Sargels Toolbar- The Best Free Financial Solution

Energy Drinks Overtake Coffee As Gen Z's Primary Caffeine Source

2026-08-14T14:19:40.000-07:00

Energy Drinks Overtake Coffee As Gen Z's Primary Caffeine Source

Filippo Falorni, Citi’s lead US equity-research analyst covering beverages and household and personal-care companies, published his latest survey of 2,400 US energy-drink consumers, revealing a significant generational shift in caffeine consumption.

Energy drinks, led by category giants Red Bull, Monster, and others, have overtaken coffee as the primary caffeine source among Gen Z consumers. In other words, younger Americans are increasingly abandoning the morning cup of coffee, even as Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers continue to rely on it for their daily boost.

Among respondents aged 16 to 24, 30.6% now identify energy drinks as their primary caffeine source, up from 20.6% last year. Coffee fell to 27.3% from 40.4%, meaning energy drinks have overtaken coffee among the youngest cohort surveyed. Across all older age groups, coffee is the primary source of morning caffeine.

Falorni added more color:

Based off our survey results, younger consumers are increasingly comfortable with using energy beverages as their primary caffeine source, with 30.6% and 24.3% of 16-24 and 25-34 year-olds, respectively, reporting energy drinks are their primary source of caffeine, up markedly from 20.6% and 19% in our 2025 survey and above the 23.6% for total respondents (vs. 16.6% in 2025) and only 12% for the 55+ age group (vs. 7.7% in 2025). We also highlight that coffee consumption is lowest for the youngest demographic we surveyed, with only 27.3% of 16–24-year-olds stating coffee was their primary caffeine source (down significantly from 40.4% in 2025) vs. 40.8% for total respondents (also down from 47.4% in 2025) and 60.4% for the 55+ age group

Looking specifically at energy drink consuming respondents, we can see the coffee category has been the largest share donor to energy beverages across all age groups, with 45% of all respondents reporting coffee was their primary source of caffeine before switching to energy beverages vs. 30% for soft drinks and 10% for tea.

Other compelling findings in the survey:

Women accounted for 58% of consumers who entered the category during the past year, compared with only 29% of consumers who have been drinking energy beverages for six years or longer.
Zero-sugar products now represent about 49% of US energy-drink sales, up from 37% in 2021.
Energy-drink prices have risen only 4.9% since late 2021, compared with 42% for soda and 47% for coffee, giving Monster and Red Bull considerable room to raise prices.
About 40% of respondents increased their energy drink consumption over the past year, while just 20% reduced it.
Brand loyalty is soft: 51% switched their primary brand during the past year, making flavor innovation and shelf space critical.
Monster and Red Bull control about 70% of the market despite a surge of challenger brands.

In markets, Monster is outperforming Celsius year-to-date:

Our latest coverage in the space includes the report that Rockstar founder Russell Weiner has accumulated a roughly $300 million stake in Celsius Holdings and is preparing an activist campaign aimed at accelerating the company's turnaround. Read the full report here.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 15:20
https://ift.tt/LSfsEmP
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/LSfsEmP
via IFTTT

Tailing 30Y Auction Prices At Highest Yield In 25 Years

2026-08-13T14:19:09.254-07:00

Tailing 30Y Auction Prices At Highest Yield In 25 Years

After yesterday's ugly 10Y auction, moments ago we got the last of the week's refunding auctions, when the Treasury sold $25BN in 30Y paper (the same paper that has seen yield shoot up in the past week, ever since Warsh's most recent FOMC meeting in which he left the long-end hang out to dry), and just like the 10Y auction before it, this one was also rather deplorable.

Pricing at a high yield of 5.216%, the auction tailed the When Issued 5.212% by 0.4bps...

... but more importantly, it priced at the highest yield since 2001 some 25 years ago.

The bid to cover was 2.392, down from 2.444 in July and below the recent average of 2.429.

The internals were more palatable: Indirects slumped from 77.7% in July - one of the highest on record - to 66.9%, which was just below the six-auction average of 67.0%.

And with Directs loading up, and taking down 21.6% of the auction, which also was just below the recent average of 22.5%, Dealers were left with 11.5%, 150bps higher than July, and a bit over the average of 10.6%.

Overall, this was a weak auction if hardly catastrophic, and while demand was there, the more ominous question is where do yields go from here, and how much higher can the yield on the long-end keep rising before something finally breaks.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 13:35
https://ift.tt/Z7uGWcU
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/Z7uGWcU
via IFTTT

WHO Defends Childhood Vaccination Schedules After Trump Order

2026-08-12T15:19:28.381-07:00

WHO Defends Childhood Vaccination Schedules After Trump Order

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Aug. 11 defended its immunization guidelines after President Donald Trump issued an order to change the childhood vaccination schedule to space out the shots.

A health worker prepares a vaccine in Texas in a file image. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

On Aug. 10, Trump signed an order to recommend administering the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in three shots during separate visits. The combined MMR shot is commonly given to children, and some states mandate the vaccine for attendance at day care, schools, and summer camps.

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the United Nations' health body, referred to the Trump administration's changes during a press briefing on Tuesday, saying that WHO's vaccine recommendations are "based on years of research across the world on how the immune system develops, when a person is most susceptible for a disease and how to keep protection strong."

"This is the advice we give to all countries, and we hope that all countries will use this best scientific evidence that we have," Jasarevic said, adding, "we have to always stress that the science does evolve to make their immunization programs for their citizens."

During Monday's signing event, Trump also called for only 11 key vaccines, and argued that spreading out the shots was critical for a child's health. Children should receive their shots in one year with five separate visits, he added. Previously, the Department of Health and Human Services had recommended 17 vaccines, which was revised down to 11 by the agency earlier this year.

Kush Desai, a Trump spokesperson, told media outlets on Aug. 10 that the president is "one of countless parents who have voiced questions and concerns about the combined MMR vaccine" and said that with the change, parents are provided "more options on timing and frequency for their children" and that this would increase vaccine uptake.

In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), and varicella (chickenpox).

When the vaccine total was revised, several groups, including the American College of Physicians, sharply criticized the Trump administration's decision.

"Abandoning the U.S. evidence-based process is a dangerous and potentially deadly decision for Americans," said Jason M. Goldman, MD, the head of the American College of Physicians, in a Jan. 5 statement. "The evidence is clear that vaccines prevent deaths, hospitalizations, and spread of disease."

In explaining the decision for Monday's order, which comes as students across the United States will soon be returning to classrooms, Trump wrote that the administration is committed to ensuring that Americans can receive "the best scientifically supported medical advice in the world, as well as to protecting religious liberty and parental authority."

"I am taking further action to reaffirm that it is the policy of the United States that the core childhood vaccine recommendations should be aligned with scientific evidence and best practices from peer, developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Aug. 11.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 17:00
https://ift.tt/41RBDGi
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/41RBDGi
via IFTTT

Former SPLC Exec Arrested: Accused Of Funneling Donor Money To KKK, Neo-Nazi Informants

2026-08-12T15:19:27.154-07:00

Former SPLC Exec Arrested: Accused Of Funneling Donor Money To KKK, Neo-Nazi Informants

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) executive Heidi Beirich was arrested in California on Wednesday under a superseding indictment in the Justice Department's ongoing case against the organization, according to a CNN report confirmed by federal officials.

Heidi Beirich. What even...

Beirich, who directed the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project until 2019, faces three counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering. She was expected to make an initial appearance in Riverside later Wednesday.

"I believe she was part of the effort to open bank accounts in completely fictitious companies' names and make payments to individuals for reasons that were not accurate as described," Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Wednesday. "This is exactly what we said would happen in a case like this."

At the center of the allegations is an SPLC program that paid informants embedded in extremist organizations the nonprofit publicly monitored and campaigned against. Prosecutors allege Beirich helped oversee those payments and shared a bank account with one of the informants receiving them.

That informant, identified in charging documents as F-9, allegedly infiltrated the neo-Nazi National Alliance. Prosecutors further allege that Beirich was living with him and romantically involved with him while the payments were being made.

Reporting on the June superseding indictment said roughly $140,000 in donor funds moved from the SPLC's operating account into joint accounts held by Beirich and F-9 between 2015 and 2021. The organization is also alleged to have paid the informant more than $1 million since 2007.

Other payments under the same program allegedly went to separate recipients. The indictment, for example, describes funds reaching an Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America - a different individual from the informant with whom Beirich allegedly had a relationship.

According to prosecutors, F-9 also broke into the headquarters of a white supremacist organization and removed approximately 25 boxes of documents. Those materials allegedly became the basis for a 2015 Hatewatch article written by Beirich titled "Chaos at the Compound." A second informant was allegedly paid about $6,000 to take responsibility for the burglary and conceal the identity of the original source.

An attorney for Beirich denied wrongdoing, calling the case meritless and politically motivated and saying she looks forward to presenting her side in court. An SPLC spokesperson had no immediate comment.

The SPLC has contested the government's case from the beginning, arguing that prosecutors are mischaracterizing a long-running intelligence-gathering program designed to monitor violent extremists. Its attorneys have also emphasized that law-enforcement agencies made use of information generated by SPLC informants.

Initial Indictment

A federal grand jury in Montgomery indicted the SPLC on April 21 on 11 counts: six of wire fraud, four of bank fraud, and one of money laundering.

Prosecutors allege the organization funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to at least eight informants associated with groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, the National Alliance, and the National Socialist Party of America between 2014 and 2023.

According to the indictment, some of those payments were routed through bank accounts opened in the names of fictitious entities such as Rare Books Warehouse and Tech Writers Group.

"The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence," Blanche said when the original charges were announced.

The SPLC pleaded not guilty in July and moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the prosecution was vindictive and that the administration was retaliating against the organization for identifying and criticizing extremist groups.

On Aug. 7, U.S. District Judge Emily Marks rejected that motion, finding that the SPLC had not demonstrated prosecutorial animus. We covered that ruling here, as well as the unusual timing of an Atlantic story targeting FBI Director Kash Patel three days before the original indictment here.

The FBI severed its relationship with the SPLC in October 2025. In its most recent available filing, the organization reported gross receipts of $339.3 million and assets totaling $822.2 million.

At a June 9 House Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Manufacturing Hate, Part II," witnesses testified that the SPLC's "hate group" designations had been used as screening criteria by payment processors, donor-advised funds, corporate-giving platforms, and web-hosting companies.

