Myanmar Is Shaping Up To Be The Next Front Of The Sino-US New Cold War

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

China wants to retain access to Kachin State’s rare earths, the US wants to poach them, and their escalating competition over this part of Myanmar could make it the next New Cold War flashpoint.

Reuters reported that the US’ Myanmar policy might shift towards more diplomatic engagement with either the ruling junta or the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in an attempt to obtain access to the enormous rare earth mineral reserves in the second’s eponymous state. At present, the US is suspected of clandestinely supporting some of the armed anti-junta groups, but the KIA isn’t thought to have benefited due to their isolated position along Myanmar’s mountainous border with China and India.

This geography poses a challenge to the redirection of these resources from China to India for example regardless of Kachin State’s final political status, whether autonomous within a (con)federated Myanmar or independent, but that’s assuming that China doesn’t intervene. Reuters cited an expert on Kachin State who said that “If they want to transport the rare earths from these mines, which are all on the Chinese border, to India, there’s only one road. And the Chinese would certainly step in and stop it."

The reports late last year about the joint security firm that China and Myanmar were planning at the time were analyzed here and concluded that the risks associated with even a PMC-led intervention in support of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) make this scenario unlikely. For as important as CMEC is for helping China reduce its logistical dependence on the easily blockaded Strait of Malacca, Kachin’s rare earth minerals are even more important, so its calculations could change.

Nevertheless, China is known for advancing its national interests through hybrid economic-diplomatic means, not military force. It’s therefore much more probable that it might soon ramp up these efforts with either the junta, the KIA, or both to preempt any forthcoming US diplomatic campaign. The first scenario would aim to restore the military’s control over Kachin’s rare earth reserves, the second would work towards Kachin’s de facto independence, while the third would seek that state’s autonomy.

In the order that they were mentioned: the military is on the backfoot in Kachin despite over four years of Chinese support so it’s unlikely that any new approach by China will reverse this trend; China’s decades of engagement with eastern Shan State’s de facto independent United Wa State Army (including over rare earths) could serve as a precedent for something similar with the KIA; while seeking Kachin’s autonomy in a Chinese-mediated political settlement would be the best-case scenario for Beijing.

In any case, it’s unimaginable that China will let the US poach Kachin’s rare earth reserves without making any attempt to preempt this powerplay, so the Sino-US rivalry in Myanmar is expected to intensify. Kachin is at the center of this struggle, which his nowadays driven by access to that region’s rare earths even though it used to be about CMEC, with Myanmar’s political future (centralized, decentralized, devolved, or partitioned) only being a means to the aforementioned end.

China has the edge over the US due to geography (including the nearness of its rare earth processing facilities), its existing ties with both the junta and the KIA, and the allure that any new approach (possibly linked to CMEC) could have for facilitating a pragmatic deal between them. That said, the US might at the very least try to provoke an armed Chinese intervention of some sort to embroil it in a quagmire even if the odds of this scenario are low, all as part of their escalating New Cold War rivalry over Myanmar.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/25/2025 - 05:00

American Knifed In Face By Syrian After Intervening To Protect Women On German Train

A 21-year-old American man paid a steep price for doing the right thing on a tram in Germany overnight. When he observed two Syrian men hassling a pair of female passengers, the as-yet unnamed American intervened, only to be beaten and slashed in the face with a knife. One of the assailants was arrested, but then immediately let go. 

A tram in Germany was showered with the blood of a young American who intervened to protect women from harassment(xcitepress/florian varga via New York Post)

"This is the consequence of Merkel’s open-border policy," said Alternative for Germany EU parliament member Petr Bystron on X.  "Attacks like this happen in Germany every single day. Now it has affected a courageous American. We must work together with @realDonaldTrump to put an end to this madness.”

According to a statement from Saxony police, the violence erupted at around 12:25am Sunday on a tram in Dresden, while it was at the Neustädter Markt stop. When two men that were part of a larger group started harassing female passengers, the American citizen stepped in to protect them. One of the villains stabbed the Good Samaritan and both of them ran off. Police quickly captured one of them -- a 21-year-old Syrian national -- at another tram stop less than a half-mile away. 

Despite the fact that he has a criminal record that includes robbery and dangerous bodily harm, the suspect was quickly set loose. He enjoys permanent residency status in Germany. "He was provisionally arrested and has been released by decision of the public prosecutor's office," a police spokesman told Bild. Authorities said that decision sprang from the fact that they couldn't substantiate that the attacker -- identified only as "Majid A" -- was the one who wielded a knife. “According to the on-call public prosecutor’s assessment, there were insufficient grounds for detention. The knife attack cannot be attributed to him,” senior public prosecutor Jurgen Schmidt told Bild. Police are reviewing security camera footage and seeking public assistance in tracking down the other suspect. 

German police quickly arrested a Syrian national, but then a prosecutor ordered him to be released (xcitepress/florian varga via New York Post)

The American was transported by ambulance to a hospital, with his wound described as serious but not life-threatening. A video is circulating on social media which purports to show the young American hero -- bloodied and bandaged -- speaking to the camera about the incident. "If y'all didn't think that Europe had an immigration problem, especially Germany, let me drop some knowledge on you," he says, condemning authorities for letting one of the assailants go so quickly. At this point, ZeroHedge is unable to confirm the video's authenticity.  

Non-Germans account for 59% of sex crimes aboard German trains and at train stations, and sex violence in general doubled between 2019 and 2024. In particular, Syrians have established a reputation for violence in their host country. A recent analysis of official statistics by the German paper Die Welt showed that 40% of the perpetrators of violence in German schools in 2024 were foreign national, with Syrians leading the way. Syrians were involved in 10% of all school incidents, well ahead of the second-place Afghans who finished at 3.6%. Germany suffered 79 knife crimes a day in 2024, according to a German police union official, with Berlin enduring nearly 10 a day. 

It's little wonder that support for the anti-mass-immigration Alternative for Germany party is steadily rising -- with a poll this month showing it is now the most popular party in the country. A stout 26% of Germans said it's their top choice in the next election.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/25/2025 - 04:15

EU's Deforestation Crusade: Brussels Expands Green Deal Control

By Thomas Kolbe

The European Union’s regulatory frenzy is taking on manic dimensions. Starting in 2026, a new regulation aimed at “protecting global forests” will further expand Brussels’ bureaucratic jungle. Another job creation scheme for the swelling EU apparatus.

For German taxpayers, the last 18 months have been an expensive ride. Higher property taxes, a raised top income tax rate, the rollback of VAT cuts for hospitality, and CO₂ surcharges all piled on. Brussels added its own bite: higher excise duties on tobacco and energy, a greater EU share of CO₂ revenues (its most effective cash cow yet), and a stack of new compliance burdens for chemicals and sustainability reporting.

Euro-Evangelists

This list is far from exhaustive. It merely illustrates the sheer workload Brussels and Berlin bureaucrats take on in their mission to morally domesticate their still far-too-frivolous citizens.

According to EU brochures and staged “citizen surveys,” the Eurocrats are building a better world: clean seas, clear skies, and “inclusive” working conditions everywhere. With the right indulgence payment – i.e. a cleverly engineered Brussels levy – any sin can be erased. Perhaps Ursula von der Leyen’s crew should be viewed less as regulators and more as a pastoral society of Euro-Evangelists. That way, it all might make sense one day.

Brussels vs. Beef, Coffee, and Rubber

The next crusade begins soon. In January, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) kicks in. In essence, imports of beef, soy, palm oil, timber, coffee, cocoa, natural rubber – and all products derived from them – will be restricted to “deforestation-free” areas.

The burden of proof, documentation, and costly compliance will fall entirely on European companies. Never mind that German firms are already drowning under €146 billion a year in bureaucratic costs – Brussels sees plenty of room for more experiments.

Corporate Pleas Ignored

Industry groups demanded at least limiting reporting duties to first importers. Daniel Caspary, head of the CDU/CSU group in the European Parliament, backed that idea. Brussels ignored them, as always.

The model is familiar from the Supply Chain Act: Brussels drafts a wish list of social and environmental conditions, then forces private companies to enforce them throughout global value chains. Internal chaos, spiraling compliance costs, and fresh liabilities follow. Regulators meanwhile sit back, waiting to pounce on “non-compliance” with fines.

Unlike the Supply Chain Act, which for now applies only to large firms, the EUDR will extend to all businesses operating in the EU’s single market by mid-2025. Every trader, from global giant to small distributor, must produce “deforestation-free” supply chain proofs.

The Green Deal: Hidden Trade Barrier

One wonders if this is really about forests – or about shielding EU farmers from competition. The Green Deal has already emerged as Europe’s greatest non-tariff trade weapon, one even Donald Trump couldn’t dismantle in negotiations with Brussels.

A dangerous corporatist system has taken root: European agribusiness and subsidized industries collude with regulators to suppress competitors, both domestic and foreign. Consumers pay the price via less competition and higher costs.

Ideology Over Logic

The real absurdity? Germany itself, with decades of net forest growth, will also be forced to certify its own supply chains as “deforestation-free.” Brussels will make German beef or timber producers jump through the same hoops as Brazilian ranchers torching the Amazon.

The outcome is predictable: higher prices, more bureaucracy, and yet another Green Deal brick cemented into Brussels’ growing fortress of control.

The EUDR is not environmental protection – it is power consolidation. It is part of the EU’s wider strategy to institutionalize paternalistic social engineering through regulation. And, once again, Europe’s corporate elite stands by silently, refusing to defend consumers against this regulatory madness.

* * *

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

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/25/2025 - 03:30

Where Tourists Outnumber Locals

The data for this map comes from UN Tourism. It compares the number of annual tourist arrivals with resident population, producing a “tourists per resident” measure. This ratio is a useful lens for understanding the intensity of tourism pressure on a destination.

Malta, for example, welcomes 3.56 million visitors per year, over six times its population.

Worth noting that the map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, excludes the Vatican, the world’s smallest sovereign nation, which has around 800 residents but can receive over 6 million visitors per year—equivalent to roughly 7,500 tourists per resident.

Microstates Lead the Rankings

Andorra tops the list with more than 52 tourists per resident each year, followed by Macao at 24. These microstates have limited populations but high visitor appeal, from Andorra’s ski resorts to Macao’s casinos.

