Zero Rss

FDA Grants Quick Review Psychedelic Drugs, First Approvals Could Come As Soon As Summer

The FDA announced new steps to speed up research on psychedelic treatments for serious mental health conditions, following an executive order from President Donald Trump directing agencies to expand access to emerging therapies, CNBC and NBC reported this morning:

In a press release Friday, FDA commissioner Marty Makary said the medications “have the potential to address the nation’s mental health crisis, including conditions like treatment resistant depression, alcoholism and other serious mental health and substance abuse conditions.” On Monday, Makary told NBC News that with the accelerated application process, the FDA could potentially approve the first psychedelic drug by the end of summer.

The agency said this effort could support new treatments for conditions like treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and substance use disorders. Measures include prioritizing drugs with early promising results and offering incentives to companies studying compounds such as psilocybin and methylone. It also approved an early clinical trial for noribogaine, marking the first time a drug of its kind will be studied in the U.S.

Officials emphasized that these actions do not mean the treatments are approved or proven safe. All research will be closely monitored to ensure it meets strict scientific and safety standards.

Popular psychedelic names like Compass Pathways and AtaiBeckley have turned positive YTD on on the news out the last few days.

"The executive order I'm signing, we're actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment," Trump said at the signing event days ago. "These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they're both safe and effective for the American patients."

Trump's order, signed on Saturday, directs the FDA to prioritize review of certain breakthrough-designated psychedelic therapies, expands potential access under the Right to Try Act, commits at least $50 million in federal funding for state partnerships, and encourages closer coordination among HHS, the FDA, the VA, and private-sector researchers.

"In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans," Trump said, citing the veteran suicide rate.

The order also instructs the Justice Department to move quickly on rescheduling any psychedelic-based product that successfully completes Phase 3 trials and receives FDA approval.

Trump continued, "And the nice part is we're actually doing this early, but it has been going on. Research has been going on for quite some time. But, you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up, but we're changing that. This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA-approved." 

As we wrote days ago, these stocks are starting to go 'mainstream' after being ignored and out of the limelight for years. Zero Hedge contributor Quoth the Raven has named the sector his “best idea” sector for 2026.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 20:30

A Bottle Of Water Is $4.25: Walt Disney World Might Be The 'Most Expensive On Earth'

Authored by Stephen Silver via 19fortyfive.com,

“Water is $4.50 for a basic Desani. Smartwater is $6.25. Food is almost unaffordable, and people bring their own food now. Soon, we might as well call Walt Disney World here in Florida the Most Expensive Place on Earth.” 

That’s what the Editor-In-Chief, Harry J. Kazianis, an avid Disney fan, told me just recently when it came to the Most Magical Place on Earth.

Mickey Mouse Walt Disney World 19FortyFive.com Image

Clearly, he isn’t wrong: Disney has announced its ticket price calendar for 2027, and it is raising prices on some tickets, including peak days, according to the new ticket pricing calendar.

Pricing has been announced through October 2027, with pricing for November and December next year yet to be revealed. 

Disney World Prices Keep Going Up In Florida 

The ticket pricing scheme at Walt Disney World is dynamic and complex, but, as The Street reported, tickets on some dates will cost more than they did previously. 

“While base-level ticket prices remain unchanged, peak-day pricing has quietly climbed, with the most popular dates now reaching up to $219 per day,” The Street reported. “That represents a roughly 10% increase from the previous $199 peak seen in 2025, reinforcing Disney’s continued shift toward demand-based pricing.”

Each of the parks at Walt Disney World in Florida has a price range. Per The Street, The Animal Kingdom has a range of $119 – $189, while EPCOT’s range is $144 – $204. Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ cost ranges from $149 to $209, while the Magic Kingdom Park ranges from $159 to  $219. 

According to an analysis by MickeyVisit, “we are seeing large increases for single-day tickets, including new peak prices for three theme parks at Walt Disney World.” Disney World, the site says, “uses a dynamic pricing structure, which means single-day ticket costs vary depending on the date, taking into account guest demand, holidays, and other variable factors.”

