U2's Bono Claims: "300,000 Dead After USAID Cuts"

Left-wing activist and U2 frontman Paul David Hewson—better known as "Bono"—made the ridiculous claim that the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) decision to scale back funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in 300,000 deaths.

"So, so just a recent report, it's not proven, but the surveillance suggests 300,000 people have already died from just this cutoff, this hard cut of USAID. So, there's food rotting in boats, in warehouses," Bono told Joe Rogan on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.

Bono continued, "There is this this this will will f*ck you off. This will not make you happy. No American will. But there is ... I think it's 50,000 tons of food that are stored in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai, and wait for it, Houston, Texas. And that is rotting rather than going to Gaza, rather than going to Sudan, because the people who know the codes or for the warehouse are fired. They're gone."

"And so this I don't know. I just it's and what do you think? What, what is that? That's not America, is it?" the Irish singer questioned. 

Joe Rogan pushes back after Bono blames 300,000 deaths on DOGE cuts.

"[USAID] was a money laundering operation… there's no oversight, no receipts. There is a lot of fraud, a lot of money laundering."pic.twitter.com/3bdJ1vpKG1

— (news) DOGE (@DOGE__news) May 31, 2025

Rogan pushed back on Bono's claims: The podcaster said global aid programs funded through USAID have done real good—like providing clean water, food, and medicine, however, there has also been massive fraud, money laundering, and a lack of oversight...

Here's Rogan's response to Bono: 

"Well, they're throwing the baby out with the bath water. Right. Right. This is the problem. The problem is for sure there have been a lot of organizations that do tremendous good all throughout the world. Also, for sure, it [USAID] was a money laundering operation. For sure there was no oversight. For sure. billions of dollars are missing. In fact, trillions that are unaccounted for were sent off into various they they don't even know where because there are no receipts. The way Elon Musk described it, he said if any of this were done by a public company, the company would be delisted and the executives would be in prison. But in the United States, this is standard.

When Biden left office, when it was clear that Trump won in the 73 days, they spent $93 billion from the Department of Energy on just radical loans, just throwing money into places. And there's no oversight, no receipts. Like the whole thing, there's a lot of fraud, a lot of money laundering, but also we help the world. 

And when you're talking about making wells for people in the Congo to get fresh water, when you're talking about food and medicine to places that don't have access, like no way that should have been cut out and that should have been clear before they make these radical cuts. Like there's got to be a way to keep aid and not have fraud and you can't have you can't say we're going to kill everything so that there's no fraud. But then you're killing all the good and you're doing it without letting anybody know it's going to happen.

So no one's it's not like they had three years to prepare. Let's build a new infrastructure. Let's make sure that everything's set up.

They wanted change and they want to change quickly. And due to the nature of American politics, they have about two years before the midterms, right?

So everything has to get done as quickly as possible. You have to show a GDP growth. You have to show that the economy is booming again under these ideas. Make America first, tariffs for the world, bring back American manufacturing, and this mad rush to do it all as quickly as possible while cutting out as much waste as possible. Yeah. But the ironic thing is even though Elon Musk has proposed all these things and the Doge committee has proposed all these things, they've made no cuts in terms of the budget."

Watch

It is worth noting that Bono's claim may be based on projections by Brooke Nichols, a mathematician and infectious disease professor at Boston University, who modeled an estimated 300,000 deaths, with over 200,000 of them being children. However, much like weather models, these projections are highly speculative and come with significant uncertainty.

For context, Bono is involved in several nonprofit and philanthropic initiatives focused on combating poverty and disease and promoting social justice.

His key nonprofit affiliations include

ONE Campaign

Co-founded by Bono in 2004, the ONE Campaign is an international, non-partisan, nonprofit organization advocating for investments to create economic opportunities and improve health in Africa. It utilizes data, grassroots activism, and political engagement to influence policy decisions aimed at ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

RED

Established in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, (RED) partners with iconic brands to raise awareness and funds to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Proceeds from (RED) products go directly to the Global Fund to support health programs in Africa.

DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa)

Founded in 2002, DATA aimed to raise awareness about Africa's challenges related to debt, AIDS, and trade. The organization focused on influencing policy and public opinion in developed countries to support Africa's development. In 2007, DATA merged with the ONE Campaign to consolidate efforts.

EDUN

In 2005, Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, launched EDUN, a fashion brand promoting fair trade and ethical practices in Africa. The initiative aimed to stimulate sustainable employment and growth in developing regions through the fashion industry.

The Rise Fund 

Bono co-founded The Rise Fund in 2016, a global impact investing fund managed by TPG. The fund invests in companies that deliver measurable social and environmental impact alongside competitive financial returns.

Making sense of Bono's claims—and his information war against DOGE—requires following the money. Specifically, the ONE Campaign, which he co-founded, receives major funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bono's comments mirrors Bill Gates' recent anti-DOGE media blitz, as seen across corporate outlets:

• "Gates Is A Huge Liar": Musk Hits Back After Bill Gates Claims DOGE 'Killing World's Poorest Children'

Gates is a huge liar

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2025

Bill and Bono in 2006.

Bono and failed far-left presidential candidate Kamala Harris. 

Sigh. 

SOME NEWS: Bono takes U2 on a break from Achtung Baby to perform “All I Want is You” and dedicates song to all women in world, on their crew, women experiencing hardship in world. Then he dedicates it to special guest in Sphere audience…”your First Lady, Jill Biden.” pic.twitter.com/CF4nGlYmYV

— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) March 3, 2024

Play the DC Swamp game, and get an award. 

Bono receives his Presidential Medal of Freedom. pic.twitter.com/TISAgAzayZ

— bethandbono (@bethandbono) January 4, 2025

At the end of the day, only the grifters scream the loudest. Gates and Bono want the taxpayer-funded money spigot turned back on.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 14:35

Democrats And Men

Authored by Stephen Soukup via American Greatness,

Since last November, Democrats and their friends in the media have spent a great deal of time wondering what they can do to win back male voters. Now they’re prepared to spend a great deal of money to help them figure it out. The “gender gap” in American politics was traditionally about Republicans’ inability to win over a majority of women voters, but this imbalance has more than evened out over the last few election cycles. Today, the Democrats’ struggle to win male voters—and young male voters, in particular—is as pronounced—if not more so—than their opponents’ struggle with women. Some of them, at least, would like to know why and would like to spend $20 million of their donors’ money in the process.

The explanations and consequent solutions offered so far range from the seemingly practical to the hopeless to the head-scratching. One might think that $20 million would buy something more insightful than this, but then, this is the same party that triumphantly chose Tim Walz as its vice-presidential nominee, fully expecting him to be the answer to their gender gap problem. Or in other words, don’t hold your breath.

In reality, the odds that the contemporary Democratic party will be able to win back men, now or in the foreseeable future, are vanishingly small. The party, as it is currently constituted, lacks both the will and the ability to make the changes that would be necessary to do so. What I mean by this is that the contemporary Democratic party is built on a handful of foundational notions that are, by and large, incompatible with the goal of appealing to men.

To start, historically, biologically, and evolutionarily, men need a purpose. That may sound trite or even sexist, but it’s nevertheless true. Perhaps it might be more accurate to say that men need an externally imposed purpose. Whatever the case, women, by definition, have a purpose, namely to create and nurture new life. While men are necessary to create life as well, their role is, obviously, not as involved or enduring. Once upon a time—which is to say from the dawn of history until about 50 or 60 years ago—man’s purpose, therefore, was to provide for and protect the family, to enable the nurturing of new life as safely and successfully as possible. There is an evolutionary reason that men are, generally, bigger and stronger than women—because they had to be able to hunt and work for food and defend their loved ones from danger.

Over the course of the last half-century or so, men’s historical purpose has been undone. There is no sense whatsoever in lamenting this development, of course. It is what it is, which is an inevitable consequence of modernization. As the physical requirements of providing for a family have dissipated, so has men’s exclusive purview to that aspect of human existence. Women’s equality in society and the workforce is both an important and positive occurrence. The pretense that women are somehow “less than” men was always a profane notion and one that modern societies have, rightly, abandoned.

But while women have retained their evolutionary purpose and have taken on additional societal purposes, men have largely only found themselves displaced, their purpose arrogated. Again, there is no use lamenting this, but there is no use in celebrating it either, which is precisely what the contemporary Democratic party is built to do. Rather than sympathizing with men as they struggle to find their purpose in modern society, Democratic progressivism often seems to gloat at their disorientation. The Democratic Party still sees men as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. It is fundamentally defined by its belief in a constitutional (i.e., Creator-granted) right that applies only to women and, in fact, aggressively rebukes men for even thinking that they might, theoretically, have an interest in the effects of their own behavior. Although it may not state its animating spirit quite as brashly, the Democratic party essentially functions according to the Steinem Principle (popularized by its namesake, the feminist icon Gloria Steinem) that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”

Democrats lament the fact that men are attracted to Joe Rogan and other “manly man” new-media stars, and (as noted in a link above), they desperately want their own Joe Rogan, a “liberal” who appeals to young and restless men. What they don’t understand is that men don’t listen to Rogan for his deep political insights. I mean, the “liberal” Joe Rogan would be… Joe Rogan, who, up until 15 minutes ago, was a Bernie Sanders guy. Rather, men listen to Rogan because he is interested in the things that used to comprise men’s purpose. He is a practitioner and a professional observer of martial arts/combat sports. He likes to fight (in a controlled environment), and he celebrates men who share that interest and those abilities. Rogan also likes to hunt. He likes to kill things and then eat them. That too appeals to otherwise lost and purposeless men. Rogan laughs, swears, and is irreverent. He doesn’t see himself as part of the problem—or as part of the solution. He just is who he is, which is someone who celebrates the things that used to define men as men.

The Democrats—in the aggregate—don’t get any of that at all.

A second, related problem for the Democrats is that they are completely out of touch with the current cultural zeitgeist among men, making their hopes of outreach painfully incoherent and cringeworthy. A few weeks ago (again, as detailed in a link above), Democratic National Committee vice chairman (and longtime anti-gun activist) David Hogg told Bill Maher that his party’s problem is that it is governed by nannies, who wish only to scold men for behaving like men. “Young people,” he said, “should be able to focus on what young people should be focused on, which is how to get laid and how to go and have fun.”

