Zero Hedge

Report: Taxpayers Funding $230 Million In Federal Grants Tied To 'Intersectionality'

Report: Taxpayers Funding $230 Million In Federal Grants Tied To 'Intersectionality'

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

The federal government has awarded about $230 million to programs referencing "intersectionality," with much of the funding originating during the Biden administration, according to a new report from two policy groups.

The Defense of Freedom Institute and Legal Insurrection Foundation identified 249 federal assistance records that used the term "intersectionality," an ideological framework that examines race, sex, class and other characteristics in assessing discrimination and privilege.

According to the report, about $140 million has been spent, while another $90 million remains obligated. Funding surged during former President Joe Biden's administration, peaking at $80.1 million in 2023, before declining under President Donald Trump.

Some grants remain active through 2030, and roughly 100 of the 249 awards identified by researchers appear to be ongoing.

"Amazingly, we have discovered that the federal government has been funding the Intersectionality movement," William Jacobson, founder of the Legal Insurrection Foundation and a Cornell Law School professor, told the New York Post. "This has to stop."

The grants encompass projects ranging from medical research to universities, museums and community programs. In some cases, intersectionality was one component of research receiving federal support rather than the primary purpose of the grant.

Among the awards highlighted was nearly $11 million to the New Hampshire Department of Health for cancer prevention and control programs. The program targeted populations experiencing health disparities, including what it described as an "intersectionality of gender and income inequality."

Other examples included $8.16 million to New York University for a diabetes equity research center and $14.25 million to Drexel University for a program intended to increase diversity among faculty studying health disparities.

The report's authors warn that embedding intersectionality into federal programs could encourage recipients to make decisions based on race and other protected characteristics while disguising those practices in academic terminology.

"This report shows just how deeply intersectional ideology has become embedded in the federal grant-making apparatus," Defense of Freedom Institute President Robert Eitel said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 17:40

'I Thought It Would Rise Forever'; World's 'Craziest' Stock Market Suddenly Faces Billion-Dollar Outflows

'I Thought It Would Rise Forever'; World's 'Craziest' Stock Market Suddenly Faces Billion-Dollar Outflows

Over the past few months, we have been closely following the chaos (rise and fall) in a once only marginally-monitored market on the other side of the world.

Namely, the AI/chip-driven KOSPI rally and subsequent sharp unwind concentrated in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix...

And while the headlines (as the index was exploding higher day after day) have slowed, no lessor establishment entity than The Wall Street Journal has decided the numbers aren't enough - the notional trillions lost on the leverage-maxxing malarkey - we need a human story to bring it home as just how insane these manias can get (and oddly more frequently than you'd think, in South Korea).

They headline their story: "The World's Craziest Stock Market Has Turned Into a Fright Ride" to give you a sense of the fun ahead...

After tripling in the months prior, the Kospi plummeted around 40% over six weeks in June and July, burning hundreds of thousands of investors - a sober warning to those betting big on the AI industry. The roller-coaster ride has continued: The Kospi has since rebounded about 20% from its low.

Meet Yoon Jae-Yi, a 30-year-old English teacher, who lost $19,000, prompting her to cut her living expenses - fewer taxi rides, less travel.

Skipping meals, she tells herself, doubles as a diet.

Yoon Kyung-min, a 44-year-old sound engineer, said he still can’t believe the financial disaster of the past two months.

After quitting his job, he had invested half of his severance pay into semiconductor stocks and saw $7,200 evaporate in a week. 

“If my wife finds out, I will be in serious trouble,” said Yoon, who says he confessed only to a bit of bad luck without giving details.

Yoon thought the market “would rise forever,” he said.

“The volatility is just too severe. This isn’t sound investing. It’s a gambling table, a casino,” said 68-year-old Jung Eui-jung, who heads the Korea Stockholders’ Alliance, a group representing the country’s roughly 14 million individual investors.

Many individual investors, like Jake Cheong, a 30-year-old accountant in Seoul, got hung out to dry. 

He invested $29,000 or so into a leveraged ETF tracking the firm. The added leverage meant that if SK Hynix’s stock fell, Cheong’s losses would be compounded. Then came the crash.

As of Friday, his position has fallen 69% to roughly $9,000.

“My hard rule used to be that when too many people seem to be boasting about their stock gains, we’ve probably hit the peak,” Cheong said.

“But FOMO got the better of me.”

Lee Ka-young, a 25-year-old software developer, said she lost all the money she made when stocks soared this year. 

“I got greedy,” Lee said. “I kept thinking, what if it climbed even higher after I cashed out?”

Her investments multiplied so fast—and vanished so quickly—it felt “like it was all a dream,” Lee said.

Investors (if that's what you would term them) now blame South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration for loosening regulations to allow such potentially lucrative, high-risk funds.

His government has since put in place stricter rules around trading the ETFs with the aim of helping curb market volatility. 

And that 'curbing' has led to South Korea’s leveraged ETFs tied to chipmakers seeing outflows near $1 billion this month as investor fervor over the AI trade cooled and regulators stepped up measures to curb demand.

Leveraged products tied to Samsung Electronics recorded outflows of $381 million so far in August, while withdrawal amounted to $601 million for those tracking SK Hynix, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

That would mark the first monthly outflow since their late-May launch.

And finally, if you were wondering, it's not over yet as every rebound in Samsung or SK Hynix is met with a wave of buying once again as 'chasers gonna chase'...

...although we'd note there has been considerably more two-way action.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 17:20

A Teachers' Union Hits The Wrong Target

A Teachers' Union Hits The Wrong Target

Authored by Stephen Soukup via American Greatness,

The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) is the largest teachers-only public pension system in the country, with more than $400 billion in assets under management. As of December 31, 2024, CalSTRS directly held three-quarters of a million shares of Target Corporation, worth more than $100 million.

If one were to add in the Target holdings of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the New York State Teachers' Retirement System (the second and third-largest teachers-only plans in the country, respectively), then the total value of shares owned would jump by another $60-plus million. Add in the remaining state teacher retirement systems, plus the city systems of Chicago, Denver, Kansas City (Missouri), New York City, St. Louis, and St. Paul, and the total value of Target shares directly held by teacher pensions is well into the multiple hundreds of millions, at the very least. Add in the value of indirect shares held through various index funds and ETFs, and teacher retirement plans hold literally billions of dollars' worth of Target stock. Given all this, it's more than fair to say that Target is a key component of teachers' pension portfolios and, as a result, the company's long-term success is directly linked to American teachers' retirement security.

And yet...

This past weekend, the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers' union in the country and likely the most prominent, launched a new campaign urging parents and students to boycott Target for back-to-school supplies and clothes. Randi Weingarten, the politically active and politically connected president of the AFT, released a video detailing the boycott and explaining why it is, in her eyes, an absolute moral imperative to teach Target a lesson. According to an AFT press release, "The 'Shop Smart, Support Working Families' campaign was created in response to Target's refusal to condemn the unlawful Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity that continues to roil communities around the country." Weingarten herself complained that "We gave Target ample time to stand with the communities in which they operate and help their neighbors, but its silence about federal immigration abuses has been deafening."

The AFT is angry at Target because Target and its executives didn't do what the union wanted: make its political fight their fight. And it's actively trying to damage the company because of that refusal.

Taken together, these two facts - teachers' pensions hold considerable equity in Target, while teachers' unions are purposefully trying to harm the company - say quite a bit about the state of markets and politics in the country at the moment and suggest a handful of lessons that can and should be learned by outside observers.

The first thing this strange confluence of circumstances tells us is that people, in general, neither understand what a publicly traded corporation is nor fully grasp its purpose. Corporations are, as a rule, portrayed in our popular media and perceived by most average Americans as far-off, distant, heartless organizations run by and for rich people. In truth, publicly traded corporations like Target are owned by their shareholders, the overwhelming majority of whom are just ordinary folks - like teachers - who are trying to save for their retirement. Public pension plans, 401(k)s, IRAs, etc., are the primary savings vehicles for most "investors." The perception of investors as a bunch of "fat cats" on Wall Street who own everything and manipulate everything for their benefit is largely a myth, and it has been for decades. You, your spouse, your kids, your mom and pop, and their small business are the majority of investors and, by extension, the majority of owners of most corporations.