WATCH: "The SPLC is little more than a highly profitable scam."

ADF's @ryanlbangert delivers his opening statement to @JudiciaryGOP on @splcenter pic.twitter.com/nbxBBhN63a
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) June 9, 2026

In practice, witnesses argued, the SPLC's privately maintained list could carry consequences resembling those of an official government designation, despite there being no formal due-process mechanism for organizations placed on it.

One witness told the committee that his organization lost access to charitable-giving platforms, web hosting, and nonprofit software pricing after appearing on the SPLC's hate map.

Those claims remain witness characterizations rather than judicial findings. But they are now part of the congressional record, and the fact that federal law-enforcement agencies previously relied on intelligence produced by the SPLC is not in dispute.

Beirich left the SPLC in 2019 amid the upheaval that followed the firing of co-founder Morris Dees and the departure of much of the organization's senior leadership. She later co-founded the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, where she continued working as an extremism researcher.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 16:40
https://ift.tt/OsYwyK5
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/OsYwyK5
via IFTTT

Two Leftist Fantasies That Collide With Reality

2026-08-12T15:19:26.082-07:00

Two Leftist Fantasies That Collide With Reality

Authored by Kathleen Dynan via AmericanThinker.com,

Many want to live with fantasies that contradict facts as their reality.

But facts can’t be ignored, and we are not required to accept their fantasies as our truth and reality.

Here are two such fantasies: that a man can become a woman or vice versa, and that Marxism is good for citizens of the country.

Let us examine biology and medical science facts to disprove the first fantasy.

Sex chromosomes are packages of DNA found inside most of our approximately 30 trillion cells that have a nucleus. There are two different kinds of these chromosomes, X and Y. When an egg is fertilized, the egg itself always contributes an X chromosome, while sperm can contribute either an X or a Y. Sex chromosomes are the genetic elements that define a person’s biological sex. Females have XX and males have XY chromosomes. Chromosomes themselves are made up of proteins and DNA that carry our genetic information from cell to cell. In addition to biological gender and the resulting reproductive systems, they determine other physical traits, e.g., eye color.

The reproductive systems of men and women are distinctly different. The male reproductive system mostly exists outside of the body. The external organs include the penis, scrotum and testicles. Internal organs include the vas deferens, prostate and urethra. The male reproductive system is responsible for sexual function and urination. The female reproductive system is a group of organs that enable reproduction, pregnancy, and childbirth. It also produces female sex hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. The system consists of organs and tissues inside the body and some that are visible outside the body.

Medically, it is not possible to transplant reproductive systems into the opposite sex. Drugs and mutilating surgeries change a person’s appearance, but do not change the biological gender.

To dispel a related fantasy, women are physically weaker than men because of a combination of factors rooted in this biology. Women have: less total muscle mass, different muscle fiber profiles, lower testosterone levels, higher essential body fat, and smaller, lighter bones. These differences are significant. In upper body tasks, women produce roughly 56% of the force men do; in the lower body, that figure rises to about 72%. The average gap is real, measurable, and driven by physiology that diverges sharply at puberty.

So, factual biology shows it is impossible for women to successfully compete against the strength of men in physical tasks and sports.

Now, let us look at history to disprove the second fantasy.

The Democratic Socialists of America is claiming Americans’ lives would be better under Marxism. Both socialism and communism are based on the principles of Marxism. The claim is that both are better for citizens than our form of government, a constitutional republic with an economy based on capitalism. But history shows this false claim is just a desperate attempt to seize control of Americans.

They claim Marxism would provide: a classless society; peace for all; and less labor required, meaning more leisure time. They consider the last the true measure of wealth. Capitalism, not any form of Marxism, delivers leisure time. Below are some results of living that fantasy.

Millions more citizens were stripped of all wealth and property, captured, debased and tortured under these governments. If they were able to escape these madmen, citizens fled their homelands.

To date, 11 countries have tried socialism. All have failed.

The sole equality for all was the anguish and suffering of citizens. Only the elites running those governments prospered.

The far left is trying to buy control of us by offering the same eight “free programs” they offered in 2019. These include: Universal Child Care; Guaranteed Income; Reparations to Blacks and Illegals; Affordable Housing; Medicare for All; Student Loan Forgiveness; Free Public College; and a Green New Deal. Their desperate attempt to pretend to have programs for all Americans was and is a sick joke. They can’t ever happen.

In 2019, the total world wealth was estimated to be $360.6 trillion; and the United States’ wealth (assets minus liabilities) at about 29% of that total, $106 trillion. The far left was promising to spend an estimated $81.9 trillion for these “freebies.” That was 77% of our wealth on “free stuff.” Common sense and logic said what facts proved, that none of those would materialize. (2019 Credit Suisse Report) Both wealth and costs have increased in the last 7 years, but that total wealth and costs comparison is still viable.

Unlike Marxist governments, American citizens are represented in our government. Do not let that change in the United States. Marxists can’t improve your life, but history shows they will destroy or end it.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/u2nyYtd
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/u2nyYtd
via IFTTT

Tanker Data Contradicts US Claim That Middle East Oil Flows Have Normalized

2026-08-12T15:19:24.975-07:00

Tanker Data Contradicts US Claim That Middle East Oil Flows Have Normalized

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Oil flows from the Middle East have normalized, with Sunday traffic alone above pre-conflict averages, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on Tuesday in a claim that appears not to be backed by ship-tracking data.

On Tuesday, Secretary Wright posted on X that “Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the U.S. military and our gulf allies, the seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up to almost 9 million barrels per day.”

Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the U.S. military and our gulf allies, the seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up to almost 9 million barrels per day.

When combined with the additional 5-7 million barrels per day leaving the region via newly…
— Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) August 11, 2026

He went on to add that “When combined with the additional 5-7 million barrels per day leaving the region via newly upgraded pipelines and export facilities, total oil flows are currently averaging approximately 15 million barrels per day.”

According to the top US energy official, “On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian gulf region, which is above the pre-conflict average.”

However, analysts and tanker traffic monitoring services cannot fathom how the U.S. Administration has arrived at these numbers, considering that traffic at the Strait of Hormuz is severely constrained, even according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“We have increased our estimates of Middle East shut-in crude oil production in the coming months compared with our July forecast due to continued severe constraints on Strait of Hormuz transits, which we assume persist through August,” the EIA said on Tuesday in its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

“It is not possible to reconcile the disparity between what we see and what he is quoting,” Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler, told CNN, commenting on Wright’s claim.

Kpler data showed earlier this week that vessel traffic at the Strait of Hormuz continues to decline as last week’s hopes of negotiations of a U.S.-Iran deal began to fade, yet again.

On Monday, only six commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz in either direction, down from 11 ships in the latest 10-day average, according to shipping data from Kpler cited by Reuters on Tuesday. The number down to just 1 on Wednesday.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 15:40
https://ift.tt/5per4Wt
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/5per4Wt
via IFTTT

Hegseth Pushes $1.5 Trillion Military Budget As Tribute To Lindsey Graham

2026-08-11T15:19:24.028-07:00

Hegseth Pushes $1.5 Trillion Military Budget As Tribute To Lindsey Graham

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called on Congress to approve his request for a $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027 during remarks at a ceremony in South Carolina for the renaming of Joint Base Charleston to Joint Base Lindsey Graham in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly last month.

Hegseth claimed that before he died, Graham told him that the $1.5 trillion request was the best military budget he'd ever seen.

Department of War photo

"As we gather here today, the War Department is seeking a historic generational investment of $1.5 trillion for American warriors. And Lindsey himself said, to me in his office, ‘this is the best military budget I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress,'" Hegseth said, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon.

"This department pays tribute to Lindsey Graham in the naming of this base, but there could be no greater tribute than Congress could give than to invest in our warriors for the full $1.5 trillion," he added.

Hegseth said that he had known Graham for nearly 20 years, going back to when he was a member of a veterans group pushing for the US to escalate the war in Iraq.

"Nineteen years ago, young lieutenant, uh, First Lieutenant Pete Hegseth came back from Iraq and was a part of a veterans’ organization called Vets for Freedom that believed in the surge in Iraq and advocated for the troops on the ground," he said. "The first and only senator willing to meet with First Lieutenant Pete Hegseth and nowheresville Vets for Freedom was Sen. Lindsey Graham."

The event came as Hegseth has been struggling to get support from Congress for the full $1.5 trillion military budget, a nearly 50% increase from this year’s budget.

The Trump administration seeks to reach that figure through a $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) plus a supplemental funding bill worth about $350 billion. Hegseth said that he and Graham discussed the plan just a week before the senator’s death.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was joined today by Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Troy E. Meink, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, and Sen. Darline Graham for the renaming of Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, as Joint Base Lindsey Graham,… pic.twitter.com/5dz6TvGOhB
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 10, 2026

"He looked at me and said, how’s $355 billion sound? He wanted to give even more than $350 billion. He wanted to ensure our military was as equipped as humanly possible, because he was thinking of places like this one right here," Hegseth said.

Hegseth was joined at the ceremony by Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, who has taken over his Senate seat and is expected to pursue the same policies as her brother. Lindsey Graham was notorious for his hawkishness, and following his death, footage came out of him laughing and celebrating days after the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran, a war he had been pushing for years.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 17:00
https://ift.tt/SDeY4xT
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/SDeY4xT
via IFTTT

The Diamond Crash Accelerates

2026-08-11T14:19:29.820-07:00

The Diamond Crash Accelerates

The Diamond Standard Index, tracked on Bloomberg under the ticker DIAMINDX, tumbled to new record lows during the first half of August as a surge in affordable lab-grown stones eroded the scarcity premium underpinning natural diamond prices.

"Technological progress in growing diamonds in labs has been amazing. It's no surprise most engagement rings are now using lab diamonds," X user Crémieux said.

Technological progress in growing diamonds in labs has been amazing.

It's no surprise most engagement rings are now using lab diamonds. https://t.co/MZ4zWVlQNq pic.twitter.com/fH1lFYD3Ih
— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) August 8, 2026

X user Saul Sadka warned that the diamond downturn will likely persist for years as lab-grown stones flood the market:

Expect the collapse in diamond prices to accelerate substantially over the next few years. The natural-diamond market is shrinking in both size and value and circling the drain following the commoditization of its product by modern technology. The same thing happened to pearls 100 years ago, but it will be much worse for diamonds: they will become a signal of bad taste rather than wealth, just as pearls went from high society to a matronly cliché within 50 years.

