Zero Rss

Scientists Reveal Time Travel Could Work

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Researchers have proposed a theoretical approach that could allow messages to be sent into the past using principles from quantum mechanics. Indeed, it could be happening right now already!

The concept does not enable physical travel through time but focuses on information transfer through causal loops at the quantum scale.

The work, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters, builds on ideas from general relativity and quantum entanglement. 

A technique inspired by the film Interstellar suggests a new way of communicating backwards in time, but it could help improve conventional communication systems as well https://t.co/FXQTvhE6uE

— New Scientist (@newscientist) May 2, 2026

It draws a parallel to the causal loop depicted in Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar, where a message is sent to the past via a watch.

Co-author Dr Kaiyuan Ji, a researcher at Cornell University, told New Scientist: “The father remembers how the daughter decodes his future message. So he can instruct himself on what is the best way to encode the message.”

Professor Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) described an earlier related experiment from 2010: “It was the equivalent of sending a photon a few nanoseconds backwards in time, and having it try to kill its former self.”

Lloyd noted the practical challenges: “Nobody’s built an actual physical, closed time-like curve, and there are reasons to think it’s very hard to make one. But all channels are noisy.”

The paper explains how prior knowledge of how a message was decoded could improve encoding in the future: “The father, who is in the future, may retrieve his memory of past events he has witnessed, even including the daughter’s decoding of the message which he is about to send! It would thus not be surprising that he will consult his memory of the daughter’s decoding when encoding his message, so as to maximize the efficiency of the communication.”

According to the research, this approach could make backward time messages clearer than those sent forward in normal time, even over noisy channels. 

The team suggests the idea could be tested experimentally at the quantum level and may offer insights into communication through noisy systems.

The concept relies on closed time-like curves (CTCs), paths allowed by general relativity where something could theoretically return to its own past. 

On macroscopic scales, creating such curves would require immense energy, but quantum systems may permit analogous effects through entanglement.

Quantum entanglement links particles so that the state of one instantly influences the other, regardless of distance. 

The research explores whether this “spooky action at a distance,” as Einstein called it, could be interpreted as information moving backward in time.

While the proposal remains theoretical, it highlights that nothing in current physics strictly forbids certain forms of time communication at the quantum scale. 

Future experiments could help clarify how information behaves in such systems and potentially improve real-world technologies.

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 Wed, 05/06/2026 - 18:25

FBI Raids Office And Cannabis Dispensary Of Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas

Federal agents from the FBI executed court-authorized search warrants Wednesday morning at the Portsmouth legislative office of longtime Democratic Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas and at an adjacent cannabis retail business she co-owns, as part of an ongoing federal corruption probe tied to marijuana dispensary operations.

Virginia Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) listens to debate on the state Senate floor in Richmond, Va., on Feb. 17, 2026. Ryan M. Kelly/AP Photo

The raids, which also extended to other unspecified locations across the commonwealth, stunned Virginia political circles given Lucas’s status as one of the state’s most powerful and influential lawmakers. Lucas, 82, who has represented Portsmouth in the Senate since 1992 and serves as President Pro Tempore, was not arrested and returned home by midday, according to her longtime political consultant. No charges have been filed against her or anyone else publicly identified in connection with the searches.

Details of the Operation

The FBI’s Norfolk field office confirmed in a statement that agents were “executing a court-authorized federal search warrant in Portsmouth, Va.” FBI spokeswoman Cassandra Temple told reporters on scene that the bureau was conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity today” but provided no further details on the targets or allegations.

Eyewitness accounts and news footage described a significant law enforcement presence: approximately 8 - 10 agents in marked uniforms at Lucas’s office in the Lucas Professional Center, with staff ordered outside and prevented from re-entering while agents carried out boxes of materials. At the neighboring cannabis dispensary, known as The Cannabis Outlet (or Cannabis Outlet), SWAT team members arrived with weapons drawn, ordered occupants to exit with hands raised, and placed at least three people in handcuffs before taking them into custody. Lucas arrived in the parking lot shortly after the operation began and told a reporter she had “no idea” what was happening.

A person close to the senator told CNN that agents seized electronics and other items. The investigation, which sources described as having opened during the Biden administration and continuing under the current administration, focuses on possible corruption and bribery related to marijuana dispensary businesses.

Political Context: Redistricting Champion

The timing of the raids has fueled speculation and partisan debate because of Lucas’s prominent role in Virginia’s recent congressional redistricting battle. Last month, Virginia voters approved—by a margin of more than 100,000 votes - a referendum allowing mid-decade redrawing of congressional district lines under certain conditions. Lucas was a leading architect of the effort, which produced new maps that could shift Virginia’s congressional delegation from its current 6–5 Democratic edge to as many as 10 Democratic seats out of 11.

Democrats framed the redistricting as a necessary counter to Republican-led gerrymandering efforts in other states ahead of the 2026 midterms. Lucas was characteristically blunt in public exchanges, responding on social media to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s criticism of the maps as a Democratic gerrymander with the words: “You all started it and we fucking finished it.”

"While we await the full facts of the investigation, it must be acknowledged that this FBI raid occurs in the broader context of President [Donald] Trump’s repeated abuse of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political opponents," Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) posted on X. 

The FBI has not publicly linked the searches to redistricting. Official statements emphasize only that the probe is ongoing and that there is no threat to public safety.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 18:00

NOAA OKs First Deep-Sea Mining Plan For Critical Minerals In Pacific Ocean

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration approved on May 1 its first deep-sea critical minerals exploration application, submitted by North Carolina-based deep-sea mining explorer The Metals Company USA (TMC).

The company expects to find millions of tons of nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese on the sea floor needed in the United States for electric vehicle batteries, infrastructure, and national defense systems.

TMC applied for the 10-year license last year after President Donald Trump ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to expedite the process of reviewing and issuing the deep-sea permits to “unleash America’s offshore critical minerals and resources.”

“NOAA has determined that this application is fully compliant with the applicable application information requirements,” the agency reported May 1.

The application now moves into the certification stage and will undergo an environmental review process and be open for public comment before a license and permit are issued. TMC USA expects the process to conclude sometime in the first three months of 2027.

TMC is a subsidiary of a larger Canadian exploration firm with the same name that holds rights to what it describes as the world’s largest undeveloped resource of battery-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese.

“This determination marks an important step forward in NOAA’s transparent, rules-based process, and brings us ever closer to providing the U.S. with a new, abundant and lower-impact source of critical metals,” parent company TMC CEO Gerard Barron said in a statement.

“It reflects the sheer scale of scientific, environmental, and engineering effort and expertise that have been brought to bear on this project over the last 15 years, which provides us with sufficient information to move efficiently and responsibly into commercial operations under NOAA’s oversight,” Barron said.

NOAA determined that the application for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act was in full compliance.

The Metals Company plans to conduct seabed mining exploration within the area beyond national jurisdiction known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which stretches about 4,500 miles between Hawaii and Mexico in the North Pacific Ocean.

The zone is considered “common heritage of mankind” and is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations (U.N.) body that manages seabed resources.

The ISA, however, has not yet finalized global rules for the zone, and multiple countries view action in the absence of such rules as a violation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Engineers aboard Hidden ​Gem inspect the ​top ​of the 4-kilometer-long ​riser system, ​which ​is used ​to ​transport ​collected nodules ​to the surface on compressed air. The Metals Company

The United States pushed forward this year to issue licenses under its own laws instead of waiting for the ISA, as part of a larger effort to amass a domestic supply of critical minerals for national security after China began to restrict global supplies.

TMC’s application and recovery permit covers a total area of 26,000 square miles in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The exploration areas are even larger, covering nearly 77,220 square miles.

The company believes the exploration areas contain an estimated 17 million tons of nickel, more than 14 million tons of copper, 2.2 million tons of cobalt, and 380 million tons of manganese.

The application received nearly 300 public comments, with some opposing and some supporting the company’s plans.

The ​Allseas-designed collector vehicle gently ​lifts the loose-lying ​polymetallic ​nodules from the seafloor at ​depths of 4 kilometers ​using water jets. The Metals Company

“I oppose deep-sea mining,” said Suzanne Reid, an individual from Florida. “We should not destroy the ocean’s natural oxygen-producing nodules. Please choose a moratorium to protect our future.”

Commenter James Selke said he thought the project was needed.

“While this project may introduce unavoidable impacts to the deep seabed, the relative area of this license (and the CCZ generally) is very small and isolated in comparison to the vastness of the World’s oceans,” Selke wrote. “The United States should deeply consider the national security impacts of such a project, holistically, rather than simply evaluating the unavoidable, yet mitigatable, impacts as the determining factor.”

NOAA accelerated permitting for deep-sea mining companies this year using a 1980s policy that allows U.S. citizens to explore the seabed to mine critical minerals until the international regulatory regime is in place.

The United States controls seabed mineral resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone and its Extended Continental Shelf, covering over 4 million square miles of submerged land around the Pacific islands, Alaska, and the Atlantic coast.

