The Assisted Suicide Of Lofty State And Local Taxes

Authored by Rob Arnott via RealClearPolitics,

We get the government we choose to elect, hence the government we deserve. Voting for ever-higher punitive taxes on the rich is arguably a form of civic suicide. Consider that a wealthy New Yorker can get a raise of almost 40% just by moving.

That’s right. If moving eliminates a 14.8% top state and local tax rate, our top-tier taxpayer gets a 36% raise, not a 14.8% raise, by leaving. It’s doubtful if any of our city and state leaders have done this math, but it’s shocking.

Mamdani wants to take the top rate up another 2%, if not by the state then by the city, which would mean that our rich neighbor can get a 42% raise.

Here’s how the math works.

A rich New Yorker pays a maximum state and city income tax of 14.8%, on top of a maximum federal tax of 37%. But there are hidden taxes. Uncapped Medicare and Medicaid taxes push the marginal federal tax to 39.4%. If the income is earned on investments, the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT, another gift from Obamacare) adds another 3.8%, pushing the top federal tax above 43%.

So, top-tier New York taxpayers may soon pay a marginal tax of 43% to the IRS and 17% to the city and state of New York. The combined 60% marginal tax rates mean they have the privilege of keeping 40 cents of each new dollar they earn. A move to one of the nine states with no income tax allows our taxpayer to keep 57% of every additional dollar of income, instead of 40%. Do the math. That’s a 42% raise.

Forget the argument about “paying their fair share.” “Fair” is an entirely subjective term. Your fair share of someone else’s money might be seen as a ripoff by them, especially if the money is spent less wisely than we might spend our own money. If you are rich and believe you’ve earned your money, will you consider leaving a state for a permanent 40% raise? Of course.

This is hardly a phenomenon unique to New York. California’s headline top rate of 13.3% becomes 14% with the phase-out of deductions. A Silicon Valley billionaire can keep 43% of each new dollar of income. Moving to Dallas or Miami, or Anchorage for the adventuresome, boosts this to 57%, a raise of almost 33%. This doesn’t even count the “please leave now” impetus of a “one-time only” 5% wealth tax on billionaires. Never mind that the fine print on the wealth tax initiative turns a 5% tax into a 50% expropriation for billionaires like the founders of Google, because their 30% voting share at Google, not their 3% equity ownership, is used to determine the tax.

People have called the United States “50 laboratories of democracy.” A state or a city is welcome to impose whatever taxes, regulations, or laws are allowed by its own bylaws or the national Constitution. And citizens are welcome to choose whichever states have taxes, regulations, and laws that they feel best align with their values and beliefs.

Nor is it unique to our various states, with their diverse tax regimes. Taxes drove the Rolling Stones to their own “Exile on Main Street,” relocating to France of all places to escape England’s 90% top tax rate (where a tiny drop to 85% would provide a 50% pay raise). Even Switzerland has divergent tax rates, ranging from 22% in Zug to roughly 40% in Berne, Geneva, and Vaud. Where do the billionaires tend to live? Zug.

Milton Friedman has been credited with the observation that the only thing more mobile than the wealthy is their capital. It is the rich who largely fund government spending, whether that spending is at the federal, state, or local level, and whether that spending is wise or foolish. Instead of a politics of envy, perhaps we should try a politics of gratitude.

Rob Arnott is founding chairman of Research Affiliates, a $160 billion asset management firm based in Newport Beach, CA.

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Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 18:05

Gulf LNG Crisis Set To 'Make Coal Great Again'

Our weekend wrap on the global energy crisis focused on Asia as ground zero and how the shock will ripple across the world, eventually hitting the US. This is now the second major energy crunch of the decade: first Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now the U.S.-Iran conflict. However, this one looks a lot more catastrophic.

The immediate impact of this energy crunch will be a resurgence of coal, especially across Asia, as power grid operators will be forced to switch to the dirtiest fuel to keep electricity affordable during the crisis.

"We are now seeing a second, very large energy supply shock," Goldman commodities expert Samantha Dart told Bloomberg.

Dart added, "If you're sitting in Asia, going through this again, it's possible you change your strategy long term, rely more on coal for longer, build out your renewables faster, and reduce your exposure to natural gas."