I have been telling friends in the diamond industry to find a new line of work for ten years. It was clearly only a matter of time before lab-grown diamonds became a mass-market commodity, sold at some small premium over production costs, which would themselves continue to plummet.

Since they are identical to natural diamonds, and buyers actually have multiple reasons to choose them instead, including no "blood diamonds" and supposedly greater environmental friendliness, most buyers will not care.

Attempts to differentiate the products using $20,000 machines will not help: they are indistinguishable in real life.

There was always going to be some multiple that people would be willing to pay for "natural" over "lab," but it did not really matter whether that multiple was 2× or 10×. Once lab-grown diamonds can be made for next to nothing, even ten times next to nothing is still very little. People will pay more, perhaps much more, for an identical product because of its backstory, but not infinitely more.

The reason natural-diamond prices have held up reasonably well over the past four years, "only" falling by around 50% in real terms, has more to do with supply cutbacks. Production has been reduced by about 20% over that period, from 120 million to 98 million carats, in a desperate attempt to support prices as the natural and lab-grown markets diverge. If production returned to its previous level, prices would fall even faster.

But it is going to get much, much worse. A trip to Miami will explain why: people who look like gangsters walk around wearing enormous tennis bracelets that would have cost a million dollars 20 years ago but can now be purchased for the price of a used Rolex.

Diamonds are going to become a sign of tackiness, as, frankly, they always should have been, rather than class or exclusivity. And then the game will be up for everyone in the diamond industry.

Expect the collapse in diamond prices to accelerate substantially over the next few years. The natural-diamond market is shrinking in both size and value and circling the drain following the commoditisation of its product by modern technology. The same thing happened to pearls… https://t.co/XdHRsgSp6h pic.twitter.com/c0zHoUqi2L
— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) August 9, 2026

Sadka continued in a series of follow-up tweets:

One of the biggest problems for hopes of a residual natural-diamond industry is that diamonds ARE, in fact, FOREVER. At some point, the market will shrink to the point where the secondhand supply, fed by the estates of Boomers as they fall off this mortal coil, will provide sufficient supply to make any mining or polishing uneconomic.

One of the biggest problems for hopes of a residual natural diamond industry is that diamonds ARE, in fact, FOREVER. At some point, the market will shrink to the point where second-hand supply, fed by the estates of Boomers as they fall off this mortal coil, will provide… pic.twitter.com/VkOhukpH5I
— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) August 10, 2026

This would have been true 30 years ago, and it would have been a big blow to the Israeli economy, but it's not true anymore. The industry once accounted for up to 3% of Israeli GDP, but it's now under 0.2%. Sorry, Turkey.

This would have been true 30 years ago, it would have been a big blow to the Israeli economy, but it's not true anymore. They once were up to 3% of Israeli GDP, but its not under 0.2%.

Sorry Turkey. pic.twitter.com/pORcoY4GcK
— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) August 10, 2026

There might be some limited residual market at the high end, but my guess is that there will be enough supply from Boomers as they "check out" to glut that demand without any need for miners or cutters, etc.

There might be some limited residual market at the high end, but my guess is that there will be enough supply from the boomers as they "check out" to glut that demand without any need for miners or cutters etc.
— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) August 10, 2026

To sum up: natural diamonds face a structural, rather than cyclical, collapse. If you're in the market for an engagement ring and hoping it will serve as some store of value, you might be out of luck because lab-grown stones are destroying the scarcity premium, while a potential wave of secondhand supply from aging Baby Boomers could pressure the market even further.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 15:40
https://ift.tt/b7ChYvV
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/b7ChYvV
via IFTTT

We Need More Tom Sellecks, Less Mark Ruffalos

2026-08-10T14:19:09.829-07:00

We Need More Tom Sellecks, Less Mark Ruffalos

Authored by Christian Toto via American Greatness,

Tom Selleck destroyed the so-called Queen of Nice in 1999 without even trying.

The Magnum, P.I. alum sat down with Rosie O'Donnell a short time after the Columbine High School shooting that left 14 people dead. The host's "nice" shtick crumbled in real time as she savaged Selleck for his NRA support. He was simply there to promote his movie, but she bullied him anyway.

"Now you're questioning my humanity," the actor said following her line of attacks. O'Donnell's image never fully recovered, while Selleck has maintained his star status, in part, by never getting nasty or political.

The Blue Bloods star's nonpolitical persona is even more admirable today, and the 81-year-old is sticking to it. He appeared on CNN recently as part of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library tour. Selleck is a fan of the late president, hardly a controversial take.

The CNN reporter pressed Selleck on the current state of the country and, more specifically, President Donald Trump. Selleck wisely refused the bait.

"Well, [Trump is] certainly a mixed bag. I stay out of the current political world. Why piss off half the country when you're in the business of entertaining people?" he said.

He's right. Except plenty of artists can't stop doing just that.

The worst example remains Snow White star Rachel Zegler. The 20-something actress insulted that film's source material and, later, told Trump supporters they should "never know peace."

Her film lost a reported $170 million for Disney.

Last month, actor Alan Ritchson of Reacher fame slammed both the Catholic Church and President Trump during an angry podcast interview. His new film, Motor City, bombed at the box office.

Far-Left actor Mark Ruffalo won't stop sharing his socialist views in interview after interview. He's the anti-Selleck, spouting off at any opportunity.

Yet he wisely avoided controversy while promoting his co-starring role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The team behind the film must have been high-fiving behind the scenes as the movie broke the all-time record for an opening weekend haul.

No cleanup on aisle 4 - aka doing damage control for Ruffalo's hot takes.

Stars are increasingly political in the modern era, but the results aren't always so clear-cut.

The culture wars surrounding Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey didn't hamper that film's gargantuan box office haul, nor did its co-stars' woke comments.

Many politically active stars remain in demand, as moviegoers refuse to boycott their work. Heck, Ruffalo has five IMDb credits in 2026 alone.

Still, for some, an actor's chronic political talk, often couched in extreme or cruel fashion, is a deterrent for consumers.

Selleck never has to worry about that. He's kept the focus on storytelling for decades, and he has a fine career to show for it. A newer crop of stars has embraced the Selleck standard, rejecting the Left's "politics at all costs" mantra.

We recently saw Kevin James, Michelle Yeoh, and Neil Patrick Harris refuse to engage in political opinions during press exchanges. Their silence was noteworthy for good reason. They're the exception to the new celebrity rule.

Will journalists be pressing Zegler or Ritchson about their newest projects when they're in their eighth decade, as they do with Selleck today?

Christian Toto is the editor of HollywoodInToto.com - "The Right Take on Entertainment." He's an award-winning journalist and movie critic whose film reviews are heard on radio stations across the country. He co-hosts Denver's Mike Rosen at the Movies radio show on KOA NewsRadio as well as the weekly "Hollyweird" segment on The Michael Brown Show.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/10/2026 - 14:40
https://ift.tt/grcEDyM
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/grcEDyM
via IFTTT

"Lie To People Who Want To Be Lied To": How To Make A Political Fortune As A Far-Left Democrat

2026-08-09T15:19:29.750-07:00

"Lie To People Who Want To Be Lied To": How To Make A Political Fortune As A Far-Left Democrat

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

A financial journalist once offered simple advice: “Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich…Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke.”

That axiom appears to have been taken to heart by radical Democratic candidates who this week issued transparent denials of past outrageous comments. Their calculus is clearly that the last thing that voters want to hear is the truth about their past views.

Certain cultural touchstones are considered inviolate in some states, such as beef in Texas.

In 2022, Talarico said he was reducing his meat consumption as part of climate-related efforts.

Texas Democratic Senatorial candidate James Talarico was roasted after a video surfaced of his calling to reduce meat consumption and “I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.”

The backlash was so great that Talarico has been eating whole cows to prove that he is not all-hat and no cattle.

Obviously, lying about your positions is hardly a phenonmon confirmed to the far left.

Many Republican candidates have also made painfully transparent pivots. However, the spins this week threaten to knock the planet off its axis.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong seems to be coasting to a primary win despite radical views such as defunding police.

In an episode of “Pod Save America,” Hong was asked about her 2020 statements declaring “police exist to uphold white supremacy” and “I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.”

Hong responded with a convoluted spin:

“My views have only become stronger in that I’m serious about public safety and I will not abolish the police.”

Hong’s views on Thanksgiving takes the axiom to a whole new level. Hong previously stated:

“Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indigenous folx and women so be it.”

That did not go over well in Wisconsin, only slightly better than coming out against cheese.

Hong did not deny her 2021 statement for weeks, including when confronted on CNN by host Kaitlan Collins. Asked directly if she still hated Thanksgiving, Hong seemed to morph into Chauncy Gardner from Being There with her now much-ridiculed “I’m a chef” response, stating that, as a chef, she works to “bring more people to the table.”

Hong seemed to morph into Chauncey Gardner from Being There in offering non-sequiturs of being a “very serious gardener.”

When that interview fell flat, Hong decided to lie and claim that she was just joking in 2021 and “loves” Thanksgiving, her now “favorite holiday.”

No one reading her quote or her later interviews would believe that it was a joke. It was not a joke for weeks until her responses became a joke.

Abdul El-Sayed skipped the transitional period and went straight to the lie in his controversy this week when a video surfaced of his saying how he hates the iconic Mackinac Island.

Growing up in Chicago, one of my favorite things was to go with my family to the island, which is the quintessential small American town. I actually have never met anyone who hated Mackinac Island…until now.

In the video, El-Sayed states “I hate Mackinac so much. It’s funny cause, like, if we win, this is gonna be, like, the summer home. Every time I’ve ever come here I’ve hated it.”

El-Sayed was clearly informed that declaring that you despise the most popular tourist location in Michigan is not a vote getter. So, El-Sayed simply told his supporters what they wanted to hear: you cannot believe your lying eyes and ears.

His campaign issued a bizarre statement that sought to turn the controversial into his being opposed to the elite and privileged class, saying that he was actually Mackinac Policy Conference which is simply an annual nonpartisan forum for public policy discussions.

El-Sayed claims that he was referring to conference as being like a summer home for governors. He maintains that he was referring to a conference as the entire island.

