From J.D. Power: August New-Vehicle Sales Climb 8.2% as Consumer Spending Reaches Record $54.6 Billion; EV Share Hits All-Time High Brief excerpt:

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total new-vehicle sales is expected to be 16.1 million units, up 1.0 million units from August 2024.
...
“August new-vehicle sales are expected to climb 8.2% from a year ago, including a 7.8% increase in retail volume. A strong result, although the results should be viewed in the context of several unusual factors that are distorting typical monthly sales trends.

“First, federal credits of up to $7,500 on EVs will expire on Sept. 30, prompting many EV shoppers to accelerate purchases that otherwise would have occurred later this year. As a result, EV retail share in August is expected to reach an all-time high of 12.0%, compared with 9.5% a year ago.

“Second, Labor Day lands in the August sales reporting period this year. The Labor Day weekend is typically one of the highest sales volume weekends of the year, powered by elevated manufacturer promotional activity and elevated discounts. This year, manufacturers have kept incentives restrained due to tariffs. Normally, incentives as a percentage of MSRP increase by about half a point from January through late summer, but this year they’ve slipped to 6.2% in August from 6.3% in January, underscoring the effect of tariff-related cost pressures.

“Third, lease returns remain at historically low levels following the reduced leasing activity during the 2022 supply shortages. With fewer lease customers cycling back into the market, new-vehicle sales are facing added pressure compared with typical seasonal patterns.

“Finally, from a total sales perspective, fleet deliveries are expected to reach 199,854 units in August, up 11.2% primarily due to the low baseline recorded in August 2024. Fleet volume is forecast to represent 13.5% of total light-vehicle sales, an increase of 0.4 percentage points year over year.

“In sum, August’s retail sales results point to solid new vehicle demand. The results are unquestionably inflated by shoppers accelerating their electric vehicle purchases to take advantage of Federal EV credits—but the sales pace for non-EVs remains robust, especially given the modest discounts available on those vehicles.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows actual sales from the BEA (Blue), and J.D. Power's forecast for August (Red).

On a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, the J.D. Power forecast of 16.1 million SAAR would be down 1.9% from last month, and up 6.4% from a year ago.

Axis Of Upheaval: Military Watches Of Russia & China

Via Watches Of Espionage,

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

2025 Russia–United States Summit

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

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

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

The Big Four - Hard Targets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sleeping Giant: Chinese Military Watches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vostok Amphibia 

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

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

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

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

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

Vostok Komandirskie 

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

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

Raketa: Then & Now

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

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

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

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

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

Final Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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Here's more from Watches Of Espionage...

• These Are The Best Military And Intelligence Unit Watches

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

Visualizing Africa's Battery Storage Pipeline

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

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

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

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

South Africa Leads by a Wide Margin

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

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

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

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

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

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

Authored by Yuri Mirovich via AntiWar.com,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The umpire who picked a side: John Roberts and the death of rule of law in America: The chief justice of the US has painted himself as a modern institutionalist over the past 20 years. Experts say he’s emboldening Trump’s drive toward authoritarianism  (The Guardian)

• Private Equity Is Headed for Your 401(k). The Industry Is Celebrating. Should You? The Trump administration is taking the handcuffs off the private-market industry. The outcome for retirement savers will be complicated. (Barron’s) see also The Ivy League Keeps Failing This Basic Investing Test: Elite universities are again stuck with illiquid assets just when they badly need cash. (WSJ)

• Firing BLS Director Over Weak Jobs Report Is ‘Banana Republic’ Behavior: If a Democratic president tried to so directly politicize an independent agency, Republicans would be screaming about the coming tyranny. (Reason)

• How The Internet Died: Dissecting a tragedy of the commons: “The Internet feels empty and devoid of people. It is also devoid of content. Compared to the Internet of say 2007 (and beyond) the Internet of today is entirely sterile. There is nowhere to go and nothing to do, see, read or experience anymore… Yes, the Internet may seem gigantic, but it’s like a hot air balloon with nothing inside.” (What We Lost)

• The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism. In the scientific community, Mr. Geier is infamous for the deeply flawed studies he conducted with his father, Mark Geier, claiming that vaccines cause autism. Researchers have long called attention to the serious methodological and ethical defects in their work.  (New York Times)

• America Is Abandoning One of the Greatest Medical Breakthroughs: The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it would wind down 22 mRNA vaccine development projects under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, halting nearly $500 million in investments. This decision undercuts one of the most significant medical advances in decades, technology that could protect millions more people from the threats ahead. (New York Times)

• Russia is quietly churning out fake content posing as US news: A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spread disinformation — and they’re spoofing reputable news outlets to do it. (Politico)