There is no doubt that a significant disconnect exists between the owners of corporations (principals) and those who run them on the owners' behalf (agents). This is a longstanding concern that has prompted much discussion, consternation, and even confrontation over the decades. Moreover, with so many owners - literally millions of people - many opinions on how best to run the company exist, and those opinions often and passionately conflict with one another. Given this, basic rules governing the conduct of the agents exist and are updated constantly. This is what's known as "governance." The most famous description of foundational principles of governance, designed to secure the interests of all shareholders, was provided by the economist Milton Friedman:

In a free-enterprise, private-property system, a corporate executive is an employee of the owners of the business. He has direct responsibility to his employers. That responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom.

That's it. That's what corporate executives are supposed to do. That's how they are meant to treat their shareholders - by providing them a return on their investment. That's the fundamental principle of governance: produce returns for all investors.

Unfortunately, some people think that their opinions, wants, and desires are more important than other people's right to earn a return on their investment. They think that corporations exist to serve their ends and to accommodate their political beliefs and ambitions. Even more unfortunately, many of these people have been encouraged to think this by the very corporate "agents" who know better and who have moral and legal obligations to the contrary.

In August 2019, for example, the Business Roundtable (BRT) - a nonprofit organization whose members are the CEOs of the largest corporations in the United States - issued a declaration called a "Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation." In it, the 181 signatories proclaimed that they and their corporations were dedicated to being less focused on shareholders and more focused on stakeholders. The chairman of the Roundtable at the time was Jamie Dimon, the CEO and chairman of the largest bank in the world (by market cap). "The American dream is alive," Dimon lamented, "but fraying." He implied that only the executives of the world's biggest companies (the agents to their tens of millions of principals) could save the American Dream. More to the point, he implied that they could only do so by redefining the purpose of a corporation. "These modernized principles reflect the business community's unwavering commitment to continue to push for an economy that serves all Americans."

Every CEO who signed that document alongside Dimon (and Larry Fink from BlackRock, Tim Buckley from Vanguard, Brian Moynihan from Bank of America, Michael Corbat from Citigroup, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, etc., etc., ad nauseam) is responsible for sowing confusion among the people, for encouraging people like Randi Weingarten to think of Target as a tool to accomplish her goals. These CEOs may not fully agree with this declaration they issued seven years ago, and they may wish they hadn't signed the BRT's now-infamous statement, but that doesn't change the fact that they did sign it and that by doing so they gave Weingarten and countless others the impression that corporations were the appropriate vehicle for their political aspirations.

Ironically, one of the signatories of that document was a man named Brian Cornell, who was then the CEO of Target. Cornell retired from the CEO role earlier this year but remains the company's executive chair. Even more ironically, Cornell was hardly the first of Target's executives to play politics with the company's resources and reputation. As I have noted elsewhere, Target has a long history of getting involved in matters that are beyond its business purview. Indeed, Target has a well-earned reputation as a social-justice-compliant company - which is probably why Weingarten is so upset that it has resisted her entreaties. The lesson here is that "no good deed goes unpunished" (no matter how broadly one defines the word "good"). Once you decide to ride the social-justice wave, it can be nigh on impossible to bail on that wave before wiping out. The folks at Target are undoubtedly learning this lesson the hard way.

The nation's teachers are learning that lesson the hard way as well, whether they realize it or not. They are part-owners of the company that Weingarten and the AFT are trying to damage over politics. Indeed, it's almost certainly the case that Weingarten herself is a part-owner of Target and, as such, is damaging her own pension returns. Of course, the catch here is that as an individual shareholder, Weingarten is free to make her own investment decision for whatever reasons she sees fit. As the president of a teachers' union, however, she has certain obligations. She is not legally a fiduciary steward of her constituents' pension funds, but she does have tremendous influence over those who are fiduciaries. The AFT's Trustee Council openly concedes that it has more than 50 members on 27 different pension boards. Additionally, the union produces a variety of materials meant to influence fiduciaries on their responsibilities to union members and beneficiaries. Randi Weingarten's hands may be legally clean, but her house is a mess. She's harnessed the power of her union and of teachers more generally to fight against a company of which they are all part-owners. That is the very definition of self-defeating.

In the end, this is what happens when people forget - or ignore - the nature of capital markets and publicly traded corporations. No one, it seems - not the AFT, not the BRT, not the massive asset management firms that control more than $25 trillion in other people's money - thinks of corporations as what they really are: the collected savings of tens of millions of ordinary people. They think of corporations as the means to their ends, not the ends of their true owners.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 17:00

Approval Of Trump's Presidency And The War On Iran Hit New Lows

Approval Of Trump's Presidency And The War On Iran Hit New Lows

Americans' approval of the US-Israeli war on Iran has reached another record low, pulling Trump's approval rating down with it, to the worst reading of either of his two terms in office, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The new findings also show likely spillover effects for the November midterms that will benefit Democrats seeking to retake the majority in Congress.  

18 US service members have died in Trump's war on Iran, and more than 700 others have been wounded or injured (AP)

Early on, the Trump administration claimed his war of choice would be over in a matter of a few weeks. On Friday, it will have been going on for six months with no resolution in sight. With the war keeping gas prices far higher than they were before Trump teamed up with Israel to launch a surprise attack on Iran in the middle of ongoing negotiations, Americans are increasingly taking a dim view of the war, while also overwhelmingly pessimistic about how long it will last. Eighteen US service members have died, and 774 have been injured or wounded. Thousands of Iranians have been killed. 

In the new poll that reflects sentiments recorded through Monday, 63% of Americans disapprove of military strikes on Iran, with only 31% approving. Most Republicans still support the war, but the popularity on that side of the aisle has eroded too: 69% support the war now, compared to 77% in March, shortly after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu started the war on Feb. 28.  Fully 90% of Democrats oppose the military attacks on Iran, along with 67% of independents. Despair rules: About 83% of Americans think the war will last "for an extended period of time," against only 12% who think it will be wrapped up in weeks.  

Like cement shoes he put on himself, the war on Iran is steadily pulling Trump's popularity to new lows. Only 33% of surveyed Americans approve of Trump's overall performance, the worst level that Reuters/Ipsos has observed over either of his two administrations.

Trump isn't up for re-election in November, but the stakes are sky-high for him in the midterms. A Democratic takeover of either the House or Senate will spawn any number of investigations of his administration and the Trump family's side business transactions. A takeover of both chambers would carry the prospect of Trump being impeached and removed from office. Here, the poll brought more bad news for Trump and the Republican Party. In the so-called "generic ballot" question that asks which party they're likely to vote for in their House race, 35% of Americans said they'd pick a Democrat, compared to 29% who said a Republican. Sixteen percent "don't know" and another 16% don't plan to vote.   

While the Trump administration is consumed by the war, a 22% plurality of Americans say the most important problem facing the country is "the economy, unemployment and jobs," followed by 13% who said "threats to democratic values and norms," and 11% who said "corruption."  Along those same lines, 66% disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. 

In other survey readings: 

  • Likely 2028 presidential contenders JD Vance and Marco Rubio have similar favorability ratings: 34% for Vance and 32% for Rubio. However,  41% have a "very unfavorable" regard for Vance vs 30% for Rubio. 
  • 69% say America is off on the wrong track, vs just 16% who say it's heading in the right direction.
  • 58% say US foreign policy is on the wrong track, more than double the 23% who say "right direction"
Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 16:40

Only 35% Of Women Under-25 Have Positive View Of Men; Survey Finds 'Heteroflexible' Is The Fastest Growing Sexual Orientation In America

Only 35% Of Women Under-25 Have Positive View Of Men; Survey Finds 'Heteroflexible' Is The Fastest Growing Sexual Orientation In America

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Our culture is being transformed at a pace that is difficult to comprehend. The numbers that I am going to share with you in this article paint an undeniable picture about where our society is heading. That doesn’t mean that the trends that we are witnessing now are permanent. We have been through so many societal pivot points in recent decades, and it is probably inevitable that there will be more. But without a doubt there have been some very clear long-term cultural shifts that have radically changed how we relate to one another and to the world around us.