To be fair, this isn’t the most insane thing I’ve ever heard, and in some ways, it makes sense. But what neither Hogg nor his Democratic compatriots realize is that it’s no longer 1965, when the inimitable P.J. O’Rourke admittedly headed off to college and decided immediately to become a hippie liberal because, of course, the hippie liberals got all the girls. Much has changed in this country over the last 60 years, including the things that animate and interest young men.

It is inarguably true that young men are today and will always be concerned with how to attract and impress the fairer sex, but that’s not all there is to it. Young men today have been profoundly and negatively influenced by the nihilistic view that all there is to life is enjoying hedonism. Whether they recognize it cognitively or not, many have rejected that stunted and ultimately dispiriting view and desire something more substantive in their lives. There is a reason, after all, that religiosity and orthodox religiosity especially are resurgent primarily among young men. There is also a reason that young men are drinking and binge drinking less than young women today. Men are lost, and they want to find not only their way home but also their way to a brighter and more fulfilling home.

Right now, Democrats can do none of those things for men. And if I had to guess, I’d say that they wouldn’t be able to offer any of them, even if they spent $20 billion trying to figure it all out. It’s not who they are anymore. It’s not in their nature. It’s just not who they are.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 14:00

US Is 'Major' Cause Of Ukraine War: Beijing Goes On Attack As Hegseth Tells Asia Allies China Threat Is 'Imminent'

China is pushing back hard against new Western criticisms of its foreign policy, as French President Emmanuel Macron and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went on the attack, hurling sharp criticisms at Beijing during the ongoing Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, which noticeably China’s Defense Minister Dong Jun chose to skip.

A fresh, strident Chinese denunciation was formulated at the United Nations in New York. Beijing typically is very careful with its Ukraine war statements, seeking to present itself as an outside, neutral and objective mediator, urging peace. But now Chinese officials are blistering angry over the ramped-up anti-China messaging coming from Washington and Europe. The rhetoric is clearly getting less restrained on all sides, as increasingly hot spots in Eastern Europe get closely linked to Asian flashpoints.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a speech during the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore.

Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations blasted the United States for playing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, saying Washington bears "major responsibility" for the outbreak of the conflict.

China’s ambassador to UN further underscored that Beijing "has never provided lethal weapons" to any side US should "stop boring blame game" and instead focus on achieving peace. 

"It is not conducive to achieving a cease-fire and ending the war, and runs counter to the common expectations of the international community," he told the Security Council.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Indo-Pacific nations to establish a “new coalition” to counter the “constraints and side effects” stemming from the growing U.S.-China rivalry. --CNBC

"We urge all parties to actively forge an atmosphere conducive to peace talks by creating conditions and providing support. We also call on the parties to the conflict to work collectively toward de-escalation and a political solution, rather than persisting with military confrontations and attacks."

"Just now, the US Representative, once again, spread misinformation and smeared China. This is utterly unacceptable," said Geng, according to Xinhua. Hegseth's message in Asia was apparently coming through loud and clear via US representatives in New York on Friday. The Trump administration has of late held the threat of further sanctions over both Moscow and Beijing, given the export of 'dual-use' (military/industrial) Chinese items to Russia.

US bears 'MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY for outbreak' of conflict in Ukraine and its 'continuation' — China’s ambassador to UN

China 'has never provided lethal weapons' to any side

US should 'stop boring blame game' and focus on making peace pic.twitter.com/SQkw3xhlp0

— RT (@RT_com) May 30, 2025

The occasion of the Shangri-La Dialogue conference has only served to heighten tensions between the US and China globally, and in the Indo-Pacific region.

"It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific," Hegseth told delegates, also on Friday, in Singapore.

Hegseth in his remarks blasted China's regular military drills around Taiwan, as well as 'aggressive' interventions in the South China Sea, which has of late involved squabbles with coast guard vessels over fishing rights, whether involving US allies The Philippines or Japan. He warned of "devastating consequences" should China seek to "conquer" Taiwan.

"There’s no reason to sugar-coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent," Hegseth declared in the provocative speech.

He further highlighted that China's defense chief was a no-show at the key regional summit:

“Here in the Indo-Pacific, our futures are bound together,” Hegseth told attendees. “We share your vision of peace and stability, of prosperity and security. And we are here to stay.”

“And as a matter of fact, we are here this morning, somebody else isn’t,” he added.

NEW - Hegseth: "There's no reason to sugarcoat it — the threat China poses is real and it could be imminent."pic.twitter.com/ptnFvptey9

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 31, 2025

He urged Asian nations to boost their defense spending, pointing to Germany in Europe, as the latest example of a country realizing the seriousness of threats posed by 'bad actors' like Russia and China.

"It doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defense in the face of an even more formidable threat," the US defense chief said.

Regional analyst and commenter on China affairs Arnaud Bertrand had this reaction to Hegseth's speech in Shanghai:

This was easily one of the most unhinged and fear-mongering speeches by a Pentagon chief in Asia ever, with relents of the worst times of the Cold War. Funnily enough, Hegseth started his speech by saying that "for a generation, the United States ignored this region" because they were "distracted by open-ended wars, regime change, and nation building" elsewhere. Good start to the speech.  

But then his assessment turns negative:

But fear not, Hegseth says, the US are doing their utmost to "shift our focus to this region" in order to answer "the threat China poses", which "could be imminent". I'm sure the audience was very reassured  How does Hegseth define this "China threat" he's so worried about? As an "alteration of the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific", the US being "pushed out of this critical region" and China "conquering Taiwan by force." In short the "China threat" is... China daring to become more powerful than the US in its own neighborhood.

Below: regional media is full of headlines like the following on Saturday...

Bertrand concludes, "Peak American exceptionalism... Anyhow, all this would be funny if it wasn't so fundamentally disgusting: at heart this is the US determined to prevent China, the only great power to ever reach this status peacefully, from continuing to modernize and develop itself - because in their zero-sum view of the world the very idea that 1.4 billion people might achieve prosperity without American dominance is apparently intolerable."

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 13:25

Trump's Parlous Gambit

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“The modern politics of division have become a banally hectoring faux morality play put on by the theater kids for the other theater kids.”

- El Gato Malo on X

While Jake Tapper leads the Mea Culpa Chorus singing Kumbaya in a minor key, absolutely nobody is fooled that the grotesque psychotic deformities of US politics can be reduced to a few White House factotums lying to the news media about “Joe Biden’s” cognitive abilities. For one thing, the news media was not lied to. The news media (including Jake) lied to the nation, consistently, flagrantly, mendaciously, for years, and most of all they lied about the gigantic racketeering operation that government had become in the age of Anything Goes and Nothing Matters.

Cases-in-point, as reported by Alex Krainer, the $93-billion barfed out of the Department of Energy between the November election and January 20 to scores of hastily-formed NGO gangs with no business model or record of competency. . . and the staggering $375 billion spread around similarly out of the EPA from a slush fund run by John Podesta (as Senior Adviser to the President for International Climate Policy and Clean Energy Innovation).

That was pure grift, you understand, and it was how the Democratic Party kept its activist troops of the so-called “marginalized” paid and happy. As it happened, the “marginalized” who dwell on the edge of society — and also just beyond the set of agreements that define reality — are out-numbered by the rest of us, who voted against the tyranny of the margin and their hallucinations. And so now, the country goes through a convulsion attempting to readjust to reality — for instance, the unhappy fact that all that money was unreal, mere bookkeeping entries by dishonest accountants.

One reality we struggle with is the doleful fact that there is no work-around for the nation’s monumental debt. Since it can’t possibly be paid off, there are two stark paths for it: default and ruinous deflation (that is, money vanishes and the nation goes broke); or a futile attempt to inflate it away with more fake money creation (you’ll have money, but it’s increasingly worthless, so you’re effectively broke). Either way, you’re broke. In the meantime, the remorseless interest that has to be paid on $36.2-trillion squeezes out everything else we’re supposed to care for as relates to the common good.

Every broke-ass family or individual person knows how debilitating money-worries can be. And since unpayable debt is the common denominator across all of Western Civ, this perhaps explains the gross, suicidal mental disorder displayed lately by leadership all across Europe, North America and Anglo-Oceania. Europe, especially, exhibits behavior that is completely cuckoo — inciting war with Russia, inviting in murderous hostiles from foreign lands, and sadistically policing their own citizens.

The exception is Mr. Trump, a businessman-outsider to government trying to pull off an escape from the deadly debt quandary. It’s probably impossible, but he is trying nonetheless. It has three main features:

1) to readjust trade relations that, in theory, would restore industrial production across the land — a bootstrapping operation to kick off “growth.”

2) to engineer a severe re-set of the money system that would effectively amount to defaulting on debt but somehow without the feature of disappearing money. At best, this would induce some kind of fall in living standards, but mostly among the small sector of financial buccaneers who thrive on swindles and the Boomers living on investment accounts (figment wealth), who are now dying off anyway — which is to say, Great Depression Lite. And

3) the least understood feature of Trumpism: to decouple the USA from the resource scarcity in the rest of the world, and the consequent strife it’s inducing, and withdraw into a sort of Fortress North America that can somehow carry-on self-sufficiently while everybody else collapses.

As big pictures go, this is a pretty wild one, stupendously ambitious, risky, and perhaps improbable. But what do Mr. Trump’s domestic opponents have to offer? To go back to their asset-stripping operation with its insane sideshow of race-and-sexual hoaxes and hustles? Let’s face it, the Democratic Party has utterly shot its wad. If it tries to start another civil war, it will have its ass handed to it. Despite all the desperate, rear-guard lawfare underway now, the party is already withdrawing into the political thickets to hide while it considers some drastic reorganization of its purpose and personnel. It may skulk there for many years, just as it did between James Buchanan (1857) and Grover Cleveland (1885).

And despite his daunting agenda, Mr. Trump at least presents a sense of confident determination to get the country righted in some fashion, to recover a sense of purpose and enterprise after years of feckless, dissipative drift into the hallucinatory madness of the Left. You must give him a chance. There is no one else right now with no other way.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 11:40

Zelensky Is 'Clout-Chasing' By Pushing Meeting With Trump, Putin At Same Table: Kremlin

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, despite that at this moment the war is arguably hotter and more dangerous than ever, given aerial strikes between the warring sides have been escalating for many consecutive days. "If Putin is not comfortable with a bilateral meeting, or if everyone wants it to be a trilateral meeting, I don't mind. I am ready for any format," Zelensky had said in the middle of the week.

