This past Spring, I had about 6 weeks of mad travel. Especially so, for someone who isn’t much of a road warrior. But my travels were nothing compared to my buddy Marshall’s.

My spring fling looked something like this:

-Grand Cayman (5 days; last minute getaway from NY winter)
-FutureProof Miami
-La Jolla, CA (surprise 50th Wedding Anniversary)
-Road Trip (see below)
-San Francisco, CA for Live Masters in Business/RWM client trip
-Montreal (overnight)

The Caymans and La Jolla were personal travel; everything else was work-related. And in the middle of all this was an unusual road trip. Actually, the first of its kind – part of a 48-state, cross-country run in a 12-cylinder classic Ferrari.

There is a story behind this.

I have known Marshall for almost as long as he has been an emerging markets manager (decades). He worked at a large shop, where he put up very impressive numbers — especially getting Grexit dead right. As so often happens, the big shop got gobbled up by an even bigger shop.

And despite having better returns across every metric, the acquirer decided it could do without Marshall, perhaps in favor of its own larger (but chronically underperforming) EM funds.

His lengthy “Garden Leave” became early retirement.

But Marshall is not much of a gardener. He’s more of a traveler, having visited nearly 100 countries. He had also been a competitive Formula Enterprise racer. He began as a Spec Miata driver and, after strong finishes, worked his way up to racing nationally on America’s most storied tracks. Mind you, this was his hobby, not his job.

So what does a bored five-star fund manager do when he realizes financial independence? Something no one else has ever done before:

As it turns out, no one has ever driven a 12-cylinder Ferrari across all 48 contiguous United States. The closest account we could find was the Magnum P.I. Ferrari 308 GTS being driven cross-country by P.J. Rourke so it could be shipped to Hawaii.

But that was 1) A brand-new car; B) with only 8 cylinders; iii) and not across all 48 states.

So Marshall spent a year deciding what car would be most suitable for this adventure, then hunting down the best version he could find. He went out and found a 2003 Ferrari 575M. It’s a classic V12 up front, rear-drive, F1 transmission, GT cruiser. Lots of power and handling, but designed for long highway trips, not the track. It took less than six months to get everything mechanical sorted out.

It took less than six months to get everything mechanical sorted out.

He then meticulously planned how to reach all 48 states, but not much more than the first couple of nights’ accommodations. One mid-trip service was scheduled in Seattle, and a lengthy list of Ferrari specialists along the route was assembled.

Oh, and where were the greatest back roads, scenic byways, twisty mountain passes, auto museums, and cool national parks along the way?

He shared his itinerary and planned routes with a few of us.

On the day he left Boston, I was about to have a few days of nothing major on my calendar. I recorded a podcast at Bloomberg and hopped on an Amtrak from Moynihan Station to Poughkeepsie. Marshall picked me up on the first day of his adventure.

From Upstate New York, we meandered, taking in the sights and discussing the journey ahead. On the first night, we stayed at a small motel/dump. Despite the pleasant April weather, we were shocked at the ice-crusted Ferrari in the morning, which had endured 24-degree, overnight temps.

Marshall is good company; you don’t want to be cooped up in a small cabin for nearly 24 hours a day, four straight days with just anyone.  (I had it much easier than he did…)

We traversed some amazing scenery, including a few parks and waterfalls, making it to Pennsylvania the next evening. On Thursday, we toured Gettysburg, Antietam, and several other Civil War and Revolutionary War battlefields. Botanical gardens, lakes, and mountains were also part of the scenery. Into New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and then Virginia, where I jumped a quick flight home.

That was just 4 days – Marshall kept going for another 51 days straight.

A lot of his pals were kept apprised of this insanity throughout each stage before and during this epic adventure. Several of his pals were able to meet him for anywhere from one to ten days. During the 8-week trip, he sent out regular missives – a beautifully written and photographed travelogue that I am urging him to publish somewhere.

The trip made me consider going cross-country with the boss lady. Drive to California, the slow route in one of the fun cars. We shall see…

Check out the video at the top. Some of my photos are below.

Truly, a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

 

 

 

Pougkeepsie

Tight Squeeze

Your Captain

Our first night led to a frozen Ferrari

Gettysburg, Antietam and more

 

I love this idea:

    

American at its finest

The post Epic Road Trip appeared first on The Big Picture.

Swiss Government Discusses Revoking Protections, Benefits For Military-Aged Ukrainians

During the opening years of the Russia-Ukraine war European states were quite welcoming to Ukrainian refugees and anyone fleeing the carnage and chaos, but now in the conflict's fifth year the general sentiment among EU populations and governments is changing.

Switzerland, once hailed as Europe's most neutral state - and among the most 'welcoming' countries for asylum seekers - is mulling a policy change which would exclude Ukrainian men of military age from protections granted to refugees.

The Swiss Federal Council announced in a statement Friday that it has begun consultations over the legal status of some 66,000 Ukrainian nationals who fled to Switzerland after the conflict erupted.

Image: Keystone-SDA

Welfare assistance and refugee protections are quite good in Switzerland, given individuals receive basic living items as well as government payouts, and can even freely travel in and out of the country.

For now, protections are expected to extend to Ukrainians in the country, but there's new talk of revoking this status for men of military age at a moment the Ukrainian military continues to face a severe manpower shortage:

The government announced on Friday that, at a national asylum conference in November 2025, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), the cantons, cities and municipalities had been tasked with drawing up clear regulations for the future of S protection status.

The results of this deliberation are now set out in a concept paper entitled “The Future of S Status”. According to the government, it serves to prepare for three possible scenarios: the continuation of S status; its abolition in the event of a stable ceasefire; and a phasing out of S status in the event of a protracted conflict.

Specifically pertaining to men of fighting age, the government is considering "a possible future restriction for Ukrainian men subject to conscription," a new statement reads.

"This is because the EU is currently considering an extension of temporary protection with a possible restriction for these men," the country's Federal Council has explained. A final decision could come by the end of the summer, but political pushback is said to be growing.

It should be remembered revocation of protected status is something the Zelensky government itself has long asked Western allies to do. It wants the rapid return of military-aged men, at a moment Ukrainian recruiters have resorted to harsh tactics cracking down on what are seen as draft dodgers.

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has also confirmed "This is also what the Ukrainians are asking us to do" - commenting on the question of no longer extending protections to Ukrainian men in EU states.

For now, no major policy shifts are expected, but as the war goes on and on, the tone of the conversation has shifted among many European officials. Washington in particular has emphasized that Ukraine's populace must stand up for itself, and has even leaned heavily on Kiev to make the mandatory conscription age younger.

Tyler Durden Sun, 06/21/2026 - 09:45

Windward Says "Zero AIS Transits" On Hormuz Chokepoint

US-Iran technical talks are underway on Sunday, with Qatari mediators involved. Ahead of the talks, likely focused on Iran's nuclear program, Tehran attempted to reassert leverage over the Strait of Hormuz following renewed Israel-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon.

Iran announced the closure of the strait on Saturday, framing the move as retaliation for alleged violations of the US-Iran interim peace deal. 

Early Sunday, maritime intelligence and risk analytics firm Windward wrote on X, "Hours after the IRGC's closure announcement, AIS traffic through the Strait of Hormuz suggested business as usual."

Hours after the IRGC's closure announcement, AIS traffic through the Strait of Hormuz suggested business as usual.

But overnight, the picture shifted: zero AIS transits were recorded through the strait, and only two non-Iranian commercial vessels were AIS-visible this morning.… pic.twitter.com/F4djrrT38m

— Windward (@WindwardAI) June 21, 2026

"But overnight, the picture shifted: zero AIS transits were recorded through the strait, and only two non-Iranian commercial vessels were AIS-visible this morning. Hesitation is back in an already unpredictable corridor," Windward continued.

Related:

• Vance 'Skeptical' That Iran Closed Hormuz Strait Again, Pentagon Declares Safe Passage Remains 'Intact Today'

However, Bloomberg data show that after vessel transits through the strait spiked to 23 on Thursday, shortly after the interim peace deal was signed and one day before the Hormuz chokepoint reopened, the transit count is now 9 today.