• American Nazis: The Aryan Freedom Network is riding high in Trump era: With Donald Trump’s return to power, a neo-Nazi group buoyed by his rhetoric is expanding its reach and changing the face of white extremism in America. Its leaders: a Texas couple, both born to Ku Klux Klan leaders. (Reuters)  see also Inside the ‘Whites Only’ Community in Arkansas: Members have espoused racist and antisemitic views and repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and their movement is growing. (Wired)

• Trump wants NASA to burn a crucial satellite to cinders, killing research into climate change: By any reasonable metric, NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory has been a spectacular success. Originally designed to support a two-year pilot project, it has been operating continuously in space for more than 10 years and could continue doing so for three decades more. The data it produces “are of exceptionally high quality,” NASA stated in a 2023 review, when it labeled the project “the flagship mission for space-borne measurements” of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. (Los Angeles Times)

• How Fast Should Your 12-Year-Old Throw? It’s a paradox that parents of talented kids face. Their children could become really good at something they love. They could also get hurt. (New York Times)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Ellen Zentner, Chief Economic Strategist and Global Head of Thematic and Macro Investing for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The firm manages over $7 trillion in assets.

 

What is the US poverty rate?

Source: USA Facts

 

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Texas Senate Passes Redistricting Map Favoring Republicans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I call that retrogression,” West said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These Are Currently The World's Most Valuable Unicorn Companies

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

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

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

Ranked: The Top 30 Biggest Unicorn Companies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.

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

Americans Spent Less On Plant-Based Foods In 2024

Having long been limited to a handful of mostly soy-based products, plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat have made giant leaps forward over the past few years. Thanks to advances in food science, people can now enjoy a creamy oat milk cappuccino, have a tasty burger based on pea protein or even try chicken-free chicken nuggets that mimic the real thing surprisingly well.

And whether it’s due to allergies, intolerances, voluntary diet choices or simply to reduce the carbon footprint of their food intake, many people are enjoying the new variety of plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat.

As Statista's Felix Richter reports, according to the Good Food Institute's State of the Industry report, U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods amounted to $8.1 billion in 2024, which is a slight decline from the previous year but still more than double of where the market was in 2017.

You will find more infographics at Statista

With retail sales of $2.8 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively, milk alternatives and plant-based meat and seafood remain largest segments by far, despite both categories facing some headwinds more recently.

The slowdown in several categories can partly be explained with higher food and consumer prices in general, which may have impacted plant-based alternatives disproportionately. In an environment with widespread frustration over high food prices, it's not surprising that consumers tend to cut back on plant-based alternatives, which still carry a significant price premium over conventional meat, dairy or eggs. According to consumer research conducted by the Good Food Institute, taste and price are top barriers to eating plant-based meat, as consumers are looking for additional benefits (e.g. to their health) to make the switch.

In terms of adoption, plant-based milk alternatives are far ahead, with 4 in 10 U.S. household purchasing plant-based milk in 2024 versus just 13 percent who bought plant-based meat and seafood.

Milk alternatives also stand out in terms of customer satisfaction, with 76 percent of buyers making repeat purchases.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 21:35

Coinbase Tightens Workforce Security After North Korea Remote-Worker Threats

Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has come under a wave of threats from North Korean hackers seeking remote employment with the company.

North Korean IT workers are increasingly targeting Coinbase’s remote worker policy to gain access to its sensitive systems.

In response, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is rethinking the crypto exchange’s internal security measures, including requiring all workers to receive in-person training in the US, while people with access to sensitive systems will be required to hold US citizenship and submit to fingerprinting.

“DPRK is very interested in stealing crypto,” Armstrong told Cheeky Pint podcast host John Collins in a Thursday episode. “We can collaborate with law enforcement […] but it feels like there’s 500 new people graduating every quarter, from some kind of school they have, and that’s their whole job.”

He added that some operatives are coerced into working for the regime. “In many of these cases, it’s not the individual person’s fault. Their family is being coerced or detained if they don’t cooperate,” said Armstrong.

Brian Armstrong on the Cheeky Pint podcast. Source: YouTube

Armstrong’s comments come amid a wave of rising North Korean cyber activity beyond Coinbase.

In June, four North Korean operatives infiltrated multiple crypto firms as freelance developers, stealing a cumulative $900,000 from these startups, Cointelegraph reported.

Coinbase data leak could put users in physical danger

Armstrong’s new measures come three months after the exchange confirmed that less than 1% of its transacting monthly users were affected by a data breach, which may cost the exchange up to $400 million in reimbursement expenses, Cointelegraph reported on May 15.

However, the “human cost” of this data breach may be much higher for users, according to Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch and Arrington Capital, who highlighted that the breach included home addresses and account balances, leading to potential physical attacks.

Source: Michael Arrington

Among all United States crypto firms, the Coinbase brand was most impersonated in phishing attacks in 2024, fraudulently used across 416 reported phishing scams in the four previous years, according to a Mailsuite report shared with Cointelegraph.