Country Tourist Arrivals (millions) Population (thousands) Tourists per Resident Andorra 4.17 80 52.13 Macao SAR 16.4 680 24.12 Turks & Caicos 0.73 40 18.25 Aruba 1.42 110 12.91 British Virgin Islands 0.31 30 10.33 Cook Islands 0.17 20 8.5 Malta 3.56 520 6.85 Cayman Islands 0.44 70 6.29 N. Mariana Islands 0.23 50 4.6 Bahamas 1.87 410 4.56 Guam 0.74 170 4.35 Albania 11.29 2800 4.03 Montenegro 2.45 620 3.95 Maldives 2.05 520 3.94 Bahrain 6.62 1780 3.72 Austria 32.2 9000 3.58 Seychelles 0.35 100 3.5 Greece 35.95 10400 3.46 Cyprus 4.04 1200 3.37 Island Economies Depend on Visitors

Places like Turks and Caicos, Aruba, and the British Virgin Islands each see more than 10 tourists for every local resident. Their economies rely on hospitality, cruise arrivals, and luxury travel. This dependency, however, means global shocks—like pandemics or hurricanes—can have outsized impacts.

Tourism Pressure on Larger Nations

Even mid-sized countries like Austria and Greece see tourist ratios above 3 per resident. Albania, with 11.29 million visitors, stands out as the only large-population country in the top rankings for tourists per resident.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The 25 Richest Countries in the World (Depending on What’s Measured) on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/25/2025 - 02:45

Facing Impending Crisis, California Lawmakers Pivot On Fossil Fuels

Authored by Beige Luciano-Adams via The Epoch Times,

California legislators on Wednesday considered a plan that would dramatically loosen restrictions on drilling and refining oil in the state, as it scrambles to reconcile ambitious climate goals with the sobering reality of continuing demand for conventional transport fuels.

The plan comes at the urging of Gov. Gavin Newsom—a major shift from his hardline decarbonization stance that would have seemed unlikely a year ago.

Citing rapid changes in the transportation fuels sector and the sudden exits of several refineries, the Democratic governor in April asked state agencies to work with refiners to stave off the impending crisis, as California faces mismatched supply and demand during a critical phase in its transition to carbon neutrality.

Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles announced in October it would close by the end of this year, and Valero announced the closure of a Northern California refinery by the end of 2026. Six refineries have closed since 2008, with two converting to renewable diesel. Operators have cited high operating costs and punishing state regulations as reasons for leaving.

In a presentation to lawmakers at a Joint Oversight Hearing on National Resources, Transportation and Utilities, and Energy in the State Assembly on Wednesday, state agencies recommended stabilizing fuel supply and infrastructure, and restoring investor confidence.

Some lawmakers noted the gap between the state’s projections about zero-emissions vehicles and the slower-than-expected decline in demand for conventional petroleum

“This is quite startling,” said Committee Chair Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine), reviewing a chart provided by the California Energy Commission. “This is the fundamental thing we’re trying to solve for, and I don’t think anyone believes that we’re actually going to [decrease] overall demand for some mix of transportation fuels, clean or otherwise, over the next 20 years.”

A CEC chart shows gasoline demand in “baseline” and “advanced electrification” scenarios plummeting over the next 25 years, but at far different rates, while the projected number of zero-emissions vehicles soars, with a similar gap between the current rate and an electrified scenario.

“You are projecting a tremendous, very rapid decrease [in gasoline demand], and this is not reflecting a very rapid decrease at all,” Petrie-Norris said.

Siva Gunda, vice chair of the Energy Commission, noted that the space between what regulators want to happen and their “conservative” projections based on current conditions is what the state should plan for.

“We need to think about how to supply California, no matter where we are in the middle of that,” he said.

“It’s one thing to assume very ambitious [zero emissions vehicle] adoption and implement those policies,” Petrie-Norris said. “But we’re expecting we’re going to somehow reduce overall demand for transport in the state that dramatically, I don’t think this is a realistic assumption.”

Any long-term transition plan, she added, would “need to make sure we’re coming back to very grounded core assumptions.”

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, told the committee the state doesn’t expect to completely replace fossil fuels with electric and hydrogen as “it will take time.” Even with optimistic scenarios for electric vehicles, there will still be in-state demand from other sectors, including ocean vessels and aviation.

California has some of the highest concentrations of recoverable oil in the world– and also the most stringent oil and gas regulations in the country. Its carbon-rich, heavy crude is refined into finished products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, blended into special mixes that adhere to strict environmental standards.

Officials credit these standards with a 70 percent drop in emissions since the 1970s, but note 18 million people still live in areas that exceed federal air pollution standards, with five out of the nation’s worst cities for air quality located in California.

Vehicles pass the Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery Wilmington Plant in Wilmington, Calif., on Nov. 28, 2022. Mario Tama/Getty Images

As drilling has declined across the state and refineries shuttered, California increasingly relies on imports, with more than 75 percent of crude oil coming from countries like Ecuador, Brazil, and Iraq. Around 10 to 20 percent of the state’s refined gasoline products come from out-of-state and foreign sources, according to the CEC.

The agency projects statewide oil imports could increase to 25–35 percent of demand by summer 2026, and up to 50 percent in Northern California following anticipated refinery closures. The fear is that this will result in supply disruptions, volatility, and price increases.

The decline in California’s crude oil supply relative to demand from in-state refineries, the Energy Commission acknowledges, is in large part a result of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation that has stalled well permitting in Kern County, home to the state’s largest reservoirs and by far the state’s biggest producer.

As pipelines approach critically low levels, the CEC’s Gunda explained, the state is looking to stabilize crude coming through those pipelines at around 125 million barrels a year, or around 25 to 30 percent of overall consumption, which is between 500 to 580 million barrels a year.

But even if more refining stays in California, Gunda said, the state still has an increasing dependence on imports.

Recommendations from the Energy Commission, the Air Resources Board, and Conservation Board were presented to lawmakers as a painstaking balance between long-term planning for a clean energy future and the immediate need to avert a crisis that could result in soaring gasoline costs.

California’s average retail gasoline prices are already 40 to 50 percent higher than national averages.

Michael Mische, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, predicted in a May study that gas prices may skyrocket by the end of next year to more than $8 a gallon following recent refinery closures.

“The data and analysis are compelling and clear: California’s high gasoline prices and pending gasoline insecurity and shortage are largely self-created,” Mische writes, comparing decades-long trends of increased excise taxes, motor vehicles, and population, with precipitous declines in oil production, finished gasoline stocks, and refinery capacity.

Meanwhile, he notes, a potential permanent loss of 20 percent of production is unprecedented.

“Even if the surviving California refineries, which are some of the most sophisticated in the world, increased their production of California compliant gasoline, the increase would not completely compensate for the loss of two refineries,” he wrote.

And while California’s consumption of gasoline has declined by 11 percent since 2001, he added, it “is not expected to suddenly drop by 20% in the next twelve months to achieve equilibrium with the shortfall of in-state gasoline production.”

The state has only seen rapid declines in times of acute crisis–1973, 1978, the Financial Crisis of 2008, and during COVID, Mische noted.

Newsom at the time dismissed the study and accused Mische of industry bias.

Meanwhile, the prospect of price spikes and infrastructure collapse had forced a shift in direction.

Customers fuel their vehicles at a gas station in Los Angeles on March 25, 2025.  John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Following announcements of the two refinery closures and the ensuing backlash, Newsom solicited recommendations from his Energy Commission in April. Their June 27 response named the looming crisis and recommended actions many Democrats and environmentalists have long seen as concessions to the oil industry, if justified by a need to prevent instability that could “erode support for continued decarbonization.” The same recommendations were circulated in draft legislative language last month.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president and CEO of the Western States Petroleum Agency, a Sacramento-based lobbying organization representing oil and gas in the state, told The Epoch Times that the Newsom administration’s shift came from seeing the dilemma spelled out in their own data.

“They trusted the data because they have the data. So it was not this issue of our science or their science… There’s no debate on, are you being transparent? Is this really true? There’s no debate on any of it,” she said.

“They all look at the same data and go, this is a big issue, and all of us see a big problem if we don’t address it,” she said.

Her members, she said, are in a “diversified portfolio position,“ seeing cleaner oil and gas, hydrogen, and electrification as the future. Before this recent shift, she said, California’s leadership had focused on 100-percent electrification, ”which in our opinion, is not a sustainable plan.”

Reheis-Boyd noted that California is one of the top oil consumers in the world. “That’s not going to change in the mid-term for sure,” she said.

“I think it’s just this realization now that if we have any chance of getting there,” she said of a clean energy future, “we have got to address this. Because if you can imagine losing two more refineries in the state, we will have a whole different conversation, and the focus will not be on the future. It'll be on the immediacy of not having enough fuel supply and a cost that no one can afford.”

For state legislators, many of whom expressed concerns on Wednesday about rolling back environmental protections, the shift presents an uncomfortable and urgent conundrum that they may have to act on before the legislative session ends Sept. 12.

The state’s proposal includes making an Environmental Impact Report for Kern County, which has been stalled by a decade of litigation over environmental and health protections, compliant with the California Environmental Quality Act, exempting it from environmental review for the next decade.

There is also a provision from the Department of Conservation to exempt new drill permits outside of Kern County from CEQA, provided the well is on an existing field and that operators participate in a two-for-one scheme, plugging two idle wells prior to drilling a new one.

“The proposal is not a free pass for industry to drill indefinitely,” said Jennifer Lucchesi, director of the Department of Conservation. “It’s a targeted approach, with a sunset date of 10 years.”

Active pump jacks draw oil toward the surface in unincorporated Kern County, Calif., on Feb. 26, 2022. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Environmentalists, many of whom showed up to denounce the governor’s plan at the Aug. 20 hearing, argue that oil production in Kern County and throughout the state has been in decline for decades, not because of stringent regulations but geological conditions and global economic trends.

In an Aug. 8 letter responding to the governor’s proposed legislation, environmental groups noted that the rate of decline only increased during a period when the county was unencumbered by legal challenges and tighter restrictions: From 2016 to 2020, despite thousands of drilling permits, production dropped from 186.7 million to 128.2 million barrels.

“Oil reserves are simply depleted in California, and oil operators must use more energy, more chemicals, and risk ever greater environmental damage to get the last remaining oil… Allowing operators to drill new wells without environmental review and mitigation requirements won’t reverse California’s decades-long production decline but will allow this dying industry to do more damage on its way out the door,” the letter states.

Prices at the pump, opponents of the governor’s plan contend, are not tied to in-state oil production, but to a complex set of global factors.

Asked by Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom about the risk of exposure California faces as a result of increasing reliance on imports, Gunda said that the process began far before the state tightened regulations on drilling and refining.