Zelensky said he's ready for a "Trump-Putin-me" meeting, but simultaneously called for Washington to slap more sanctions on the Kremlin. "We are waiting for sanctions from the United States of America," the Ukrainian leader said. And Trump's response?... "If I think I’m close to getting a [peace] deal, I don’t wanna screw it up by doing that," he told reporters at the White House.

Deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president Dmitry Medvedev has written in a Friday Telegram post that Zelensky is merely clout-chasing in wanting the two more powerful leaders at the table.

Describing that the reason is "obvious enough" - Medvedev wrote that:

“A three-way conversation means [he] can get a massive legitimacy boost by latching onto the clout of those at the table,” the Russian official claimed. Medvedev also surmised that Zelensky could capitalize on such a meeting domestically, using it as a pretext to put off elections further and to convince Ukrainian elites that “now is not the time to change horses in midstream.”

Indeed Zelensky could be feeling greater pressure on the domestic front, especially given the ongoing deeply unpopular mobilization and recruitment policies, which has involved preventing most able-bodied men from leaving the country, and which has seen brutal efforts to grab potential recruits from off the streets. Russia has called him 'illegitimate' for having long ago canceled elections amid martial law.

Naturally, Moscow is not taking kindly to Zelensky simultaneously calling for yet more US sanctions on Russia, even as he calls for a three-way meeting.

"Trump confirmed that if Russia does not stop, sanctions will be imposed," Zelensky had said in the comments which were published Wednesday. 

"We discussed two main aspects with him – energy and the banking system. Will the U.S. be able to impose sanctions on these two sectors? I would very much like that."

Trump admin officials have meanwhile been teasing a timetable of weeks, saying the clock is ticking for Moscow to show progress in peace negotiations - the next round which is set for Monday in Istanbul - as the US president himself has warned Putin against "tapping us along". Trump has said he is two weeks away from having an understanding if Putin is serious about peace.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 11:05

Movies Without Manipulation

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

At some point in this century, I began to watch movies with grave trepidation. There is a good chance that somewhere in whatever film, the moment would come when the producer would send some strange political message with a barely guarded attack on some fundamental tenet of bourgeois society. They began eschewing art for hectoring.

A poster of the movie “Snow White” (2025). Walt Disney Pictures

We watch movies by choice. We pay to see them mostly. Why should we do this if the point of the movie is to sneakily attack core values and preach some strange woke creed? Stung too many times, I’m far more careful to avoid anything that seems coded with a political purpose in mind. Life is too short.

This is why I never bothered to watch the live action version of “Snow White” that came out this year. It was coded left and revisionist even in the promotion. It was met with terrible reviews, and goes down in history as one of the worst film investments ever made by Disney. It could easily have been otherwise.

The mystery to me is why Disney could not have known the result from the beginning. Why would this company spend $250 million on a sure loser? To understand, we need to explore the ways in which ideological fanaticism eats away at rationality.

Fortunately in our times, anyone can hop over to a free movie site that is ad-supported like Tubi (the third most popular service after Netflix and Amazon Prime) and have thousands of great shows and movies immediately available. It’s not all there but there are true treasures awaiting.

I vaguely recall when “On Golden Pond” came out in 1981. It was considered old-fashioned and slightly boring, an attempt to deploy two scions of Hollywood (Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn) in their late years toward box office success. The movie then won three Oscars and was a huge triumph. Apparently Fonda and Hepburn had never met before the film but they were just magic together.

The beauty of the film is indescribable. It is set at the classic New England lake of a New Hampshire summer cottage at the height of nature’s beauty, revealing the tender relationship of this aging couple. She is an ebullient lover of nature, games, and life, and he is a crabby retired professor with a crusty outer way but beautiful inner soul. The theme of death looms large throughout. I cannot think of a film that more authentically portrays the struggles of aging.

Their daughter is played by Jane Fonda at her prime. She arrives with a new boyfriend who is a single father of a boy of 13 who is already jaded and cynical. A relationship forms between the old man and the boy, based on various activities of summer like boating, fishing, and swimming.

The father reveals a secret that there is a big trout he calls Walter who has evaded capture for many years. They hunt this fish for weeks, catching many others along the way but not the one they want. As the movie closes, they finally do snag Walter but let him go out of respect for his size, might, and long life.

All of which recalls the huge drama of another great book made into several films: “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville. It’s one of the great American novels, oddly dreaded more than thoroughly read. Written in 1851, its tremendous fame is due to its detailed accounting of the whaling industry and culture in a time when whale oil was the resource most in demand for lighting before electricity came along.

Captain Ahab puts together a whaling expedition but with a fanatical desire to get the biggest whale of all, the one that caused him to lose a leg. The purpose of the trip is not profits but revenge, which the sailors on the boat knew but had underestimated the power of their captain’s obsession. The journey takes them as far as the South China Sea and ends with a grave lesson about the problem of single-minded obsessions untempered by concern for others and the larger context.

The reader or viewer is a fan of the Captain and his genius for as long as possible, truly hoping that he gets his wish. The lesson of the story only comes with the ending of doom, and only in reverse is it obvious that he allowed his obsession to cloud all his judgment.

A poster of the movie “On Golden Pond” (1981). IPC Films/Universal Pictures

The search for the fish in “On Golden Pond” is rational and sporting by comparison. Both stories are set in New England and surely the parallels here are not accidental. One shows destructive fanaticism and the other shows a tempered and loving ambition.

Both films are what my mentor Murray Rothbard called “movie movies,” meaning that they are deep, exciting, emotionally rich, wonderful and evocative to watch, and barren of hidden and manipulative attempts to browbeat or manipulate the politics of the viewer. Young people today who don’t watch older movies probably do not know the meaning of such things.

Murray did not review “On Golden Pond,” so far as I know, but I feel sure that he would have adored the film. Truly, I was taken aback by the innocence of the plot and the comfort that comes with realizing that at no point in the movie would the other shoe drop and we would be presented a lecture on the evils of normal society.

That’s true for most movies made in the 20th century before ideology came along to ruin them. We can think of identitarian politics as the equivalent of Captain Ahab’s whale, something the left has pursued with fanatical vigor even to the point of its own self-destruction. I see this operating at the New York Times, in large corporations, and in sectors of government where a single idea has swamped all rationality and even concern for the metrics of profitability.

The role of Moby Dick in this case is occupied by a malevolent vision of “white” Christian society—and the values that undergird it—as irredeemably corrupt and worthy only of being destroyed. In the past 10 years, it got so out of hand that a small but powerful coterie of writers tried to change the date of the founding of America and wage a wild war on the president who they believed to represent everything they hated.

There is truth to the observation that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” has ruined vast amounts of art, journalism, commentary, and culture. There is plenty with which to disagree in Trump’s first and second term, and nothing wrong at all making that clear. The problem comes with the single-minded obsession that pursues the whale at the expense of everything else.

The right approach is the one taken by Henry Fonda toward “Walter” the trout. There is adventure in the hunt. Politics as a normal sport is a great thing. It sharpens skills at observation, argumentation, and rhetoric. Unlike Henry who lets the fish go once it is caught, Trump’s enemies have raised the stakes to the highest-possible level, attempting to jail him and worse.

We live in changing times when woke ideology is on the ropes, banned in many sectors of society and defunded according to policy. That said, the apparatus of understanding behind the ideology will long endure in culture, deeply institutionalized in academia, professional societies, and media. It’s true for films too.

Good movies might make a comeback—and perhaps that is happening now—but if you are like me, I wait until the reviews are out and eschew anything coded left simply because I don’t want to pay to be insulted. For now, I take recourse in the beauty and luxury of the older movies without the fanaticism that has compromised so much elite culture.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 10:30

Alberta Wildfires Threaten Oil Sands Output; Energy Experts Closely Monitoring Inferno

Goldman energy analysts, led by Adam Wijaya, are closely tracking wildfires in Alberta, where over half a million barrels per day of crude production are at risk. 

"Good morning and happy Friday! Coming in this morning to see Brent at $64/b and WTI at $61/b… quiet on the macro front this morning for the most part, with most of the focus on (a) monitoring progression of Alberta Wildfires (number is now above 50… 28 considered out of control from 24 prior, with 19 under control)," Wijaya told clients. 

The latest data from Bloomberg shows that 29 out-of-control fires are raging 12 miles from massive oil sands well sites that produce 459,000 barrels of oil daily. 

The fires are now spreading dangerously close to major oil sands operations:

• MEG Energy's Christina Lake site (93,000 bpd) is just 4 km from the flames; production continues, but non-essential staff have been evacuated.
• Canadian Natural Resources' Jackfish site, with 38,000 bpd within 3 km and 83,000 bpd within 10 km of fire zones, is also at risk.

Important context: Canada is the largest foreign oil supplier to the U.S., accounting for approximately 60% of total crude imports, with the vast majority of that coming from Alberta's oil sands.

According to a person familiar with prices, Canadian heavy crude's discount to WTI has narrowed to $8.70/bbl, reflecting supply concerns. The discount on Thursday was $9.70/bbl. 

Fire danger remains extreme in most of Alberta but may ease in the next few days with expected cooler weather and rain. Meanwhile, high winds in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are expected to worsen fire conditions. 

Smoke is drifting into the U.S. Upper Midwest...

Lots of smoke on satellite this evening in Canada as dozens of wildfires burn out of control, particularly in Alberta where pyrocumulus clouds can be seen. Around 17,000 people are under evacuations in Manitoba and a 30 day provincial emergency has been declared in Saskatchewan. pic.twitter.com/YGAPCkKUS4

— Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) May 30, 2025

Any severe disruption in Alberta's oil production will tighten North American supply, raise prices, and could force U.S. refiners to source costlier supplies elsewhere. Something to certaintly keep an eye on, as per what Goldman's Wijaya noted, mainly because the summer driving season has kicked off. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 09:55

Falling For Socialism

Authroed by Lika Kobeshavidze via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Across college campuses, on TikTok feeds, and in everyday conversations, a familiar narrative is gaining steam: capitalism is broken.