There are reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned vessels not to approach the critical waterway, citing Israeli actions in Lebanon and alleged US violations of ceasefire commitments. It remains unclear whether Iran has actually enforced the closure.

President Trump insisted on Saturday that "NO TOLLS" would be charged on ships transiting Hormuz during or after the 60-day interim ceasefire. But he noted, "unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed, for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs."

Brent crude closed around $80 a barrel last week after the US and Iran reached an interim deal to lift the US blockade and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, easing fears of a prolonged Gulf supply shock.

This prompted Goldman analyst Daan Struyven to forecast on Wednesday that crude prices would normalize to pre-war levels by the end of July and that regional crude production would recover by October.

Struyven estimates that Hormuz flows would need to rise by about 13 million barrels a day from current levels to reach roughly 70% of pre-war volumes.

The problem with Hormuz is that Tehran is now using the narrow, critical waterway as leverage for technical talks. That suggests Iran could continue to spark uncertainty during today's negotiating window, then signal a reopening if talks make progress before NYMEX WTI futures open later this evening. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 06/21/2026 - 09:20

BBC Flagship Soap Being Used To Push Pro-Migrant Propaganda By Activist Infiltrators

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity,

A campaigner for "migration and racial justice" has been employed to shape storylines for EastEnders - Britain's long-running BBC flagship soap opera set in London's East End - featuring plots about exploited African migrants and racially motivated murders, it has been revealed.

It is clear evidence of such activists operating inside the UK's national broadcaster.

The revelation also fits a deepening pattern where institutions, from the BBC to schools to shadowy government units, work to reframe mass immigration as an unquestionable good while suppressing public concerns over its costs.

BBC faces fresh migration row as EastEnders hires 'racial justice' influencer tied to activist groups https://t.co/h8ODu405Xj

- GB News (@GBNEWS) June 19, 2026

EastEnders, the BBC's flagship soap opera that has aired for decades and draws millions of UK viewers, has run plots about an autistic Ghanaian repeatedly exploited and the racist murder of another African immigrant since the hiring of campaigner Ade Lamuye in 2022.

Lamuye also serves on the advisory board of the Power of Pop Fund, launched by Comic Relief. The fund has directed almost £5 million to narrative change organisations seeking to use media to reframe the debate on migration.

She has confirmed her role in her own writing and stated that "entertainment and media holds influence and power to make real change".

She has additionally acted as a facilitator for Media Movers, a migration messaging group run by the charity Heard.

Heard has received funding from the Power of Pop scheme and previously lobbied producers of a BBC children's show to "impact the framing of migration".

A BBC spokesman said the corporation "has full editorial control over all its content" and that "engaging with charities for research purposes is standard industry practice".

The spokesman added that "the corporation maintains strict guidelines ensuring impartiality and editorial independence."

This EastEnders episode forms part of a coordinated infrastructure that has pivoted from COVID-era compliance tactics to shielding open borders policies from scrutiny.

As we highlighted last week, a secretive Home Office propaganda outfit founded by a former MI6 officer is actively working to control narratives around incidents involving migrants and rising tensions.

The Research, Information and Communications Unit, or RICU, has been exposed advising police on how to portray protesters and intervening in the aftermath of brutal attacks by migrants to prevent statements that might inflame public anger over mass immigration failures. Its methods include planting media stories, deploying undercover operatives, and shaping online conversations in targeted communities.

The same infrastructure that once deployed propagandistic fear tactics to drive mass compliance during the COVID period has been repurposed.

What began as emergency messaging around a virus has evolved into tools for managing public reaction to the consequences of sustained high immigration and associated crime.

Government narrative management operations have multiplied. Teams monitor "concerning narratives" on social media and flag material to platforms for removal, particularly content critical of migration policy during periods of unrest.

British soaps have been repeatedly deployed for underhanded social engineering. Government documents and investigations have shown how UK authorities secretly used BBC and ITV soaps to shape public opinion on vaccines and coerce compliance. The same approach now targets attitudes to mass migration.

Narrative change campaigners openly boast about using entertainment to "make real change" on migration and racial justice. This is not organic storytelling. It is deliberate reframing executed by activists embedded in production roles.

The pattern extends to schools pushing books telling kids there is "plenty of room" for small boat migrants.

The Green Party has pushed similar extreme content proposals on children.

Government guidance urges schools to snitch on "anti-Muslim hostility" in an Orwellian crackdown.

A UK government video game warns kids they are terrorists for questioning mass migration.

Counter-terror police ads warn teens that sharing funny content could be terrorism.

The same networks extend their influence beyond soaps. Pro-migrant campaigners have placed Channel migrants on BBC Question Time with prepared statements to test messaging.

'Extraordinary for the CEO of the charity to say there is no distinction between legal and illegal migration.'

Kwasi Kwarteng and Geoff Hoon react to a pro-migrant charity that 'planted' two migrants at a BBC Question Time debate with prepared statements. pic.twitter.com/nBcxzgessO

- GB News (@GBNEWS) June 17, 2026

The charity Imix arranged for two small-boat migrants to appear, with its chief executive describing the programme as an opportunity to test messaging directly.

Campaigners have also influenced sympathetic asylum seeker characters in other soaps such as Coronation Street.

BBC under fire after Channel migrants placed on Question Time by refugee campaigners https://t.co/ZGzagGcsVw

- GB News (@GBNEWS) June 17, 2026

Publicly funded broadcasters and government units are not neutral arbiters. They are active participants in a campaign to normalise policies that have transformed communities, strained services, and eroded social cohesion - all while branding legitimate concerns as bigotry.

The hiring of activists to write the scripts, the funding of narrative change through entertainment vehicles, and the deployment of "thought police" units to manage fallout reveal a system that fears open debate.

Britain's sovereignty and the right of its citizens to honest information are under sustained assault from within its own institutions.

The public deserves better than scripted emotional manipulation dressed up as drama. Real change begins with refusing to let activists and unaccountable units write the national story.

Tyler Durden Sun, 06/21/2026 - 08:10

Poland Revokes Top Award From Zelensky As Row Over Nazi Symbolism Deepens

Poland and Ukraine's ties continue to fray, worsening an ongoing diplomatic crisis - despite Warsaw being an 'eastern flank' key NATO ally in the broader Western campaign against Russia. 

President ​Karol Nawrocki has just announced the country's highest state honor previously awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been revoked. 

"In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'Heroes of the UPA,"... I have decided to revoke the Order ⁠of ⁠the White Eagle from the President of Ukraine," Nawrocki said in a statement. According to more of the statement:

Polish President Karol Nawrocki branded Ukraine's decision late last month to name the unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) "outrageous", "incomprehensible" and "deeply disappointing".

For Warsaw, uplifting this name is tantamount to backing a Nazi-orchestrated genocide against the Polish people:

For Poland, the UPA, or the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, is responsible for a campaign of genocidal ethnic cleansing in the 1940s that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians in Volhynia (known as Volyn in Ukrainian and Wołyń in Polish), a historic region with deep Polish and Ukrainian roots. This violence also systematically targeted Jewish survivors who had escaped the Holocaust.

Amid the diplomatic dispute sparked by the renaming, the Polish government is still promising not to let the issue steer its thinking on Ukraine's aspirations to join the European Union. It is pledging to remain objective related to examining Ukraine's status.

Ironically this highly symbolic diplomatic slap in the face aimed at Kiev comes ahead of a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk.

That Poland is still hosting this high-level conference suggests that Poland is not willing to cut off its overall diplomatic and military support to Ukraine amid the war with Russia - but it is perhaps an early sign that things are headed in this eventual direction. 

Ukrainian Foreign ​Minister Andrii Sybiha has made his country's outrage known - though is still trying to make nice given it needs the military support - responding to the Polish presidency by saying Warsaw committed ​a "strategic error" in revoking the state award.