US brands most impersonated by scammers. Source: Mailsuite

Accounting for all US brands, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, was the most impersonated brand by scammers, appearing in at least 10,457 reported scam incidents during the past four years.

The US Internal Revenue Service was the second on the list, having been impersonated in at least 9,762 scams.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 21:00

"Time For This Boondoggle To Die" - House Committee Launches Probe Into California's High-Speed Rail

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project is under investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The probe, launched Aug. 19, will focus on whether project officials knowingly misrepresented the ridership projections and financial viability of the long-delayed and expensive rail line to secure federal and state funds.

Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has requested a staff-level briefing, documents, and communications related to the project.

“The [California High Speed Rail] Authority’s apparent repeated use of misleading ridership projections, despite longstanding warnings from experts, raises serious questions about whether funds were allocated under false pretenses,” Comer said in a statement.

“The massive cost overruns and lack of progress warrant a reassessment of whether [the authority] acted with transparency and complied with the law.”

The High Speed Rail Authority was first established in 1996 to plan a railway connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Costs for the project were originally expected to reach $33 billion, and Californians were told it would be completed by 2020. Voters authorized the rail line in 2008, but to date, the state has not laid any track, and the railway is now expected to cost up to $128 billion.

Officials at the authority dismissed the investigation.

“This is yet another baseless attempt to manufacture controversy around America’s largest and most complex infrastructure project,” an authority spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

“The Authority has already addressed these recycled criticisms in its response to the FRA’s compliance review supported by facts, noting the ridership critiques are ‘nonsensical, cherrypicked and out-of-date, and therefore misleading.’”

President Donald Trump announced in February that his administration would investigate the project.

During Trump’s predecessor President Joe Biden’s final days in office, the project received $3.1 billion for the initial segment connecting Merced, Fresno, and Bakersfield—the largest grant the program had received. The funding came from Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the rail construction has created 12,000 union jobs.

The cost to build the initial 171-mile stretch through central California has increased by about $8 billion.

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) presides over a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 5, 2025. Comer has opened an investigation into California's high-speed rail project. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Federal Railroad Administration, however, clawed back $4 billion in unspent federal funding in July after the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s responses to a compliance review were not adequate in addressing the administration’s concerns, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“Gov. Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “Federal dollars are not a blank check—they come with a promise to deliver results.”

The Merced-to-Bakersfield segment had a funding gap of at least $6.5 billion, of which $4 billion was promised by the Biden administration, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Inspector General.

Duffy said it was “time for this boondoggle to die.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 19:50

Hegseth House-Cleans At Pentagon In Wake Of Disputed Iran Intelligence

Weekend headlines have been taken over by more Trump administration house-cleaning and firings at the Pentagon, as late Friday it was reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed a general whose agency's early intelligence report downplayed the destructive power of the Trump-ordered June strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse has been ousted from his role as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The official reason disclosed is "loss of confidence". While the DIA is lesser known among the nation's major intel agencies like the CIA or NSA, it coordinates all military intelligence among US armed forces, and is mostly staffed by civilians - but under DoD leadership.

Hegseth also removed Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, head of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL in charge of Naval Special Warfare Command, from their posts, according to officials.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, formerly head of the DIA, via Associated Press

While Gen. Kruse's firing from the DIA chief seems retributive in nature, the reason for the dismissal of the Navy admirals remains unclear.

It further comes as the past week saw dozens of current and former national security personnel get their security clearances revoked. Trump admin critics have decried what they call a pattern of retribution against those seen as disloyal, and that it's all politically motivated.

As for the circumstances surrounding the change in DIA leadership, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had following the 12-day war on Iran declared that US bunker-buster bombs and accompanying strikes had "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities.

But a leaked DIA report in the immediate aftermath suggested the uranium enrichment program was still intact, contradicting Trump. CNN had been the first to report in late June info from leaked assessment as follows:

The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said.

The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available. But the early findings are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on Sunday that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”

One unnamed defense official quoted in the report had made clear that centrifuges are largely "intact." The unnamed person had described: "So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops."

The growing list of firings under Hegseth:

Hegseth cleaning house at the Pentagon?

He has now sacked:

• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Chief of Naval Operations
• Coast Guard Commandant
• Air Force Chief & Vice Chief of Staff
• Chief of the Naval Reserve
• NAVSPECWARCOM Commander
• DIA Director https://t.co/1YsG2IiqVp pic.twitter.com/sWTZQrCx9T

— RT (@RT_com) August 23, 2025

The White House acknowledged the existence of the assessment but vigorously rejected the conclusions, describing it as mere raw and unreliable info that was in no way conclusive.

