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Zero Rss

Ceuta Invaders Are Now Eating The Cats And Birds: Report

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Ceuta Invaders Are Now Eating The Cats And Birds: Report

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Volunteer caregivers in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta report that cat colonies are vanishing, dead animals are turning up cut apart, and birds such as pigeons and seagulls are being found half-devoured in the weeks since tens of thousands of migrants poured across the border from Morocco.

Nearly three weeks after the mass invasion, local reports describe cats displaced or missing, and carcasses discovered in disturbing conditions. Caregivers who have continued feeding the animals daily say the damage is already severe.

One volunteer administrator, identified as Merelo, told La Gaceta she has found "many dead cats, cut," some missing half their body or pierced with a punch, along with mistreated animals.

? ÚLTIMA HORA | Aparecen gatos masacrados y palomas y gaviotas devoradas en Ceuta tras la invasión migratoria: «Están acabando con las colonias»

Por Unai Cano (@unaicano10)https://t.co/JuDyccN0wf

— LA GACETA (@gaceta_es) August 19, 2026

She has also located pigeons and seagulls that were half-eaten, though she said she did not personally witness anyone consuming them.

"When the people entered, the cats left their habitat, as happens in any natural space," she explained. Merelo noted that Muslims traditionally show respect for cats, but among the new arrivals are people of sub-Saharan origin from various backgrounds.

The same pattern of disappearance is detailed in an account published by El Faro de Ceuta. Author Ángel Ruiz, writing in support of the volunteer caregivers, stated that the harm caused to the cat colonies "is great and, in many cases, irreparable."

Cats have left areas now occupied by migrants. "It can be said clearly that cats are missing. Where are they? As of today, no one knows," the caregivers summarize.

Affected sites include the area near the desalination plant, which caregivers describe as a disaster after occupation made it uninhabitable for the territorial animals. The same has happened in Huerta Téllez, Carmelitas, Calle Goya, and the neighborhoods of Príncipe, Sidi Embarek, and Punta Blanca, now turned into improvised settlements.

The volunteers are calling for the city government and central authorities to provide provisional housing outside the urban core so migrants stop occupying spaces that belong to the city's community animals, and for immediate eviction of unauthorized camps.

Desaparecen gatos de las colonias felinas de Ceuta como consecuencia de la invasión https://t.co/sFldDUnaUY

— Pablo Haro Urquízar (@pabloharour) August 19, 2026

The animal reports fit a pattern repeatedly documented in other places hit by rapid, large-scale irregular migration.

In British cities, migrants have been filmed hunting pigeons with fishing rods and bare hands in public streets.

Similar clips have shown people catching and butchering swans and ducks in the UK and Ireland.

In one case a Nigerian migrant was caught cooking a cat in a public park next to a children's playground.

In Springfield, Ohio, the city manager acknowledged hearing reports that Haitian migrants were eating pets.

These incidents are not isolated curiosities; they surface with depressing regularity where cultural norms around animal welfare, public space, and food sources collide with sudden demographic change that authorities refuse to control.

This is the latest chapter in the chaos that has gripped Ceuta since the late-July avalanche. Estimates of the initial crossing ranged into the tens of thousands - figures comparable to a large share of the enclave's roughly 84,000 residents - many of them young men who swam or climbed around the border.

Thousands have remained. Reception capacity collapsed. Beaches and open spaces are now filled with shacks, garbage, and human waste. Children's parks were left smeared in feces.

Reports of sexual assaults have mounted, including cases involving minors. Spanish mothers have been filmed weeping in the streets, packing children off to the mainland, and describing daily fear of leaving home without protection.

We also now have reports from local police of migrants dragging women off the streets, taking them into the surrounding mountainous territory and gang raping them.

Spanish authorities have deployed extra police and troops at points, yet the underlying policy of managed openness continues.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 03:30
Tyler Durden

Houthis Claim Fourth Attack On Saudi Aramco Refineries This Month

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Houthis Claim Fourth Attack On Saudi Aramco Refineries This Month

Yemen's Houthis, or the Ansar Allah movement, released a statement Thursday announcing new military operations against Saudi Arabia which targeted an Aramco facility and an airport in Najran province, saying that forces "carried out two military operations using two drones."

"The first targeted a sensitive target belonging to the Saudi enemy at Najran Airport, while the second targeted Aramco in Najran. Both operations successfully achieved their objectives, by God’s grace," the Houthi statement declared.

LinkedIn/Reuters 

Najran is a mid-sized city of around 400,000 and is located in southwest Saudi Arabia, bordering Saada province in northwest Yemen. The Saudis didn't immediately acknowledge the attack, or whether there's been damage or casualties from the launches has not been quickly forthcoming.

The Houthis are still complaining of Saudi airspace violations, while in the midst of a "siege for siege" operation. 

The day prior the Houthis laid out three objectives imposed on the Saudis:

  • The first was described as “siege for siege,” referring to Ansarallah’s declared naval restrictions against Saudi shipping.
  • The second involved “striking Saudi troop buildups wherever they are,” while the third centered on “protecting Yemen’s sovereignty and confronting any enemy incursions.”
  • Ansarallah stated that its naval measures had imposed a tight blockade on Saudi interests, asserting that “not a single ship can pass through.”

Aramco facilities have been targeted several times over the past weeks, since the Saudi-Houthi conflict erupted again.

Iran has of late been much more open in boasting that its Yemeni ally is doing damage on US allies in the region. 

For example, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency this week that the kingdom cannot defeat the group. 

"How can Saudi Arabia, whose military capability is less than that of the Zionist regime, be able to cope with Ansar Allah and the Yemeni fighters? This is not possible," he said.

The Thursday attack marks the fourth offensive on Aramco facilities this month...

🎯 🇸🇦Aramco has now been targeted by claimed Houthi drone strikes 3 times in 11 days.

Jizan refinery caught fire on August 9 (Saudi confirmed the fire, not the cause).

Najran was hit August 14. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree is now claiming a third strike on Aramco… pic.twitter.com/aaiDLuLU8X

— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) August 20, 2026

Like the Iranians, the Houthis have some natural leverage given the geography of oil transit chokepoints. Al Monitor observes this week: "Traffic in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, may be on the rebound despite the Houthi blockade. The shipping data firm Kpler said 46 vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, up 53% from the day prior. Around 50 ships typically crossed before the recent escalation. 

It notes further, "Saudi Arabia has been rerouting oil exports through the Red Sea in response to the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz."

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 02:45
Tyler Durden

Ukraine Corruption Scandal Deepens: 'Operation Forrest Gump' Shocks Zelensky Government With More Searches

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Ukraine Corruption Scandal Deepens: 'Operation Forrest Gump' Shocks Zelensky Government With More Searches

Authored by Remix News Staff via Remix News,

Ukrainian anti-corruption services launched searches under codename "Operation Forrest Gump," targeting, among others, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. The move expands the ongoing anti-corruption investigation which has seen a number of top officials in Zelensky's cabinet flee to Israel shortly before police could raid their homes.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) announced they were conducting a special operation involving a criminal organization led by a current and former member of parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials from the Office of the President of Ukraine.

"NABU and SAPO are conducting a special operation aimed at exposing a criminal organization that operated under the leadership of a current and former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials of the Office of the President of Ukraine and other individuals. Details - coming soon," announced the anti-corruption services on Telegram.

The operation is codenamed "Forrest Gump," also referred to as Forest Gump. Ukrayinska Pravda sources and other media reported that NABU and SAPO are conducting searches as part of this special operation at premises belonging to MP Vadym Stolar, who was elected to parliament on behalf of the currently banned Opposition Platform - For Life party.

In addition, Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, is also targeted in the raids.

Stolar has confirmed the investigative actions at his home and stated he is fully cooperating without obstruction.

Additional figures linked by media and law-enforcement sources include former MP Maksym Mykytas, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and senior management of the state-owned Sense Bank including the chair of the board and supervisory board. Searches were also reported at the bank premises.

NABU has released excerpts of intercepted conversations.

Fragments reference "bags of money," discussions of registering assets or proceeds in the names of children, including high tuition costs, the "Forrest Gump" name itself in a context of concealing theft, and mentions of the Office of the President.

As EuroMaidan writes, "The operation carries a mocking name, Forest Gump, drawn from the suspects' own words. In a 47-second recording of intercepted conversations, one man ties the label to how the group allegedly hid money."

The suspect mocks that one of the co-conspirators used his children's own name to register the stolen money.

"We've got Saving Private Ryan, right? But only an idiot would register the theft of money - and their tuition on top of it - on their own children. That's why, Forest Gump," he said.

Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators reportedly chose the name "Forrest Gump" to mock these statements from their own criminal targets.

Other parts of the conversation reference cash and the presidential administration directly. "Well, there are four bags of money there," one voice says on the tape.

Another chimed in, saying: "If we do this, you can drive to the Office of the President yourselves. Believe me. I can see it."

Investigators allege the group gained effective control over Sense Bank around early June 2026.According to NABU/SAPO details released as part of the operation, the group organized money laundering of $3.5 million in cash (UAH 150 million).

The funds were introduced into legal circulation through accounts of shell companies and Sense Bank to post bail for one of the defendants in the earlier "Midas" case, which was linked to former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.