Last week, JPMorgan's commodity expert showed just how Asia has emerged as ground zero of the global energy crisis. The shock is expected to spread worldwide, hitting Asia first, then Africa and Europe, before eventually reaching the U.S., though the most acute impact there may be concentrated in California.

Source

Bloomberg noted that Japan is already turning back to coal-fired power generation. India and Bangladesh are also running coal plants at higher capacity, while some European countries may soon be forced to burn more coal as disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz and damage to Qatar's LNG export hub tighten global gas supplies and send prices sharply higher.

Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency, who has warned about the worst energy shock on record, told the outlet that "high energy prices will lead governments, industries, and households to look at other options." Those options include "at least temporarily, upward pressure on the use of coal both for electricity generation and for the industrial sector," he said.

We cited Dart's note earlier this month that showed natural gas prices across Europe and Asia have jumped so much during the US-Iran conflict that gas and oil to coal switching has already been viewed favorably by power grid operators.

Dart showed the price zones for Europe's benchmark NatGas, TTF, where fuel switching occurs:

• The pink band is the lignite-switching range.

• The gray band is the hard-coal-switching range.

• The green band is the industrial oil-switching range.

One takeaway is that Asia is likely to be the biggest switcher to coal because it has relied so heavily on Middle Eastern energy and already has large coal fleets. China is somewhat better insulated because it has diversified its energy supplies, as we notedearlier.

Wood Mackenzie coal specialist Tony Knutson also warned that the energy shock is a "bigger disruption than the Russian war" and said countries without sufficient gas buffers to weather the storm will be forced to switch to coal, adding, "I don't think they have a choice."

Trump did tell voters during the campaign trail he would 'make coal great again' ... 

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 17:40

US Fighter Jets Intercept Civilian Aircraft Flying Near Trump's Mar-a-Lago

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said F-16 fighter jets intercepted a plane that entered restricted airspace near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate ‌in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 29.

The civilian aircraft entered a temporary flight restriction zone near the estate at about 1:15 p.m. ET, prompting fighter jets to dispense flares in response, which were visible to the public, NORAD said in a press release.

NORAD said the flares were intended to get the pilot’s attention and are designed “with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground.”

The fighter jets subsequently escorted the plane safely out of the area, according to NORAD, which oversees the airspace of the United States and Canada.

“The situation was resolved safely,” NORAD wrote in a social media post.

NORAD did not specify where the aircraft originated from or where it was heading. It also remains unclear whether the president was present at the time of the incident.

Temporary flight restrictions are imposed when aviation authorities seek to block off some airspaces for a limited time. These restrictions could be in place because of national security situations, major sporting events, or natural disasters, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

NORAD stated that when an intercept happens, pilots of the aircraft must immediately come up on frequency 121.5 or 243.0 and turn their plane around to reverse course until they receive further instructions on one of those frequencies.

“NORAD employs a layered defense network of radars, satellites, and fighter aircraft to identify and respond to potential threats,” it said.

Aircrews are reminded to check with the FAA on restricted airspaces, especially when operating near the National Capitol Region and Mar-a-Lago regions, it added.

Pilots who violate temporary flight restrictions could face sanctions ranging from warnings and fines to suspensions or revocations of their pilot certificates, depending on the circumstances of the violation, according to the FAA.

NORAD ​reported dozens of similar incidents near Mar-a-Lago last year. In November 2025, NORAD said it had responded to “over 40 tracks of interest” violating temporary flight restrictions near the Palm Beach area since Trump’s return to a second term in January 2025.

On Dec. 21, 2025, F-16 fighter jets responded after a civilian aircraft breached a no-fly zone near Mar-a-Lago, which had been put in place ahead of Trump’s arrival at the estate for his annual Christmas and New Year’s visit.

NORAD said the fighter jets responded by carrying out a “headbutt maneuver,” in which the jet flew directly in front of the plane to get the pilot’s attention.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 17:15

Two Chinese Container Ships That Were Previously Turned Back By Iran, Now Allowed To Transit Hormuz Strait

On Friday we reported that there was a moment of surprise among vessel trackers, when Iran unexpectedly blocked two container ships owned by China's Cosco from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Two days later, this misunderstanding appears to have been resolved, and on Monday Bloomberg reported that the same two container ships linked to China’s state-owned Cosco Shipping exited the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the first such vessels operated by a major Beijing-backed company to navigate the waterway since the Middle East war broke out.