“Even if we go to 1990, and you look at refineries like Shell in Carson City, you have seen those refineries close and convert to product terminals. They moved to an import strategy. This was 30 years ago, before any of these stringent regulations,” he said.

In the near future, in-state refining, Gunda said, will give California the most resiliency, but won’t shield it from broader market forces.

“So we can definitely expect refineries to leave California or convert to product terminals,” he said. “The question is—how fast will they do it and what do we do about it?”

Not just importing oil but having the capacity to store it, Gunda said, will become increasingly important.

The Apollo Voyager crude oil tanker anchored in the Pacific Ocean off the coast near the Chevron El Segundo oil refinery as seen from Manhattan Beach, Calif., on Nov. 16, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

For Steve Young, mayor of Benicia, the Northern California town where Valero plans to close its refinery by April of next year, such is precisely the fate he’d hoped to avoid.

“It seems inevitable, the worst case scenario for Benicia,” Young said at the hearing, “the idea that refined gasoline would need to be imported from elsewhere and then stored before being reintroduced back into the domestic market.”

The city has a deep-water port and existing storage tanks, making it a prime target for conversion to a terminal, a “lose-lose-lose scenario,” according to the mayor.

“There [are] no jobs that come with this, there are no taxes that come with this, there will be continued emissions from those tanks that will need to be monitored,” he said.

Benicia has estimated the refinery brings in about $10-$12 million annually for the city, or around 10 percent of its general fund budget, employing 400 people and supporting various local businesses.

Worse, Young said, is that the city would not be able to plan for replacement or redevelopment of the site, because the port is old and not electrified.

“The most frustrating part of all this for me is that these decisions are being made in the boardrooms of San Antonio and here in Sacramento, and we’re not at the table. We have no influence over what’s going to happen. We are simply waiting for the decision to be made and for our fate to be revealed to us,” he said.

Various labor unions representing refinery workers voiced concern at the hearing over the knock-on effects of shedding jobs in the industry.

“We’ve had contracts in place for almost 100 years now. That’s 100 years of collective bargaining, so our wages and our benefits have gotten to a very good place,” said Norman Rogers, a representative for United Steel Workers Local 675. He noted a high degree of homeownership among the rank and file that would also be impacted by further closures, along with the hit on local city budgets, services, and public employees.

If proposed plans to relax regulations around drilling and refining are adopted, permits can be issued almost immediately, state officials said, but added there would be a lag time until operators can start using them to drill.

“We hope to see an increase in production throughout next year,” said Conservation Department Director Lucchesi, noting most would be in Kern County, with around 1,000 permits through next year and increasing from there. Currently, she estimates new wells will produce around 30 barrels a day on average.

Lucchesi said she expects around 360 new drill permits annually in other parts of the state.

“So this is a very rough estimate,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), noting there was no information about local appetites for drilling in municipalities expected to make up the difference in overall output. “We have no idea what the local government will be doing in those counties.”

The Energy Commission will take action on a few key points at its Aug. 29 meeting, including pausing proposed adoption of refining margins and penalties for producers, as well as maintenance regulations. And Reheis-Boyd expects the legislature to take up recommendations on the Kern County environmental impact report and other production issues before their session ends in September.

While measures aimed at Kern County are “the cornerstone,” on which she expects a broad consensus, Reheis-Boyd said there is more on the table.

Despite the fact that the current plan put forth by Newsom’s administration maintains a ban on fracking, or well stimulation, and offshore drilling, Reheis-Boyd expects both might be reconsidered in the current climate.

Each could contribute another 20 percent to in-state supply, she said.

“I can tell you it’s all in play and should be as they deliberate what this package will look like,” she said.

Inquiries made to Reps. Lori D. Wilson, Isaac Bryan, and Cottie Petrie-Norris, co-chairs of Wednesday’s joint hearing, were not returned in time for publication.

Reheis-Boyd said whatever they approve will have to “be enough of a market signal to businesses like ours and others that California is open for business. You’ve just got to stop the cost impacts while we stabilize the market so we can really begin the conversation about the transition to the future, which has not started. There’s no plan yet,” she said.

“How can you talk about where you’re going to go if you can’t even stabilize where you are?”

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 19:50

SpaceX Delays Starship Megarocket Launch To "Troubleshoot" Ground System Error 

Update (0715ET): 

"Standing down from today's tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems," SpaceX wrote on X.

Standing down from today's tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 24, 2025

No timeframe was given for when the test flight would be rescheduled.

.  .  . 

 

The tenth flight test of SpaceX's Starship megarocket is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern at the company's Starbase launch site in southern Texas, just outside Brownsville. The stakes are high for Elon Musk and the SpaceX team after investigations into the Flight 9 loss found a static fire anomaly that led engineers to push for hardware fixes and operational upgrades. That's the entire point of these test flights, pushing reliability higher in preparation for future missions to the Moon and eventually Mars. 

Starship 10 launching tonight https://t.co/EOgGbS3Om7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2025

Here are the goals of today's flight test of Starship:

Super Heavy Booster Objectives:

• Conduct multiple landing burn experiments, including disabling one central engine to test backup performance.

• Transition to a two-engine hover before shutting down and dropping into the Gulf of America (no return attempt).

• Continue testing new flight profiles and off-nominal scenarios to refine reusability.

Starship Upper Stage Objectives:

• Attempt first payload deployment with eight Starlink simulators (expected to burn up on reentry).

• Perform a Raptor engine relight in space.

Conduct reentry stress tests, including:

• Removing heat shield tiles to probe vulnerable areas.

• Testing metallic tiles, including one with active cooling.

• Evaluating catch fittings and new tile edge designs.

• Forcing structural stress on rear flaps during peak reentry pressure. 

Roadmap of test flight:

Watch the 400-foot-tall megarocket with 33 engines, known as the Super Heavy, blast Starship into space and back: 

.   .   . 

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 19:15

Now Comes the California Fire Sale: China-Based Company Is Buying Up Land Incinerated by Firestorms

Authored by Victoria Taft via PJMedia.com,

Now comes the fire sale. 

If foreign corporations want to buy burned-out properties, can those sales be stopped? Should they be stopped? 

When the feared firestorm hit Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena in Southern California last January, the Los Angeles mayor was MIA, the "public safety" guy in charge—the vice mayor—was on home confinement for making an anti-Israel bomb threat on city hall, fire fighters were not pre-deployed, there was no water in the reservoir, and fire hydrants went dry in the Palisades. 

Soon came vows by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and elected officials in Malibu, Altadena, and the Palisades to streamline the rebuilding and permitting, which turned out to be a joke. Now, amid bad leadership, virtue signaling masquerading as help, incinerated FireAid money, and promises in name only, comes the fire sale. 

In early August came word from an exclusive story in Realtor.com that foreign investors were buying up prime lots in the burned-out area of an iconic Malibu beach.

Now, a foreign investor has been secretly scooping up many of the burned lots on the oceanfront side of the PCH—with the vision of rebuilding the mansions that dotted the coastline in the iconic beach town.

'Once this beach is built back and it's all brand-new construction, I think it's going to be a very desirable spot for a lot of wealthy people to try to buy a beach house,' Weston Littlefield with the Weston James Group tells Realtor.com®.

The luxury real estate agent and his colleague Alex Howe have been working with the investor who has, so far, purchased nine lots worth more than $65 million—but the process isn't random.

The strip of homes nestled between the Pacific Coast Highway and the Pacific Ocean is the storied La Costa Beach.

Nine of the most desirable lots have been sold by people who can't wait or can't afford to rebuild.

SALE
IMAGE: Weston Littlefield & Alex Howe
DATE: 08/08/2025
ADDRESS: La Costa Beach
MARKET: Malibu
ASSET TYPE: Land

BROKERS: Weston Littlefield & Alex Howe - Weston James Group

SALE PRICE: $65,000,000

NOTE: A foreign investor has spent over $65M acquiring nine oceanfro... pic.twitter.com/bVWN8lVOSc

— Traded: Los Angeles (@tradedla) August 11, 2025

Our RedState colleague, Jen Van Laar, reports that the buyers are a couple of Kiwis—New Zealanders. These businessmen are based in the once-free Hong Kong, China to be close to their toy manufacturing empire in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. They also own a business park in Issaquah, Washington.

Nick and Mat Mowbray run Zuru, a company well known for making mini toys and replicas. 

Unbox the ultimate surprise with @Disney 100 Mini Brands – the Limited Edition Platinum collection to celebrate 100 years of wonder!

There are over 50 platinum miniatures of your favorite Disney brands from @Marvel , @Pixar , @starwars , Mickey Mouse & Friends and more! pic.twitter.com/IiSb4Visf8

— ZURU (@ZURUToys) August 21, 2023

The Mowbray brothers also run another Chinese-based company, Zuru Tech, that makes modular pre-fab homes made of a concrete which they plan to use in their new Malibu real estate venture. Let's hope they're not mini homes.

Zuru recently launched Zuru Tech, which will build concrete, pre-fab homes - manufactured in its 8-acre facility in China, which would then be shipped to the US to place on the burned-out lots, founder Nick Mowbray announced at the China Business Summit in NZ in July.

(So why… pic.twitter.com/BY3vnZSYWI

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) August 22, 2025

Jen makes a good point about the old carbon footprint of shipping all those concrete housing pieces across the ocean. It does seem contrary to those California "values" we keep being hectored about. Remember, this is the state, after all, that made the LADWP restore brush to save an alleged endangered weed after LAWP cleared it due to fire danger. I do not stutter. See Stunner: California Saved a Shrub Instead of Protecting Humans From the L.A. Firestorm.

But back to the land grab. Yahoo News reported that one of the brokers says "the investor wants to rebuild the mansions and expects the investment will turn a considerable profit with 'time and patience.'" The current estimate to get permits approved in Malibu is anywhere from one to two years.

How many Malibu fire victims have the time and money to wait that long? Probably a few, but not all. 

Here's another question. Are California's so-called "values" honored by allowing foreign investors to reshape the premier and most iconic real estate of the West Coast of the United States? Should stopping foreign ownership even be considered in a relatively free market? 

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to protect people in Altadena, parts of Malibu, and the Palisades from lowball real estate offers while deploring "greedy speculators taking advantage of their pain." Is that what buying a $10+ million property before the fire and settling for $6 million for a beach lot is—speculating?