Epcot in Florida. Image from 19FortyFive.com staff.

As that site said, it’s part of an upward trend in Disney pricing. 

“Walt Disney World’s prices are continuing to trend upward each time a new set of prices is released,” the MickeyVisit site said. “But if we look at the graph above, we can see that the largest shift is happening at the higher end of pricing. While the lowest 1-day ticket price has only moderately increased over the past decade, the highest-priced tickets have seen a dramatic surge, with prices more than doubling since 2015.”

“Even Disney is Worried” 

The high cost of the Disney park experience has been a topic of discussion for a long time. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal reported in February of 2025 that rising costs at the parks are a concern that the company itself is aware of. “Even Disney Is Worried About the High Cost of a Disney Vacation” was the Journal’s headline. 

It grew out of the pandemic, the Journal reported, when Disney’s parks were closed to the public for over a year, finally returning in April of 2021. 

“The Happiest Place on Earth has long felt like one of the most expensive spots on the planet for many Americans—but the allure of a magical family vacation kept visitors streaming in,” the Journal reported.

Walt Disney World Boardwalk Hotel. Image by 19FortyFive.com

“Then, as post-pandemic demand soared, Disney put price hikes into overdrive, putting vacations at its theme parks out of reach for many American families. Attendance growth has slowed over the past few years, and even some families that were once regulars are canceling their pilgrimages.”

One-day adult passes to Disneyland, in California, broke the $200 mark for the first time in 2024, the Journal story said. 

That story also noted that the rising cost has been questioned inside the company, with surveys of park-goers finding that some were concerned about pricing and considering not returning. 

“Some inside Disney worry that the company has become addicted to price hikes and has reached the limits of what middle-class Americans can afford, according to people who have worked on park pricing,” the Journal said. “Internal discussions over whether Disney parks may be losing their grip on the hearts and wallets of families with young kids have become more frequent, some of those people said.” 

Disney Annual Passholder August 10, 2023. 19FortyFive.com Image.

The Journal also estimated the average cost of a visit. 

“For a two-parent family with two young kids, a typical four-day visit to Walt Disney World, including a stay at a value-priced, Disney-owned hotel, costs $4,266 in 2024, according to Touring Plans, a data provider that helps vacationers plan theme park visits. That cost, before food and transportation costs, is up from $3,230 five years earlier, adjusted for inflation,” the newspaper reported. 

This happens as the Disney parks business has become a more important part of the Walt Disney Co.’s overall financial picture, which also owns everything from animation studios to Marvel to “Star Wars” to ABC and ESPN. And indeed, Josh D’Amaro, who formerly headed the parks business, earlier this year was named the company’s new CEO, replacing Robert Iger. 

What the New Boss Thinks 

D’Amaro has addressed the issue of rising costs at the Disney parks, including during a March shareholder call, his first as CEO. 

The new CEO was asked how the company, under his leadership, will balance shareholder growth with other metrics, such as audience satisfaction, as seen in park prices. 

“This is an important question,” the CEO said. 

“Our goal is for every single guest to feel that their experience is worth it,” D’Amaro said on that March earnings call. “Basically, we want this experience to be the best day of a guest’s life. And we’re always measuring our success here.”

He also said that guest satisfaction and other metrics are high across Disney’s parks. 

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Image Credit: 19FortyFive.com

“When it comes to how we think about pricing,” the new CEO said. “We focus on offering a wide range of options at different price points so that families can visit in ways that work for them, whether that’s during a value season or taking advantage of multi-day ticket savings or even special offers.”

The previous head of the parks division, who is now taking over as CEO, suggests there’s no major change in pricing strategy for the parks. 

“We try to provide a fair amount of choice and flexibility for guests while at the same time making sure that we’re managing daily attendance and the overall guest experience,” D’Amaro said. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 20:00

Oklo, NVIDIA, And Los Alamos Working On Plutonium-Powered AI 

Oklo announced an agreement with NVIDIA and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to advance critical nuclear infrastructure, AI-enabled research, and nuclear fuel R&D at Los Alamos. 