After aborting an initial transit attempt on Friday, COSCO’s ultra-large container vessels - CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean - have successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz after beginning their journey eastward from within the Persian Gulf on Monday morning, signalling a potential shift in conditions for commercial shipping.

The ships started their almost 12-hour-long journeys from waters off Dubai. They took a route near Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands at the narrow opening of the strait, before sailing into waters of the Gulf of Oman.

The ships don’t appear to be carrying any cargo aside from empty container boxes, according to draft readings of how low they sit in the water. They are listed as part of Cosco Shipping Lines’ fleet, which is a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Corp. Both vessels are currently bound for Port Klang, Malaysia, as they continue their voyage on COSCO’s MEX service, linking the Middle East with the Far East.

The global shipping market has been keenly watching the journeys of these two Cosco ships for signs of how China plans to extract its vessels from the gulf, as it seeks to stem a deepening energy crisis and a plunge in China-to-Middle East trade.  

The two vessels, each with the capacity to transport about 19,000 TEUs, were seen taking the same route on Monday. They have been stuck in the Persian Gulf for more than a month since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran.

The successful transit marks the first confirmed crossing by a major container carrier since the start of the conflict.

Cosco Shipping is one of the world’s largest shipowners, with massive containership and tanker fleets operated by its subsidies. Aside from the container ships, Cosco also has at least six crude tankers stuck inside the Gulf since the war began, according to ship-tracking data.

In an early sign of a resumption of Hormuz transits, Cosco Shipping Lines last week informed customers that it would be recommencing bookings for general cargo containers from east Asia to the Middle East, including some located in the gulf. The company owns and operates 453 container ships that have a total capacity of about 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent containers, or TEUs, as at end January.

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Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 16:50

Springtime For RINOs

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“This sort of derangment is a novel psychopathology in the human species. . . a synthesis of low-IQ feminized brain scramble & neurotic lunacy."

- JD Haltigan on X

Went to the No Kings assemblies in my town and the next nearby town on Saturday. Mental illness as far as the eye could see. Old folks, too, as far as the eye could see, predominately of the female persuasion: the devouring grandmothers. The Democratic Party has marshalled mental illness as its premier campaign strategy, and lately it is winning bigly around the country as mental illness becomes the go-to cope option for the ragged remnants of Boomerdom.

They believe things that are patently insane, for instance, the latest proposal by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) that illegal immigrants deserve reparations on account of being “traumatized” by U.S. immigration enforcement actions.

If it feels like the Democratic Party is at war with our country you are not hallucinating.

It is every bit as much a jihad as the Death to America crowd in Iran has explicitly pushed since 1979.

The president gets no help whatsoever from his own party, as you see in the disgraceful hijinks around the urgent issue of election reform. You know exactly how the election playbook was written: let x-million foreigners into the country illegally, give them (illegally) social security numbers, driver’s licenses, automatic voter registrations, addresses, mail-in ballots. . . and voila! They don’t even have to mail-in their own mail-in ballots. Lawfare ninja Marc Elias will arrange ballot pick-up service. And the cherry on top is that the census must count all the illegal aliens to add new congressional districts for extra seats in Congress.

So, in the face of that, Republican Majority Leader John Thune could not muster enough votes to save the SAVE Act. Or so he said. Looks more like lack a’wanna. Eerie lack a’wanna. On their tours of cable news, the hapless Republican senators, when asked, would not name their colleagues leaning against the SAVE Act. But you know who they are. Mitch McConnell, Murkowski, Tillis, Collins, Capito.

Leader Thune could not even manage to get Homeland Security funded with the prospect of Iranian sleeper cells awakening around the country. He just threw in the towel at three o’clock in the morning on Friday, and sent the whole crew home to meet the Easter Bunny. Chuck Schumer did an end-zone dance. The brokenness of our politics could not be more in your face. As things shape up this grueling springtime, Mr. Trump might have to go Abe Lincoln on these folks. That is, declare some sort of national emergency to save the election and the country.

