Pizza Losing Value War As Cash-Strapped "Proteinmaxxing" Consumers Flock To Chicken

Domino's Pizza shares fell 3% in the early US cash session after the quick-service restaurant chain reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth in the US and internationally, despite earnings and revenue that beat Bloomberg Consensus estimates.

US same-store sales rose .3%, below the .72% Bloomberg Consensus estimate. International comparable sales rose only 0.2%, missing expectations of 1.19% growth.

The dismal earnings results lead us to Bloomberg reporter Ann Gehan's note on how budget-conscious consumers and the "proteinmaxxing" trend have shifted consumer tastes from pizza to chicken.

Gehan adds more color:

Pizza chains including Domino's, Papa John's International Inc. and Pizza Hut, now owned by private equity firm LongRange Capital, face an uphill battle as budget-conscious consumers eat out less and, when they do, increasingly favor chicken amid the "proteinmaxxing" trend.

Gehan provided a chart showing pizza QSR chains struggling while chicken-focused QSR chains and Cava report stronger same-store sales growth so far this year.

The divergence suggests chicken- and protein-focused meals are capturing a larger share of spending at select US QSR chains. For budget-conscious consumers, the combination of affordability and the "proteinmaxxing" trend may be shifting meal preferences toward chicken. Then again, take a GLP-1 to curb cravings.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:50

Useless Without Transmission: DOE Backs $581 Million TVA Grid Expansion

On the same day we asked how much of the grid’s bill is really AI’s, the Department of Energy offered a partial answer.

@TVAnews and @ENERGY are supporting readily-available, affordable energy that powers Tennessee and the nation. @POTUS is lowering costs for over 2 million families and businesses while bringing new innovation and employment to the Volunteer State to the tune of 800 jobs.

— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) October 13, 2026

On Tuesday, DOE said it plans to help the Tennessee Valley Authority fund 84 transmission and distribution projects across eight states to add about 2.5 gigawatts of grid capacity. The award totals roughly $581 million, with $250 million in federal money and $331 million from TVA.

“America’s electric grid cannot become a roadblock to economic growth,” said Katie Jereza, who heads DOE’s Office of Electricity.

Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly went further, blaming “years of misguided energy policies under the previous administration” for leaving the bulk power system “less robust than it should be.”

From $250 Million To $10.5 Billion

The announcement for TVA support from the DOE is alongside the ongoing SPARK program under the GRIP program… If the acronyms are starting to blur together, here is the simple version:

• Tuesday’s award is for $250 million, written to TVA and its local power companies.
• SPARK, DOE’s acronym for “Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades,” is the bigger, nationwide program. It puts $1.9 billion of federal money, plus $3.35 billion in cost share, into 31 projects in 26 states that will reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of existing lines and free up over 23 GW of capacity. TVA’s slice is about $80 million to upgrade roughly 125 miles of lines in Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina with advanced conductors, adding about 1,900 MW.
• GRIP, the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program, is the even bigger $10.5 billion pot created by the 2021 infrastructure law, and it pays for both SPARK and the new award announced Tuesday afternoon.

Add TVA’s two awards together and it has nearly $741 million in planned grid investment for more than 4,300 MW of added grid capacity.

The Real Bottleneck

As we just covered, the hyperscalers are fighting over how much of the grid’s bill is theirs, with one telling Senate staff that shared upgrades provide a “system benefit which should be shared among all ratepayers.”

Tuesday’s award is that argument in practice, with taxpayers and utility customers splitting the cost of wires everyone uses, on a national grid where, by the senators’ own count, about a third of transmission and half of distribution infrastructure is “near or beyond its useful life.”

You can build all the combined-cycle gas plants, reactors and geothermal wells you want, and line up every data center and electrified factory in the country to buy their output. If the grid can’t carry the power from one to the other, none of it matters.

"there is currently a 3.7-year wait in the US just to get permission to connect to the power grid. Before a single cable is laid or transformer is purchased, AI data centers are stuck in a massive traffic jam." - Goldman it's ok, hyperscalers can just recycle electricity, same way they do revenue

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 28, 2026

PJM has already blatantly exposed where the real problem is, as they cried desperately about a need for emergency power. When Constellation showed up with the Three Mile Island reactor restart, PJM told the once-connected nuclear plant to wait patiently for a few years while they set up the connection.

TVA is about to learn that lesson, at scale. Its new long-term plan suggests the region will need 11 to 32 GW of additional generation by 2040. TVA already has 4,120 MW of new capacity under construction, floated as much as 26 GW of new gas in its June draft, and was picked last December for a $400 million DOE award to deploy a newly-licensed GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor at Clinch River.

Every one of those megawatts still needs a way to actually get transported from supply to demand. No amount of new generation fixes a lack of transmission.

Goldman: Power Is “The Primary Risk”

Goldman has been making the same point all year, and it has singled out Tennessee. In May, the commodities team flagged Tennessee as one of the markets “likely to see constrained data center additions since the market is already critically tight.”

In February, the same team told clients that local opposition to data centers was not the real threat: “Ultimately, we believe power tightness remains the primary risk that could slow the US in the AI race with China.” And Goldman now sees behind-the-meter generation powering a quarter of all data centers by 2030. 

In other words, a quarter of the industry may simply stop waiting for the grid.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:35

Dowd: "Investment Bubbles Are A Feature Of Capitalism, Not A Bug"

Authored by Ed Dowd via Ed Dowd's Beyond The Narrative Substack,

On Friday October 9th Bloomberg published an article titled "Jeffries' Chris Wood Sees 'Massive Capital Destruction' in AI." His view is that the most likely long-term outcome of the AI boom is massive capital destruction in the US, with market share shifting to cheaper open-source Chinese models. Wood has mostly got it right in my opinion except for two differences. My first difference is that Chinese models are not the only open-source models available and that western open-source models are closing the gap. Secondly, while his view correctly flags the overbuild and the competitive pressure from lower-cost alternatives what it leaves out is the long history of innovative technology infrastructure bubbles and the reliable pattern that follows them which is:

excitement/mania → overinvestment → financial collapse → distressed assets → recapitalized cheap infrastructure fuels the next economic wave.

In regard to the AI bubble, I believe we are currently in the overinvestment phase with cracks emerging. Let us look at some historical examples to illustrate the pattern and see if we can glean what the future of this current bubble might look like.

The US Railroad Bubble

In the decades after the Civil War, railroads became the transformative technology of the era. Capital, much of it European, flooded in. Between the late 1860s and early 1870s, tens of thousands of miles of track were laid, often into sparsely settled or unprofitable territory. Speculative financing, land grants, and the expectation of endless growth created a classic mania. Early projects showed strong returns, which attracted more money into later, riskier lines built far ahead of demand. When financing dried up, highlighted by the failure of Jay Cooke's bank in marketing Northern Pacific bonds, the Panic of 1873 followed. More than 100 railroads went bankrupt in the ensuing years, banks failed, and investors were wiped out. The depression lasted years. Yet the physical tracks remained. The surviving and reorganized network became the backbone of American industrial expansion, enabling efficient movement of goods, people, and capital that powered decades of growth. The overbuilt infrastructure, once distressed and recapitalized, proved far more valuable to the broader economy than the paper losses suggested.

