Denver School Accused Of Violating Title IX Over All-Gender Restrooms

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

The Education Department said on Thursday that Denver Public Schools violated Title IX, the law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, by converting sex-separated restrooms into “all-gender” facilities.

Denver East High School in Denver on April 17, 2019. David Zalubowski/AP

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) also found that the school district violated the law by allowing students to use intimate facilities matching their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

The finding followed an OCR investigation into Denver’s East High School earlier this year after it converted a girls’ restroom into a multi-stall all-gender facility. The agency said the school had an exclusive restroom for males on its second floor but none for females.

The school district has said that the all-gender lavatory, which has 12-foot partitions between stalls, was created as the result of a student-led process.

The school district later created a second all-gender restroom on the same floor as the first.

However, OCR said the district’s actions did not resolve its Title IX violation “because males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities.” The agency cited a complaint from a female student who said that “boys kept staring at her, looking her up and down, kind of taunting her” when using the bathroom, which left her “very uncomfortable.”

Another complainant alleged that a male teacher frequently entered the restroom “to check on things,” which made female students uncomfortable and raised privacy concerns, according to the agency.

“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor stated, noting that the district had created “a hostile environment” for its students by endangering their safety and privacy.

OCR offered the school district a 10-day window to voluntarily make changes or risk enforcement action, though it did not specify what actions could be taken in the event of noncompliance.

The school district is required within that timeframe to convert all gender-neutral restrooms back to sex-designated restrooms and rescind any policies that allowed access to facilities based on gender identity.

OCR also directed the school district to adopt biology-based definitions for the words “male” and “female” in all Title IX-related policies and practices, according to its statement.

Denver Public Schools officials said they had received the results of the OCR investigation and were determining their next steps.

A Jan. 24 statement on the school district’s website noted that it will defy President Donald Trump’s executive order, which stated that only two sexes will be recognized as the policy of the United States.

“DPS remains committed to following all applicable state and federal laws, which remain in place, providing ongoing recognition of and protection from harassment and discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ+ status,” it stated.

The Epoch Times reached out to Denver Public Schools for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Associated Press and Aaron Gifford contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 21:00

Australia's Largest Rare Earth Miner Plans US Expansion To Compete With China

Australia’s Lynas, the world’s largest rare earths miner outside China, plans to raise A$825mn (US$538mn) to boost stockpiles, expand capacity, and invest in magnet makers in Malaysia and the US, according to the Financial Times. Rare earths are critical for products ranging from weapons systems and electric vehicles to medical devices and bicycles.

“We want to be able to participate, either on an operational or a supply or an equity basis in this part of the supply chain,” said Amanda Lacaze, Lynas’s chief executive, during an investor call.

FT writes that the fundraising, which includes a fully underwritten share issue and an A$75mn share purchase plan for existing shareholders, comes as western governments push to counter China’s dominance of rare earths. Last month, Washington bought a stake in MP Materials and set a decade-long price floor nearly double current market rates. Lynas is in talks with the US, Australian, and Japanese governments over similar measures to support a non-Chinese supply chain.

Lynas has already benefited from Japanese financing to build out “light” rare earths production and, more recently, expanded into “heavy” rare earths. “Lynas broke the Chinese monopoly on lights in 2013. This year, in 2025, we broke the Chinese monopoly on heavies,” Lacaze said.

Still, Lacaze warned of “significant uncertainty” around the company’s US defence-backed Seadrift project in Texas due to difficulties securing offtake agreements.

For the year ending June 30, Lynas reported revenue up 20 per cent to A$556mn but net profit fell to A$8mn from A$84.5mn a year earlier, reflecting production issues and rising costs tied to expansion.

As we have detailed repeatedly, last month, the US government bought a stake in MP Materials, the Las Vegas–based rare earths company, as part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals. The move underscores Washington’s push to build a domestic supply chain for rare earths used in defense systems, electric vehicles, and other technologies.

MP Materials, which operates the Mountain Pass mine in California, is one of the few US-based producers and had previously held merger talks with Australia’s Lynas that collapsed in 2024.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 20:25

"We're Losing Our Community": Short-Term Rentals Are Ruining Three Rivers, Residents Say

In the early 1970s, Three Rivers was a quiet foothill town where cattle ranchers sparred with a wave of tie-dyed newcomers looking for open space and a slower way of life. Back then, the biggest changes came from the clash of cultures. Today, the struggle is more existential: how to balance the demands of millions of tourists drawn to nearby Sequoia National Park with the needs of a community of just over 2,000 people, according to SF Gate.

Three Rivers’ beauty — the tumbling Kaweah River, rolling green hills in spring, and proximity to the park’s giant sequoias — has made it an increasingly popular destination. A quick search on Airbnb turns up hundreds of listings, from canvas tents pitched in backyards to 11-bedroom riverfront mansions. On summer afternoons, visitors line up for frozen yogurt and craft beer, cars squeeze into makeshift roadside parking, and restaurants overflow. The town feels bustling, but nearly everyone visible will be gone in a matter of days.

The SF Gate article says that the constant churn has left many locals uneasy. Residents say the explosion of short-term rentals has eroded neighborhood ties, driven up housing costs, and even led to more encounters with bears rooting through tourist trash. The issue boiled over last year when the Tulare County Board of Supervisors struck down a proposed ordinance that would have set stricter limits on short-term rentals. The rules would have capped occupancy, tightened noise and trash restrictions, and required rental owners — many of whom live hours away in Los Angeles or the Bay Area — to post contact information.

“The trash is all over the place, and we don’t know who to call because the owners are all out of town,” one resident complained at the time. “And the guests come here to party, but that’s secondary to me. The primary one is we’re losing our community.”

For longtime locals, the changes are especially stark in the schools. Nancy Brunson, who has lived in Three Rivers for three decades, remembers when about 250 children were enrolled in the local elementary and middle school. Now, she estimates the number is closer to 70. High schoolers are bused half an hour to Woodlake in the Central Valley, and some traditions — like the annual field trip to San Francisco — have disappeared due to dwindling participation. “It changes the nature of a class tremendously, because the smaller the group of kids, the less diverse of an experience they have,” Brunson said. She ties the decline to the lack of affordable housing for young families, many of whom are priced out by vacation rental demand.

But others see short-term rentals as a lifeline. Cara Brown, who rents out a studio on her property while living in the main house, has hosted guests for nearly a decade. She bristles at the idea that all Airbnb operators are absentee investors. For her and her husband, the extra income makes it possible to stay in their home through retirement. “Nobody wants cheesy hotels,” she said, arguing that tourists sustain local businesses in a town otherwise isolated from major cities.