In Altadena, Dwell Magazine reports that at least half of the properties for sale following the devastating January fires have been purchased by corporations; however, "individuals can purchase property through LLCs to limit legal exposure." The publication reports, however, that's higher than the national trend and furthermore, "42 percent of those sales are now held by just six companies, each of which has acquired four or more homes."

Dwell reports, "Black Lion Properties, LLC—recently confirmed to be operated by Edwin Castro, the record-breaking Powerball winner... The company has quietly acquired at least a dozen fire-damaged or distressed properties in Altadena, spending nearly $9 million in the process."  

Interesting side note. Castro, the top buyer in Altadena, is a local Powerball Lottery winner who's putting his winnings in real estate rather than hookers, blow, and trinkets. In 2022, Castro won "$2.04 billion," but by the time Uncle Sugar got his cut, the lump sum payment ended up being "$997 million." He bought his parents a new home in Altadena, and he bought one in Malibu, which was ironically, torched in the firestorm.

Another company, "Sheng Feng Global Inc., formed in 2022, is associated with several shell-like entities related to real estate" has purchased six home sites in the Altadena area. The company is connected to multiple real estate entities and "hints at possible international ownership, but the full picture remains murky." It sure does. A logistics company in China could be connected, but, as Dwell reports, things are "murky." 

By design.

California Democrats have turned down at least three proposed laws to limit or ban foreign ownership of large amounts of land. Assembly Bill 475 would have halted foreign land ownership within 50 miles of military installations, and Senate Bill 224 would have, had it passed, stopped foreign governments from a controlling interest in agricultural land. The legislature did pass, however, Senate Bill 1084, in 2022, that would have restricted ownership of California agricultural land. 

Gavin Newsom vetoed it, saying the feds were already handling the problem. The Biden administration wasn't.

To what extent, if any, should California officials stop the foreign ownership of American land?

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 18:40

Mapping Poverty Rates Across America

America’s economic landscape looks very different depending on where you live.

This map of U.S. poverty rates by state, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, makes that disparity clearer.

Each shade represents the share of residents living below the poverty line, inviting quick comparisons across the country.

The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau calculates poverty lines using pretax household income against a threshold at three times the cost of a minimum food diet from 1963, adjusted for family size and inflation.

For reference, this is a quick guide on how much a household needs to be earning to be considered below the poverty line in 2023.

• One person: ≤$15,480

• Two people: ≤$19,680

• Three people: ≤$24,230

• Four people: ≤$31,200

Ranked: U.S. Poverty Rates by State

Louisiana tops the list at 18.9%, leaving nearly one in five residents below the poverty threshold despite the state’s large energy sector.

RankStateState CodeShare of Population
in Poverty# in Poverty 1LouisianaLA18.9%853K 2New MexicoNM18.5%388K 3MississippiMS17.3%501K 4ArkansasAR15.8%473K 5KentuckyKY15.7%699K 6West VirginiaWV15.3%268K 7OklahomaOK14.9%589K 8AlabamaAL14.6%727K 9District of ColumbiaDC13.4%88K 10North CarolinaNC13.2%1.4M 11TexasTX13.1%3.9M 12GeorgiaGA12.9%1.4M 13NevadaNV12.9%409K 14South CarolinaSC12.7%673K 15FloridaFL12.5%2.8M 16ArizonaAZ12.4%903K 17New YorkNY12.1%2.3M 18MichiganMI11.9%1.2M 19CaliforniaCA11.7%4.5M 20MissouriMO11.1%675K 21OhioOH10.9%1.3M 22PennsylvaniaPA10.7%1.4M 23TennesseeTN10.6%744K 24AlaskaAK10.4%74K 25IllinoisIL10%1.2M 26OregonOR9.8%415K 27IndianaIN9.7%659K 28MontanaMT9.7%109K 29DelawareDE9.6%98K 30HawaiiHI9.3%133K 31North DakotaND9.3%72K 32VirginiaVA9.2%783K 33IowaIA9%287K 34IdahoID8.9%172K 35KansasKS8.9%255K 36Rhode IslandRI8.9%96K 37ConnecticutCT8.8%318K 38MassachusettsMA8.8%604K 39MaineME8.7%120K 40WyomingWY8.6%49K 41MarylandMD8.5%524K 42WashingtonWA8.5%658K 43NebraskaNE8.4%165K 44New JerseyNJ8.4%776K 45WisconsinWI8.4%490K 46South DakotaSD8.3%74K 47ColoradoCO8.2%473K 48VermontVT7.7%49K 49MinnesotaMN7.2%409K 50New HampshireNH7.1%98K 51UtahUT6.7%226K N/AU.S.US11.4%37.6M

Neighboring Mississippi (17.3%) and Arkansas (15.8%) tell a similar story of limited job diversity and chronically low household incomes.

In fact, a contiguous belt stretching from Louisiana and Mississippi through Arkansas and up to West Virginia contains every state with poverty rates above 15%.

Historic underinvestment, weaker safety-net programs, and lower average wages all help explain why the South accounts for four of the five worst-affected states.

Northern and Plains States See the Lowest Poverty Shares

In stark contrast, Utah (6.7%), New Hampshire (7.1%), Minnesota (7.2%), and Colorado (8.2%) post some of the lowest poverty figures in the country.

These states benefit from stronger labor markets, higher median wages, and broader access to education and healthcare.

Even populous Midwestern states like Illinois and Wisconsin keep poverty near or below 10%, underscoring how economic structure and public policy can insulate households from hardship.

Geography, then, is a reliable—if imperfect—proxy for opportunity in today’s America.

Population Size Skews the National Picture

Looking only at rates can mask the human scale of poverty.

California’s poverty rate sits near the national average at 11.7%, yet its sheer population means 4.5 million Californians live in poverty.

Texas tells a similar story: its 13.1% rate translates into 3.9 million people, the second-largest total nationwide.

Altogether, the U.S. counted 37.6 million residents in poverty during in 2023, almost the size of Canada’s entire population

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Mapped: Average Salary by State in 2025 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 18:05

Central Banks Do Not Prevent Financial Crises Or Control Inflation

Authored by Daniel Lacalle via Mises.org,

Easing and tightening decisions move all assets from bonds to private equity. Their role is supposed to be to control inflation, provide price stability, and ensure normal market functions. However, there is little evidence of any success in achieving their goals. The era of central bank dominance has been characterised by boom-and-bust cycles, financial crises, policy incentives to increase government spending and debt, and persistent inflation. Recently developed economies’ central banks have taken an increasingly interventionist role.

The creation and proliferation of central banks over the past century promised greater financial stability. Nevertheless, as history and current events continually show, central banks have not prevented financial crises. The frequency and severity of these crises have fluctuated but have not declined since central banks became the leading figure in financial market regulation and monetary interventions. Instead, central banking has introduced new fragilities and changed the nature, but not the recurrence, of financial turmoil.

Empirical evidence dispels the myth that central banks ended the era of frequent financial crises. Regardless of central bank oversight, a credit boom preceded one in three banking crises. Who created those credit booms? Central banks, through the manipulation of interest rates. According to Laeven and Valencia’s comprehensive database, there were 147 banking crises between 1970 and 2011 alone, in an era of near-universal central bank dominance. Financial crises remain a persistent global phenomenon, occurring in cycles that coincide with episodes of credit expansion. Central banks have often prolonged boom periods with low rates and elevated asset purchases and created abrupt bust moments after making mistakes about inflation and credit risks.

According to Reinhart and Rogoff’s work, the rate of crises has not dramatically changed with central banking. Instead, the forms of crises evolved. Twin crises (banking and currency) remain common, and the severity, measured in output loss or fiscal costs, has often increased, especially as financial institutions and governments grew intertwined with monetary authorities.

The Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, and the 2021–2022 inflationary burst rank among the events with the highest costs in history, contradicting the view that central banks have neutralised the risk or costliness of crises.

Central banks act as “lenders of last resort” and regulators. However, with each subsequent crisis, the solution is always the same: larger and more aggressive asset purchase programmes and negative real rates. This means that central banks have gradually moved from lenders of last resort to lenders of first resort, a role that has amplified vulnerabilities. Due to the globalisation of modern central banking and financial innovations, crises tend to be larger in scale and more complex, impacting most nations. The profound involvement of central banks in markets means their policies, such as emergency liquidity or asset purchases, mask systemic risks, leading to delayed but more dramatic failures.

In many advanced economies, recent waves of crises were triggered by debt accumulation and market distortions engineered by central banks, often under the guise of maintaining stability. The IMF and World Bank both note that about half of debt accumulation episodes in emerging markets since 1970 involved financial crises, and episodes associated with crises are marked by higher debt growth, weaker economic outcomes, and depleted reserves—regardless of central banking.

Major crises in recent decades have highlighted that central banks do not prevent systemic disruption. Often, their interventions have only delayed the reckoning but made underlying imbalances, particularly government debt, worse. Central banks do not prevent financial crises. They reshape them, often making their consequences more far-reaching, while shifting the costs onto the public through inflation and debt monetisation.

The Growing Priority: Supporting Government Over Managing Inflation

As I argued recently, central banks are increasingly prioritising government debt distribution over combating inflation. Central banks have one priority: keeping the government debt bubble alive. Central banks constantly inject liquidity to stabilise sovereign issuers rather than uphold price stability. In 2025 alone, global debt maturities will reach nearly $2.78 trillion, and central banks are expected to continue easing monetary policies, even as inflation proves persistent.

Central banks use their enormous power to disguise the insolvency of sovereign issuers and make their debt pricier, which leads to the subsequent excessive risk-taking and asset price inflation. Furthermore, the idea that low rates and asset purchases are tools that help governments reduce their fiscal imbalances and conduct budget prudence is negated by reality. Artificially low rates and asset purchases justify persistent deficits and high debt.

Central banks are enabling inflation and financial instability when they should be restraining it. By ignoring monetary aggregates and the risks created by rising government intervention in the economy and currency issuance through debt instruments, central banks are enabling the slow-motion nationalisation of the economy.

The misguided central bank monetary expansion and negative rate policy of 2020, perpetuated well into 2022 despite soaring inflation, is a clear example. Governments benefited in the period of expansion with enormous debt purchases that enabled an ill-advised increase in government spending and debt. Meanwhile, citizens and small businesses suffered from high inflation. Thus, when central banks finally acknowledged the inflation problem they helped create, they kept loose policies prioritising liquidity, which fuelled more government irresponsibility, and the rate hike damaged the finances of families and small businesses that previously suffered the inflation burst. Governments weren’t concerned about rate hikes because they increased taxes.