In ​2022, ​TMC and Allseas ​successfully lifted ​over 3,000 metric tonnes of ​nodules from the seafloor and transferred them ​to the hold of the Hidden ​Gem vessel. The Metals Company

Experts estimate that 43 of 60 minerals listed by the U.S. as critical to the economic and national security of America in 2025 can be found on the outer continental shelf, according to Congress.

The agency released the first images of geologic seafloor samples acquired through a survey project to map and characterize more than 30,000 square nautical miles of federal waters in the U.S. exclusive economic zone beyond the territorial waters of American Samoa in April.

“NOAA’s mapping missions serve as a reminder that ocean exploration is a vital piece of our nation’s economic development,” NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement.

The data gathered from the project will enable science-based decision-making to support responsible development, Jacobs said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 17:40

Indiana Primary: Senate Incumbents Crushed By Trump-Backed Challengers

First rule of politics:  Never ignore the will of your base.  Second rule of politics:  Never make your party and your supporters weaker, or the opposing party stronger. 

In December 2025, 21 Republican Indiana state senators joined forces with 10 Democrats to vote against a Trump-supported bill to redraw the state's congressional map as more favorable to conservatives in the midst of a redistricting battle that could decide the outcome of the 2026 mid-terms.  The decision was viewed by many conservative voters in the state as contrary to the will of the MAGA base and a move that could lead to greater disaster for the country. 

The national agenda to undo the unprecedented damage done by the Biden Administration is already facing significant interference from every angle by Democrats and activist judges.  Conservatives fear it would be further derailed if Democrats take control of the House or the Senate (or both) two years into Trump's last term.  The last thing the nation needs is Republicans with suicidal empathy coming out of the woodwork to add to the chaos.

Given the Republican Party's incessant propensity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Indiana GOP/Democrat alliance was predictable but still troubling.  Crossing the aisle these days means siding with the same people who tried to enforce permanent pandemic lockdowns, mass-jailed J6 protesters, initiated open borders, spread transgender propaganda in public schools, etc. 

The era of bipartisanship is dead.

Critics might argue that defiance of Trump is not, in itself, a betrayal of the party as long as it's in the service of greater conservative principles (the idea of "fair maps" being one of those principles).  However, in the end, the voters still decide who best represents conservative ideals.   

A recent decision by the Supreme Court to restrict race-based gerrymandering by Democrats has opened the door to redistricting in a number of red states (similar to redistricting efforts by Democrats in states like Virginia).  The shift brought even more negative scrutiny on Republican incumbents in Indiana, adding to their inevitable and embarrassing defeat this week in the State Senate primaries. 

Republican State Senator Travis Holdman — who lost by over 20 points — isn’t taking it very well.

“Revenge & retribution is not a Christian value.”

All you had to do was listen to your constituents. pic.twitter.com/CW41WrS7Fo

— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) May 6, 2026

Trump responded to what he referred to as a "RINO" betrayal by endorsing primary challengers, taking on seven of the incumbents running for re-election. His allies (including groups like Turning Point USA) focused considerable funding into these otherwise low-profile races.  Trump accused incumbents of potentially costing Republicans two extra House seats in the Mid-Terms and warned:

"Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the success of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring..."

Trump was not wrong.  Of the seven incumbents on Trump's hit list, five were overwhelmingly defeated in the primaries (some of them had been in office for decades).  The sixth, Sen. Spencer Deery, is hanging by a thread with 3 vote lead after 95% of the vote was counted.  Trump challenger Paula Copenhaver says she expects to win with provisional votes left to be tallied.  If Copenhaver prevails, Trump will have swept away a significant number of anti-MAGA state senators. 

In the lead-up to the race, rumors spread by anti-Trump influencers swirled on social media claimed that MAGA as "all but dead".  They asserted that the voters were "jumping ship" en masse.  Obviously this is not the case.  The Indiana primary results have set the tone going into the Midterms and any notion of an internal conservative revolt has been quashed.  

A new attempt at redistricting in Indiana will not take place until 2027, but is is likely that Trump thought it more important to send a message.  And, it is true that for many years certain segments of the Republican Party have consistently aided the Democrats even though they rarely if ever offer such fair play in return.  Some call it political diplomacy, others call it deliberate subversion. 

In any case, Trump just made it clear that it will no longer be tolerated.       

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 17:20

Will AI Make Us Wonderfully Prosperous?

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

“Any given government program will become the opposite of its name,” Elon Musk said recently.

The rule seems correct.

Think of the Affordable Care Act, the Inflation Control Act, the CARES Act, the War on Poverty, and countless others. They all resulted in the very inverse of how they are named.

That’s some wisdom right there.

Musk holds many libertarian views along these lines and has been a vocal champion of capitalism as an economic system. He famously set out to lead a team to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. It did not work but not for want of trying.

However, Musk is not always consistent. And he is not always correct.

He also recently wrote the following: “Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI. AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation.”

Let’s consider these assertions from the inside out.

Musk claims that AI is going to produce vast goods and services such that it will generate 4, 5, and 6 percent growth. Indeed, if economic growth is going to outpace money supply growth, even in normal times, it will need to be above 6 percent at least. That’s just based on average rates of money growth over the decade. If we want healthy growth beyond that, we’ll need output growth on the level of 9 and 10 percent.

The United States has not experienced growth like that since the 1880s. Data gathering was not quite sophisticated in those days—national income accounting had not yet been invented—so we cannot say for sure. This is just an estimate.

Perhaps it is not far off, however.

We had a bout of explosive innovation: commercialized steel, internal combustion, electric lighting, telegraph and photography, and much more.

That kind of innovation did indeed generate economic growth. The world had never seen anything like it.

Elon is implicitly assuming that artificial intelligence will be the same, a driver of a massive increase in prosperity. There is reason for doubt. We heard the same thing about the digital age. In fact, I was certain back in the late 1990s that the Internet would yield huge increases in productivity that would lead to growth on the scale of the Gilded Age.

That did not happen. We saw the opposite. We’ve been through 30 years of frustratingly slow economic growth. The fruits of the digital revolution were squandered with growing amounts of government debt, regulation, burdensome business mandates, and a litigation explosion. That combination created an enormous drag on what should have been glorious growth.

Recall that in the 1880s, we had no federal regulatory agencies at all. We did not have a welfare state or income tax. The dollar was secured and sound with a gold standard. We had no inflation at all; in fact, the dollar grew in value year by year, something that has not happened once since World War II.

For technological innovation to create explosive economic growth, you need that special ingredient called economic freedom. We are nowhere near as free in economics today as we were then.

Given this history, I’m extremely doubtful of the predictions that AI will give birth to wonderful economic growth anywhere near 9 and 10 percent. I would be very surprised. Indeed, mankind has proven its remarkable capacity for squandering wonderful opportunities to make the world a better place.

AI is impressive but with all new technologies, the hype always exceeds the reality. Remember it was only 10 years ago that everything and anything would “get on the blockchain” and magically become wonderful. Business consultants made bank duping naive corporate managers with this prattle. At some point, it became obvious that the blockchain is useful for specific tasks while the old tech would be fine for most everything else.

I see the frenzy over AI very similarly. Nor do I believe that the home robot has much of a future in our domestic lives.

Factories and shipping, sure, but helping around the house as in the Jetsons? Doubtful.

There is another odd feature to Elon’s argument. He says that all this wonderful but unproven economic growth will be accompanied by widespread unemployment as robots replace humans. This is odd. We’ll never live in a world where there is no work to be done. There is always work to be done at some price. So long as labor markets are free, there will be jobs.

One might suppose, too, that with 10 percent economic growth, there would be more than enough prosperity flowing to hire people for every manner of work. It’s not as if human beings will become useless. AI is great at routine tasks but terrible at judgment and creativity. There will be more, not less, of a market for those skills in an AI/robot world.

Therefore, there is no reason to suppose that the AI revolution will create mass unemployment over the long term. It’s reasonable to expect disruption and dislocation out of many professions. But if the labor markets are free to adapt, the old jobs will be replaced by new jobs.

In the 20th century, we’ve developed an obsession with unemployment, particularly since the Great Depression. The entire reason for this problem traces to controls on the labor market, privileges flowing to unions, restrictions on wage levels, and attempts to keep the market from adapting. High unemployment is a sure sign that the labor market is not free.

In a genuine free market, there would be no unemployment at all simply because it’s the nature of the world always to call forth human labor for some purpose and at some price.

Musk proposes that the U.S. government offer huge benefits in the form of income support for the unemployed. There are now 170 million people in the labor force. If 20 million of them are displaced by AI/robotics and each person is given $100,000 a year, that’s an astronomical expenditure of $2 trillion a year—exactly the amount that Musk sought to cut from the federal budget.

To match that figure with a money supply increase would mean nearly a 9 percent increase in M2 each year, which would certainly be hugely inflationary, all else equal. To stop that inflation, economic growth would have to be 10 percent and higher, which is highly unlikely. As a result, such expenditure would certainly mean a dramatic degradation in the purchasing power of the dollar.

No inflation, promises Musk, but he is likely wrong and the rest of society and the world would be stuck with the results.