That doesn’t mean hosts and critics don’t share frustrations. One common grievance is where the money goes. In 2024, Three Rivers generated more than $1.3 million in short-term rental taxes, but because the town is unincorporated, all of it flowed back to Tulare County. Locals say that leaves them without funding for basics like walking paths or beautification projects. “We’re all upset about that,” Brown admitted.

The debate in Three Rivers echoes fights happening across California, from South Lake Tahoe to Santa Barbara, where residents are also pushing for tougher rules on rentals. Yet the stakes feel different here. Three Rivers is relatively isolated, with no neighboring towns to absorb overflow housing needs. Many residents fear the fabric of the community itself is fraying — not just its housing stock.

As Brunson put it, the challenge isn’t whether tourists belong in Three Rivers. It’s whether families still do.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 19:15

Trump Signs Executive Order 'Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again'

Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump on Aug. 28 signed an executive order to “[Make] Federal Architecture Beautiful Again,” with a focus on using classical and traditional architecture in new federal buildings.

Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin in Washington on April 10, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

“Federal public buildings should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public,” Trump wrote in the executive order.

It orders the federal government to favor classical and traditional architecture in designing, renovating, or reducing new or existing federal buildings.

In Washington, D.C., these styles would be “the preferred and default architecture for Federal public buildings absent exceptional factors necessitating another kind of architecture.”

Federal buildings affected by the order include courthouses, agency headquarters, all federal buildings in Washington, and all other projects that cost or are expected to cost more than $50 million in 2025. Infrastructure projects and land ports of entry are excluded.

The order defines classical architecture as “the architectural tradition derived from the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity,” and has since been expanded upon by dozens of other architects.

Trump wrote that classical and traditional architecture aligned with the American Founders’ vision for the nation’s architecture, noting that President George Washington and then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson modeled government buildings in the federal district on the classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome.

“The Founders ... attached great importance to Federal civic architecture,” Trump wrote in the order. “They wanted America’s public buildings to inspire the American people and encourage civic virtue.”

Trump said that classical and traditional architecture remained the preferred forms for federal buildings for 150 years after the nation was founded.

The action items in the order are directed at the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the design and construction of new federal buildings.

In the 1960s, brutalism—a school of architecture that made heavy use of exposed, monochrome building materials like concrete and brick—was adopted in the construction of many federal buildings.

Built in 1968, the brutalist style Robert C. Weaver Federal Building is headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp (R) described the building as "10 floors of basement.” Library of Congress

The order defines brutalism as a style of architecture that is “characterized by a massive and block-like appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of exposed poured concrete.”

It adds that from the 1960s to 1994, the GSA oversaw buildings that “ranged from the undistinguished to designs even GSA now admits many in the public found unappealing.”

In 1994, the GSA responded to critics by launching the Design Excellence Program, which it said was intended to “provide visual testimony to the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American Government” through federal buildings’ architecture.

“Unfortunately, the program has not met this goal,” Trump wrote.

He accused the program of often favoring “designs by prominent architects with little regard for local input or regional aesthetic preferences.”

“Many of these new Federal buildings are not even visibly identifiable as civic buildings,” he said.

This isn’t the president’s first foray into the issue.

In December 2020, near the end of his first term, Trump signed a similar executive order to “promote beautiful federal civic architecture.” It was rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021.

In January, Trump signed a memorandum directing the administrator of the GSA to provide recommendations on making federal architecture more beautiful.

A fact sheet from the White House fits the latest order into a larger effort to “make America beautiful again.” As part of this push, the White House referenced Trump’s federalization of Washington police and use of the National Guard as part of an effort to “beautify” the U.S. capital.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 18:40

Half Of American Schools Require 'Equitable' Grading And Most Teachers Are Opposed: Survey

Lackluster student performance has plagued the Schenectady, N.Y., city school district for years.

The school district, like many others, implemented a “grading for equity” policy in response to dismal test scores.

However, as Aaron Gifford reports below for The Epoch Times, a recent national survey indicates that most teachers feel grade equity actually hurts students long term, although more than half of the schools and districts across the nation engage in the practice.

Schenectady’s 2022-2023 academic report said 95 percent of its high school freshmen were behind in math by three or more grade levels.

A year later, the district reported that in the first quarter of the 2022-2023 school year, more than half of its middle school students (grades 6-8) were three or more grade levels behind in both reading and math, while the daily attendance rate for high schoolers had dipped below 79 percent.

In response to these disappointing results, district leaders implemented a “grading for equity” policy whereby students are not penalized for handing in assignments late, and are allowed to retake tests with continuous guidance from teachers until their scores reflect proficiency levels. Incomplete grades for the semester require authorization from school principals. The policy took effect last fall.

“It’s almost academic fraud,” Christopher Ognibene, Schenectady High School social studies teacher, told The Epoch Times. He recalled a student who was given B’s all year but failed the end-of-the-year New York State Regents assessment with a score of 43.

“Watered-down report cards and transcripts mean nothing if you are left unprepared academically for college. And there are due dates in the real world—it doesn’t matter where you go after high school,” he said.

Most teachers agree with Ognibene’s assessment of the widely used approach, according to the recent survey by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Rand Corporation education team members.

The Aug. 20 report, “Equitable Grading Through the Eyes of Teachers,” summarized responses from 967 teachers from K-12 districts across the country in late 2024.

“Turns out, teachers don’t like it when the powers that be take a sledgehammer to their few sources of leverage over student motivation and effort. Nor do they like giving students grades they don’t deserve,” the report says.

The report identifies five equitable grading practices—unlimited retakes, no late penalties, no zeroes, no homework, and no required participation.

More than half of those surveys identified at least one of those practices in their school, while a quarter noted that their district allows three of them, most commonly unlimited retakes, no late penalties, and no zeros.

Eighty-one percent of the teachers surveyed said they are particularly opposed to requirements for partial credit awarded on late assignments.

The survey included an open-ended response section, where teachers indicated that a guaranteed grade of 50 or higher is a common practice.

“We have gone to the ‘do nothing, get a 50’ grade policy,” one teacher wrote. The report did not identify respondents. “Students have figured out that, if they work hard for a quarter (usually the first), they can coast the rest of the year and get a D.”

This practice received negative national attention in Hartford, Connecticut, last year after an illiterate high school senior graduated and was accepted to college. The student, Aleysha Ortiz, later sued the district, noting that she completed assignments by using a talk-to-text function on her phone.

Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, previously told The Epoch Times that in addition to the automatic 50 score entitlement, her district only requires a 60 score to pass a grade level, and some students pass with 40 or 50 absences in a year.

“It seems to me this is allowed simply to embellish graduation rates,” she said.

The Fordham Foundation report doesn’t list the districts represented in the survey, but it does note that policies were hotly contested before their adoption in Schenectady, in Portland, Oregon, and San Leandro, California. It also said education leaders in Atlanta and Las Vegas are “reversing course” on grading for equity due to negative results.

Schools implement grade equity practices to counter low state test scores, bolster graduation rates, and address academic achievement gaps based on race and socioeconomic status.

Respondents said their school adopted policies from a 2023 book, “Grading for Equity: What it is, Why it Matters, and How it Can transform Schools and Classrooms.”  The author, Joe Feldman, a former teacher and principal, consults with schools across the country to implement those policies.

“Anything that has to do with equity and diversity for city schools, people eat it up,” Ognibene told The Epoch Times. “Everybody wants a silver bullet, but no book is going to fix what’s happening.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Schenectady City School District for comment.

Gherian Foster, an activist with the Albany-based Black Abolitionist Directive who previously worked for the Schenectady City School District, said she believes grading for equity is a viable solution to improve student performance over time.

She said it encourages engaging classroom activities and discussions over what she called outdated and ineffective methods of instruction: drilling students to regurgitate information for the sake of high test scores.

“If [students] are just looking at their Chromebooks for every lesson, that’s not engaging instruction,” Foster told The Epoch Times. “That just stresses the teachers and the students out. Do we have to test them so much, or are there other ways?”

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 18:05

From Blacklist To NIH Director: Jay Bhattacharya On Fauci, Bioweapons, And The Collapse Of Free Speech In Science

Director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, sat down for an extended interview with ZeroHedge. Bhattacharya, long known as one of the fiercest critics of lockdown orthodoxy, has gone from blacklisted dissenter to running the world’s largest biomedical research agency. He carries into his new post a distrust of entrenched power, a skepticism of politicized science, and an insistence that free inquiry—not censorship—must guide American health policy.

What follows is a candid conversation, in Bhattacharya’s own words, on censorship, woke politics in research, the threat of bioweapons, and why he believes science cannot exist without free speech.

Fauci’s Censorship Apparatus

Bhattacharya did not hesitate to call out what he experienced during the pandemic years:

“It wasn't just ZeroHedge that got subject to this censorship. I did too. I was on the Twitter blacklist. It was all true information that was just found inconvenient. That's what you guys were sharing. That's what I was sharing. And it was a gross violation of the American First Amendment.”

The Stanford professor—blacklisted for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration—was among those exposed in the Twitter Files as a target of covert suppression. He says the NIH under his leadership will chart a different course:

“We're no longer in the misinformation detection business. We're no longer in the censorship business.”

ZeroHedge itself was deplatformed during that same period for reporting inconvenient facts on the origins of COVID.

pic.twitter.com/ZhC9SsqPnU

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) August 29, 2025

A Strong Stance Against “Biodefense”

As documented thoroughly in RFK Jr’s book “The Wuhan Coverup”, Anthony Fauci played a pivotal role in ballooning the U.S. biowarfare budget following the post-9/11 anthrax scare, an event still riddled with open questions Kennedy himself addresses in the book. 

While our previous overlords would espouse morally virtuous stances against “bioweaponry” and lecture us about the importance of “biodefense”, Bhattacharya sees through the sleight of hand and dismisses the entire concept as suicidal. His full answer below which we find incredibly important:

“I think that bioweapons are useless to national security and incredibly dangerous for human populations. The Biological Weapons Convention in 1973 is a tremendously important convention. And I think that the United States adheres to it. But we have to make sure that we adhere to it not just on the letter, but in the spirit. That includes, for instance, research for biodefense. Biodefense sounds good, but often there’s very little line between bioweapons and bio-defense… this line of research is fundamentally useless to protect this country from anything and potentially places the whole world at risk.”

The warning is timely. President Trump recently signed an executive order banning gain-of-function research—which some read as only applying to foreign nations but Bhattacharya assured us is indeed a universal ban. 

pic.twitter.com/obmRdbbHWY

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) August 29, 2025

Woke Science

Bhattacharya doesn’t see DEI as harmless bureaucracy—he sees it as poison to science. The problem, he argues, isn’t the stated goal of improving minority health, but the way the system forces scientists to pledge allegiance to political dogma instead of data.

“Many universities, before they would hire some people as professors in scientific disciplines, would require DEI statements. It’s essentially like loyalty oaths.”

He says this ritual signals to scientists that advancement isn’t about competence or discovery—it’s about parroting the right ideology. That corrodes the incentive to produce results that actually improve health.

At NIH, he saw the same rot: tax dollars poured into programs that branded themselves as equity-driven but failed to move the needle.

“There was some chunk of our portfolio that was really huge during the Biden administration of DEI grants… The problem is that this DEI work—I don’t see any evidence that it actually improves minority health. It just politicized the agency.”

Bhattacharya’s stance is simple: real health equity will come from rigorous science applied to concrete problems—diabetes, cancer, infant mortality—not from “loyalty oaths” or politically branded grant programs. In his words, most scientists would gladly jump at the chance to “just do your excellent science” if freed from ideological policing.

pic.twitter.com/nwk7Zv20EC

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) August 29, 2025

Science and Free Speech

For Bhattacharya, the single thread tying all of this together is free inquiry:

“If you were a scientist in the Soviet Union during the time of Stalin, you’d have this guy named Trofim Lysenko who fundamentally believed that Mendelian genetics was false—in fact, that it was a capitalist plot. You were only allowed to agree with his theories. And so he used his position to suppress the speech of all the Mendelian geneticists around him. Many of them went to the gulag. As a result, science on agriculture basically froze and people were always starving as a consequence of this.”

That lesson, he argues, applies directly to America today.

“You can’t have science unless you’re allowed to criticize the predominant ideas. And if you have scientific power married to political power in a way that suppresses the ability for lots and lots of other scientists to say, ‘Look, you’re wrong, here’s this experiment to prove it’—you don’t have science. You have something else.”

pic.twitter.com/UVHdKvkEZ4

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) August 29, 2025
 

Listen to the full interview below:

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 15:05

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

Click on graph for larger image.

• Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 1.9% year-over-year in June

• New Home Sales at 652,000 Annual Rate in July

• Fannie and Freddie: Single Family Serious Delinquency Rates Unchanged in July

• Inflation Adjusted House Prices 2.5% Below 2022 Peak

• Final Look at Local Housing Markets in July and a Comment on July Sales from Tom Lawler

This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

Israel Sees Sykes-Picot Borders As 'Meaningless' & 'Will Go Where They Want': Trump Envoy

Via Middle East Eye

Israel is not interested in adhering to the Middle East's established borders set by the WWI Sykes-Picot agreement and has the "capacity or the desire" to take over Lebanon and Syria, according to US special envoy Tom Barrack.

Barrack made the assessment in an astonishing and candid interview with online personality Mario Nawfal, which went online late on Thursday. It was just one of many insights that Barrack, who is at the center of US diplomacy in the region, shared. In addition, he said that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will not sign the Abraham Accords with Israel and alluded to deeply strained ties between Egypt and Israel, which he said are no longer "talking to each other or cooperating".

Trump-envoy Tom Barrack with al-Qaeda linked Syrian President Sharaa (Jolani). via SANA

Barrack is the US ambassador to Turkey but has become Trump’s envoy to the wider Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack, like his boss at the White House, has chaffed at the traditional US foreign policy establishment - including its preference for maintaining quiet ties with American establishment media. Instead, he has given shoot-from-the-hip style interviews. On Thursday, he called himself an “events-driven mercenary”.

“What’s going on in Gaza makes the rest of the Arab world totally freaked out,” Barrack said. “In Israel’s mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless. They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders,” Barrack said.

The Sykes-Picot agreement was a secret agreement between Britain and France struck in 1916 during WWI that divided the Ottoman Empire’s territories in the Levant, fashioning the modern states of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Mandatory Palestine, the wide swath of land that was later partitioned to create Israel.

'Israel can't be so brutal'

Barrack visited Beirut this week as part of efforts to disarm Hezbollah and has been mediating talks between Syria and Israel. Pressed on whether Israel would conquer Lebanon or Syria, Barrack said he did not mean Israel wants to “take over” its neighbors, but will act against its foes.

“Does Israel have the capacity or the desire to really take over Lebanon? Absolutely. Why didn’t they do it? They have the capacity to do the same thing in Syria,” he said.

“The idea that Israel is really interested in keeping everybody off balance so that they can have more control and command, in my opinion, just as an individual, is ludicrous,” he said.

Barrack is attempting to mediate a deal by which Hezbollah surrenders its heavy weaponry to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Lebanon wants Israel to withdraw from the south of the country, and for reconstruction funds to flow in from the oil-rich Gulf as part of this deal. 

Israel severely degraded Hezbollah in battle following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel. In November, Hezbollah was resigned to sign a lopsided ceasefire with Israel, which it has used to bomb Lebanon at will without Hezbollah retaliation. 

Israeli forces withdrew from much of southern Lebanon earlier this year, but still occupy five hilltops in the south. Barrack, whose grandparents emigrated to the US from Lebanon, said he made a personal appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting this week, as a man with “Lebanese blood”.

“I’m asking you [Netanyahu] to do something that I know will do you well, and do Jews all over the world well. Give Lebanon a break…give them a whiff of tolerance. You can’t be apparently so brutal on everybody, going anywhere, anytime you want… it's gonna backfire."

Barrack said Netanyahu agreed, but did not provide specifics. Two Lebanese soldiers were killed by an Israeli drone on Thursday. Israel apologized for the strike, calling it a "technical malfunction". 

Disarming Hezbollah

Israel says it wants to see Hezbollah disarmed before it withdraws from Lebanese territory and ends its attacks. Analysts and regional diplomats tell Middle East Eye that Hezbollah is unlikely to give up its arms under Israeli fire. 

The US has been supporting the non-sectarian LAF as a counterweight to Hezbollah. But in the interview, Barrack ruled out the LAF forcibly disarming Hezbollah. “There is not going to be a LAF military movement to go blow them (Hezbollah) away,” he said.

After telling reporters in Lebanon to “act civilized” rather than “animalistic,” U.S. envoy Tom Barrack says Israel

“will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want”
pic.twitter.com/D4DNyakAYU

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) August 28, 2025

Barrack said this week that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are willing to invest in Lebanon’s reconstruction, including in the south, where Hezbollah has traditionally relied on support among Lebanon’s Shia community.

Lebanon was ravaged by a civil war between 1975 and 1990, which pitted Christian, Druze and Muslim militias against each other, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Hezbollah was born out of resistance to Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon. With Iranian arms and training, it emerged as one of the world’s most powerful non-state actors. Iran has resisted efforts to disarm Hezbollah, and many regional diplomats say the group is unlikely to surrender its weapons without approval from Tehran.

Hezbollah is one of two main parties, along with Amal, representing Lebanon’s Shia community. Barrack has courted the 89-year-old leader of Amal, Nabih Berri, who is also Lebanon’s speaker of parliament, as he pushes to disarm Hezbollah. “We need him. He is the voice and the power not just to the Amal party, but to the Shia community,” Barrack said.

Hezbollah is designated a US terror organization. However, Barrack has made overtures to the group in his public statements. 

“Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese world. You can’t just say, ‘We want to disarm Hezbollah.’ Everybody is armed…everybody is carrying a .357 magnum. Most people have AK-47s or .50 caliber machine guns at home…this is not an environment where you are going to disarm small arms,” Barrack said.

Syria not joining Abraham Accords

He also said that Israel’s recent strikes on Syria - in what it framed as the defense of Druze - have made convincing Hezbollah to give up its arms more difficult because, “Hezbollah is saying we are the last stop for you against Israel and maybe Syria.”

“After Sweida, that argument has become even more impactive (sic) because the Lebanese community is saying, ‘Wow, Israel just blew through the line’…[and] we have a jihadist who may not love Shias,” he said.

Israel invaded a swath of southwestern Syria after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024. This week, Israel said it would continue to occupy Syria’s Mount Hermon. It also launched air strikes and a ground raid near Damascus.

Barrack has been mediating direct talks between Syria and Israel, which Damascus acknowledged publicly for the first time last month.

Barrack described Syrian President Sharaa as a “pragmatist” and said the two countries' engagement was “so good”, but curbed expectations for a wider diplomatic deal. “Can he go to the Abraham Accords? No way. He has a backing of Sunni fundamentalists,” he said.

Barrack was accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the UAE during Trump’s first term in office. In the interview, he alluded to “introducing” Trump to leaders in the Gulf, which contributed to the Abraham Accords.

Barrack worked as an attorney in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, enjoys close ties to UAE ambassador Yousef Otaiba, and has struck business deals with Qatar, including selling its sovereign wealth fund the Paris Saint-Germain football club.