The Federal Reserve’s response to increasing government deficits has consistently favoured greater government intervention and rising debt levels, even at the expense of higher inflation, which has undermined its independence and credibility.

Independence vanished when central banks abandoned or ignored price stability, blaming inflation on various absurdities instead of government spending and money supply growth.

The Bank of England, for example, keeps cutting rates and easing policy with rising inflation.

Central banks tend to ease monetary policy when governments increase spending and taxes. However, policymakers claim to be data-dependent and strict when governments reduce taxes and spending. Why? Central banks have transitioned from being independent monetary authorities safeguarding the currency’s purchasing power and controlling inflation to facilitating the distribution of rising government debt and disguising rising issuer insolvency.

Modern central banking has shown that no single authority should set interest rates and liquidity. They have consistently erred on the side of rising government size in the economy and made erroneous estimates of inflation and job growth. The reason for this is straightforward: as the size of government in the economy and sovereign debt, which is often considered the safest asset, increase, the central bank’s role becomes increasingly important for maintaining market stability.

Many central banks state that they don’t interfere with fiscal policy and remain independent… except when someone dares to cut taxes and political spending. As such, central banks are not a limit to risk-taking, rising government spending and budget irresponsibility, but rather a tool that enables market and government excess.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 11:40

Remember "Maryland Father"? Alleged MS-13 Gangster May Be Deported To Uganda Next Week 

The Trump administration has notified lawyers of alleged MS-13 illegal alien gangster Kilmar Abrego Garcia (whom the globalist MSM portrays as a "Maryland father") that the Salvadoran national, facing human smuggling charges in Tennessee and having refused an offer by the federal government to plead guilty and serve his sentence in Costa Rica, may be deported to Uganda next week. 

According to the seven-page filing in the Federal District Court in Nashville, the Salvadoran national has been instructed by the federal government to report to ICE's Baltimore, Maryland, office on Monday morning.

"Despite having requested and received assurances from the government of Costa Rica that Mr. Abrego would be accepted there, within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego's counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda and ordered him to report to ICE's Baltimore Field Office Monday morning," the filing said. 

The notice was issued minutes after the Salvadoran national's release on Friday, prompting his attorneys to accuse the Trump administration of trying to coerce a plea deal by threatening removal to a country with documented human rights abuses where he does not speak the language. 

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the release of the alleged MS-13 illegal alien gangster by "activist liberal judges"...

"Activist liberal judges have attempted to obstruct our law enforcement every step of the way in removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country. Today, we reached a new low with this publicity hungry Maryland judge mandating this illegal alien who is a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator be allowed free," Noem wrote on X. 

She added, "By ordering this monster loose on America's streets, this judge has shown a complete disregard for the safety of the American people. We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country." 

Activist liberal judges have attempted to obstruct our law enforcement every step of the way in removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country. Today, we reached a new low with this publicity hungry Maryland judge mandating this illegal alien who is a…

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 22, 2025

The Salvadoran national's smuggling allegations date back to a 2022 traffic stop on a Tennessee highway, where he was driving eight passengers and no luggage. Although police suspected human smuggling, no charges were filed at the time. He has also been accused of physically abusing his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, as well as having alleged ties to cartel gangsters. 

BREAKING: Fox News has obtained video footage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly involved in human smuggling, as noted by Tennessee State Troopers.

This is the man Democrats decided to put their entire party behind lmao.

The incident happened during a traffic stop in Tennessee… pic.twitter.com/WrqkM36BkV

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 2, 2025

Related:

• "Maryland Father" Or MS-13 Migrant Gangster. Which Is It, MSM?

• NPR: Abrego Garcia Was "Living Quietly" In Maryland Before He Was Deported

Under a ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who had ordered the administration to facilitate the Salvadoran national's return from a mega-prison in El Salvador, officials must give him and his attorneys at least 72 business notice before carrying out any deportation to a third country.

The Democratic Party has devoted itself to defending criminal illegal aliens, protecting violent criminals instead of victims, vocally embracing socialism and Marxism, waging a Marxist-style color revolution against opponents, and unleashing social justice warriors who pushed failed progressive policies at the local and state levels. The very same policies have transformed once-peaceful areas within some cities into crime-ridden hellholes. 

Why is that? Their globalist agenda is clear and alarming, and these policies certainly seem aimed at accelerating the death of a nation.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 11:05

Government Statistics Are Always Political

Authored by Tho Bishop via Mises.org,

In the age of Trump, even the most boring of political positions can find themselves in the center of the political news cycle. In recent weeks, it has been the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After severe revisions to previous job reports, Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and has nominated E.J. Antoni, who—if nothing else—has claimed to be a fan of Murray Rothbard.

Usually a changing of the guard at a position such as this would go on with little fanfare. In fact, one of the reasons why BLS Commissioners typically overlap from presidential administration to presidential administration is that it has traditionally been seen as a low-priority position for a president’s agenda.

So why has this become an issue now?

The obvious answer is that President Trump is a man who cares about headlines and his social media venting about the disastrous job numbers understandably raises the spectre of concern about the “politicalization” of the statistics bureau. The fact that bad jobs data would traditionally be viewed as an asset in his feud with crusade for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve is secondary to his desire to project his vision of a “Golden Age.”

The backlash to Trump’s focus on BLS is predictable, but also revealing. After all, what is not in question is the bad track record of monthly BLS data in recent years. The news that sparked Trump’s fury wasn’t just the economy underperforming in the area of job creation, but significant revisions downwards from previous reports. This was also true under the prior administration.

While revisions to BLS data isn’t new, the unreliability of their monthly reports have increased in recent years. One clear issue is that survey participation rates used to form their original report have fallen as low as under 43 percent, resulting in estimates increasingly reliant upon projections and modeling. These rates improve in later reports, resulting in the significant revisions.

Antoni has pointed to these underlying issues as a potential reason to suspend the monthly jobs report in favor of just releasing the more accurate quarterly report, which was met by horrifying gasps from critics. While it’s easy to identify a political motivation in preventing unflattering economic data from being released to the public, it is worth noting that it is the inaccurate monthly reports that have projected a rosier depiction of the economy.

The real question is why is a monthly jobs report viewed as so significant, given that there is universal recognition of systemic issues with their methodology and their recent record of poor past performance? The issue is that government statistics are themselves essential to the operations of how Washington operates.

As Murray Rothbard noted in his article, Statistics: Achilles’ Heel of Government:

Only by statistics, can the federal government make even a fitful attempt to plan, regulate, control, or reform various industries — or impose central planning and socialization on the entire economic system…

Statistics, to repeat, are the eyes and ears of the interventionists: of the intellectual reformer, the politician, and the government bureaucrat. Cut off those eyes and ears, destroy those crucial guidelines to knowledge, and the whole threat of government intervention is almost completely eliminated.

The perceived importance of government statistics is precisely because they are the tools used to justify and execute the labyrinth of interventions in society. Real-world conditions—be they in markets or the safety of neighbors—are secondary to the ability of politicians to point to the officially-credentialed statistical measures to tout the wisdom of their desired policy aims. In recent years, we’ve seen politicians tout the safety of cities that stopped reporting meaningful violent crime statistics.

As such, questioning the credibility of the government statistics is a means by which to erode credibility in the state itself. Perceiving the collection of government statistics as being partisan, erodes the credibility of the state itself. It is better, then, to maintain the tradition and the perception of norms in the accounting and releasing of government statistics than it is to meaningfully consider the underlying value of what is being recorded in the first place.

This does not mean, of course, that Washington is reflexively against profound changes into how government statistics are compiled. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has undergone a number of changes over the last several decades, resulting in markets for alternative measures of inflation. Sometimes the Federal Reserve will simply decommission certain data sets. These changes, however, are granted the credentialed veneer of acceptability by the expert class, and often done in an understated way far from public attention.

In short, despite the transparent political aims of the current administration in the battle over the future of the BLS data sets, the emphasis placed on government statistics is inherently intractable to the operations of the interventionist state and, therefore, they should always be viewed through a lens of cynicism. Much like romantic notions of “Federal Reserve independence,” “a federal system of checks and balances,” or the “independent nature of professional bureaucracy,” to suggest otherwise is to ignore the realities of how Washington operates in practice.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 10:30

Late To The Ladder: The Rise In First-Time Home Buyers' Age

Buying a home for the first time is a milestone many associate with adulthood. But for today’s first-time home buyers, that goal keeps slipping further into the future.

This Markets in a Minute graphic, created by Visual Capitalist's Jenna Ross, in partnership with Terzo, shows how the age at which people in the U.S. buy their first home has been climbing over time.

Later to the Property Ladder

Using data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), we explore how the median age of first-time home buyers has changed from 2010 to 2024. 

In 2010, the median age was 30, little changed from NAR’s first records of age 29 in 1981. However, the last 15 years have seen quite a shift.

Source: National Association of Realtors

By 2024, people buying homes are much older, hitting a record of 38. The share of first-time home buyers on the market also dropped from 32% to 24%.

Challenges for First-Time Home Buyers

Many are arriving late to the property ladder—and for good reason. The first few rungs have become harder to reach, or in some cases, feel entirely broken. 

High home prices and elevated mortgage rates have made homes much less affordable, especially with limited housing inventory. Incomes also haven’t been keeping up with rising home costs, with the price-to-income ratio climbing from 3.5 in 1985 to 5.0 in 2025. 

On top of this, many say high rent, student loans, credit card debt, and car loans are hurdles to saving for a down payment.

A New Financial Profile for Beginner Homeowners

Today’s first-time home buyers are climbing a ladder with steeper steps and fewer footholds. As a result, they tend to be older and wealthier before taking the first step.

The typical first-time buyer now earns around $97,000 annually, a jump of $26,000 since 2022. In some states, the income needed to buy a home is much higher—as high as $229,000 in Hawaii.

When it comes to a down payment, people buying homes for the first time put down 9% on average. While the bulk use savings for down payments, a quarter of newbie buyers used loans or gifts from friends and family. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 09:55

The Drunkest Man In Germany: Foreign Driver With Deadly Blood Alcohol Level Arrested After Traveling 220 km/h On Autobahn

By Remix News

A foreign driver with an unbelievably high blood alcohol content (BAC), one that would routinely kill most people, decided to drive his car at an unbelievable 220 kilometers per hour (137 miles per hour) on the German autobahn. His passenger had an even higher blood alcohol content.