The partnership aligns Oklo’s advanced reactor platform, NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure, and LANL’s deep expertise in materials science and nuclear fuels. Together, the trio aims to accelerate deployment of resilient, high-assurance energy while supporting the federal government’s Genesis Mission.

Initial projects focus on physics- and chemistry-based AI models for fuel validation, materials science and fabrication R&D on plutonium-bearing fuels, and grid reliability studies for nuclear-powered AI factories at LANL. 

“This agreement brings together reactor deployment, high-performance compute, and world-class fuel and materials science expertise” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “We believe this will advance our plutonium-bearing fuel work on Oklo’s Pluto reactor, which was selected under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, and help bring resilient power in support of the Genesis Mission.”

Oklo has been finding themselves at the center of attention for multiple different private and government ventures. Meta provided Oklo a prepayment for securing fuel at a 1.2 GW nuclear campus in Ohio, and Oklo’s subsidiary Atomic Alchemy recently completed the majority of the construction at the Groves site in Texas. 

Today Jake and I signed the Certificate of Substantial Completion for the Groves Test Facility building structure. In 229 days, we turned a green field into a beautiful building with all of the infrastructure needed to support long-term operations. Our operators and research…

— Thomas Eiden (@AtomicEiden) April 21, 2026

NVIDIA’s own CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly stressed that AI factories need round-the-clock firm power, a point we highlighted when nuclear stocks surged on his comments. 

With roughly $2.5 billion in cash, no debt, and customer prepayments offsetting first-of-a-kind costs, Oklo is positioning itself as a leader in the sector. HSBC initiated coverage the same day with a Buy rating and $96 price target, citing Oklo’s owner-operator model, DOE pilot momentum, and path to first revenue later this year from its Idaho radiochemistry lab. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 19:30

US Sanctions Cambodian Senator Linked To Crypto Romance Scam Centers

Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The United States on April 23 imposed sanctions on a wealthy Cambodian senator, Kok An, who allegedly ran crypto-romance scam centers that stole millions of dollars from U.S. citizens.

Thai soldiers stand outside an abandoned scam center in O'Smach town on the border between Thailand and Cambodia on March 12, 2026. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

Kok, 71, is a political ally of Hun Sen, who served as Cambodian prime minister for 25 years before stepping down in 2023 and handing power to his son, Hun Manet. The 73-year-old is now president of the Cambodian Senate.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned 28 individuals and entities linked to the suspected scam centers.

“Eliminating fraud is a top priority for the Trump administration,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Treasury will continue to target fraudsters and scam centers that steal billions of dollars from hardworking Americans, no matter where they operate or how well-connected they are.”

Industrial-scale cyberscamming, based in scam centers in Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Cambodia, has become a major money-maker for organized crime groups.

The Treasury said in a statement that operators within this network have “stolen millions of dollars from U.S. victims while operating under the protection of Kok An and his political connections.”

Tricked Using ‘Romantic Relationships’

The Treasury said fraudsters use “the lure of friendship or romantic relationships” to coax vulnerable Americans into transferring their savings in the form of digital assets by promising investment opportunities and high returns.

Matthew Hogan, a detective with the Connecticut State Police and an officer on the Secret Service’s Financial Crimes Task Forces, told The Epoch Times last year that the biggest growth has been in long-term scams known as “pig butchering,” which involves luring people into fake cryptocurrency investments. The phrase comes from the Chinese term “sha zhu pan.”

The Treasury said Kok owns numerous companies, including Crown Resorts, and has retrofitted casinos and office parks as scam centers where workers—who are often trafficked from China and other countries—target U.S. citizens and trick people out of cryptocurrency, which is then laundered by Kok’s associates.

“Nearly all major scam compounds in Cambodia are connected to casinos, which serve to launder the proceeds of scams,” the Treasury said.

Kok is a senator from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. It was founded during the Cold War, and was close to the Soviet Union and later communist Vietnam. It dropped its Marxist-Leninist ideology in the early 1990s.