Barrack said Lebanon had to engage in a broader dialogue with Israel or “We are going to evaporate as a dinosaur,” referring to his Lebanese origins.

Lebanon and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, but signed an Armistice Agreement in 1949. They have a longstanding dispute over their border, referred to as the Blue-Line. “You're talking sometimes two kilometers or four kilometers,” he said, referring to the line of demarcation.

“So it’s what size pen drew the green line and the blue line and the red line. You could lose your mind over this, honestly, but people are losing lives over this, which again to me is amazement…who cares?” he said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 14:00

Minneapolis Shooter's Mother Not Speaking To Police

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The mother of the man who killed two children at a Minneapolis church and school and left 18 other people wounded is not speaking to authorities, the city’s police chief said on Aug. 28.

In the aftermath of the Annunciation Catholic Community school shooting in Minneapolis, people attend an interfaith prayer service at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis on Aug. 28, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

“We have not been successful in talking to the shooter’s mother yet at this time,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told a briefing.

The shooter, who killed himself after firing more than 100 rounds during Mass into Annunciation Church and School on Aug. 27, has been identified as Robin Westman, a male who identified as female.

Westman previously attended the school and has attended Mass there, officials said.

Mary Grace Westman, the mother, worked at the parish in the past, O'Hara said.

The church, in a 2021 Facebook post that it has since deleted, posted a picture of Mary Westman and said that it had honored her as she was retiring after working there for five years.

“She has provided such wonderful hospitality, friendship and compassion to all who gathered,” the post stated.

Ryan Garry, a defense attorney, said he has been retained by Mary Westman.

“She is completely distraught about the situation and has no culpability but is seeking an attorney to deal with calls like this,” Garry told Fox News.

Garry did not respond to a request for more information by publication time.

O'Hara said that law enforcement has conducted dozens of interviews with others, including relatives, friends, and associates of Robin Westman.

Authorities have also carried out search warrants at three residences in or near Minneapolis that are connected to the shooter. They’re not sure yet at which residence he was staying immediately prior to the shooting.

There is no sign yet of an event that triggered the shooting, they said.

‘Hatred’

Evidence gathered so far, including writings allegedly left behind by Robin Westman, shows that the shooter “demonstrate[d] hatred towards many different individuals and different groups of people, and he fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters,” according to O'Hara.

Those groups include black people, Christians, and Jews, Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, told reporters.

The writings have not been made public.

Thompson also confirmed that there was alleged evidence of hatred toward President Donald Trump.

Federal officials previously said that Westman had allegedly written several phrases on a rifle magazine, including “For the Children” and “Kill Donald Trump.”

“More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children,” Thompson said.

“The shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children.

“The shooter saw the attack as a way to target our most vulnerable among us while they were at their most vulnerable, at school and at church.

“I won’t dignify the shooter’s words by repeating them. They are horrific and vile, but in short, the shooter wanted to watch children suffer.”

Update on Injured

Officials originally said 19 people were shot, with two children killed.

An additional child was added to the tally of wounded individuals. Officials said that the child was transported to a hospital via private vehicle, so they had not been aware of the injury.

The two children who died were aged 8 and 10.

Of the 18 wounded, 15 are children between the ages of 6 and 15, O'Hara said. Three others are adults in their 80s.

Some of the wounded remain hospitalized. Injuries range from graze wounds to serious and life-threatening injuries, the police chief said.

Officials also said they found 116 rifle rounds at the scene and three shotgun shells. They have said the shooter was armed with three guns.

The third, a handgun, appeared to have malfunctioned when Robin Westman tried loading it, officials said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 11:40

On Ukraine, Ignore What Trump Says - Watch What He Does

Authored by Larry C. Johnson

I continue to believe that it is more important to watch what Donald Trump does rather than focus on what he says. However, his remarks during the meeting of his cabinet earlier this week regarding negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are alarming and merit attention. When asked about Sergei Lavrov’s comment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not legitimate, Donald Trump dismissed the statement, saying:

It doesn’t matter what they say. Everybody’s posturing. It’s all bullshit, okay. Everybody’s posturing.

He characterized Lavrov’s remarks - and the broader Kremlin rhetoric on Zelensky’s legitimacy - as meaningless showmanship, emphasizing that such claims should not obstruct peace efforts. Trump did not directly defend Zelensky, but instead focused on downplaying the significance of Russia’s statements and suggested that “everyone is just putting on a show” in ongoing negotiations.

I believe that Trump genuinely believes this, and he is dangerously mistaken. President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are not posturing when they try to explain to clueless westerners that they do not believe that Zelensky is the legitimate President of Ukraine. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not explicitly “cancel” the presidential election, as Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during martial law, which has been in effect since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the reality from the Russian perspective is that a negotiated agreement with Zelensky could easily be overturned or rejected once Ukraine holds the required election.

AFP via Getty Images

The scheduled presidential election, expected in March or April 2024, was automatically postponed due to this legal restriction under Article 19 of Ukraine’s “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law,” which bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections during martial law. Martial law has been extended in 90-day intervals by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament), with the latest extension as of July 2025 lasting until November 5, 2025.

Based on Zelensky’s multiple public remarks since his last meeting with Trump at the White House, it is clear that he is completely disinterested in reaching a peace agreement with Russia.

Stephen Bryen has just published a new piece on his Substack, and it provides an explanation for Zelensky’s recalcitrance… NATO is going to attack Russia. Steve writes:

While Putin has flown off to meet with his two buddies, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, in China on an unprecedented four day jaunt, NATO, with full US backing, is stepping up its effort to hand the Russian army a major defeat and, following that, introducing NATO troops to “stabilize” Ukraine.

What is the evidence? First and very noticeable is the US decision to ship 3,350 missiles to Ukraine, ostensibly to be paid for (someday?) by the Europeans (which ones is not defined). These are known as Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM), a type of air launched cruise missile missile. The Aviationist reports that “Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16s, Mirage 2000s and its fleet of Russian-origin MiG-29s, Su-25s and Su-27s would be able to operate it. This new weapon would be an addition to the AASM Hammer and GBU-39 SDB already employed by Ukrainian fighters.”

According to open source intelligence, ERAMs have a range of 250 miles. However, that is the range once launched by an aircraft. Washington says it opposes Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian territory, and while it is restricting the use of long range HIMARS, it is not restricting the use of ERAM. Reportedly ERAM carried a 500 lb. warhead, far larger than any Ukrainian UAV and more than double any of the different HIMARS missiles (M31 Utility Warhead, ATACMS warhead). It may be that ERAMs can be fielded with cluster munitions, although much about the ERAM is uncertain.