The man was traveling on the A67 in southern Hesse and was so drunk that most medical literature indicates that he should be dead or in a coma.

One witness followed the car and called the police after noticing the man zigzagging between lanes and driving in an erratic manner late one evening.

Officers stopped the car, which had foreign license plates, and checked both occupants of the vehicle in the parking lot of the A5 autobahn.

Incredibly, the passenger of the vehicle had an even higher blood alcohol level.

“A breathalyzer test carried out on the spot showed a blood alcohol level of 4.16 per mille for the driver and no blood alcohol level for the passenger, as the device switches off when the blood alcohol level reaches 5 per mille!” the police wrote in a statement, including an exclamation mark to indicate their shock.

The driver’s license was immediately confiscated, and he was taken into custody.

German media outlet Welt wrote that “The fact that there were no injuries or deaths was likely due to mere coincidence.”

In Germany, drivers are not permitted to drive with a blood alcohol level over 0.5 per mille or higher. At 1.1 per mille, it is a criminal offense, as the law states there is an “absolute inability to drive.”

“A blood alcohol level above 4 per mille poses an acute risk to life,” the ADAC, the German automobile club, the largest in Europe, writes. “Important protective reflexes are lost, those affected fall into a coma, and can suffer shock with progressive circulatory failure, even complete respiratory and cardiac arrest.”

A blood alcohol concentration of more than 5 per mille almost always leads to death.

The fact that the passenger had a blood alcohol level above 5 and did not die is remarkable in itself.

There is speculation about the identity of the foreigners; however, the German media did not indicate their nationality or what country the vehicle was registered under.

Although the 5 per mille level seems remarkable, it is far from the highest blood alcohol level ever recorded. One poorly sourced claim notes a Polish driver recorded an incredible 1.480 percent level, which was recorded after he crashed his car. Despite the level, he survived, only later to die from the injuries from the crash — and not the alcohol. However, the Guinness Book of World Records claims the highest level was 1.374 percent, also set by a Polish man who survived but suffered serious damage to his internal organs.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 09:20

Powering Up America: Goldman Stays Bullish On Green Capex Outlook, Highlights Top Picks

A team of Goldman analysts led by Brian Singer reaffirmed his bullish view on U.S. power-sector Green Capex after the IRS recently clarified eligibility rules for solar and wind tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The new "physical work" test replaces the prior 5% capex rule but is not expected to constrain utility-scale solar and onshore wind projects that much.

"While the OBBBA should meaningfully reduce government outlay initially meant to stimulate diverse sources of Green Capex, we continue to see resilient levels of US power sector Green Capex -- we estimate $2.0 trillion in 2023-32," Singer wrote in a note to clients. 

He flagged investment opportunities across the power and water infrastructure supply chain, where the "Reliability Imperative" will continue to funnel capital allocations:

• Meet rising power demand growth -- which our Utilities team expects will continue to grow 2.5% per year through 2030 in the U.S.

• Replace aging infrastructure.

• Enhance resiliency to extreme temperatures/weather events.

Singer outlined the green energy stocks to own:

With power continuing to gain share in Green Capex -- investment towards decarbonization, infrastructure and clean water Sustainable Development Goals -- and our outlook for robust deployment of renewables in the shorter term, natural gas in the medium term and nuclear in the longer term, we continue to see investment opportunities throughout the power and water Reliability supply chain. This includes Buy-rated First Solar, GE Vernova, MasTec, Quanta Services, Xcel Energy, Xylem levered in part to the U.S. market.

Visualizing the companies Goldman believes will see tailwinds from Powering Up America into the clean, digital age...

Singer believes Powering Up America to support data centers will be a mix of green tech power generation, nuclear, plus NatGas... 

As referenced earlier, we believe U.S. generational growth in power demand will not just be supportive for Green Capex (which includes nuclear power) but non-Green Capex as well. As we have previously highlighted, to meet data center power demand growth we continue to expect 60% of generation capacity additions to come from gas-fired plants. Additionally, the Reliability Imperative may drive utilities and regulators to delay coal-fired power plant retirements.

The U.S. is still on track to spend trillions upgrading its power grid and building new generation for data centers, but EVs and some other green tech are losing momentum in President Trump's second term because of OBBBA, pulling total investment below initial IRA-era forecasts.

More in the full Goldman note available to pro subs.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 08:45

Axis Of Upheaval: Military Watches Of Russia & China

Via Watches Of Espionage,

What watches have historically kept this emerging bloc that's challenging the Western order on time?

2025 Russia–United States Summit

President Trump recently met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, a land mass that was purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for a measly 7.2 million dollars. The meeting didn't amount to a deal when it came to ending the war in Russia and Ukraine, and notably, neither leader was visibly wearing a watch in the photographs made available to the public. 

Putin has an extensive watch collection, including an 18k yellow gold Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase, a platinum A. Lange & Sohne, a Blancpain, and an IWC, but since the invasion of Ukraine has been seen only wearing a Russian-made watch from the Imperial Peterhof Factory (Raketa). Of note, Putin was seen wearing the watch in a visit to Magadan while en route to the Alaska summit.

In the intelligence world, every detail is scrutinized, including this one. We have discussed CIA analysis of foreign leaders' timepieces (read HERE), and it is reasonable to conclude this was a conscious decision to demonstrate Russian prowess and watchmaking during a time of war. Just as the B-2 flanked by four F-35 Lightning IIs flying over as Trump and Putin strolled the red carpet was meant as a show of American air power, wearing a Russian-made watch could be meant to telegraph unity and a strong allegiance to Country. 

The Big Four - Hard Targets

Russia is part of a larger grouping referred to at CIA as "The Big Four" hard targets or CRINK, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. We have to ask ourselves, what can we learn about these nations by looking through the lens of watches? 

For Western intelligence agencies, including CIA, the Big Four are priority collection targets, and they present a particular challenge for traditional intelligence collection. Their global presence looms large, and their military capabilities are not to be underestimated. 

Simply put, the Moscow-Beijing alliance fuels the national security concerns of the West. It's no secret that both of these nations pose a global threat to Western interests, and at Watches of Espionage, we look at geopolitical tensions through the lens of timepieces. Surprisingly, much can be learned from analyzing the military-issued watches of both China and Russia (focusing on its Soviet period). 

Meanwhile, to a much lesser extent, Iran and North Korea have their own watch culture in the military and intelligence space worthy of exploration, which we will address in a future Dispatch.

Why Hasn't The Mainstream Watch Culture Covered These Watches? Are Military Watches From the Russia-China Bloc Collectible? 

The majority of traditional military watch collectors don't fawn over Chinese or Russian watches with the same fervor as they do Swiss and Japanese-made tool watches. But one thing should be made clear, that's not because these nations are devoid of any watchmaking culture. It's quite the opposite. Watchmaking is a rich and storied tradition in both China and Russia. But the military history, the enigmatic nature of these watches, and most interestingly, what they can tell us about these nations make them deserving of discussion. 

Watches have historically been viewed solely as a commodity when it comes to Chinese and Russian manufacturers (although there are exceptions, more on that later). They're cheap to procure, made with cost efficiency in mind, and often don't have the same perception of quality as typical Swiss watches. And they aren't meant to. 

It's important to understand that high quality, longevity, and artistry are not part of the production philosophy of watches, especially military watches, from Russia and China. Swiss brands put emotion at the core of the idea of "Swiss Watchmaking", and those same companies that focused on the emotional component of watchmaking tradition also produced watches for Western military forces.

In addition to the overall "feel" of the watches, trade sanctions and geographical barriers did not allow the West to procure these watches when they were widely distributed. China was a closed state until the late '70s, and the Soviet Union had similar policies up until dissolution when it came to trade and foreign visitors. When mechanical watchmaking was at its height in the '50s through the '70s, these states were not considered when it came to importing watches to the Western world. The inverse is true as well, and there were trade sanctions in place that made it difficult for the Soviet Union and China to purchase watches from Western nations. 

To follow are a number of notable watches connected to the military from both China and Russia (again, focusing on the Soviet Union).

The Sleeping Giant: Chinese Military Watches

China has the world's largest military by personnel count, with more than two million active duty service members; that statistic is not to be confused with who has the strongest military. 

Recently, China's sixth-generation fighter, referred to unofficially as the J-36, has emerged as a formidable contender for global air superiority. It signals a significant step forward for Beijing in a military technology race with Washington, but every capability of the J-36 has already been demonstrated by aircraft in the US inventory. In other words, it's nothing new. But that doesn't mean it isn't a credible threat. 

The same sort of pattern, a technology emerging in the West with China later introducing a version, happened with watches in the '60s. It's something China has proven to excel at, taking a known technology and making it cheaper and easier to produce at scale. 

In the 1950s, brands like Omega and Breitling famously produced chronographs for aviation applications for Western militaries, and even space programs. Meanwhile, the Chinese government went through a period when they produced use-case specific watches for military forces shortly after, the most famous being the 1963 Chronograph. It was issued directly to select pilots in the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 1966. At the time, the PLAAF was operating fighters like the Shenyang J-5 and Shenyang J-6, domestically produced versions of the USSR's MiG-17 and MiG-19, respectively. The PLAAF served mainly as a defense force, although it would frequently engage with the Taiwanese Air Force along the Taiwan Strait. 

The government-sponsored watch production eventually became known as Sea-Gull. Today, the company exports watches globally and has found a niche following in the collecting community. A version of the 1963 Chronograph is still produced and has garnered attention as an affordable way to acquire a watch with genuine military history. The China of today, with its socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics, is undoubtedly much different from the China of the '60s during the Cultural Revolution. Now there's a pathway for profiting from what was once a tool only the military had access to. 

While the 1963 Chronograph dominates the conversation around Chinese military pilots' watches, it's the Shanghai Watch Factory SS2 and SS4 that epitomize the Chinese military dive watch. Around the same time as the need for a Chronograph emerged, so did the need for a reliable watch that could stand up to austere environments, particularly those requiring high water resistance. China has close to 9,000 miles of coastline, and during the development phase of the SS2 and SS4, the People's Liberation Army Navy was shifting from a coastal defense force to an emerging global naval power through heavy investment and restructuring. 

The watch follows the same format as just about any dive watch: a clear, legible dial paired with a rotating bezel to track elapsed time. It also featured 200m of water resistance, which was a significant achievement for a fledgling watch producer at the time. 