Cash was reportedly delivered in tranches, processed via controlled entities, and partially directed toward the High Anti-Corruption Court bail account. Allegations include that Mudra was expected to help arrange the raising of these funds and that unidentified individuals from the President's Office tasked her with efforts related to bringing Sense Bank under greater control.

Investigators also seized a document described as an anti-crisis communications playbook outlining steps and messaging to shape public opinion around a Verkhovna Rada temporary investigative commission, framing it as an "audit, not attack" while shielding President Zelensky and his cabinet.

The probe has also documented alleged attempts to place controlled individuals in NABU and other law-enforcement bodies.

Incredibly, NABU has already posted these documents directly to Telegram.

Who is involved in the broader corruption scandal in Ukraine?

One of the main suspects in the related investigation is businessman Tymur Mindich. He is the co-owner of the Kwartal 95 production studio, which was founded and headed in the past by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Fearing arrest in the Energoatom affair (Operation Midas), Mindich fled to Israel. The Midas case centers on alleged large-scale kickbacks, approximately 10-15 percent of contract values, at the state nuclear company Energoatom, involving roughly $100 million in illicit funds, with the group using code names and cash deliveries.

During searches of Mindich's premises in November 2025, investigators found large quantities of cash and a golden toilet, along with a golden bidet, in one of the bathrooms of his opulent Kyiv apartment - details that became a public symbol of excess and were widely referred to as the "golden toilet scandal," which Remix News reported extensively on.

Mindich was not the only key figure to flee to Israel. His close associate, Oleksandr Tsukerman, also fled. The country does not extradite its citizens but Ukraine later imposed sanctions and issued international arrest warrants.

Among the suspects in the Midas scandal was the former head of Volodymyr Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak. The former head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office has been charged under the Criminal Code of Ukraine with laundering property obtained as a result of a crime. The alleged laundering of UAH 460 million, about $10.5 million, allegedly occurred during the construction of the Dynastia luxury housing complex in Kozyn near Kyiv.

According to investigators, some of the funds used for the construction may have come from corruption activities at Energoatom. The court then issued an arrest warrant for Yermak.

It stipulated that he would be able to be released if he paid bail of 140 million hryvnias. In mid-May, Andriy Yermak was released from custody after posting bail.

The Forrest Gump operation is now being presented as connected to the wider Midas network of allegations involving high-level influence over strategic state enterprises, money laundering, and related luxury projects. Developments remain ongoing, with NABU indicating further details would be released.

Polish state media outlet TVP reported: "The latest operation could further intensify scrutiny of the political establishment as President Volodymyr Zelensky's government faces pressure to demonstrate progress in tackling corruption while Ukraine continues its war with Russia. It also poses a fresh headache for Zelenskyy after ousted defense chief Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell statement late on Tuesday."

The question now remains: Is the noose tightening around Zelensky himself, or will he emerge from this massive corruption scandal of close associates squeaky clean?

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 02:00
Tyler Durden

Pennsylvania Dangles Permitting Carrot For Data Centers That Bring Their Own Power

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Pennsylvania Dangles Permitting Carrot For Data Centers That Bring Their Own Power

Submitted by Ethan Howland of UtilityDive

Pennsylvania will give data center projects preferential permitting treatment if they commit to a set of power supply, environmental and cost-responsibility requirements under an executive order issued Tuesday by Gov. Josh Shapiro, D.

The state Department of Environmental Protection will develop the new review process. To receive a faster state permitting review, data center projects in Pennsylvania must source their electricity from new power supplies, including from growing amounts of firm clean power, according to the order, which affects proposals for projects with a peak demand of more than 25 MW.

The order “should further close the door” to the idea that independent power producers like Talen Energy, Vistra and PSEG Power will be able to sell power from their existing generating assets under long-term contracts to data centers in Pennsylvania, Jefferies equity analysts said in a note on Wednesday. However, Talen’s legacy deal to sell power from its majority-owned Susquehanna nuclear power plant to an Amazon data center appears safe, according to the note.

Shapiro’s executive order comes amid a wave of action by state and local governments aimed at setting limits on data center development. At least 81 cities and counties have moratoria on data center development, according to a National League of Cities database unveiled Wednesday.

Under the permitting framework set by the executive order, data center developers that sign a consent order and agreement requiring them to abide by the state’s infrastructure development standards unveiled in February will receive preferential treatment compared to those that don’t.

Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission Chairman Steve DeFrank speaks Aug. 18, 2026, at a data center-related executive order signing ceremony. Courtesy of Pennsylvania governor’s office

For example, applicants that execute a consent order and agreement will have their projects reviewed by DEP on a rolling basis, whereas for developers that don’t sign, the state won’t consider their applications until they have all local permits in hand as well as any needed water withdrawal or wastewater discharge authorizations.

“We have so much speculation in Pennsylvania — like, gold rush speculation on these data centers,” Katie Blume, political and legislative director for Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, told Utility Dive in an interview. “A lot of this [order] is going to be weeding out those bad actors because they’re not going to want to spend five years in the permitting process.”

But Dan Diorio, executive vice president for state policy and government affairs for the Data Center Coalition, sounded a note of caution in an emailed statement.

“It’s important that rules are not changed midstream impacting ongoing investment in verified and responsible data center projects,” Diorio said. “Data centers take compliance and accountability seriously, building only where they are authorized to do so under local, state, and federal rules and regulations.”

The infrastructure development standards include requiring data centers to pay for “all costs caused in whole or in part by the interconnection, service, or load of a [data center] project, including any costs associated with energy and ancillary services, transmission, distribution, network upgrades.”

Besides requiring data centers to be supplied by new generating resources from the same local PJM Interconnection zone where the facilities are built, they must be supplied from growing amounts of firm clean energy such as solar, advanced nuclear and battery storage, Shapiro said when he signed the executive order.

The firm clean energy requirements ramp up from 10% on Jan. 1 to 14.5% three years later and 32% by Jan. 1, 2035.

The executive order directs the Pennsylvania DEP to expedite permitting for clean energy and storage facilities on brownfield sites. The DEP must also facilitate the use of advanced reconductoring and other advanced transmission technologies on existing transmission rights-of-way.

In prepared remarks, Shapiro pointed to the speed of data center development in the state, which he said has “seen an unacceptable number of speculative proposals ... many of them led by developers who have no regard for local communities.”

PPL Electric has about 20.7 GW of potential data center load with electric service agreements in Pennsylvania, according to an Aug. 7 investor presentation. FirstEnergy utilities in Pennsylvania have data center contracts totaling nearly 1 GW, the company said in a July 28 presentation.

It is unclear how those data center projects will be affected by the executive order, but slowing data center development could affect utility transmission spending in the state, the Jefferies analysts noted.

Exelon, FirstEnergy and PPL are “materially increasing their transmission investment with data center demand a key driver,” the analysts said. “If the pace of data center growth slows, we see downside pressure to the pace of transmission investments.”

Currently, data center-driven transmission costs are being shared with residential and other utility customers, they noted.

Shapiro’s executive order directed the state Office of Transformation and Opportunity to remove any existing data center project from the PA Permit Fast Track Program, established in 2024, and rescinded their eligibility for the program. It also barred state agencies from entering into confidential agreements with data center developers.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 23:25
Tyler Durden

"Let's Downsize": Antifa Uses Instagram To Put 'Luigi-Style' Hit On Flock Camera CEO

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
"Let's Downsize": Antifa Uses Instagram To Put 'Luigi-Style' Hit On Flock Camera CEO

Karlyn Borysenko, who describes herself as an anti-communist analyst and observer of the far-left, posted a screenshot of an Instagram post from an account called "3chordpolitics." The post could be interpreted as a targeted, implicitly violent communication directed at Garrett Langley, founder and CEO of Flock Safety.

With high confidence, the 3chordpolitics post deliberately invokes violence against CEOs. As Borysenko wrote on X, "Antifa on Instagram is issuing death threats to CEOs, referencing bullets and Luigi Mangione, and essentially using the platform to call for more CEO assassinations."

Antifa on Instagram is issuing death threats to CEOs, reference bullets and Luigi Mangione and essentially using the platform to call for more CEO assassination.

This was posted 20 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/hchqfmVG5i

— Karlyn Borysenko, anti-communist cult leader (@DrKarlynB) August 19, 2026

Here are the threat indicators present in the post:

  • CEO Garrett Langley is individually named and pictured.
  • A black bar obscures his eyes, creating a targeting effect.
  • Three bullets appear alongside a Luigi character, likely a coded reference to Luigi Mangione and the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
  • The slogan "No CEO Left Behind" appears to imply hostility toward Langley and CEOs as a class.
  • The caption "Let's downsize" functions as a double entendre, suggesting the physical elimination of a CEO.

The account's prior posts suggest it is aligned with the far-left, given its apparent sympathy for Luigi Mangione, calls to dox ICE agents, advocacy for work stoppages, and encouragement of rioting. These positions broadly reflect elements of both reformist socialism and far-left revolution.

Borysenko recently published a five-tiered "rainbow cake" depicting her view of the American left, ranging from establishment Democrats who favor incremental reform within capitalism to revolutionary socialists who seek to abolish the existing system and destroy the nation from within.

As a reminder, the DSA cult sits on the far-left.  