Custom image by FEE

Rising rents and stagnant wages fuel the claim among some young people that free markets have failed an entire generation. According to a 2024 poll by the Institute of Economic Affairs, more than 60 percent of young Britons now view socialism favorably. In the United States, the trend is similar, with Generation Z increasingly skeptical of capitalism’s promises.

But much of this idealism is rooted in distance—many of the young people romanticizing socialism have never lived through the economic dysfunction or political repression it often brings. For those who experienced Soviet shortages, Venezuelan collapse, or East Germany’s surveillance, the word socialism doesn’t suggest fairness or opportunity—it suggests fear, failure, and control. There’s a reason so many fled those systems to come to freer countries. What sounds utopian in theory has too often turned dystopian in practice.

But blaming capitalism misses the mark. The real culprit is cronyism, the unholy alliance between big government and big business that twists markets, blocks competition, and rewards political connections over genuine innovation.

The Myth of Market Failure

Capitalism, in its true form, is based on voluntary exchange. It rewards businesses that meet people’s needs and wants, with consumers deciding what succeeds and what fails. Competition drives improvement, innovation, and lower prices. No one is forced to buy or sell anything; choice reigns.

Cronyism is a different beast altogether. In a crony system, businesses succeed not by serving customers but by lobbying politicians. Profits come through subsidies, bailouts, and regulations designed to crush competition.

The 2008 financial crisis, often cited as proof of capitalism’s failures, actually showcased what happens when markets are rigged. Reckless banks, instead of collapsing as they deserved, were bailed out with taxpayer money. Ordinary people lost jobs and homes, while the politically connected survived and thrived.

This wasn’t free enterprise. It was cronyism.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a grim sequel. Small businesses were forced to shut their doors under government mandates. Meanwhile, corporate giants like Amazon, able to operate under looser restrictions or pivot online, soared to record profits. Policies, written in the name of public health, often privileged the biggest players while leaving Main Street devastated.

Cronyism on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Cronyism is not limited to one country or one political party. Across the United States and Europe, the symptoms are the same.

In the U.S., Canada, and the UK, the dream of homeownership slips further away for young people. Sky-high housing prices are blamed on “market failure,” but the real cause lies in layers of government-imposed barriers: restrictive zoning laws, burdensome permitting requirements, and endless bureaucratic delays. Big developers who can afford to navigate or influence the system survive. Everyone else gets locked out.

In Europe, the pattern repeats. France’s labor laws, designed to protect workers, instead stifle opportunity. Hiring becomes risky and expensive, especially for young people. Large corporations, with the resources to manage compliance costs, consolidate their dominance. Small firms and startups never get off the ground.

There’s also a persistent myth that big business fears government intervention. In reality, the largest corporations often embrace it, because it keeps them on top. Tech giants like Facebook and Google now lobby for more regulation, knowing that complex new rules will strangle smaller competitors who can’t afford fleets of compliance officers. Green energy subsidies, meant to combat climate change, often end up showering billions on well-connected firms while locking out emerging innovators.

Cronyism doesn’t reward the best ideas. It rewards the best lobbyists.

Why Gen Z’s Frustration Is Justified

Gen Z values fairness, creativity, and freedom. The very principles cronyism undermines. When political influence matters more than merit, and when success depends on government favoritism instead of consumer satisfaction, opportunity shrinks and innovation slows. But they are wrong when they think “socialism” would be a better option, not least because of the rampant cronyism that has existed in every socialist state.

The temptation to seek salvation through government power is not new. The Soviet Union began with a promise of equality and delivered oppression and scarcity (except for the party elites). Venezuela promised 21st-century socialism and delivered hunger, economic collapse, and political repression. Meanwhile, countries that embraced market freedom—even imperfectly—created unparalleled prosperity. Free markets have lifted billions out of poverty, and unleashed innovation that reshaped the modern world.

Markets aren’t flawless. But they leave the door open for anyone to succeed, not just those born into privilege or connected to power.

Aim Your Anger at the Right Target

Gen Z’s frustration is real, and it deserves an outlet. But the answer is not to tear down capitalism; it’s to tear down cronyism. A freer, fairer future depends on separating business from political power, not binding them closer together. It means ending corporate welfare, simplifying the rules of the game, and making sure that competition, not connections, decides who wins.

The fight for fairness is worth waging. But it must be aimed in the right direction. If we rage against cronyism, not capitalism, we can build a future where innovation thrives, opportunity is real, and every member of Generation Z has a genuine chance to rise.

From the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 09:20

Cicada Swarm Begins Rare Emergence In Eastern US After 17 Years Underground

A rare mass emergence of cicadas is underway across the eastern United States as Brood XIV—one of the largest 17-year periodical cicada broods—surfaces for the first time since 2008.

Found only in eastern North America, periodical cicadas are known for their long underground life cycles, synchronized mass emergences, and piercing mating calls, according to researchers at the University of Connecticut.

As Chase Smith reports for The Epoch Times, Brood XIV is considered a keystone brood because of its size and central role in cicada evolution.

Researchers say it may have given rise to nearly all other 17-year broods through rare timing shifts known as “four-year jumps.”

This year’s emergence spans a wide area, including parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York state. Disjunct populations also exist in places like Cape Cod and Long Island, though scientists say those groups may be in decline.

University of Connecticut researchers are urging caution when interpreting sightings this year due to the presence of “stragglers,” cicadas that emerge early or late compared to their expected brood. These misaligned appearances, along with a phenomenon called “shadow brooding,” may confuse mapping efforts and lead to mistaken conclusions about the size or expansion of Brood XIV.

Accurate data is critical, researchers said, because Brood XIV plays a key role in understanding the distribution of other broods. Its interactions with adjacent broods, like Brood VI, X, and I, are still being studied, particularly in areas such as southwestern Ohio, northeastern Tennessee, and northern Kentucky.

The cicadas began appearing in April in Southern states and are expected to continue emerging through June in Northern regions as soil temperatures 7 to 8 inches below ground reach about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Their emergence is typically triggered by warming weather. Once above ground, the insects climb nearby trees, molt into adults, mate, and die within several weeks.

Eggs hatch six to 10 weeks later, and the tiny nymphs fall to the ground to begin another 17-year cycle.

Periodical cicadas are not harmful. They do not bite, sting, or carry disease. While they may damage young saplings during egg-laying, they are not considered pests and do not require pesticide treatment. Most adults feed briefly on woody plants before dying.

Cicada densities can vary extraordinarily, the researchers stated. In some areas, estimates suggest up to one million insects per acre. This overwhelming presence is believed to protect the population from predators through a process called “predator satiation,” where animals eat their fill without impacting the entire population.

So far, citizen scientists using the iNaturalist platform have reported the most sightings in Townsend, Tennessee; across North Carolina; and in Clermont County and Miamiville, Ohio. According to project data, Townsend alone has logged 174 confirmed reports.

Scientists encourage residents in affected states to document sightings using platforms such as iNaturalist or the Cicada Safari app to aid researchers in real-time mapping. Since Brood XIV emerges only once every 17 years, this season offers a rare chance to witness one of nature’s most distinctive phenomena.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 08:45

How Scotch Whisky Came To Be

Authored by Gerry Bowler via The Epoch Times,

A single line in a royal financial account leads us into the fascinating history of Scotch whisky. On June 1, 1495, a secretary penned the following: “To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae, VIII bolls of malt.” This is the earliest mention we have of the manufacture of distilled spirits in Scotland—eight barrels of malt to make aqua vitae, “the water of life” (“usquebaugh” in Gaelic.)

The use of intoxicating beverages is as old as civilization itself; humans have been drinking beer and wine for thousands of years. These drinks were safer than local water supplies and provided valuable nutrients to men, women, and children on a daily basis. The average Englishman of the Middle Ages drank anywhere from 250 to 400 gallons of beer a year.

However, taking advantage of the powers of distillation to increase alcohol content and purify the liquor is much more recent. It seems to have developed, perhaps surprisingly, in medieval monasteries where monks who were the chemists and physicians of the day used their knowledge of herbs, fermentation, and alchemy to make useful medicines. Friar John Cor seems to have belonged to the Dominican Order. By the 15th century, these monks had mastered a complicated process of several steps to produce Scotch whisky.

First, barley—a hardy grain able to be grown in northern climates—is malted, that is steeped in water, allowed to germinate. and then dried. The grain is mashed in water, and yeast is added which ferments the sugars into ethanol.

Then, the liquid is poured into a still where it is heated. The alcohol evaporates before the water, and this vapour rises and condenses again into a liquid. It undergoes a second distillation which separates the “heart” (clean, desirable alcohol) from less desirable elements. Each distillation increases the percentage of alcohol to a very high level. The liquid is now diluted, poured into oak casks, and allowed to age for a number of years, taking on the flavour of the wood, changing colour, and becoming a more complex beverage.

The Protestant Reformation in Scotland and England destroyed the monastic system, leaving alcohol innovation and production in the hands of private individuals. Hundreds of stills were set up, serving a growing public taste for Scotch. But a complication arose when first the Scottish and then (after the Union of 1707 joined the Scots and English) the British government sought to tax the production of whisky. This created a steady demand for the product of illegal, unlicensed (and thus cheaper) distilleries that operated relatively free from official harassment, hidden in glens and sheltered by fog, remoteness, and tolerant locals in the Highlands.

Triple cask single malt Scotch whisky aged for 16 years from the Balvenie distillery in Dufftown, Scotland. Adilson Sochodolak/Shutterstock

The legal trade emerged triumphant, however, in the 19th century after the tragic Highland Clearances when lairds started evicting their tenants to make way for more profitable sheep farming. Coupled with easier government regulation of the trade, new techniques that produced a smoother whisky, and disastrous vine diseases on the Continent that cut back on the availability of wines, a class of prosperous Scottish distilleries emerged, many of which still exist today. By the late 1800s, whisky was rivalling brandy as the preferred drink of the wealthier classes around the globe.

In the 21st century, Scotch whisky is a carefully defined product that ensures high standards and distinguishes it from imitations and foreign rivals. Methods of production, ingredients, alcohol content (at least 80 proof), and aging (at least three years) are strictly controlled, and wise consumers can tell by the labelling just what they are buying.