The "expedition watch", as it's come to be known, features a pared-down dial without a turning bezel, and the expression of this concept to come out of China was the Seagull ST5. A number of these watches were issued to the team that established China's presence in Antarctica. A team of 591 Chinese expedition members traveled to Antarctica in 1984 to begin construction of the Great Wall Station on King George Island, which is still operational today. 

Red Rus: Soviet Era Military Watches To Today's Russian Military Watches

There's beauty in functionality, but Soviet-era military vehicles and aircraft certainly push the limits when it comes to that notion with their polarizing designs. The watches of the time were no different. The design and engineering philosophy was simple: make something just robust enough to stand up to the rigors of hard wear, but cheap enough that it could be mass-produced by a state-owned enterprise. Little attention was paid to refinement and finishing, because when one watch broke, there was another ready to take its place. Accuracy wasn't held in particularly high regard, either.

But they did what they needed to do well enough to keep a Cold War power on time. Like the TU-95 Bear or the UAZ 469, there's a certain intrigue to engineering born in the Soviet era, partly because it was so antithetical to Western ideals. Communism created a production philosophy that de-emphasized longevity and ultimate quality. There was virtually no competition, just a number of state-owned watch producers making watches, and "consumers" (in this case, the military) had no freedom of choice. The most well-known watchmakers born in Soviet times were Vostok, Raketa, and Poljot.

And yet, these watches serve as fascinating insight into a state that sent the US into the Space Race, caused the Red Scare, and shifted the view on global nuclear destruction from a dystopian fantasy to a very real possibility. With that in mind, let's take a look at a few iconic Soviet/Russian military watches. 

Vostok Amphibia 

The Amphibia was initially conceived as a Soviet military dive watch but ended up becoming a fixture in modern mainstream collecting culture thanks to its on-screen appearance in the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, worn by Bill Murray. The first watches produced under the brand name Vostok came about in the mid-50s, and the company flourished during the Cold War as a leading producer of watches for the USSR Ministry of Defense. 

During WWII, the watchmaking industry was ordered to relocate from Moscow due to the possible threat of invasion and attack on industrial targets. The watchmaking industry was tasked with making bomb timers, aircraft instrumentation, and fuse-delay mechanisms for wartime efforts, so the relocation was part of a wartime strategy. The Second Moscow Watch Factory was set up far to the East of Moscow, and that morphed into the Chistopol Watch Factory, which eventually became Vostok in the mid-50s. 

The Amphibia isn't a singular model, but rather a family of watches that emerged in the late '60s. There are dozens of different variations under the Amphibia name, with different case designs, dials, bracelets, and automatic or manual-winding movements. Most of them, however, share one interesting feature: a "compressor" case. What distinguishes a compressor case from a standard dive watch case is in the way it's designed to resist water; becoming more impervious to water ingress the deeper it goes.

This is because it "compresses" under pressure, squeezing the gaskets in such a way that the case becomes more watertight the deeper it goes. This isn't unique to the Vostok Amphibia, however, and the term is generally associated with the Super Compressor watch cases manufactured by EPSA and utilized by numerous Swiss watchmakers during the 60s and 70s. 

In one iteration or another, from the Soviet to the modern era, Vostok Amphibia watches have been used by Russian military divers. 

Vostok Komandirskie 

Almost all Komandirskie models—like the Amphibia, it's a family rather than a single model—share several attributes: They don't hack, the power reserve is a meager 36 hours, the date doesn't have a quick-set mechanism, and the bezel, like the Amphibia, is a "friction-fit" design, meaning there is no tactile clicking. Despite all this, they're favored by military enthusiasts for one reason: They're cheap. And they're cheap because they got their start being mass-produced for the military. 

In 1965, the Vostok Commander, or Komandirskie, debuted. Like the name suggests, it was a watch for high-ranking military officials as opposed to folks with boots on the ground. It served as a platform for propaganda, too. Countless editions were created to celebrate various units, branches, anniversaries, characters, and Soviet military achievements. They were purportedly used as gifts to foreign dignitaries as well. 

Raketa: Then & Now

Raketa is Russian for "rocket", and the brand officially took this name as Russia gained ground in the space race after Yuri Gagarin completed the first manned space flight. Historically, plenty of Raketa watches have been made for Soviet forces and civilians, with some of the most famous examples being the 24-hour models and the "big zero" models. Particularly useful in polar environments was the 24-hour format, due to the irregular nature of sunrise and sunset at extreme latitudes. The expedition members of the 16th Soviet Antarctic expedition were issued a model specifically developed for the task, and in classic Soviet watch fashion, the art on the dial is a not-so-subtle nod to the intended use of the watch. 

One of the hallmarks of Raketa watches is the "0" or "00" at the typical twelve o'clock position. There's a legend, the stock and trade of many Swiss brands' marketing departments, that Mikhail Gorbachev said, "it's like on my watch, the Russian people want to start everything from zero," when commenting on the dawn of the Perestroika era. 

In Russia's modern mixed-market economy (generally a free market with guardrails put on by the government as well as support), Raketa lives on. But today, it utilizes modern marketing tactics and caters to a global audience. In short, it operates like any other watch brand. 

The Imperial Peterhof Factory, the brand manufacturing the watch that Putin has been seen wearing the past few years, is made in the same factory as Raketa watches in St. Petersburg. It's important to note that the brand emerged only in recent history, but can loosely count the previous 300 years of craftsmanship happening in the eponymous Petrodvorets Watch Factory as part of its horological history. 

Soviet times couldn't accommodate a "luxury" company of this sort, so naturally, it's a young haute horology brand that puts forth Russia's modern horological capabilities. Before the October Revolution in 1917, there was an incredibly strong emphasis on craftsmanship and micromechanical engineering in the Russian Empire, so there is some legitimate history and tradition to draw upon. 

Final Thoughts

Despite at times harsh comparisons to Western watchmaking standards, the military watches of China and Russia are more than crude tools or cheap imitations of Swiss icons; they are artifacts of states that define themselves in opposition to the West. To dismiss them outright as unrefined is to miss the point: their very austerity tells us something about the societies that produced them, just as much as a Rolex GMT-Master on the wrist of a Naval Aviator says something about ours. 

Whether strapped to a Russian combat diver under the ice in Murmansk, a PLAAF pilot in 1966, or today on Vladimir Putin himself, these watches remain small but telling signals in the larger contest for global power. For watch collectors and casual observers alike, they are reminders that timekeeping, like geopolitics, is never neutral.

The Axis Of Upheaval: The Military Watches Of Russia & China - What watches have historically kept this emerging bloc that’s challenging the Western order on time? (Read Below)https://t.co/LGYiEuLw9C

— Watches of Espionage (@watchesofespion) August 23, 2025

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Here's more from Watches Of Espionage...

• These Are The Best Military And Intelligence Unit Watches

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Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 08:10

Visualizing Africa's Battery Storage Pipeline

Nearly 600 million people in Africa lack access to electricity, and the continent’s population is projected to double between 2050 and 2070. This growing demand underscores the urgent need for scalable, reliable energy solutions.

As Africa transforms its power infrastructure, utility-scale batteries such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are becoming essential. These technologies help stabilize energy supply, manage the intermittency of renewables, and support off-grid systems critical to expanding access.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalists Bruno Venditti, highlights the continent’s battery storage pipeline, including projects that are operational, under construction, or in planning. It reveals both leading players and emerging markets in Africa’s energy storage landscape.

The data for this visualization comes from Rho Motion. It captures utility-scale battery storage projects across Africa as of June 2025, with projections through 2030.

South Africa Leads by a Wide Margin

With a total proposed capacity of 11 GWh, South Africa is far ahead of other African countries in deploying battery storage. Its pipeline includes 4 operational systems, 7 under construction, and 19 more in development.

Egypt and Morocco represent the next wave of battery storage growth, with 3 GWh in proposed capacity each. Both nations are investing in solar and wind infrastructure, and storage helps smooth their integration into national grids. Egypt already has projects operational and under construction, showing more near-term readiness.

Meanwhile, countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have smaller but notable footprints. Most have total storage pipelines under 3 GWh, with smaller-scale projects crucial for powering remote communities and testing new energy business models across Africa.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Visualizing China’s Battery Recycling Dominance on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 07:35

Systemic Corruption Doesn't Give A Chance For Peace In Ukraine

Authored by Yuri Mirovich via AntiWar.com,

Another huge scandal linked to embezzlement of budget funds in government procurement has broken out in Ukraine recently. On August 2, Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) exposed an organized criminal group created by “Servant of the People” party’s deputy Oleksii Kuznietsov and head of the State Administration of the Mukachevo District Serhiy Haidai. The group have been organizing purchases of overpriced FPV drones and electronic warfare systems for the National Guard of Ukraine.

According to investigation data, beside Kuznietsov and Haidai, a head of one of the Military-Civil Administrations, a unit commander of the National Guard, and representatives of company manufacturing drones were also involved in the huge corruption scheme. During 2024-2025, the criminals embezzled about $80 000 of money allocated for purchasing of defense goods. 30% from every government contract settled in their pockets. Now, all key persons of interest are taken into custody with the possibility of being out on bail. The head of the state Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the situation eloquently calling the fraud “absolutely immoral” and promised a “full and fair accountability” for the criminals. However, neither high-profile exposure of corrupt officials, nor passionate speeches of the president of the country haven’t been able to dispel the tension, that has accumulated over last several weeks, and exonerate the Kyiv authorities for Ukrainians and international public.

Specialized law enforcement agency focused on graft , the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which was to quiet the concerns of Western allies. Creative Commons.

The reason for this is recent attempts of authorities to discredit the Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies and restrict their independence which really destroyed civilians’ faith in Zelenskyy’s and his team’s commitment to the rule of law and authorities’ interest in fighting corruption in general. I’m talking about a set of planned and well-coordinated attacks of current authorities on SAPO and NABU which preceded the exposure of the Kuznietsov-Haidai group. 

On June 21, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (one month before the events the office of Prosecutor General was taken by Ruslan Kravchenko who is known for his loyalty to the Office of the President of Ukraine) and SBU conducted unauthorized searches in both agencies. As the result of the searches, several NABU detectives were taken into custody on suspicion of collaboration with Russia. This joint operation of the secret services and the Prosecutor General’s Office (cynically called by the implementers “special operation”) literally paralyzed the work of NABU and SAPO and created a formal reason for tightening the control over anti-corruption agencies. The reason the Kyiv authorities have been looking for a very long time and not finding one, is that they created it themselves. Already on July 22, the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine passed a new law which practically liquidated the independence of anti-corruption agencies and established full control over their work by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Later that night, the new law was quickly signed by the President Zelenskyy despite the will of Ukrainians.