Of course, the nation is more than a little distracted just now with doings in Iran. The No Kings folk are unabashedly rooting for everything to go wrong there, and not a few conservatives in the public arena are straining to conjure an Iranian victory in their black-pilled deliriums. Many claim they “have no idea” what we are doing there — can it be that hard? — or else they are rabidly exercised over our alliance with Israel in the operation. You know how that goes. Cue Tucker. He’ll explain.

The truth is we are pounding these savage Shia clerics and their Revolutionary Guard myrmidons to the garden of eternal bliss where the seventy-two virgins wait. Whatever remains of Iran’s legit government is bargaining under cover for an off-ramp now. Pakistan mediates. The parties sit in different rooms and pass notes through the mediators in a third room. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pretends that he will not negotiate with Mr. Trump’s envoys, Witkoff and Kushner, both Jews, the horror! But that’s sheer fakery.

To avoid humiliation in the process, Iran is still lobbing missiles and drones around the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and they will probably keep doing that until the very moment of capitulation. Anyway, in less than a week, Mr. Trump turns the lights off all over Iran, and then they are back in the twelfth century. . . no command communication, no juice for anything, no money, no food, no water, no nothing . . . and a population getting dangerously desperate to make it all go away. . . to return to some dim memory of what normal life once was in an Iran not ruled by psychotic death cultists.

Everybody else is greatly alarmed by the disruption of Persian Gulf oil supplies through Hormuz.

Global finance was already pretty shaky before the hot war commenced, and the economic tail of that dog was not wagging happily.

In America, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Apollo Global, and Blue Owl Capital had recently “gated” redemptions — meaning investors can’t get all or part of their money out of plays that are folding on collateral rot. This private equity fiasco has significant contagion potential.

The sudden oil shock makes everything feel a hundred times worse, and pain is already felt, especially in the far east and Australia / New Zealand.

But consider that the Hormuz “blockade” is also a bit of last-ditch capitulation bravado.

It could be a shorter crisis than the alarmists imagine. We see everything that Iran has got from high in the sky, whatever attack boats remain. . . the thermal signatures of rockets going off. . . the bays where the drones emerge.

Mr. Trump might order troops in to the stabilize ports and more than one island. Or perhaps not.

I doubt we’ll know until after Iranian lights go out. If the kinetics conclude, what remains is re-starting the maritime insurance apparatus with or without Lloyd’s of London. Then, tankers start moving again.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 16:25

Off-Ramp In Progress? Israeli Media Signals 'Completion Phase' Of Iran War

It's no secret that Washington is looking for an off-ramp amid what has been a steady pattern of escalation with Iran over the past month since Operation Epic Fury began. The White House's anticipated timeline and even list of objectives has seriously shifted since the war's start, as has the scope, given Tehran's 'unexpected' big retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and Israel - including on energy and infrastructure targets.

It seems Trump was thinking Iran could be parallel to the Venezuela situation - where a 'decapitation' operation swiftly removed Maduro and the US basically acknowledged a pliant puppet in his place (Delcy Rodríguez). That's why White House officials at the very start were talking about an operation that would lust just 'days' or maybe a couple weeks. Now, one month in, and we have fresh headlines like this: "Iran war enters its fourth week with no clear end in sight."

The US administration is meanwhile trying to refocus its definable objectives, however overall vision and strategy for a 'mission accomplished' end-goal has been anything but clear. For example, the start of the war saw the White House officially list as an objective the end of Iran's nuclear program and removal of enriched uranium - but that is no longer listed.

Instead, the State Dept. - citing Marco Rubio - has issued the following military objectives in Iran:

1. The destruction of Iran's air force

2. The destruction of their navy

3. The severe diminishing of their missile launching capability

4. The destruction of their factories

These are much more 'achievable aims' allowing the Trump administration to save face by declaring they've all been met, whenever it wants to proclaim a mission complete situation, and pull Pentagon assets from the theatre.

But the fact that Iran still has de facto hold over the Strait of Hormuz remains a big problem, as does its ongoing nuclear capabilities, despite that nuclear sites have been degraded or possibly destroyed.

One big and somewhat surprising sign that the US-Israeli coalition could be about to wind down the war is that Times of Israel on Monday ran the following headline:

"A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting 'economic' targets of the Iranian regime," the publication wrote.

It goes on: "The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, some nuclear facilities, and various headquarters."