Putting all these workers on permanent welfare would stop labor markets from adjusting to reflect new technologies. Why would anyone take a job if he can sign up for a basic income from the taxpayers? Such a proposal is completely contrary to any conception of a free market.

There is another feature here. Putting millions or tens of millions on permanent income support would drain creativity, energy, and productivity from the markets. It would be the greatest subsidy that sloths ever enjoyed. This would be a disaster for the human spirit.

We saw how universal income worked in the COVID years with stimulus payments.

It led to fraud, demoralization, and inflation. Making such a policy permanent would do the same and worse.

Remember the first Musk principle: “Any given government program will become the opposite of its name.”

What this points to is the general tendency to oversell and mask especially in government. It’s the same for universal basic income. It would not and could not be universal and it will degrade the lives of everyone it touches.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 17:00

JPM Tried $1 Million Payoff To Bury Banker's Sexual Assault Claims Before Daily Mail Bombshell

Views on JPMorgan banker Lorna Hajdini's Bloomberg profile surged on Wednesday afternoon.

Why?

The Wall Street Journal has released a new report stating that JPMorgan reportedly offered former investment banker Chirayu Rana $1 million to settle his sexual assault, harassment, and racial discrimination claims against Hajdini before he filed the lawsuit.

Rana's lawsuit was refiled on Monday after being withdrawn for a week. The lawsuit went viral after a Daily Mail report, which was later followed by a New York Post article citing sources who said the bank "found no evidence of wrongdoing" and Hajdini's lawyer, who rejected the claims in the suit.

"The original lawsuit was not withdrawn," said David Kramer, Rana's lawyer. "After filing, the court clerk informed us that the suit required review and sign-off from the judge before being formally filed under a pseudonym. Upon signature by the judge yesterday, the suit was formally filed under a pseudonym."

Rana alleges that Hajdini sexually assaulted him and that co-workers subjected him to racial harassment related to his Nepalese background.

JPM's settlement offer was reportedly intended to avoid litigation and reputational damage. JPM maintains that the claims are baseless.

The report stated that Rana's lawyers did not accept the $1 million offer and later countered JPM with a proposed settlement of $11.75 million.

Rana joined JPM's leveraged finance team in May 2024, filed an internal HR complaint in May 2025, was placed on paid leave, and later left the bank. He then joined private equity firm Bregal Sagemount in October 2025 but was reportedly let go last month.

"If you don't f— me soon, I'm going to ruin you… Never forget, I f—ing own you," Hajdini allegedly said, as detailed in the suit. "If you don't f— my brains out tonight, I'm going to sabotage your promotion."

The lawsuit continued, "She then told Plaintiff to suck her toes, repeating that she would facilitate his promotion and bonus."

Latest on Polymarket:

//--> //--> Chirayu Rana sued?
Yes 80% · No 21%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

 

//--> //--> Chirayu Rana sued?
Yes 80% · No 21%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

 

//--> //--> Chirayu Rana sued?
Yes 80% · No 21%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

Hajdini's lawyers continue to reject Rana's claims: "She never dated this individual, never had a sexual or romantic encounter with him of any kind, and never gave him any drugs. She maintains that his false claims are entirely fabricated and tarnishing her reputation."

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 16:40

DC Police Officials Disciplined Over Allegations Of Manipulating Crime Data

Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

Multiple high-ranking officials in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) are facing termination in connection with allegations about how they handled and possibly manipulated crime statistics in the district.

Breitbart reports that three MPD officials told The Washington Post that “multiple high-ranking” officials—all captains or above, all in leadership—were given “papers saying the department intends to fire them.”

According to a DC Police Union press release, the anticipated terminations are directly related to an investigation into allegations that the officials engaged in direct manipulation of crime data to minimize the level of crime in DC.

The union, which represents 3,000 MPD officers, welcomed the decision to terminate the officials, saying, “These actions, tied directly to the department’s completed Internal Affairs investigation into the deliberate manipulation of crime data, mark a long-overdue step toward justice and the restoration of integrity with MPD.”

The Washington Post reports, “The District has reported a decline in overall crime in recent years after a historic spike in 2023. But some in D.C. police circles have long complained that certain managers routinely reduced the severity of crime classifications to make their police districts appear safer or avoid criticism from top department brass.”

In some districts, armed home invasions were written down as “trespassing” instead, dropping a vioIent felony to a low-level misdemeanor, in order to manipulate the crime stats.

The 13 individuals who were served termination papers have not been fired yet as they are entitled to due process under the department’s general orders.

Interim MPD Chief Jeffrey Carroll said, “The administrative process must be allowed to take its course, and that process is outlined in our MPD general orders.”

Carroll added, “Let me be clear, we have made meaningful progress over the last three years in reducing crime. Homicides, shootings and carjackings have fallen steadily since 2023.”

NBC 4 reports that three of the high-level officials worked very closely with former Chief Pamela Smith, including her second-in-command and at least one assistant chief who oversaw patrol in half of DC.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 16:20

Inside The Moscow Meeting That Laid Bare Iran's Weak Hand

Authored by Simon Watkins via oilprice.com,

• The Moscow meeting reinforced a long-standing imbalance, with Iran seeking deeper support while Russia offered only vague diplomatic backing.
• The 20-year Iran–Russia deal structurally favors Moscow, especially in energy and trade terms, leaving Tehran with limited economic and strategic upside.
• Russia’s growing military and economic strain reduces its ability to support Iran, exposing the fragility of the partnership.

Iran has a long history of being screwed over by Russia, and last week’s meeting in Moscow between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the U.S.–Israel–Iran war suggests nothing in that dynamic is about to change, according to extremely well-placed sources on both sides who spoke exclusively to OilPrice.com over the weekend. On the one hand, Tehran’s perennially baseless optimism that “this time will be different” was on full display in Araghchi’s excited praise for the marvels of the two countries’ so called ‘strategic relationship’. On the other hand, Moscow responded with all the warmth of an international telephone operator: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only that Russia stands ready to offer “goodwill or mediation services”, with no indication of any upgrade to the relationship service package. It fits so neatly into the familiar pattern of this abusive relationship that one wonders whether social services should be called. Or perhaps Moscow’s disinterest is merely an act — a way of masking the deep and broad assistance from Tehran that it so clearly craves?

The theoretical basis of this relationship is the 20-year comprehensive cooperation deal between Iran and Russia -- formally titled The Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia -- approved by Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on 18 January 2024, as I exclusively reported in OilPrice.com at the time. It replaced the 10-year deal signed in March 2001 (extended twice by five years) and was expanded in duration, scope and scale, particularly in the defence and energy sectors. In several respects, the new deal complemented key elements of the all-encompassing Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article and analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. The similarities were deliberate, designed to make the division of the key strategic assets most coveted by Moscow and Beijing easier to manage in practice. Related: China Orders Refiners to Ignore U.S. Sanctions on Key Iranian Oil Buyers

As with much of Russia’s foreign policy dealings, the devil was in the details. As a sign of how things would pan out for Tehran in the rest of the document, Russia stood to benefit at Iran’s expense in the key energy sector to begin with. The deal gave Russia the first right of extraction in the Iranian section of the Caspian Sea, including the potentially huge Chalous field. This came on top of Russia’s startlingly brazen theft in 2019 of at least US$3.2 trillion in revenues from Iran through the lost value of energy products across their shared Caspian assets going forward. The same right of first extraction for Russia was also applied in the new 20-year deal to several of Iran’s major oil and gas fields in the Khorramshahr and nearby Ilam provinces that border Iraq, which China had not already prioritised for its own needs. Several of these sites had the broader financial and geopolitical benefits attached to their being shared fields with Iraq. This status allowed the effective free movement of Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, and extended Tehran’s influence over Baghdad through its political, economic, and military proxies. By extension, it did the same for Moscow and Beijing, which used this as a springboard to further project their influence across the Iran-dominated Shia Crescent of Power.

This powerbase in Iran and Iraq had also been central to Russia’s longstanding plan to build a ‘land bridge’ to the Mediterranean Sea coast of another of its key global assets at the time -- Syria. This would enable Moscow to exponentially increase weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria to be used in attacks on Israel. The core aim of this policy was to provoke a conflict in the Middle East that would draw in the U.S. and its allies into an unwinnable war, and was seen as a natural extension of the Israel-Hamas War that had begun after the terrorist organisation’s murderous spree across Israel on 7 October 2023. Given its centrality to Moscow’s plans, then, Iran was at that point still confident that the Kremlin would meet its other promises in the 20-year deal, despite the shenanigans surrounding the energy side of the treaty as it related to the Caspian’s oil and gas riches. “Iran had long been asking  Russia for the means to defend itself better against any attacks, especially those that might come from Israel or the U.S. -- in particular for the S-400 missile defence system and Sukhoi Su-34 and 35 fighter jets,” a very senior source working closely with Iran’s Petroleum Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com. “But these requests have continually been subject to further conditionality by Russia, such as upgrading key airports and seaports that Moscow sees as especially useful for dual-use by its air force and navy, and which are also close to major oil and gas facilities.