Single malt Scotch is made from 100 percent malted barley in old-fashioned pot stills at a single distillery. This is the most expensive and prestigious variety, some costing many thousands of dollars a bottle. Single grain Scotch is made at one distillery but contains barley and other grains. Blended Scotch is a mixture of malts and other grains made from the product of different distilleries. This is the sort that is the most commonly encountered. Blended malt Scotch consists of malts from different distilleries (appealing to those who want the malty experience but don’t want to pay high-end prices), while blended grain Scotch is a mixture of grains from different distilleries.

Whisky connoisseurs have their own terminology and can rival wine snobs in their alleged ability to distinguish regional variations and describe tastes. Be prepared to hear talk of “smoky,” “peaty,” briny,” or “complex,” and listen to arguments over the virtues of Scotch from Islay, the Islands, or the Highlands.

Slàinte Mhath!

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 08:10

The Champions League's Global Appeal Is Paying Off

When the UEFA Champions League Final between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain kicks off at the Allianz Arena in Munich today, it will be the first final without a club from either England, Spain or Germany since Mourinho's FC Porto beat AS Monaco in 2004.

It will also be a game of European football heritage versus a new footballing power, as Inter with its rich legacy will play a PSG that has been transformed from a mid-table club to a serial league winner and global brand since the takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011. Ironically, the current PSG squad, which is arguably the least star-studded in years after the likes of Neymar, Messi and Mbappé all left, is given the best chance of finally winning the Champions League, a title the club has been chasing for more than a decade now.

As the following chart shows, Inter won the Champions League (or the European Cup as it was previously called) three times already, most recently in 2010. Real Madrid is in a league of its own in terms of European triumphs, however. The outfit from the Spanish capital won 15 Champions League titles, leading AC Milan (7), Liverpool and Bayern (6) by a wide margin.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Additionally, football fans from all across the globe will be watching.

After all, it is the biggest club competition in the world, where fans get to watch star-studded teams compete for European glory and a place in the game's history books.

As Statista's Felix Richter reports, for UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, the competition’s global appeal is paying off handsomely. Over the past two decades, the media and commercial rights for the Champions League have more than quintupled in value. In the 2023/24 season, UEFA made €3.2 billion from Champions League rights, up from just €569 million in the 2003/04 season.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Looking at UEFA's lower-tier club competitions, the Europa League and the Conference League, highlights how far ahead the Champions League is in terms of its status and commercial appeal. Last season, UEFA's combined revenue from Europa League and Conference League media and commercial rights amounted to €478 million, which is just 15 percent of what the Champions League brought in.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 07:35

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

• The Fiery Investor Restoring East Texas: Hedge fund wizard Kyle Bass made his name by predicting a housing collapse. Now he’s betting big on a growing market: nature. (Texas Monthly)

• Ukraine’s New Way of War: American weapons are important, but Ukrainian drones have changed everything. (The Atlantic) see also The terrifying new weapon changing the war in Ukraine: In an ever-evolving conflict, soldiers have had to rapidly adapt to new threats posed by changing technology. And the latest threat comes from fibre optic drones. A spool of tens of kilometres of cable is fitted to the bottom of a drone and the physical fibre optic cord is attached to the controller held by the pilot. (BBC)

• Life’s Ancient Bottleneck: Of the six chemical elements necessary for life, phosphorus is the rarest. It determines what grows and shrinks, who lives and dies. By disrupting the planet’s phosphate cycle, unchecked factory farming could have apocalyptic consequences. (Quillette)

• Is the U.S. in a “high-level equilibrium trap”? When countries start fearing the future, they stagnate. (Noahpinion)

• Building the Waffle House Index, then Getting a Cease and Desist from Waffle House: Bit of a sticky situation. (jack.bio) see also (You Tube Video)

• The Hobby Computer Culture: From 1975 through early 1977, the use of personal computers remained almost exclusively the province of hobbyists who loved to play with computers and found them inherently fascinating. (Creatures of Thought)

• Rare-Earths Plants Are Popping Up Outside China: U.S., Brazil are among countries building capacity to mine and refine metals for EVs and smartphones (Wall Street Journal) see also What the hell are rare earth elements? Commonly called “rare earths,” they encompass 17 elements on the periodic table that are found in underground ore deposits. They’re so useful that rare earths have been referred to as “21st-century gold. (The Hustle)

• Birthday Effect? You will die someday. Probably not today: Would you believe me if I told you that you’re actually more likely to die on your birthday than on other days of the year? (Pudding)

• The Quest to Prove the Existence of a New Type of Quantum Particle.‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials. (Quanta Magazine)

• Jan Todd May Be the Reason You’re Lifting Weights: Once known as “the world’s strongest woman,” Dr. Todd spent 50 years breaking records — and turning strength into a field of study. (New York Times)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Tom Barkin, Richmond Federal Reserve President & CEO and voting member of the the Federal Open Market Committee. He previously spent 30 years at McKinsey & Company , eventually becoming Chief Risk Officer and Chief Finaacial Officer.

 

New listing data is growing year over year, but now within a seasonal range that is normal.
(2023 & 2024, that wasn’t the case)

Source: Housing Wire

 

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~~~

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

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

Escobar: Trilateral Summit Raises 21st Century New Silk Road Spirit

Authored by Pepe Escobar,

The first ever ASEAN-China-GCC trilateral summit earlier this week in Malaysia is even more than a cross-regional, South-South breakthrough.

The 17 nations united on the same table in Kuala Lumpur graphically demonstrated, as evoked by Malaysian Prime Minister and current ASEAN chair Anwar Ibrahim, how “from the ancient Silk Road to the vibrant maritime networks of Southeast Asia to modern trade corridors, our peoples have long connected through commerce, culture, and the sharing of ideas.”

Call it the 21st century New Silk Road spirit. And it’s no wonder China is right at its heart, via interlocked Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects – from infrastructure to trade development. China, Southeast Asia and a large part of West Asia do conform a Golden Triangle of natural resources, manufacturing and a large consumer base.

The final declaration of the Malaysia summit of course had to celebrate these “enduring and deep historical and civilizational ties”, as well as geoeconomics, in a drive to “promote economic development in the wider Asia-Pacific [note the correct terminology] and Middle East [old terminology: the correct one is ‘West Asia’].”

So it’s natural that China proposed the possibility of including the West Asian Arab nations of the GCC in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the vast 15-member trade pact that includes China and ASEAN (but not self-excluded India).

Free trade was the key theme in Kuala Lumpur – from the recently completed China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade to the upcoming China-GCC Free Trade Agreement negotiations. In contrast to Trump 2.0, the trilateral committed to “strengthen the resilience of industrial chains and supply chains”, everything geared towards long-term, tariff and sanction-free sustainable trade.

Last year, ASEAN’s total trade with China and GCC surpassed $900 billion, almost twice the $453 billion in trade with the US. And yes, trade de-dollarization is the way to go all across Asia. Right before the summit, China and Indonesia jointly announced that from now on, trade between both powerhouses is only in yuan and rupiah.

The final declaration was explicit on exploring “local currency and cross-border payment cooperation” – in tandem with promoting “high-quality BRI cooperation and seamless connectivity, including the development of logistics corridors and digital platforms”, and advancing “sustainable infrastructure construction.” The trilateral is engaged in building a web of pan-Asia connectivity corridors – the prime geoeconomic theme of the 21st century.

The trilateral had to refer to Gaza – although not as forcefully as it should. At best, the final declaration “endorses the advisory opinion rendered by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024, including its finding that the United Nations, in particular the General Assembly and the Security Council, which requested the advisory opinion, should consider specific modalities and further actions to bring an end to the illegal presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as soon as possible”; and to “achieve the two-State solution based on the 1967 borders in accordance with international law.”

How East, Southeast and West Asia Connect to BRICS

East Asia, historically, is most of all a mosaic of transnational regions linked by maritime corridors. The first globalization happened – where else – in Asia, from the opening of the trans-Pacific route linking the “New World” to the Philippines in 1511 to the takeover of Malacca – the great Southeast Asian emporium – by the Portuguese in 1571.

But even before the Vasco da Gama era, East and Southeast Asia formed a relatively integrated economic zone, with ports from Malacca to Nagasaki shining as trade centers crammed with Arab, Chinese, Indian and Japanese merchants. Malacca boomed thanks to excellent infrastructure, moderate port tariffs and a sound fiscal regime: a much better deal compared to the subsequent predatory Portuguese and Dutch colonial set up, all the way to admiral Alfred Mahan conceptualizing the principles of sea power to the benefit of the thalassocratic US.

Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo has clearly explained how China and South East Asia have been relieving – with spectacular success – their historic, culture and trade connections. This summit taking place in Malaysia, home of the historically crucial crossroads Malacca, is a touch of poetic justice.

Add to it Indonesia President Prabowo – a former Suharto general, and his son-in-law – effusively praising China’s firm anti-imperialist stance since 1949 and during the Cold War, right in front of Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang. A 21stcentury parallel can be made with the legendary Spirit of Bandung in 1955, when Indonesia’s Sukarno – a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) – was side by side with Zhou EnLai.

The ASEAN-China-GCC summit may be able to advance moves that the inestimable Prof. Michael Hudson deem absolutely necessary for BRICS members – and quite a few in Kuala Lumpur will be at the table at the BRICS summit in Rio in early July.

Prof. Hudson has conclusively demonstrated how landlord classes, monopolies and residues of European colonialism will have to go for BRICS nations to “achieve the same kind of take off that made England, Germany, US industrial leaders of the world.” That means to drastically “cut back payments to foreign investors concentrated on raw material rent” and to subdue “the rentier class.”

Prof. Hudson argues that when it comes to “how to free their economies – rent, creditor payments – this is what China did. China had a revolution. After the revolution it did not have a financial class. China made money creation a public utility – an arm of the Treasury; it created money to finance tangible investments in capital formation, factories, housing – a little too much – huge public infrastructure, urban transportation, high-speed rail.”

What I previously defined as “The BRICS Lab” – all those models being constantly tested, starting last year in Russia before the Kazan summit – is indeed trying to answer questions posed by Prof. Hudson in several ways: “We need to create our money. Elites should not keep benefitting from regressive taxation. How to industrialize? No more economic rent.”