Such an undisguised attempt to liquidate the anti-corruption agencies caused an immediate reaction from Ukrainians. Ukrainians openly stood against the culpable law: hundreds of people went to protests on the streets, and free Ukrainian media was full of critics and disapproval of Kyiv’s authorities. However, I hate to admit it, but Ukrainians wouldn’t stop the authorities’ arbitrariness by themselves without the help of Ukrainian allies. Only due to the fast interference and strong stand of European and American authorities which have made everything they could to stop Kyiv’s authorities’ treacherous actions. The process of liquidation of SAPO and NABU was reversed. As a result, on July 31, under pressure of Ukrainian and international public a new law was passed. It restored the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t hope that Kyiv’s authorities stop trying to destroy anti-corruption agencies.

The events described above really incited discontent with the Kyiv’s policies and demonstrated clearly the deep and insurmountable gap between ordinary citizens and the government elites. As a result, nobody believed in Zelenskyy’s attempt to simulate solidarity with SAPO and NABU in their fight with corruption. Thus, the consequent exposure of the Kuznietsov-Haidai’s scheme was perceived as an authorities’ sop to public in order to fix their tarnished reputation. However, the sop wouldn’t have happened if people hadn’t defended the independence of SAPO and NABU.

Many analysts and journalists are sure that the scheme is a tip of an iceberg of huge corruption net involving the whole government system. And that’s why the authorities were so eager to disrupt the work of the anti-corruption agencies, or to liquidate them completely as a threat. And these suspicions aren’t groundless. Such corruption schemes demand clear and well-established coordination of actions of many people and powerful departments that is impossible to organize without the support of top officials during the war and taking into account the rigid vertical of power. And it’s highly possible that if SBU hadn’t interfered in the work of NABU and SAPO acquiring the access to the information about agencies’ operations then there would have been a bigger and more high-profile ant-corruption process involving upper echelons politicians and multimillion bribes in defense sector. 

This theory can be proved by the fact that such scandals linked to embezzlement of budget funds in defense sector became a new norm for Ukraine during the war. And every time criminals only got reprimands and their crimes were being quickly forgotten. Moreover, according to the information from the Turkish newspaper Aydilink, the persecution SAPO and NABU started after the exposure of a scheme of transferring money from Ukraine to the UAE. According to the scheme Zelenskyy’s inner circle transferred tens millions of dollars every month to UAE-based shell companies linked to Zelenskyy’s close friend Andii Hmyrin.

Being a bad influence on all spheres of the government and society as a united system, the problem of systemic corruption is a really acute topic in Ukraine now. However, particularly corruption (supported and protected by the authorities all over the vertical of power) add fuel to the fire of the war distancing Ukraine from peace. While defense budgets and multibillion tranches of military aid from the allies are creating a fertile ground for corrupt politicians, while the fight against corruption is remaining a cover created for Europe and America, while Ukrainian businessmen are developing new schemes of getting rich on the war, a peaceful settlement of the war is out of question. The same is true for the law about the independence of SAPO and NABU. Without the support “from the outside”, without the interference of international agencies and public, common Ukrainians have little chance to make a difference by themselves.

Yuri Mirovich is a Ukrainian refugee living in the Netherlands since 2023. He studied law at the University of Groningen. While living in Ukraine he engaged in active public work and is now a member of the Dutch political initiative De Beweging.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/24/2025 - 07:00

Texas Senate Passes Redistricting Map Favoring Republicans

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

The Texas Senate on Aug. 23 passed a bill that will redraw Texas’s congressional maps and increase Republicans’ hold on the state’s U.S. House delegation by as many as five seats.

Cars are parked outside the Texas Capitol building, amid a redistricting battle between Republican and Democratic state lawmakers, in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 20, 2025. Reuters/Sergio Flores

Its passage in the early hours of Saturday morning came after a daylong session.

After passing the Republican-dominated upper chamber in an 18 to 11 party-line vote, the bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law.

In line with a request from President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice, the bill would redraw the state’s congressional boundaries to favor Republicans.

Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 21 signed a legislative package to authorize a Nov. 4 referendum to redraw California’s congressional maps in favor of Democrats. The changes are expected to be approved in the Democratic stronghold.

The map could increase Democrats’ hold on California’s U.S. House delegation by as many as five seats, endangering several previously safe Republicans.

On Thursday evening, the state Senate’s Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting met to discuss the bill, voting 5–3 in favor of reporting the bill to the Senate with a favorable recommendation.

The Texas House of Representatives passed the legislation on Aug. 20, after the more than 50 Democrats who had left the state earlier returned after it became clear that California would approve a legislative response to Texas’s passage of the bill.

Those Democrats returned to the state after a two-week standoff, during which the state Legislature was unable to achieve a quorum and was therefore gridlocked.

They returned after two conditions were met: the introduction of a legislative response in California and the end of the first special session of the state Legislature, which had been declared by Abbott.

The Trump administration, through the Department of Justice (DOJ), has encouraged the Texas redistricting, claiming that some of Texas’s districts are illegal under the Voting Rights Act, civil rights legislation designed to increase participation in federal elections and prevent discriminatory or race-based voting restrictions.

Current boundaries run afoul of the Voting Rights Act by relying on racial demographics to group minority voters into “coalition districts,” where no single racial group forms a majority, according to the DOJ.

The Texas bill was initially delayed for two weeks when a walkout by 50 Democratic state House members denied Republicans the quorum needed for a legitimate vote.

Those Texas Democrats said the redistricting was an attempt to maintain control of the U.S. House in the upcoming midterm elections.

During the state Senate debate on Friday, some lawmakers repeated the criticisms that the new Texas map violates federal law by diluting Hispanic and black voting power and discriminating on the basis of race.

State Sen. Royce West (D-District 23) predicted the new map would reduce the number of African Americans representing Texas in Washington from four to two.

“I call that retrogression,” West said.

State Sen. Phil King (R-District 10) who sponsored the bill, said repeatedly he had not considered race and that lawyers had assured him the bill meets all legal requirements.

“From my perspective, why would I use racial data?” he told his fellow senators. “Voting history is just much more accurate and is well established as a legal way to draw maps.”

The Democratic National Convention announced on July 28 that it will be sending some 250,000 texts to voters and readying 30,000 grassroots organizers to reach persuadable Republican and independent Texans in key districts.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed on Aug. 4 to explore ways to redraw the state’s congressional maps in response to Texas’s mid-cycle redistricting efforts.

The push for redistricting in Texas, California, and other states has prompted many to claim that one or both parties is attempting to make partisan gains through a strategic redrawing of the congressional map—behavior known colloquially as “gerrymandering.”

Often, districts are described as “gerrymandered” when they are in an odd or unusual shape that seems designed to ensure a particular outcome.

The term originated in the United States in the early 19th century, and is derived from the name of former Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry’s salamander-shaped district.

According to a 2022 poll by The Economist and YouGov, two-thirds of Americans considered gerrymandering to be a “major problem” in the United States, with only 23 percent describing it as a “minor problem.”

Darlene McCormick Sanchez, Jackson Richman and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 23:20

These Are Currently The World's Most Valuable Unicorn Companies

Unicorn companies are making a comeback fueled by the generative AI frenzy.

While startup funding experienced a lull after the 2021 bonanza, private companies are now seeing a flood of investment, particularly in AI-driven firms like OpenAI. At the same time, countries such as India and the UK are producing firms with sky-high valuations, reflecting an increasingly global unicorn landscape.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most valuable unicorn companies in 2025, based on data from Crunchbase.

Ranked: The Top 30 Biggest Unicorn Companies

Below, we show the world’s top 30 unicorns by valuation as of July 4, 2025:

Texas-based SpaceX is expected to see $15.5 billion in revenue in 2025, according to a founder Elon Musk.

Driving the majority of revenue is its satellite business Starlink, which includes clients such as United Airlines, Deere, and the U.S. government. This year, Starlink is estimated to bring in $12.3 billion in revenue while NASA is set to drive $1.1 billion in space exploration contracts.

OpenAI ranks second globally with a $300 billion valuation. So far in 2025, it has reportedly doubled its annualized revenue to $12 billion, driven by its global user base of 700 million weekly active users.

With a $220 billion valuation, TikTok-parent ByteDance follows next. This year, the company expects revenue to grow 20% to $186 billion, hovering close to Meta’s projected $187 billion revenue estimates in 2025

To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on the world’s fastest growing jobs by 2030.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 22:45

Florida Appeals Judge's Ruling Against Expansion Of 'Alligator Alcatraz'

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

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration on Aug. 21 appealed a ruling made by a federal judge halting the expansion of the “Alligator Alcatraz” illegal immigrant detention center in the Everglades.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conference in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 12, 2025. Chris O'Meara/AP Photo

The appeal follows U.S. Judge Kathleen Williams’s ruling on Aug. 21 in favor of environmental groups who had brought a lawsuit against the facility, saying that it endangers the Everglades and its wildlife.

The ruling requires the state to stop sending detainees to the center and bars new construction there. It also orders that some aspects of the facility be dismantled as current detainees are moved elsewhere.

In response, DeSantis said at a news conference on Aug. 22 that the state remains committed to its mission of removing illegal immigrants despite the judge’s order on the usage of the detention facility.

The governor said the judge’s ruling was expected and that his office would “respond accordingly.”

“This is a judge that was not going to give us a fair shake. This was preordained,” he said. “This is not going to deter us. We’re going to continue working on the deportations, advancing that mission.”

DeSantis called Alligator Alcatraz a success, citing growing demand for similar facilities. The state plans to open a second detention center in Baker County. He said the new facility, to be named “Deportation Depot,” will have the capacity to hold up to 2,000 detainees.

“This mission is important. You either have a country or you don’t. You have people that are in this country that have already been ordered to be removed by the current system and yet the previous administration didn’t want to do anything about it,” he said.

The state filed a notice of appeal with the Eleventh Circuit on Aug. 21.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated on X that the appeal was filed “within hours” of the ruling. The facility “remains operational” to support the state’s immigration enforcement efforts, he added.

In the order, Williams demanded that authorities remove “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project” within 60 days. Some fencing and additional lighting that had already been installed must also be removed.

The judge said the decision was driven by a desire to align with Florida environmental law protecting the endangered Everglades.

For several years, “every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” Williams wrote. “This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 22:10