El-Sayed knows that it does not matter. He could have claimed that he was referring to hating Mackinac Island Pizza Company. It does not matter. His supporters do not want the baggage and he simply needed to unload it

With the election in November, the next predictable step will be for Hong to join El-Sayed on Mackinac Island for a public Thanksgiving dinner. Talarico will be on hand to carve the bird with enthusiasm.

The real problem is that these individuals spent years throwing red meat (or, in the case of Talarico, tofu) to the far left. These statements were not considered extreme or controversial until they found themselves speaking to a wider audience. Then they sounded just crazy.

Moreover, some lies are unlikely to register with voters who may prefer to live in delusion. The fact that the Mamdani markets will ultimately sell the most expensive produce in New York is an inconvenient fact that is best ignored.

The model for far-left politicians appears to be Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger who ran as a moderate and then governed from the far left. Spanberger, for example, pledged not to gerrymander districts to eliminate all Republican districts and then immediately moved to do so. Many voters likely did not believe her on gerrymandering, taxes, or other broken pledges before the election. They just needed her to say it. So, you might have to visit Mackinac or feign enjoyment at Thanksgiving or barbeques for a few weeks. Then you can do a Spanberger.

Abraham Lincoln may have said “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

However, the fact is that you do not have to fool all of the people all of the time, just enough to win over the course of a few weeks.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/09/2026 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/jEIlPow
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/jEIlPow
via IFTTT

Rich-Kid Mamdani Ally Wants To "Abolish Rent"; Could Hawley Reform Bill Stop College Indoctrination?

2026-08-09T14:19:20.323-07:00

Rich-Kid Mamdani Ally Wants To "Abolish Rent"; Could Hawley Reform Bill Stop College Indoctrination?

Tracy Rosenthal, co-founder of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, has emerged as an influential far-left star in the Democratic Socialists of America's tenant-organizing 'squatting' movement, promoting rent strikes and aggressive pressure campaigns to bankrupt landlords.

While the article focuses largely on New York City, Rosenthal’s influence extends far beyond it. She has built an entire career around this work, speaking at conferences and appearing as a media expert. The clips I used of her actually come from a talk she gave to Asheville DSA. pic.twitter.com/2LGiDzVYNG
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) August 3, 2026

In this clip posted on X by Stu Smith, investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, Rosenthal stated that tenants pay rent "at the barrel of a gun." She explained how "Living on rent strike - right - getting to experience having your housing without having to pay for it is one of those liberatory visions of home."

🚨 Meet the “Abolish Rent” Ideologue Teaching DSA Tenant Organizers How to Wage War on Landlords

Tracy Rosenthal co-founded the Los Angeles Tenants Union, helps politically educate DSA tenant organizers, and is currently on rent strike in New York City.

In this supercut,… pic.twitter.com/0fw5wi30rt
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) July 17, 2026

The problem with Rosenthal's revolutionary crusade to collapse capitalism is that she treats rent strikes, and the broader effort to destroy the nation from within, almost as a game, even though the financial fallout affects actual working-class tenants, property owners, lenders, and working-poor communities.

Her view that this is all a game is even more striking given New York Post reporting that she was raised in a super-wealthy household in a multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment and is the daughter of four-time Grammy-winning studio owner Steven Rosenthal.

Rosenthal showing off her White privilege at the Grammys with her rich father and stepmother.

In other words, the very privilege created by the capitalist system she seeks to destroy has insulated her from terrible life decisions. She appears to be little more than a lonely cat woman and an unhinged white liberal "Karen" who hates the West, probably because she went to some liberal arts school and was handed an unproductive, woke degree that many companies today see merely as a liability.

She is also likely representative of many DSA members who, as they watch capitalism progress this summer. Spacex's IPO mints thousands of new millionaires, including working-class welders, and they see their jealousy boil over as they confront the reality that their decision to pursue far-left activism has led them down a sad and angry path, one full of hate and, as the far-left is known for, violence.

Rosenthal's 2024 book "Abolish Rent" has been a top read on the DSA's own website.

But hey, she is one of DSA’s recommended authors on “housing justice,” not a manipulative activist weaponizing laws and protections meant to help vulnerable tenants. pic.twitter.com/0uWgbxNYTR
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) July 17, 2026

Rosenthal, who posted "death to America" the night Mamdani clinched the Democratic primary last year and now serves as a visiting scholar at the woke CUNY, has already put some of these rent strikes into practice.

Meet another of Mamdani's housing experts...

Mamdani housing event features a lady in a mask ranting about her landlord, declaring "eviction = violence" pic.twitter.com/el709Zzf88
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 16, 2026

It's time to recognize that Rosenthal, like much of the DSA activist class, is arguably a byproduct of an education system hijacked by the radical left that has purposely oversupplied the country with worthless woke degrees.

The result is a growing revolutionary cohort increasingly detached from economic realities that have one mission, and it's not affordability, climate, anti-data centers, Palestine, or any of the lefty causes; it's to destroy the nation from within - we're merely citing DSA leaders in their own words ...

Hawley's Solution

If policymakers actually want to dismantle the cancer killing the education system and producing this far-left activist class, perhaps forcing schools to have an economic interest in student outcomes will result in less wokes? Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill in 2022 - the Make the Universities Pay Act, that would allow federal student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy after a certain period, but pair that relief with a clawback requiring universities that pushed these worthless and toxic degrees to absorb at least half of every covered loan that is ultimately discharged.

Such a mechanism would fundamentally change the economics of higher education overnight. Schools - with their massively inflated tuition - who produce graduates that are unable to generate enough income to repay their debts, would suddenly bear a direct financial cost for those outcomes. This would impose accountability, forcing schools to prioritize productive and demanding degrees instead of worthless woke degrees.

In other words, it's time to impose accountability on schools that push worthless degrees. Such a move could be the ultimate death blow to many universities with weak balance sheets, high debt loads, and small endowments.

Lawmakers should read more about how to break the cycle of bad ideas via U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.): New Legislation to Hold Universities Accountable for Rising Tuition Costs and Student Debt.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/09/2026 - 14:35
https://ift.tt/LDztSPF
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/LDztSPF
via IFTTT

Ukrainian Drone With Huge Explosive Payload Hits Bulgaria Near Vital Gas Pipeline

2026-08-08T16:19:19.042-07:00

Ukrainian Drone With Huge Explosive Payload Hits Bulgaria Near Vital Gas Pipeline

A major border and aerial incident has occurred between Ukraine and Bulgaria, and Bulgarian officials are outraged and demanding answers - ironically on the heels of a political shift regarding the Ukraine war wherein Sofia has stopped giving weaponry, citing its own stockpile shortages.

A Ukrainian drone on Saturday breached Bulgaria's airspace and directly endangered vital energy infrastructure upon exploding in Bulgarian territory, regional media reports. These types of breaches of neighboring states' territories and spillover from the Ukraine war has been happening with increased regularity of late.

File image via Reuters

Bulgaria's defense ministry quickly pointed the finger at Kiev, saying the destroyed drone debris points to a weapon "widely used by the Ukrainian military."

Despite the two countries by and large being 'friendly' - Bulgaria has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a meeting scheduled for Monday in response, AFP reports.

The Ukrainian government is seeking to defuse the situation, saying it remains "in close contact with the Bulgarian side to clarify the circumstances" of the incident. "We can say with certainty that the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not intentionally direct any assets toward Bulgaria," Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi said, noting that these incidents ultimately arise from the Russian invasion.

Thankfully there were no casualties, however...

According to Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev, the drone entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania before exploding 1,000 metres from a compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, near the former Kardam border checkpoint between the two countries.

"Noise made by the drone was detected by Romanian border police, and a loud explosion was subsequently heard by the 'General Toshevo' border police patrol," he told a press conference.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has expressed the main concern, saying the explosive payload the UAV carried was "significant". But so far, Bulgarian officials have agreed that the incident does not look intentional.

Indeed, Ukraine insists it did not 'intentionally' target Bulgaria, an Eastern European NATO-member country, which Kiev has long sought to curry favor with.

Russian drones have also on numerous occasions breached European airspace. In prior recent instances of drones entering neighboring airspace, particularly in Baltic countries and also Poland, NATO jets were scrambled - and in some cases drones are safely brought down via electronic intercept means.

Russia has more frequently been accused of sending drones into EU airspace, after which threats & accusations fly from NATO 'eastern flank' leaders:

Looks like Russia tried to blow up a pipeline in Bulgaria with a drone today.

Moscow has ramped up its terror campaign in the EU with 6 incidents in 2 weeks:

🇷🇴 Romania - Fighter jets shoot down Russian Shahed drones over Romanian airspace 3 days in a row (July 24-26)

🇵🇱… pic.twitter.com/JwRB3Zf7S7
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 8, 2026

Each instance creates new tensions between Russia and NATO, and the typical accusations and threats then fly. The Kremlin has of late been especially alarmed at the Trump administration transferring 5,000 US troops from Germany to Poland, near Russia's doorstep. But again, some of these drones in recent instances were found to be Ukrainian.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/08/2026 - 16:55
https://ift.tt/2Qg90n8
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Qg90n8
via IFTTT

How The UAE Has Kept Its Oil Flowing Through Hormuz

2026-08-08T14:19:36.729-07:00

How The UAE Has Kept Its Oil Flowing Through Hormuz

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The United Arab Emirates has managed to boost its oil exports to pre-crisis levels as early as June, as it has kept pushing crude through the Strait of Hormuz and outside it.

The UAE, which left OPEC on May 1, has found workarounds to the blockage at the Strait of Hormuz. It has been shuttling crude through the chokepoint to load it on larger vessels outside the Strait, maximizing the use of its onshore pipeline to ship crude from the west to the east of the country, bypassing Hormuz, and shipping tankers through the Strait in dark mode.

The UAE has managed to ship over June and July the most crude oil out of the Strait of Hormuz than any other Gulf producer, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

The UAE has also issued an unprecedented number of tenders to sell cargoes of millions of barrels of crude oil in recent weeks.

At the end of July, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ADNOC issued its seventh tender offering crude from the United Arab Emirates since the beginning of June, expecting to sell millions of barrels of oil between August and October, both from within and outside the Persian Gulf.

ADNOC was offering cargo loadings from the UAE ports Zirku and Das Island inside the Persian Gulf, as well as the port of Fujairah outside the Gulf, or via ship-to-ship transfers offshore Fujairah or Malaysia.

The UAE is estimated to have produced 4.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in June, its highest output ever.