Trump had in the quick aftermath of the US bombing raid on Iran essentially declared mission accomplished and got Israel and Iran to abide by a ceasefire, which has held since. But Trump has used the narrative of having destroyed Iran's nuclear program to claim that Tehran can no longer pose a nuclear threat, and that no further action is needed. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 19:15

Trump Says He Will Make 'Very Important Decision' On Russia-Ukraine Negotiations In 2 Weeks

Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russia and Ukraine two weeks to hold talks aimed at ending the war between the two countries, and if no progress is made, he will decide on the next steps, which could include heavy sanctions or tariffs.

President Donald Trump holds a photograph he said was given to him as a gift by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Aug. 22, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“We'll see what happens over the next two weeks. We’re going to find out which way it’s going to go,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump said he expects to watch the attitudes of both sides during that period before determining his course of action.

Calling it “a very important decision,” the president said he will determine “whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both—or do we do nothing and say, ‘It’s your fight.’”

Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office during an event announcing that the 2026 World Cup draw will be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington in December.

At the event, Trump showed a photo of himself with Putin, taken at last week’s Alaska summit. He stated that the Russian president may visit the United States for the World Cup next summer.

He later expressed his disappointment with Russia’s latest overnight strikes, which hit a U.S. factory in Ukraine.

“I’m not happy about it,” he said. “I’m not happy about anything about that war. Nothing.”

Last week, Trump hosted high-stakes peace talks with Putin in Alaska, which ended without a cease-fire. On Aug. 18, he met with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House to discuss the Alaska summit and next steps.

Following those talks, Trump began arranging a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, after which he said the three leaders would hold a trilateral session. So far, however, neither Russia nor Ukraine has announced a date or location for the bilateral meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with NBC aired on Friday that there’s no agenda for a potential summit.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov said, adding no meeting was therefore planned for now.

During the Alaska summit, Putin agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine after the war.

Trump later announced that European countries would provide security guarantees to Ukraine in coordination with the United States, and suggested that Europeans agreed to provide troops on the ground to prevent future aggressions.

Lavrov, however, said on Aug. 20 that European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after the war would mean “foreign intervention,” which he said was unacceptable to Moscow.

Speaking during a press conference, Lavrov said Moscow won’t agree with collective security guarantees negotiated without the Russian Federation.

“It is a road to nowhere,” he said.

On Aug. 22, Zelenskyy criticized Moscow for demanding to be included in any security guarantees.

“Russia does not want, did not want, and will not want to end the war now,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “It wants to issue ultimatums, and to use those to delay the possibility of ending this war.”

In a surprise post on Aug. 21, Trump said that Ukraine cannot win its war without launching attacks on Russia, criticizing prior U.S. policy that only allowed Kyiv to defend itself, not attack.

“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”

Trump criticized the previous administration for limiting Kyiv.

He wrote, President Joe Biden “would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out?”

“Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President—ZERO CHANCE. Interesting times ahead!!!”

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 18:40

DeSantis Orders Removal Of Gay Pride Crosswalks From Florida Streets

Let's make one thing very clear from the start:  LGBT pride flags are political symbols for a political movement with an undeniable agenda.  They are not "art murals" or expressions of civil rights, they are information weapons designed to saturate the American environment with far-left propaganda. 

Woke activists have no right to paint their ideological symbols on taxpayer funded roadways.  No political group has that right.  The fact that progressives and Democrats were allowed to hijack US flagpoles and streets as their own personal indoctrination tools shows just how far America has fallen into the abyss in the past several years.  Luckily, the pendulum is swinging back to center.      

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been disinfecting his state and killing the woke mind virus ever since his victory against the attempted coup by Disney in 2023.  Leftists were dumb enough to believe that Florida needed Disney more than Disney needed Florida and the end result was predictable.

This blitz against progressive infiltration has extended to Florida roadways which Democrats have exploited with impunity, bombarding residents with gay pride flags to remind them who really controls their communities.  A number of citizens in Florida have been prosecuted for "defacing" these flags painted on crosswalks as if they are protected public property.  Some people have even been accused of "hate crimes".

In other words, LGBT activist propaganda is allowed to be embedded into every facet of daily life as a method of "protest", but if you protest this by burning a tire mark through one of those flags then you're not an activist, you are a "fascist" that must be punished.  Thus, the woke movement made it impossible to counter-protest their takeover by making counter-protest an act of hate.    

DeSantis has ordered the immediate removal of all pride propaganda from public facilities and roads and state workers are already panting over the flags without oversight from city officials.  Local progressive politicians are, of course, having a meltdown, but there is no mercy in this dojo.

Activists have attempted to use chalk to recolor the crosswalks, apparently forgetting that it rains heavily and regularly in Florida.  

As for the Pulse Nightclub shooting, that was almost ten years ago, perpetrated by a Muslim who pledged allegiance to ISIS.  Today, leftists are aggressively seeking a political alliance with Muslim groups that promote the same Sharia law standards that inspired the nightclub attack.  They don't actually care about the people who were killed, the event was simply a useful tragedy to use as a rationale for painting gay flags on roads. 