The same report also details how dozens of top civilian and military leaders have been killed in the campaign, and most importantly longtime Ayatollah Ali Khamnieni. However, the report also mentions one Israeli objecting of "setting the conditions" for some kind of popular uprising which could topple the government, and that has not happened. Still, the language in the report strongly suggests an offramp could be in the works, perhaps under pressure by the United States:

On Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that “within a few days” the military would complete targeting all of the “critical” assets of Iran’s military production industries, sites used to develop weapons that threaten Israel. The military has also said it has taken out most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and air defense systems.

And here's a key line from Times of Israel:

Israel’s defense establishment is now in what it described as the “completion phase” of the goals it set out at the start of the war, meaning it believes it has largely achieved its objectives of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and “creating the conditions” for the Iranian regime to fall, The Times of Israel has learned.

Yet there are still other signs which suggest the war could go on for quite a bit longer, and even turn into a deeper quagmire, given the White House has yet to rule out ground forces.

I told @NewYorker: “What is the point of the entire U.S. military role in the Middle East? If it has any point, it should be to prevent something like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Yet U.S. military action has only brought about the very problem it’s supposed to prevent.”

— Stephen Wertheim (@stephenwertheim) March 30, 2026

Is Trump heading toward trying to 'force' a 'mission accomplished' moment? It would be interesting if this happened before the Strait of Hormuz was actually opened up. Such an outcome would probably be used by Iranian officials to instead declare 'victory' for the Islamic Republic.

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Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 15:40

Cory Booker Blasts Party, Says Democrats 'Failed This Moment', And Calls For New Leaders

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning and delivered a scathing rebuke of his own party, saying it has “failed this moment.” 

Booker was on the show to promote his new book, and host Kristen Welker read a passage from it in which he argues that political coalitions can’t succeed if they exclude people based on “purity tests” or demand total agreement on every issue. 

In his book, he wrote, “We cannot cancel everyone who fails a purity test. We cannot exile those who don’t align with our every belief, however passionately we hold it. Coalitions that are only composed of the already converted cannot change the country. If everyone in your coalition agrees with you on everything, your coalition is too small, too small to make big change and too small for what our democracy demands.”

Welker then pressed him on whether Democrats are shrinking their coalition by doing exactly that. “Do you believe Democrats are making the mistake of shrinking their coalition with what you describe as purity tests, senator?”

“Look, I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment,” he replied. “It’s why I’ve called for new leadership in America. I’ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country, and our adversaries know it. They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America. That is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that’s far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides. I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination to pull our country together, because the challenges on the horizon aren’t just this current crisis that Trump has caused.”

Booker even appeared to criticize the Democrats’ Trump obsession, telling Welker that Trump “shouldn’t be the main character of our narrative right now.”

“We have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges, that we need more unity in our country, and a reminder that we are not each other’s enemies. In fact, our ability to find common ground has always been our greatest hope.”

Booker continued, "Americans want a new generation of leaders that show that they can lift the whole country up," he said. And then, in case anyone missed it: "It is time for a new vision of our country that is far more uniting that brings people together, doesn't deepen divides."

While hawking his new book on Meet the Press, Cory Booker calls for new leaders in the Democrat Party and says that Democrats have "failed this moment."

"I'm proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment."

Then… pic.twitter.com/3Js1l3Pjk1

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 29, 2026

Booker’s comment reeks of irony. According to reports, Senate Democrats are quietly - and not so quietly - tearing each other apart over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) recently met with progressive activists in Georgetown, where the discussion turned to whether Chuck Schumer could be pushed out of leadership. Murphy indicated that some lawmakers had been informally counting votes to gauge support for removing Schumer. Murphy is reportedly part of a group of senators quietly canvassing colleagues about dissatisfaction with Schumer. That group, dubbed “Fight Club,” is reportedly coordinating through a Signal chat to oppose Schumer’s preferred candidates in key 2026 races. The group believes Schumer has been putting his thumb on the scale for centrist candidates while an insurgent wave of progressive energy goes untapped. 

That sounds like a party that is still demanding ideological purity, not diversity. It would be foolish to think that Cory Booker is calling for the next generation of Democratic leaders to take over because they’ll bring ideological diversity to the party. Much of the anger against Chuck Schumer stems from his vote to fund the federal government in March of 2025 to avoid a shutdown. His approval ratings tanked because he was seen as capitulating to President Donald Trump, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been floated as a possible primary challenger, and polling even showed her with a double-digit lead over Schumer.