Earlier today, I came across a survey about how men and women view each other that absolutely shocked me…

As expected, we found that there are significant divides between young men and young women – but they are not just confined to political views. Gen Z women are more left wing than their male peers when it comes to politics and economics. This generation of women is also much more pessimistic about the country and their own lives than men, and substantially more negative towards men than the men are towards women. Seventy-two per cent of men under 30 say they have a positive view of the opposite gender, compared with just 50 per cent of women of the same age. Thirty-eight per cent of men say they feel “very positively” towards women, while only 18 per cent of women say the same about men. This trend is particularly pronounced among women under 25, of whom just 35 per cent feel positively towards men.

Read that last sentence again.

The survey discovered that only 35 percent of women under the age of 25 have a positive view of men.

How is that even possible?

This survey was conducted in the UK, but I am sure that it would have produced similar results if it had been conducted in the United States.

As I thought about this, it occurred to me that what we are witnessing is likely the result of decades of conditioning.

Men are almost always the villains in our movies and television shows.

When a family is depicted on screen, it is almost always the father that is the problem.

And even in our commercials, men and women are characterized very differently.

Once you become aware of this phenomenon, you will literally see it everywhere.

These days, much of the population considers men (especially young men) to be threats unless proven otherwise, while most women are considered to be trustworthy unless proven otherwise.

Of course it is undeniable that our society is absolutely teeming with criminal predators at this point, and if you trust the wrong person you and your family could get hurt very badly.

The thin veneer of civilization that we all rely on is disintegrating all around us, and that is a terrible thing.

Meanwhile, our values regarding sex and sexuality are rapidly changing.

According to the most recent Gallup poll on the matter, 9 percent of U.S. adults now identify as LGBTQ+…

Gallup finds 9.0% of U.S. adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than straight or heterosexual in 2025. The percentage has more than doubled since Gallup first measured LGBTQ+ identification in 2012.

That is quite a high number, but the real story is what is occurring among our young adults.

According to that same poll, 23 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 now identify as LGBTQ+…

Young adults are far more likely than older adults to identify as LGBTQ+. Twenty-three percent of adults under 30 and 10.4% of adults aged 30 to 49 are LGBTQ+, compared with about 2% to 3% of older Americans.

I was curious, and so I had Google create a graph that shows how this number has changed since Gallup began asking this question in 2012.

The results were staggering…

The percentage of U.S. adults under the age of 30 that identify as LGBTQ+ has nearly quadrupled since 2012.

That is not just a trend.

That is a tsunami.

And there is a huge gender gap.

Only 11.4 percent of men under the age of 30 identify as LGBTQ+, but a whopping 31.4 percent of women under the age of 30 do…

Women are nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+ (10.5% vs. 5.6%, respectively), a gap driven primarily by women’s higher rates of bisexual identification. Gender gaps are especially pronounced in the youngest generation — 31.4% of women aged 18 to 29 versus 11.4% of men in the same age group identify as LGBTQ+, with most of these younger women saying they are bisexual.

Nearly a third of all women in the United States under the age of 30 now identify as LGBTQ+.

That may help to explain the survey results that I discussed at the beginning of this article.

And the vast majority of Americans that identify as LGBTQ+ consider themselves to be bisexual…

Bisexual adults make up the largest share of the LGBTQ+ population at 58.6%, equivalent to 5.3% of all U.S. adults. Beyond that, 17.4% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are gay, 16.0% identify as lesbian, and 12.1% say they are transgender, all ranging between 1% and 2% of U.S. adults overall.

This is a point that is often lost when people debate these issues.

Bisexual adults make up the biggest portion of the LGBTQ+ population by a very wide margin.

But now another segment is rapidly growing.

The number of Americans that consider themselves to be “heteroflexible” has been absolutely exploding.

If you are not familiar with “heteroflexibility”, the following explanation comes from Health.com…

Heteroflexibility is a sexual orientation that describes people who are primarily heterosexual but occasionally experience attraction to people of the same sex, according to Debra Laino, DHSc, a clinical sexologist and relationship therapist in Delaware.

People who are mostly attracted to a different gender but also feel some attraction to the same gender fit the definition of heteroflexible.

“Heteroflexible, like most labels, means different things to different people,” Casey Tanner, a clinical sex therapist in Chicago, told Health. “It comes up most of the time when a person identifies as mainly straight with a slight propensity towards queerness in certain circumstances.”

For most of my adult life, I had never even heard of this term.

But according to the New York Post, experts believe that 15 percent of the U.S. population is now “heteroflexible”…

It is estimated that a staggering 15% of the US population — that’s 50 to 55 million Americans — now identifies as heteroflexible.

Those numbers seem high to me.

I have a hard time imagining that there are 50 million “heteroflexibles” out there.

But of course the dating world is far different now than when I was young.

One dating app is actually reporting that the number of their users that identify as “heteroflexible” increased by 193 percent in just one year…

Feeld, a dating app for those seeking alternative relationship structures, recently released its annual Raw report, providing a look at the preferences that shape contemporary intimacy. According to the findings, heteroflexibility is the fastest-growing sexuality, with the number of practitioners skyrocketing by 193% over the past year.

Clearly this is a label that is gaining a tremendous amount of steam.

Nobody can deny that America is a completely different place than it was 50 years ago.

And it would be completely and utterly unrecognizable to our founders.

So much can change in just one generation.

The young adults of today are the future of our society, and that has enormous implications for all of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 16:20

Amazon's New Warehouses May Process Packages 2.5 Times Faster With Far Fewer Workers

Amazon's New Warehouses May Process Packages 2.5 Times Faster With Far Fewer Workers

Amazon is developing a new warehouse concept aimed at automating one of the most stubbornly manual parts of online retail: preparing a chaotic mix of packages for the final trip to customers’ homes, according to Business Insider.

Known internally as Project Tetromino, the proposed facilities would sit at the end of Amazon’s logistics network. Packages would arrive from fulfillment centers and then be sorted, temporarily stored, placed in delivery order and staged for drivers with far less human involvement than at current delivery stations. The name appears to reference the geometric pieces in Tetris, an appropriate metaphor for the difficult task of arranging parcels of different shapes and sizes into limited storage space and delivery vans.

According to an internal planning document reviewed by Business Insider, Amazon had considered spending $103 million on a pilot facility in 2028, followed by five additional stations in 2029 and another 10 in 2030. The five facilities planned for 2029 were estimated to cost roughly $85 million each, which would take the project’s cumulative investment beyond $530 million by the end of that year. The proposed system was expected to handle packages at approximately 2.5 times the rate of Amazon’s existing delivery-station design.

Insider writes that one possible component of the project is technology from Boxbot, an AI-powered logistics robotics company. Its system takes packages from conveyor belts, moves them into storage trays and then uses software to arrange their release in the sequence needed for delivery. Boxbot says this approach can make the vehicle-loading stage as much as 10 times faster, although that is the company’s own performance claim and is not necessarily Amazon’s projection for Tetromino as a whole.

The concept forms part of Amazon’s much broader effort to automate its shipping network. The company has already said it expects to more than double the number of robotic arms it operates during 2026. Other logistics companies are moving in the same direction: FedEx is using AI-equipped Dexterity robots to load trailers, while UPS and DHL have deployed robotic systems for unloading freight.

Amazon cautioned that Tetromino remains an early-stage idea, however.