The terms of the individual defence and energy deals were also made increasingly onerous for Iran by Russia as preconditions for the final delivery of Iran’s requests. According to this source -- and confirmed to OilPrice.com at the time by a very senior source working closely with the Russian government -- the price of all items traded between Russia and Iran, including military and energy hardware, had been formalised in the 20-year deal on terms that were not in Iran’s favour. For Iranian goods exported to Russia, Tehran would receive the cost of production plus 8 per cent. However, these export sales to Russia would not be transferred to Iran, but rather would be held as credit in the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). Moreover, Iran would receive a huge markdown on US dollar/Rouble or Euro/Rouble exchange rates used to calculate its credits in the CBR. Conversely, for Russian goods exported to Iran, Moscow would receive the payment in advance of delivery and at an exchange rate that benefited Russia. Moreover, the base price before any exchange rate calculations would be set at the highest price that Russia has received in the previous 180 days for whichever product it was selling to Iran. Moscow ensured itself the highest possible price by selling the relevant product to Belarus at a very large premium shortly beforehand, so establishing the required pricing benchmark. Payments for goods and services falling outside the direct finance route between the central banks of the two countries would be handled through interbank transfers between Iranian and Russian banks. Transactions involving renminbi would also be routed through China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, Beijing’s alternative to the globally-dominant Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications system.

The additional problem for Iran now is that Russia is increasingly unable to provide even this limited assistance to it as its own troubles mount. Although U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on Russia’s ’10-Day Special Military Operation’ -- at the time of writing, in its 1,530th day -- has broadly favoured Putin and his ability to keep funding the conflict, things have turned very recently. The removal of pro-Putin Hungarian President Viktor Orbán in last month’s general election removed the obstacle that blocked €90 billion in European Union (E.U.) aid to Ukraine, with more to come as and when needed. This comes at a time when, according to military sources, Russia is only able to replace 70 per cent of the soldiers it is losing on the battlefield -- an unsustainable loss, which brings with it the deeply politically unsettling prospect of having to widen conscription out to the big cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moreover, Ukraine is now relentlessly hitting key oil and gas infrastructure targets deep in Russia, reducing its ability to monetise these exports to fund its Ukraine campaign. Crude oil export data suggested the rise in prices, plus the easing of U.S. sanctions on countries buying Russian oil, boosted Russian revenues to 2.3 times their December-February levels in the third week of the Iran war. But by the fourth week, Ukrainian drone strikes on energy-producing infrastructure reduced Russia's earnings by US$1 billion, eradicating around two-thirds of the previous week’s gains. And destroying Russia’s energy infrastructure using Ukraine-manufactured long-range drones -- without any U.S. assistance and using E.U. funding -- is now a priority target.

As it stands, Iran has once again bet on a partner that takes far more than it ever gives. And as Russia’s own position deteriorates, even the illusion of reciprocity is evaporating. Tehran may soon discover that Moscow’s promises were always worth less than the paper they were written on. With Russia now struggling to sustain its own war effort, the chances of it honouring its commitments to Iran are shrinking by the day. And when the Kremlin finally admits it has nothing left to offer, Tehran will be left with no air defences, no aircraft, no navy, and no leverage — only the bill for a partnership that never paid out.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 15:40

World Starts To "Build" Around Hormuz; Japan Buying UAE Oil Bypassing Strait As ADNOC To Spend $55 Billion On Pipelines

Long after the Iran war is just a bookmark in the history books, one distinct consequence will persist: much of the world, at least the part that does not fall under the Chinese sphere of influence, will do everything it can to avoid the Strait of Hormuz and failing that, have a Plan B. Just like when the Biden admin weaponized the US Dollar in 2022 by booting Russia from SWIFT after the Ukraine war, and in the process started the biggest gold and bitcoin rally in history as the rest of the world parked its savings in non-USD assets, so the world's most important oil choke point will never again be viewed again in the same way after Iran launched dozens of rockets at the ships transiting it. 

This shift in perception is what James Thorne, chief market strategist of WellingtonAltus, called "Iran’s Historic Mistake"; he explains it as follows: 

By weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz, Iran committed a strategic blunder of historic proportions. Tehran meant to punish America. Instead, it exposed every power built on imported energy, vulnerable sea lanes, and the delusion that globalization repealed geography. China is exposed. Europe is exposed. Britain is exposed. Iran has created a world where hard resource power decides outcomes.

And the punchline:

Iran’s mistake is that once Hormuz becomes structurally unreliable, the world builds around it. That means bypass corridors, revived pipeline politics, and urgent planning for routes linking Aqaba to Mediterranean outlets near Gaza and the long-stalled Basra-to-Aqaba pipeline. The old energy order is cracking. The UAE’s OPEC exit signals cartel discipline giving way to national advantage under pressure.

The full note can be found here, and we didn't have long to wait to see the world it predicted begin to emerge. 

Earlier today, Nikkei Asia reported that Japan agreed to buy an additional 20 million barrels of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates as Tokyo continues pursuing alternative supply channels amid the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Japan used 2.36 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2025, the economy ministry reports. Based on this average, the additional 20 million barrels from the UAE could cover eight to nine days' worth of demand, so much more is coming. 

The deal was finalized Tuesday after Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, met with the Emirati industry minister in Abu Dhabi. Akazawa told reporters after the meeting that he had requested increased oil supplies for Japan. 

Roughly 40% of Japan's crude oil imports comes from the UAE. The Middle Eastern country, which left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Friday, intends to gradually increase oil production at its own discretion, which could lead to more cooperation with Japan.

Japan will pick up the Emirati oil at the port of Fujairah on the UAE's eastern coast, which lies on the Gulf of Oman, allowing for crude exports without going through the Strait of Hormuz. 

The war in the Middle East -- a region on which Japan has relied for more than 90% of its oil supply -- has spurred Tokyo to approach other oil producers. It reached a deal last month to procure 1 million barrels of crude from Mexico. 

Recently Japan's government said that around 60% of the oil Japan needs this month can be sourced through channels that do not involve shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with releases from domestic stockpiles covering the remaining 40%.

Expect many more such deals from other Asian countries as passage through Hormuz will be one big question mark for years to come, absent a pro-Western regime taking control in Iran. 

Realizing the coming demand flood for its Fujairah-laden oil, and in anticipation of its post-OPEC renaissance, on May 3rd, UAE state energy company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Group, announced plans to award AED200bn (US$55bn) in upstream and downstream project contracts between 2026-28, at the 'Make it with ADNOC' forum in Abu Dhabi.

Omar Al Nuaimi, ADNOC’s Acting Group Chief, stated that ADNOC is moving into a new phase of accelerated, world-scale delivery to meet rising global energy demand. ''ADNOC is proud to continue reinforcing our role as a catalyst of the UAE’s industrial growth and an enabler of the Make it in the Emirates initiative,'' he told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of ‘Make it With ADNOC’ Forum, held ahead of the Make it in the Emirates 2026.

''As part of this effort, we announced today at the ‘Make it with ADNOC’ Forum, our plan to award AED200 billion in projects over the next two years as part of our CAPEX approved by the Board in November,'' he said, explaining that the planned project awards span ADNOC’s upstream and downstream operations and usher in a new phase of project delivery that will supercharge UAE’s manufacturing capacity, strengthen industrial resilience, deepen the impact of the company’s In-Country Value program and advance the ‘Make it in the Emirates’ initiative.

In a note from Goldman (available here to pro subs), the bank writes that management characterized the announcement as marking the execution phase of its strategy, focused on scale, pace, and delivery to meet rising global energy demand while reinforcing the UAE's industrial base. The forum convened >400 participants, linking EPC contractors with qualified UAE-based manufacturers under the in-country value program. The award pipeline spans the entire upstream-to-downstream value chain, focusing on:

• Capacity expansion: Scaling of crude oil and gas production capacity alongside deeper downstream integration
• In-Country Value (ICV): Channelling spend through the Local+ program to prioritize UAE-manufactured inputs.
• Supply chain resilience: Localizing critical equipment sourcing to mitigate global disruption and cost inflation risk.

According to Goldman, this announcement represents the first tranche of its previously announced $150BN capex program for 2030. The bank views the announcement as positive for key enablers such as ADNOC Drilling and ADNOC L&S, as they stand to be the primary beneficiaries of the upstream and downstream award pipeline. Furthermore, the signaled US$55bn commitment over 2026-28 serves as a strong signal of ADNOC Group's expansion roadmap. Goldman sees upside risk to consensus numbers for the key enabler subsidiaries given the potential for accelerated execution timelines and higher-than-guided growth targets as ADNOC ramps up capacity across the value chain. 

More in the Goldman note available to pro subs.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 15:20

'We Need People To Come Back': Dubai's Tourism Industry Reels As Foreigners Flee

Via Middle East Eye

Dubai is facing an existential crisis with the US and Israeli war on Iran forcing tourism numbers to fall sharply, with widespread hotel closures and job losses decimating the global tourism hotspots' hospitality sector.