The UAE’s crude oil production jumped from 3.3 million bpd in May to 4.1 million bpd in June after the country left OPEC effective May 1, started raising output, and managed to sneak a lot of exports out of the Middle East even as the Strait of Hormuz was mostly blockaded for the first half of June, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The UAE has sought to adapt to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by sneaking tankers in dark mode through the Strait and increasingly offering to sell many of its crude grades for loading offshore Fujairah and at Sohar in Oman, outside the Strait.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/08/2026 - 15:10
https://ift.tt/HvuoQFP
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/HvuoQFP
via IFTTT

Uncertainty Rules!

2026-08-07T14:19:24.348-07:00

Uncertainty Rules!

By Elwin de Groot, head of macro strategy at Rabobank

US Treasury yields drifted higher yesterday after the Financial Times reported, citing people close to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, that he would be prepared to raise rates as early as September if incoming inflation data surprise to the upside and markets themselves begin pricing a more hawkish path. Yet the market reaction was not confined to the front end suggesting investors were not interpreting the story in a straightforwardly hawkish manner.

That ambiguity is understandable. If markets push yields higher on expectations of tighter policy, the Fed may feel less need to deliver that tightening. Note also that Warsh himself was not speaking, and one of his recurring themes has been a dislike of explicit forward guidance. Moreover, September remains some distance away in market time, particularly in an environment where geopolitical developments can overturn macro narratives overnight.

Indeed, whilst oil prices had come down in the early part of this week on the back of renewed signs that the Strait of Hormuz could gradually reopen, those same prices rose again overnight as a convincing agreement remains elusive as it offers no permanent solutions for the key sticking points. Instead, it offers another 60-day window of free transits through Hormuz while further negotiations resume. Reports suggest Iran is looking to restrict US and Israeli ships from the Strait and it’s been ear-deafening silent on the ‘nuclear’ issue, for example. If a deal is agreed, it could be a matter of time until either party expresses frustration with the negotiations again and markets are forced to price in another few weeks of geopolitical tension.

Meanwhile, refined products are feeling the pinch of impending shortages, leading us to revise up sharply our forecasts for diesel, gasoil and marine fuels, as our senior energy analyst Joe DeLaura writes. In Europe, it is the winter-demand pressure that hangs over the market. The underpriced risk is that Europe’s own weather stress raises gas burn through the power sector just as LNG supply risks remain elevated, our senior energy analyst Florence Schmitt writes.

European macro data offered little inspiration yesterday. German factory orders surprised to the upside in June, though largely thanks to volatile big-ticket orders. This morning saw industrial production tick 0.2% m/m higher that month, but this was offset by lower growth in the previous month. Elsewhere, the picture was even less encouraging. Industrial production fell in both Spain and Italy, raising the possibility that the eurozone's preliminary 0.4% q/q GDP growth estimate may yet be revised lower. Eurozone retail sales also disappointed, falling 0.3% m/m in June and largely offsetting May's upwardly revised increase. The broader message is that growth concerns are unlikely to disappear simply because oil prices have eased from their recent highs.

In fact, what increasingly defines the global economy is not any single shock, but the relentless arrival of new ones. Businesses and households are being bombarded (in some regions rather literally) by an overlapping set of disruptions: trade disputes, geopolitical conflict, policy uncertainty, financial market volatility, technological disruption and natural disasters. The first eight months of 2026 have already provided a year's worth of such events.

The obvious example is the Middle East conflict and the disruption of shipping through Hormuz. But it is far from the only one. Investors continue to grapple with uncertainty surrounding the US tariff regime, while questions persist over the sustainability of the AI investment boom and the valuations attached to it. A rising string of hacking reports and AI models behaving unexpectedly has raised concerns over AI’s controllability.

In Europe, concerns are mounting over intensifying Chinese competition and the growing economic costs of climate change. Scorching temperatures, drying rivers and devastating wildfires have already become defining features of this summer. Looking ahead, forecasters are increasingly focused on the emergence of a potential "super El Niño" event, which could amplify weather-related disruptions across a wide range of emerging and developed economies.

Yet uncertainty is more than merely a transmission channel for shocks. It is an economic force in its own right.

Franklin D. Roosevelt famously captured this during the depths of the Great Depression when he declared in his first inaugural address that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Nearly a century later, the insight remains remarkably relevant. Uncertainty can paralyze decision-making, delay investment, encourage precautionary saving and ultimately amplify the effects of whatever shock triggered it in the first place.

An interesting ECB study published in its latest Economic Bulletin broadly confirms the point. Looking at the eurozone, the analysis finds that uncertainty shocks tend to reduce investment, particularly spending on tangible capital, as well as consumer purchases of durable goods. The effects are most visible during the first two to four quarters following the shock. Importantly, however, the impact appears largely transitory. After an initial decline, activity tends to recover and the long-run effect on output is limited.

Part of that result may reflect modelling choices. But there is also an intuitive economic explanation: people learn. Households, businesses and investors gradually adapt to recurring shocks. The unfamiliar becomes familiar. What initially causes panic eventually becomes incorporated into decision-making. That observation brings us back to a theme from our Monthly Outlook, Groundhog Day Economics: markets seem to become more accustomed to geopolitical disruptions, yet every recurring script carries the risk of a very different ending.

Interestingly, the same logic may apply in reverse. As our colleague Stefan Koopman argues here, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham may seek to replace "securonomics" with a form of "vibonomics": generating a series of positive confidence shocks before embarking on more politically difficult structural reforms. The idea is simple enough. If uncertainty depresses activity, improved confidence can temporarily support it.

The key word, however, is temporarily. The lesson from both the ECB's research and recent market experience is that confidence effects can move demand forward in time, but they do not permanently raise an economy's growth potential. Lower precautionary savings may provide a one-off boost to spending. Positive sentiment may temporarily lift GDP. But neither changes the underlying supply capacity of an economy.

Ultimately, uncertainty may rule the headlines, and confidence may shape the near-term cycle. But lasting prosperity still depends on a far less fashionable ingredient: stronger supply-side growth.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 14:40
https://ift.tt/tZfgzdx
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/tZfgzdx
via IFTTT

Judge Rules Trump Admin Can End Temporary Protected Status For Haitians

2026-08-06T14:19:12.958-07:00

Judge Rules Trump Admin Can End Temporary Protected Status For Haitians

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Aug. 5 allowed the Trump administration to end temporary protected status (TPS) for an estimated 350,000 Haitian nationals following a Supreme Court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled that a previous court order that “had stayed the effective date of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status pending judicial review … is no longer in effect.”

But Reyes also denied the government’s request to halt discovery in the lawsuit that was filed over TPS in Haiti. She told the plaintiffs and the government to provide a new schedule in the order.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year said that around 350,000 Haitian nationals were living in the United States when Noem, who left the administration earlier this year, issued an order ending TPS for the country.

Multiple courts paused enforcement of the order before the Supreme Court in June ruled that the Trump administration could go ahead with rescinding the rule.

Before the judge’s Wednesday ruling at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned in an interview that Haitians under the program should leave the United States.

“We’re going after them right now … these individuals can either self-deport or we’ll arrest you and send you back. It’s that simple,” he said.

Under the Biden administration, TPS policies were expanded, allowing hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Haiti, and other countries to remain in the United States. The Trump administration has moved to revoke TPS for a number of countries, saying that the program was meant to be temporary.

Homeland Security officials said that the TPS program, which was set up under the Immigration Act of 1990, has become a magnet for illegal immigrants in recent years.

“Using TPS to grant temporary status to successive waves of new arrivals from a designated country may generate a significant pull factor for illegal immigration and act in tension with the congressional design,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice.

Meanwhile, DHS said in the Federal Register notice and in court papers that conditions in Haiti no longer justify the designation.

Illegal immigration from Haiti turned into a flashpoint during the 2024 election when vice presidential candidate JD Vance and presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to thousands of Haitian nationals who were living in Springfield, Ohio, generating complaints from residents.

During arguments before the Supreme Court, Geoffrey Pipoly, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, claimed that the TPS termination was due to President Donald Trump’s “racial animus towards non-white immigrants and bare dislike of Haitians, in particular.”

In the high court ruling, a 6–3 majority ruled that the president has the right to start deporting people from Haiti and Syria and that federal law usually bars judicial review of future TPS terminations or designations.

TPS was designated for Haiti in January 2010 following a major earthquake and was extended multiple times.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/06/2026 - 15:45
https://ift.tt/j2WQc51
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/j2WQc51
via IFTTT

DHS Confirms Over 3 Million Total Deportations, Highlights Arrests Of Five More "Worst Of The Worst" Criminal Illegals

2026-08-05T15:19:16.530-07:00

DHS Confirms Over 3 Million Total Deportations, Highlights Arrests Of Five More "Worst Of The Worst" Criminal Illegals

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday arrested five more “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens convicted for heinous crimes, including voluntary manslaughter, criminal indecent exposure, aggravated assault, and fentanyl trafficking.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), more than three million illegal aliens have left the United States due to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown: 2.2 million self-deportations, and over 985,000 deported by DHS.

Each of the five violent criminals highlighted by DHS Tuesday were arrested in deep blue sanctuary cities where anti-ICE agitators continue to harass immigration officers.

Fernando Ruiz-Maldonado, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted for voluntary manslaughter in Los Angeles, California.
Sergio Loya-Lozano, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted for criminal indecent exposure, hit-and-run, and TWO counts of driving under the influence in San Jose, California.
Olman Josue Pineda-Jimenez, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras, convicted for aggravated assault and harassing communications in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Heriberto Hernandez-Sosa, a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, convicted for fentanyl trafficking in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Jose Manuel Pertuz-Pena, a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela, convicted for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in Cook County, Illinois.

Immigration agents continue to carry out their law enforcement duties in blue sanctuary enclaves despite the left’s relentless coordinated campaigns of violence against them.

According to DHS, immigration officers have experienced a 1,300+ percent increase in assaults against them, a 3,300 percent increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats.

“Every single day, we are REMOVING criminals from American communities. Just yesterday, ICE arrested murderers, sexual predators, violent assailants, drug traffickers, and other dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“Under the Trump Administration, the Department of Homeland Security is enforcing the law, deporting criminal illegal aliens, and defending the homeland. It’s no wonder crime rates have reached historic lows.”