We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes. https://t.co/AXY1qxsZNW

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 21, 2025

Multiple Florida cities are now facing deadlines in the coming days after being ordered to paint over rainbow crosswalks.  In letters from the state transportation department, communities have been told to remove them by early next month. 

“I am outraged by the State of Florida’s decision to forcefully remove Pride crosswalks — symbols of love, support, and unity in our communities,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday.  “These vibrant installations are more than paint on pavement. They reflect the values we hold dear in Miami-Dade: respect, appreciation of fellow neighbors, and the fundamental right to live and love openly,” she said in a statement.

A statement from the Florida Department of Transportation said the agency has a duty “to ensure the safety and consistency of public roadways and transportation systems.”  “That means ensuring our roadways are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests,” it said.

It's not the job of city officials to commandeer public streets to project their personal values and politics.  Besides, the LGBT movement is not about "love", it's about control.  Controlling our words, thoughts and behaviors with fears of mob persecution and cancellation.  These are not good people with good intentions and their time is thankfully coming to an end.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 18:05

Newsom Prepares To Violate State Constitution To Save 'Democracy' In Redistricting Battle

Via American Greatness,

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom is moving ahead with a controversial plan to redraw his state’s congressional maps by overriding the state’s non-partisan redistricting commission to counter redistricting moves by Republican lawmakers in Texas.

Newsom has launched a $100 million campaign that is backed by Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Federation of Labor Unions and a handful of billionaire donors.

Lawmakers in California approved the redistricting plan on Thursday, labeling it “Democracy’s Best Bet.”

Hello Governor Newsom,

In 2010, California voters passed Prop 20 by a landslide (62–38) to take redistricting out of politicians’ hands and enshrine an independent citizens' commission in their state constitution. That was the will of the people.

Now you've launched a $100… pic.twitter.com/XvIrEnw3BK

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) August 21, 2025

However, serious concerns remain as to whether Newsom’s plan can survive legal scrutiny for a number of reasons.

In 2010, a decisive percentage of California voters (62-38) passed Prop 20 which took redistricting out of the hands of politicians and created an independent citizens commission in the state constitution.

Constitutional attorney Mark Meuser says Newsom’s redistricting plan would violate California’s constitution by holding hearings on a bill less than 30 days after introduction and by drawing maps without authority.

Meuser also says Newsom’s plan runs afoul of the state constitution by drawing maps contrary to its requirements and by drawing mid-decade maps, which are prohibited.

I believe Gavin Newsom and I have different definitions of "legal."

To pass his redistricting plan, he must:

1. Violate the Constitution by holding hearings on a bill less than 30 days after introduction.
2. Violate the Constitution by drawing maps without authority.
3. Violate… pic.twitter.com/AXwV1HPNK6

— Mark Meuser (@MarkMeuser) August 20, 2025

Meuser further claims that Newsom will need to change the law that requires 131 days notice for special elections on constitutional amendments.

Newsom’s actions appear to put the will of billionaire donors and politically connected special interest groups ahead of the will of the people of California who voted to amend their state’s constitution to make redistricting less susceptible to political mischief.

Under these conditions, Newsom’s determination to save “democracy” appears to mean doing whatever it takes to claw back Democratic control of Congress.

Even if that means ignoring or undermining the will of millions of residents of California.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 17:30

Disney Wants Men Back In Theaters After Years Of Catering To Feminism

A recent report from Variety claims that the top echelons of Disney are scrambling to figure out how to entice the male demographic back into theaters, specifically Gen Z men.  Apparently, a media company alienating 50% of their audience base is, in fact, a bad business decision.  The mind boggles...   

Keep in mind, this is the same company that coined the phrase "The Force Is Female" and "Her-O" (instead of "Hero"...very clever).  This is the same company that tried to embed gay and trans characters into movies for toddlers.  This is the same company that actually went to war with the state of Florida to force them to accept LGBT and gender fluid indoctrination in public schools in opposition to the vast majority of the voting population. 

Finally, this is the same company that tried to bait and switch legendary male heroes for feminist "Girl Boss" heroes in every significant action/fantasy/sci-fi franchise they own the rights to. 

They turned Star Wars and Marvel, two of the biggest box office properties of all time, into the menstruation huts of the cinema world.  They went from making billions per project, to bombing harder than Nagasaki in theaters and in streaming. 

The crux of the problem is that media companies have systematically eliminated any factors that might remotely interest men.  This was not an accident, they did this by design.  This includes going to war against the "male gaze" and the archetype of the male protector (knight in shining armor).  Female protagonists alone are not a deal breaker, but remove all femininity, all sex appeal and browbeat the audience with anti-male messaging about how women "don't need no man" and there goes your biggest potential cash pool.    