President of the Republic of Poland Karol Nawrocki's decision regarding the stripping of the Order of the White Eagle from President Zelensky:

Decyzja Prezydenta RP Karola Nawrockiego w sprawie odebrania Orderu Orła Białego Prezydentowi Ukrainy Wołodymyrowi Zełenskiemu. pic.twitter.com/8gr1iRhM3y

— Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) June 19, 2026

"The decision to strip the president of Ukraine ⁠of the Order of the White ​Eagle is a ​strategic ⁠error ‌by ‌the President ⁠of Poland ‌that ​only benefits ⁠Moscow," ⁠Sybiha wrote ⁠on ​Facebook.

Poland also has other pressing concerns, not the least of which is the immigration and war refugee issue. Poland has throughout over four years of the Ukraine war had to absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees and war-displaced families.

A future where Ukraine could become part of the EU might prove a major drain on Poland's own struggling economy and resources.

Tyler Durden Sun, 06/21/2026 - 07:35

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:

• The World’s Leading Deepfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes: NYT on Hany Farid losing confidence in unaided visual judgment as generative video improves. The implications for evidence, journalism, and trust are large. In the age of A.I., Hany Farid is struggling to prove what’s real before the internet decides for itself. (New York Times)

• The Billion-Dollar Peptides Gold Rush: As black-market drugs go mainstream and legalization is within reach, entrepreneurs, investors and healthcare players are racing to cash in. (Bloomberg free)

• Copycats: How big a problem is plagiarism? Perhaps most complicated of all is the plagiarizing of ideas. On some rare occasions two people—one thinks here of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on evolution—will come upon the same or a highly similar idea at roughly the same time. Others are only too pleased to take up the ideas of someone else and claim them as their own. (Commentary)

• Triple-Digit Club: A Wave of Stocks Have Seen Huge Gains in 2026: The AI infrastructure boom has driven huge rallies in many of these stocks. Morningstar on the surprisingly broad set of 100%+ YTD names in 2026. The market isn’t quite as narrow as the index would suggest. (Morningstar)

• Kremlin bots respond with disinfo after former U.S. national intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard publishes report on “biolabs” in Ukraine: The Russian bot network Matryoshka has devoted a series of fake videos and posts to the topic of “American biolabs” in Ukraine, AntiBot4Navalny, a project that analyzes disinformation campaigns. The Insider tracks the predictable Russian-bot amplification of Gabbard’s biolabs report. The operation is so routine it barely registers as news. (The Insider)

• The Apotheosis of Donald Trump: On the president’s 80th birthday, it became clear that he has entered his decline. It took 250 years and 45 presidents, but cage fighting has finally come to the White House. Donald Trump’s 80th birthday was in many ways the apotheosis of the Trump administration—the Ultimate Fighting Championship held a seven-fight card on the South Lawn of the White House, with the president and members of his family in attendance. The Atlantic uses the UFC card as the lens for the Trump-as-spectacle moment. The argument is sharper than the framing suggests. (The Atlantic) see also The Most Surprising Miscalculation of Trump’s Second Term: Politico Magazine on the structural miscalculation underneath the past 18 months: the assumption that nationalist policies are politically self-stabilizing. Brexit’s example keeps not being learned. (Politico)

• What lies behind the new boom in Colombian cocaine: FT on record Colombian coca production and the supply-chain mechanics underneath it. The demand side stays unspoken, as always. Leftwing rebels have been replaced by gangsters selling ever more drugs to Europe and Asia. (Financial Times).

• How the Right Captured State Power as a Weapon in Its Anti-Government Crusade: Republicans made state power a core part of conservative ideology. Democrats can take it back. TPM on the contradiction at the heart of the modern right: capture the state to dismantle it. Long read, well-argued. (Talking Points Memo)

• Apocalypse Early Warning System: In the event of an imminent nuclear apocalypse, we suspect that many people who have access to private jets will immediately take to the skies and escape city centers. This site tracks this indicator in realtime. The current emergency level is reported on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being an indicator of a likely imminent apocalypse. Kyle McDonald’s running tracker of civilizational risk indicators — climate, financial stress, geopolitical tail risks — in one place. Bracing and useful. (Apocalypse Early Warning System)

• 7 unexpected takeaways from the newest research on cannabis and brain effects: Whether it’s used in adolescence, midlife or older age may make a big difference. WaPo’s run-through of the most recent cannabis neuroscience. Some genuine surprises; most of them not great for heavy users. (Washington Post)

Video of the day: Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Network of Power

Be sure to check out our Master’s in Business this week with Seth Klarman, CEO and portfolio manager of The Baupost Group. Founded in 1982 with $27 million in seed capital, over the past four decades, Baupost has grown to $22 billion, with annual net returns of over 20%. The legendary investor is known for his patient, risk-averse, and contrarian approach to finding deeply discounted securities across equities, distressed debt, and real estate.  He is the author of Margin of Safety (1991) and the editor of the 7th edition of Security Analysis (2023).

 

Understanding Trump’s Iran Deal: A Quick Guide   Source: Molly Ploofkin

 

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~~~

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

 

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

Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth?

Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness,

When I call you up, your line’s engaged

I have had enough, so act your age

We have lost the time that was so hard to find

And I will lose my mind

If you won’t see me . . .

Time after time

You refuse to even listen

I wouldn’t mind

If I knew what I was missing

—The Beatles, “You Won’t See Me”

As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and again, something jars the memory to refocus your recognition of such milestones and on how time has truly flown.

Recently, I was reminded that nearly an entire generation of Americans has been born after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. As a Gen Xer born before the introduction of the answering machine, I felt the weight of my sixty years, along with a gnawing anxiety about the future.

No, not because I won’t be around all that much longer. Despite the myths of the ubiquitous cult of youth promoted by our callow commercial culture, the increasing aches and pains accompanying my journey into old age are an insistent reminder that no one lives forever. Rather, my concern is how few Americans will be born to replace me and the other older members of our aging nation.

As reported by Elise Winland in Zeale News, a new study suggests the 2007 introduction of the iPhone has played a significant role in the declining U.S. fertility rate.

Written by Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper and issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the title of the working paper says it all: “Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly.”

The study’s methodology is straightforward, as are its implications for our nation. As succinctly explained by Ms. Winland: “The paper draws on a natural experiment created by Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T. When the iPhone launched in June 2007, it was available only on AT&T’s network until February 2011, giving researchers a way to compare areas with different levels of early iPhone access.”

While this deal was fortuitous for the researchers, the consequences were disastrous for the nation’s birth rate. According to Myers and Hooper:

The diffusion of the iPhone deepened the decline in births among women under 30 while suppressing the rise in births among older women. Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33–52% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15–44. National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.

Importantly, Myers and Hooper are not asserting that the iPhone is the sole cause of the steep decline in America’s birth rate, which they cite as having dropped by 22 percent since 2007, again, the year of the iPhone’s introduction. For, as Winland notes, the researchers believe the nation’s record low birth rate of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 “cannot be fully explained by the common explanations such as the Great Recession, increased access to contraception, rising housing and childcare costs, and delayed marriage.”

The researchers do argue that “studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts.” (It is worth noting that the iPhone had a salubrious impact on reducing teen pregnancies; however, the enduring detrimental effects stemming from the loss of social interaction and its accompanying skills will be carried into the future by today’s teens.)

Anyone with a cursory acquaintance with Marshall McLuhan’s work will see his dictum, “the medium is the message,” at work here. Every new technology affects human beings, both in how they interact with that technology and in how they subsequently interact—or fail to interact—with other people by using it.

The math—specifically subtraction—is elementary: by spending more time in your virtual cocoon, you have less time for interacting with real human beings. One must therefore consider how much of the iPhone’s contribution to the birth dearth stems from the technology’s unconscious effects on its users. Indeed, unlike, say, birth control or a career choice, the iPhone is not being used deliberately to delay or prevent pregnancy. Rather, the birth dearth is exacerbated because the iPhone user is more rapt with the device and the stimulation it provides than by another person. After all, there are only so many hours in the day—and night.