DHS has listed over 40,000 illegal alien criminals on their Worst of the Worst (WOW) website which tracks ICE arrests of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, violent gangbangers and arsonists.

A DHS spokesperson told American Greatness Tuesday that over 985,000 illegal aliens have been deported since President Trump took office. An additional 2.2 million have self-deported.

“In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations,” the spokesman said via email.

“As of July 12, we have now deported over 985,000 illegal aliens and arrested over 1 million illegal aliens.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 17:00
https://ift.tt/NxaHC7Q
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/NxaHC7Q
via IFTTT

Sandisk Tumbles After Revenue, Earnings Forecasts Miss Estimates

2026-08-05T15:19:15.256-07:00

Sandisk Tumbles After Revenue, Earnings Forecasts Miss Estimates

Sandisk was one of the largest public holdings of the hedge fund of 24-year-old former wunderkind, Leopold Aschenbrenner, and its July collapse from $2300 to $1000 was chief the main reasons why the former OpenAI employee had to liquidate his extremely overlevered hedge fund and sell all positions at a 10% discount to Citadel to meet a volley of endless margin calls.

Well, if he has some dry powder left he just may be able to repurchase some or all of his portfolio from Ken Griffen following the plunge of Sandisk after hours (we jest, of course), not because earnings were weak - they beat solidly - but because the company's revenue guidance was very disappointing... and for a stock like SNDK which is priced to perfection beyond 2030 on the assumption that nobody else can produce the biggest commodity product in electronics - memory chips - the guidance was rather dismal.

Here is what SNDK reported for fiscal Q4:

EPS $39.25 vs Est. $34.37
Revenue $8.97BN vs Est. $8.64BN
- Data Center Revenue $3.0B vs Est. $2.6B
Operating Income $7.0B vs Est. $6.4B
- Adjusted gross margin 84.6%, estimate 81.5%
Free cash flow $7.08 billion

And while historical were fine, it was the company's Q1 guidance that sent its stock tumbling after hours:

Sees revenue $10.30 billion to $10.80 billion, far below the median estimate of $11.16 billion
Sees adjusted EPS $44.00 to $46.00, a midline also below the estimate $45.58

Commenting on the results, SNDK said that "as the cloud and other data-intensive workloads continue to expand, we remain confident in the long-term growth trajectory of our business, further margin expansion, and strong free cash flow generation."

Perhaps, although one look at prevailing NAND prices indicates that the peak is now well in the rearview mirror...

... and the market agrees with the stock, which surged about 40% in the past few days since the Citadel takeover of the Situational Awareness hedge fund, sliding and back to about half of its all time high hit in early June.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 16:45
https://ift.tt/niCSlBa
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/niCSlBa
via IFTTT

They Really Don't Care

2026-08-05T15:19:14.560-07:00

They Really Don't Care

Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org,

This might not apply to all sheep-types, but many of the ones I have encountered simply do not care. This could be the reason we can’t seem to get through to them with the facts we are constantly shoving down their throats. Of course, the ones I’ve talked to may just be saying they don’t care to shut me up, but I really don’t think so. They seem pretty sincere.

How could they not care? Now, that is the $64,000 question. People, in general, do not care about things they do not see directly affecting them. They should, but they don’t. People these days, at least, don’t seem very skilled at discerning things that will—if not cared about—eventually bite them in the ass. I think people used to be better at determining such things.

They used to see war in a neighbouring country, for example, and say, “Hmmm, if we don’t do something about that, those bloodthirsty marauders may be over here next.” People who thought that way—speculating about a potential ass-bite—actually disappeared a long time ago, if they ever existed at all.

Still, my point stands: if it doesn’t directly affect them in the present moment, they don’t care.

Sorry, I think that is weird.

And, of course, people seem very inconsistent about this.

Some things they do care about, and usually those things are not as important as the things they should care about.

Take immigration control and enforcement, for example. Most people leaning to the left seem to care very much about the treatment ICE gives to people suspected (or legally determined) to be in the US illegally. They worry about their rights, their families, and the way they are arrested and deported. Yes, some of these worries are legitimate.

Everyone should be treated fairly and respectfully by law enforcement officials, and if they are not, it is right to complain about it through the proper channels. But none of these people seem the least bit concerned about how millions of illegal—and often criminal—people will degrade the way of life for everyone already living here.

I often ask, “So, do you want open borders then, and as a result, never have laws about enforcing the rules regarding immigration?” They will invariably say, “Oh no, I do believe we should control our borders!” Go figure.

The same story goes for free speech. People may seem to care about hate speech and speech that does not fit their worldview, such as Charlie Kirk’s speaking about the negatives regarding transgenderism or abortion. But if you ask them, “So, you don’t believe in free speech then? You think the First Amendment of the US Constitution is idealistic hooey?” They will invariably say, “No, of course I believe in free speech!” But they don’t. Go figure.

They can’t see far enough ahead to recognize the consequences of cherry-picking speech—eliminating what they think is offensive and keeping only the “important stuff.” Unfortunately, you can’t do that, and up until recently people knew that. There is a consequence for freedom, and sometimes it isn’t pretty.

I think a lot of the time this “I don’t care” attitude stems from the fact that people don’t seem to care much about principles. Of course, that does depend on the “principle.” Using the immigration example again to illustrate this point: those against deporting illegal aliens seem to care about the principle of “kindness” and “loving your neighbour” and “no one should be hurt, for pretty much any reason.”

Yet they contradict this attitude in dozens of ways: expecting that people be put into prison for not calling someone by their chosen pronoun, or arresting someone giving a speech about the atrocities being committed in Gaza—they see these examples as hate speech. In these cases, it is fine to be arrested. But sneaking into the US illegally, or doing so and lying about your criminal record? That’s all okay.

I feel the shrew-types are (see my Substack for a definition of “shrew”) very aware of principles. The destruction of free speech and even the obliteration of privacy in the US is not necessarily affecting people directly (except during Covid, when it certainly did, with persecution toward the unvaccinated and the loss of jobs and livelihoods). It is a “principle thing” for a lot of us. It is the wanton destruction of the very fundamentals our country (the US) was founded on.

Not only our constitutional rights, but the inalienable rights our Creator granted us. The writing on the wall exclaiming a future none of us will be comfortable in is clear and present. We hear the train a-comin’, rolling ‘round the bend…And it doesn’t look good.

So maybe shrews also don’t freak out over injustices until we feel them, but maybe we also see what’s on the horizon more logically and pragmatically than the sheep-types do. But that too is arguable. The sheepies certainly have no problem losing their cookies over Trump, even though there is little he is doing that directly affects them in a bad way (until recently, at least).

They too claim to be looking at future calamity to justify their hate. Yet Canadians adore Carney, and can’t seem to see what his antics are bringing onto Canada: soaring inflation and grocery prices, ballooning deficits and national debt (now larger than the economy), higher taxes, and escalating trade tensions with the US through tariff retaliation and protectionist policies that critics argue risk recession and long-term economic decline. Or, probably the most devastating, getting into bed with China and the Chinese Communist Party (“It’s not Communism,” they love to bellow, “It’s socialism.” Ha ha.)

We see these inconsistencies in a variety of ways. Obama’s approach to drone warfare was entirely ignored, yet anything Trump did that was similar (before the Iran catastrophe) was considered criminal.

But do they really care? Or are they just oddly selective about what they care about?

Maybe it is more the latter we are seeing. Maybe they do care, but about strangely inappropriate things. And then not care about things that are very appropriate to care about. Got me. All I can say for certain is that it is weird. Very weird. And I do care about that.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/kG5TuVP
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/kG5TuVP
via IFTTT

Israel To Scale Back Gaza Strikes To Give Trump's Hamas Disarmament Plan A Chance

2026-08-05T15:19:13.525-07:00

Israel To Scale Back Gaza Strikes To Give Trump's Hamas Disarmament Plan A Chance

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

Israel has tightened restrictions on targeted strikes in Gaza, signaling that it intends to give President Donald Trump’s initiative to disarm Hamas a chance despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firm public conditions for an Israeli withdrawal.

Senior Israeli security and political officials told Epoch Magazine Israel on Aug. 5 that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has ordered that every targeted strike in Gaza receive his personal approval.

Such operations previously required approval from the head of the IDF’s Southern Command. Under the new directive, Zamir must also obtain authorization from Israel’s political leadership before a strike can proceed.

The officials said the change followed a request from Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy for Trump’s Board of Peace, to suspend Israeli strikes for two weeks while negotiations over Hamas’s disarmament move forward.

They said Israel wants to avoid a confrontation with Trump and demonstrate that it remains fully coordinated with the Board of Peace and committed to the president’s 20-point Gaza plan.

The remarks, made a day after Netanyahu publicly outlined Israel’s objections to the U.S. proposal, highlighted Israel’s coordination with Washington and signaled that Jerusalem remained open to continued negotiations.

Netanyahu said in an Aug. 4 video message that Israel would not withdraw from its current positions in Gaza until Hamas had been completely disarmed.

“President Trump and his team believe they can bring about Hamas’s disarmament and the demilitarization of Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “We are examining that.”

Netanyahu said Washington had sent Israel a draft proposal that his government had not accepted, adding that Israel had submitted its own comments.

“This is our position,” he said. “We stand firm in defending our interests, both wisely and resolutely.”

A senior Israeli official told Epoch Magazine Israel that despite the new restrictions on strikes, militants in Gaza would not have immunity. Anyone attempting to harm Israeli troops would be targeted.

Disarmament Talks

Trump announced on July 30 that the Board of Peace had reached what he called a historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

Under the proposed phased arrangement, military operations would stop before heavy weapons, tunnels, and weapons-production sites were decommissioned. Israeli forces would then withdraw as disarmament progressed, while an International Stabilization Force and a newly trained Palestinian police force assumed responsibility for security.

Gaza would eventually be governed by a technocratic Palestinian administration working with the Board of Peace, according to U.S. officials.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions agreed on July 31 to a gradual process for cataloging and storing their weapons under the supervision of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, according to the Board of Peace.

A central dispute remains over the sequence. Israel says Hamas must disarm before Israeli forces pull back from the roughly 60 percent of Gaza they currently control. Hamas says Israel must first stop its strikes and begin withdrawing.

The Board of Peace held what it described as a “constructive and detailed” meeting with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Aug. 3.

“The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance,” the board said. “Reaching it will be a process.”