On Monday, Dubai Airports reported that first-quarter passenger traffic was down by at least 2.5 million from the same period in 2025, with March seeing a 66 percent drop in passenger numbers as travelers chose to steer clear of the Gulf. 

Empty beds are pictured before high-rise buildings along a beach at Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) in Dubai on March 11, 2026. via AFP

The company did not specify forecasts for this year but on Saturday, in a bid to kickstart tourism, the UAE announced that all air travel restrictions that were put in place after Iran launched retaliatory strikes on all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that house or cooperate closely with US forces had been lifted. 

In a post on their official X account, the Civil Aviation Authority wrote: "Our decision came following a comprehensive assessment of operational and security conditions, in coordination with the relevant authorities". The statement was clearly meant to relay confidence to international travelers, especially after several European airlines announced that they would be suspending flights to the Middle East. 

Workers and business owners in Dubai, who spoke to the Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity due GCC-wide restrictions on public statements about the effects of Tehran’s attacks, say it will still take some time to see if the announcement will restore confidence among travelers and investors.

Charity, a Kenyan hotel worker said the mid-priced hotel she works at was definitely affected by the 1.4 million people who travelled through the UAE over the first two weeks of March. During the Muslim month of Ramadan, when Iranian missile and drone attacks were at their worst, the hotel, part of a US-based chain, was full of stranded passengers who would meet with Emirates Airlines representatives in the lobby. 

During the month, the hotel's pool was closed to guests and by the final days, guests staying in the higher floors of the 20-floor building were moved to the lower floors as a precautionary measure. After that, though, she said "things really slowed down for a few weeks".

She said she hoped the announcement would provide some assurance to travelers. "We'll see over the next week if people really start to come back," she said while helping a long-time American traveler. "We need your people [foreign tourists] to come back," she added.

So far, even longtime passengers say there has been a noticeable shift in the mood at Dubai International, which has been the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic for 12 consecutive years.

Samina, a South Asian NGO worker who travels between South Asia, the Gulf and North America, said the change was particularly noticeable in her most recent trips over the two months.

"Coming in, it's empty," she said of Terminal 3, home of Emirates Airlines. "Terminal 1 and 2 are ghost towns," she said of the buildings that are home to other international carriers and FlyDubai, the UAE's budget airline.

She said international airlines suspending flights to the region have definitely taken a toll on traffic, "Every time you get in, it's all the same transit passengers."

According to Dubai Airports, only 51 out of 90 airlines have resumed their operations at the airport, with European and US airlines facing difficulties securing insurance cover due to government travel advisories

'Ethos of Dubai was shaken'

For its part, Dubai is working hard to support and reassure its residents. Travelling around the city, there is an abundance of UAE flags outside homes and businesses and on digital signs and billboards along the highways.

At the City Walk shopping center there are massive electronic signs thanking UAE residents in Arabic and English. Pictures of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan are emblazoned along major roads with the statement: May our nation remain in God’s protection". Other signs show Emirati families saluting the flag with the same words.

However, longtime residents and business owners say the impact of the intercepted missiles and drones was felt almost immediate.

Tatiana, a Russian national who runs a logistics company for businesses looking to setup shop in the Gulf, and she said even she was shocked at how quickly the mood shifted for existing and prospective businesses. "Within the first two weeks people [said] it's no longer worth [living here]. They weren't scared per se, they just felt like it's no longer worth it". 

"Businesses were suddenly liquidating their assets." She said her family was now looking at options in Europe to gradually shift to.

Antoine, an editor who helps train amateur writers said one of his clients who works at an advertising agency was left with the burden of those liquidations. "She was in charge of finding 1,000 workers in the UAE to let go of," he said. Antoine was particularly struck by the fact that even an advertising firm would be so immediately impacted.

"You'd think advertising would be a war-proof industry," he said. Tatiana said her work has been particularly affected by the attacks.  "Our whole business is predicated on assuring people that the UAE is a safe, convenient place to do business," she said.

Her statement is almost identical to what Arjun, one of the 3.5 to 4.3 million Indian residents of the UAE, said outside a late evening screening of the Michael Jackson biopic. Arjun said he was happy to see the screening at near capacity, hoping it was a sign of a gradual return to normal. "The entire ethos of Dubai as this place free from conflict was shaken," he said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 15:00

'Still So Early On This Journey': Morgan Stanley Launches Lower-Cost Crypto Trading

Just a week after Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital assets, spent the better part of an hour making a case for bitcoin that few clients have heard in full (a gap she says is the industry’s most urgent problem), the bank announces the launch of crypto trading on E*Trade, charging 50bps in a pilot that undercuts rivals like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab.

CoinDesk reports that Morgan Stanley’s Head of Wealth Management, Jed Finn, said the initiative goes beyond offering cheaper crypto trading and is aimed at “disintermediating the disintermediators,” framing it as a broader structural shift in how clients access digital assets.

The investment banking giant plans to roll the service out to all 8.6 million ETrade customers later this year.

The latest offering builds on a series of crypto-related moves in recent months, including the launch of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, with planned products tied to ether and solana.

Morgan Stanley has also advanced efforts on the infrastructure side, applying for a national trust bank charter that would enable it to directly custody digital assets.

Sources told Bloomberg that the bank is also mulling services that enable conversation of crypto holdings into exchange-traded products without selling and is preparing for potential tokenized equity trading later this year.

These moves are set to amplify competition in a market where Coinbase generated $3.32 billion in consumer transaction revenue in 2025, while Robinhood reported nearly $1 billion in crypto-related revenue.

But, as Bitcoin Magazine reports, the education problem runs deep, according to Oldenburg.

Oldenburg: Bitcoin has an education problem 

Many investors still associate bitcoin with its early history of use by bad actors, and struggle to see past that frame when weighing an allocation. 

Oldenburg said that when clients ask about yield or structured exposure, her team tries to be direct: “you can present it as a yield, but the underlying asset is bitcoin.” That clarity, she said, is still missing from most conversations in the market, and there is “so much more work to do.”

MSBT pulled in more than $100 million in its first week of trading, a strong early signal for a product the bank describes as designed for the full spectrum of its client base rather than a narrow segment. 

But Oldenburg was quick to put that number in context. All of the initial flows came through self-directed accounts, because the fund had not yet been made available on the advisory platform.

She noted that the bank has announced a 2–4% crypto allocation recommendation, and that even with that guidance in place, take-up through advisors has been slow.

The product, she reminded the audience, has been on the market for less than a year.

To bridge that gap, Morgan Stanley is working from the inside out. Oldenburg said the firm is rolling out internal training so that financial advisors can speak to clients on bitcoin with confidence, and that her team spends “hour after hour after hour” on the phone walking clients through models and allocation frameworks. 

She said the bank designs products for clients with different needs and wants its platform to cover each of those needs, including clients who want a direct ETP wrapper, and that spot crypto trading is coming for those on the wealth management side.

On custodians, Oldenburg acknowledged the complexity of the decision. The market has no shortage of providers, and choosing among them was not straightforward, which led the firm to work with more than one. Morgan Stanley ultimately tapped Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians for MSBT.

When the conversation turned to high-beta bitcoin plays, Oldenburg called Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led company formerly known as MicroStrategy, “a good friend of Morgan Stanley,” and said the bank has worked alongside it through its evolution. 

She said most of the exposure in that vehicle so far is coming from retail and that “digital credit” as a category will take time to develop.

Morgan Stanley buying bitcoin is “not out of the question”

On the question of banks holding bitcoin on their balance sheets, Oldenburg said it is “not out of the question” if regulatory progress continues, but was measured in framing it. 

The U.S. needs greater alignment among its financial regulators, she said, and for a global firm like Morgan Stanley, the picture is more complex still — each jurisdiction comes with its own framework.

She closed where she began: on the need for research with reach. The market has commentators and personalities that investors trust and follow, she said, and the work ahead is to bring that kind of accessible, grounded analysis into the mainstream. 

“We are still so early on this journey,” she said. “So little allocation. It’s still really early.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 14:40

'Don't Even Think About Selling': Mr. Gold Warns US 'Officially A Banana Republic'

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Last time financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter (aka Mr. Gold) was on USAW, he said don’t even think about selling any gold or silver.  One of the big reasons why he is still saying this is the news last week that the US debt to GDP ratio is now at 100%. 

Mr. Gold says, “I have talked for years about how the entire world runs on credit.  What we started this off with is the United States is officially a banana republic.  It’s 100% debt to GDP..."

"When I was in school in the early 1980s, the definition of a banana republic is when it hit 100% debt to GDP. 

In this instance, it is the issuer of the world’s reserve currency that is admitting it is officially a banana republic.  

Everything runs on credit.  The biggest issuer of credit is the United States, and if their credit card gets declined, then what does that do to the real economy? 

Nothing will work.  There will be nothing on shelves.  Stores will be dark. 

Should you store food? 

The answer is yes because something really bad is right in front of us.  It’s a credit collapse.”

So, the Trump Administration is not going to just let everything collapse. 

What is the contingency plan? 

Mr. Gold says, “I think the contingency plan is oil..."