The Chinese, predictably, are already at the next level of the integration business. This is their “magic weapon” to “defeat the enemy”: “The construction of the ‘dual circulation’ of the domestic and foreign markets, uniting as many living forces as possible to form a united front to deal with unilateralism. Most of the southern countries are natural allies. The feasibility of close linkage between ‘South-South cooperation’ and ‘dual circulation’ is increasing day by day.”

Jeffrey Sachs, in Kuala Lumpur, ahead of the ASEAN-China-GCC summit, succinctly nailed the New Silk Road spirit: “If you put together Japanese skill, Korean skill, Chinese skill, ASEAN skill, oh my God: no one could possibly compete (…) Diplomacy requires a table and two chairs. The military requires $1 trillion a year. Which do you think is the better deal?”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 23:25

Mapping Every Understaffed Air Traffic Control Tower In The US

Earlier this year, the U.S. experienced one of its deadliest air mishaps in two decades.

An American Airlines passenger plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter sending both into the Potomac River.

ℹ️ For reference: American Airlines has one of the worst track-records when it comes to crashes.

In the immediate aftermath, officials mentioned that short-staffed air traffic control towers may have played a role. This was later deemed not the cause, but air traffic control staffing shortages are plaguing 44% of all FAA regulated towers, latest data shows.

Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao maps out every single tower that is below the 2024-guideline staffing threshold (85%) per the latest available data current to September 2023, published by the FAA.

Ranked: All Short-Staffed Air Traffic Control Towers

128 of the 290 FAA-operated air traffic control towers across the country are short-staffed.

Rochester Tower, located in Minnesota has less than half the required controllers per 2024 requirements.

The table below lists all facilities by the percentage of staff filled.

Rank Facility Facility Code % Staffed 1 Rochester Tower RST 47.8 2 Waterloo Tower ALO 56.5 3 Morristown Tower MMU 57.9 4 Pasco Tower PSC 58.8 5 Oakland Tower OAK 60.0 6 North Las Vegas Tower VGT 60.0 7 Scottsdale Tower SDL 62.5 8 Memphis TRACON M03 63.4 9 Grand Canyon Tower GCN 64.3 10 Traverse City Tower TVC 64.3 11 Terre Haute /Hulman Tower HUF 65.5 12 Rockford Tower RFD 65.6 13 Falcon Field Tower FFZ 66.7 14 Grand Forks Tower GFK 66.7 15 Huntington Tower HTS 66.7 16 Las Vegas TRACON L30 67.9 17 Andrews Tower ADW 68.2 18 Centennial Tower APA 69.2 19 Fargo Tower FAR 69.2 20 Green Bay Tower GRB 69.2 21 Lubbock Tower LBB 69.2 22 Milwaukee Tower MKE 69.4 23 Willow Run Tower YIP 69.6 24 Austin Tower AUS 70.0 25 Rochester Tower ROC 70.3 26 Tallahassee Tower TLH 70.8 27 Charleston Tower CRW 71.0 28 Allegheny Tower AGC 71.4 29 Aspen Tower ASE 71.4 30 St Lucie Tower FPR 71.4 31 Grand Rapids Tower GRR 71.4 32 Hayward Tower HWD 71.4 33 Saginaw Tower MBS 71.4 34 Orlando Tower MCO 71.4 35 Sioux Gateway Tower SUX 71.4 36 Casper Tower CPR 72.2 37 Seattle TRACON S46 73.1 38 Hooks Tower DWH 73.7 39 Juneau Tower JNU 73.7 40 Little Rock Tower LIT 73.7 41 Boise Tower BOI 73.8 42 Meacham Tower FTW 73.9 43 Islip Tower ISP 73.9 44 Birmingham Tower BHM 74.4 45 Erie Tower ERI 75.0 46 Eugene Tower EUG 75.0 47 Helena Tower HLN 75.0 48 Poughkeepsie Tower POU 75.0 49 Fort Wayne Tower FWA 75.9 50 Duluth Tower DLH 76.0 51 Youngstown Tower YNG 76.0 52 Binghamton Tower BGM 76.2 53 Ontario Tower ONT 76.2 54 Madison Tower MSN 76.7 55 Long Beach Tower LGB 76.9 56 John Wayne Tower SNA 76.9 57 Vero Beach Tower VRB 76.9 58 El Paso Tower ELP 77.1 59 Memphis Tower MEM 77.1 60 Norfolk Tower ORF 77.1 61 Gulfport Tower GPT 77.3 62 San Juan Tower SJU 77.3 63 Tamiami Tower TMB 77.3 64 Bangor Tower BGR 77.4 65 Albuquerque Tower ABQ 77.8 66 Bismarck Tower BIS 77.8 67 Hilo Tower ITO 77.8 68 Myrtle Beach Tower MYR 77.8 69 Prescott Tower PRC 77.8 70 Pueblo Tower PUB 77.8 71 Sanford Tower SFB 77.8 72 Savannah Tower SAV 78.1 73 Nantucket Tower ACK 78.6 74 Columbia Tower CAE 78.6 75 Concord Tower CCR 78.6 76 Camarillo Tower CMA 78.6 77 Palomar Tower CRQ 78.6 78 Des Moines Tower DSM 78.6 79 Bowman Tower LOU 78.6 80 Merrill Tower MRI 78.6 81 Paine Tower PAE 78.6 82 Palo Alto Tower PAO 78.6 83 Sonoma Tower STS 78.6 84 Spirit Tower SUS 78.6 85 Twin Falls Tower TWF 78.6 86 Maui Tower OGG 78.9 87 Chattanooga Tower CHA 79.2 88 Clarksburg Tower CKB 79.2 89 Charleston Tower CHS 79.3 90 Asheville Tower AVL 80.0 91 Chino Tower CNO 80.0 92 Central Florida TRACON F11 80.0 93 Lexington Tower LEX 80.0 94 Phoenix Tower PHX 80.0 95 Corpus Christi Tower CRP 80.5 96 Northern California TRACON NCT 80.5 97 Wilkes-Barre Tower AVP 80.8 98 Bradley Tower BDL 81.0 99 Champaign Tower CMI 81.0 100 Lake Charles Tower LCH 81.0 101 Monroe Tower MLU 81.0 102 Knoxville Tower TYS 81.1 103 Dayton Tower DAY 81.3 104 Manchester Tower MHT 81.3 105 Colorado Springs Tower COS 81.5 106 Atlanta TRACON A80 81.8 107 Columbus Tower CMH 81.8 108 Sioux Falls Tower FSD 81.8 109 Jackson Tower JAN 81.8 110 Salt Lake City Tower SLC 81.8 111 Tuscon Tower TUS 81.8 112 San Diego Tower SAN 82.1 113 San Antonio Tower SAT 82.1 114 Pittsburgh Tower PIT 82.2 115 Wichita Tower ICT 82.5 116 Great Falls Tower GTF 82.6 117 Atlanta Tower ATL 82.7 118 Denver Tower DEN 82.9 119 Ann Arbor Tower ARB 83.3 120 Billings Tower BIL 83.3 121 Columbus Tower CSG 83.3 122 Monterey Tower MRY 83.3 123 Downtown Tower MKC 84.2 124 Waco Tower ACT 84.6 125 Dallas Love Tower DAL 84.6 126 Houston Intercontinental Tower IAH 84.6 127 Portland Tower PWM 84.6 128 Seattle Tower SEA 84.8

Of particular interest are the short-staffed TRACONs (Terminal Radar Approach Control); these are bigger facilities that assist with landing and departure for larger areas.

In fact, these numbers are a more optimistic view of the staffing shortage. They include fully-certified controllers, those that have transferred from a different facility and getting familiar with a new environment, and those just out of academy who are picking up on-the-job skills.

If looking at just the fully certified controllers, these rates drop even further.

For reference, it takes roughly 2–3 years for an academy graduate to become fully certified.

Why is There an ATC Staffing Shortage?

There are a few interlinked reasons.

As a mentioned earlier, it’s a difficult (and long) training process, which takes a minimum of 2-3 years. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted or paused training and now the system is playing catch-up.

The attrition rate of employees is high due to long hours and on-the-job stress. And finally, there’s a mandatory retirement age (56) which leads to a yearly employee loss.

This shortage is pushing controllers into 60-hour workweeks, in turn leading to a higher burnout rate.

Need more data related to flying? Check Out: All the Things Americans Find Unacceptable on Planes for interesting cultural insights.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 23:00

Wolves Wreak Havoc On Cattle Herds In California

Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Descendants of rewilded wolves are taking a heavy toll on cattle in Northern California and Oregon, killing calves and full-grown animals and putting stress on cow-calf operations and ranchers’ pocketbooks.

A gray wolf approaches a bull, caught on a game camera in June 2023. Ken Tate, Tina Saitone/UC Davis

Because wolves are listed as an endangered species under state and federal law, ranchers are hamstrung: They can’t shoot or harass these protected predators. The penalty for killing a wolf is steep; federal law carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, unless a rancher can prove that it was in self-defense.

While animal advocacy groups say the wolves are native apex predators that belong in California and other western states, some ranchers argue that there’s nothing natural about wolves’ stalking domestic cattle because there isn’t enough natural prey.

“They’re welfare wolves,” Janna Martin Gliatto, an owner at Table Rock Ranch in northern California, said. “We have entitled wolves—multiple generations.”

One wolf pack, known as the Whaleback Pack, near her ranch doesn’t seem inclined to hunt elk or deer, she said.

Since November 2021, wolves have killed at least 44 head of cattle at the Martin family’s ranch in Siskiyou County, Gliatto told The Epoch Times. Of those confirmed wolf kills, three were adult cows, and the rest were calves.

“There’s a handful of people and ranches like us that have been hit really hard,” she said. “I’ve had so much carnage.”

The protection of wolves has been a “costly experiment” for ranchers and taxpayers who foot the bill for it, Gliatto said.

In 2021, state lawmakers voted to disburse $3 million to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to develop a pilot program to mitigate the effects of wolves on livestock producers.

The resulting Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program was started in 2022, and by March 2024, the funds were exhausted after 109 claims were paid out to livestock producers for wolf depredation in Siskiyou, Lassen, Plumas, and Tulare counties.

Gliatto received two years of partial compensation to pay a range rider to patrol the herd at night, “but the funds ran out, so now it’s out-of-pocket,” she said.