 Who does Booker think he’s fooling?

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Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 15:20

Turkey Reports Another Iranian Missile Near-Miss Over NATO Skies

Another near-miss has unfolded over NATO skies, with Turkey on Monday announcing that air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran. It's another dangerous indication that the Iran war could easily expand into a broader conflict at any moment. 

The intercept was carried out by air and missile defense assets positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish defense ministry, which offered no further initial details concerning trajectory, type, or what the intended target ultimately was.

US Navy image, illustrative

This marks the fourth fourth such interception since March of the war and Operation Epic Fury, which has surpassed the one-month mark.

The timing is notable given Ankara is simultaneously trying to play middleman between Washington and Tehran, alongside Pakistan where regional diplomats have been trying to jump-start direct Tehran-Washington talks, which has proven elusive.

Turkish and NATO officials have struck a familiar tone, describing that "all necessary measures" are being taken to counter threats to Turkish territory and airspace, and further saying that ongoing developments will be "closely monitored".

There's been speculation that these ballistic missiles from Iran could be intended for US-British military assets in Cyprus. Earlier in the conflict drones were sent - likely from Iranian allies in Lebanon - onto a British airbase in EU-member Cypriot territory.

NATO command has previously stated that "Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense."

This developing pattern of large Iranian missiles flying over Turkey has raised the potential for invoking NATO Article 5, despite US officials having downplayed this option. 

During the first incident, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had described, "On the matter with Turkey, I'll have to get back to you on exactly what the intercept looked like."

He laid out at the time that "We're aware of that particular engagement, although no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5."  

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 14:20

Denver Imposes Water Restrictions, Orders Restaurants To Serve Only On Request

Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Restaurants in Colorado’s capital are only allowed to serve water to guests if they ask, according to new restrictions by the Denver Board of Water Commissioners.

A scenic view of the Denver skyline at sunset, with the Rocky Mountains in the background and a forest in the foreground. Bill Ross/Getty Images

“Restaurants and catering businesses shall serve water only upon request,” the mandatory irrigation restrictions read.

The rules were issued in the Mile High City after the commissioners declared a Stage 1 Drought and made plans to seek a 20 percent reduction in water use. City officials expect drought conditions to last until April 30, 2027.

The update will affect many businesses, including the hospitality industry.

“Lodging establishments shall not change sheets more often than every four days for guests staying more than one night, except for health or safety reasons or upon express request of guests,” the Denver Board of Water Commissioners stated.

Drivers who attempt to wash their car are told to use a bucket or a hand-held hose equipped with an automatic shut-off nozzle if they don’t use a commercial car wash.

Residents can water their grass only two days per week, according to the schedule provided by city officials, but it is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., when the sun is up.

“Current conditions indicate that this is going to be an exceptionally challenging year for our water supply,” Nathan Elder, manager of water supply for Denver, said at a Denver Board of Water Commissioners meeting.

“Snow pack levels are at historic lows and are melting earlier and more rapidly than normal.”

This graphic shows how much water is stored in mountain snowpack in 2025–2026 compared to previous years. Denver Water

Denver collects water from a 4,000-square-mile area across the state to serve 1.5 million people, but the rivers that feed the water supply have experienced record-low snowpack.

“Our Colorado River snow pack in our collection system is currently at 53% of normal. This is the lowest on record for the date,” Elder said during the meeting.

City officials warned that the snowpack, which contributes to the city’s water supply, has significantly decreased after a recent heatwave that pushed temperatures into the 80s in mid-March.

This graphic shows the drought conditions in Colorado on March 28, 2026. National Weather Service

The drought is currently affecting 3.6 million residents in Colorado, according to the National Weather Service’s Drought Monitor.

As of March 28, the Drought Monitor listed the Denver-metro area as under severe drought, while counties in the Rocky Mountains are under extreme and exceptional drought.

​According to the data, more than 74 percent of the state is in a drought.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 13:45

Dutch Treasury Banking Portal Goes Dark For 1,600 Public Institutions After Cyberattack

The Dutch Finance Ministry informed members of Parliament in a letter on Monday about "unauthorized access" to several of its banking systems, including the digital portal for treasury banking.