"They went after Maduro.  So, they have taken control of the Venezuelan oil supply.  They want to do the same thing elsewhere. 

I mean President Trump said in his own words, he said basically we are pirates, and we are going to take Iran’s oil. 

I think that’s the plan. 

It is to control more oil and keep the petrodollar system alive.  Is it going to work?  I think, ultimately, it will not work because the numbers are far too upside down at this point.  If you really look under the hood, the Federal Reserve itself is insolvent.  And we have not even talked about derivatives. 

Derivatives are the gorilla in the room.  In the derivative market, you are looking at $2 quadrillion in derivatives.  Once you get things off sides, and an example of that is look at the British yields, they are back to pushing 7%.  They are back to rates that are the same as in 1998.  So, all of the easing is gone. 

Everything runs on credit, and once you gum up credit, you start affecting the real economy.  Then, there is less cash flow in the real economy, and that spills over into the financial economy and financial markets.  Derivatives are the biggest danger.  Warren Buffett calls them mass financial destruction. 

It should not go unnoticed that Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on $400 billion of cash, which is the biggest hoard they have ever had.  In 1998, the financial media called him an idiot, and what happened in 2000?  Buffett was an idiot again in early 2008.  What happened in late 2008 and 2009? 

Buffett is not an idiot, and for him to say now that there is nothing out there of value to buy and I’d rather have cash, that tells you a pretty big story.”

On silver, Holter says, “I think we are reloading for a much larger event than we saw in November to January."

"That 90 days was spectacular, but I think this next move is going to dwarf that.”  Holter says many big analysts are predicting silver much, much higher by the end of the year.

There is much more in the 42-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog as he goes one-on-one with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter/Mr. Gold as the “credit collapse” in the financial system begins for 5.5.26.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 14:20

Blue Energy & GE Vernova Bet On Gas Bridge-To-Nuclear For AI Power

Blue Energy announced a collaboration with GE Vernova to develop the world's first gas-plus-nuclear power plant in Texas.

The project will use two GE Vernova gas turbines to deliver roughly 1 GW starting around 2030. Steam supply will later shift to GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactors for up to 1.5 GW of nuclear capacity by 2032. 

Work at the Texas site could begin as early as this year, with a final investment decision expected in 2027.

The plan is similar to other announcements from companies like Oklo and Liberty Energy that plan to deploy gas power turbines at proposed energy sites to initiate power delivery and revenue collection while the longer leg of building the reactor continues in the background. 

Easier said than done, though. The NRC would normally never be involved in a gas energy project, but if it will share facilities with a future nuclear project, then things get a little more interesting. This is why Blue Energy submitted a plan, and recently received approval, for how to involve the NRC with the construction of a gas-to-nuclear site. 

This new sequencing of gas-to-nuclear allows for power delivery to the data center or grid to begin in under four years, compared to as many as ten years if it was a purely nuclear project. 

Depending on the location, it may be too little too late. Especially on the east coast…

Next summer the Eastern seaboard will look like North Korea at night thanks to chatbots pic.twitter.com/NEY97pa1LB

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 6, 2026

This is where people usually start pointing fingers at the data center for creating the problem. Blaming hyperscalers though requires looking away from the fact that new power generation is also being delayed to connect to the grid. 

Constellation's restart of the Three Mile Island Reactor is currently facing a four-year delay from PJM. The reactor will be ready to provide clean energy to the grid in 2027, but has been told to wait until 2031 to actually connect. 

Extreme demand from data centers is not the source of the problem. Decades of neglect with grid upgrades are the real reasons for the grid's inability to bolt on new supply and demand, and is now driving costs through the roof. 
 

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 14:05

Ken Griffin "Doubles Down On Miami" After Mamdani's "Creepy And Weird" Video Vilifying Him

Ken Griffin said New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for higher taxes on second homes has reinforced Citadel’s commitment to Miami — and even led the firm to scale up its planned headquarters there, according to Bloomberg.

Speaking Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Griffin said Citadel decided to enlarge its Miami office project after Mamdani publicly referenced his $238 million Central Park South penthouse while promoting a new pied-à-terre tax proposal.

“We went to Miami and revised our building plan to make it a bigger office building,” Griffin said. “What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners, and principally my New York partners, is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami.”

Bloomberg writes that Griffin said he watched Mamdani’s video three times and described it as “creepy and weird.”

He added that the situation brought back memories of his departure from Chicago, where he previously criticized local leadership before moving Citadel and Citadel Securities to Florida.

“Looking at what Mamdani did to me and more broadly is doing to the city of New York is triggering the trauma I went through in Chicago,” Griffin said.

A spokesperson for Mamdani defended the mayor’s stance, saying he supports entrepreneurs but believes New York’s tax structure needs reform so wealthy residents contribute more.

Citadel still has nearly 2,500 employees in New York City and is involved in a separate $6 billion office tower project at 350 Park Avenue. But Griffin suggested Miami has clearly won out.

“What do we do at 350 is still a point of discussion internally, but what is no longer a point of discussion is when we moved from Chicago, there was a debate between New York and Miami,” Griffin said. “It’s unquestionably true that we made the right choice.”

He also took aim at states he views as unfriendly to businesses.

“We want to be in a state that embraces business, that embraces education, that embraces personal freedom and liberty and that embraces people having an opportunity to live the American dream,” Griffin said. “Not a dream of redistributive handouts that leave people dependent on government for their lives and their livelihoods.”

We wrote two weeks ago: "New York City is a global icon and the uncomfortable truth is this: the people Mamdani is turning into political props are the same ones writing the checks. And they have options."

And now it looks as though Ken Griffin is exercising those options...

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 13:25

It Just Keeps Happening Over And Over Again...

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

Another illegal migrant, handed legal status under Biden-era policies, is charged with brutally murdering two women in New York — one a hardworking mother of two, the other his own roommate. 

The victims were stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso in what authorities describe as an anger-fueled rampage. 

Open borders policies didn’t just fail these women. They enabled their killer to stay here legally and strike.

BREAKING: Two women stabbed to death by illegal immigrant in New York.

Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Executive and a candidate for governor of New York, SLAMMS open-border policies after two woman were killed by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador on Long Island this week.… pic.twitter.com/v12sexjtjj

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) May 2, 2026

The suspect, 22-year-old Rony Yahir Alvarenga Rivera, entered the United States illegally as an unaccompanied minor at age 12 roughly a decade ago. He was released into the country with no supervision. 

In 2022, the Biden administration granted him legal status through a program that automatically handed papers — believed to be in the form of a green card — to unaccompanied minors already here. 

Say her name: Ana Maria del Aguila-Cordova.

Ana (42) worked at Wendy’s and was stabbed to death while taking out the trash. She was a mother of two, including a one-year-old baby.

Her killer, Rony Alvarenga-Rivera (22) is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was later… https://t.co/oPvuyjTUUI pic.twitter.com/SL1UsRMyRI

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) May 2, 2026

Now he stands charged with first- and second-degree murder in the killings of Eddy Raquel Hernandez Castillo, 32, and Ana Maria del Aguila-Cordova, 42.

Both attacks happened early Friday morning on Long Island. Ana Maria del Aguila-Cordova, a mother of two young children including a one-year-old, was stabbed to death outside a Wendy’s in Island Park while taking out the trash. She was Rivera’s coworker.

Hours later, his 32-year-old roommate Eddy Raquel Hernandez Castillo was found dead in their shared apartment building in Valley Stream. Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder confirmed: “Both females were killed by multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is also a candidate for governor of New York, did not hold back. In a press conference covered widely on X, he directly blamed failed immigration policies:

“This didn’t have to happen. This is a policy that has resulted today in two women being killed. They could’ve gone on to have very productive and happy lives. But they’re no longer with us because of failed policies in the past.”

Blakeman continued, “Why are we letting people who aren’t documented into our country?” Noting that this “unaccompanied minor” was able to “run around without any supervision whatsoever,” and then automatically get legal status.”

He highlighted the absurdity of the 2022 federal program that handed legal status to unaccompanied minors already in the U.S. and praised Nassau County’s use of the 287(g) program, a federal partnership with ICE that has removed over 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records. Blakeman noted that New York Governor Kathy Hochul wants to abolish it.

This isn’t an isolated tragedy. It is the direct, predictable result of years of open borders insanity that prioritizes foreign invaders over American safety. 

Recent examples are highlighted below:

Each time the same story plays out: an illegal migrant, often with no prior record that would have flagged him under narrow enforcement priorities, commits unspeakable violence. Officials express “shock.” Media downplays the immigration angle. And nothing changes — until the next victim.

Blakeman is right. These women did not have to die. Their killer did not have to be here. The policies that let him stay were a choice. A choice made by politicians who value open borders and cheap political power over American lives.

President Trump’s border policies have proven that this can be stopped. 

Mass deportations of criminal illegals and an end to catch-and-release are not extreme. They are the bare minimum required to protect communities.