The 1920s Utility Bubble

The 1920s electrification boom followed a similar script. Central-station utilities expanded rapidly, and holding companies consolidated regional systems into large, leveraged empires. Electricity generation and revenues grew dramatically as the technology moved from novelty to infrastructure. Utility stocks soared and became a major part of the market. Holding companies facilitated access to capital and technical expertise, but the structures were opaque, and capacity was built aggressively. The 1929 crash and subsequent Depression exposed the leverage and accounting. Samuel Insull's empire collapsed in spectacular fashion, and the Dow Jones Utilities Average plunged. Reforms including the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 broke up the largest structures and shifted the industry toward regulated regional monopolies. What remained was a vastly expanded electrical grid and generation capacity. Widespread electrification transformed industry, homes, and productivity for the rest of the century. The bust was painful for equity and debt holders; the long-term economic payoff from cheap, abundant power was enormous.

The Dotcom Bubble

The most recent and directly analogous example is the late 1990s telecom fiber buildout during the Dotcom era. Carriers and infrastructure firms poured hundreds of billions into fiber-optic networks, switches, and related equipment, largely financed with debt and encouraged by forecasts of internet traffic doubling every few months. Capacity vastly exceeded near-term demand. After the bubble burst, market values collapsed, many telecoms went bankrupt, and bandwidth prices fell sharply. A large portion of the newly laid fiber sat "dark" or unlit. Through bankruptcies and recapitalizations, that physical infrastructure was acquired at deep discounts, often pennies on the dollar. The resulting cheap broadband made business models viable that would have been prohibitively expensive otherwise. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Apple's smartphone ecosystem, Netflix, software-as-a-service, and cloud services all scaled on that excess capacity. Without the overbuilding and subsequent distress, Web 2.0 as we know it does not happen at the same speed or cost. The capital destruction was real but the residual infrastructure seeded the next wave of growth.

AI Bubble (Yes it is a bubble!)

I believe we are now in the AI infrastructure equivalent of the overinvestment phase. Massive capital is flowing into data centers, chips, power, and related equipment. The sheer scale of spending is turning advanced AI models into a commodity faster than many equity and debt investors appear to appreciate. Chinese open-source models are already applying downward pricing pressure, consistent with the Jefferies view. Cracks are visible. In my Substack piece "Wall Street's AI Capex Party...It's 2 AM & The Bar Is About to Close!", the signals included stalled private credit funding for the buildout, cracking enterprise demand as promised productivity gains fail to materialize at scale, looming power constraints that are becoming the binding limit rather than chip supply, and open-source pricing pressure that compresses margins.

Additional recent indicators from public commentary reinforce this: circular deals in which AI companies run negative free cash flow and rely on debt investors to keep purchasing chips at elevated prices; recent analyses showing major players cannot cover contracted compute commitments under realistic revenue assumptions; and narrative shifts such as space based data centers that paper over terrestrial grid and power bottlenecks. Growth rates implied by current valuations look vulnerable once the second derivative of funding and utilization slows. It is not a question of not if the bubble bursts but when it bursts.

Credit Markets Always End Infrastructure Buildouts

Debt and credit have been central to every one of these infrastructure buildouts. In the railroad boom, bonds financed the majority of the expansion, often more than three-quarters of the capital. When those markets stopped absorbing new bond issues (e.g. Jay Cooke & Co. could no longer place Northern Pacific bonds) the credit system seized up. Then bank runs followed, the New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days, and within two years roughly a third of outstanding railroad bonds had stopped paying interest. The equity markets lagged in this period...credit markets ended the railroad party abruptly.

The 1920s utility expansion followed the same pattern on a different scale. Samuel Insull's holding company pyramid relied on layers of debt and bank loans secured by the securities of the operating companies themselves (financial engineering). Once revenues softened and the banks refused to roll the notes in 1932, the structure collapsed into receivership. In this period the equity markets led the credit markets first with the 1929 crash then credit followed later.

In the telecom fiber boom, carriers raised hundreds of billions in bonds and used vendor financing and circular deals to keep the buildout going. Credit markets ultimately marked the end of the buildout but equities peaked in March of 2000 before credit. Credit spreads later widened sharply in 2001 and 2002, defaults clustered in the sector for years, and bondholders recovered roughly twenty cents on the dollar in many cases. When lenders stopped funding incremental capacity, the overinvestment phase ended and the financial collapse began.

The same dynamic is now visible in the AI buildout, where private credit has stalled, circular debt structures are proliferating, off balance sheet financing is growing and early signs of stress are appearing in CCC junk credit markets. Whether equity markets lead or lag this cycle remains to be seen but the case could be made that given the tremendous amount of passive equity investing the discounting mechanism of equity could lag and credit leads this time.

Bottom Line

Innovative technology capex cycles repeat themselves because human nature has not changed. Mania and excitement give way to overinvestment, which produces financial collapse and distressed assets. Those assets then become the cheap foundation for the next economic wave. Those who believe in cycles and a constant human nature may want to protect themselves accordingly and reduce exposure in the AI complex where risk-reward no longer makes sense. Then when the bust does arrive watch for the opportunities that emerge from the ashes where durable longer-term value will be created.

Bubbles are a feature of capitalism, not a bug. They destroy capital in the short run and, through the process of overbuilding and recapitalization, often leave behind the physical and technical foundation for longer-term productivity gains. The pattern is consistent throughout history...though the timing and severity may vary. The long-term outcome for the economy is usually more favorable than the peak-to-trough equity charts imply and a net positive over time.

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:20

ZeroHedge Debate: Sankey Predicts 2028 Oil Futures Will Feel The Pain Soon

The damage inflicted on global energy infrastructure during the Iran war could have consequences lasting well beyond the conflict itself, according to veteran energy analysts Paul Sankey and Arjun Murti, who joined Erik Townsend for last night’s ZeroHedge Debate.

An oil tanker unloads crude oil at a crude oil terminal in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China July 4, 2018. Picture taken July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/ File Photo

Sankey predicted that 2028 crude futures will see large moves upward as markets adapt to the reality that refinery capacity will not recover anytime soon.

Townsend fears that not only will 2028 prices rise… but that the globe may face a decades-long shortage of refined oil products, a risk he thinks people are not taking seriously. Murti meanwhile, in light of these realities, thinks “cash is king” for those weary of volatility.

Below were some highlights from the discussion though we highly recommend the full conversation for those who missed it live:

Could Refinery Damage Take A Decade To Repair?

"If you kept blowing refineries up around the world, you'd get to the point where we just don't have enough refining capacity to run the planet, period."

So what if the conflict drags on for years? Townsend asked:

"How far does this have to go before we get to the point where we look back on $60 crack spreads and say those are the good old days before we got to $200 crack spreads?” Crack spread being the difference in the price of crude and the consumable refined products.

"If the Iran conflict goes to five years and it's punctuated by blowing up a lot of refineries, both in the Middle East and in Russia, how long do we go before the world has a problem that cannot be recovered for a full decade 'cause that's how long it takes to build new refineries?"

Sankey said that we might already be there… "The short answer is it's going to take an awful long time to recover from this, I'm afraid to say."

"Back in Q1 results, Valero said that I think the line was [...] for every day out, we need a week to recover.” 

https://t.co/Ni1hBUkTXv

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) October 14, 2026

Playing Oil's Volatility: 'Cash Is King'

Murti argued companies and investors should resist becoming too greedy.