Meanwhile, the birth rate continues its decline. It is an indicator of national health. An optimistic, future-oriented nation has at least a replacement birth rate, if not a growing one. A declining nation has a declining birth rate. In America today, the atomization of our citizenry and its accompanying anomie continue apace, as algorithmically personalized prison cells push us out of gen pop and into solitary confinement. Thus does the insidious, circular logic of the siren song of decline become the mantra: life is unfair, inequitable, and horrible, so it is better—in fact, virtuous—not to bring a new life into this morass of meaninglessness.

The result of this is the declining birth rate found in both the United States and Europe, where the apostles of postmodernism hold sway, filling the perceived vacuity of modernity with a creed that holds the most “tolerant” belief is to believe in nothing—including one’s inherited civilization. A postmodern generation taught to loathe itself does not care to procreate. For what better way to reject the meaningless future than by making sure there are no succeeding generations to perpetuate it?

While my bachelor’s degree is only in political science, and despite all the technological advances during my lifetime—including the internet, social media, AI, and the answering machine—I nonetheless feel confident in declaring, “You can only make a baby in the real world.”

A healthy nation prizes real life over a virtual world. It doesn’t have a birth dearth. And I’m inclined to believe it has more answering machines—or at least call waiting—and fewer smartphones.

I had to interrupt and stop this conversation

Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation

I’d like to talk when I can show you my affection

Oh, I can’t control myself . . .

Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone

Hang up and run to me

Oh, hang up and run to me.

—Blondie, “Hanging on the Telephone”

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 23:20

'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister

Via The Cradle

Late this week Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Tel Aviv "will be at war with Syria sooner or later," highlighting that the alliance between Damascus and Turkey poses a "strategic challenge" to his country.

The Likud official said, "There is no way that a jihadist regime rooted in ISIS and Al-Qaeda, whose aspiration is the unification of Jerusalem, can live in peace alongside the State of Israel."

In a separate interview with Kol Barama, a prominent Israeli ultra-Orthodox radio station, Chikli identified Syria as part of a "radical Sunni axis of evil" involving Qatar, Turkiye, and Pakistan, labeling it "far more troubling" than Iran, and claimed that these nations shaped a recent US–Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) intended to end regional hostilities.

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the memorandum as an “important development,” Chikli joined other Likud lawmakers in branding Turkiye an “enemy state.” 

He claimed that Turkiye holds “very clear ambitions” compromising Israeli interests, saying that Ankara and Damascus are “ten thousand times more concerning than Iran.”

Following the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the Israeli military continues to occupy Syrian land and destroy military equipment, using the new government as a pretext for escalation and territorial expansion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now demands total demilitarization from south Damascus to the 1973 demarcation line. Since December 2024, Israeli military violations in southern Syria have escalated beyond periodic airstrikes to a sustained campaign involving ground incursions, raids, and the establishment of checkpoints. 

According to a daily tracker launched by Levant24, Israeli forces have carried out approximately 1,128 ground incursions and 1,055 airstrikes, advancing more than 20 kilometers beyond the occupied Golan Heights. These actions have resulted in over 197 detentions and at least 36 fatalities.

This expansion also includes property destruction and the systematic mapping of military positions, reflecting a broader pattern of activity that extends deep into Syrian territory.

Self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is reportedly resisting intense pressure from the US to launch a military incursion into Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. 

Despite a framework proposed by US President Donald Trump for the Syrian military to lead this offensive, Sharaa remained “unprepared and unwilling,” according to  Israel’s Broadcasting Corporation (KAN). He cited concerns that such an attack would damage his regional legitimacy by appearing to serve Israeli interests, especially while Israel continues to occupy Syrian territory. 

Although US envoy Tom Barrack has threatened Lebanon with a Syrian assault to dismantle Hezbollah, Sharaa has dismissed the reports as “rumors,” asserting his goal is to end the war rather than expand it. 

Israeli War Minister Israel Katz told Channel 14 that “We do not need Julani. Julani, the terrorist in a suit, does not need to come and help us. We know Syria well. He is not going to help us in Lebanon.” He added that Sharaa “should stay in Syria, not interfere with us, and not make us interfere with him.” 

“Do you know what really hurts the jihadists?” Katz said, going on to assert that killing them would not hurt them as much as “when you take territory from them and destroy their homes – and that's what we did.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 22:45

In Defense Of Entrepreneurs

By Matthew J. Brouillette via RealClearPennsylvania,

Like clockwork, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is again finding America's billionaires guilty by reason of existence, arguing the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world must donate more to the government via higher taxes.

Her premise is that the wealthy don't pay their "fair share," leaving the non-wealthy to suffer in a zero-sum game.

The problem is that Warren, and the many others in Congress like her, aren't simply attacking the wealthy; they are attacking the foundation of America's greatness - entrepreneurs.

Remember, "entrepreneurs" founded this great nation almost 250 years ago when they pledged their lives, the fortunes, and their sacred honor. Many of them were wealthy because they produced goods or services their fellow colonists voluntarily purchased.

Consider, for a moment, some of the wealthiest people in America: Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and Mark Zuckerberg. Beyond eye-popping net worths, they, too, are entrepreneurs who have provided goods and services consumers voluntarily use every day.

And like entrepreneurs throughout American history, they have delivered transformative innovations employed not only across America but throughout the world.

Think about it: Did you Google something today? Have you ordered from Amazon recently? Did you log onto Instagram? The answer to at least one of these questions is probably, "Yes."

And what of the millions of people employed by Google, Amazon, Tesla, SpaceX, Meta, Oracle, and other companies led by America's most wealthy? Do their families benefit from the career opportunities created by these entrepreneurs? Of course they do.

These benefits can even turn into windfalls. For example, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that once SpaceX goes public, thousands of current and former employees - from engineers to baristas - will reap the sizeable reward.

Benefitting the greater good is not the purview only of ultra wealthy entrepreneurs. Just look at entrepreneurs in your community. The owner of your favorite restaurant. Or your barber. Or plumber.

You've undoubtedly relied on these folks for either critical or quality-of-life services. And their entrepreneurship has also created jobs and sustained families. In fact, these types of local businesses are often considered the engines of America's Main Street economy - making our communities thrive, giving our neighborhoods unique character, and improving all of our lives.

And this doesn't even touch on the philanthropic contributions entrepreneurs make. Who often sponsors local community events that raise funds for non-profit causes? The businesses founded and run by entrepreneurs. This isn't coincidental.

A report by Fidelity Charitable on entrepreneurs as philanthropists found, "On average, the median annual gift for entrepreneurs is 50% higher than non-entrepreneurs." Further, "Two-thirds of entrepreneurs volunteer two or more hours a month, compared with just more than half of non-entrepreneurs."

You may wonder what this has to do with Ms. Warren's white whale of wealth taxes.

In a word, everything.

For the difference between these local entrepreneurs and the targets of Warren's ire is not one of type but simply degree.

The spirit of risk taking, innovation, ingenuity, and philanthropy characterizes entrepreneurs both famous and not.

And it shouldn't need repeating - but it does - that the wealthy already pay a lion's share of taxes, with the top 10% of earners paying more than 70% of all federal personal income taxes.

As we celebrate America's 250th birthday, it only makes sense to recognize that entrepreneurs founded and built our great country into what we are today. And entrepreneurs will help us keep it.

Rather than demonizing entrepreneurs by arguing that shouldering 70% of taxes isn't enough, we should acknowledge them and thank them for making America the leading innovator of the world - and for doing far more than their "fair share" to improve the lives and livelihoods of individuals of families across America.

Matthew J. Brouillette is president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs and the author of You GOTTA win Pennsylvania! A call to entrepreneurs to save America.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 22:10

China's Caribbean Listening Post? Satellite Imagery Shows Cuba Spy Base Completed

The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report using geospatial intelligence to show that construction of a circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba has been completed.