As of Thursday morning, Instagram had yet to remove the post. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 23:00
Tyler Durden

The All-Seeing Eye

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
The All-Seeing Eye

Authored by Todd Hayen via OffGuardian,

What was once the paranoid whisper of conspiracy has become the marketed convenience of 'life logging' - yet beneath the promise of perfect memory lies the total erasure of privacy, turning every shrew into a unwitting performer on the surveillance stage.

(If you haven't read enough of my work to know what a "shrew" is, read this: Sheep and Shrew)

During a recent three-hour ramble with my sister - one of those wide-ranging, idea-sparking talkathons we've shared for years - the little recording device I had just bought, attached to my phone, quietly drank it all in. Every tangent on culture, politics, family, and the state of the world was captured, summarized, and later served back as a tidy slideshow of "highlights." It auto-suggested calendar entries, pulled up past chats on demand, and generally made itself indispensable.

For a moment, I felt the rush: This is the future. No more forgotten details, no more scrambling for notes. Pure magic.

I will disclose immediately that I have purchased several of these odd devices mostly out of curiosity, but also out of an attempt to record various "having fun moments" of my life (like a recent dog adventure to a local pond, and our three-day trip to New York City to see Swan Lake). I won't go into my personal experience (with the intentions just stated) out of fear it will bore you; ask in the comments if you would like to know.

Here I will make my general comments on what I feel the impact such devices will have on our human culture. What masquerades as personal empowerment is a profound archetypal shift toward total surveillance, eroding privacy, authenticity, and human freedom - normalizing the sheeple's willing submission while shrews must stay vigilant.

Woo-hoo, what else is new?

During my conversation with my sister, the shrew in me stirred almost immediately. That ancient archetype of the All-Seeing Eye - once reserved for gods, tyrants, or paranoid fantasies - had slipped into the room wearing the friendly face of convenience. What felt like an innocent companion was, in truth, a silent recorder turning private exchange into permanent data. And I had invited it in.

This is how the trap springs. Not with jackboots and cameras in every corner (though those exist too), but with sleek little devices marketed as extensions of ourselves. Wearable AI pins, smart glasses, neck discs - they promise perfect memory while quietly building the most intimate profile imaginable: where we go, what we say, who we say it to, and how we feel about it all. Street cameras and smartphone sensors already blanket the public square; these wearables drag the surveillance indoors, into our conversations, our homes, our unguarded moments with loved ones. The panopticon goes portable.

We've seen this pattern before. Remember when "just a phone" became a pocket tracker? Or how contact-tracing apps during the scamdemic morphed from "temporary emergency tools" into permanent fixtures in the biosecurity state? The same sleight of hand is at work here. Tech companies dangle the carrot - Never forget a name! Relive every precious moment! Let AI organize your chaos! - and the sheeple flock to it, bleating about how "empowering" it all feels. The sheep, yes, and at least one sheep-like shrew. Me.

Meanwhile, the other shrews (you) feel the water getting warmer. You are more aware than me that every logged conversation is fodder for training models, targeted ads, behavioural predictions, or worse - subpoenas, hacks, or authoritarian overreach. Deepfakes already erode trust in video evidence; add always-on personal recording, and alibis become meaningless, private truths become contestable, and authentic human connection withers under the gaze of the machine.

My sister and I laughed about it at first. Then the unease settled in. What if one of those "helpful" summaries gets shared without consent? What if the data shapes how others (or algorithms) perceive us? The archetype of the all-seeing eye doesn't just watch - it consumes. It flattens the rich, contradictory mess of human life into clean, marketable data points.

From a Jungian perspective, this is no mere gadget problem. It is the externalization of the Self's shadow - the watcher within projected onto silicon. Privacy is not just a legal right; it is the sacred space where the psyche breathes, where shadow integrates, where anima and animus dance unseen. Strip that away, and we become performers, constantly curating our words for an invisible audience. The sheepsters may not notice - they've grown accustomed to the slowly boiling pot. But the shrew feels the contraction of soul.

This is the latest chapter in the long war on autonomy waged primarily by the advocates of transhumanism and technoculture. Digital passports, social credit systems, vaccine mandates - each promised safety or convenience while tightening the noose. AI wearables complete the circle: they don't just monitor the body or the public square; they ingest the mind itself, turning inner dialogue into training data for the next generation of control.

We are not far from the logical endpoint - stylish glasses with always-on cameras, or worse, neural implants that record thoughts before they become words. The marketers will call it "seamless augmentation." The shrew calls it the end of anything resembling private life. But here we go.

Woo-hoo again, what fun!

Obviously, we have known about all this techno-joy for quite some time: science fiction novels, 50's SciFi movies, superhero comic books, Star Trek, Outer Limits and Battlestar Galactica TV series, among many other media enticements. All techno gadgets presented in these resources have been emblazoned into our feeble brains (not you, of course!), always looking for the next exciting and fun thing to engage with.

Why do we have to move back into the techno-less past in our effort to survive? Why can't we take this fun ride into a more convenient, more joyous, more exciting future with interesting "things" to fiddle with? Primarily because there is likely an evil intention behind it all. We can never forget the agenda, and one of the prime tools of manipulation the agenda thrives on is private information.

So, what do we do? Do we stop participating in this new science-fiction-turned-reality world? Do we just get the hell off the grid, and live in some backward fourth-world country drinking milk out of a coconut? That's one way to do it; another is to simply become more aware and conscious.

Awareness itself is resistance. Turn the All-Seeing Eye inward. Use these tools sparingly, consciously, and never without remembering what they truly cost. Talk with your pack. Document the unease. Keep the conversations that matter offline when you can.

The water is heating, my dear shrew. But we still have legs to jump - and voices to warn the others before the lid clamps shut for good.

Todd Hayen PhD is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies. He specializes in Jungian, archetypal, psychology. Todd also writes for his own substack, which you can read here.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 22:35
Tyler Durden

Cost Of Living Remains Biggest Challenge Facing Americans

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Cost Of Living Remains Biggest Challenge Facing Americans

The war in Iran marked a significant setback in Americans' year-long battle with high prices.

While inflation has come down a long way from its 2021/2022 highs, when it peaked at 9 percent, it remains elevated at 3.4 percent.

More importantly though, as Statista's Felix Richter reports, people are still struggling to cope with the lasting effects of the inflation crisis.

According to a Statista Consumer Insights survey conducted between January and July 2026, 53 percent of U.S. adults said that the high cost of living was one of the biggest challenges they currently face – making it by far the most common answer ahead of mental and physical health at 26 percent each.

You will find more infographics at Statista

It is a common misconception that prices come down when inflation cools, when in reality a period of high inflation leaves a legacy of high prices.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. consumer prices have increased 26.7 percent since January 2021, with some categories seeing even steeper price increases than that.

Food prices are up 27.2 percent, rents have increased more than 30 percent and transportation prices are up 35 percent.

And yet, nominal wages have only grown 25.7 percent since January 2021, leaving many people worse off than they were five years ago.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 22:10
Tyler Durden

Western Woman Travels To India And Finds The Misery Of Cultural Enrichment

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Western Woman Travels To India And Finds The Misery Of Cultural Enrichment

It's been a long time since the Beatles convinced an entire generation of western youth in 1968 that "enlightenment" and personal peace could be found in the third world backwaters of India's ashram retreats.  As it turned out, the world famous band and the yogi scammers of that era would end up creating a trend that would sucker gullible liberals for decades to come.  

The hippies were not smart, they were merely impressionable. 

Today, the streets of India are likely the same in most places as they were back in the 1960s - Filled with trash and feces and not very safe.  The country remains one of the most dangerous tourist markets on the planet for women - Around 90% of rapes go unreported due to law enforcement apathy and a culture of reprisal for women who come forward.  Any travel outside of tourist enclaves is considered high risk.

British content creator Amy On The Move discovered this on her first trip to India, but she says she was willing to give the country a second chance.  What she found was even more multicultural misery.

She had entered India on a longer-term (year-scale) visa intending a solo cycling trip from Kolkata toward Kerala and up the west coast. After roughly two weeks, including time in Bhadrak, Odisha, she posted videos documenting her experiences there. 

-White woman gets a year long visa in India

-Gets culturally enriched immediately and wants to leave after 2 weeks pic.twitter.com/vc8sgpRAJv

— Phoenix 🇺🇸 (@Phoenix2A_1980s) August 19, 2026

It's a common story which liberals tend to ignore in their search for anything better than the "evils" of the capitalist west.  They say the grass is greener elsewhere, but they can't seem to find any legitimate examples.  The "rape culture" and "patriarchy" of the west that the political left constantly complains about doesn't hold a candle to the unfiltered predatory nature of the third world.

Meanwhile, a few moments later: pic.twitter.com/lpoBVA5iMj

— Phoenix 🇺🇸 (@Phoenix2A_1980s) August 19, 2026

The UK vlogger complained that she was "getting scammed non-stop" as beggars and shopkeepers targeted her relentlessly.  She noted a common tourist scam in which beggars ask travelers to buy them food, then take them to a shop where the owner overcharges and pockets the extra cash. 

The average yearly salary on Indian citizens is around $4000 USD and the poverty rate is 28%.  To put this in perspective, one US dollar is equivalent to 2.5 hours of labor in India.  Ripping off western tourists is a lucrative industry. 

The country is world famous for it's garbage problem and municipal government mismanagement is usually blamed.  However, evidence suggests that this issue is a product of culture, not just of government.  Western tourists discover that throwing trash in the streets us "just what they do in India". 