"Because of the ongoing forensic investigation and for security reasons, several systems have been temporarily taken offline, including the digital portal for treasury banking," Finance Minister Eelco Heinen wrote in the letter.

Heinen warned that the cyberattack has resulted in "around 1,600 public institutions that hold their funds with the Ministry of Finance" being "currently unable to view the balance of their treasury accounts digitally."

He continued, "Participants in treasury banking include, among others, ministries, agencies, legal entities with a statutory task, educational institutions, social funds, and decentralized governments."

"It is also temporarily not possible for participants to apply for loans, deposits, or credit facilities through the portal, change the intraday limit, or generate reports," Heinen warned.

Heinen admitted, "At this time, it is not yet known how long this situation will last."

He said investigations are ongoing in unison with the National Cyber Security Centre and other forensic security experts.

Heinen did not comment on who the responsible actor or actors were, or whether any ransom was involved.

To sum up, with the digital portal for treasury banking down, day-to-day cash management for a large swath of the Dutch public sector appears inaccessible at the moment.

So what happens if the portal stays offline long enough that the Dutch government cannot pay its bills?

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 13:25

UAE Will Be Pounded If US Invades, Iranian Officials Warn

Via Middle East Eye

Tehran believes the United Arab Emirates is playing an active role in the US-Israeli war on Iran and any ground invasion could lead to widespread attacks on Emirati state assets, two senior Iranian sources told Middle East Eye. A month into the conflict, which has battered global markets, Donald Trump is weighing whether to use ground troops to seize strategic islands in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to stop Iran from disrupting energy supplies.

Attention has particularly focused on Kharg Island, the hub through which roughly 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports flow, and Qashm Island which overlooks the strait. Such an operation would probably be launched from US bases in Gulf Arab states, which have come under Iranian attack in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have killed at least 1,900 people so far.

Explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone from Iranian attack on UAE on March 3, via AFP.

Anti-Iranian sentiment has grown in Arab Gulf states, where retaliatory strikes have hit various targets, including key energy infrastructure. Combative rhetoric has particularly come from the close Israeli ally the UAE, whose ambassador to the US wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal this week saying a ceasefire would not be “enough” and the belligerents should push for a “conclusive outcome” that “addresses Iran’s full range of threats”.

The WSJ even reported that some Gulf Arab states were considering joining the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. However, according to a senior Iranian security official, leaders in Tehran now believe the UAE has played an active role in the war from the very beginning.

According to the official, the Iranian leadership has “decided to end a weeks-long period of tolerance towards Abu Dhabi, after concluding that the Emirati role went beyond simply hosting US military facilities already hit in Iranian retaliatory attacks”.

The official said: “Iranian intelligence believes the UAE also made some of its own air facilities available for operations against Iran.”

Abu Dhabi has served as an advanced platform for Israeli interests in the region, the official said. He suggested this included “deception operations” - false-flag Israeli attacks on Oman and at least one other country intended to look like Iranian ones.

He said Tehran assesses that “part of that cooperation has also involved the use of advanced AI infrastructure inside the UAE to support data collection and analysis for US and Israeli targeting, including information on Iranian figures and sites”.

The official added that attacks on Iranian vessels, small boats and coastal areas launched from UAE territory would now be considered by Tehran as a major escalation requiring a “strong response”.

Imminent attack

A separate senior Iranian diplomatic official told MEE that Tehran believes a US ground offensive may now be imminent. He said intelligence assessments - supported by information from Iran’s allied states, including Russia - increasingly point to a scenario in which an assault could be launched from the UAE.

Last week, Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 30 percent of the world’s oil passed before the war. However, he has since twice delayed the promised attack, citing negotiations with Iran on a settlement that would end the bombing and allow oil to flow freely again.

The diplomat said Iran sees the current delay not as a genuine diplomatic pause, but as cover for the deployment of additional troops and preparations for a new phase of the war.

Reuters reported this week that the US is expected to send thousands more personnel to the Middle East, adding to the large American military presence already in the region. When the US and Israel on March 18 bombed South Pars gas field, one of the most important parts of Iranian infrastructure, Tehran responded by targeting energy facilities across the Gulf states.