Ignore what Trump says, watch what he does. Deploying ERAMs is not a gesture of peace or de-escalation. While it is possible that this action was taken without Trump’s knowledge, now that the information is public he has not countermanded the order.

Steve goes on in his article (I encourage you to read it in its entirety) to highlight the faulty assumptions that NATO planners and leaders are making:

NATO has understood Russia’s use of North Korean troops as an admission that Russia faces manpower shortages and instability in the Russian army, and that Russia is taking heavy casualties in the Ukraine war. NATO may be reading Putin’s statements that he has no intention of attacking Europe now or in future as an admission that he cannot attack Europe with an army that is too small and one that has been broken by the Ukraine war. Part of the pushback can be found in the Saratoga Foundation report, “A Systems View of Russia’s Early Failure in Ukraine.”

Now Russian sources are reporting two developments that indicate that a new offensive will soon materialize, heavily supported by NATO, and aimed at Crimea.

Those sources say that the US and its NATO partners have significantly increased overhead intelligence gathering preparing for the coming attack.

Once again we have Western leaders - both military and political - wrongly interpreting Russia’s execution of a special military operation as a sign of weakness. The belief that Russia is suffering “manpower shortages and instability” is beyond ridiculous. During the course of the last 42 months, Russia has doubled the size of its army and is now conducting multiple offensive operations in Zaporhyzhia, Dniepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Sumy.

Even if we accept as true the false Western claims about Russia suffering massive casualties, the fact remains that even with such losses Russia has 1.3 million men in uniform and carrying arms. Instead of being “broken,” the Russian army has enhanced its capabilities and developed new techniques, especially with the use of drones, that far exceed anything NATO is capable of doing.

Besides conducting the ground war, Russia continues to enjoy a lopsided advantage in the use of missiles and drones. It has carried out massive strikes on missile production facilities and other key logistic nodes in the past week, and shows no sign of weakness on that front.

A NATO-backed attack on Crimea will put increased pressure on President Putin to shift from the Special Military Operation to full war footing. NATO’s inability to supply Ukraine with something as simple as artillery shells is just one indicator of NATO’s impotence if it decides to up the ante with Russia.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 10:30

These Are The 10 Most-Used AI Chatbots In 2025

Chatbots have become a key interface for AI in both personal and professional settings. From helping draft emails to answering complex queries, their reach has grown tremendously.

This infographic, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, ranks the most-used AI chatbots of 2025 by annual web visits. It provides insight into how dominant certain platforms have become, and how fast some competitors are growing.

The data for this visualization comes from OnelittleWeb.

ChatGPT: Still the Undisputed Leader

ChatGPT continues to dominate the chatbot space with over 46.5 billion visits in 2025. This represents 48.36% of the total chatbot market traffic, four times more than the combined visits of the other 10 chatbots. Its year-over-year growth of 106% also shows it is not just maintaining, but expanding its lead.

DeepSeek, Gemini, and Claude in the Chase

DeepSeek emerged as the second most-used chatbot, tallying 2.74 billion visits—a huge 48,848% increase from last year. Gemini and Claude follow with 1.66B and 1.15B visits respectively, posting strong growth rates. Still, none come close to ChatGPT’s reach.

A Fragmented Landscape of Contenders

New and niche entrants like Grok (from X) and Perplexity are growing fast, but remain distant in terms of traffic. Poe, despite its early popularity, saw a sharp -46% drop in traffic. Meanwhile, Mistral and Meta AI are gaining ground, though their market shares remain under 1%.

However, the big question remains, is AI's growth set to continue exponentially rising, or is it peaking?

You decide.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Will AI Replace Your Job Within the Next Decade on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 09:55

German Political Parties (Ex-AfD) Sign 'Fairness Pact' That Prevents Criticizing Immigration

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

In Cologne’s upcoming local election campaign, all major parties except the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have pledged to speak only positively about immigration and avoid linking it to social problems.

The CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, Left Party, Volt, and Die Partei signed a “fairness agreement” initiated by the “Cologne Round Table for Integration” association.

The pact commits the signatories not to blame migrants or refugees for unemployment, crime, or security concerns. It also promises an active fight against racism and antisemitism, with compliance monitored by Protestant and Catholic church representatives. Citizens are encouraged to report possible breaches of the agreement by party campaigners or candidates.

The agreement explicitly excluded the AfD from the process, with those involved insisting the right-wing party does not share their values and should not be welcomed to sign, not that there was any suggestion that the party would do so.

The deal has sparked sharp criticism from both academics and political rivals. Political scientist Werner Patzelt told Bild that the decision was “tactically stupid,” arguing that leaving migration concerns unaddressed hands the AfD an open goal.

“Our parties are so stupid that they don’t see the tactical disadvantage and are so weak-minded that they don’t see that they themselves are damaging our democracy by not wanting to talk about important issues,” he said.

The AfD condemned the agreement as an attempt to silence debate.

The party’s Cologne district spokesperson, Christer Cremer, told RTL, as cited by T-Online:

“I view this fairness agreement somewhat critically, because I believe it is intended to suppress debate. Especially during the election campaign, it must be possible to address all issues, including issues of migration, but also many other things.”

Taking to X, the local AfD party wrote:

“The AfD is not going along with this. We won’t allow the left to forbid us from saying what we say. We address problems and propose solutions.”

The CDU has already been accused of violating the agreement with the distribution of a flyer opposing a planned initial reception center for 500 refugees in Cologne’s Agnesviertel district. While church ombudsmen monitoring the pact stopped short of calling the flyer discriminatory, they warned its wording was misleading. Claus-Ulrich Prölß of the Cologne Refugee Council went further, calling it a “gross violation of the fairness agreement.”

CDU leader in Cologne, Serap Güler, rejected the accusations as “absurd,” adding that the CDU had no intention of stirring hostility toward refugees, but insisted: “At this point, we simply believe a facility of this size is wrong.”

A Focus Online analysis of reader comments found most focused on criticizing the party’s strategy to avoid talking about the issues linked to mass immigration, while others highlighted the security concerns related to the topic, and the third most popular response expressed concern over hindrances to free speech and democratic debate.

The local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, including Cologne, are scheduled for September 14.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 09:20

The post Consumer Sentiment Looks Weak as Measured by the Fast-Food Spending Index appeared first on CEPR.

Trump Wins: All NATO Members To Reach 2% Spending Target In 2025

According to new data released this week, all NATO members are expected to reach the alliance's 2-percent goal this year.