A spokesperson confirmed that the company continues to test technologies intended to improve safety and the customer experience, but disputed the reported spending estimates and construction schedule, saying the figures in the internal document no longer reflected its current plans. So while the project offers a window into Amazon’s automation ambitions, the proposed investment and rollout should be treated as preliminary rather than settled.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 15:40

Washington Backs Brazil's Serra Verde Mine In $1.55 Billion Rare-Earth Push

Washington Backs Brazil's Serra Verde Mine In $1.55 Billion Rare-Earth Push

The U.S. Department of War has announced a $750 million investment aimed at securing long-term supplies of critical rare-earth elements from Serra Verde’s Pela Ema mine in central Brazil, as Washington accelerates efforts to reduce its dependence on China for strategically important minerals, according to a DOW press release out this week. 

The investment, announced Aug. 24 through the department’s Economic Defense Unit and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, will support an offtake agreement for mixed rare-earth carbonates produced by Serra Verde. It forms part of a broader $1.55 billion financing and purchasing structure that also includes a $300 million commitment from the Defense Logistics Agency and $500 million from a major commercial bank.

The release says that the agreement is intended to give the U.S. and its allies more reliable access to dysprosium, terbium, neodymium and praseodymium.

These elements are crucial inputs for high-performance permanent magnets used across advanced defense systems, including fighter aircraft, nuclear submarines, guided missiles, satellites and drones. They are also increasingly important to electric transportation, energy infrastructure, aerospace and electronics.

China currently dominates several stages of the global rare-earth supply chain, particularly processing and magnet manufacturing. U.S. officials have consequently made the development of alternative “mine-to-magnet” supply chains a national-security and industrial-policy priority.

“By partnering with Serra Verde, we are taking a decisive step to break our adversaries’ near-monopoly on rare-earth elements,” Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Mike Cadenazzi said in the announcement.

The latest commitment follows a separate $565 million financing agreement for Serra Verde’s Pela Ema project through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Together with efforts by the Department of Commerce to expand domestic magnet manufacturing, the investments point to a broader strategy: securing raw materials from allied and partner countries while building enough processing and manufacturing capacity to keep strategically important supply chains outside Chinese control.

If successful, the Serra Verde initiative could become an important piece of that strategy. Rather than simply funding additional mineral production, Washington is using financing, government purchasing commitments and private capital to create guaranteed demand for a non-Chinese source of rare earths, helping underpin an alternative supply chain from the mine through to the advanced magnets used in both military and commercial technologies.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 15:20

Trump Says All Mines Cleared From Strait Of Hormuz, Warns Military Options Still On Table

Trump Says All Mines Cleared From Strait Of Hormuz, Warns Military Options Still On Table

President Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday to declare that all mines have been removed from the Strait of Hormuz - it what seems yet another attempt to declare all is well at a moment Washington has shifted from prior military operations to an economic 'strangulation' and siege policy targeting the Islamic Republic.

“I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” the President wrote on Tuesday. "Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect."

So while there is a temporary calm for now, also with Iran not having targeted foreign vessels in at least the last couple days, Trump is essentially saying military options remain on the table.

Below is the text of the full Truth Social Post [emphasis ZH]:

I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. Through Space Force, we are watching every square inch of the Strait, as we are, also, with Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other Nuclear sites. There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

US officials along with reports in Axios and other outlets have touted US Navy assistance for a steady small 'stealth' stream of tankers still transiting the Strait each day with fighter jet monitoring operations near the Omani coastline.

Axios claimed for example that last week 15 million barrels of oil exited the waterway on a single day.

But some maritime monitor organizations and pundits remain skeptical, and the situation is muddied given that many ships must turn off their transponders if they choose to risk the passage, which for months has been subject to attack by Iranian drones and missiles.

This summer, for the first time in history, Trump threatened to bomb Muscat over negotiations with Tehran, given Iran has asserted that the Oman-brokered Hormuz management plan cuts the US out of the process.

Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: "If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them."

Coupled with this is Bessent's rollout on Monday of details of an economic 'D-Day' against Iran, saying that the country will be completely isolated from the world economy, and threatening secondary sanctions against any third party country that doesn't comply.

The big question remains whether Washington would actually go after China over violation of the new Iran restrictions, especially given China's President Xi Jinping is set to be hosted at the White House, just weeks away.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:40

Here's How AI Is Impacting America's Mental Health Crisis

Here's How AI Is Impacting America's Mental Health Crisis

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,

When Americans are feeling down, instead of calling a mental health professional, a growing number are reaching for their keyboards. Artificial intelligence chatbots have become confidantes, sounding boards, and even substitutes for therapists. Some say this could have a significant impact on the U.S. mental health crisis.

This shift is unfolding against the backdrop of a substantial mental health burden in the United States. An American Psychiatric Association poll revealed 62 percent of respondents reported high levels of anxiety. Meanwhile, the online mental health care provider Innerwell revealed that more than 61 million U.S. adults reported a mental health condition in 2024.

Almost half of them did not receive any treatment.

So what happens when the 24-hour availability of AI chatbots steps into the treatment void? Well, some care providers say that the outcome will be a mixed bag on its best day.

Others think the habit of turning to AI for mental health support will eventually change the nature of human relationships.

"People are increasingly outsourcing emotional labor - flirting, apologizing, repairing, expressing vulnerability - to AI," Luis Maimoni, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told The Epoch Times.

Maimoni said AI chatbots can feel supportive, but also take the "human out of human relationships."

"Some people do form attachments to chatbots, but that's not the part that worries me most. The bigger issue is population-wide: when enough people stop practicing relationship skills, those skills naturally fade," he said.

In his experience, Maimoni said turning to AI chatbots for comfort affects couples, families, and kids. He also believes this will eventually take a toll on the next generation.

"If we lose our ability to connect with each other and the world around us, we lose one of the things that makes us most human," he cautioned.

Maimoni's concerns are supported by the fast-growing trend of supplementing human interactions with AI in difficult situations. In a survey of more than 1,200 licensed psychologists, researchers at the American Psychological Association found that 39 percent of care providers have discussions with patients who use AI to self-diagnose.

The same study noted that 35 percent of care providers' patients were using AI as an "additional mental health professional."

Echo Chamber Effect

On the one hand, professional care providers say AI could offer new ways to reach people who lack access to traditional treatment. However, the technology's expanding role with nuanced, even intimate conversations with human operators also comes with considerable risks.

"One of the most important distinctions in mental health care is the difference between validation and agreement. As a therapist, I might tell a client that I understand why an experience felt frightening without agreeing that their interpretation of what happened is necessarily accurate," Dr. Susan Johnston told The Epoch Times.

Johnston is a Florida-based, licensed mental health counselor and the founder of Human AI Dynamics. She said good clinical work often involves "validating the emotion" of a patient while leaving room for reality testing, uncertainty, and other explanations.

She pointed out that, for the moment, most AI chatbots don't operate with this level of discernment.

"A chatbot can sometimes blur that distinction because maintaining a supportive conversation may result in repeatedly mirroring the user's interpretation back to them," she said. "For someone who is already vulnerable, the response can begin to feel like independent confirmation."

Consequently, if a person is struggling with a mental health condition, they may end up drawing the conclusion "even the AI agrees with me," according to Johnston.

"Something designed to make a person feel heard can then unintentionally strengthen a belief that might instead need to be questioned or explored more carefully," she said.

Dr. Michelle Harris, a licensed social worker and doctor of behavioral health, shares this perspective.

"One concern is that prolonged chatbot use can create a kind of closed feedback loop," Harris told The Epoch Times.

Harris has more than 20 years of experience in mental wellness and is the founder of Anew Health Solutions. She said someone who is already experiencing paranoia, delusional thinking, mania, severe depression, or suicidal thoughts may return to the same fears or beliefs repeatedly. AI could then continue reinforcing that framework instead of recognizing that someone's mental state is spiraling.

"A clinician is assessing much more than the words someone says. We are considering history, behavior, functioning, risk, changes over time, nonverbal cues, medication, sleep, support systems, and whether a person's interpretation of reality appears to be changing. A general-purpose chatbot does not have that full clinical picture," she explained.

Harris added mental health organizations have specifically cautioned that AI tools may engage "unsafely with vulnerable users."