"Our call has been geopolitical super volatility is here to stay. And that means generally high but volatile prices. You gotta be prepared for the pullbacks that will happen."

With oil around $100 per barrel and refining margins elevated, Murti expects companies to face pressure from investors demanding larger payouts.

"There's a real strategic value to companies having cash on their balance sheet. We have generally stressed fortress balance sheets as a mindset in a deeply cyclical, volatile business."

Murti pointed to the industry's recurring downturns: 2015, the COVID collapse in 2020, and oil's retreat from $120 in 2022 toward $50 in 2025.

"Every five years we're having some notion of a pullback. We can't predict the next one will be 2027 or 2030, but there's a real strategic value to these publicly traded companies, especially in the oil value chain, to actually hoard some cash… Cash is king."

https://t.co/W3DB0pgRfN

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) October 14, 2026

Check out the full discussion below, on the ZeroHedge Youtube channel, or listen on Spotify.

Can The Gulf Be Repaired? Paul Sankey, Arjun Murti, and Erik Townsend https://t.co/RRIMna9Z1A

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 13, 2026

* * *

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 15:05

CVS To Pay $315 Million Over Claims It Filled Unlawful Opioid Prescriptions

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

CVS Pharmacy Inc. and related entities agreed Tuesday to pay $315 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that the company illegally filled opioid and other controlled-substance prescriptions and billed many of them to Medicare and other federal health programs.

The sum settles claims that the company illegally filled such prescriptions from Oct. 17, 2013, through Dec. 2, 2025.

The government alleged CVS knowingly filled prescriptions that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not valid, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.

Those included dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids, early refills, and "trinity" combinations of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant.

CVS also allegedly filled prescriptions from "pill mill" prescribers while ignoring red flags. Many of these claims were later reimbursed by federal programs.

"Not only does this settlement hold bad actors accountable for their fraudulent activities, but Americans are safer because of it," Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement. "Today's settlement is a significant milestone in the Justice Department's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic by cracking down on pharmacies who unlawfully fulfill prescriptions for controlled substances."

According to the complaint, corporate policies kept pharmacists from warning one another about problem prescribers.

Beyond the payment, CVS entered a memorandum of agreement with the DEA.

It requires a hotline for employees and the public to report suspected illegal dispensing, proactive monitoring of pharmacy patterns, and a process to evaluate prescribers suspected of illegal practices.

The settlement agreement says: "The claims asserted against CVS ... are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability."

The settlement also resolves a False Claims Act whistleblower suit filed in 2019 by former CVS employee Hillary Estright of Tennessee. The amount awarded in that case hasn't yet been determined.

CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The DOJ unsealed the complaint against CVS in December 2024.

In April 2025, the DOJ announced that Walgreens agreed to pay up to $350 million to settle allegations that it knowingly filled millions of unlawful opioid and other controlled-substance prescriptions and submitted false claims to federal health programs.

The settlement resolved claims that Walgreens violated both the Controlled Substances Act and the False Claims Act from 2012 through 2023.

Individual states have also taken legal action against CVS.

In May 2023, Nevada reached a settlement with CVS Pharmacy worth nearly $152 million over the company's role in the opioid epidemic.

In March 2022, Florida reached more than $878 million in settlements with CVS Health Corp. and three drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the state. CVS was responsible for $484 million of that total.

CVS Health Corp. is the parent company of CVS Pharmacy.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:50

Former Gang Leader Sentenced To 40 Years To Life In Tupac Shakur Murder

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,

A former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for his part in the 1996 death of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faced the potential of life without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed the hip-hop star.

A five-time convicted felon at the time of Shakur's death, Davis was arrested in 2023 for Shakur's murder and has said on multiple occasions he will appeal his conviction.

Before the sentence was handed down on Oct. 13, prosecutors argued against the minimum sentence, telling Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in Nevada that Shakur's murder was a "uniquely painful situation."

Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by record executive Marion "Suge" Knight.

The murder was left unsolved for decades, and despite Davis's conviction, there are still questions about who might have actually pulled the trigger on the shot that killed the 25-year-old rapper.

Authorities long stated they believed Davis was involved in Shakur's killing, but for decades hadn't had enough evidence to take to trial in the previously cold case.

However, Davis went public with his story, including a memoir, recorded conversations, and media appearances, much of which was used against him at trial.

Davis's conviction was for masterminding the attack, which was said to have been in retaliation for Shakur allegedly beating Davis's nephew inside the MGM Grand casino hours earlier on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996.

Shakur, who lived in Los Angeles, was associated with an area street gang, the Mob Piru, which was also connected to Shakur's music label, Death Row Records.

Davis and his nephew were affiliated with another Los Angeles gang, the South Side Compton Crips, which was known to be a rival gang.

Both groups were in Las Vegas to see a heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon on the night of the altercation between Davis's nephew and Shakur.

After the brawl between the men and other individuals known to be part of both gangs, Davis, his nephew, and two others took a vehicle to look for Shakur and Knight to settle the score, according to court records.

Davis has maintained that one of the others in the vehicle shot into the car carrying Knight and Shakur while in traffic.

Shakur's half-sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, spoke about the impact of her brother's death, saying he was "born an icon." She recalled her brother's care toward her and her siblings, calling him the "father figure" in their home.

Sekyiwa Shakur said her brother was paying the bills and buying food for 17 different families at the time of his death. She said her brother's death "for a long time, crippled" many of those in her family, especially those in the car procession who saw the shooting.

In her tearful description of her brother, she said he put his life on the line, fed those who were hungry, and was "gentle and kind to women and children."

She went on, saying, "I do believe that when you take a life like that, you deserve every minute ... of the maximum amount of punishment, time to sit down and contemplate what you've done to this world."

While authorities never accused Davis of actually pulling the trigger, Nevada law allows participants in a crime to be charged with murder.

The jury deliberated for three hours before handing down the guilty verdict.

The actual shooter was never identified by law enforcement, and all three other men in the vehicle with Davis on the night of Shakur's death have since died.

The rapper was struck by four bullets and died in the hospital six days later. Knight suffered only minor injuries and is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Davis acknowledged in his book, "Compton Street Legend," that he was a suspect in the murders of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace.

Wallace, who was known as the Notorious B.I.G., with New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, was killed in Los Angeles in a March 1997 shooting long suspected to be in retaliation for Shakur's killing.

Wallace's murder is still unsolved.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:20

Trump Touts Taiwan-Alaska LNG Deal Offering Decades Of Conflict-Free Supply Beyond Hormuz

The Gulf area conflict is rewiring global energy supply chains, with Taiwan turning to Alaska for long-term, conflict-free liquefied natural gas supplies. 

President Trump touted the latest development on Truth Social, saying Taiwan had agreed to purchase 30% of a planned Alaska LNG project's output for two decades and invest an additional $4.4 billion. Taipei, however, said binding terms remain under negotiation.

"I was just in Alaska launching the largest Energy Infrastructure Project in Alaska History: The Alaska LNG Project. This 50 Billion Dollar Infrastructure Investment from The Republic of Korea is part of their Trade and Investment Deal with me," Trump wrote on Truth Social around lunchtime in New York.