Missiles and drones have also hit hotels, airports, data centers, ports and embassies in the region as the war has escalated. Yet the diplomat said Iran has so far deliberately avoided treating countries from which attacks were launched as fully enemy states.

“Iran carried out a deception in the skies over Dubai, costing the United Arab Emirates around $100 million.

Iran allegedly launched a missile equipped with flare decoys, prompting air defenses in Dubai to fire hundreds of interceptor missiles unnecessarily, reportedly depleting… pic.twitter.com/NHtdrdaz0t

— SilencedSirs◼️ (@SilentlySirs) March 29, 2026

For that reason, the diplomat said, Tehran confined itself to striking what it viewed as direct US military targets, or intelligence sites linked to the US and Israel, including some located inside civilian areas in countries such as the UAE and Bahrain.

That restraint, the diplomat warned, “would end immediately if any ground invasion takes place or if any part of Iranian territory or any of its islands becomes a target of a ground invasion”. Any country from which such an attack is launched would immediately be treated by Iran as an enemy, he said.

“Iranian strikes would no longer be limited to military or intelligence facilities but all state institutions and state-linked interests would become potential targets, including commercial and property assets in which the Emirati state holds investment stakes,” he said. “The previous rules will not hold if there is an invasion,” the diplomat added. “If any state participates in the occupation of even a single piece of Iranian land, that state will be dealt with as an aggressor.” This message, he said, has already been conveyed to the Emiratis.

*  *  * 

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 13:05

Trump Signals Potential Military Action Coming Against Cuba

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump again suggested that U.S. military action could be coming against Cuba as his administration has placed economic pressure on the communist-ruled island nation.

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Feb. 13, 2026, on his way to Palm Beach, Fla., to spend the weekend. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

“I built this great military. I said, ‘You’ll never have to use it.' ​But sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is ​next by the way,” Trump said at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 27. He then added: “But pretend I didn’t ‌say ⁠that. Pretend I didn’t.”

After that, Trump said, “Cuba’s next.”

DJT: “Cuba's next, by the way, but pretend I didn't say that, please.” pic.twitter.com/qcle0y75c6

— Bruce Snyder (@realBruceSnyder) March 27, 2026

The Trump administration has opened up negotiations with elements of Cuba’s leadership ​in recent weeks, and the president has previously hinted that military action could be possible.

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged that the country is in talks with the U.S. military in a bid to avert potential military confrontation. Cuba’s economy has been battered ​by disruptions in ​oil imports, which ⁠it relies on to run power plants and transportation.

Díaz-Canel said in an address that the purpose of the talks was “to determine the willingness of both parties to take concrete actions for the benefit of the people of both countries,” coming after Cuba said it would release 51 people from prison.

Prior to the U.S. operation to capture then-Venezuelan regime leader Nicolás Maduro in January, Venezuela had ​provided much ⁠of Cuba’s oil needs, but Caracas’s new government has ended those shipments. Earlier in March, Trump had said Cuba ⁠may ​be subject to a “friendly takeover,” before ​saying, “It may not be a friendly takeover.”

“They have no money. They have no anything right now,” Trump also said outside the White House in February, referring to Cuba. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Trump has said that he would turn his attention to Cuba once the U.S. military operation in Iran is concluded.

“We could do them all at the same time,” Trump said in remarks on March 6. “But bad things happen. If you watch countries over the years, you do them all too fast, bad things happen.”

Cuba has been an adversary of the United States for decades, although there have been intermittent periods of engagement between the two countries. The United States has kept in place a trade embargo on the island for decades, prohibiting American businesses from engaging with Cuban interests, in part because the country held Soviet-made nuclear missiles during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Díaz-Canel, 65, took over as Cuba’s leader in 2021 after the resignation of 89-year-old Raul Castro, whose brother Fidel Castro had led the regime from 1959 until 2008. Fidel Castro died in 2016.

In January, Maduro was taken to the United States during the military operation, and he currently faces federal drug-related charges. During an initial court hearing in January, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Since then, the U.S. government has moved to open up trade with Venezuela, including the easing of sanctions against the country’s state-run petroleum company earlier this month. The U.S. Treasury Department in February issued a license for the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves in Venezuela.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/30/2026 - 12:25