ukraine, Israeli ambassador to Kyiv says in a TV interview. https://t.co/4DJArTlWOx
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 9, 2025

Tel Aviv is also facing unprecedented international scrutiny over the ongoing Gaza war, and no doubt wants a PR 'win' in the eyes of European nations, some of which are poised to recognize a Palestinian state. Israel seems to be jumping on in support of the European 'coalition of the willing' bandwagon, and wants the world to know this.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 15:45

IRS Reminds Taxpayers Of June 16 Payment Deadline, And The Penalties

June 9, 2025 - 3:25pm

IRS Reminds Taxpayers Of June 16 Payment Deadline, And The Penalties

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Estimated tax payments for the second quarter of 2025 are due on Monday, June 16, with taxpayers who fail to pay on time facing underpayment penalties, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said in a June 6 statement.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington on March 10, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Taxes have to be paid throughout the year on a pay-as-you-go schedule. One way to do this is by withholding taxes from wages, pensions, or government benefits such as social security. The second way is to make estimated tax payments on a quarterly basis.

“Taxpayers that receive income not subject to withholding, such as income from self-employment, gig work, interest, dividends, capital gains, rent, or 1099 earnings, may need to make estimated tax payments throughout the year,” said the agency. “This includes freelancers, retirees, investors, businesses, and corporations.”

Estimated taxes are applicable to taxpayers such as sole proprietors, partners, and S corporation shareholders who expect to have tax liabilities of at least $1,000 in a tax year. For corporations, taxes are applicable if they expect to owe at least $500.

Among individuals, estimated tax payments must be made by people earning money through gig work, sale of goods and services, or freelance work.

Individuals whose incomes are being withheld may also be required to make the quarterly estimated tax payment if sufficient taxes are not being withheld from their wages. To prevent this situation, employed individuals can ask employers to withhold a larger amount from their income.

“Paying on time helps taxpayers avoid falling behind on their taxes and possible underpayment penalties,” the agency said.

The IRS calculates penalties after taking into consideration factors such as the amount of tax underpayment and when the tax was originally due. The agency also charges interest on penalties.

In some cases, the agency may offer to remove or reduce the penalty in cases where the tax underpayment “is the result of a casualty, local disaster, or other unusual circumstance when it would not be fair to impose the penalty,” the IRS said.

Another June Deadline

June 16 is also the due date for taxpayers living and working abroad to file and pay their 2024 taxes.

“U.S. citizens or resident aliens residing overseas or in the military on duty outside the U.S. are allowed a two-month extension to file from the normal April 15 deadline. Since June 15 falls on a Sunday in 2025, the deadline is delayed to Monday, June 16,” the IRS said in a May 22 statement.

In case taxpayers are unable to file returns by June 16, they can request an extension to postpone the filing deadline to Oct. 15.

However, “an extension of time to file is not an extension to pay,” the agency clarified. “Interest will apply to any 2024 tax payments received after April 15, 2025.”

The IRS collected a record $5.1 trillion in revenues for fiscal year 2024, the first time revenues exceeded the $5 trillion mark. This was a roughly 9 percent increase over the revenues collected for the 2023 fiscal year.

The agency processed over 266 million returns and other forms in the last fiscal year and issued nearly $553 billion in refunds.

Meanwhile, the agency is undergoing a leadership change, with the Senate Finance Committee voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s IRS head nominee Billy Long, on June 3. With that vote, Long advances to a full Senate vote.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the committee chair, has said that if Long is selected to be the IRS head, he will work with him to “ensure the IRS focuses on helping American taxpayers to better understand and meet their tax responsibilities, and that it enforces the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.”

Long has faced opposition from Democrats, who have accused him of lacking direct experience with tax policy.

During his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on May 20, Long vowed to correct many of the issues plaguing the IRS, including taxpayer complaints of poor customer service and delayed refunds.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 15:25

Supreme Court Rules 9–0 Wisconsin Violated First Amendment By Denying Tax Exemption To Catholic Charity

June 9, 2025 - 2:05pm

Supreme Court Rules 9–0 Wisconsin Violated First Amendment By Denying Tax Exemption To Catholic Charity

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 5 ruled unanimously that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment by not granting a Catholic charity an exemption from paying unemployment tax.

The Contemplation of Justice statue at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on May 19, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the 9–0 opinion in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission.

Catholic Charities Bureau is a nonprofit organization that functions as an arm of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin. The bureau oversees several other entities that render charitable services to communities across the state.

Wisconsin law excuses religious organizations that are “operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches” from paying state unemployment tax.

The petitioner, Catholic Charities, argued that it is unconstitutional to allow the state to decide what work is religious in nature.

“The First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religions and subjects any state-sponsored denominational preference to strict scrutiny. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s application of [the state statute] imposed a denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines. Because the law’s application does not survive strict scrutiny, it cannot stand,” the justice wrote.

Strict scrutiny is the highest level of review used by the courts. Under it, the government has to show that a law is narrowly tailored to advance a compelling governmental interest and that the law is the least restrictive way to serve that interest.