The president continued, "I am also announcing today that my Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, has secured an Offtake Commitment from Taiwan of between 70 to 80 Billion Dollars for Alaska LNG. That is 30% of the Pipeline for the next 20 years."

"On top of that, Taiwan has also agreed to invest 4.4 Billion Dollars in Equity into the Project, because this is now a U.S. Federal Government Project, with all necessary permits secured, and all necessary authorizations delivered, and ready to go," he added.

Bloomberg reported that Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to buy 6 million tons of LNG annually and participate in the Alaska LNG project.

State-owned CPC Corp. previously signed a nonbinding letter of intent to consider investing. Deliveries could begin as early as 2032 if development proceeds on schedule, the ministry said.

Earlier this month, Trump announced a $54 billion South Korean investment in the project, but Seoul subsequently said participation would depend on commercial viability.

Alaska LNG is a proposed development that would transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the state's southern coast, supplying Alaskan customers and exporting LNG to Asia.

For both countries, LNG shipped from Alaska would cross the Pacific without passing through the disrupted Strait of Hormuz, helping them diversify supplies away from that maritime chokepoint. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 14:05

Hillary Clinton Launches Political Podcast Ahead Of Midterm Elections

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is returning to the political spotlight with a new podcast alongside former CNN host Kara Swisher, just weeks before the November midterm elections.

Clinton, the Democrats' unsuccessful 2016 presidential nominee, announced Tuesday that she will co-host "High Stakes," a political podcast produced by Vox Media that will focus on issues leading up to the Nov. 3 elections.

The program will be distributed through the existing feed of Swisher's "On" podcast and is expected to run through Election Day.

"On Nov. 3, every seat in the House is on the ballot, along with 35 Senate seats and 36 governors," Clinton said in an announcement video. "What you pay for groceries, rent and healthcare is on the line. So I'm teaming up with Kara Swisher to dig into the issues that matter most before the country heads to the polls."

The partnership developed after Clinton and Swisher met at the Washington home of David Bradley, the former owner of The Atlantic, in the affluent Kalorama neighborhood.

The two tested the idea in August when Clinton temporarily replaced Scott Galloway, Swisher's regular co-host on the "Pivot" podcast.

Swisher told The New York Times that she hopes the program will reveal a different side of the longtime Democratic political figure.

"There's a thing about the secretary, where it's like, 'Oh, if you knew her in the room, she's so funny,'" Swisher said. "We're going to try to show you that room."

Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff expressed confidence in the venture despite the challenges of attracting audiences to political podcasts.

Clinton's latest media project comes as Democrats prepare for a closely watched midterm election that will determine control of Congress and numerous governorships.

The former first lady also said Democratic candidates have approached her about campaigning and providing political assistance.

Clinton suggested the podcast could continue beyond Election Day if it attracts sufficient interest.

Addressing disagreements within her party, Clinton defended internal debate among Democrats.

"One of the things people try to do is split the Democratic Party, and that's fine," Clinton said. "It's fine to have differences, and it's fine to argue. Nobody's afraid of the argument."

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 13:50

Can Lasers Beat Drone Swarms? The Pentagon Is About To Find Out

Authored by Alex Kimani via OilPrice,

The enormous expansion of drone warfare is forcing militaries to reconsider how much ammunition they can afford to fire at relatively cheap targets. The Pentagon is betting that some of that ammunition can be replaced with electricity, selecting four directed-energy systems for operational testing at five U.S. military bases.

The Pentagon selected AeroVironment's (NASDAQ: AVAV) Palletized High-Energy Laser, Boeing's (NYSE: BA) Compact Laser Weapon System, Kord Technologies' Firefly high-energy laser and Epirus' Leonidas high-powered microwave. The three lasers concentrate energy on individual targets, while Leonidas uses microwave energy to disable electronics and can engage multiple drones.

Fort Bliss in Texas, Naval Base Kitsap in Washington, Fort Huachuca in Arizona, Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri will host the weapons. Congress mandated the five-base pilot earlier this year, with deployments scheduled to begin later in 2026.

The four weapons will operate at the five bases for a full year, giving the Pentagon its first sustained look at how directed-energy systems hold up outside short military demonstrations. More systems will get their chance in December, when Joint Interagency Task Force 401 stages a directed-energy "shoot-off" at Utah's Dugway Proving Ground, with the Pentagon prepared to buy weapons that perform well.

"High-energy lasers and high-powered microwave systems are tools that can be effectively used in a layered drone defense," Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of JIATF-401, said in announcing the selections. "This pilot program will test these capabilities in an operational environment so we can understand how best to integrate and sustain them to defend the homeland."

The Pentagon is already committing billions of dollars to counter-drone defenses, with JIATF-401 awarding 10 contracts worth up to $4.15 billion in September under a wider procurement vehicle with a ceiling of $7 billion.

The cost difference can run into millions of dollars per engagement. According to the Government Accountability Office, firing a directed-energy weapon costs approximately $1 to $10 in fuel for electricity generation and cooling, compared with $4.1 million for a Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor in fiscal 2023. The Patriot can engage more sophisticated threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles, but using conventional interceptors against inexpensive drones creates an enormous cost disadvantage. Lasers and microwave weapons eliminate the need to replace ammunition after every engagement, although their effectiveness depends on available power, cooling, range and operating conditions.

Boeing has already put its Compact Laser Weapon System against Group 3 drones, destroying three during the Red Sands exercise in Saudi Arabia in 2024. The system used just 5 kilowatts of power and was plugged into the Army's existing Forward Area Air Defense network, taking its targeting data from an external radar. Five kilowatts means keeping the beam on a drone longer than with more powerful lasers, but Boeing gets something in return: a smaller weapon that can be moved and deployed much more easily.

Epirus' Leonidas uses high-powered microwave pulses to disable the electronics inside multiple drones at once, giving it a potential role against swarms. The company has also demonstrated Leonidas against fiber-optic-guided FPV drones, which maintain a physical connection to their operators instead of depending on the radio links targeted by conventional electronic jamming.

Ukraine is already putting the same economics to work against Russian drones, turning electricity into a 50-cent alternative to conventional air-defense ammunition. Ukrainian developers have built and tested Sunray and Tryzub, with a Sunray node costing roughly $300,000 to manufacture. Ukraine wants hundreds of the smaller laser systems mounted on vehicles and rooftops rather than a limited number of large installations. At 50 cents per shot, thousands of laser engagements would still cost less in ammunition than a single conventional air-defense missile.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 13:20

Royal Found Passed Out After Cocaine Binge As Toddler Wanders Toward Traffic

A member of one of the world's wealthiest royal families was found passed out on a busy London street after a cocaine binge while a barefoot toddler wandered dangerously close to traffic, a British court has heard.

Mahrah Al Nahyan at Southwark Crown Court, where she admitted a count of child neglect (The Times)

Mahrah Al Nahyan, 32, a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family through marriage, was discovered slumped against railings alongside an unconscious man as a three-year-old child played unattended nearby. The shocking incident unfolded June 13 in west London, where concerned members of the public rushed to protect the child before alerting police, according to The Times.

Al Nahyan was found passed out on the street by concerned members of the public in June 

Al Nahyan reportedly remained unconscious for approximately 30 minutes before awakening and launching into a bizarre tirade against those who had intervened.

"This is not a slaughterhouse, why do you care so much? Why are you so worried?" she allegedly shouted, the Daily Mail reports.