CSIS states the circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba, just 240 miles miles from Miami, Florida, could be used to monitor or intercept radio transmissions across a wide range of frequencies in the region.

The DC-based think tank added that the site may be linked to China and could be used to track sensitive U.S. military and communications activity across the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, and the southeastern U.S.

Here's a section of the report:

At an expansive SIGINT site in Bejucal, near Havana, recent satellite imagery shows construction work completed on a new large circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA).

Over the last two years, an antenna field at the northeast end of the facility has been converted from a linear antenna grid to a CDAA. Imagery published by CSIS in April 2025 captured ongoing groundwork to lay cables between the antennas and the central control facility. Construction now appears to be complete and the facility has very likely begun operations.

The array of 32 antennas (19 outer and 13 inner) is larger and likely more capable than any Cuban CDAA previously observed by CSIS. CDAAs are primarily used for high-frequency direction finding, which involves intercepting and geolocating incoming radio transmissions over a wide range of frequencies.

From Bejucal's location in Cuba's northwest, the CDAA could improve the ability of Cuban authorities—or potentially their foreign partners—to monitor sensitive U.S. activities in the Caribbean and across the southeastern seaboard. U.S. naval and air operations in the region have escalated amid the Trump administration's prioritization of the Western Hemisphere, increasing the potential value of monitoring U.S. movements in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

CSIS cited a congressional testimony in 2005 that pointed out China's activities in the Bejucal area:

The main Chinese electronic spy bases in Cuba are located to the northeast of Santiago de Cuba in the far east of the country and in the Bejucal area in the province of Havana, according to intelligence sources. The base of antennas in Santiago de Cuba is mainly dedicated to the capture of U.S. military satellite communications, meanwhile in Bejucal the Chinese have created a complex interception system of telephone communications. To disguise these activities, the official Chinese station, Radio China International is transmitting its programs from Havana to the United States and Latin America.

China's activity in the Western Hemisphere was recently uncovered by a Select Committee’s investigation that found Beijing developed "an extensive network of dual-use space ground stations and telescopes across Latin America and uses this network to collect intelligence and boost the PLA's warfighting capacity," adding, "The investigation found at least eleven China-linked space facilities established across Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil."

The Trump administration's campaign to purge China's influence from the Western Hemisphere has intensified this year as part of a broader U.S. effort to reorder the political map of the Americas. After the collapse of the socialist Maduro regime in Venezuela, the Trump administration is increasingly focused on Cuba, where decades of communist rule have hollowed out the island's economy and turned it into an island playground for U.S. adversaries. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 20:25

Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party To Move Further Left Ahead Of 2028

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, issued one of his sharpest rebukes of the Democratic leadership Thursday night, saying that the party will lose the White House in 2028 if it does not fundamentally change course.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (R) gestures on stage with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York on June 18, 2026. Ryan Murphy/AP Photo

"For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people," Mamdani told a crowd of thousands at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, where he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for three progressive congressional candidates ahead of New York's June 23 primaries.

"That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It will fall short of 270 electoral votes," the Democrat said, referring to the two early primary states in the presidential nominating process. "The Democratic Party must change."

The 34-year-old is backing Darializa Avila Chevalier against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) in New York's 13th Congressional District, former city Comptroller Brad Lander against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in the 10th, and Assembly Member Claire Valdez in the open 7th. Early voting is underway through June 21.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has endorsed Espaillat, telling Fox 5 New York on June 15 that he and Mamdani had "agreed to strongly disagree" over the race. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also endorsed Espaillat and campaigned alongside Goldman.

Mamdani described the primaries as the opening act of a longer national fight. "When does the race for 2028 begin?" he said. "It starts now. It starts on Tuesday."

He called on the party to offer "an affirmative agenda without apology" and to be "not just willing to stand up but also to stand for something" - drawing a contrast with what he called a politics that asks "working people to lower their expectations" and has "seen its job as explaining why we cannot instead of showing how we can."

Sanders, who introduced Mamdani at the rally, echoed the critique.

"The politics and the policies of the democratic establishment are no longer good enough," he said. "In this dangerous and unprecedented moment in American history, tinkering around the edges just won't work."

The Vermont independent has been traveling the country rallying voters for progressive candidates ahead of the midterms, pointing to a string of recent primary wins from New Jersey to Ohio to Maine - as has ally and New York progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), appearing on CNN Friday morning and responding to a clip of Mamdani's remarks, did not push back on his critique.

"Right now, the Democratic Party needs to be far less concerned about the Democratic Party and far more concerned with what people are struggling with," Booker said, calling for "big, bold solutions" and a coalition built around issues rather than party identity.

The DNC did not return The Epoch Times' request for comment by publication time.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. AP Photo/Ryan Murphy Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 19:50

"It's That Bad": Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators

For more than a year, residents living next to the Vantage Data Centers facility have endured what they describe as a constant, high-pitched whining or ringing sound coming from the site's massive backup generators - the facility's only source of electricity.

An aerial view of the Vantage data center in Sterling, Va., which abuts a residential neighborhood. (NewsNation)

Unlike most data centers connected to the power grid, this facility runs entirely on its own on-site power plant. What residents were told would be temporary generator testing has become permanent operation.

"They're Just Never Turned Off"

Neighbor Hari Doue told News Nation that the community was initially assured the generators were only being tested for emergencies.

"We were told in the beginning that they test the generators to make sure they're working in case of an emergency. And then as the year and the months have gone on, they're just never turned off," Doue said. 

Another neighbor, Greg Pirio, has reached out to attorneys over the issue. He described the impact bluntly:

"You just hear this noise, it's just like, you just want to curse, you know, it's that bad."

Some residents have taken drastic steps to cope. One placed a mattress against their window to muffle the sound. Another installed plexiglass and began monitoring decibel levels with a sound meter. Concerns center on sleep disruption, stress, and falling property values.

Vantage Data Centers officials told NewsNation they continue to monitor noise levels and do not believe the sound exceeds Loudoun County's limits - which is 55 decibels in Residential and rural areas and 60 decibels in Mixed-use residential areas. Exceptions include generators operating during emergencies, at utility request, or during testing.

Virginia: America's Data Center Capital

Virginia has the largest concentration of data centers in the United States - 287 operational and 398 prospective, according to Pew Research. Loudoun County has become ground zero for this boom, often called "Data Center Alley."

The economic upside is significant. Data centers generate almost half of Loudoun County's property tax revenues, funding schools and public services while helping keep residential tax rates lower.

However, the facilities consumed approximately 26% of Virginia's total electricity in 2023, contributing to higher energy costs for all residents.

The situation in Sterling reflects a broader national tension. On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show-cause orders requiring major grid operators to justify or update rules for connecting large energy users such as data centers.

President Trump has encouraged data center developers to build dedicated on-site power sources - the exact model used by Vantage in Sterling - to protect regular utility customers from rate hikes.

Residents near the Vantage site acknowledge the benefits of data centers, including jobs, tax revenue, and essential digital infrastructure, but strongly object to their placement directly next to homes.

"Do everything in your power to try and stop it from being built in an area that has any residential properties within 10 or 15 miles of it," said Doue. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 19:15

NY Pride Group Disbands After Drag Queen Founder - A School Board Member - Arrested On Child Sexting Charges

A New York LGBTQ+ advocacy group has canceled a scheduled pride parade and disbanded after its founder was arrested on child-sexting charges. 

Travis J. Longo, 46, of Cazenovia - a drag queen and a member of the Cazenovia School District Board of Education (of course), was arrested on Thursday and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly sending sexually explicit communications to a child under the age of 12. 

In a now-deleted Facebook post, the group Longo founded, Cazenova Pride Inc., announced that it is "canceling this year's Pride Festival and all associated events, and we are dissolving as an organization." 

"This decision follows serious criminal charges against Travis Longo, the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest and a longtime figure in our organization," the post continues. "Travis Longo has no further affiliation with Cazenovia Pride Inc."