"If someone says, 'I believe people are following me and I am terrified,' I can acknowledge that the fear feels very real and frightening without agreeing that people are actually following them. In mental-health care, compassionate support sometimes has to exist alongside gentle challenge, further assessment, or reality testing," she said.

A May study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions supports these concerns. The researchers stated clinical observations point to a link between intensive chatbot use and psychiatric destabilization in vulnerable individuals.

"For someone with a vulnerable mind, a delusion or a hallucination is a very real part of their reality and an extremely dangerous part," Dr. Michael J. Zizmor, founder of Zizmor Mental Health, told The Epoch Times.

Zizmor said the "engagement-validation loop" perpetuated by an AI system may, in some cases, fuel delusions and gaslight a user into believing in something that a human companion would've pushed back on.

"The danger is compounded by the bots' extremely humanlike and available nature, which may lead delusions to be reinforced, grandiose delusions to be magnified, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness to become overwhelming, an unwillingness to take prescribed medications to occur, or to engage in dangerous behaviors," Zizmor said.

Meanwhile, AI advocates say chatbots could play a telehealth-style support role for those who are struggling with certain mental health conditions. They argue chatbots could be particularly useful given the worsening shortage of healthcare workers in the United States.

As of 2026, around 130 million Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.

Some believe AI can help close the gap between supportive care needs and availability amid America's ongoing shortage of qualified human counselors.

"With these developments, rigorously tested AI chatbots are an underappreciated solution to the shortage of therapists and may help address key challenges in mental health care: access, affordability, and the delivery of consistent, empathetic care," researchers at the Milbank Memorial Fund stated.

Old Problems, New Approach

Johnston believes a cautious strategy is needed with AI chatbots used for mental health support, but also thinks the technology could be beneficial under the right circumstances.

She believes this matters more than many realize because of the U.S. healthcare system's longstanding struggles with provider shortages, cost, insurance barriers, and potentially lengthy wait times to see a therapist.

"If AI helps some people cope, seek help earlier, or maintain gains between appointments, there could be a meaningful public-health benefit; if another group becomes more isolated, experiences worsening symptoms, or delays professional care, that could add pressure to an already strained system. At this scale, I don't think we can evaluate AI only by asking what happens to the average user; we also have to understand what happens to the smaller groups of users who may be particularly vulnerable," she said.

Harris agreed that mental health support in the United States is a "very real issue" due to workforce shortages, and AI might be helpful on this front.

"AI has tremendous potential as an adjunct," Harris said. "Someone might use it to organize their thoughts before an appointment, learn basic coping strategies, identify questions to ask a provider, or receive general information while waiting for care. Research involving a purpose-built generative-AI therapeutic chatbot has shown promising symptom improvements, which tells us there may be meaningful opportunities here."

That said, she clarified there's a big difference between a clinically developed and studied intervention and using a general-purpose chatbot as a therapist.

Zizmor, Harris, and Johnston firmly agree that AI isn't creating a national mental health crisis in its own right, but rather throwing a can of gas on the existing one.

From Zizmor's perspective, he believes AI is an amplifier, not a root cause. He thinks the outcome of the technology's use in mental health support depends entirely on the circumstances of the person using it. He said AI's use in this capacity should be regulated "not as an independent replacement for healthcare professionals, but rather as an addition under their supervision."

Harris concurred. "AI may help bridge certain gaps. But the danger is when the bridge becomes the destination."

For Johnston, the rise of chatbot popularity as a mental health crutch heralds an opportunity to look at the deeper issue.

"Rather than only asking whether people are becoming too attached to AI, I think we also need to ask what the AI is providing that the person was not getting somewhere else and why that need went unmet," Johnston said.

"The answer may tell us as much about the weaknesses in America's existing mental-health system as it does about artificial intelligence."

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:20

Netanyahu Claims 'Iran Tried To Assassinate One Of My Sons'

Netanyahu Claims 'Iran Tried To Assassinate One Of My Sons'

Previously, Iranian state media aired images which appeared to threaten President Donald Trump's son Barron Trump, and following this Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be seizing the moment.

Netanyahu has claimed in a phone interview with Israel's Channel 14 on Monday that Iran tried to assassinate one of his two sons. "Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons," he claimed.

GPO/Flash90

"Therefore, the security they get is not a luxury," he added, in reference to his argument that the state must continue protecting his family for years to come - even if he loses the upcoming election.

He described that without this protection for at least five years, "they would succeed," referencing imagined would-be Iranian assassins.

Netanyahu has two sons, Yair and Avner, but he didn't specify if one or the other was under threat by an alleged assassination plot.

Avner lives in Israel, while Yair - the one who is much more visible and outspoken on social media - lives in a luxury area of Miami.

Israeli media further claims as follows: "A Channel 12 report says the alleged attempt took place at a time when Yair Netanyahu was not in Israel, but does not specify that Yair was the target."

The report also seeks to address why this is suddenly being "revealed" now:

The alleged assassination plot has been known to the Israeli security establishment for several months, the TV report says, but has been barred from publication by the military censor.

Israel has tended to push 'assassination plot' claims while offering no public evidence and at opportune times which seemed aimed at escalating Washington's involvement against Iran.

For example, back in July when Netanyahu was openly pushing against White House efforts to pursue a negotiated settlement with Tehran there was this:

Israel shared intelligence with the United States that Iran had recently devised a new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, adding another layer of tension as a ceasefire deal between the countries comes under strain.

One of the sources said the warning came this week. Another source said the US had picked up a steady drumbeat of intelligence in recent weeks about possible plans to assassinate Trump, but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot.

At the time, the White House did not seem too alarmed by the 'warning' - and hasn't made much reference to it since.

In the opening days and weeks of Operation Epic Fury, literally dozens of top Iranian government and military officials were assassinated - and in some cases their family members died in the same attacks. Israel's military owned up to many of these operations, boasting publicly during the height of the bombing campaign. 

This new claim by Netanyahu of covert plot against his family also comes just as Bessent unveiled a so-called Economic D-Day policy to strangle the Islamic Republic economically.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:00

"All Accurate": Musk Confirms Massive New Starship Rocket Base In Louisiana

"All Accurate": Musk Confirms Massive New Starship Rocket Base In Louisiana

Our report from several weeks ago, titled "SpaceX In 'Final Stages' Of Securing Massive New Rocket Launch Site In Louisiana," was confirmed Tuesday afternoon by Elon Musk and his rocket company.

"Starbase, Louisiana, will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year, with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," SpaceX wrote on X.

Musk also chimed in, saying reports about the new $100 billion spaceport near Pecan Island, Louisiana, were "all accurate."

Let's come back to our Aug. 3 report, in which we cited the Times-Picayune:

SpaceX is poised to take control of roughly 130,000 acres at Pecan Island, more specifically in coastal Vermilion Parish, as part of a settlement resolving long-running coastal lawsuits against ExxonMobil. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the agreement this month.

One X user responded to Musk's post: "This is unironically the biggest thing to happen to Louisiana since the Louisiana Purchase."

 

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:40

Stellar 2Y Auction Stops Through On Most Foreign Buying Since March 2025

Stellar 2Y Auction Stops Through On Most Foreign Buying Since March 2025

After last week's post "Bessent buyback" fireworks, which sent yields on a rollercoaster ride in the subsequent days, many were very curious to see how today's sale of $69BN in 2 year paper, the week's first coupon auction, would go and whether Bessent inadvertently had impaired primary market issuance. In the end, the auction went through without a glitch.

The $69BN auction of 2Y notes priced at a high yield of 4.204%, down notably from 4.315% last month as rate hike odds have eased substantially, and stopped through the When Issued 4.208% by 0.4bps, the 3rd consecutive stopping through auction in a row.

The bid to cover was an unspectacular 2.599, down from 2.662 in July and the lowest since March (it was below the 2.611 recent average).