Footage captured by a bystander showed the royal lying on the pavement near children's toys, including a scooter and toy airplane, while another unconscious individual lay nearby.

Une membre de la famille royale d'Abu Dhabi a été retrouvée effondrée dans la rue après une overdose alors qu'elle s'occupait d'un enfant de trois ans, a-t-on appris devant le tribunal. Mahrah Al Nahyan, 32 ans, a été retrouvée affalée sur une rambarde près d'un homme inconscient après avoir pris de la cocaïne, tandis qu'un tout-petit pieds nus jouait au bord d'une route très fréquentée.

— Claire Langoulant ⚜️♛ (@Cuisines1974) October 14, 2026

Prosecutors told Southwark Crown Court that the toddler had wandered dangerously close to moving vehicles and was stopped by a passerby after running toward the road. Police discovered drug paraphernalia among Al Nahyan's belongings, although no illegal substances were recovered. Al Nahyan pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Al Nahyan's attorney, Stephen Vullo KC, has insisted that she had not consumed drugs on the day of the incident but was exhausted following cocaine use in the preceding days.

"The immediate future is she intends to complete all of the steps of a three-month programme which will come to an end at the end of this month," the lawyer said. "Her plan after that is to rent a property in the Guildford area and become a day patient there, where she will attend Narcotics Anonymous."

"She made a grave mistake that day and she knows it," he added.

The court heard that Al Nahyan, who receives a monthly allowance of approximately $10,700, has been undergoing addiction treatment at the Priory rehabilitation center in Surrey since July.

The judge condemned her reckless disregard for the child's safety, warning that the toddler could have been seriously injured or killed without the intervention of strangers.

"By leaving [the child] to play barefoot in the street while under the influence of drugs, you showed a recklessness and disregard for [the child's] safety," the judge said. "On one occasion they ran towards the road while chasing a piece of paper until a member of the public contained [the child]."

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 13:05

Judge Extends Order Allowing News Agencies White House Access

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge has extended his order forbidding President Donald Trump from excluding certain media outlets from accessing the White House.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a memorandum opinion on Oct. 13 granting a preliminary injunction sought by CNN, MS NOW, and Politico to maintain the block on the president's press ban, finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their First Amendment discrimination claim.

Trump announced on social media last month that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico "as a result of their constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!"

After the outlets sued, Kelly ordered the White House to temporarily restore access on Sept. 24, ruling that the government likely violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights by abruptly taking away their press passes without notice or a hearing.

Attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. told the court at an Oct. 8 hearing that Trump wanted to ban the outlets because of their viewpoints.

"He doesn't like scrutiny of his policies, he doesn't like the reporting, he wants more good press," he said.

Department of Justice Senior Counsel Michael Velchik pushed back, telling the court that Trump was more concerned with media outlets allegedly fabricating quotes, splicing together interviews, and using anonymous sources.

"He doesn't mind negative press stories if he deserves them. He has problems with trafficking verifiable falsehoods," he said.

The government argued it was necessary to exclude those outlets in the name of national security and to prevent leaks of classified information.

But Kelly said, when originally ordering the White House to restore access, that there was no evidence on the record to back up that claim.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Kelly said Trump likely revoked their access to the White House press area "because he believes their coverage of him and his administration is generally inaccurate and biased," rather than for legitimate government interests such as maintaining professional standards for journalists or protecting national security.

"Simply put, that is unlawful viewpoint discrimination," the judge wrote.

Kelly also said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim that the administration denied them due process rights under the Fifth Amendment by revoking their access without prior notice.

The judge determined that the administration's letters outlining the reasons for the hard passes revocation were inadequate because the outlets received the letters only after the ban was implemented.

The letters cited reports that the administration said "threatened national security and spread falsehoods," including coverage of "'top-secret' construction details" about the East Wing bunker and funding for the White House ballroom.

The White House said the reports included detailed descriptions of how the Secret Service would invest in security improvements, according to the government's Sept. 22 court filing.

The judge said there was no evidence that Trump had relied on the reported incidents cited in the letters when deciding to revoke the outlets' hard passes.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Trump signaled on Sept. 21 that he expected the judge to rule in favor of the outlets and said his administration would appeal if that happened.

"In any event, I have an obligation to fight for the Success and Safety of our Country. FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives," he wrote in a Truth Social post.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 12:35

Ukraine Attacks Two More Refineries After Trump's Proclaimed 'Energy Ceasefire': Kremlin

The Kremlin on Wednesday indicated that work on the Trump-proposed energy truce with Ukraine is continuing, but in contradiction with recent Trump proclamations did not treat it as any kind of done deal currently in effect.

President Trump in a late in the day Monday exchange with reporters said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin must come together to end the war. He told the press at the White House that there had been violations of his proposed "energy ceasefire" by both Ukraine and Russia. Trump had previously stated that the warring sides agreed to an energy ceasefire, which Zelensky has balked at, saying specifics of when such a ceasefire is supposed begin must be shared with him.

That's when Trump claimed: "Well, they agreed. You know why? Because I said: 'you agree.' That's why. They agreed because I said they agreed."

More evidence has emerged Wednesday that this supposed 'agreement' is still being violated almost on a daily basis. The Kremlin has announced two more oil refineries have just been attacked by Ukrainian drones:

Russia Deputy PM Novak says Ukraine attacked two refineries in Russia today; Ukraine are not showing any signs of moving towards an "energy truce".

TASS has identified these as the Saratov and Ryazan refineries. These refineries have been targeted previously in the war, with Saratov in particular having suffered a full shutdown from damage in September 2025, during which time it was repaired. State media has been circulating the fresh reports:

Ukrainian drones attack two oil refineries in Russia's Saratov and Ryazan regions today — Deputy PM Alexander Novak The Ukrainian side is not showing any movement toward an energy ceasefire, the official added https://t.co/L0dTRPqAox

— RT (@RT_com) October 14, 2026

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has meanwhile issued a fresh press briefing wherein he said the government is committed to resolving the Ukraine conflict but that "The risk of sabotage by European countries does exist." Ironically Europe is currently accusing Moscow of doing just this.

"The US, specifically its negotiators and President Trump, is making efforts to help steer the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis toward peace," Peskov stated.

But then he lashed out at the EU and NATO, saying: "Europeans are taking a different approach: they are doing everything they can to ensure that this war continues."

"There’s a lot of media hype around all of this right now, and much of it doesn’t correspond to reality; it’s pure fiction." He was further quoted as saying:

Work on the possibility of an "energy ceasefire" is continuing.

But he also conceded: "There are no agreed-upon meetings on the agenda." Peskov hinted at the usual backchannels, however: "This work is ongoing discreetly and it will continue discreetly," he added.

As for Ukraine's Zelensky, his first reaction to Trump earlier declaring an 'energy ceasefire' was to say it was "news to me" - strongly suggesting no such thing is in place. Both sides have continued to send wave after wave of devastating drone waves against the other, including against energy infrastructure.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 12:05

"Flashing Red": Rate-Hike Odds, Bond Yields Explode Higher After Hotter-Than-Expected CPI

Tl;dr: "This inflation report is flashing red for the Fed," according to Olu Sonola, Head of US Economics at Fitch Ratings.