In 2024, the state appropriated another $600,000 for the CDFW to continue the Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program, but the program no longer subsidizes ranchers for the cost of deterrent efforts such as range riders and is limited to compensation for direct loss only.

CDFW spokeswoman Katie Talbot said California’s wolf population is estimated at between 50 and 70 in total. The agency has confirmed that 163 cattle and six sheep have been killed or injured by wolves since 2011, when the first collared wolf from Oregon entered California, Talbot told The Epoch Times in an email.

Debbie Bacigalupi (front) and her mother, Donna, tend to a calf at Cold Springs Ranch in Siskiyou County, Calif., in May 2024. The family shares a fence line with Table Rock Ranch and has also lost calves to suspected wolf attacks. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

She said that of the initial $3 million Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program fund, more than $2 million was paid out for direct loss and deterrence efforts to ranchers in Siskiyou County, while those in Lassen and Plumas counties received about $490,000 and $476,000, respectively. About $16,000 went to Tulare County. Since October 2024, the average compensation per head was $2,870, Talbot said.

Examining Expenses

A recently released study by University of California–Davis professor Tina Saitone, a livestock and rangeland economics specialist, found that one wolf can cause between $69,000 and $162,000 in direct and indirect cattle losses, from outright attacks, lower pregnancy rates in cows, and decreased weight gain in calves.

Saitone’s research team used motion-activated field cameras, GPS collars, wolf scat analysis, and cattle tail-hair samples to show how the expanding protected gray wolf population is affecting cattle operations, “leading to millions of dollars in losses,” according to the study.

The research showed that during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons, 72 percent of wolf scat samples from the Lassen Pack—in western Lassen and northern Plumas counties—contained cattle DNA. It also found elevated hair cortisol levels in cattle that ranged in areas with wolves, indicating an increase in stress.

Aside from the financial effects, Gliatto said the wolf issue has been emotionally taxing on ranchers who’ve witnessed continual attacks on their herds and “hypocrisy” over what is considered humane treatment of cattle.

Ranchers are afraid to brand their cattle because some animal rights groups view the practice as inhumane, but, she said, “you can have a wolf literally tear your animals apart while they’re alive and eat them, and people just turn a blind eye.”

According to Gliatto, wolves wouldn’t be thriving in the wild without heavily supplementing their diet with cattle, which, in some cases, is their primary food source.

The wolves have created fierce competition at the top of the food chain because there aren’t enough deer and elk to feed them and other predators such as mountain lions, bears, and coyotes, she said.

“We have a huge predator bubble,” Gliatto said.

CDFW reported that there were seven documented wolf packs in California in 2024, along with evidence of other wolves in the state.

A game camera captures a gray wolf from the Lassen pack among a herd of cattle in July 2022. Return of the Wolf

The first wolves showed up at Gliatto’s ranch in 2020.

A lone male wolf, OR-85, collared in February 2020, left his natal Mount Emily pack near La Grande, Oregon, crossed into California, and found a mate from another pack from southwestern Oregon. The pair formed the Whaleback Pack and have produced 21 pups since 2021, according to CDFW.

Tracking showed cluster points of OR-85 near an elk herd on ranchland that the family leased, but the pack doesn’t feed on them, Gliatto said.

The elk herd, often spotted at Grass Lake, stopped going there, she said.

“They just moved away from the wolves, and the wolves didn’t follow them,” Gliatto said.

Instead, she said, the wolves have become habituated to preying on cattle at her family’s ranch, which typically has more than 1,500 head, including cow-calf pairs, and replacement heifers.

Table Rock Ranch borders timberland at the forest-edge of a mountain range, so when wolves descend into the valley, her cattle are the first meal they see. Hence, from a wolf’s perspective, it makes no sense to go farther down into the valley, where there are more people and less cover, Gliatto said.

Amaroq Weiss, an attorney and the senior West Coast wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said some cattle herds are hit harder than others.

“You constantly have animals that are vulnerable because they’re not being checked on,” she told The Epoch Times. “They’ve eaten poisonous weeds, they’ve gotten wounded for some reason, they’re having birthing complications. All those things are going to draw wolves in.”

Wolves aren’t targeting the closest ranch or the first cattle herd they encounter, and they will often roam through pastures filled with cattle “and just keep on going out the other end of the pasture to hunt wild prey,” Weiss said.

The Whaleback Pack, and some others in California, cover immense territories compared with most wolf packs in other western states that have more elk and deer, because “they’re looking for a food source,” she said.

Siskiyou County wolf liaison Patrick Griffin, who investigates suspected wolf kills for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the 44 confirmed kills at Table Rock Ranch “sounds accurate,” noting that it has been the hardest-hit ranch in the state.

More than 80 “confirmed” or “probable” cattle kills have been attributed to the Whaleback Pack, Griffin told The Epoch Times.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 22:35

These Are Most Affordable US Cities To Buy A Home In 2025

WalletHub analyzed 300 U.S. cities of varying sizes across ten metrics, including real estate tax rate, cost per square foot, median home price, and median household income. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100 indicating the most favorable conditions for home affordability. For this map, only cities with a population over 100,000 were considered.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, shows the 20 most affordable U.S. cities to buy a home in 2025, according to data from WalletHub.

Detroit Tops the List for Home Affordability

Detroit leads the list, with a median price per square foot of around $87. The city has faced significant challenges over the decades, including financial crises and the decline of the auto industry, prompting many residents to leave.

Today, more than 22% of homes in Detroit are vacant, creating a strong buyer’s market. According to WalletHub, Detroit is also one of the top cities where buying a home offers greater long-term value than renting. The city was also considered the most affordable large American city in 2025, according to another study.

Also in the Rust Belt, Pittsburgh, PA, ranks as the second-most affordable city for homebuyers, with a median home price approximately 3.8 times higher than the median household income.

Like Detroit, Memphis, TN—ranked third—has also been highlighted as one of the most affordable large cities in the country for working families.

If you enjoyed this map, check out this map on Voronoi about the income needed to buy a home in every U.S. state.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 22:10

Overlooked Chemicals In Food May Threaten Your Health

Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Scientists are sounding the alarm on what they call an overlooked threat to public health: synthetic chemicals from packaging and processing equipment contaminating the food supply—particularly ultra-processed items—and potentially fueling a rise in chronic health conditions.

Sergey Ryzhov/Shutterstock

A comprehensive review article recently published in Nature Medicine highlights some of the most prevalent types and sources of synthetic chemical contaminants in food: chemicals known as food contact chemicals (FCCs), which may contribute to chronic health conditions, including endocrine disruption, reproductive issues, and increased cancer risks.

Why Food Contact Chemical Contamination Goes Unnoticed

The widespread nature of FCC contamination may have escaped public attention because these chemicals migrate invisibly into food through routine processes we usually consider safe.

Unlike visible food safety concerns such as bacterial contamination or spoilage, FCCs transfer silently from materials that come into contact with food through four key routes, as identified by the researchers: transportation, processing, packaging, and preparation.

Transportation introduces FCCs through storage containers and tubing systems used to move food products. During this stage, chemicals from container coatings and transport equipment can leach into foods—especially when exposed to temperature changes or extended contact periods.

Food processing—the industrial transformation of raw ingredients into finished products—exposes foods to machinery, conveyor systems, and processing equipment that contain various synthetic materials. The high temperatures and mechanical processes involved in manufacturing can accelerate chemical migration from these surfaces.

Plastic food packaging represents a significant source of contamination, as it involves prolonged direct contact between synthetic materials and food products.

Food preparation, which differs from processing because it involves the final steps before consumption, often includes heating. Higher temperatures lead to increased migration, the researchers noted.

All FCCs that migrate into food or drinks are important because people will likely ingest them, the authors wrote.

The study identified how specific harmful substances migrate through these pathways. Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether—a known endocrine disruptor and potential carcinogen—transfers from coatings of metal food storage containers during transportation and storage.

Phthalates migrate from polyvinyl chloride tubing into milk during processing and transport. Even cleaning agents used to disinfect storage and transport containers can leave residues that end up in food.

Fast food products face particularly high contamination levels because they encounter multiple packaging types throughout the production and service chain, including disposable containers, wrappers, and serving material, said Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist and principal food consultant at Mendocino Food Consulting, in an interview with The Epoch Times.

Serious Health Risks From FCC Exposure

The health implications of FCC exposure extend far beyond minor concerns, with research linking these chemicals to severe chronic conditions that affect millions of people, according to the study.

Phthalates in food packaging pose significant reproductive health risks, with certain types linked to preterm birth. This early delivery increases the risk of developing chronic conditions later in life, including kidney disease and diabetes.

Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP)—a man-made chemical used as a plasticizer—demonstrates particularly concerning effects in adults, with studies associating exposure with obesity and diabetes. Some evidence shows a 40 to 69 percent probability that DEHP exposure directly causes these conditions.

Perfluorooctanoic acid—another common food contact chemical—carries even more severe risks. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified it as carcinogenic to humans, meaning it definitively causes cancer in people exposed to sufficient levels.

Bisphenols, including the well-known bisphenol A (BPA), function as endocrine disruptors, interfering with the body’s hormone systems. This disruption can affect reproductive health, metabolism, and development, particularly in children and pregnant women.

Alternatives like bio-based coatings, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-free barriers, and safer plasticizers are currently available, but they come with trade-offs in cost, performance, and shelf life, said Vineet Dubey, a Los Angeles environmental attorney who focuses on consumer safety issues, in an interview with The Epoch Times.

“As always, change will take time and requires the buy-in of food companies, which have already invested in technology, factories, and industrial farm-to-table systems that package food the ‘old’ way,” he noted.

Ultra-Processed Foods–The Highest Risk Category

Ultra-processed foods face the greatest contamination risk due to their complex manufacturing processes and extensive packaging requirements, according to the recent study.

These products include breakfast cereals and bars, ready-made frozen meals, processed meats like chicken nuggets, energy drinks with significant added sugar, packaged bread, sodas, snacks like cookies and chips, candy, and condiments like ketchup and mayonnaise, Dr. Mia Kazanjian, the co-director of Stamford Health’s Breast Center, who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times.

“These are the foods that are exposed to these chemicals most during the packaging, processing, and storage,” she said.