The prospect of an agreement has generated cautious optimism among some Gaza residents exhausted by nearly three years of war and displacement.

“We feel a sense of joy when we hear the news, and we hope it turns out to be true,” said Fatima Mohammed, a displaced resident.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 15:45
https://ift.tt/FkAq0UY
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/FkAq0UY
via IFTTT

Reality Denied

2026-08-04T15:19:18.158-07:00

Reality Denied

Authored by James Thorne via RealClearPolitics.com,

Elon Musk’s recent interview with The Economist underscored a simple but increasingly uncomfortable truth: In today’s political climate, stating the obvious can sound like provocation. The Overton Window, the range of ideas considered acceptable in public debate, has not merely drifted, it has been pulled away from the constraints of reality.

Musk’s real value in this conversation is not that he is always right. It is that he forces a confrontation between reality and rhetoric. And once that confrontation occurs, the limits of the prevailing framework come into view: It can organize language and signal virtue, but it struggles to explain outcomes. The exchange itself illustrated the point.

Rather than fully engaging his arguments, the interviewer at times defaulted to dismissive framing, implying that Musk himself was the issue. It was a familiar substitution: Discredit the speaker, avoid the substance.

Start with basics.

The United States should control its borders. Public safety should be enforced. Governments should operate within fiscal limits. Safe and secure elections are non-negotiable. Public institutions should act responsibly in the interests of their citizens. Industrial and trade policy should strengthen domestic production and deliver clear benefits to American workers.

These are common-sense views held by ordinary citizens, not some extreme ideological position as they are often portrayed.

That is precisely why they are now contested.

Basic logic and common sense are increasingly labeled as “extreme,” often coded as right-wing regardless of their content.

For too long, parts of the progressive left have effectively weaponized the Overton Window to enforce those labels. Questions grounded in observable facts, whether about immigration, crime, fiscal limits, trade, pandemic-era trade-offs, or basic policy outcomes, are too often branded “MAGA,” “far-right,” or a “conspiracy theory,” then brushed aside with confidence instead of answered on the merits.

This mechanism is effective because it shifts the cost of debate. Instead of defending weak outcomes, it raises the social and reputational cost of pointing them out. Dissent is not refuted, it is stigmatized. What was once ordinary becomes controversial. What remains inside the window is treated as settled, regardless of results.

The consequences are increasingly visible. Concerns about migration pressures on housing and public services are waved away as the hollowing out of middle America. Crime is discussed without equal emphasis on enforcement. Fiscal constraints are acknowledged rhetorically but deferred in practice, even as interest costs rise. Industrial policy is justified in expansive terms, but less often judged by whether it delivers measurable, broad-based gains for American workers.

The pattern extends to how arguments are received. When Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton spoke about border security, it was widely viewed as pragmatic. When Donald Trump raised similar concerns, they were often treated as outside the bounds of acceptable discourse. More broadly, the deeper problem is less about any single statement than the tendency of much of the media and the progressive left to protect favored figures from scrutiny while abdicating the traditional role of the fourth estate. That is what Musk attacks head on.

Over time, this weakens the connection between policy and results. When outcomes disappoint, the response is often reinterpretation rather than recalibration. Housing shortages persist, public safety concerns linger, deficits expand – yet the underlying assumptions remain largely intact.

A functioning political system requires more than intention. It requires feedback, accountability, and a willingness to confront inconvenient facts. When common sense is pushed outside the Overton Window, the system loses its capacity for self-correction.

The middle has not become extreme. The definition of “acceptable” has. And when common sense is treated as rebellion, the shift reflects changes in elite discourse, particularly within major media and institutional voices, more than any transformation among the public itself.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/04/2026 - 16:20
https://ift.tt/WxQlNdS
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/WxQlNdS
via IFTTT

World's Largest PC Makers Start Using Memory Chips From China's CXMT

2026-08-04T14:19:29.185-07:00

World's Largest PC Makers Start Using Memory Chips From China's CXMT

It's not just Apple that is scrambling to find cheap memory alternatives to the DRAM offerings from the memory "cartel" of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron: according to the Nikkei Asia, a trio of the world's leading PC makers - HP, Asus and Acer - have started to use small amounts of chips from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (better known as the recently IPOed CXMT) amid an unprecedented memory shortage fueled by demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Many major PC makers completed the qualification process for CXMT's DRAM chips around the middle of this year and have started to use a limited amount in their notebook computers, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The amount of CXMT chips used and the number of notebook models utilizing them are very limited as of now, as CXMT is prioritizing a large part of its production capacity for Chinese clients, such as Huawei. The notebook models that use CXMT chips are for sale in non-U.S. markets.

The PC companies are also taking a restrained approach over their use of CXMT chips due to concerns that doing otherwise would anger leading global memory chipmakers Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two sources said.

"The top three memory chipmakers accounted for more than 90% of global market share," an executive with a PC company with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia. "PC companies have to be very careful and stay low-key about [the use of CXMT chips] ... After all, it is a seller's market now. We dare not source too much from CXMT at this moment."

CXMT, moreover, is included on a Pentagon list of companies alleged to have ties to the Chinese military, making sourcing from it potentially sensitive for U.S. companies. The Chinese company has denied the allegations and is not subject to an outright trade blacklist.

Still, the adoption marks a significant win for CXMT, which recently listed on Shanghai's STAR Market and after soaring nearly 8-fold since its IPO last week, boasts a market valuation exceeding that of Intel, America's top microprocessor maker.

"Although PC makers only use very small volumes [of CXMT's DRAM] for budget models, they don't want to neglect a potential important source, particularly when the market is so constrained," one supply chain manager supplying to HP and Asus told Nikkei Asia.

Not everyone is terrified of retaliation by the memory cartel: another industry executive said some PC makers have secured additional supplies of central processing units (CPUs) and are now racing to lock in more memory to match, making them much more open to sourcing from any available supplier, including CXMT. "After all, PC makers still hope to work with all the available sources as the market is very constrained now," the person said.

In response to request for comment, Acer said: "We do not disclose our suppliers, but that we keep in close contact with multiple global manufacturers and suppliers to dynamically adjust operations to manage component prices changes. We work with multiple manufacturers and suppliers to enhance our supply chain resilience."

The PC and smartphone industries have been suffering from shortages of memory chips and CPUs since late last year. Earlier thi year, Nikkei Asia was the first to report that HP, Dell, Asus and Acer were considering using CXMT's DRAM.

PC companies have prioritized chips for premium models and raised overall prices by several hundred dollars to reflect the rising component costs. Smartphone companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, on the other hand, cut their 2026 shipment forecasts several times due to the memory shortages.

The global PC industry is expected to decline more than 11% this year due to the unprecedented memory crunch, with supply conditions worsening toward the end of this year, market research company IDC estimates.

The shortfall in memory chips has turned out to be a golden opportunity for CXMT to tap the global PC supply chain. The Hefei, China-based memory chipmaker listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's tech-focused STAR Market on July 27 and its share price soared almost 5x on the first day of trading. Its market capitalization reached more than 3.5 trillion yuan ($545 billion) as of Tuesday, topping Intel and starting to approach Micron and SK Hynix.

CXMT estimated in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that its net profit for the first half of 2026 would reach between 52 billion yuan and 58 billion yuan, up as much as 2,530% from a year earlier. The chipmaker attributed the surge to favorable market conditions and a better pricing environment. CXMT already supplies to almost all the top Chinese tech companies including Tencent, Alibaba Cloud and ByteDance.

"You would think CXMT's price is cheaper than the top three players, which is a wrong assumption. ... Their DRAM is definitely no cheaper than the likes of Samsung," one of the people said. "We also couldn't book supplies from CXMT beyond the current quarter, as so many companies are racing to secure DRAM from it," the person added.

CXMT and domestic peer Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) are undertaking their most aggressive capacity expansion plans at home. CXMT is expanding plants in Shanghai with the aim of having a capacity two to three times larger than its homebase in Hefei, including capacity for building high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a crucial AI component, Nikkei Asia reported earlier.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/04/2026 - 15:40
https://ift.tt/C6vKPly
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/C6vKPly
via IFTTT

Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Surpasses Daily Alcohol Consumption Among US Adults

2026-08-03T15:19:12.811-07:00

Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Surpasses Daily Alcohol Consumption Among US Adults

Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

Daily or near-daily marijuana use has surpassed daily alcohol consumption in the United States, reaching 20.9 million to 21.4 million daily users compared to roughly 17.2 million daily or frequent alcohol drinkers.

Fox News reports that new data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), reveals that daily marijuana users outnumber the the 19.9 million people who smoke cigarettes and the 17.2 million who consume alcohol.

While tobacco and alcohol use has been plummeting, down 28 percent and 24 percent since 2021, daily pot use — including smoking and edibles — surged 21 percent.

Marijuana has officially surpassed both alcohol and cigarettes as the most-used daily substance among U.S. adults.

21.4 million use marijuana daily or almost daily, compared to 19.9 million daily cigarette users and 17.2 million daily alcohol users.https://t.co/yE6yjKgqgC pic.twitter.com/4d01T0rFQK
— Theo Holmes (@theo_69_holmes) August 3, 2026

According to SAMSHA, the biggest jump occurred between 2021 and 2022 with an increase of roughly 2.8 million users.

Between 2021 and 2025, the number of adults 18 and older using marijuana daily or almost daily increased about 22%, from 17.2 million to 20.9 million.

A Modern Health survey of 1,000 full-time employees in April 2026 found that 63% of the workforce engages in at least one form of self-medication after the workday, while 52 percent have self-medicated during the workday.

According to Fox News, Gen Z is the only generation of workers where THC use exceeded alcohol use after work – 59 percent report using marijuana products compared to 50 percent who drink alcohol.

Among 18-to 25-year-olds, roughly 10-12 percent reported daily or near-daily marijuana use, while only 3-5 percent drank and 9.6 percent smoked cigarettes daily or near-daily.

The study found daily cannabis use has accelerated rapidly among adults aged 26 and over with millions of Americans in their 30s, 40s, and 50s now using cannabis daily or near-daily.

General past-month cannabis use rose to 15.1 percent, driven by state-level legalization, while frequent drinking and cigarette smoking continue to decline, according to Yahoo.

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel said the SAMHSA data shows a “very disturbing trend” and told Fox News Digital: “Too little attention has been paid to the growing THC content in all cannabis products, which makes it far more dangerous in terms of mental performance, judgement, memory and all forms of impairment.”