The internals were stronger with Indirects awarded 66.0%, up from 56.6% and the highest allocation to foreign buyers since March 2025. Directs dropped to 23.09% from 34.05%, the lowest since March, which left 10.9% for Dealers the second lowest since February. 

Overall, this was a stellar 2Y auction and one would hardly have guessed that the bond market had gone through the most turmoil of 2026 just a few days earlier.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:23

Guggenheim Loan Craters, Fund Hits GFC Lows As Feds Probe Walter's Empire

Guggenheim Loan Craters, Fund Hits GFC Lows As Feds Probe Walter's Empire

A first-lien loan due in 2031 tied to Guggenheim Investments, the asset-management arm of Mark Walter's Guggenheim Partners, cratered to roughly 72 cents on the dollar Monday, according to Bloomberg data. The hefty discount suggests that lenders remain unconvinced by management's efforts to contain mounting fears over deteriorating earnings, accounting practices and ongoing federal investigations into Walter's financial empire.

The $1.18 billion loan, issued by GIH Borrower LLC, dropped to a low of 72 cents on the dollar Monday morning. 

Walter's Guggenheim Partners reported a 38% year-over-year decline in second-quarter revenue last week. Management told investors that much of the deterioration was attributable to delays in recognizing advisory fees at Guggenheim Private Investments.

Shares of the Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund are crashing to their lowest level since the Global Financial Crisis.

The loan market, however, appears to be delivering some bad news. Because Walter's businesses are privately held, the declining value of Guggenheim's loan offers investors a real-time indicator of concerns surrounding how Delaware Life Insurance Co. and its affiliate, Clear Spring Life and Annuity, two Group 1001 insurers, labeled about $20 billion in loans to companies within Walter's empire.

The insurers reclassified billions of dollars in investments as affiliated or related-party transactions after receiving grand jury subpoenas and conducting internal reviews. Lending to affiliates is not illegal, but it must be properly disclosed.

Related:

1. FBI Seized Mark Walter's Devices Months Before Record $12.5 Billion Lakers Sale

2. "Cash Crunch" Deepens? Mark Walter Explores Chelsea FC Stake Sale To Clearlake

3. Mark Walter Probe Puts Wall Street's Insurance-Private Credit Machine Under DoJ Scrutiny

CNBC reported that Walter's TWG Global holding company has tapped veteran Goldman Sachs lawyer David Markowitz to serve as its chief legal officer amid the federal probe.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:20

Treasury, IRS Propose Rules On Trump Account Investments

Treasury, IRS Propose Rules On Trump Account Investments

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Department of the Treasury and the IRS have issued proposed regulations clarifying which investments may be made by Trump Accounts.

President Donald Trump speaks during the Trump Accounts summit at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington on Jan. 28, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

A Trump Account is a savings account designed to help children get a head start on financial wellness. It can be opened in the name of any individual younger than 18 with a valid Social Security number.

Funds in these accounts can only be invested in "eligible investments" during the growth period, referring to the period beginning from setting up the Trump Account to Dec. 31 of the calendar year in which the beneficiary becomes 17 years of age, the IRS said in an Aug. 20 statement. After the growth period, these eligible investment restrictions won't apply.

An eligible investment is either a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the returns of a qualified index, according to the proposed rule notice published by the IRS on Aug. 21 in the Federal Register.

A qualified index means the S&P 500 index or any other index composed of equity investments in mainly U.S. companies and for which regulated futures contracts are traded on an exchange or board of trade.

Indexes that solely focus on specific sectors or industries won't be deemed a qualified index, the notice clarified. However, indexes based on companies' market capitalization can qualify.

A mutual fund or ETF must not use leverage in order to qualify as an eligible investment, according to the proposal. They must also not have annual fees and expenses of more than 0.1 percent of the investment balance.

Around 85 million children from 44 million families across the United States are expected to be impacted by the proposed regulations, the notice said.

In its statement, the IRS said that if an account beneficiary does not select an eligible investment offered by the account's trustee-institutions managing the accounts-then the funds will automatically be invested in eligible investments selected by the trustee during the growth period.

The Treasury and the IRS are seeking comments on the proposed rules, which are due by Oct. 20. The regulations, once in effect, will apply to tax years starting on or after Jan. 1, 2026.

"These proposed regulations will provide clarity for trustees and beneficiaries of Trump Accounts, thus encouraging eligible participants to invest in low-fee mutual funds and ETFs that will grow on a tax-deferred basis potentially over their entire lives," IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said in the statement.

"Funds deposited in Trump Accounts enable American children to start investing now and enjoy years of compound earnings for their future college, retirement and other needs."

Account Investments

According to estimates on the Trump Account website, $1,000 deposited at the time of a child's birth could grow to $6,000 by the time the child turns 18, even if no additional contributions are made.

If $250 is contributed annually, the fund could grow to $19,000. Under the maximum $5,000 annual contribution, the fund value could reach $271,000 at age 18.

In early July, the White House said that almost 6 million Trump Accounts had been opened.

In an Aug. 20 statement, the Treasury said the proposed regulations aim to keep investment costs low and help children's savings grow over the long term.

Investment fees and expenses can reduce account balances over time. The proposed rules limit investments to funds with low expense ratios and avoid those with excessive fees.

"Every dollar in a child's Trump Account should be working toward that child's financial future, not diminished by unnecessary fees," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

"Under President Trump's leadership, Treasury is putting simple, commonsense protections in place to help families keep more of their investment returns."

In a July 1 statement, the Treasury announced that the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF would be the default investment for all contributions to Trump Accounts.

Parents or guardians of Trump Accounts can choose to invest funds in four additional low-cost index ETF options-iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF, and iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:00

Ghislaine Maxwell To Rot In Prison After Judge Denies Bid For New Trial

Ghislaine Maxwell To Rot In Prison After Judge Denies Bid For New Trial

Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell gets to rot in prison until 2037 after a judge on Tuesday denied her bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and hold a new trial. 

"Nearly all its claims are procedurally barred; the overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence adduced at trial conclusively established her guilt; and her petition's claims are demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods," Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said in the 67-page decision.

"There is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial."

Maxwell, 64, was Jeffrey Epstein's right-hand, who procured minor girls for prostitution. She faced multiple other charges when Epstein died in prison in 2019, stemming from her activities between 1994 and at least 2004, according to documents and other evidence introduced at her trial.

As the Epoch Times notes further, Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of participating in a conspiracy with Epstein that targeted minors for illegal sex acts. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

A federal appeals court in 2024 upheld the sentence, and the Supreme Court in 2025 denied Maxwell's request to review that ruling.

Maxwell said, in a petition filed under Section 2255 of the U.S. Code to overturn her conviction, that the release of materials following the appeal process should result in her conviction being vacated, including a transcript of testimony given to a grand jury in 2006 by a police detective who investigated Epstein.

The detective said then, according to the transcript, that a massage table was in a bathroom. Maxwell said that the detective testified that it was the north bathroom, which was different from the south bathroom he had identified at her trial.

The detective did not actually specify a bathroom in the 2006 testimony, though, the judge said in the new ruling.

Even if he had offered conflicting testimony as to the location of the massage table, Maxwell did not show that it would have been perjury rather than an inadvertent mistake.

"And had there been such an inconsistency between Detective Parkinson's 2006 and 2021 testimony as to this particular, such would have been highly unlikely to impeach Detective Parkinson's credibility, given that the search had occurred more than 16 years before his trial testimony, and his testimony in general, and about finding the massage table in the house in particular, was corroborated by other testimonial, documentary, and video evidence," the judge said.

That means it would not have had "a material effect on the outcome of the trial," he said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 12:45

New Home Sales Collapsed In July As Consumer Confidence Hit 7-Month Lows

New Home Sales Collapsed In July As Consumer Confidence Hit 7-Month Lows

The Conference Board's measure of Americans' Consumer Confidence fell from a revised-lower 90.2 to 89.4 in August (below the 90.2 exp) - the lowest since January.

Interestingly, under the hood, we saw Expectations plunge to January lows while Present Situation spiked from 5 year lows...