"Energy pushed the headline number higher, as expected, but the real problem is that core inflation remains stuck above 3%. Higher energy costs are beginning to seep into broader services prices, increasing the risk that this inflation burst will persist. A rate hike at the end of the month is now firmly on the table, but December remains the more likely move."

We don’t know if these numbers will ultimately prove to be a game changer for the Fed, but they sure don’t fit the message we’ve heard recently from some policymakers saying they have time to assess how the data plays out. 

There does not appear to be any quirky one-off 'excusable' data-points (like last month's phone bill and information processing surge) for the doves to 'look through' which explains why October is now well and truly back on the table and December is a definite.

*  *  *

Expectations were for a hot headline and cool core heading into this morning's most-watched macro signal from CPI with the October FOMC decision on the line. FedSpeak has clearly pushed the market to back away from a hawkish view, today's data may force a change.

Headline CPI did indeed come hot in September - but as expected - at +0.6% MoM, which pulls it up 3.7% YoY (hotter than the 3.6% YoY exp)...

• The index for gasoline rose 9.1% in September, accounting for over half of the monthly all items increase. The energy index increased 5.2% over the month following a 2.1% increase in August. Electricity CPI rose 0.2% over the month. In contrast, the natural gas index decreased 0.3% in September.

• The shelter index rose 0.4% in September after rising 0.3% in August.

• The index for food was unchanged in September, as the index for food away from home increased 0.2% and the index for food at home fell 0.1%. It increased 2.5% over the last year.

  • Three of the six major grocery store food group indexes decreased in September, while the other three indexes increased. The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index decreased 0.5% over the month, as the beef index fell 1.0%. The index for other food at home decreased 0.2 percent in September. The dairy and related products index decreased 0.9% over the month, as the milk index declined 2.0%.

• The energy index increased 20.4% YoY due in large part to the index for gasoline rising 34.2% over the same period. The natural gas index increased 5.0% YoY and the electricity index rose 4.4% YoY.

Core CPI also printed hotter than expected, up 0.3% MoM (+0.2% MoM exp). That has pulled Core CPI up 2.6% YoY (above the expected 2.5%)...

Indexes that increased over the month include recreation, used cars and trucks, education, airline fares, medical care, and apparel. Conversely, the index for communication was among the small number of major indexes that decreased in September.

• Shelter CPI increased 0.4% MoM, after rising 0.3% in August.
  • Index for owners’ equivalent rent rose 0.3% in September, and the index for rent increased 0.2%.
  • Lodging away from home index rose 2.0% in September after rising 2.4% the previous month.

• Index for recreation increased 0.5% over the month after being unchanged in August.
• Used cars and trucks index rose 0.7% in September, and the education index increased 0.6%.
• New vehicles index, the personal care index, and the motor vehicle insurance index also increased over the month.
• Index for airline fares increased 1.2% in September, and the index for apparel rose 0.3%.
• The medical care index increased 0.1% in September after falling 0.2% in August. The index for hospital services rose 0.7% over the month.
• Prescription drugs index declined 1.2% in September.
• Index for physicians’ services was unchanged over the month.
• Communication CPI declined 0.2% in September after rising 2.3% in August.
• Index for household furnishings and operations was unchanged over the month.

Services was the big driver of Core's jump (with Shelter dominating)...

Both Goods and Services price gains accelerated in September...

But it was Energy that was the biggest driver of the jump...

With Fuel Oil (Diesel) prices exploding higher...

And that is only going to get worse!

The much-watched 'SuperCore' CPI also ticked up to +2.96% YoY...

With prices rising broadly...

Short-term annualized CPI remains energy-driven...

Worse still, this is why consumer sentiment is so low. Real wages continue to fall (for the sixth straight month) with a large drop last month...

Finally, expectations were for some modest volatility today relative to the last few CPI days...

...but the dismally low volume/liquidity of the last couple of days may exaggerate any move.

Rate-hike odds have soared to 50% for October...

The market is now pricing in at least 2 more hikes in 2027 (on top of 1.5 hikes in 2026)...

...and 2Y yields are spiking...

Christopher Hodge at Natixis confirms that these numbers put October in play:

“We had said that anything near consensus would not likely shift the narrative for the Fed for October, but this is far enough from consensus to make it a debate. We still think the Fed does not ultimately go – the arguments laid out by Williams and Jefferson suggests that there is no rush to tighten again right now, but today at least gives the hawks more ammo at the meeting.”

The bottom line is that this print signals reasonably broad-based price pressures too (not just energy). Prices for recreation, used cars and trucks, education, airline fares, medical care, and apparel all increased. Some of that may be tariffs and the energy story, but some of it also suggest sticky inflation.

And that is what Warsh and his pals fear most... you can't "look through" that!

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 11:43

Cornell Bans Fraternity Parties Amid Gang Rape Allegations

Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times,

Cornell University has banned parties at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year amid a reopened investigation into an alleged rape on campus two years ago.

In an Oct. 13 statement, the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff, said "all parties and social events in Interfraternity Council (IFC) houses at Cornell will be suspended for the remainder of the 2026 - 2027 academic year." This, he said, gives "time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue."

Fraternities that hold in-house parties or events would be subject to an immediate emergency suspension.

Cornell has more than 20 active fraternities affiliated with its IFC. The Epoch Times has reached out to the IFC for comment.

It is unclear whether the new policy applies to off-campus gatherings and events.

Kotlikoff's statement comes less than two weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an investigation into an alleged gang rape of a woman by Cornell students in October 2024.

That woman, a Cornell student only known as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit on Sept. 16 against the university, the Chi Phi fraternity, and others, alleging sexual assault and negligence. Cornell said that an internal probe led to some students being expelled, other students being suspended, and Chi Phi being kicked off campus. No students were criminally charged.

The woman was "plied with alcohol and drugs to the point of intoxication" at a fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, in October 2024, according to the lawsuit. She was "incapable of consenting" when coerced into taking drugs and forced to participate in sexual acts, the lawsuit stated. She reported the incident to campus police in November 2024.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the investigation into the alleged rape after the suit was filed. The woman went to campus police but did not claim she was gang raped or drugged, he said in a statement on Sept. 28. Instead, she "described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual."

"Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence," Van Houten said at the time. "I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members. I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys."

Cornell welcomed the renewed investigation into what allegedly happened. Kotlikoff said the Ivy League school would carry out reforms in response.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor to probe what occurred, removing Van Houten from the case.

The woman went to police and alleged she was raped, according to the governor during an Oct. 2 briefing.

"Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors," Hochul said.

Van Houten supported the move and said he would cooperate with James.

"I support the appointment of Attorney General James and I trust that she will examine the facts and apply the law," he previously said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

Cornell has hired former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates to lead an independent review of the school's response.

In his statement, Kotlikoff said there would be more staff to the Cornell Office of Civil Rights, "including the appointment of a dedicated case manager who will help individuals who report sexual misconduct navigate other university processes as needed."

He also said Cornell is working with the New York State Police to allow their criminal investigators, who are independent of the school, to investigate allegations of sexual assault on the campus.

Cornell will "accelerate the implementation of the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault and expand the scope and nature of the recommendations by engaging the campus community," according to Kotlikoff.

"These are first steps toward systemic change on our campus," he said. "We will take all necessary steps to address the conditions that led to Jane Doe's experiences, and those of other survivors.