Seigel added, “So I firmly believe that the rising use – coupled with decreasing alcohol and cigarettes – is directly due to lack of awareness of all the dangers of marijuana versus an increased awareness of all the dangers of cigarettes and alcohol.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/03/2026 - 17:00
https://ift.tt/TCF176u
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/TCF176u
via IFTTT

'Cycles Line Up Like They Did Before 1929': Charles Nenner Warns Of "Very Big Downturn" In Stocks'

2026-08-03T14:19:22.705-07:00

'Cycles Line Up Like They Did Before 1929': Charles Nenner Warns Of "Very Big Downturn" In Stocks'

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner is usually way ahead of market moves. When nobody wanted silver ($29), he was buying it. When everyone wanted silver a few months ago ($120), he was selling it.

So, what is Nenner seeing in the markets right now? Let’s start with the big surprise prediction coming in oil prices. Lots of people say oil is going higher, a lot higher. There are plenty of predictions of oil breaking over $200 a barrel. Heck, even President Trump thinks oil will hit $200, but Nenner says he’d be wrong. Nenner explains:

“The crazy thing is, based on all my analysis, is crude oil looks weak for the next year. I am not sure what it means. . .. I see oil going down longer term.

Maybe other countries are going to find oil because they cannot rely on oil (from the straight of Hormuz) anymore. By the way, Saudi Arabia has plans to make a pipeline through Israel to bring it to the sea. So, they won’t need the Strait of Hormuz anymore.

Intelligence will find a solution. I think they are going to pump more oil. If people think they will flood the world with oil from other countries, then the price will come down. . .. there may be an outside chance of oil hitting $101 (per barrel).”

On gold, Nenner predicts, “Some cycles are very interesting. The gold cycle came down at $5,300 (per ounce). We have a 30-day free subscription, and you can see those cycles. They are close to bottoming now."

" Soon, there should be a new up move for gold. We had a (downside) price target of around $3,800 per ounce. We are very close. So, gold starts looking good into 2027.”

Nenner says the next gold bull market starts next month in August.

On silver, Nenner says:

“Silver was a catastrophe because we had the cycle top at $121 (per ounce), and we couldn’t get people out of it. . ..

Silver is also going to be in a new bull market. It could go back to the old highs of $120.”

On the stock market, Nenner says:

“The cycles in 1926 and 1927 line up like they did before the crash of 1929.

This is almost August, and big investors have time to be very defensive.

I want to repeat my forecast of a very big downturn in the stock market.”

Nenner likes cash, and he says watch out for big losses coming from some big banks.

Nenner says:

“Real estate is a bad investment.

I know big pension funds, and they have real estate in New York, and they are selling with a loss. Other banks have losses, and nobody speaks about it—yet...

So, there is a lot going on that the average person doesn’t know.

I know it because I work with these people, and things don’t look very safe...

I think we could have a banking crisis.”

There is much more in the 40-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog as he goes one-on-one with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner for 7.31.26.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/03/2026 - 15:40
https://ift.tt/1bQwAfp
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/1bQwAfp
via IFTTT

The GOP Has Its Own Platner-Esque Nightmare Erupting In Ohio

2026-08-02T16:19:23.131-07:00

The GOP Has Its Own Platner-Esque Nightmare Erupting In Ohio

Democrats spent months navigating the endless Graham Platner scandals in Maine, before credible rape allegations finally forced him out. Republicans got their own Platner-esque scandal of their own this week in Ohio.

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) posted a 25-minute video to X on Sunday morning to deny a stack of abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno. He's been accused of holding a gun to her head, throwing scalding water at her, and fracturing their 2-year-old daughter's collarbone. Miller says none of it happened the way it's described, and he says a family court fight over custody explains why the story surfaced.

"Let me begin with the most painful accusation of all: I have never abused our daughter," Miller said in the video, adding that the claims "have damaged my reputation, caused enormous pain to my family, and most importantly, it's affected our daughter."

He asked viewers to draw their own conclusions from his ex-wife's behavior after the alleged assaults. "Ask yourself, if I had assaulted her, would she have offered to cook me dinner six days later? Would she have invited me to spend an afternoon at the playground with her and our daughter?" Miller said, insisting there is "no evidence" against him and that no court or child welfare investigation has substantiated the allegations. The boiling water, he said, was a kitchen sink spray mistaken for horseplay.

Special Announcement https://t.co/ouTFVkATZD
— Max Miller (@MaxMillerOH) August 2, 2026

Police confirmed to CNN that prosecutors never filed charges over the daughter's collarbone injury, and that there are no other open investigations involving Miller or Moreno.

Miller has also filed a defamation suit against his ex-wife and her attorney. And the legal conflict cuts both ways: a judge last week ordered both Miller and Moreno - not just one of them - not to "threaten, abuse, annoy or interfere" with each other.

Whatever the merits of that defense, within the hour, Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio posted a statement.

"As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help," Moreno wrote on X. "He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter." He went further still, writing that "if there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them" and that his former son-in-law "should not serve in the House of Representatives."

He continued, "If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives. I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does."

Miller didn't let the statement sit unanswered. He shot back at Moreno in his own post on X, writing that "if my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn't wait two years before holding him accountable." "You know this isn't true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus. This is all political," he added.

@berniemoreno If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable. You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus. This is all political. https://t.co/6GmCGBwe5y
— Max Miller (@MaxMillerOH) August 2, 2026

A sitting Republican senator calling for a sitting Republican congressman to resign is not a dynamic party leadership wanted heading into a midterm cycle crowded with headaches. Moreno described the two years since the divorce as "pure hell" for his wife, his daughter and the rest of the family, which is not the kind of language reserved for a policy dispute.

Miller's Democratic opponent in the 7th District, union ironworker and Brook Park councilman Brian Poindexter, wasted no time exploiting the situation for his campaign. "No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife's head and breaking their 2-year-old daughter's collarbone belongs in the halls of power," Poindexter said in a social media post Sunday as part of a fundraising pitch.

Democrats clearly see an opening in a seat that was not on anyone's flip list a month ago.

Emily Moreno's spokesman, Stefan Mychajliw, offered his own assessment of Miller's livestream, and restraint was not the operative word. "It is shameful that Max Miller decided to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career," Mychajliw said in a post on X. "There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that. Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court."

Miller, a former adviser in President Trump's first administration, who was previously endorsed by Trump this cycle, has given no indication he intends to step aside. "I'm not dropping out of this race," he said. "And I'll win in November."

The Ohio GOP faces a Wednesday deadline to swap him out if it wants a different name on the November ballot, an option party officials have discussed given the volume of pressure bearing down from inside the family and outside it alike.

Platner cost Democrats a clean shot at Susan Collins in Maine. Miller may cost Republicans a House seat that shouldn't even be competitive.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/02/2026 - 17:30
https://ift.tt/Y54HmU0
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/Y54HmU0
via IFTTT

9/11 Families Don't Want Mamdani Participating In Memorial Ceremony

2026-08-02T14:19:38.714-07:00

9/11 Families Don't Want Mamdani Participating In Memorial Ceremony

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, a coalition of victims' families don’t want New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani anywhere near the ceremony marking the anniversary at Ground Zero.

A Change.org petition urging Mamdani to stay away from the September 11 memorial has collected more than 66,000 signatures in under three weeks and organizers say the mayor's own history of rhetoric and associations makes his presence at the site an insult to the dead.

“This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence. For many families and community members, participation in these ceremonies carries an implicit expectation that those present uphold and affirm these principles without ambiguity,” the petition reads.

“Concerns have been raised about Mr. Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values.”

The petition's organizers describe the anniversary as a day to honor the dead and reject the ideology behind the attacks rather than a platform for a sitting mayor.

The petition cites a specific set of grievances.

Mamdani has repeatedly declined to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," a slogan widely understood as a call for violence against Jews and Israel. His chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, once represented a pilot convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker-bombing plot. Mamdani has also aligned himself with commentator Hasan Piker, who told his audience in 2019 that America deserved the September 11 attacks.

Giovanni Galante, the petition's lead organizer, estimates that thousands of the signers are relatives of the 2,977 people killed that morning. His wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was 29 years old and worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the North Tower. Cantor Fitzgerald lost roughly 658 employees that day, more than any other firm in the towers. An FDNY captain told the New York Post the anti-Mamdani petition is circulating widely inside firehouses across the city, and former Fire Commissioner Tom Van Essen, who ran the department during and after the attacks, signed it himself, joking about wanting a word with the mayor at the ceremony. The FDNY lost 343 firefighters.

Charles G. Wolf lost his wife, Katherine, just two weeks into her new job at Marsh & McLennan on September 11. Wolf argues that Mamdani has spent his career alienating the families of the dead through an agenda hostile to the country and friendships with people who minimize what happened that day. Wolf said officials who supported families over the years, including former Gov. George Pataki, are the ones who belong at Ground Zero this year.

Maureen Santora's son, Christopher, was 23 when he died in the South Tower, the youngest firefighter killed that day. His shift with Engine 54 had already ended when the alarm came in, and he went anyway. Santora said Mamdani has never shown support for the September 11 community and called him a divisive figure whose presence would undercut the entire purpose of the gathering.

Monica Iken-Murphy, whose husband Michael Iken died on the 84th floor of the South Tower and who helped lead the effort to build the September 11 Memorial and Museum, framed her objection around Mamdani's years of absence from the community rather than his politics. Officials who supported families from the beginning, she said, naming former mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, belong at this particular anniversary.

Not every family contacted by reporters backs the petition. Retired NYPD officer Jim Smith, whose wife Moira was one of two female NYPD officers killed that day, declined to sign, saying the day should stay focused on victims rather than politicians of any stripe. Dennis Warchola, whose firefighter brother Michael died two days before his planned retirement, said he turned against Mamdani after learning about his statements on terrorism but stopped short of signing because he does not believe in silencing anyone.

Those dissents were the exception. Reporters reached more than 150 families, and most had signed or planned to, with dozens asking to stay anonymous over retaliation fears.

Mamdani has said he plans to attend anyway.

Galante said many family members plan to turn their backs on Mamdani if he shows up. "They don't want to look at him," he said.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/02/2026 - 15:45
https://ift.tt/G0OL7aX
from ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/G0OL7aX
via IFTTT