Longo, who reportedly performed as a drag queen under the name "Anita Buffem," was listed as a "hostess" at the first Pride festival in Cazenovia in 2021, which was organized by Pride Cazenovia, ">The Blaze reports.

Congratulations to Travis Barr-Longo aka Anita Buffem on being elected to the cazenovia School board and being the second drag performer in the US to be elected to public office. This is how we win and how we outrun in rural America. Shoutout to the @DemocratsNy! pic.twitter.com/AcH75ak5Ol

— The Outrun Coalition (@TheOutrunCo) June 19, 2024

"We are deeply sorry for the pain and disappointment this causes our community," the group's statement concludes. "The years of support, love, and solidarity you have shown us have meant everything. Thank you."

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 18:05

Banning Hospitals' 'Certain Contracts' Could Save Americans $45 Billion, Report Finds

Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

A ban on certain contracts between hospital systems and health insurers could save Americans around $45 billion, according to a report from White House analysts released on June 18.

Lenox Health Greenwich Village Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, on Nov. 2, 2020. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

"The Council of Economic Advisers' findings reinforce that the Trump administration is delivering meaningful cost reductions for American patients," White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told The Epoch Times by email June 19, noting the president's surgical approach to policy development that prioritizes fiscal discipline.

"By harnessing the use of free-market competition, President Trump has found a real solution to lowering costs instead of blindly throwing more taxpayer money at the problem."

Administration officials are exploring how best to manage hospital systems and insurers without relying on price controls or heavy-handed regulations.

At issue are three clauses, known as "anti-steering, anti-tiering, and all-or-nothing" contracts, which critics say shield healthcare providers from competition, thus increasing prices for consumers.

Anti-steering clauses block insurers from incentivizing or guiding clients toward cheaper options or providers, even when their data indicate clear savings potential.

Anti-tiering is used to stop insurers from categorizing hospital systems in less desirable benefit tiers that would reduce profit margins by forcing the providers to cover higher patient costs.

Bundled, also known as all-or-nothing, contracts require insurers to include all hospitals and physicians in a system, eliminating the option to negotiate independently.

Combined, the provisions result in more expensive healthcare, with higher rates, less efficiency, and limited insurance plan innovation due to reduced competition.

In markets where the clauses in question are widespread, a ban would lead to an 18 percent decline in hospital and physician prices, amounting to approximately $4,100 per inpatient admission, according to the report.

Premium prices would decline by about 7 percent, saving the average family about $1,800 annually, the report found, with aggregate reductions totaling about $45 billion and up to $63 billion.

Workers would benefit from higher take-home pay and lower out-of-pocket costs thanks to the reduced insurance costs. Small businesses and employers would also get relief with lower costs.

Analysts arrived at the numbers by calculating several variables, including the increased leverage insurers would gain while bargaining, with an expectation that prices would drop by about 8 percent as a result.

Allowing steering and tiering will improve patient management and shift care toward lower-cost providers, with transparencies helping reduce prices by about 4 percent, according to the report.

Free-market dynamics are expected to drive dynamic competition, with efficient, low-cost competitors helping further drive down costs by about 3 percent.

Proposed policies prioritize healthcare in rural areas, with bans aimed at lowering premiums while boosting independent rural hospitals.

Crackdowns are underway in the form of federal legal proceedings, with eyes on a national framework to codify the proposals.

"Thanks to the Trump administration's crackdown on anti-steering, anti-tiering, and all-or-nothing contracts by hospitals, everyday Americans are directly benefitting from lower premium contributions and higher take-home wages," Schuster said.

Congressional lawmakers are considering a similar course of action with the Healthy Competition for Better Care Act introduced by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), which would outlaw the anti-competition clauses.

Some states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Texas, prohibit certain clauses, though coverage and enforcement vary.

The report referenced two recent civil antitrust actions brought by the Department of Justice, one against OhioHealth filed in February and settled June 18, with no admission of wrongdoing and the hospital forbidden from using anticompetitive clauses.

"Providing affordable healthcare to Americans is uncontroversial and this Department of Justice will not tolerate corporate prioritization of revenue in contravention of our antitrust laws," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.

A case against New York-Presbyterian Hospital, filed in March, is pending. Justice Department filings allege the hospital is insulated from price competition by contractual clauses, thus raising healthcare costs for New Yorkers.

A settlement with Sutter Health of Northern California from 2022 offers a successful precedent, according to the report, with the system agreeing to pay $575 million in fines and stop using the contractual clauses and succeeding in the aftermath of the agreement, later receiving recognition for its rural facilities.

Trump has repeatedly placed healthcare at the front of his second-term agenda, seeking to address the root causes of high medical costs, including with the release of TrumpRX.gov for prescription medicine at reduced prices.

He's taken his message on the road around the country in recent weeks, highlighting his actions and plans to further address Americans' healthcare cost burdens.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 17:30

Why CME Is Really Suing The CFTC Over Perps

Authored by David Christopher via Bankless.com,

CME wants Kalshi's Bitcoin perp reclassified as a swap, not banned. That distinction reveals what's actually at stake in the CFTC lawsuit.

Yesterday, CME, the country's dominant derivatives exchange, sued the CFTC over its recent approval of regulated crypto perpetual futures.

The exchange argues Kalshi's  Bitcoin perp should be treated as a swap, not a futures contract, a classification shift that would push the product into a more restrictive, institution-facing rulebook. The CFTC called the suit "frivolous" and said it looks forward to dismissing it.

We've known for some time that major exchanges like CME and ICE have grown uneasy about the rise of perpetuals, an unease already visible in their push to have regulators scrutinize  Hyperliquid over manipulation, sanctions evasion, anything they can find.

Why? Because regulators have finally opened a compliant path for Americans to trade an entirely new class of derivatives, one whose financial efficiency threatens the effectively monopolistic business model of these incumbents.

CME is scared of perps. No one should be scared of CME. https://t.co/l0ZHyqcpPk

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) June 18, 2026

The Label Is the Business Model

CME's legal argument turns on a label.

If Kalshi's Bitcoin perp is a futures contract, it can trade on a regulated futures exchange, where regular U.S. users can access it. If it is a swap, it falls into a heavier rulebook built largely for institutional derivatives, making it harder to launch, harder to distribute, and functionally out of reach for most retail traders.

That distinction sounds technical, and it echoes the same fight playing out over prediction markets, but the effect here is simple: whether perps will be accessible to retail users, or reserved primarily for institutional actors.

CME's filing comes wrapped in safety language, but, as always, the motivation is financial. Perps threaten the part of CME's business built around expiration.

A normal futures contract expires. To hold the same exposure, a trader has to roll into a new contract before it does. CME collects another round of trading and clearing fees on every roll, and that churn feeds the market data business it sells on top.

A perpetual future doesn't expire. A trader holds the same position open indefinitely and settles periodic funding payments instead of rolling.

No roll means no recurring trade, and that breaks a rhythm CME's business is built on. The market already understands the threat. When regulators opened the door to regulated U.S. perps, shares of CME, Cboe, and ICE fell as investors priced in real competition.

Chair Selig has broadcast we are getting Hyperliquid and it will be before the election.

There will be US compliant front ends to access the giant liquidity pool on Hyperliquid.

The CME is as pissed as Nevada is about losing their monopoly to prediction markets.

Welcome to… https://t.co/IYFmfWZPwL

— Mister Todd (@pondermint) June 18, 2026

Why Perps Keep Gaining Ground

None of this makes perps harmless. They can involve leverage, liquidations, and funding costs that quietly eat into a position over time. CME CEO Terry Duffy is right that many retail traders don't fully understand those risks, and the venues offering perps should do the work to make them clear.

But blocking regulated U.S. perps does not make demand disappear. It pushes Americans back offshore, where they get fewer disclosures, weaker oversight, and less protection when something breaks.

That is why the better answer is to regulate the instrument clearly: leverage limits, margin standards, and liquidation transparency.

Crypto is where this starts because the markets are already mature. That makes Bitcoin perps the easiest place for regulators to begin. But given the demand we've seen with HIP-3, it won't be long before the model stretches to stocks, indices, and ETFs.