Sotomayor wrote that Wisconsin is not the only jurisdiction that exempts religious organizations from paying taxes to cover unemployment compensation programs. Since Congress in 1970 approved the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, which contains language similar to that found in the Wisconsin law, more than 40 states have adopted similarly worded tax exemptions.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held 4–3 in March 2024 that Catholic Charities and its four related organizations that serve the developmentally disabled are not “operated primarily for religious purposes,” so they fail to meet the requirements for a tax exemption.

That court held that the activities of Catholic Charities do not qualify as “typical” religious activities because the organization does not “attempt to imbue program participants with the Catholic faith” and because the help it provides to those with mental and developmental disabilities could be carried out by secular organizations.

Sotomayor wrote that this means that the state court held that the organization could only qualify for the tax exemption if, when providing charitable services, it “engaged in proselytization or limited their ... services to fellow Catholics.”

The organization’s Catholic faith prevents it from using charity to proselytize, while many other religious organizations take a different approach, she wrote. This means that Wisconsin’s law on tax exemptions expresses a preference for some religious denominations over others “based on theological choices.”

Because the Wisconsin law distinguishes among religions on the basis of theological distinctions, it imposed “a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny.”

“Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny,” the lower court’s decision must be overturned, she wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin and sent the case back to that court “for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

The attorney for Catholic Charities, Eric Rassbach, hailed the new ruling.

“It was always absurd to claim that Catholic Charities wasn’t religious because it helps everyone, no matter their religion,” Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Epoch Times.

“Today, the Court resoundingly reaffirmed a fundamental truth of our constitutional order: The First Amendment protects all religious beliefs, not just those the government favors.”

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which represents the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission. No reply was received by publication time.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 14:05

China FX Diversification And The Dollar

June 9, 2025 - 1:25pm

China FX Diversification And The Dollar

By Martin Lynge Rasmussen of Money: Inside and Out

China has been preparing for further tension in the US-China relationship since Trump's first term, including by increasing the resilience of the Chinese financial system to external shocks. One key part of such plans is likely to reduce the importance of the US dollar for Chinese economic activity and increase the international usage of the RMB. We consider here (some) data relevant to tracking China’s FX diversification. Two trends emerge.

Firstly, China has managed to reduce its reliance on the dollar by increasing the role of the renminbi. The dollar’s share of Chinese cross-border transfers has declined structurally in the last 15 years, from 80-85% in 2010 to 40-45% now, and the vast majority of the decline has been driven by higher renminbi flows. Relatedly, the CNH's share of global trade financing has increased from around 2% in 2021 to over 7% now (and picked up further since November), and has come at the expense of the dollar's market share. One explanation for the increasing linkage between renminbi cross-border transfers and its global market share is that the RMB is increasingly being used for 'real' economic transactions with foreigners rather than simply for cross-border transfers between Chinese entities.
Secondly, against this, FX diversification has not made much progress. The dollar share of China's FX reserves, for example, seems to have remained constant in recent years. Relatedly, banks' external dollar net assets have been broadly stable in recent years and stood at $476bn in Q4-2024 (though gross assets and gross liabilities have fallen). But as China’s GDP has increased, dollar exposure-to-GDP ratios have declined. Non-USD FX net assets (e.g. those denominated in EUR) have remained minor and haven't increased meaningfully. And onshore FX trading remains extremely dominated by USDCNY, with very little trading in other pairs.

FX denomination of Chinese flows: structural decline but little sign of sharp drop recently (outside of trade finance)

The share of Chinese cross-border transfers that are denominated in dollars has declined from around 80-85% in the early 2010s to around 40-45% now. But the entirety of the decline in the dollar share is due to the rising role of cross-border renminbi flows. If we exclude CNY and only look at cross-border FX flows, the dollar's share of Chinese cross-border transfers has remained extremely high. As such, beyond the renminbi, other currencies have not become more dominant in Chinese cross-border flows.

This data is published by SAFE each month and measures cross-border bank transfers in both renminbi and FX.

From China's point of view, FX diversification matters as being cut off from the global dollar system, even if a tail risk, would reduce China's ability to carry out transactions related to international trade and investment. A question therefore is the extent to which the rise of renminbi in cross-border flows has led to an increase in China's ability to carry out trade with non-Chinese entities denominated in renminbi, or whether the flows simply reflect e.g. flows between mainland Chinese companies and their offshore subsidiaries (and other activities that wouldn't help China carry out international trade absent access to dollars).

Data from SWIFT suggests that usage of the renminbi has surged in recent years, though it remains very low relative to dollar usage. The CNY's share of global trade finance transactions has increased from 1.9% during 2018-2021 to 6.4% in November last year and 7.4% in March. We would think the freezing of Russian reserves has led to a sharp increase in the usage of renminbi in Russia-China trade, though other EMs might also have begun to dip their toes in CNY-denominated trade, too. Renminbi usage in payments has also doubled since 2022. At the same time, the dollar's share in international trade financing has declined from around 86% during 2018-2021 to around 81% now, a decline similar to the increase seen by the renminbi.