Girl using an Airbnb in India and has to find a way to discard trash pic.twitter.com/945MEk4BZR

— From Area 51 (@From_Area_51) August 5, 2025

These kinds of examples underscore why it is important for western nations to carefully limit the kinds of people that are allowed within their borders.  It's not just a matter of environment, it's a matter of culture and culture does not change.  In other words, import the third world into the west and the west will become the third world.   

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 21:20
Tyler Durden

Coking Coal Prices Surge 25%, Squeezing India's Steelmakers

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Coking Coal Prices Surge 25%, Squeezing India's Steelmakers

Submitted By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Indian steelmakers are reeling from a jump in coking coal prices this year that is squeezing their margins and delaying capacity expansion in the steelmaking industry, analysts and industry executives tell Reuters.

India relies on imports for as much as 95% of its coking coal, or metallurgical coal, demand. Metallurgical coal is a grade of coal that is one of the essential raw materials in the steelmaking process. Also known as met coal, this type of coal contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture than thermal coal, which is used for electricity generation.

With India relying on coking coal imports for nearly all its demand, the supply disruptions this year and the surging prices have pressured Indian steel makers.

The price of premium coking coal freight on board (FOB) in Australia surged by 25% in the first seven months of this year compared to last year due to a series of supply disruptions, Banmeet Khurmi, metallurgical coal and coke market service lead at Sydney-based consultancy CRU told Reuters.

The price increase has been the result of slower ramp-up of new mines, higher prices due to the Iran war, supply disruptions at key producer Australia, and the deadly coal mine explosion in China’s Shanxi province that killed more than 80 people in the worst Chinese mining accident in years.

“Steelmaking coal prices strengthened from CY2025 levels as strong Indian import demand and supply disruptions tightened an otherwise balanced seaborne market,” mining giant BHP said in its Economic and commodity outlook this week.

India has expanded its steelmaking capacity to about 220 Mtpa in the financial year 2026, up 10% year-on-year, and is targeting 500 Mtpa by 2047, much of which will be blast furnace based, according to BHP.

Yet, analysts say that coking coal costs for Indian steelmakers are expected to remain elevated at least through the second half of the year amid supply losses from China and Australia. And the Indian industry will pay the higher costs of the key steel-making commodity without the ability to raise prices because of the Chinese competition, executives told Reuters.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 20:55
Tyler Durden

Poll Shows Voters Reject US-Israel Military Integration

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Poll Shows Voters Reject US-Israel Military Integration

Authored by Brett Wilkins via Common Dreams

A new poll of US voters published this week offers a warning for congressional lawmakers backing a plan to deepen military ties between the United States and Israel, finding that a clear majority of voters oppose the proposal—which some critics have called "treasonous."

The Data for Progress survey of 1,217 likely US voters—conducted August 3–7 for Demand Progress and the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project—revealed that 61% of respondents oppose legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 that would integrate Israeli weapons companies into the Pentagon at a level exceeding that of any other country. That figure rose to 78% among Democrats and 73% among independents.

via AFP

“This poll is a flashing red warning sign for any member of Congress who supports the defense authorization bill,” Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian said in a statement. “A clear majority of voters do not support further integrating the Israeli military and Israeli military companies into the Pentagon, which the NDAA is set to do.”

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted last month 216-212, mostly along party lines, in favor of a record $1.15 trillion NDAA. The military spending bill contains Section 219, a provision that would create a US–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, accelerating joint defense research, development, testing, and integration of technologies including artificial intelligence, missile defense, and counter-drone systems.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) submitted an amendment to strip Section 219 from the NDAA. The measure failed to pass.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who voted against the NDAA, described Section 219 as “an outrageous threat to our country’s security and autonomy.”

The Senate version of the military spending authorization bill has a related provision—Section 1217, the United States-Israel FUTURES Act—and the two chambers will need to reconcile their NDAA legislation before the final language is decided. Reconciliation is not expected to occur before November at the earliest.

“It’s time for Congress to listen to the American people for once, and not the same voices who always want to cut Israel a blank check,” Kharrazian said. That “blank check” has totaled more than $174 billion in non-inflation-adjusted aid since the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948.

The new poll found that 57% of respondents believe the Israeli military and Israeli weapons companies should not receive increased access to US military systems. Fifty-one percent said Israel benefits more from the US-Israel relationship, compared with just 12% who said the United States benefits more.

Although Republican voters support the Pentagon provision by a 16-point margin, when asked about it without additional context, they are considerably less enthusiastic about the idea of granting any foreign military special access, opposing it 62%-27%.

Forty percent of surveyed voters said they believe that the US-Israeli relationship is “too close,” compared with 42% who say it is “about right.” Among Democrats, 56% say relations are too close, versus just 23% who say about right. Twenty-two percent of Republicans and 43% of Independents said US-Israeli relations are too close.

Asked if they think President Donald Trump is too supportive of Israel’s right-wing government, 49% said yes, compared with only 33% who said the president is giving Israel the right amount of backing and just 8% who believe he’s not giving the key ally enough support.

Respondents’ views of Israel itself have deteriorated markedly, with 44% saying they now view the country less favorably than they did three years ago—compared with just 17% who say their views have improved amid the war of annihilation in Gaza that United Nations experts, human rights groups, and a South Africa-led case currently before the International Court of Justice call a genocide, as well as the wider Israeli occupation, colonization, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in Palestine.

Looking only at the past six months, 41% of respondents said their view of Israel has become less favorable, versus 16% who say it has become more favorable. Among Democrats, the split is 56%-13%; among Independents it’s 42%-11%.

“Israel is a nation committing genocide that just dragged the American people into a disastrous war that is still hitting our pocketbooks,” IMEU Policy Project executive director Margaret DeReus said, referring to the Iran War. “Senators take an oath to do what is best for the American people above all; to uphold that oath, they must scrap this ridiculous proposal.”

“It is the height of absurdity,” DeReus added, “that Congress is even considering a proposal to become more entangled with the Israeli military and use our tax dollars to subsidize their weapons companies.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 20:05
Tyler Durden

Watch Darline Graham's Epic Debate Flub That Could Cost Her The SC Primary

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Watch Darline Graham's Epic Debate Flub That Could Cost Her The SC Primary

In the worst response by a female South Carolinian to a foreign-policy question since the 2007 Teen USA beauty pageant, Lindsey Graham's sister on Tuesday night painfully displayed her utter inexperience in national politics, drawing a blank and bailing out of a basic question as she squared off against her run-off opponent, Rep. Ralph Norman.  

After Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden July death, Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister Darline to see out the remaining months of his term. It started as a sentimental gesture that would have her serve as a mere 6-month custodian while "real" candidates vied in a special primary to replace Lindsey Graham on the November ballot. However, it suddenly turned into the latest bewildering Trump endorsement, with the president pushing the utterly inexperienced woman to enter the primary and serve the full, six-year term that will start in January. Darline Graham has never held an elected office. Until this summer, she was commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, and earlier held a communications role in the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department. 

Sorry, appointing Darline Graham to simply finish Senator Graham's term was one thing, and not historically unprecedented, but having her run for the next term, with Trump's support, is crazy.

This is essentially the emotional equivalent of a DEI pick for Republicans.

She is… pic.twitter.com/8wWJXzqUI7

— Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo) August 19, 2026

Despite Trump's endorsement, Graham only managed to attract 33% of the vote in the special Aug 11 balloting, forcing her into an Aug 26 runoff against second-place finisher Norman, who earned 25% of the votes in a crowded field. Her lackluster showing reflected South Carolina Republicans' deep unease with Trump trying to turn one of their Senate seats into an inheritance for someone with a joke of a political resume. 

There was already a sense that at least some significant chunk of the non-Graham Aug 11 vote would gravitate to Norman in the runoff. That feeling accelerated during Tuesday night's debate, and particularly during a disastrous moment that fully exposed Graham as an absurd Trump endorsee. Graham was merely asked if Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the United States. 

Having clearly not done her homework, Graham first asked for the question to be repeated. With the second reading doing nothing to help Graham formulate even so much as a "yes" answer, she surrendered, saying, "I'm just going to be honest here -- I'm not, on national security, that -- I'm not that informed on national security. So..."

Q: Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the US?

Darline Graham: I'm not that informed on national security, so... National security is not my thing pic.twitter.com/R3aX7IoeGD

— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) August 19, 2026

After her voice trailed off for a moment amid audible murmuring from the debate audience, Graham made things worse by offering up a goofy non sequitur: "But I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the Army."  

Her flameout still wasn't finished. Not realizing that silence would be best at this point, Graham opted to reiterate her profession of incompetency. "I'm not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing -- not my area of expertise -- but I do support the military." Keep in mind, Graham is already in the Senate on an interim basis. National security may not be her "thing," but it most certainly is a Senate "thing."  

Her failure drew apt comparisons to Miss South Carolina's legendary response to a question in the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant. Then-18-year-old Caite Upton took a question about American's poor grasp of world geography and turned it into .... well... whatever the hell this was:  

Having driven her campaign into a tree, Graham ventured to mount a crisis-response effort on Wednesday, facilitated by vacuous Trump lap dog Sean Hannity. It was on Hannity's Fox News show that Graham first announced her intention to pursue a full Senate term, with Hannity pretending to marvel at Graham's accomplishments at the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. Last night, Graham confessed to having "tripped up on one question." Ignoring the significance of her inability to answer the question, Graham told Hannity, "I'm not a politician, certainly not a career politician, I don't speak politician." 