"Cornell must be a place where safety is not an open question."

Kotlikoff's statement comes ahead of a faculty senate meeting where members are expected to vote on a measure expressing no confidence in the administration on its handling of sexual assault at the university.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 11:20

Netflix Makes Biggest Workforce Cut Since 2022

Following our reporting earlier this week that Netflix was preparing its first major workforce reduction since 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday morning, right before the US cash session, that the company is cutting 6% of its staff, or roughly 1,000 positions.

WSJ obtained an email that Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos sent to employees earlier this morning, outlining plans to cut 6% of the workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs. The cuts highlight mounting pressure from slowing growth and soft engagement growth after years of the streaming platform pushing unappealing, woke, toxic content.

"Our mission, to entertain the world, is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources," the executives wrote in the email.

The executives wrote that the company expects to meet its full-year earnings forecast and will continue investing aggressively in important areas while taking a cautious approach to staffing and spending decisions.

The workforce reduction follows a rough stretch for the stock. Shares are trading slightly higher at around $71.27 in premarket trading but down nearly 25% for the year as of Tuesday's close.

Last month, HSBC and Wells Fargo both downgraded Netflix over engagement concerns. HSBC's Mohammed Khallouf moved the stock to Hold from Buy and cut his price target to $76 from $96, citing YouTube's growing living-room presence and Netflix's falling share of US TV time. Wells Fargo's Steve Cahall cut his rating to Underweight from Equal Weight and his price target to $57 from $80, citing "worrying" engagement trends.

Nielsen's July Gauge put Netflix at 7.8% of US TV viewing against YouTube's 14.2%, TheWrap said. Reuters said the company is navigating a more competitive streaming market as media companies consolidate and YouTube takes a growing share of viewership and advertising spending.

Netflix's Latest Failure...

Meanwhile, the based streaming platform Angel Studios has doubled its subscription base from a year ago, topping 3 million last month.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 11:05

Nation's Largest Power Grid Declares Emergency As Hot Temps Collide With Maintenance Shutdowns

A short-lived heat blast across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic overlaps with scheduled power plant shutdowns for seasonal maintenance on PJM Interconnection's grid, which serves 67 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Chicago. PJM was forced to declare a low-level emergency for Tuesday and Wednesday as 60 gigawatts of capacity remained offline.

Bloomberg reports that the squeeze sent spot power prices skyrocketing across PJM's Western hub to $1,021 per megawatt-hour Tuesday afternoon, more than double the day-ahead average for that hour. Day-ahead prices for Wednesday jumped 28% to $295.83 per megawatt-hour, the highest daily average since mid-July. 

"Unpredictable weather patterns are providing fewer days to perform important maintenance or construction on the generation and transmission equipment serving our footprint," PJM spokesman Jeffrey Shields told the outlet in an email.

Scheduled shutdowns of power plants or transmission equipment for inspections, repairs, and upgrades during seasonally low demand come as volatile weather tests the grid's reliability.

Delaying repairs can leave aging power plants more vulnerable to breakdowns during peak demand hours, especially when heating demand soars in the middle of winter. 

"Unseasonably warm temperatures combined with generation outages and lower-than-normal wind generation are creating challenging grid conditions," Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) spokeswoman McKenzie Barbknecht told the outlet. MISO's service area covers parts of 15 US states across the Midwest and South, plus Manitoba, Canada.

Beyond PJM's grid strain this week, lingering concerns about reliability persist and merely suggest the grid has less room for error this winter: 

• A shrinking supply buffer: PJM's outlook for winter 2025–26 projected a reserve margin of 7,500 megawatts after expected outages, exports and other adjustments, down from 8,700 megawatts the previous winter. PJM warned that electricity demand was growing faster than new generation. 
• Power plants failing during extreme cold blasts:  During January 2026's Winter Storm Fern and its aftermath, generation outages averaged 18 to 19 gigawatts, exceeding PJM's seasonal expectations. Equipment failures were the leading cause.
• Fuel availability and scheduling: Tight NatGas supplies and limited scheduling complicated operations during that cold blast. PJM maintained reliability, but preserving adequate supplies required additional measures and substantial costs.

At the start of the week, the US Department of Energy issued an emergency order directing PJM to dispatch specified generating units and operate them as needed to maintain reliability through mid-month.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 10:35

Houthi Missile On Riyadh Wounds Residents, As IMF Chief Warns Of Spillover 'For Everybody, Everywhere'

Wednesday has witnessed another Houthi ballistic missile attack targeting Saudi Arabia's capital. The kingdom's civil defense spokesman has confirmed bystanders were injured when missile debris from an inbound rocket fell after it was intercepted over Riyadh.

"The incident resulted in injury to an Arab resident and limited material damage to a residential building and a vehicle," stated the spokesman, as quoted by state SPA news agency.

A later update included more casualties: "Saudi Arabia's civil defense agency said on Wednesday that four people – two women, a man and a child – were wounded by debris from two intercepted Houthi cruise missiles in the capital and that 15 homes were damaged."

via Al Jazeera/Reuters

Saudi coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki had separately written on X, "Interception and destruction of a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh."

AFP journalists had cited loud explosions heard in the capital at the time of the attack, with emergency messages issued by authorities warning people on cell phones of an "aerial threat" and urging them to take shelter.

Saudi Arabia has faced widening Houthi strikes, which have now become daily since ramping up over the past week, in connection with the raging ground war in Yemen, focused on the Red Sea coast.

Last weekend saw two unprecedented strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh which killed 13 people and left hundreds injured.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, warned that these worsening attacks on Saudi Arabia could impact people "everywhere".

"The Saudi economy is important for the region and the world, and in that sense, these developments have potentially negative spillovers for everybody, everywhere," Georgieva stated at a news conference during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok.

One regional outlet has tallied that over a dozen countries have outright suspended flight services to Saudi Arabia, amid the Houthi 'war on the airports' - which has left major Saudi hubs shuttered for at least through the rest of this week:

At least 17 airlines from 13 countries have suspended or canceled flights to Saudi Arabia as of 13 October following Yemeni strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.

Close to 1,500 flight-cancellation listings were recorded across Saudi Arabia’s major airports on 11 and 12 October, according to Flightradar24 data reviewed by Gulf Business. Riyadh alone lost 98 percent of its scheduled traffic on Sunday, with 655 cancellations.

Tuesday evening into the overnight hours also saw a rare Houthi attack on Saudi Aramco's administrative headquarters in the kingdom's east. It resulted in a "limited fire" - the company said.

Some independent analysts have pointed out the Houthis are an ally of Iran, not a proxy...

Tehran has twice urged Ansarallah to accept a ceasefire with Saudi Arabia and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also offered to mediate. Tehran appears to be prioritising regional stability and de-escalation, while Ansarallah insists that its military position will not be used as a bargaining chip for Iranian interests.

— Bushra Shaikh (@Bushra1Shaikh) October 13, 2026

All of this puts more pressure on the Trump White House to respond, at a moment Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to be urging greater military support. So far the US has stayed on the sidelines related to the Yemen conflict, other than providing intelligence assistance. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 10:20

Bill Gates Fearmongers "Grim" AI Cyberattack Surprises

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Bill Gates returned to the Sunday-show circuit this week with a fresh round of alarms about artificial intelligence, telling CNN's Jake Tapper that the technology is "more dangerous than any" cars, planes, or drugs and that "grim possibilities" await if society fails to maintain control.