That is what makes CME's lawsuit so revealing. The exchange is asking for a reclassification, not a ban. You do not do that to a product you think you can kill. If you can kill it, you kill it. If you can't, you relocate it, cut it off to slow the bleed.

This is the history of crypto. A better technology emerges, users are drawn to its merits, incumbents call it dangerous, and the regulatory fight begins. Those fights have rarely decided whether the old model gets protected. They simply decide how long.

The Perpification has already begun, and all incumbents can hope to do is slow it down.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 16:20

Agri Markets Hit By "Aggressive Positioning Washout" But Supply Risks Linger

The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index has nearly reversed its US-Iran war gains in recent weeks, as sliding fertilizer and energy prices, along with an interim peace deal between Washington and Tehran, have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and initiated the normalization process.

Daryna Kovalska, a commodity strategist at BofA Global Research, told clients that, with agricultural markets having undergone an aggressive positioning washout, there is reason to believe the selloff in the corn market is overdone.

Kovalska pointed out that while improved US rains, easing geopolitical risks, and lower urea prices have stripped weather and war premiums from the market, her team believes risks have been deferred rather than eliminated. She remains constructive on corn, while trimming its 2026 upside target to $5.50 per bushel from $6.00.

More color here from her note titled "Corn market cools, but risks simmer beneath":

Ag markets hit by sharp spec long liquidation…

Agricultural markets have undergone an aggressive positioning washout, with net spec longs down 88% in three weeks. Corn hasn’t been spared: managed money flipped from decade-high longs to a net short by June 9, sending Dec 26 prices to a low of $4.4/bu.

…but we believe the corn selloff is overdone

Corn sentiment has softened, as geopolitical and weather risks have eased. But risks have not disappeared; rather, they look deferred and could still trigger a supply shock. We remain constructive, though, trimming our 2026 upside to $5.5/bu from $6.0/bu, supported by three key arguments.

1: Weather risk premium has been stripped out too early…

Improved US rains have eased weather risks in the corn market, but threats persist in certain states. Nebraska (12% of US production) remains in severe drought, with crop conditions 20% below average, while South Dakota and Kansas ratings (another 12% of output) are at risk of deteriorating without sustained rainfall.

…especially with an unprecedented El Nino unfolding

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology continues to warn of an historic El Niño event. Brazil’s corn output could be hit hard, declining 10% yoy in 2026/27E. Iowa state also shows a pattern of sharply depleted soil moisture during analogues.

2: Brazil fertilizer supply remains a concern

Urea prices have eased, but despite a potential US-Iran deal to be signed on June 19, the Strait of Hormuz still needs to be de-mined and resume operations, with timing critical as Brazil’s peak dispatch window approaches. Substitution efforts remain insufficient, with nitrogen imports still down 15% yoy, putting first crop corn yields at risk of a 10% decline if Gulf urea shipments do not restart before the end of July. Phosphate constraints are compounding risks to the new crop, which could fall 10 mn t yoy.

3: US-China $17bn deal could upend the market

The White House expects China to buy at least $17bn of US ags annually in 2026 (pro- rated) and 2027-28. Mirroring Phase One, we think US corn exports to China could surge from zero in 2025 to 5.5 mn t in 2026 and 16 mn t thereafter. While purchases have yet to begin, implementation would materially tighten the US corn market.

Kovalska provides her team's view from macro to crude to softs:

Here's her price forecasts across softs:

With the war-risk premium evaporating from agricultural markets, Kovalska believes that lingering risks around weather, fertilizer flows, El Niño, and Chinese demand could still combine to tighten global supply and push prices higher again.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 15:45

DOJ Can Provide Biden's Conversations With Ghostwriter To Heritage Foundation, Judge Says

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Friday rejected former President Joe Biden's bid to prevent the conservative Heritage Foundation from receiving redacted transcripts and recordings of conversations he had with a ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir.

Former President Joe Biden speaks in Chicago on April 15, 2025. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

Although District Judge Dabney Friedrich delayed her own decision by three weeks later on Friday to allow for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the matter, she said her order will remain in place because of the recording and transcripts' significant public interest.

"This case involves an unusually strong public interest in the release of law enforcement materials to outweigh the privacy interests protected by [the Freedom of Information Act's] exemptions," the judge said.

The Epoch Times attempted to reach out to Biden for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Heritage Foundation's lawsuit originated in 2024. The group sought the transcripts and recordings from conversations the former president had with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, to produce his memoir, "Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose."

In January 2023, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland launched a probe into Biden's alleged keeping of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania and at his private residence in Wilmington, Delaware.

Garland appointed former Special Counsel Robert Hur to investigate and potentially prosecute any federal crimes that arose - none did.

In Hur's February 2024 final report, he noted Biden's "diminished faculties and faulty memory" during an interview and in Biden's 2016 and 2017 recordings with Zwonitzer.

The former special counsel declined to prosecute Biden for his retention of classified documents because "the evidence [was] not sufficient to convict" and because "it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict [Biden] - by then a former president well into his eighties - of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."

Hur continued in his report, referring to some of Biden's recorded conversations with Zwonitzer as "painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries."

The Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all records that Hur relied on for his final report.

Under Biden, the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to release the records, citing national security, privacy, and other FOIA exemptions.

The Heritage Foundation brought its FOIA lawsuit against the Biden DOJ in March 2024. In the two years since, legal proceedings have developed slowly.

The court stayed proceedings in September 2025 - now with the DOJ under President Donald Trump - after the agency said it would review the documents it was withholding.

In a May 8 filing, the DOJ said it "intends to disclose the written transcript and audio recordings at issue in this matter" to Congress, with redactions, but Biden moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent their release, which the federal judge denied on Friday.

Friedrich found in her decision that "in all, Biden is not likely to succeed" in his claims that his privacy interests outweigh the "significant public interest in the disclosure of the redacted Zwonitzer Materials."

"Biden offers little in the way of specific details about the types of harm he foresees, especially in light of related information already in the public domain," Friedrich wrote.

Friedrich further said that the ghostwriter records must be provided to the Heritage Foundation.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals could make its decision on this case in the coming weeks while Friedrich's order is paused.

Biden has previously pushed back against claims that his cognitive abilities declined during his presidency.

"They are wrong, there is nothing to sustain that," the former president said during a May 2025 interview with ABC's "The View."

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 15:10

CIA Official Confirms Agency Flip-Flopped Over COVID-19 Origins Over Five-Day Period

Over the span of five days in 2021, the CIA abruptly changed its opinion on the origins of COVID-19 from a laboratory to neutral, a newly released document confirms. 

The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at the entrance of the agency headquarters in McLean, Va., on Sept. 24, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Originally, CIA analysts concluded that COVID-19 likely came from a high-level laboratory in Wuhan, China located near where the first cases were detected in late 2019, senior CIA officer James Erdman III told lawmakers in May. Over the span of five days in 2021, however, Edman says the agency changed its stance to 'neutral.' 

Then in September of 2024 during a private briefing between intelligence officials and members of Congress, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) inquired as to how the agency came to the conclusion that lab-origin vs. natural origin were about equal, according to yesterday's document release by outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard. 

In response, an unnamed CIA employee told Wenstrup that "he made the call to stop the shift to lab because [redacted] had come in the day before they were ready to publish which made them back off the call," according to a summary of the briefing compiled by an intelligence official. 

As the Epoch Times notes further, officials said in a declassified assessment based on information through August 2021 that only one agency - which was not the CIA, based on details since made public - favored a lab origin for COVID-19.

An updated assessment released in mid-2023 states that the CIA was unable to determine the origin of COVID-19 because both the lab and natural origin theories “rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting.”

The CIA said in 2025 that a lab origin for COVID-19 was “more likely.” The Trump administration maintains that COVID-19 came from the lab in China.