Darline Graham: I tripped up on one question last night, regarding Taiwan. I don't speak politician. I was just honest. Of course, Taiwan is our friend. But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about boys in girls sports. pic.twitter.com/xKZNxkldrN

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2026

It's safe to say most South Carolina Republicans don't want Graham to speak politician. But it's reasonable to expect her to at least conjure a few boilerplate sentences about one of world's top potential hot spots, particularly at a time when the US military has exhausted an alarming proportion of its arsenal in a war of choice on Iran that has turned into a nearly six-month-long disaster, with no resolution in sight... a war that Trump plunged into after Darline's brother Lindsey collaborated with the Israeli prime minister to convince him it would be a quick and historic victory. 

On Tuesday we'll find out the extent to which South Carolina Republicans will ignore the evidence before them and mindlessly outsource their decision to Donald Trump. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 19:40
Tyler Durden

ADNOC Issues Ninth Spot Crude Tender Since June As UAE Boosts Oil Exports

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
ADNOC Issues Ninth Spot Crude Tender Since June As UAE Boosts Oil Exports

Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has just issued its ninth spot tender offering crude oil to buyers for October and November loadings, as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to push its oil production and exports higher despite the Hormuz crisis.

The UAE’s national oil company is offering Upper Zakum, Umm Lulu, and Das crude grades pumped at fields inside the Persian Gulf in its ninth spot tender since June, sources in the trade industry told Reuters on Thursday.

In the previous eight spot tenders this summer, ADNOC is estimated to have sold more than 100 million barrels of crude to buyers.

As in the previous tenders, the ninth spot tender offers buyers the opportunity to buy cargoes on a free-on-board basis at UAE’s Fujairah Storage, Zirku, or Das Island, or arrange ship-to-ship (STS) transfers at the Fujairah-Sohar range outside the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters’ sources.

Since June, ADNOC has sold an estimated more than 100 million barrels in spot tenders, as the Gulf producer that has just left OPEC pushes to sell increased crude volumes to international markets.

The UAE has managed to boost its oil exports to pre-crisis levels as early as June, as it has kept pushing crude through the Strait of Hormuz and beyond.

The UAE is estimated to have produced 4.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in June, its highest output ever.

The UAE, which left OPEC on May 1, has found workarounds to the blockage at the Strait of Hormuz.

It has been shuttling crude through the chokepoint to load it on larger vessels outside the Strait, maximizing the use of its onshore pipeline to ship crude from the west to the east of the country, bypassing Hormuz, and shipping tankers through the Strait in dark mode.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 19:15
Tyler Durden

The Dem 'Big Tent Party' Is Doomed

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
The Dem 'Big Tent Party' Is Doomed

Authored by Noel Williams via AmericanThinker.com,

Towards the end of every calendar year, various colleges publish lists of overused words and phrases. Though it is only August, here’s an obvious entrant for 2026: “big tent party.”

Invoking that tired phrase is part of the sophistry that “establishment” Dems contrive to outwit dumb fake-news hosts. It is an attempt to obfuscate concerns about the commie takeover of their party. Publicly and performatively, they pretend to welcome the commies because they are a “big tent party.”

Wrong! They are a “folding tent” party when it comes to their historical raison d'être; indeed, common-sense Republicans have co-opted much of their traditional ethnic and working-class base.

Even if their big tent bulges at the seams, what’s the point if the big top ring is swamped with commie clowns who turn it into a chaotic circus?

What’s the point of a party that lacks a clear mission or coherent principles?

The answer: to spite common-sense conservatives. To thwart Republicans for the sake of it. But what’s the point of that?

As the commie clowns usurp the circus ringmaster, they’re effectively chucking sticky pies into the faces of the supposedly establishment Dems. Even leftist Hakeem Obama-wannabee Jeffries has been splattered with sugary goop. He admits he’s against several of the commie demands; in fact, he doesn’t support the DSA platform at all.

Again, I ask: what’s the point in welcoming in commie clowns who run amok? I know TDS is debilitating, but do they really hate an America First President more than soul-destroying commies? They are anti-American, but are they also anti-human? Get some perspective, please.

When it comes to the more “moderate” Dems, perhaps the likes of Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and John Fetterman (D-PA), the policy gulf is even wider. If one considers the political spectrum, they may tilt somewhat closer to conservative than commie (admittedly, Fetterman votes Dem most of the time, but I can’t see much comity with the commies).

This is not to say that a big tent can’t remain steadfast. Ronald Reagan managed it, and President Trump expanded traditional Republican constituencies. The difference is they coalesce around all-American common-sense principles that have helped make us the most inventive and prosperous country ever. Genius combined with copious common sense made America great.

The Dem big top tent is crumbling under the weight of the commie onslaught. The DSA-endorsed candidates may have a “D” by their name, but it should be “C.” After all, there was once a time when even Dems supported America; conversely, the commies they now invite in want to overthrow us. How do they belong on the same playing field, let alone in the same tent?

I’m an average, commonsense dude, but I’m telling the pretentious intellectuals and highfalutin linguists right now:  recommend ditching the phrase “big tent party.” It was useful for Reagan, and even Trump, who both ushered in a bright “Morning again in America,” but has become a ludicrous trope for the demented Dems. They are lacking a positive platform, so the Communist Manifesto will fill the vacuum.

One presumes the ultimate purpose in their big tent is simply to defeat Republicans. Be careful what you wish for -- the commies within will turn on you. They always do. As the old saying goes: “United we stand, divided we fall.” As with communism, the Dem big tent is doomed to fall. They’d be advised to break commie camp in a more orderly fashion.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 18:25
Tyler Durden

"Get Long And Buckle Up": Jeff Currie Says Commodity Bull Market Entering Next Leg

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
"Get Long And Buckle Up": Jeff Currie Says Commodity Bull Market Entering Next Leg

The breadth of the commodity advance is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Quantix Commodity Index

Diesel crack spreads have surged above $100, copper is trading above $14,000 a ton in London, gold and silver are accelerating amid US Treasury market intervention, and the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index is surging higher. At the same time, the dollar weakened sharply following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's intervention this week, providing an additional tailwind to the commodity complex.

According to veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie, the convergence of tight physical markets, currency debasement, and policy intervention represents the hallmark of a structural commodity bull cycle.

Currie, the former Goldman Sachs commodities chief and now co-chair of Abaxx Markets, wrote in a ten-post thread on X that commodities are the clear winners as physical bottlenecks materialize around the world and Treasury market interventions add to those tailwinds.

Currie began the thread:

Wake up, folks. Commodities are telling you something, and yesterday the Treasury confirmed it.

Scarcity in the physical world. Repression in the financial one. Scarcity pushes prices up. Repression holds yields down. The gap between them is the debasement.

Commodities are the only asset class that wins on both sides. The structural case for commodities has been turbo charged.

Underinvestment, deglobalization and electrification all pushing markets like diesel cracks and copper to new highs.

Meanwhile the chokepoints are increasing, from Hormuz to the Red Sea, the Rhine, the Panama Canal, the Black Sea grain corridor and Russian refining capacity. It is becoming increasingly apparent that not a single one of those is reachable by anything in Washington’s toolkit whether it be caused by war or weather.

The illusion of abundance is likely behind us. I said as much on CNBC this Monday, and I got long gold, silver and agriculture last week.

Wake up, folks. Commodities are telling you something, and yesterday the Treasury confirmed it.

Scarcity in the physical world. Repression in the financial one.

Scarcity pushes prices up. Repression holds yields down. The gap between them is the debasement.

Commodities are the…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

Here's a summary of Currie's bull thesis for commodities:

1. Bond market intervention: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled long-bond buybacks one day after the 30-year yield hit 5.32%, its highest level since 2007, and only two weeks after the quarterly schedule was released. Currie says this is the last lever after a sequence of interventions: SPR draws that reduced inventories below 300 million barrels, dollar backstops for foreign holders in Japan and the Gulf, and FX intervention involving the euro and yen for the first time since 1998. The market reaction was immediate: Gold rose 4% to $4,510, silver gained 5%, and the Quantix Commodity Index reached an all-time high.

I don’t care what you want to call it. A sovereign that has to buy its own bonds to set the price has already conceded that the market won't.

Yesterday Scott Bessent doubled long-bond buybacks, two weeks after publishing the quarterly schedule and one day after the 30-year hit…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

2. Stop watching Brent and WTI: The economy runs on gasoline and diesel. That consumption-weighted basket is around $165 versus $85 WTI. Inflation breakevens and the bond market are reading the wrong screen. Watch the next three CPI prints.

Stop looking at crude. Nobody consumes it but refineries.

The economy runs on gasoline and diesel, and that consumption weighted basket costs $165 against $85 WTI.

Breakevens are being priced off the one barrel nobody consumes. The bond market is reading inflation off the wrong…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

Related:

  • Jeff Currie: Forget $91 Brent, The Real Crisis Is $170 Diesel

3. It's all about the crack spread: Diesel cracks settled above $100 per barrel for the first time ever, reaching $102.20. That is four to six times the normal range, with records set in five of the last six sessions. The cause is a refining shortage, with global runs down around 5 million barrels per day because of Ukrainian strikes on Russian plants, Iranian attacks on Middle Eastern facilities, and chronic underinvestment. Crude can drift while refined products print records.