Protecting Yourself From Food Contact Chemicals

Despite the widespread nature of FCC contamination, people can take practical steps to reduce their exposure and protect their health.

Dietary Changes

Health experts recommend reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods when possible. Instead, prioritize fresh, whole foods that require minimal processing and packaging.

When purchasing packaged foods, choose products with minimal packaging or packaging made from safer materials. Glass and stainless steel containers pose significantly lower risks than plastic alternatives because they are less likely to leach harmful chemicals into food.

Storage Solutions

Replace plastic food storage containers with glass or stainless steel alternatives. These materials resist chemical migration better.

Avoid heating food in plastic containers, as elevated temperatures accelerate chemical migration from plastic into food. Transfer food to glass or ceramic containers before microwaving or heating.

Preparation Practices

Use wooden, glass, or stainless steel utensils and cutting boards instead of plastic alternatives when possible. Plastic cutting boards can contain hundreds of chemicals.

Choose fresh ingredients over packaged alternatives when possible, and prepare meals at home rather than relying on heavily packaged convenience foods.

Call to Action

Kazanjian expressed hope that in the foreseeable future, our food system can be redesigned to minimize the use of potentially hazardous synthetic chemicals.

“It starts with more widespread awareness,” she said, adding that the more people know about this, the more advocacy there will be, and the more movement we will have toward a safer food supply—but it will take time.

“But certain things can be done in short order,” Kazanjian added. “For example, we need more advanced testing to pick up on all the chemicals in these products. Then we need food companies to avoid using them and invest in safer alternatives.”

Lead study author Jane Muncke emphasizes the need for a “holistic” approach to policymaking that integrates considerations of planetary and human health, including FCCs and their effects.

Recent regulatory action provides some hope. In 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked authorizations for 23 phthalates in food contact use and limited use to nine compounds. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now requires manufacturers and processors of Di-n-pentyl phthalate, a specific phthalate, to notify the agency before starting or resuming new uses.

According to Muncke, all food packaging, processing equipment, and other food contact materials require adequate safety testing regarding migrating food contact chemicals and microplastics using modern testing methods.

Quoc Le said, “The more we learn about this topic, the clearer it becomes that there is a real problem, which may explain many health problems that exist today—especially those that are severe and undiagnosed in some individuals.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 21:45

Visualizing SpaceX's Stunning Global Lead As 'Made-In America' Rockets Dominate 

SpaceX has secured a commanding lead in the global space launch industry for several years, propelled by its reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets that have drastically lowered launch costs. Barring a major technological breakthrough by a government-backed or deep-pocketed private rival, Elon Musk's rocket empire is poised to maintain dominance well into 2030—and possibly beyond.

New data from analytics and engineering firm BryceTech for 1Q25 illustrates the scale of SpaceX's dominance in the global orbital space launch race, surpassing not only domestic rivals but also major spacefaring nations like China and Russia. 

In Q1, SpaceX led all rocket launches with 36 missions, followed by China with 12, 5 with US-based Rocket Lab, and Russia with 4. 

In terms of satellite deployments, SpaceX dominated the quarter with 900, followed by China with 58 and Rocket Lab with 20. The majority of SpaceX's payloads were Starlink internet satellites.

SpaceX's ability to drive down launch costs has led it to become the leader in all upmass carried to space for the quarter. 

SpaceX powers much of America's rocket program. Without Musk's company in the equation, the data clearly shows that China would be leading the space race.

Credit where it's due—SpaceX is keeping the U.S. ahead of Chinese Communist rivals in the space domain amid a military and AI race.

Starship’s ninth flight test marked a major milestone for reuse with the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster launching from Starbase, and once more returned Starship to space → https://t.co/Gufroc2kUz pic.twitter.com/RNJkj5OobP

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 28, 2025

Where is Jeff Bezos' rocket company?  

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 21:20

Biden Unaware Of Executive Orders 'Signed' By Autopen; Report

Authored by S.A. McCarthy via The Washington Stand,

President Joe Biden issued 162 executive orders over the course of his Oval Office tenure, but according to a new report, most of them were signed by “autopen,” giving rise to concerns that unelected White House staffers may have had more say in shaping policy than the president. The report is furthering those concerns and suggesting that Biden may not have even been aware of the existence of the orders being signed in his name.

The American energy advocacy group Power the Future published the report Wednesday, examining eight Biden-era executive orders on climate change and U.S. energy policy, and found “no evidence” that Biden ever spoke about or acknowledged the existence of any of these orders. “Not in a press conference. Not in a speech. Not even a video statement,” Power the Future’s report stated. Power the Future Executive Director Daniel Turner said in a statement, “Americans deserve to know which unelected staffers or radical unnamed activists implemented sweeping change through an autopen. The Biden energy agenda destroyed the livelihoods of energy workers and fueled the record-high inflation that broke the budgets of millions of Americans.” He asked, “The question is simple, and deserves an immediate answer: what did Joe Biden know, and when did he know it?”

According to the Oversight Project, dedicated to government accountability, practically every order signed by Biden was signed via autopen, with the exception of his announcement withdrawing from the 2024 presidential election. The Oversight Project cited House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who questioned Biden on an executive order affecting liquefied natural gas (LNG) and reported that the president didn’t remember signing the order. “He looks at me, stunned, and he said, ‘I didn’t do that,’” Johnson recounted. He continued, “And I said to him, ‘Mr. President, yes you did, it was an executive order, like, you know, three weeks ago.’ And he goes, ‘No, I didn’t do that.’ … It occurred to me … he was not lying to me. He genuinely did not know what he had signed.”

“For investigators to determine whether then-President Biden actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents, or if he even had the mental capacity to, they must first determine who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place,” the Oversight Project wrote in a social media post. The accountability organization continued, “Given President Biden’s decision to revoke Executive Privilege for individuals advising Trump during his first Presidency, this is a knowable fact that can be determined with the correct legal process…”

The “autopen” has been the subject of significant controversy in recent years due to Biden’s excessive use of the technology. Devices have been around for centuries, allowing individuals to replicate their signature or sign multiple documents at once. Thomas Jefferson, for example, kept an early prototype, then called a “polygraph,” in the White House and another in his residence at Monticello. The device allowed a user to sign multiple documents at once but did require the signer to be present and to actively use the machine.

In the late 1930s, an automated version of the machine was developed, called the “autopen,” which would store a template of a signature that could be reproduced without the presence of the actual signer. The autopen became commercially available in the early 1940s and was quickly purchased by politicians, government officials, celebrities, and others. The first U.S. president to use an autopen was reportedly Harry Truman, although he only used the device to sign checks and answer mail. Likewise, most other presidents — such as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, or Gerald Ford — who used an autopen relegated their use of the instrument to signing checks, correspondence, and autographs.

George W. Bush considered using the autopen to sign executive orders and legislation and even got the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) approval to do so, but still insisted on signing such documents himself, flying to Washington, D.C. to sign emergency legislation in 2005, for example. Barack Obama was the first president to use the autopen to sign legislation, giving his approval to sign Patriot Act extensions via autopen while he was visiting France in 2011, the National Defense Authorization Act while vacationing in Hawaii in 2012, and fiscal legislation in 2013.

President Donald Trump has openly refused to use autopen signatures for executive orders and other legal documents. “We may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter because it’s nice,” Trump told reporters in March. Contrasting his limited use of the autopen against Biden’s much broader use, Trump added, “But to sign pardons and all of the things that he signed with an autopen is disgraceful.” Trump has also suggested that pardons — and, potentially, executive orders — signed by the Biden administration via autopen may be legally “void” if the president didn’t know what he was signing or didn’t authorize its signature.

The Washington Stand asked the DOJ about potential investigations and, if applicable, prosecutions of the Biden administration’s autopen use and was told, “No comment here.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 20:55

Company Gives Russian Servicemen $190K Bounty For Destroying F-16 Jets In Ukraine

Cash rewards for shooting down American F-16 fighter jets? That's a real headline out of the Ukraine war...

"A Russian company awarded a dozen servicemen a total of 15 million rubles ($190,000) for destroying U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine," the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times reports. And they are even publish photos of the 'award ceremony'.

Russian soldiers are being awarded a total of 15 million rubles (over $190,000) in a ceremony. via FORES/Telegram

"Fores, a Yekaterinburg-based fracking components supplier, said Friday that it handed out the cash prizes to troops at a location near the Russian-Ukrainian border," MT continued. "Photos shared from the ceremony showed the soldiers’ faces blurred."

Russian state sources have reported on at least three confirmed downed Western-supplied F-16s so far in the 3+years-long war, and the Kremlin has called the aircraft "sitting ducks".

In some instances, Ukraine has claimed that jets have simply crashed while operating in intense battle environs, only to have the Russian defense ministry then assert back that they were shot down.

A second US-donated F-16 went down down over Ukraine last December, after prior to that there was a reported incident last August. Another was downed more recently. Conflicting reports have at times even mentioned a 'friendly fire' incident as the potential cause of one downing.

Fores has boasted that it's the first company to ever offer huge financial payouts for the destruction of Western military equipment. It had actually paid out rewards for prior successful attacks on Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks.

According to some background via TASS:

Earlier, Fores Director General Sergey Shmotyev said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that his company would will pay a bonus of 15 million rubles for the first F-16 fighter jet that could be shot down in Ukraine. In December, the businessman confirmed his intentions to TASS.

Based in the Urals, Fores makes proppants for the oil industry. It has supported the Russian Army since the launch of the special military operation. To date, the company has donated 237.7 million rubles ($3 million) toward the purchase of hardware, communications devices, jamming systems, thermal sights, medicines, and evacuation equipment. It has also purchased more than 500 tons of healthcare products and medicinal drugs for the special military operation zone.

Raining money? Russian soldiers hope so, in a somewhat macabre patriotic game...

It was starting in early 2024, when a European and US training program for Ukrainian fighter pilots was well underway, that Fores began announcing huge cash bounties for downing Ukrainian F-16s.

As for the tank reward program, Fores paid out 5 million rubles (about $65K) for the first take destroyed, starting in 2023, and has continued issuing payouts of 500,000 rubles per vehicle. Several videos have emerged of UK, US, and French battle tanks burning and destroyed.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/30/2025 - 20:30