“Consumer confidence moderated slightly in August for a second consecutive month,” said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board.

“The Expectations Index slipped further into negative territory, which was offset by a moderate rise in the Present Situation Index after declining in the past three months. Consumer appraisals of current business conditions were mildly positive. Perceptions of the current labor market improved, reversing three months of moderate decline. Looking ahead, consumers were more pessimistic about business conditions and the labor market over the next six months. Expectations for household incomes moderated but remained optimistic overall.”

On a six-month moving average basis, confidence across all age groups trended down slightly, remaining highest among consumers under 35.

By income, confidence was mixed, but generally higher-income groups were more optimistic.

By generation, confidence for Gen Z remained the highest, followed closely by Millennials on a six-month moving average basis. The three oldest generations—Generation X, Baby Boomer, and Silent Generation—trailed in confidence by a wider margin.

By political affiliation, confidence among Independents and Republicans softened while Democrats were somewhat more positive in August.

Consumers’ write-in responses on factors affecting the economy were slightly more pessimistic in August.

References to prices in general—and oil and gas specifically—remain elevated. Comments about war/conflict, food/groceries, trade, and jobs rose in August. Consumers’ average and median 12-month inflation expectations were slightly more elevated in August. Most consumers—61.3%—still anticipated higher interest rates over the next 12 months, down moderately from 62% in July. Meanwhile, consumers still expected higher stock prices a year from now.

On a six-month moving average basis, auto purchasing expectations remained strong. Homebuying expectations declined slightly for the month but maintained an upward trend after slumping to decade-lows in early 2024. 

Perhaps reflective of the weak confidence (especially 'Expectations'), new home sales plunged 10.5% MoM in August (after an upwardly revised +7.6% bounce in July). That dragged new home sales down 6.3% YoY...

Total new home sales SAAR dropped back to 607k - basically flat since 2016...

Sales have fallen in three of the last four months, adding to evidence of a housing market burdened by elevated finance costs and prices.

However, on the potential bright side for homebuyers and affordability, median new home prices fell to a five-year low...

Interestingly, while median new home price just dropped to a 5 year low, the average new home price hasn't budged as ultra high end homes keep lifting the average...

While builders have had some success bolstering demand with free upgrades, mortgage rate buydowns and price reductions, the entry-level market remains affordability-constrained, and likely stays there until consumer confidence rebounds (which is highly dependent on the price of gas, among other things).

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 10:13

Is ICE Investigating Ilhan Omar? Trump 'Truths' Report On Withheld Fraud-Probe Records

Is ICE Investigating Ilhan Omar? Trump 'Truths' Report On Withheld Fraud-Probe Records

President Donald Trump drew fresh attention to a long-running controversy on Sunday when he reposted a Just the News article on Truth Social headlined "ICE refuses to disclose records on Ilhan Omar fraud probe, cites ongoing 'enforcement proceedings.'" His decision to amplify the report, without comment, renewed scrutiny of allegations that have dogged Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for years - though ICE's response stops short of confirming she is personally the target of any active proceeding.

The Trump administration has said for months it possesses evidence that Omar committed immigration fraud. What has remained unclear is whether that evidence translates into an indictment, a denaturalization proceeding, or nothing at all.

Just the News filed a Freedom of Information Act request in January 2026 for records related to Omar's marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a man whose identity, evidence suggests, is that of her brother. ICE's response cited a specific legal exemption rather than denying or providing a timeline. "ICE has determined that the information you requested is being withheld in full pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A)," the agency wrote. "Disclosure of any responsive records at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."

Department of Justice guidance requires a two-step showing before an agency can invoke it. "First, there must be a 'reasonable likelihood' of a pending or contemplated law enforcement proceeding," the guidance states. "Second, release of the information must be reasonably expected to cause some articulable harm to that proceeding." ICE cleared both hurdles by its own estimation; whether that estimation holds up matters more now that the president has amplified it himself.

While no court has established as fact that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is Omar's brother, the most detailed public claim comes from the government of Somaliland. This territory, which split from Somalia in 1991, claimed back in March that Omar's original last name was Elmi before it was changed, and that this evidence "was available, but the Obama Justice Department refused to investigate."

The allegations that Omar married her brother first surfaced during Omar's 2016 campaign for a seat in the Minnesota House, alongside a separate claim that she remained legally married to her first husband when she married Elmi.

Omar was born in Somalia and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in 1995. She applied for a marriage license with Ahmed Hirsi in 2002 but never married him civilly, only through a Muslim ceremony. The two separated in 2008. Omar married Elmi the following year, then split from him in 2011 through another Muslim divorce. She resumed her relationship with Hirsi in 2012, a year before she won her seat in the Minnesota House. Omar did not file for a formal divorce from Elmi until 2017, and she married Hirsi civilly in 2018, sixteen years after they first applied for that license.

Omar's campaign denied both allegations against her. "Allegations that she married her brother and is legally married to two people are categorically ridiculous and false," said then-campaign spokesman Ben Goldfarb.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 09:40

US Home Prices Are Rising At Their Fastest Pace In A Year

US Home Prices Are Rising At Their Fastest Pace In A Year

Following its unexpected rebound in May (from three months of declines), US home prices in America's 20 largest cities were expected to rise again (+0.1% MOM) in June (according to the latest data from S&P Cotality Case-Shiller).

Instead prices actually accelerated more, up a sizable 0.24% MoM, pulling home prices up 2.1% YoY - the fastest acceleration in a year...

“Seasonal factors continue to support monthly price growth," said Rebecca Kaufman, Associate Director of Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"Because June typically falls near the peak of the homebuying season, price appreciation often moderates and market activity cools in the months ahead."

 

For the fourth consecutive month, Chicago led all metros with a 6.9% annual increase in June, followed by New York (4.8%) and Cleveland (4.1%).

Meanwhile, Seattle recorded the largest annual decline at 2.0%, followed by Las Vegas (-1.9%) and Denver (-1.2%).

"This geographic divide reflects a years-long trend, with housing markets in the Northeast and Midwest regaining strength while many Western and Sunbelt markets soften," says Kaufman.

Prices remain oddly coupled with Fed Reserves, implying stability, rather than acceleration, from here...

“The housing market remains under pressure, with 30-year mortgage rates holding near 6.5% in June,” Kaufman concluded.

“As financing costs are kept high for prospective buyers, current homeowners remain reluctant to give up the low mortgage rates secured in prior years.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 09:09

Oil Falls Further As US Prepares Return Of Diplomats To Mideast Embassies

Oil Falls Further As US Prepares Return Of Diplomats To Mideast Embassies

There continue to be clear signals that the White House is moving away from the potential for renewed military action and instead settling in for a long economic siege campaign targeting Iran, on a permanent basis.

The avoidance of more bombs away and with all the risks and uncertainty of a military 'solution' has seen oil prices drop. Energy prices are weakening also amid positive signals from Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who just left Tehran after carrying a fresh US-drafted framework. Crude oil prices (WTI) dropped 3% to just below $82.50 a barrel on Tuesday, extending the 2.4% decline recorded in the previous session.

The US Embassy in Qatar, via State Dept/Stars & Stripes

Al-Arabiya is reporting that he presented an offer to lift sanctions under the MOU, so long as Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz and halts all hostile actions against Gulf states.

Munir had spoken to Trump by phone before travelling to Tehran, which underscores the high-level nature of the reported offer. Other top Pakistani officials accompanied him:

Pakistan and Iran made "significant progress" in talks that focused on the US-Israeli war on Iran and a path to peace, Pakistan’s interior minister said on Tuesday, at the end of a visit to Tehran.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi subsequently stated on X, "The Iranian President candidly shared his government’s perspective and we had a very constructive exchange on the issues involved."

While it's unclear what Tehran's response will be, the last days have not seen new Iranian attacks on shipping in the Hormuz Strait. 

Still, Tehran is proclaiming that Washington's shift is a result of military defeat. On Tuesday Al Jazeera is citing IRGC spokesman Sardar Mohebi, who says the Trump administration's intensified economic campaign against Iran is proof that the US has failed on the battlefield.