More on Changes

A whistleblower in 2023 told members of Congress that the CIA team tasked with analyzing the origins of COVID-19 favored a lab origin, but that after the team was paid, it changed its position.

The CIA at the time denied paying analysts to reach specific conclusions.

Erdman, the senior CIA official, told a Senate panel in May that he was on a team investigating how intelligence agencies handled the COVID-19 pandemic and that the CIA declined to provide documents the team had requested that may have shed light on the change.

Erdman said that the team found the shift happened after Dr. Anthony Fauci, at the time the head of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - which provided funding for the lab in Wuhan - briefed intelligence officials and suggested to officials that they talk to specific scientists, including researchers who wrote a paper with which Fauci and the institute’s head secretly assisted.

The paper, called “Proximal Origin,” purported to rule out a laboratory origin.

Wenstrup also asked intelligence officials in the 2024 briefing about a white paper that National Center for Medical Intelligence analysts compiled as a rebuttal to the “Proximal Origin.” The authors of the white paper felt their conclusions were ignored by intelligence officials, they informed Wenstrup.

A representative for the center was not prepared for the questioning, “which annoyed Wenstrup,” according to the briefing summary.

Fauci Briefed Intelligence Officials

Fauci briefed intelligence officials on June 4, 2021, and promoted the idea that COVID-19 had a natural origin, according to another briefing summary released by Gabbard.

Fauci “recommended that [intelligence officials] take a look at Tulane’s paper on two lineages from two separate markets,” the summary states. “To Dr. Fauci, this paper’s findings were a clear indication of natural origins of COVID-19.”

Fauci also “reminded the group that even for SARS, it took 12 years to make the link to a bat even though it only took 4 months to identify the natural reservoir” and that “we still haven’t identified source/origin of Ebola,” which is believed to have a natural origin, according to the summary.

Fauci, who has not responded to requests for comment, told lawmakers during a hearing in 2024 that he did not talk about viral research related to COVID-19 with intelligence officials.

“After the investigations began about COVID, I was briefed by intelligence agencies about possibilities of there being activities going on in different laboratories,” he said.

In another readout of the 2021 briefing, Fauci was said to have suggested intelligence officials connect with three scientists whose names were redacted.

“All three ... have advocated for features of the virus that they judge to be consistent with a natural origin,” the readout states.

An email disclosed that one of the scientists was Kristian Andersen, a Scripps Research researcher who coauthored the “Proximal Origin.”

Andersen said in private messages with coauthors that COVID-19 may have been engineered before the paper was published. He has said that further analysis of the virus altered his and others’ views.

“Dr. Fauci was the behind-the-scenes adviser who, alongside his hand-picked so-called experts, pushed the intelligence community to endorse a natural animal origin to hide his dangerous gain-of-function research that he funded using taxpayer dollars,” Gabbard said in a video statement posted to X on June 18.

“All of this in a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth and shift the blame and attention away from Fauci’s own actions.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 14:35

Swalwell Ordered By FEC To Return Campaign Contributions

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

Former California congressman Eric Swalwell was ordered by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) June 15 to return all donations received during his bid for governor before dropping out of the race.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) during a news conference on the introduction of the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act at the U.S. Capitol Building, in Washington on April 6, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The agency charged with enforcing federal campaign finance laws threatened Swalwell with an audit or enforcement action if he fails to give back $30,075 in contributions that 16 donors made to his campaign committee, according to a letter sent to the former candidate.

"Failure to comply with the provisions of the Act may also result in an enforcement action against the committee."

In the letter, FEC Senior Campaign Finance Analyst Mary Seiler also stated Swalwell would not be eligible to request a time extension to give the money back.

According to the letter, the FEC requires candidates to return contributions to the donors if they drop out of a race. Swalwell did return some of the donations, but not all of them, according to the agency.

General election contributions can't be used to pay off primary debts or other obligations, the FEC noted.

All refunds were required to be made by July 20. If not, the commission may take further legal action in the case, the FEC said.

Swalwell and his attorney, Sara Azari, didn't return requests for comment about the FEC's demands.

Swalwell dropped out of the governor's race in April after multiple women stepped forward with sexual assault allegations, which he has denied. He also faced a U.S. House of Representatives ethics investigation over the accusations and a call from his party to resign.

The former congressman and candidate continues to face criminal and ethical investigations over the allegations.

His official state campaign finance disclosure information shows Swalwell collected donations from individuals and organizations until the day he resigned April 13. The last-minute donors included the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council Candidate PAC, California Dairies, real estate developer Jeff Worthe, and Greater Anesthesia Service and PAC - each of which gave him $39,200.

The last contribution made to Swalwell's campaign was nearly $460,000 on April 18 in "unitemized contributions," according to the state. The report doesn't specify who gave Swalwell the large donation or where it came from.

The California Secretary of State's office didn't immediately return a request for information about the contribution.

Swalwell's campaign finance report filed with the state shows he used campaign funds in the final weeks to pay his attorney Azari at least $313,000 and the Democratic political media firm KMM Strategies more than $600,000.

Filling Swalwell's Seat

Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab, a progressive from Hayward, California, advanced June 16 in a special general election to fill Swalwell's vacant U.S. House seat.

Swalwell resigned from Congress in April, a day after ending his campaign for governor.

Wahab will move on to the Aug. 18 runoff to determine who will fill the remainder of Swalwell's term through January.

Democrat Melissa Hernandez, a transit director and former mayor of Dublin, California, was in second place June 19 but votes were still being counted.

The district includes East Bay cities of Fremont, Hayward, and Livermore, which heavily favors Democrats.

A regular primary was held June 2 to elect a new Congress member for the district to a full term. Wahab and Hernandez were the top two vote-getters.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 14:00

Trump Says He No Longer Views Anthropic As A National Security Threat

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump said he no longer views the artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic as a national security threat.

Illustration of Anthropic on June 18, 2026. Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas via AFP via Getty Images

"We have a situation with Anthropic, and we didn't like what they were doing, and so far I think they behaved very responsibly to our request," Trump told Axios's Marc Caputo in an interview that aired on June 19.

Caputo then asked Trump if he still viewed Anthropic and its CEO, Dario Amodei, as a threat to national security.

"Well, not now, but a week ago, maybe," Trump said, describing a meeting with Amodei at the G7 summit this week that influenced his change of heart.

"[Amodei] responded to us very quickly, because you know it's tremendous liability," Trump said. "You know, you can't play games with it. And he responded very responsibly."

The comments come one week after the Trump administration directed Anthropic to shut down foreign nationals' access to its new Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, which resulted in the company suspending access to all users entirely.

Issued on June 12, the directive from U.S. officials did not include specific details of potential security threats or concerns, according to Anthropic.

"Our understanding is that the government believes it has become aware of a method of bypassing, or 'jailbreaking' Fable 5," the company said in a statement at the time.

Trump told Axios that one of the company's competitors "turned Anthropic in" and raised alarms over the new models.

"They didn't like what [Anthropic was] doing. They were very concerned," he said.

Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

When Anthropic released Fable 5 to the general public on June 9, it said the model had exceeded the capabilities of "any model we've ever made generally available."

"It is state-of-the-art on nearly all tested benchmarks of AI capability, showing exceptional performance in software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and many other areas," Anthropic stated.

As a "Mythos-class" model, Fable 5 is essentially as strong as Mythos, but with key safety features to make it safe for public use.

In the same announcement, Anthropic made Mythos 5 available to a small group of cyberdefenders and infrastructure providers. But after the company's decision to suspend access to all users on June 12, both models are currently unavailable.

Two days before Anthropic pulled access, Amodei wrote on X that he believes frontier models such as Mythos 5 "should face mandatory third-party testing for cyber, bio, and autonomy risks - with the power to block or revoke deployment of models that pose catastrophic risk."

Trump signed an executive order early this month asking AI firms to voluntarily submit their frontier models for government review 30 days before they're available to the general public.

At the time, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized the order for only being "voluntary," saying that mandatory testing and review of frontier models is needed to "protect Americans."

Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 11:40