Disney has been at the forefront of the woke deconstructionist agenda to rewrite or destroy every masculine western pop culture figure of the past 50 years.  They treated these icons as sacrificial lambs; joyfully slaughtered to appease the demonic gods of feminism.  And now, they want the men they openly despise to come running back with wallets in hand?

That's a new level of crazy.  But hey, that's Disney.

Even worse, the Variety story doesn't indicate that Disney ever plans to admit what they did wrong.  Anyone waiting around for an apology doesn't understand how the political left operates - They never admit they are wrong. 

As Variety notes:

"Leadership at Walt Disney Studios has been pressing Hollywood creatives in recent months, multiple sources tell Variety, for movies that will bring young men back to the brand in a meaningful way..."

"Every film studio is looking for better ways to convert young audiences into habitual moviegoers. Numerous studies show that Gen Z men in particular are a lonely, gaming-obsessed group who were hampered in their formative years by COVID-19 lockdowns — not the easiest segment to grasp..."

It sounds like they still hate the Gen Z male demographic while pretending as if those men are mysterious, stunted and hard to please.  At no point does Disney question their previous DEI production policies.  The obvious conclusion is that woke politics and the targeting of masculinity drove the male demographic away.  Almost every Disney film with overt woke messaging has lost significant earnings in the past five years.

Some people argue that Disney doesn't care about profits anymore and they are willing to sacrifice the box office in the name of promoting progressive ideology.  Clearly this is not true if the company (along with hundreds of other companies) is now scrambling to remove DEI from their marketing and find ways to get men back to the ticket counter. 

Even Disney still needs to bring in profits, not just to keep operations running but to maintain an image of cultural relevancy.  They can dip into their reserves and pump out all the woke propaganda they want, but it doesn't mean anything if no one is watching.  Eventually they will collapse, and it will be for nothing.  Their large cadre of leftist writers were laughing a few years ago at the "chuds"; now those talentless hacks are crying all the way to their local LA homeless shelter. 

The bottom line is that when Disney says they want to court the male audience, what they really mean is that they need the moderate and conservative male audience.  To do that requires more than original IPs, it requires a complete overhaul of the Hollywood system and a return to masculine formats more common in the 1980s and 1990s.     

Disney no longer has the intelligence or imagination power on staff to create anything inventive or original.  To appeal to conservative men, they would have to hire conservative writers, directors and producers, which they will never do.  Instead, they will go through the motions of rehashing old franchises in a desperate bid to appeal to people's nostalgia. This won't work and the majority of their products will continue to flop. 

Even if they remove all woke messaging from their content, new movies still have to be good.  They don't know how to make anything good and the DEI hires infesting their company halls will continue to drag them down into failure. Disney's renewed quest for the male audience is a case study in Get Woke, Go Broke.    

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 16:55

Money Wired To Mexico Hits A Decade Low As US Immigration Policies Take Hold

Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration is playing a role in the sharpest decline in monthly remittances to Mexico in more than a decade, analysts say.

According to numbers released this month from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), income from remittances abroad stood at $5.2 billion in June, a 16.2 percent decrease compared with June 2024.

That represents the largest drop in 13 years, according to a report from BBVA Research.

Remittances in 2024 represented approximately 3.4 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.

Remittances are transfers of money earned in the United States to such parties as relatives, friends, or business associates abroad. Ninety-nine percent of the remittances sent in the first half of 2025 were made through electronic funds transfers, according to the BBVA report.

The drop occurred after a decade of growth. Between 2013 and 2024, remittances to Mexico almost tripled to $64.7 billion from $23 billion, according to BBVA.

Analysts attribute the decline to President Donald Trump’s deportation policies and the availability of alternative methods for sending remittances.

Some have suggested that the U.S. dollar’s weaker position against the Mexican peso has played a part as well.

“I think it’s all of the above,” said Ana Valdez, CEO at The Latino Donor Collaborative, a think tank that examines the economic impact of Latinos in the United States.

While remittances are also sent by U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, illegal immigrants frequently make the payments to Mexico and other countries. Valdez told The Epoch Times that uncertainty over immigration status for some, such as those who may have received temporary protective status, could impact remittances to Mexico.

One obvious reason for the decline in money flowing across the border is that fewer Mexicans are entering the United States, Rubi Bledsoe, a researcher with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Epoch Times. “It has been harder for them, I guess, to access legitimate avenues to seek asylum,” she said.

And those already in the United States may be changing their spending patterns.

Increased deportations and a reluctance on the part of employers to hire those without legal status could also be affecting remittances.

New York state immigration attorney Marina Shepelsky told The Epoch Times that illegal immigrants are lying low and have become more frugal out of fear of being deported.

“I think a lot of people are saving money now in case they’re deported, so they’re not sending anything home,” Shepelsky said.