Andy Jenkinson, a fellow of the Cyber Theory Institute and author of the book “Stuxnet to Sunburst: 20 Years of Digital Exploitation and Cyber Warfare,” told The Epoch Times in April 2025 that the annual losses to cybercrime globally are “over $10 trillion, or put it another way, $32 billion a day.”

Tether Freezes $344 Million USDT

The move was announced hours after stablecoin issuer Tether froze $344 million in its USDT stablecoin, allegedly linked to “sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity.”

“When wallets are identified as connected to sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity, Tether can move to restrict those assets,” Tether said.

The company also said it maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward the criminal use of USDT, and has long followed OFAC guidelines on sanctioned individuals and entities.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 19:00

Video Game Triggers Leftist Mob With Story Of Man Protecting A Child

The political left has proven time and time again that they hate inherent masculine traits, almost as much as they hate the nuclear family and healthy population growth in the west.  Positive portrayals of the heterosexual nuclear family are in steep decline.  Children are rarely seen in media, with a disturbing uptick in adults acting like children while marketing products typically reserved for kids.  

It's as if children and happy families are being erased from popular culture.  

This agenda is made even more apparent by the bizarre reactions of feminists and left wing activists to any positive portrayals of normal family dynamics.  Specifically, straight white male role models and white fathers are not allowed to enter the picture.  If there is any form of family in media, it must be a single mother and "girl boss" raising the children on her own, or, mixed-ethnicity couples.  Even then, fatherly influence is largely diminished. 

This propaganda rule especially applies to video games where young men are most likely to be exposed.  The recent release of the sci-fi action game "Pragmata" has caused a significant stir on social media, triggering the feminist gestapo and enraging them.  In response, they have launched a disturbing (and revealing) propaganda campaign to associate the game with "pedophile content". 

Even left-wing gaming media outlet Kotaku has noticed the strange reaction among woke activists to "Diana", suggesting that this is an overreaction by a society now overwhelmed by the Epstein Files (though most people have never actual read them), as well as dark tales of child abuse from the bowels of studios like Nickelodeon. 

Though, they still attempt to justify leftist paranoia by claiming that the right wing's defense of the game and its positive messaging on fatherhood is causing the reaction.  In other words, conservatives viewing it as a cultural "win" against the woke erasure of fathers in entertainment is the rationale for the political left's crash-out.  Conservatives argue that if leftists see pedophilia in every interaction between a man and a child, then this is likely a self-report on their own evil impulses.  

If Capcom's goal with Pragmata was to make everyone who plays this game want to be a parent, then they've done an amazing job.

I always sit back when Diana starts playing and think to myself "so this is what is like having a daughter"

She's so cute pic.twitter.com/PsTMnTK6eo

— NikTek (@NikTek) April 19, 2026

It's not only feminists on the left that are acting crazy in response to Pragmata, though.  Some women in centrist and even some conservative circles are posting some of the most unhinged and unscientific commentary, suggesting that childless men are incapable of fatherly instincts, and any single men who feel a fatherly connection to the child character must be exhibiting hidden pedophile tendencies.

lots of strange reactions to this game. let’s clear some things up:

childless men do not have paternal instincts the way that childless women have maternal instincts (we observe this even in the way little girls play vs. little boys).

men first experience paternal instincts… https://t.co/1PCQgzbqOp

— mary morgan (@maryarchived) April 20, 2026

This is how pervasive the anti-masculinity narrative has become in western society.  Every interaction between men and women or men and children is viewed through a communist lens of power dynamics and predatory sexuality.  The fact that the vast majority of men are good is contrary to the agenda.  Only 3.9% of men are convicted of a violent crime.  Only 1% of men commit persistent crime.  Only 0.5% of men are convicted of sexual assault.        

When it comes to the sexualization narrative, the primary problem is, of course, that the child in the game is an android, not a human.  The fact that feminists and their ilk are hysterical over the presence of a robot child in a game is hilarious enough, but we have to keep in mind that this is not about the child and they do not actually care about pedo content in media. 

Remember, these are the same people that defended the Netflix release of "Cuties", a film made by a Muslim director which depicts actual 11-year-old girls engaging in highly sexualized scenarios.  Leftists in Hollywood have been sexualizing children in media for decades.  What they are actually upset about is the fact that the game portrays a man acting like a father, and they hate the possibility that young men will see this and be inspired.