The diesel crack is the tell.

It settled above $100 a barrel this week for the first time in history, reaching $102.20. That is four to six times its normal range, with records hit in five of the last six sessions.

What lies behind it? A refining shortage. Global runs are down…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

4. Treasury supply problem: Foreign holdings fell in June, led by Japan, China, and the UK. The July deficit reached $432 billion, interest costs hit $1.1 trillion, and debt is approaching $40 trillion, while hyperscaler AI-capex issuance is competing for the same pool of savings. The marginal buyer is waiting for higher yields. Yesterday's buyback represents a managed, failing auction.

The Treasury market has a problem: it cannot comfortably clear its own supply. And scarcity only exacerbates the problem.

Foreign holdings fell in June, led by Japan, China and the UK. Against that, you can add a July deficit of $432 billion, interest costs that have surged to…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

5. Broken feedback loop: Normally, a commodity spike forces yields higher, followed by demand destruction and self-correction. Repression has cut the brake line. Scarcity feeds inflation, repression prevents the response, and the absence of a response amplifies the scarcity bid.

Repression cuts the brake line.

Normally when such a situation occurs, the bond market disciplines a commodity spike. We are familiar with the cycle: yields rise, demand slows, the spike self-corrects.

But not this time.

The cycle has broken down: scarcity feeds inflation,…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

6. Diesel underpins everything: "Every other commodity is dirt plus diesel." Containers, tractors, locomotives, mine trucks, and fertilizer all depend on diesel. The energy input sets the floor for metals, grains, and other commodities. This explains why the QCI can reach an all-time high while crude remains $30 below its peak. Corn is already up 10% on the week. Pass-through into trucking, food, and producer prices is just beginning.

Every other commodity is dirt plus diesel.

Diesel is the cost base of everything. Every container, every tractor, every locomotive, every
mine truck - you get the idea.

The energy input sets the price floor for metals, grains and fertiliser, which is how QCI prints an all-time…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

7. Refining problem: There are too many crude barrels and not enough refining capacity. The possible resolution paths include demand destruction through high product prices, crude rebalancing as the current glut remains partly MoU-related, or a recovery in refining activity. If runs recover and refiners bid for the missing 5 million barrels per day of feedstock, the shortage will migrate upstream, causing crude to rally as cracks compress. The net cost to consumers stays high either way. There is no SPR for diesel or gasoline. Bears have been promising supply for more than two years, while the petroleum total-return index has doubled and retail prices remain near all-time highs.

There is no clean bearish resolution.

The market is telling you there are too many barrels of crude and not enough refining capacity.

Either demand will be destroyed through higher product prices, or crude will rebalance (right now we are likely processing a momentary glut from…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

8/9. Widening chokepoints and El Niño: Hormuz has been constrained for six months, Russian refining remains under sustained Ukrainian attack, the Red Sea still requires a detour, the Rhine is at a record low amid heat waves, and the Panama Canal's allowable draft has fallen to 47.5 feet. In the Black Sea, all three Novorossiysk terminals are shut, leaving 97% of Azov-Black Sea export capacity offline during peak season. Simultaneously, the USDA cut its US corn-yield estimate to 180.7 bushels per acre and reduced ending stocks by 15%. Food has joined fuel. A record El Niño probability, including NOAA's 81% chance of a very strong event by year-end, adds further stress through drier conditions in Panama, weaker Asian monsoons, and pressure on Brazil's planting window. The system has no redundancy left.

Whether it is weather or war, the issues are widening and deepening. Hormuz has been constrained for six months and counting. Russian refining is regularly under fire from Ukrainian strikes and there’s no sign of that slowing down. The Red Sea is still a detour.

Record European…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

10. Conclusion: Scarcity is repricing the numerator, while repression is debasing the denominator. Own what benefits from both: product markets, grains, and freight for the scarcity leg, and gold for the debasement leg. Gold is at $4,510 versus the earlier January high of $5,600 referenced above. The bond market will spend the next six months discovering what product markets already know. Expect more volatility and higher highs across more markets.

Scarcity is repricing the numerator; repression is debasing the denominator. Own what benefits from both.

The commodity complex carries the scarcity leg - products, grains, freight. Gold carries the debasement leg: $4,510 today against a January record of $5,600, and every…

— Jeffrey Currie 🆔++ (@CommodMkt) August 20, 2026

Currie concluded by saying, "Get long and buckle up: the next leg of the ride will see more vol with higher highs across more markets."

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 18:00
Tyler Durden

US Government Warns: Hackers Attacking Vulnerable Water Systems With AI Help

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
US Government Warns: Hackers Attacking Vulnerable Water Systems With AI Help

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Several U.S. government agencies have said that cyber actors are attempting to hack into devices made by industrial systems company Siemens that are used to monitor water and other critical infrastructure systems.

In an advisory published on Wednesday, the FBI, National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other U.S. agencies informed “owners and operators of industrial control systems” that there is an “active cyber threat to Siemens S7 Series PLCs,” or programmable logic controllers—an industrial automation system.

Unnamed “threat actors are conducting reconnaissance and capability development against U.S.-based Siemens PLC installations using AI-generated exploitation scripts disguised as legitimate monitoring tools,” the advisory said.

It added that the hackers use services to find PLCs connected to the internet that run what the agencies said is “outdated software” or are “otherwise poorly protected.”

“The U.S. critical infrastructure sectors most targeted by this threat activity include Critical Manufacturing, Energy, Water and Wastewater, Chemical, Food and Agriculture, and Commercial Facilities,” the advisory reads.

“This is not a theoretical risk—it is an active threat.”

The agencies further warned that “exploitation of poorly protected PLCs could lead to disruption of critical industrial processes, safety incidents, downtime or equipment damage, compromise of sensitive data, compliance violations, and cascading impacts across interconnected systems.”

Organizations using Siemens systems are encouraged to apply relevant security updates, isolate devices and systems from the internet where possible, implement strong security protocols, and strengthen monitoring for potential malicious activity, according to the advisory.

“These mitigations are particularly important for owners and operators who work with third-party service providers or system integrators who may have remote access to PLCs, as the asset owners may not realize that their systems are exposed and at risk,” they added.

The advisory did not provide the name of a specific group, country, or actor that may be involved in attempting to hack the Siemens systems. Nor did it name companies that may have been targeted by the threat actors.

The warning ‌comes amid U.S. cyber incidents ⁠targeting local water systems in several states in recent weeks. The FBI said earlier this month that from July 27 to July 30, water and wastewater utility companies in seven states reported security-related incidents.

In July, CISA and other agencies said Iran-linked hackers have targeted PLCs made by Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and potentially others.

A cybersecurity risk organization, Encrygma, said on Wednesday that a group linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the CyberAv3ngers, has attacked water systems in the United States and displayed political messaging. CISA linked the group to cyberattacks on PLCs in late 2024.

Since February, the United States and Iran have traded strikes as the Trump administration has demanded that Tehran give up its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway that allows for the transportation of significant amounts of the world’s traded oil.

Other agencies that were involved in the release of Wednesday’s advisory included the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The NSA, FBI, CISA, and other U.S. agencies have long said that the Chinese regime, Iran, North Korea, and Russia have engaged in malicious cyber activity against U.S. infrastructure networks, collecting intelligence and engaging in cyber espionage.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 17:40
Tyler Durden

NATO F-16s Blow Up Sea Drone That Threatened Romania's Largest Deep Gas Platform

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
NATO F-16s Blow Up Sea Drone That Threatened Romania's Largest Deep Gas Platform

A wild and highly dangerous intercept incident happened in the Black Sea on Thursday. A pair of Romanian F-16s were dispatched to track and intercept a sea drone in the vicinity the huge Neptun Deep gas platform.

The platform sits 80 miles east of the Romanian Black Sea city of Constanta and is the country's largest natural gas project and its first deep offshore project, with hundreds of people working at the site at any given time.

Omv Petrom

The Wall Street Journal reports that "Romania said it deployed two F-16 jet fighters to destroy a Russia-launched explosive marine drone that threatened hundreds of lives near one of its gas platforms."

Authorities said the sea drone was observed coming to within just a few hundred meters away from the platform, and thus the decision was made that it must be neutralized.

Citing Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta, WSJ writes further, "The decision was taken, in consultation with NATO, to destroy the drone in order to protect the lives of the several hundred people who were working on the platform and to secure the infrastructure, Miruta said in a Facebook post."

President Nicușor Dan blamed Russia, after Ukraine said the drone wasn't theirs, and formally accused Moscow of endangering "critical infrastructure" and people "working at the platform."

"I strongly condemn the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation. We remain vigilant alongside NATO allies to defend ourselves and repel such challenges," he wrote on X.

The Kremlin hasn't immediately responded, and is unlikely to own up to it. However, it has recently vowed to punish Ukraine and its Western backers for the ramped-up long-range drone campaign which has unleashed havoc on its own oil refining and energy infrastructure. Moscow says that Western allies have been helping Ukrainian forces with targeting intelligence.

A Romanian F-16 destroyed a naval drone inside Romania's Black Sea EEZ on Thursday as it approached the Neptun Alpha gas platform, 80 nautical miles east of Constanța. pic.twitter.com/W9f2NVaxGX

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 20, 2026

There have been widely reported petrol shortages across Russia of late, even impacting the capital and surrounding regions, due to the non-stop drone waves.