She said she’s not surprised that people in the hotel, restaurant, and agriculture sectors, which depend more heavily on illegal immigrant labor, have been vocal about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and the prospect of losing workers.

“I’m worried about the effect on our economy,” Shepelsky said.

Deporting illegal immigrants is part of the Trump administration’s border security policy, prompting pushback in sanctuary states such as New York, Illinois, and California, where ICE has been conducting enforcement operations, sometimes at farms and workplaces, to find and deport those who are in the country unlawfully.

Democrats have long maintained that illegal immigrants are essential for farming, construction, and hospitality, claiming that most U.S. citizens don’t want those jobs.

Some experts disagree, saying that money leaving the homeland for foreign shores isn’t good for the U.S. economy.

According to a July study published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the U.S. economy loses at least $200 billion annually in remittances to foreign countries. The number is likely even higher now because the last reliable, bilateral data were published in 2021.

At the time, Mexico received the most remittances at $52.6 billion, according to the study.

Money being sent out of the country means that it isn’t being spent on goods and services in the United States. Tax revenue is also lost on the sale of goods and services that the remittance money would have generated.

Beyond that, the study pointed out that remittances intentionally or unintentionally support cartels, human smuggling, terrorists, and crime.

Remittance Tax

Republicans, who have argued that a remittance tax would discourage illegal immigration, were successful in getting a 1 percent remittance fee added to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

That tax becomes effective in January 2026 for certain types of remittances in which the sender provides cash, a money order, or a cashier’s check to remittance providers. Traditional remittance providers in the United States include companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram.

Vice President JD Vance cosponsored a similar bill when he was a U.S. senator from Ohio in 2023. That bill, called the WIRED Act, would have imposed a 10 percent fee on remittances flowing out of the United States.

“This legislation is a common-sense solution to disincentivize illegal immigration and reduce the cartels’ financial power,” Vance said at the time.

The revenue generated from a remittance tax under the bill could be used to fund increased border security measures and immigration enforcement efforts, proponents said.

On the other hand, Democrats contend that remittances increase the spending power of households in poorer countries, potentially reducing poverty and increasing demand for U.S. exports.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García spoke out against taxing remittances under the Republican-led bill this spring, saying that “would destabilize immigrant families and economies here and abroad.”

“When immigrants send money home, they’re not just helping loved ones—they’re keeping entire communities afloat in countries like Mexico, Nigeria, and the Philippines,” he said during debate on the bill.

Bypassing Taxes

There are ways around traditional money-wiring services—and the new remittance tax—and those alternate ways of sending funds across the border could be a factor in the declining remittance numbers, according to Valdez.

People can send money to their family members in Mexico without wiring it, Valdez said. She said people are finding other ways to deliver money, such as “getting together with the neighbors, getting together with people that are actually traveling and bringing cash.”

Some could also be taking advantage of a new system, the Bienestar card, Valdez said. The bank card system, set up by the Mexican government, can be used for remittances and is advertised as bypassing the 1 percent U.S. tax on remittances because it’s considered a bank-to-bank transfer that doesn’t involve cash.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 16:20

Think Tank Urges Dems To Drop These 45 Terms That Turn Off Normies

A left-leaning think tank is urging Democrats to stop repelling normal human beings with the use of a deep grab-bag of woke words and phrases. The road to electoral Hell is paved with good intentions, writes Third Way: "The intent of this language is to include, broaden, empathize, accept, and embrace. The effect of this language is to sound like the extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory, enforcers of wokeness." 

Third Way is far from the first to warn leftists that their language is off-putting. Bill Maher has repeatedly pummeled them, and Vice President JD Vance has too, telling Laura Ingraham, "I mean, look, the autopsy for the Democrats, some free political advice from the president of the United States is: stop sounding like crazy people.” 

However, Third Way's communique is distinguished by its long and specific list of annoying jargon. "In this memo, we are putting a spotlight on the language we use that puts a wall between us and everyday people of all races, religions, and ethnicities. These are words that people simply do not say, yet they hear them from Democrats," said Third Way, which describes itself as a group of "passionate moderates" but is, in practice, an organization of center-leftists that evolved out of a gun control group, Americans for Gun Safety, and is led by a career Democratic pol, Jonathan Cowan.  

Third Way founder and president Jonathan Cowan and Rep.Nancy Pelosi (Photo: Third Way)

Elaborating on the theme with Politico this week, Third Way SVP Lanae Erickson said three potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates are exemplary communicators: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego. She said that Beshear was recently “talking about the fact that ‘justice-involved individuals’ is not a thing that any justice-involved individual would call themselves." 

"Over the years we’ve conducted, read, and analyzed hours upon hours of focus groups, and we’ve yet to hear a voter volunteer any of the phrases below except as a form of derision or parody of Democrats," said the group. The memo breaks down the long list of offending words and phrases into several categories. 