Case in point, far-left streamer and "influencer" Hasan Piker expressed disgust over Pragmata, not because of imaginary pedophilia, but because the game might convince "loser gamers" to want a family someday.  Piker laments that people he calls “unf*ckable losers in the gaming sphere” are talking about starting families, which he doesn’t understand.  He argues that having a family is “not something that [they’re] gonna experience, ever, for the rest of their lives.”  

It should be noted that Hasan Piker is 34 and has no children.

Finally, in the bowels of the Marxist cesspool known as Reddit, moderators on some of the biggest gaming boards are censoring any positive mentions of Pragmata, indicating that the conspiracy against the messaging is widespread. 

Reddit is banning you if say nice things about PRAGMATA.

The Leftist activist freaking out about this game has to be studied.

They can’t stand wholesome family values.

They instantly project “pedo” whenever they see a kid because they have no kids and can’t imagine a parental… pic.twitter.com/kBhFbevAzw

— Grummz (@Grummz) April 19, 2026

As usual, the cancel culture mob has failed to prevent the game's success.  Pragmata has sold over 1 million copies in just a two days, and is set to become one of the most successful games of 2026.  The reason is obvious; it appeals to the largest demographic for action games:  Young men.  Not only because of the action content, but because the game gives them someone to fight for. 

It is this instinct within men that the political left fears more than anything.  

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 18:30

'Lying Scumbag': Schumer Blasted After Saying 'Nobody Respects' Border Patrol And ICE On Senate Floor

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ignited an intense political firestorm Thursday, after disparaging the nation’s top immigration enforcement agencies on the Senate floor.

During a debate over a Republican-led $70 billion funding plan for the agencies, Schumer asserted that “nobody respects” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  His remarks came as Senate Republicans advanced a budget reconciliation measure—passed 50-48—to fund ICE and CBP, bypassing Democrats. The move became necessary after Schumer refused to fund the agencies through traditional means.

The senator argued that the funding should have been tied to reforms and called ICE and CBP “lawless” agencies that need oversight.

“America is crying out for relief from high costs, and you’re here adding $140 billion to an agency—two groups—Border Patrol and ICE, that nobody respects in this country,” Schumer declared.

Schumer’s $140 billion figure combines the newly advanced $70 billion funding plan with additional funds previously allocated to ICE and Border Patrol under prior Republican legislation.

The reprehensible comments drew immediate condemnation from top Republicans.

President Donald Trump demanded an immediate apology, calling the statement “one of the most egregious, incorrect, unpatriotic, and dangerous” ever made by a politician.

“Wow! Cryin’ Chuck Schumer just said, for the whole World to hear, that “NOBODY RESPECTS BORDER PATROL OR ICE,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “That is one of the most egregious, incorrect, unpatriotic, and dangerous statements I have EVER heard from a “professional” politician,” the president added. “HE MUST IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZE TO THESE GREAT PATRIOTS, AND I MEAN NOW!”

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) stated Thursday that ICE and Border Patrol agents weren’t the problem, “Democrats are.”

“Today’s Democrats are a rogue and radical party,” Barrasso told reporters, adding that ICE and Border Patrol “deserve better than reckless Democrat hostage-taking.”

“You deserve the tools and support from Congress necessary to carry out the mission Congress has given you. Our country depends on you,” he said.

During an appearance on Fox News, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin blasted Schumer, calling him a “lying scumbag” who uses taxpayer-funded security while undermining federal agents.

“It makes my ears red,”  Mullin seethed, adding, “it takes a lot to get me upset. But Chuck Schumer, no one respects you. The definition of a lying scumbag politician, that is you; you would be the definition if you Googled you right now.”

The DHS Secretary continued his blistering retort, saying: “Why doesn’t he [Chuck Schumer] come out and be honest with the American people? He wants to have open borders.”

“You’re for open borders and you’re for criminals running amuck in our cities,” Mullin added heatedly.