Spending 2 percent of GDP on the military is a benchmark that NATO set for itself in 2014, but which was not reached by many members for years.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Now, countries have upped spending as fear of new wars persisted and doubts about the U.S. continuing its global projection of military power under re-elected President Donald Trump rose.

As of June 2025, all 31 NATO members with armed forces were projected to reach the goal that year, up from just 10 out of 30 in 2023. Sweden and Finland are two new members which joined the military alliance in 2023 and 2024 and upped their military spending above 2 percent of GDP on the occassion.

While the definition as agreed upon during NATO's Wales summit 11 years ago is vague, the 2-percent target has nevertheless been considered a hallmark of NATO's success as well as a point of contention within the organization and in public discourse. The data also shows that the U.S. continues to be the largest spender in the organization, allocating more to the military than all other members combined (the equivalent of 3.2 percent of GDP), while non-U.S. military spending grew more over the past decade, now reaching 2.5 percent of GDP on average.

Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last year that the organization is currently undergoing “the biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War” after the organization has emerged as the chief supporter of Ukraine in its defense effort against a Russian invasion. But even before war on the European continent became a reality again in 2022, tensions had been running high about the state of NATO's military infrastructure as most European nations had adopted a lackluster approach to defense spending in peace times.

U.S. President Trump in 2018 had already brought the issue to the forefront as he criticized a number of NATO member states, especially Germany, for not making enough of an effort to meet the 2-percent-of-GDP spending threshold.

If Merkel was dead, she'd be rolling in her grave!

While 2025 figures for Germany still lack in NATO's reporting, the country is majorly overhauling its military spending and reached the 2-percent goal in 2024.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 08:45

The key report this week is the August employment report on Friday.

Other key indicators include the August ISM manufacturing index, August auto sales, and Trade Deficit for July.

----- Monday, September 1st -----
All US markets will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

----- Tuesday, September 2nd -----
10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for August. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 48.6, up from 48.0 in July.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for July. The consensus is for a 0.1% increase in construction spending.

All Day: Light vehicle sales for August.
The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be 16.1 million SAAR in July, down from 16.4 million in June (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. The dashed line is the sales rate for last month.

----- Wednesday, September 3rd -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

10:00 AM Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July from the BLS.

This graph shows job openings (yellow line), hires (purple), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

Jobs openings decreased in June to 7.44 million from 7.71 million in May.

The number of job openings (black) were unchanged year-over-year and Quits were down 4% year-over-year.

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, September 4th -----
8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for August. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 72,000 payroll jobs added in August, down from 104,000 in July.

8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for initial claims to increase to 232 thousand from 229 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for July from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum, through the most recent report. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.

The consensus is the trade deficit to be $64.2 billion.  The U.S. trade deficit was at $60.2 Billion the previous month.

10:00 AM: the ISM Services Index for August.

----- Friday, September 5th -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for August. The consensus is for 78,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to increase to 4.2%.

There were 73,000 jobs added in July, and the unemployment rate was at 4.3%.

This graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.

Germany Boosts Energy Security With New LNG Terminal

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The German port of Wilhelmshaven is launching its second LNG terminal to process imported liquefied natural gas, Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET), the state operator of the facility, said on Thursday.  

Wilhelmshaven 02 will commence commercial operations on August 29, following a successful commissioning phase, DET said, adding that the new LNG terminal has received approvals from the Oldenburg Trade Supervisory Authority (GAA) without any objections.

Wilhelmshaven is the site of the first German LNG terminal, which began operations in December 2022, via the Höegh Esperanza Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU). 

Germany has installed several floating LNG import terminals since 2022—to make Europe’s biggest economy “independent of Russian gas”.

Until the middle of 2022, Germany received most of its gas from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline before Russia axed deliveries in early September 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.

The sabotage on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 occurred at the end of the same month.

After the Russian gas supply stopped, Norway became Germany’s top natural gas supplier, and supplies are coming via pipelines. 

LNG terminals are being used for imports of gas from the United States and other major producers of the super-chilled fuel, and Wilhelmshaven 02 now adds to these. 

“The Wilhelmshaven02 terminal, with the FSRU Excelsior, is now fully operational and can contribute to security of supply and to filling the gas storage facilities before the next heating season,” DET said in a statement. 

This year, FSRU Excelsior is expected to feed up to 1.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the German gas grid—equal to the annual natural gas consumption for heating 1.5 million four-person households in multi-family homes. In the two subsequent years, Excelsior’s regasification and grid feed-in capacity will reach capacity equivalent to the annual heating energy of up to 3.7 million households.   

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 08:10

Where Crime Is Seen As A Major Issue (And Where It Isn't)

A recent Statista Consumer Insights survey, visualized in the chart below by Kathraina Buchholz, shows that worry about crime is on the minds of many residents of Latin American countries as well as those in South Africa, Sweden and Italy.

 

You will find more infographics at Statista

While South Africa and parts of Latin America are known for their high levels of violent crime, Sweden recently experienced a rise in this sector due to gang and organized crime issues which have rocked the previously tranquil nation.

While Italy’s crime rate was rated as moderate by the State Department, its history (and ongoing reality) of organized crime might have swayed some opinions.

Respondents from some of the world's biggest economies rated crime issues closer to the average of the 21 nations surveyed (which stood at 40.5 percent thinking it was a major issue).

In Germany, 41 percent of respondents said that crime issues needed to be tackled urgently, the same as in France.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, this share stood at 39 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum are five countries in Asia and Europe.

China was the only nation among 21 where less than ten percent of respondents saw crime as a major issue.

South Korea and Japan reported shares of 27 percent each, while only 23 percent of Poles and Swiss people said crime was a problem where they lived.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 07:35

Europe On Path To War Economy: Rheinmetall Opens Continent's Largest Ammo Factory

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

In Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Europe’s largest ammunition factory began production yesterday. What started clandestinely is now being publicly scaled with full firepower: the European Union is building its own war economy.

In the good old days in Germany, recessions were typically masked by state-funded infrastructure programs. The concept worked as long as the state did not overgrow, overregulate, or force the private sector into a destructive ideological agenda, as is the case with the green transformation. In other words: the economy was always able to clear away the debris left behind by the state.

Southern Europe Could Never Recover
In Southern Europe, where the state’s role has traditionally been high, monetary policy generous, and handling of public funds notoriously lax, this policy left nothing but infrastructure ruins and industrial wastelands. Local economies were never able to productively absorb the artificial credit distributed by Brussels. The fatal consequences of this pseudo-boom still shape the landscape today.