European Commission President Von der Leyen commented on the new Black Sea incident in support of Romania and NATO. "An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our citizens and seeking to divide our Union," she wrote on X.

"With the European Drone Defence Initiative and the Eastern Flank Watch, we are scaling up production in Europe ... So we can respond to emerging threats with speed, unity and resolve," she added.

Video: Defense Minister Radu Miruta... showing the moment that the unidentified sea drone was obliterated...

🚨 BREAKING: A Romanian F-16 fired on an explosive-laden Russian sea drone near the Neptun Deep gas field in the Black Sea.

Top officials called it part of a growing Russian threat against the site, set to make Romania the EU's top gas producer by 2027.

Video: Defense Minister… pic.twitter.com/WxzWU5vGv7

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) August 20, 2026

Aerial incidents involving Russian projectiles along the EU and NATO's 'eastern flank' have become somewhat of a regular occurrence; however, the spectacle of a NATO member's jets being scrambled to track and blow up a sea drone off coastal waters is something new. It was perhaps a bright flashing 'warning' from Russian forces, showing that they can harm vital EU energy infrastructure in return if they want to.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 17:21
Tyler Durden

Hawaii Could Face Another Hurricane This Weekend

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Hawaii Could Face Another Hurricane This Weekend

Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,

Hawaii could face its second tropical storm or hurricane in a week as a low-pressure system was reported on Aug. 19 to be developing near the islands.

Another tropical storm is expected to develop in the Central Pacific as Hurricane Lala moves away from Hawaii on Aug. 19, 2026. National Hurricane Center

The National Hurricane Center warned that the system was developing thunderstorms that had a 90 percent chance of organizing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

“Environmental conditions appear favorable for further development of this system, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the next day or so as the system moves westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph and crosses into the Central Pacific,” the center advised.

“Interests in the Hawaiian Islands should closely monitor the progress of this system.”

As of 4:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 19, forecast models generally estimated the storm to remain offshore and pass well south of the archipelago, with the closest pass being on the southern point of the Big Island around Aug. 23.

Some models indicate that a pocket of high pressure will remain over the Big Island during this time.

If this storm develops into a tropical storm—that is, it organizes into a proper cyclone with sustained wind speeds of at least 39 mph—it will become Tropical Storm Moke.

Meanwhile, residents across multiple islands continue to reel from the close pass of Hurricane Lala just one week ago.

The Big Island was hit with more than three feet of rain in some places, triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides that rendered highways impassable and washed away entire homes, particularly in the communities of Naalehu and Waiohinu.

Power outages, downed trees, rock slides, and severe winds also impacted the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, and Kauai over the previous weekend.

Major airports on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island remained accessible and operational at some capacity on Aug. 16.

The governor closed all state and county offices as well as all schools and judiciary offices on Aug. 17 due to the damage the hurricane left behind.

Hawaiian Electric estimated that some customers in the southeast end of the Big Island could be without power through Labor Day weekend, with 95 percent expected to have power restored by Sept. 8, if the new storm development does not disrupt their work.

“We understand that it is frustrating and challenging to be without power,” the company said on X.

“Due to significant storm damage, customers in certain remote or severely damaged areas should prepare to be without power for much longer periods of time.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 17:00
Tyler Durden

"No Thanks!" Has A Price: Trump Guts Korea War Games, Courts Kim As The Seoul Alliance Buckles

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
"No Thanks!" Has A Price: Trump Guts Korea War Games, Courts Kim As The Seoul Alliance Buckles

Hours before 18,000 South Korean troops were due to kick off this year's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise alongside their American counterparts, President Trump pulled the rug - instructing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises" with Seoul. By Wednesday the allies confirmed the annual drills - the backbone of combined readiness against the North - had been chopped nearly in half, from 11 days to five, with live field-training events canceled or downgraded to computer simulations.

Lee Jae Myung with Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office in August last year. Lee has long wanted to dial down military posturing. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

According to Trump, the drills are costly (with Washington footing most of the bill); the exercises send a 'hostile and inappropriate' signal toward a North Korea that has been "unthreatening and respectful" on his watch; and - revenge... Seoul refused to help with the war on Iran. Trump recounted asking President Lee Jae-myung whether South Korea would care to join the denuclearization of the Islamic Republic, and characterized Seoul's answer as a breezy "No thanks!"

This sent Seoul scrambling, as  Lee spent Tuesday's cabinet meeting insisting the US alliance remains the bedrock of South Korean security, while his military worked out how to salvage an exercise that was already underway. Meanwhile, Pyongyang spent last week denouncing the drills as "a rehearsal for an aggressive war" - lobbing two ballistic missiles in the space of six days earlier this month. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Seoul mid-week for security talks, presumably trying to keep a straight face.

The Drawdown That Dare Not Speak Its Name

With US-SK relations having souring over the past couple of years over the punishment of US tech giants with arbitrary fines (extortion, basically), Trump's decision follows long-telegraphed push to shrink US Forces Korea itself. The Wall Street Journal reported back in May 2025 that the Pentagon had drafted options to pull roughly 4,500 of the 28,500 US troops off the peninsula and reposition them in Guam and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific. While the Pentagon denied it, lawmakers freaked out and wrote a 28,500-troop floor directly into the FY2026 NDAA.

This means that the Trump administration has had to get creative: the exercises are halved under the guise of "strategic flexibility," while the admin is repurposing USFK (United States Forces Korea) for a China-Taiwan contingency rather than a purely North Korean one, and Seoul is now under pressure to pay quite a bit more for the privilege of hosting a force whose mission increasingly isn't about Korea at all. Lee himself has conceded that Washington's demand for flexibility is apparently one Seoul cannot easily accept.

This Didn't Come Out Of Nowhere

Longtime readers know the US-SK alliance has been deteriorating for well over a year. As we detailed last October, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has spent a decade functioning less like an antitrust regulator and more like a toll booth for American tech: an $854 million hit on Qualcomm in 2016, $177 million on Google in 2021 over Android, serial actions against Apple's App Store - all while domestic firms Naver and Kakao have been allowed to skate despite similar actions. One study put the combined ten-year economic damage of Seoul's tech crackdown at roughly $1 trillion, including $525 billion to the US economy.

Washington noticed. In December, as we reported, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) abruptly scrapped a scheduled KORUS Joint Committee meeting - the main forum for managing the free-trade relationship - after Seoul kept pushing digital regulations the administration considers discriminatory, despite having signed a framework weeks earlier promising not to. And in February, the House Judiciary Committee opened a formal investigation and subpoenaed Coupang - the NYSE-listed, American-owned "Amazon of Korea" - for documents on its treatment at the hands of Korean regulators.

Then Seoul stepped on the rake again after a former Coupang employee improperly accessed phonebook-grade customer data - names and addresses - with roughly 3,000 records actually downloaded, later recovered, never sold or misused, and with no documented consumer harm. Taiwan, whose customers were swept up in the same incident, handled it the way regulators normally do: a review, a compliance plan, move on.

Seoul decided to bust Coupang's balls. Police raided the company repeatedly; a dozen agencies launched investigations and enforcement actions, most of them having nothing to do with data security; politicians publicly vilified Coupang's American founder; and the firm's acting CEO - a US citizen - was dragged through days of kangaroo court hearings in which, per the committee's account, he was denied American counsel, accused of perjury over truthful testimony, and threatened with travel bans, criminal charges, and jail. 

In June, Korea's privacy regulator hit Coupang with a $409 million fine - the largest privacy penalty in the country's history, and more than four times the next-biggest, which had been levied on a Korean firm that exposed far more sensitive data. On July 1 - the same month Seoul lit its landmarks red, white, and blue for America's 250th birthday - House Judiciary published its report, "Closed for Competition," documenting officials pressuring the national pension fund to dump Coupang stock, lawmakers threatening to drive the company out of the country, and the prime minister urging regulators to pursue it "with the same determination used to wipe out mafias."

Deport The Regulators?

Which brings us to Capitol Hill's latest innovation. In late July, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) - who in April led 54 House colleagues in a letter demanding Seoul stand down - introduced the No Racketeers on Our Shores Act, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to deny US entry to, or deport, foreign officials "who weaponize the government to discriminate against American companies." The bill's fact sheet cites the Coupang case by name. In short: keep shaking down American firms, and your regulators can enjoy the view from outside the United States.

Two weeks ago, Judiciary Republicans fired off yet another letter, this time over Seoul's new "fake news" amendment - a KMCC-enforced regime that can fine publishers with over 100,000 subscribers, and large platforms, for spreading disfavored information. The platforms that clear those thresholds - Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube - are, conveniently, almost all American.

Trump-Kim Bromance 2.0?

Amid the chill with South Korea, the WSJ reported Tuesday that Trump is pushing aides to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong Un as soon as this fall - potentially around the November APEC summit in Shenzhen. On Wednesday Trump confirmed it himself, telling reporters he'll meet Kim this year, describing the N. Korean leader as "well behaved," and casually confirming Pyongyang's arsenal at 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong claims to be unaware of any recent correspondence, and no date has been set. 

No half-measures...