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 Wed, 05/06/2026 - 12:45

"Data Centers Require Reliable And Predictable Energy": Riot Partners With Terrestrial Energy

Riot platforms announced a collaboration with Terrestrial Energy to pair future data centers with co-located nuclear reactors. The two companies are evaluating deploying Terrestrial’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) plants to existing Riot facilities in Texas and Kentucky, as well as multiple other potential sites. 

The headline comes on the same morning as reactor development peer NANO Nuclear announced a strategic MOU with Supermicro…

NANO Nuclear Soars On Strategic MOU With Supermicro For Powering AI Data Centers https://t.co/8evwYdhjZC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 6, 2026

Following deals that have been announced recently from hyperscalers like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, data center developers are now being more vocal than ever about their needs for reliable energy.

“Our data centers require reliable and predictable energy at the scale demanded by today’s hyperscale customers,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms. “Partnering with Terrestrial Energy positions our facilities at the forefront of data center deployment, utilizing clean energy and benefitting both our customers and the communities we operate in. The consistent baseload of power required by data centers presents an ideal pairing for development alongside Terrestrial’s IMSR Plants.”

The press release is notably lacking on any sort of timeline description for Terrestrial actually making any progress towards reactor construction. Terrestrial is significantly behind almost all of its market peers, including Oklo and NANO Nuclear. 

Oklo has made significant progress with constructing a sodium-cooled reactor at INL with the potential to take the reactor critical as early as this summer. 

NANO Nuclear has begun early site work and recently submitted a construction permit application to the NRC for deployment of their KRONOS reactor in Illinois. 

Terrestrial only has some recent document approvals from the NRC and agreements in place with the DOE. No meaningful progress has been made on constructing a pilot reactor or first-of-a-kind commercial-scale deployment.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 12:35

Give Peace A Chance

By Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabobank

It was TACO Tuesday again in the United States this week as President Trump announced that he was pausing Operation Freedom “for a short period” after it had been underway for just one day. Channelling John Lennon, Trump indicated that progress in negotiations with Iran had convinced him to ‘give peace a chance’, but that the US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place for now.

The Dow Jones, S&P500 and NASDAQ all closed higher and US stock futures are pointing to further gains. Asian stocks are mostly higher with the KOSPI breaching 7000 for the first time and Samsung joining the USD 1 trillion market cap club. Bond yields are mostly lower but UK Gilts are a conspicuous outlier in that respect, with the 10-year up 9.7bps to 5.06% and the 2-year rising even further. The Dollar is down, the VIX is down, spot gold is a little over 1% higher and Brent crude (July contract) has fallen to $108.46/bbl at time of writing.

Trump characterized the pause as coming in response to requests from Pakistan and others and told media that the indefinite ceasefire was still in effect despite Iranian strikes on the UAE port of Fujairah, commercial shipping, and US destroyers engaged in guiding commercial ships through the Strait over the last 24 hours.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that the operation which began on Monday was purely defensive, stating that “we’re not looking for a fight”. Trump had earlier characterized the effort as a “humanitarian gesture” to free trapped merchant mariners who were running short of provisions, but there is undoubtedly an added element of seeking to ease the squeeze on commercial shipping supply chains by bringing the 1,600 vessels trapped in the Persian Gulf back into the active shipping fleet.

As Operation Freedom was put on hold, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a White House news briefing that Operation Epic Fury had already concluded, thereby sidestepping a legal requirement for Trump to seek congressional approval to extend military action beyond 60 days. Given that fire was still being exchanged with Iran as recently as yesterday, many will see this as little more than a legalistic wheeze – which it may be – but the administration is clearly content to keep up the pressure on Iran through Scott Bessent’s ‘Economic Fury’ initiatives of direct sanctions, naval blockade, disruption of the Iranian shadow fleet, and secondary sanctions on countries providing support to the Iranian military. The US has also imposed sanctions on five Chinese ‘teapot’ refineries believed to be engaged in trade of Iranian crude.

Trump’s announcement on Operation Freedom coincides with Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi today travelling to Beijing to meet with counterpart Wang Yi. This comes ahead of Trump’s planned trip to China next week to meet with President Xi, where discussions over the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz are sure to be at the top of the agenda.

Might we expect some kind of grand bargain whereby China takes more assertive action to rein in its Iranian allies, aided perhaps by Vladimir Putin’s willingness to provide enrichment services for civilian purposes on Iran’s behalf and to take custody of Iran’s existing stocks of near-weapons-grade uranium? Might this also involve a Ukraine war component foreshadowed by recent unilateral ceasefire announcements from both Moscow and Kiev, at the prompting of the US?

Araghchi – along with President Pezeshkian and House Speaker Ghalibaf – is a member of the civilian government and viewed as a moderate in comparison to the hardliners of the IRGC. IRGC leader Vahidi has previously been critical of Araghchi for being too willing to do a deal with the US to end the war and re-open the Strait. As the US blockade remains in place and Iranian oil is prevented from flowing to market, storage capacity is filling up and raising the prospect that Iranian wells will need to be capped, with risks of permanent damage to oil production.

Effectively, Iran and the US are playing chicken with global energy supply chains. Iran is enduring damage directly from Economic Fury but is holding a metaphorical gun to the heads of US allies in Europe and Asia, who are facing looming shortages of key commodities and the consequent negative effects on growth, employment and inflation. The question remains: who will blink first?

This hostage dynamic is not lost on RBA Governor Michele Bullock who yesterday told journalists in Sydney that “Australian’s are poorer because of this shock to oil prices... We are poorer, and there’s no way out of that.” Bullock delivered this grim prognosis after the RBA lifted the Australian policy rate by 25bp to 4.35%. This was the third-consecutive rate hike from the RBA and brings the cash rate equal to the previous cycle high that was reached in the aftermath of the COVID-19 and Ukraine War supply shocks.

Bullock characterized the new posture of monetary policy in Australia as “a bit restrictive” and indicated that the Board feels that it has given itself a bit of breathing space to pause and assess the unfolding impacts of the Iran war, and what the implications will be for growth and inflation. However, she also noted that the RBA’s updated economic projections are predicated on the war ending “soon”, and the Strait of Hormuz reopening. If that doesn’t happen, markets will start to ponder whether recession risks or rising inflation expectations will dominate RBA rate-setting decisions in the months ahead.

Australia was carrying substantial inflation momentum into the Iran shock as three rate cuts in 2025 and continued strong government spending conspired to pump up demand growth in late 2025 and saw the economy quickly hit the rev limiter. With one more 25bp rate hike priced into the futures curve Australia now faces the prospect of a cash rate cycle peaking higher than the previous cycle for only the second time in more than 30 years.

This reflects what is happening in the 10-year bond yield where the 40-year bull market than ran from the early 1980s through to 2022 looks to be well and truly over and the new cycle might be higher highs and higher lows, like it was during the 1970s when oil shocks, trade protectionism and great power competition characterized the international environment. Sound familiar?

For her part, Bullock will be hoping that Trump and the Iranians do ‘give peace a chance’ so she can avoid those adverse scenarios and stick to the comparatively benign but still far from ideal baseline outlook that the RBA has adopted.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 12:15

Lutnick Testifying Today On Epstein Ties After Dems Demand Subpoena

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick - a former neighbor and pal of Jeffrey Epstein who emailed the sex offender about visiting his Caribbean island (and then said it was 'nice to see him' in a subsequent email) - will provide closed-door testimony today in front of the US House committee investigating the Epstein's crimes and possible lapses in the law enforcement response.

While Lutnick initially claimed he barely knew Epstein (like everybody else), emails and other documents released earlier this year by the DOJ reveals he's full of shit. 

About That Trip

As we noted in February, the trip, planned in 2012, came years after Lutnick claimed he cut all ties with the pedophile. Yet in December of that year, Lutnick sent an email to Epstein saying that he had a group of people, including his wife and children and another family, who were visiting the Caribbean - and inquired as to where Epstein was located and whether they could visit for a meal.

Epstein, replying through an assistant, set up a lunch gathering. 

When reached for comment, Lutnick told the NY Times "I spent zero time with him," before hanging up. 

The documents suggest the visit did occur. The gathering was set for Dec. 23, 2012. A day later, an assistant to Mr. Epstein forwarded Mr. Lutnick a message from Mr. Epstein: “Nice seeing you,” it said.

In a podcast interview last year, Mr. Lutnick claimed that around 2005, he and his wife had been so revolted by Mr. Epstein that they decided not to associate with him again.

Mr. Lutnick said in the interview that Mr. Epstein invited them to tour his Upper East Side mansion, next door to Mr. Lutnick’s own home. When they noticed a massage table in the middle of a room, Mr. Lutnick recalled, Mr. Epstein explained that he received “the right kind of massage” every day. Mr. Lutnick said that he and his wife quickly left and decided to “never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again.”

Except, that was complete bullshit of course.  

Lutnick's connection to Epstein isn't a huge surprise after a 2019 Crain's investigation found that sex offender had significant links to the property next to his infamous Manhattan townhouse at 9 East 71st Street. 

Crain's investigation found that Epstein's history at the address is entangled with the adjacent property, 11 E. 71st St., now home to billionaire Howard Lutnick—as well as with 301 E. 66th St., a building belonging to Epstein's brother.