Since 2020, the rising share of renminbi in global trade finance and payments has trended together with the share of renminbi in Chinese cross-border transfers. This could suggest that cross-border renminbi transfers were, to some extent, driven by cross-border transfers between Chinese entities rather than with non-Chinese entities before 2020. If true, this would mean that the rise in cross-border renminbi transfers since 2020 has been due to "real" activities rather than 'financial engineering'.

The share of global trade finance denominated in dollars vs. renminbi has been closely inversely related since at least 2022. This also supports the idea that the renminbi's global usage has risen, and that it has come at the cost of the dollar.

When it comes to onshore FX trading, the dollar is as dominant as ever across different FX instruments as well as on the whole. This mirrors the total ex-CNY cross-border transfers, where the dollar also remains dominant.

Hedging behavior: gradual increase in hedges continues

Another way FX exposure changes is through changes to FX hedging ratios, which measure the extent to which FX assets are protected against moves in foreign exchange rates.

SAFE defines Chinese corporate FX hedging in terms of FX transactions, rather than via the share of FX net assets that are hedged. This ratio has increased from a bottom of <10% in 2015 to nearly 30% in 2025.

Banks' net FX exposure (as a percent of net assets) has declined from a high of around 3.5% in 2015 to below 1.5% by Q4 last year.

The two series are different from regular "FX hedge ratios" yet might still tell us something about "true" hedge ratios, given how closely they correlate over time.

FX exposure of Chinese entities: stable net dollar assets amid a decline in both assets and liabilities

Most Chinese foreign assets (including non-dollar assets) are held by the PBOC, though holdings by other entities have increased in the past decade.

The share of Chinese FX assets that are held in dollars has not materially declined in recent years, however.

As we have little insight into the composition of official FX holdings, we dig into banks' external assets and liabilities, for which we have better data. This data is compiled by SAFE on a BoP basis, and therefore measures Chinese banks' assets and liabilities against non-residents across both CNY and FX. We can see that, like for flows related to trade, it is a question of dollars vs. renminbi and that holdings of non-USD FX remain small.

Chinese banks' net dollar assets now stand at $476bn according to the BoP-basis data published by SAFE. This is much below the $1,115bn implied by the PBOC's data on net foreign assets of "other depositary institutions" (i.e., banks). Though there are likely differences in the statistical caliber of this data, we are surprised that this divergence hasn't gotten attention; we are not sure what is behind the large difference and will investigate the topic further. One explanation could be that the $1,11bn includes net FX assets held onshore, whereas the $476bn only includes assets and liabilities vs. non-residents. While it is technically true that Chinese banks' external net dollar assets have been broadly stable, it has occurred amid a $200bn decline in banks' external dollar assets and $224bn decline in their external dollar liabilities since Q4-2021 (i.e. before Russia invaded Ukraine).

There are many actors beyond banks in China, of course. To get a better sense of dollar holdings beyond banks, we do a rough estimate of bank vs. non-bank holdings of dollar-denominated loans and deposits, as well as bonds. More specifically, we apply banks' dollar share of external assets and apply this to the given IIP category (and our estimate therefore assumes that banks and non-banks' dollar allocations are similar across loans, deposits, and bonds).

Loans and deposits: Chinese external dollar net loans and deposit assets stood at $356bn in Q4-2024, down from $478bn in Q1-2022. Our assumptions furthermore imply that banks' and non-banks' external USD loans and deposit assets are of rather similar size. One explanation for the large size of non-bank dollar net assets could be that they have a substantial amount of dollar deposits with banks outside of China.

Bonds: the vast majority of external dollar net assets are held by banks, however, and non-banks' net assets only turned positive during 2023.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 13:25

China FX Diversification And The Dollar

June 9, 2025 - 1:25pm

China FX Diversification And The Dollar

By Martin Lynge Rasmussen of Money: Inside and Out

China has been preparing for further tension in the US-China relationship since Trump's first term, including by increasing the resilience of the Chinese financial system to external shocks. One key part of such plans is likely to reduce the importance of the US dollar for Chinese economic activity and increase the international usage of the RMB. We consider here (some) data relevant to tracking China’s FX diversification. Two trends emerge.

Firstly, China has managed to reduce its reliance on the dollar by increasing the role of the renminbi. The dollar’s share of Chinese cross-border transfers has declined structurally in the last 15 years, from 80-85% in 2010 to 40-45% now, and the vast majority of the decline has been driven by higher renminbi flows. Relatedly, the CNH's share of global trade financing has increased from around 2% in 2021 to over 7% now (and picked up further since November), and has come at the expense of the dollar's market share. One explanation for the increasing linkage between renminbi cross-border transfers and its global market share is that the RMB is increasingly being used for 'real' economic transactions with foreigners rather than simply for cross-border transfers between Chinese entities.
Secondly, against this, FX diversification has not made much progress. The dollar share of China's FX reserves, for example, seems to have remained constant in recent years. Relatedly, banks' external dollar net assets have been broadly stable in recent years and stood at $476bn in Q4-2024 (though gross assets and gross liabilities have fallen). But as China’s GDP has increased, dollar exposure-to-GDP ratios have declined. Non-USD FX net assets (e.g. those denominated in EUR) have remained minor and haven't increased meaningfully. And onshore FX trading remains extremely dominated by USDCNY, with very little trading in other pairs.