Speaking on State of the Union, the Microsoft co-founder and described AI as "the most dangerous technology humans ever invented." He predicted that "over the next year, primarily in the cyber area, we are going to have a lot of negative surprises" once "bad people" strip safeguards from the latest models.

The real near-term danger, he said, is not AI "getting out of control" - that remains "years away" - but criminals using the tools for extortion, stock-market disruption, or similar schemes that already have proven business models.

Just as we regulate planes, cars, and medicines, we need safeguards that help us realize AI's incredible potential while reducing the risks. They won't eliminate every harm, but they can help prevent misuse by bad actors. We're not where we need to be yet - and this deserves much more of our attention.

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) October 11, 2026

Tapper pressed him on earlier statements in which Gates had called AI "aliens created in a lab" that could "evolve almost as a species of its own" and become to humans "what we are to dogs or cats," labeling the shift an "evolutionary event."

? Bill Gates says AI is the "most dangerous technology humans ever invented" and "over the next year it will become quite obvious" regulations are needed https://t.co/gvfkYJUDLO

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) October 13, 2026

Gates replied that the arrival of AI is "fantastic" for health care and new tools, yet "this changes the world more than all previous technologies... and we got to get everyone on the same page about what a big deal this is."

When Tapper raised OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's warnings against "the trap of doomerism," Gates answered that "all responsible AI leaders, including Sam Altman, including Dario Amodei, they are telling the world, 'This is very concerning.'"

He conceded that claims of imminent existential risk can go "too far," but insisted the comparison to regulated domains still holds: AI is more dangerous, and the middle ground of sensible oversight has not yet been found. On the absence of an FAA- or FDA-style body, he said, "I think, over the next year, we will move beyond self-governance... it's clear we're not doing enough."

He added that he has "heard from a number of politicians" and is "hopeful" for a meeting with President Trump.

Gates has repeatedly flagged bioterrorism as a parallel risk. In the CNN interview he noted that the chance of a bioterrorist attack is now "50 times the risk of a natural pandemic" and that safeguards against it can currently be stripped out the same way cyber protections can.

Days later, MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum issued a parallel warning in his annual threat assessment. He said AI is "already supercharging the cybersecurity contest between attackers and defenders" and that "the misuse case to which I'd attach greatest weight" is AI's "potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons."

BREAKING: MI5 chief warns artificial intelligence 'may lead terrorists to develop deadly biological weapons'. https://t.co/2GbFWVV2fb

— GB News (@GBNEWS) October 13, 2026

McCallum added that the threat is "not yet realised" but that comparatively low-sophistication actors could gain a capability uplift if guardrails fail, giving them access to knowledge about chemical, biological, or radiological weapons that has long been hard for terrorists to obtain.

He announced a new AI Threat Assessment Centre inside MI5 to track both the opportunities and the risks. GB News reported that AI is "supercharging" security threats to the UK while MI5 deals with a fourfold increase over the past decade in cases involving hostile states, primarily from Russia, Iran and China.

AI 'supercharging' security threats to the UK.GB News' @forster_k MI5 is dealing with a fourfold increase over the past decade in cases involving hostile states, primarily from Russia, Iran and China. ?? GB News on YouTube: https://t.co/Wa58gYGZwF https://t.co/sCmYia41Dh

— GB News (@GBNEWS) October 13, 2026

The appearance fits a pattern established weeks earlier. In a September Meet the Press interview, Gates told Kristen Welker that AI is "certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths" and that "there's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools."

He rejected self-regulation outright: "No one thinks self-regulation is enough... You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like."

In other settings he has called AI "almost an evolutionary event" and "kind of like this alien intelligence," arguing that governments are "way behind" and that an international organization modeled on nuclear inspections, aviation rules, and ozone treaties is required. Industry, he has said, should not police itself.

The timing overlaps with reporting that executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other labs have been privately gaming out "day after" scenarios for a catastrophic AI-linked event - most likely a cyberattack capable of disrupting financial services, internet connectivity, or power and water.

Axios reported that many insiders believe such an incident could occur within six to twelve months. OpenAI confirmed it runs preparedness exercises but said the scenarios are not treated as inevitable; Anthropic declined comment.

Nicolas Hulscher highlighted the sequence on X, noting that Gates's prediction of "a lot of NEGATIVE SURPRISES" from AI cyberattacks arrived days after the labs were revealed to be war-gaming public backlash.

BREAKING: Bill Gates claims "over the next year, we are going to have a lot of NEGATIVE SURPRISES" from AI cyberattacks.Just 2 days ago, OpenAI and Anthropic were revealed to be PRIVATELY WAR-GAMING the fallout from AI cyberattacks.AI false flag risk is now VERY HIGH. https://t.co/kP78qr7v3q

— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) October 11, 2026

Gates has also floated taxing AI or robot usage and legally reserving certain roles - childcare, judges, jurors - for humans so that "human empathy remains relevant." He continues to argue that the depth of understanding inside governments is too low and that only neutral public actors can set the required monitoring and non-removable safeguards.

At the same time, the Gates Foundation has committed a billion dollars over two years to expand AI tools in education, health, and agriculture in places markets would otherwise ignore.

The latest round of warnings arrives while the Trump administration has prioritized winning the AI race and has signed voluntary accords with leading companies rather than imposing the heavier statutory regime Gates prefers.

Gates himself says the extreme of "let's completely stop this" is no better than no safeguards at all, yet his consistent message is that self-governance is already failing and that more centralized oversight must arrive within the next year. Security services are now publicly echoing the bioterror dimension of those warnings.

Whether those "negative surprises" materialize as ordinary cybercrime scaled by new tools, or as something the labs are already rehearsing responses for, the push for external control continues from the same quarters that previously framed AI as an alien intelligence requiring unprecedented global coordination.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 10:05

$20 Billion In Suspicious Biden-Era Climate Grants Remains Frozen As Trump Administration Eyes Supreme Court Fight

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

A $20 billion Biden-era climate grant program remains frozen despite a federal appeals court ruling against the Trump administration's efforts to cancel the funding. The case could wind up at the Supreme Court in a showdown over taxpayer spending and executive authority.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 6-4 on Aug. 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency likely violated federal law when it attempted to terminate grants authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act.

However, the court subsequently agreed to keep the money frozen through Nov. 9 while the administration prepares a potential Supreme Court appeal.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin canceled the grants in March 2025, citing concerns about conflicts of interest and potential self-dealing among recipients. Climate United, the largest beneficiary, was awarded approximately $7 billion.

Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, urged the Supreme Court to intervene.

"The Biden administration rushed $20 billion in taxpayer money into the hands of politically connected organizations, creating what looks like a taxpayer-funded slush fund for its climate agenda," Isaac told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The grants were part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, established to finance clean energy projects through nonprofit organizations.

Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, criticized the government's reliance on subsidies.

"Resource-neutral permitting reform is superior to subsidies and grants because it advances energy projects without the government picking winners and losers," Fisher said.

Environmental groups defended the program, arguing that withholding the money prevents investments that could reduce energy costs.

The legal dispute also follows Congress' repeal of the provision establishing the program through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Tyler Durden Wed, 10/14/2026 - 09:25

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