An entity called the SAM Conversion Corp. purchased 11 E. 71st St. in 1988, more than a year before the Nine East 71st Street Corp. bought the former school that would become Epstein's domicile. At the time, both companies used a Columbus, Ohio, address associated with Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner, Epstein's mentor and client.

In 1992 SAM Conversion Corp. sold 11 E. 71st St. to the 11 East 71st Street Trust for "ten dollars and other valuable consideration paid by the party of the second part," records show. Martha Stark, former commissioner of the city Department of Finance, told Crain's that the $10 figure is a placeholder used in many real estate sales—a holdover from a period when the value of property transactions was not publicly disclosed.

...

In 1998 Comet Trust sold 11 E. 71st St. to Lutnick, again for "10 dollars and other valuable consideration." The real estate transfer tax payment came to $106,400, from which Stark estimated the actual price to have been $7.6 million.

Lutnick, now the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, took out a $4 million mortgage on the property the same day as the sale. His spokesperson did not reply by press time to requests for comment on the property's history and his relationship with his next-door neighbor.

Related:

• Latest Epstein Release Catches Goldman's Top Lawyer In Massive Lie
• Latest Epstein Emails Reveal Bill Gates Slipped Wife Antibiotics For STD He Got From Russian Hookers
• Palmer Luckey One-Shots Jason Calacanis Over Epstein Ties

In February, Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations Committee that he "barely had anything to do" with Epstein.  

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Why do the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December 2012?

HOWARD LUTNICK: I barely had anything to do with that person, okay?
pic.twitter.com/6wFAyKYQYR

— Lucas Sanders 👊🏽🔥🇺🇸 (@LucasSa56947288) February 10, 2026

Right... 

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 11:55

China Wants Iran War End, Pushes 'Immediate' Hormuz Reopening During Araghchi Visit Ahead Of Trump-Xi Summit

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is currently in Beijing meeting with his Chinese counterpart, FM Wang Yi, and the timing of the visit sends a resounding message to Washington and the West. The highly anticipated Trump-Xi meeting is still scheduled for next week, expected for May 14-15, though there has been ample speculation the ongoing events of the unpredictable Iran war and Hormuz Strait crisis could derail the trip at the last minute.

Of course, Iran and the question of peace will be high on the agenda as Trump visits - and currently it seems the White House is desperate to set in place some kind of final offramp, given the Tuesday night 'pause' in Project Freedom operations in the Gulf.

Upon the occasion of Araghchi's visit, Foreign Minister Wang has taken the opportunity to again call for the immediate opening of the strait. And the Iranian top diplomat seconded this at a moment the US Navy has imposed an effective blockade of Iranian ports, which of course severely impacts Iranian oil going to China. "Currently, it is possible to resolve the issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible," Xinhua quoted Araghchi as saying.

Source: Iranian Foreign Ministry

Wang during the meeting also called for a "comprehensive ceasefire," saying his country is deeply distressed by the war. Xinhua further quoted him as saying:

"The international community shares a common concern for restoring normal and safe passage through the Strait, and China hopes the relevant parties will respond as quickly as possible to the strong calls from the international community."

The two sides are clearly coordinating their messaging to some degree, given Wang also expressed that China "appreciates Iran’s pledge to not develop nuclear weapons."

Tehran has for years insisted its program is only for peaceful nuclear energy development and for domestic needs, but has amid Trump's Operation Epic Fury made clear it will never given up its right to enriched uranium. It has said this is as "sacred as the soil" and sees it as a matter of national sovereignty. This in the face of US demands that it transfer all nuclear material out of the country.

More out of Beijing on Wednesday:

“We believe that a comprehensive ceasefire brooks no delay, a resumption of hostilities is inadvisable, and persisting with negotiations is particularly important,” Wang told Araghchi at the start of their meeting, according to footage released by Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV.

...Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China to press Iran to ease its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes.

As for what China gains in this high-level diplomacy and engagement with Tehran at a moment it could face more US and Israeli bombs, Associated Press presents the following:

Some noted that the Iranian foreign minister visited at Beijing’s initiative. "It’s China exercising their leverage... to summon the Iranian foreign minister," said Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University.

"By holding the talks with the Iranians, you can't fault for them not putting in any effort," Hoo said.

As for some further specifics to come out of the Araghchi-Wang meeting, Iran "expressed appreciation for China’s four-point proposal" - according to a readout in semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

Hilarious that the message Rubio is asking China to give Iran during Araghchi's Beijing visit is that Iran is "globally isolated" when the very fact he's invited to China (and that China is now fighting US sanctions on Iran's oil) proves they aren't.pic.twitter.com/UUGmfrL2d1

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 6, 2026

"Iran supports the formation of a new framework for the post-war period in the region" the readout adds. As for the 'four points' - these were issued by Beijing earlier in the conflict and are quite broad. These official points are featured below in their entirety, via Chinese state sources:

• Stay committed to the principle of peaceful coexistence. The Gulf states in the Middle East are close neighbours that cannot move away. It’s important to support the Gulf states in improving their ties, work to build a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security architecture of the Middle East and the Gulf region, and consolidate the foundation for peaceful coexistence.

• Stay committed to the principle of national sovereignty. Sovereignty serves as a foundation for all countries, especially developing countries, to survive and thrive, and it must not be violated.

• Stay committed to the principle of international rule of law. We should safeguard the authority of international rule of law, reject selective application, and prevent the world from returning to the law of the jungle. It is important to firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

• Stay committed to a balanced approach to development and security. Security is a prerequisite for development and development serves as a safeguard of security.

If negotiations between the US and Iran don't proceed, and if they stay at 'square one', this could weaken any big leverage President Trump hopes to have entering his meeting with Xi Jinping. This is perhaps why American officials are scrambling to cobble something together, to at least cite progress toward resolving the Hormuz situation. Still Trump has insisted he has "all the cards" when it comes to Iran.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 11:20

ABC Reporter Fabricated Trump Call, Made Himself The Focus After Assassination Attempt

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

President Trump has slammed ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl for what he calls outright dishonest reporting after Karl inserted himself into the story of the latest assassination attempt on the president.

Karl appeared on ABC’s This Week shortly afterward and claimed Trump had reached out to him personally. “My phone rang shortly after 7 a.m., my landline, George actually. A number that few people call and it was President Trump calling,” Karl told host George Stephanopoulos.

Karl further claimed that Trump “said at first he was calling to see if I was okay with what happened last night. ‘Are you OK?’ And then he reiterated many of the things he said in his press conference last night emphasizing the unity that he felt in that moment that he felt at the dinner before the shooting and certainly after with people who reached out to him… And he was quite firm about this: That dinner must be rescheduled.”

NEWS: President Trump BLAST ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “Jonathan Karl, of ABC Fake News, made a statement that I called him early in the morning, the day after the assassination attempt, to ask whether or not HE was OK. No, this was a hit on ME, not HIM, and I didn’t make such a… pic.twitter.com/Xh9chkU2S2

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) May 4, 2026

This week, Trump responded directly on Truth Social, blasting the claim as pure fabrication designed to center Karl rather than the president who had just survived another attempt on his life.

“Jonathan Karl, of ABC Fake News, made a statement that I called him early in the morning, the day after the assassination attempt, to ask whether or not HE was OK. No, this was a hit on ME, not HIM, and I didn’t make such a call, why would I do that?” Trump remarked.

The president added, “He called me, but I didn’t take his call — He just confirmed that to me when he called again. I would say that’s very dishonest reporting. He’s trying to make himself look important but, I’m not surprised, because it comes from ABC Fake News!”

This appears to be somewhat deranged behavior from a legacy media figure desperate to remain relevant. Instead of focusing on the security failures, the gunman’s motives, or the president’s resolve, Karl turned the story into a narcissistic fantasy about himself – the brave reporter Trump supposedly felt compelled to check on at 7 a.m. the morning after an attack aimed squarely at the commander-in-chief.

This latest episode fits a long pattern of tension between Trump and ABC News. Readers will recall our earlier coverage of Trump calling out Karl and other ABC figures for biased and obnoxious questioning.

Trump also torched an obnoxious ABC fake news reporter over misleading boat strike video: 

And of course, ABC was forced to pay out a massive $15 million settlement last year after falsely calling Trump a rapist: 

The derangement doesn’t stop with the press. In a related development that perfectly captures the upside-down priorities in Washington, a D.C. judge has now apologized to the alleged assassin himself over his treatment in custody.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui expressed “grave concerns” about conditions at the D.C. jail, including solitary confinement and suicide watch protocols for Cole Allen, telling the suspect directly he was “very troubled” by the reported treatment. 

While security for Trump and the public remains under scrutiny after multiple attempts on the president’s life, the system bends over backward to ensure the accused gunman feels comfortable.

This is the same media and institutional class that spent years demonizing Trump, only to now feign shock when violence follows their rhetoric. 

The fake news machine keeps exposing itself, and each time it does, trust in legacy outlets like ABC erodes further.

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Tyler Durden Wed, 05/06/2026 - 10:50