For economic historians, present-day Europe has long been a fascinating study object. Crisis followed crisis, with the public sector intervening each time with increasing volume. The attempt to install the Green Deal, a Keynesian pseudo-economy, must be understood in this context. That Germany’s defense company Rheinmetall yesterday launched Europe’s largest ammunition plant in Unterlüß fits into this narrative.

The company invested half a billion euros to provide an annual capacity of up to 350,000 rounds by 2027. 500 new jobs are to be created, celebrated by politicians as a turning point and the beginning of a pan-European defense architecture.

Ceremony and Half-Truths
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expressed satisfaction: “It was not easy for us to invest half a billion without orders. I am very grateful to you”—the words were directed at Defense Minister Pistorius—“for keeping your handshake agreements. You are a man of word and deed.” A heavy dose of pathos and self-congratulation is evident here—politics and the defense industry are long intertwined.

Of course, this is only half the truth. Beyond the usual behind-the-scenes deals, politics has made it clear that it is ready to mobilize all means to build a German defense industry and provide sector companies with guarantees and subsidies where necessary. Big business, no risk.

After the collapse of the green economy, politics is now betting everything on the next pseudo-economy. The aim is to loosen dependence on America while exploiting the media spin that stylized Vladimir Putin’s Russia over years as a potential European invader. Whether this fear campaign will work in the long term remains to be seen.

No One Will Fight for Merz or Macron
Given the deep economic depression in which Germany and large parts of the EU are stuck, the general war fatigue, and social fractures in core EU states like Germany and France, it is clear that despite the reinstatement of conscription, most citizens will rigorously reject military engagement.

A glance at EU public finances alone is enough to recognize that a war against Russia is political madness. France, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 115%, is days away from a confidence vote on the new austerity budget. Bond markets are already punishing these bankrupt states. The signs point to savings, not bellicose adventures.

Absurd and Destructive
It is absurd in this situation—where Germany has almost fully spent the so-called Bundeswehr special fund of €100 billion and now switches to borrowing mode—to accelerate this path. Yet Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and London are serious. In fall 2026, Rheinmetall plans to launch its next plant in Weeze, producing fuselage components for the F-35 fighter jet. Cost: €200 million, this time directly publicly funded.

Defense factories will mushroom in the coming months and years, producing far beyond civilian demand. Germany plans to raise its defense budget to up to 5% of GDP, which will worsen the impoverishment of its population as the private sector already shrinks by 4–5%. A disaster unseen in Europe since the end of the war.

A hot conflict with Russia is economically highly unlikely. Yet a new Cold War, a state of continuous armament like before 1990, seems to be Europe’s goal. They are trapped in an absurd economic theory of central planning and command economy. A new power base is forming: a corporatism between the defense industry and the political complex in Brussels.

Germany as Anchor
Germany has clearly been chosen to finance this economic disaster. The country, previously with one of the lowest debt ratios in the EU at 64%, will double its annual defense budget to €162 billion by 2029. By 2027, the special fund will be exhausted, after which loans up to €400 billion will be required.

Germany will become an active player in bond markets, where interest rates are already rising. The European Central Bank will have plenty of work to keep the rapidly growing debt pile liquid. The EU will also participate with new funds, EDIP and ASAP (a term bordering on infantilism in this context), contributing €50–70 billion annually to joint defense projects.

No Lessons Learned
While Germany’s civilian industry collapses, factories close in droves, and the country moves toward mass unemployment—with all consequences for social funds and the domestic climate—we now witness one grand opening after another: pompous inaugurations of defense plants, with champagne popping at our expense.

Europe has learned nothing from the green pseudo-economy disaster. It refuses to analyze how Germany and other industrial centers were deindustrialized. The fatal consequence of building a war economy is that it will siphon scarce resources from productive sectors on a massive scale, making financing and developing civilian enterprises nearly impossible.

Germany is being technologically left behind and bombing its own prosperity—in the literal sense.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/30/2025 - 07:00

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Colombia Tolima Los Brasiles Peaberry Organic coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:

• Citadel’s Ken Griffin on Markets, the Fed, and Building His Firm for the Next Century: His business handles one out of every four stock trades. Our deep dive into the Wall Street firm of the future. (Barron’s)

• The Happiest Place on Earth: I spent a week in Finland eating trees, swimming naked, and ordering room service in pursuit of its famous contentment. I wish I could unlearn the country’s secret. (Slate)

• The Global Car Reckoning Is Here. Far Too Many Auto Companies Don’t Have a Plan: How are the CEOs of Ford, BYD, Lamborghini, Polestar, and more planning to survive the hellscape that is the current automotive world? We asked them. (Wired)

• The Man Who Ate NASA: How NASA Engineered Its Own Decline: The agency once projected America’s loftiest ideals. Then it ceded its ambitions to Elon Musk. (The Atlantic)

• Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker: After EV startup Fisker went under, a leasing company bought $45 million worth of Ocean SUVs to rent them out to NYC ride-hailing drivers. What could go wrong? (CityLab)

• How the Domino’s pizza tracker conquered the business world: Transparency became Domino’s modus operandi. They aired ads in which Doyle and others issued mea culpas for their crummy pizza and released a documentary about revamping their recipe. They shared footage of people visiting the farms that grew Domino’s tomatoes. They used real photos sourced from customers – even of pies mangled during delivery. For the next decade, Domino’s stock rose like dough in an oven.  (The Hustle)

• ‘We are what we drive’: How car dealers became college football’s power brokers. There has always been a mystique around cars in college football. Before NIL, there were whispers, message-board postings and social media photos soft-pedaling accusations of underhanded dealings by boosters. Because of NIL, that’s changing. (ESPN)

• A.I. Is Coming for Culture: We’re used to algorithms guiding our choices. When machines can effortlessly generate the content we consume, though, what’s left for the human imagination? (New Yorker)

• NASA’s Juno Mission Leaves Stunning Legacy of Science at Jupiter: The Juno spacecraft has rewritten the story on Jupiter, the solar system’s undisputed heavyweight. (Scientific American)

• He’s big. He’s slow. And now he’s making stolen base history. What happened? Josh Naylor is one of the biggest, slowest players in Major League Baseball. And out of nowhere, he’s become one of the game’s most prolific base stealers. (New York Times)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corp. Dr. Zandi is a cofounder of Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005. He currently hosts the “Inside Economics” podcast.

 

What is the richest country in the world in 2025?

Source: Economist

 

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~~~

To learn how these reads are assembled each day, please see this.

 

The post 10 Weekend Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.