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 16:40
Tyler Durden

Fake News 'Journalists' Love The Deep State

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
Fake News 'Journalists' Love The Deep State

Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker,

The Fourth Estate is constitutionally illiterate...

On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, NBC News hack Kristen Welker pressed newly sworn-in Attorney General Todd Blanche to “pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House.”  The fake “journalist” performed this bit of moralizing theater with her “very serious” face, as if to suggest that the nation’s survival depended upon Blanche’s answer.  Blanche calmly swatted Welker’s solicitation away, while pointing out that no competent, law-abiding attorney general should ever make such an absurd pledge.

It was another ridiculous moment in “journalism” and reminded viewers that the biggest names in corporate news are stupid, partisan, and duplicitous.  Why would Welker believe that she is entitled to demand some kind of public oath from the attorney general?  Why does she think the United States should have an “independent” Department of Justice?  Does she not understand that the DOJ is part of the Executive Branch?  Is she not aware that AG Blanche serves in President Trump’s cabinet?  Does she not realize that Trump is his boss?  Does she not grasp that AG Blanche is now seventh in the presidential line of succession?

Many idiot “reporters” ran to social media so that they could be seen collapsing on their digital fainting couches.  “Pretty amazing confession here by the AG,” moron Chuck Todd whimpered before further whining, “Still can’t believe he was confirmed.  I guess he gets points for being honest?”  Yes, Chuck, it is stunning that the attorney general recognizes his constitutional obligation to serve the president of the United States.  AG Blanche has “confessed” that he is not a rogue dictator empowered to run the Department of Justice by kingly prerogative.  (Be careful kids: Mixing too much Kristen Welker and Chuck Todd in the same Kool-Aid punch bowl will kill millions of brain cells.)

What is it with these people?  

They scream constantly about America’s descent into dictatorship, and then they demand that administrative department heads rule the country with complete disregard for the constitutional authority of the elected president.  Welker and Todd’s insistence that the AG behave as a monarch beholden to no-one reeks of the same foul odor that the corporate news media produced on an industrial scale during COVID.

When the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, was telling the world, “I represent science,” and, “Now is the time to do what you are told,” fake “journalists” clapped like seals.  Fauci and his fellow institutional health frauds ordered people to wear useless masks, stay indoors, and inject their bodies with experimental mRNA serums, and the so-called Fourth Estate — the self-adulating phonies who claim to speak truth to power — told anyone with a functioning brain to stop questioning the omniscient Dr. Fauci and obey the mass murderer’s (hey, anyone who helped fund the creation of COVID in a Wuhan bioweapons laboratory before conspiring with the pharmaceutical industry to pump poison into every human being surely must be guilty of crimes against humanity) every command.

Now that the COVID Era has been exposed as a wretched period in which pseudoscience and fake “expertise” were weaponized to justify the rapid onslaught of government totalitarianism and the obliteration of the Bill of Rights, any journalist worthy of the job title should be more wary than ever of administrative state megalomaniacs wielding unconstrained power.  Instead, the Welkers and Todds of journalism’s inbred propaganda class beg for new Deep State authority figures to act unilaterally.  Corporate news talking heads call President Trump an “authoritarian” while expressing shock when unelected bureaucrats refrain from mimicking fraud Fauci’s cult leader demeanor.

This is who they are.  

Corporate “journalists” despise the Constitution.  They sneer at Americans who speak of their God-given rights.  They worship so-called “experts.” 

 They pray at the altar of the permanent government bureaucracy.  

They probably all have tattoos expressing deep love for the Deep State.  

When the “right” candidate wins an election - such as King Barack Hussein Obama II - the Welkers and Todds of “journalism’s” obsequious priestly caste demand that the American people treat the Fourth Estate-approved president as part demigod, part adoptive father.

When the “wrong” candidates win elections, the Welkers and Todds are the first to question the results.  They will spend years defending the Russia Collusion Hoax, even though Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign paid for those lies, while Barack Obama, John Brennan, James Clapper, Jim Comey, Susan Rice, and so many other Deep Staters used the machinery of the CIA, NSA, and FBI to perpetrate a mass disinformation campaign against the American people.  They will cover up Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop linking the Biden family to quid-pro-quo corruption in Ukraine, while working with the Intelligence Community, Mitt Romney, and other immoral and unethical frauds to turn a damning Biden scandal into a Trump impeachment.  They will stay completely silent as Democrat lawfare specialists use COVID to upend the 2020 presidential election with mail-in-ballot fraud, social media manipulation, Facebook election-rigging, and total disregard for statutory election law.  Then they will lose their ever-loving minds when Trump voters question the likelihood that perennially unpopular politician Joe Biden somehow eclipsed the vote totals of both President Obama and President Trump to become the “most popularly elected president” in American history.

The Kristen Welkers and Chuck Todds of “journalism’s” pathetically myopic clique of Democrat Party bootlickers never protested when corrupt Attorney General Eric Holder (who turned the USA PATRIOT Act into a weapon for spying on political enemies) referred to himself as Obama’s “wingman.”  They said nothing when Attorney General Merrick Garland and Democrat prosecutors Jack Smith, Matthew Colangelo, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis worked with Joe Biden’s White House to imprison President Trump for the rest of his natural life.  They said nothing when the Biden White House conspired with Democrat prosecutors and judges to impose “gag orders” on President Trump while he was campaigning for re-election.  They said nothing when the Biden White House dedicated significant FBI and DOJ resources to hunting down J6 protesters and inexcusably defaming them as “traitors,” “seditionists,” and “domestic terrorists.”  They said nothing when the Biden White House investigated, threatened, and prosecuted Trump’s attorneys, employees, and associates.  They said nothing when Biden’s DOJ harassed and intimidated hundreds of MAGA-aligned organizations, donors, and influencers.  They said nothing when Biden’s DOJ spied on Republican members of Congress while pursuing “seditious conspiracy” charges against Trump.  They said nothing when members of the Biden White House used an autopen to pardon hundreds of violent criminals.  While Obama and Biden used the DOJ to ruin the lives of ordinary Americans for the “crime” of having “incorrect” political beliefs, the Welkers and Todds of “journalism’s” toxic junkyard ignored the pungent stink of White House corruption.

From the point of view of corporate news propagandists, a Democrat-controlled White House is permitted to use the FBI and DOJ to target political enemies.  When a Republican sits in the Oval Office, the White House’s authority over the DOJ must be severed and the attorney general must be made to swear a loyalty oath to the permanent bureaucracy.  According to our dumb and ideologically partisan corporate “journalists,” there is a special Fourth Branch of government entitled to ignore the Constitution and the president’s inherent Executive authority while protecting the Deep State and the Democrat Party’s interests.

What’s particularly galling about Welker and Todd’s constitutional illiteracy is each buffoon’s insistence that independent bureaucrats somehow safeguard “democracy.”  Unelected government employees do not represent the American people.  To accord them more power than elected officials is to weaken the public’s control over their own government.  

Treating the Faucis, Holders, Garlands, Brennans, and Comeys as if they possess distinct Executive power derived separately from that of the president’s is not conducive to a constitutional republic.  It is the gateway drug to future dictatorship.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 16:20
Tyler Durden

'Hot Mess': Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Jalapeños Spreads To More States

Zero Rss
1 month 2 weeks ago
'Hot Mess': Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Jalapeños Spreads To More States

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The salmonella outbreak connected to jalapeño peppers from Mexico has spread to additional states, U.S. authorities said on Aug. 19.

Thirty-two states have now reported cases in the outbreak, up from 27 states earlier in the month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an update.

The states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Colorado and Minnesota have each recorded more than 100 cases, while more than two dozen have been logged in Georgia and Illinois. The other states have reported one to 14 cases.

The outbreak has reached 431 cases, with 86 of those new cases and 57 hospitalizations. No deaths have been reported.

The outbreak has been linked to jalapeños from a farm in Sinaloa and distributed to the United States earlier in the year. Stores that sold the peppers and products containing them include Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods Market.

Taylor Fresh Foods, Whole Foods, NatureBest, and Hardie’s Fresh Foods have recalled both the peppers and products containing them.

The products include Spicy Jarlsberg Dip, sold at Kroger, and Taco Dip, sold at Target. The full list of products can be found on the Food and Drug Administration website.

The public is advised not to consume the recalled products. They can either be thrown out or returned to the place of purchase for a refund. Restaurants and other companies should not sell or serve the peppers, authorities said.

Salmonella, caused by consuming contaminated food, typically causes symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after consuming the food. If a person experiences symptoms such as a fever higher than 102 degrees Fahrenheit combined with diarrhea, they should call their health care provider, according to the CDC.

A digitally colorized scanning electron microscopic image of a grouping of Gram-negative bacilli, or rod-shaped, Salmonella sp. bacteria. Janice Haney Carr/CDC

Illnesses in the outbreak started as early as June 19 and as late as Aug. 2.

Of the 224 patients interviewed by investigators, 91 percent reported eating at a Mexican-style restaurant before getting sick, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and QDOBA.

Amid the outbreak and a spike in cases of cyclosporiasis, a disease caused by food contaminated with feces, the acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner said recently that people should have confidence in the country’s food supply.

“We have the safest food supply in the world,” Kyle Diamantas said.

“FDA investigates dozens of foodborne illness outbreaks each year,” he added later. “There is definitely a heightened narrative right now. People are more aware.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 15:40
Tyler Durden

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