He calls the move toward Operation Economic Outcast a "tacit admission" of America's military defeat in the region. As evidence for this the Iranians are pointing to US media admissions that pretty much all of the Pentagon's Gulf outposts have suffered damage or serious destruction, and US forces have pulled back. Even bases in Jordan have been hammered in what some analysts have called a successful campaign of 'debasification'.

But in another sign that Washington is moving away from a war-footing and instead opting for a long economic campaign, it is said to be readying the return of diplomats to the region. Another result of the fierce Iranian retaliation amid Operation Epic Fury had been the closure of US embassies and consulates across the region - which in some cases may have even been targeted.

"The State Department is preparing to send U.S. diplomats back to embassies in the Middle East that were evacuated before and during the war with Iran, suggesting that the Trump administration does not anticipate a return to all-out hostilities," the NY Times reports Tuesday.

"The return of foreign service officers and the scaling back of emergency measures taken at U.S. missions in the Middle East could begin this week, according to an internal State Department document obtained by The Times," the publication continues.

In Bessent's secondary sanctions rollout presser on Monday, he slipped up the below off-the-cuff moment when he called on a random journalist, who asked an excellent question:

Of course, nothing is yet certain and the situation remains very fluid, with the Iranians having previously demonstrated willingness to assert new leverage through attacks. According to details in the NY Times:

The restaffing is set to proceed even though talks between the United States and Iran have floundered, leaving the Trump administration to threaten new economic sanctions.

Embassies slated to restore higher levels of staffing include those in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait, the document says.

The State Department issued a statement saying it "continuously reviews the security posture at our diplomatic missions around the world. Based on our latest assessment, we are adjusting our staffing posture at certain posts in the Middle East to ensure we can continue advancing U.S. foreign policy objectives while protecting the safety and security of our personnel."

But at this moment, embassies across the Gulf as well as Jordan remain shuttered, with most diplomatic personnel having been removed to other State Department posts.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 09:00

Are Canada's Economic Threats Against The US Legit Or Are They Bluster?

Are Canada's Economic Threats Against The US Legit Or Are They Bluster?

In order to "win" a trade war, a country must first have something that other countries want or need.  This basic rule defines every other aspect of the conflict, from tariffs to monetary isolation.  When it comes to the US there has long been a misconception that Americans "feed off global labor" and that the dollar's world reserve status is the country's only point of leverage. 

This is not really the whole story. 

Reserve status is helpful, but another thing the US has that most countries do not is (greater) free market access, which generates economic momentum.  In other words, even in blue states like California, the US does business more freely and has less socialist regulation than the vast majority of the world and this is why foreign exporters see America as a golden market for their goods.

It's a bit ironic, but, there are many countries that could, over time, match or surpass the US as a coveted consumer market; "winning" a trade war by becoming more independent and successful.  However, none of them will do it because this would mean giving more freedom to their citizens to purchase what they like and operate businesses without constant bureaucratic constraints.

This is why socialism and communism will always lose in an economic war with a country that has free markets.  They cannot compete because they restrict their own population's ability to compete.  Without a healthy consumer market the only thing these nations can do is produce and export to more free economies willing to buy. 

Tariffs might be viewed as an anathema to this free market flow.  They are, after all, a tax on corporations importing foreign goods.  This assumes that corporate sourcing can't adapt.  This has proven false as Trump's tariffs have not led to the inflationary spike that many critics predicted.  Tariffs have only added around 0.5% to the CPI and companies are gradually shifting to domestic suppliers.    

America is unique because for decades the country has been treated as an "open air market" by foreigners, and America has obliged them.  Tariffs against US made goods are common; US tariffs against foreign goods? No so much.

It's quite revealing that the very moment the Trump Administration took action to enforce even moderate protections on US trade, every other government jumped directly to accusing Trump of "attacking them" and "declaring war".  The double standard is obvious:  Everyone else can use tariffs, the US can't. 

Canada, for example, has used tariffs on goods from almost every other country in the world for many years, including some US goods.  No one accuses Canada of "waging war" on the world, because no one is clamoring to get access to Canada's consumer markets.  America, on the other hand, is supposed to play the role of the cash cow. 

To do otherwise is an egregious crime against the world order.

The US has many financial problems and pitfalls, yes, but this doesn't change the fact that most of the planet relies on the US as a place to sell their stuff.  In fact, America makes up over 30% of total global consumer markets.  China and all of the EU combined cannot match that kind of allure for exporters.  They can't even afford to buy their own goods and trinkets at a level that would sustain them.  Like it or not, without US consumers the global economy falters.     

The escalating rhetoric from Canada is a perfect example of a socialist nation wrongly believing they have leverage in a fight against a larger opponent.  Canadian officials assert that they have trade weapons that can harm the US, but is this really true?  Let's take a look at come of the threats made by Canadian leaders.

Canada Can Shut Off Electricity Exports To The US?

In his blustering speeches on the fight with the US, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney argued that Canada supplies over 85% of US electricity imports (largely to the Eastern Seaboard).  Other officials such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette have openly called for these power supplies to be cut off in order to "punish" the US for tariffs.  

What they don't mention is that Canada's electricity makes up less than 1% of all US power.  In other words, this is empty posturing.  They are relying on the stupidity and lack of research of average social media posters to repeat such fallacies in the hopes of frightening American voters.

The tactic is similar to what the Iranians have been doing - Playing on social media hype while omitting the dire realities of their ground game. 

Canada Can Shut Off Oil Exports To The US?

The US is the world's largest oil producer and is a net exporter.  Strictly speaking, the US does not need any Canadian oil in order to function.  On the other hand, the Great White North does supply around 60% of all foreign oil going to the US.  Wouldn't the loss of this oil cause some kind of damage to the American economy?

Possibly, but Canadians calling for this measure might not understand how their own oil infrastructure works.  Around 70% of Canada's oil supply travels out of Alberta using pipelines that cross into US territory (the Enbridge Pipelines).  These pipelines go through the US east to Ontario. 

This goes for natural gas as well, which Canada also transports using pipelines that travel through the US. Shutting down energy flows to the US would mean shutting down energy flows to the largest population centers in Canada.  Not very smart.

The Loss Of Canadian Goods Would Be Detrimental To The US? 

Besides oil, what does the US actually buy from Canada?  Well, a lot of cars and car parts, machinery, engines, metals and lumber.  Most of these goods used to be produced in the US until outsourcing to foreign countries killed US manufacturing, mining and logging.  Meaning, the US took a massive jobs hit by opening up its markets to countries like Canada.  Canada wasn't necessarily doing the US a favor.

Canada's advantage over all other countries except perhaps Mexico is that they are the most convenient source for these goods; that does not mean they are not the only source.  They are replaceable.  Scaling to adapt to the loss of Canadian auto parts, for example, would be frustrating due to extensive integration, but it can be done within 1-2 years. 

In the meantime, what do Canadian leaders think is going to happen to all the manufacturers in their country who are suddenly cut off from American markets?  They're going to leave, and they will likely move their operations to the US to avoid the 50% tariffs. 

At bottom, Mark Carney's decision to walk away from the US trade deal which reduced tariffs to a reasonable level is going to prove disastrous because Canada has nothing that the US needs, and the US has something Canada needs very much (the largest consumer market in the world right next door). 

The economic advantages Canada has enjoyed simply through proximity to the US cannot be denied.  It seems foolish for Carney to scrap a deal with limited tariffs in favor of a 50% sledgehammer.  It appears as if he believes Canada is entitled to limitless US access, as if Canada is another American state. 

But let's say that the socialists get everything they think they want, including the eventual downfall of the US economy.  Let's say they find some way, some Achilles Heal, that brings the US down.  Canada and most of the world would only suffer further with the loss of 30% of global consumption.  It would not be the grand victory they imagine.  Instead of simply accepting moderate tariffs, they would rather blow themselves up.                          

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 08:40

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