THERAPY SPEAK: According to Third Way, these words tell others "I’m more empathetic than you, and you are callous to hurting other’s feelings." They also make it "uncomfortable for many people to engage in hard topics," the DC-based group says. 

• Privilege
• Violence (as in “environmental violence”)
• Dialoguing
• Othering
• Triggering
• Microaggression / assault/ invalidation
• Progressive stack
• Centering
• Safe space
• Holding space
• Body shaming

SEMINAR ROOM LANGUAGE:  Third Way says these words tell people “I’m smarter and more concerned about important issues than you." The group warns that "when we use words people don’t understand, studies show that the part of their brain that signals distrust becomes more active." 

• Subverting norms
• Systems of oppression
• Critical theory
• Cultural appropriation
• Postmodernism
• Overton Window
• Heuristic
• Existential threat to [climate, the planet, democracy, the economy]

ORGANIZER JARGON: "These words say "we are beholden to groups, not individuals," said Third Way.  

• Radical transparency
• Small ‘d’ democracy
• Barriers to participation
• Stakeholders
• The unhoused
• Food insecurity
• Housing insecurity
• Person who immigrated

GENDER/ ORIENTATION CORRECTNESS: Third Way says this jargon tells normies, “Your views on traditional genders and gender roles are at best quaint.” 

• Birthing person/inseminated person
• Pregnant people
• Chest feeding
• Cisgender
• Deadnaming
• Heteronormative
• Patriarchy
• LGBTQIA+

RACIAL CONSTRUCTS: "These words signal that talking about race is even more of a minefield" with the danger of being called a racist if you fail to use the latest "correct terminology," said Third Way.  

• Latinx
• BIPOC
• Allyship
• Intersectionality
• Minoritized communities

CRIME TALK: Third Way warns that these terms tell normies that “the criminal is the victim. The victim is an afterthought." 

• Justice-involved
• Carceration
• Incarcerated people
• Involuntary confinement

Stop calling them language police. They are people who police language. https://t.co/4WZUbLpvOY

— Keith Humphreys (@KeithNHumphreys) August 22, 2025

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 14:35

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

Click on graph for larger image.

• NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.01 million SAAR in July; Up 0.8% YoY

• Housing Starts Increased to 1.428 million Annual Rate in July

• California Home Sales Down Year-over-year for 4th Straight Month

• 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in July

This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

Declared Conflicts Of Interest for CDC Advisers Dropped Before RFK Jr. Dismissals: Study

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Conflicts of interest declared by vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dropped significantly before the advisers were all dismissed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a new study.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets in Atlanta on June 25, 2025. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

The reported conflict of interest prevalence rate at Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meetings declined from 13.5 percent between 2000 and 2004 to 6.2 percent between 2016 and 2024, researchers found after examining declared interests in a new tool released by the HHS, the CDC’s parent agency.

The average annual rates of conflicts reported by ACIP members fell from 42.8 percent to 5 percent.

There was also a decline over time in reported conflicts of interest for the parallel panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration, although the conflict reporting rate for that panel bounced back up from zero percent per meeting between 2008 and 2015 to 1.9 percent between 2016 and 2024.

The study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association on Aug. 18.

“In the past, there have been high levels of reported conflicts on influential vaccine committees, but there has been substantial progress since the early 2000s,” study coauthor Genevieve Kanter, senior scholar at the Schaeffer Center and associate professor at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, said in a statement. “Although it’s important to remain vigilant, conflicts of interest on vaccine advisory committees have been at historically low levels for quite some time.”

The study was funded in part by the Harvey Motulsky and Lisa Norton-Motulsky Fund. Kanter and a coauthor also reported receiving funding from Arnold Ventures for unrelated work.

The study only examined declared conflicts of interest. An Epoch Times review found that multiple ACIP panel members in 2024 cast votes on vaccine recommendations even though they were receiving, or had recently received, money from companies that would be affected by the recommendations.

“HHS is ensuring radical transparency and restoring public trust,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told The Epoch Times via email. “Earlier this year we launched the ACIP Conflicts of Interest tool so the public can easily view historical conflicts.

“Secretary Kennedy is committed to eliminating both real and perceived conflicts to strengthen confidence in public health decisions.”

When dismissing all 17 members of ACIP in June, Kennedy said in an op-ed that “the committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”

He cited a 2000 report that found that conflicts of interest were rife among members of the CDC and Food and Drug Administration advisory panels. He also cited a 2009 inspector general report detailing unresolved conflicts of interest for a majority of special CDC government employees, such as ACIP members.

“These conflicts of interest persist,” Kennedy said at the time. “Most of ACIP’s members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines.”

ACIP advises the CDC on immunization schedules and other vaccine-related matters. The CDC typically adopts its advice.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/23/2025 - 14:00