He then pointed out that Schumer hypocritically enjoys taxpayer-funded security while simultaneously working to defund the agencies protecting the rest of the country.

“How about he walks around these city streets without a detail? I wonder how safe he would feel,” Mullin challenged.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 18:05

TerraPower Commences Construction of Utility-Scale Advanced Reactor

TerraPower has officially broken ground on Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming, set to become America’s first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant.

A new chapter for advanced nuclear energy🔧

We marked the start of construction on our first Natrium® plant, Kemmerer Unit 1. As the first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant in the US, Kemmerer Unit 1 will advance reliable and resilient energy. https://t.co/xaJR0T595c pic.twitter.com/XvpzJqzy03

— TerraPower (@TerraPower) April 23, 2026

The April 23 announcement marks the start of full construction on the Natrium reactor, a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a molten salt-based energy storage system that can ramp output to 500 megawatts for over five hours to handle peak demand.

The project sits near a retiring coal plant in Kemmerer, making it Wyoming’s first commercial nuclear generating station. Non-nuclear site preparation began in June 2024 after years of engineering and regulatory hurdles. 

The DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program provided public-private backing, with Bechtel handling engineering, procurement and construction, and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy contributing reactor technology. 

With commercial operations targeted around 2030, The U.S. may finally get on the board for having a utility scale reactor under construction…

Four months later, China has added 9 more reactors and is now building a total of 39 nuclear power plants. Meanwhile the US has added 0 and is still building 0 https://t.co/TJ6BoMghNk pic.twitter.com/O4idOANNUr

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 15, 2026

As we reported when the NRC granted the construction permit in March, this step represents the start of actual nuclear facility construction. Up until now, all the work at the site has been for the non-nuclear systems. We also covered TerraPower’s agreement with Meta for up to eight Natrium plants by 2035 to support data center power needs.

TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque described the moment as one the industry has been working towards for a generation. “We’re not just breaking new ground on a first-of-a-kind nuclear plant in Wyoming; we’re building the next generation of America’s energy infrastructure.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 17:40

The Pope's True Loyalty Is To Globalism, Not Christianity

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

They used to call it the “new world order” – A partially public and partially covert agenda to dismantle western civilization. Its purpose is to upend the global financial system, destroy liberty minded movements and eventually erase nations and borders to produce a single communist-like central government ruled by the elitist class.

Today, there are many names for this “beast system”. Some call it the “multipolar world order” even though it would not actually be multipolar. Others call it the “Great Reset”. But the NWO concept that has been promoted most in our post-pandemic discourse is the idea of “Multiculturalism”.

Multiculturalism has always been in the background, at least since the Obama years. It was right under the surface, waiting to be used as a vehicle to move the globalist vision forward. The American people have been prepped for it for generations. The Europeans are currently suffocating in it and it might be too late for them.

The strategy seems rather simple but it is actually a complex effort relying on numerous moving parts synchronized to maximum effect. The most important mechanism is narrative and social influence; the public has to be taught to accept multiculturalism as an inevitability. This brings us to the modern church and its abandonment of western values.

The Vatican’s Shift Into Multiculturalism

In recent news, Pope Leo XIV triggered widespread debate among conservatives when he offered up a thinly veiled attack on the Trump Administration, calling US strikes on Iran’s infrastructure akin to “war crimes”. Interestingly, Leo refused to condemn the wholesale slaughter of protesters by the Iranian regime until this week, likely due to pressure from conservative critics calling out the hypocrisy.

The Pope has been an avid critic not just of Trump, but conservative anti-immigration movements in general. In December of 2025 he argued:

“I know that in Europe there are, many times, fears that are present, but oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race. And in that sense, I would say we all need to work together…”

This runs parallel to Leo’s statements in July of 2025, when he asserted that:

“The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges… She knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

The treatment of immigrants as almost “divine” is a bizarre byproduct of the multicultural religion. This idea has been presented by several popes in recent decades, comparing refugees and illegal immigrants to the Holy Family traveling to Egypt to escape King Herod. In reality, Mary and Joseph were Roman subjects and merely traveled from one part of the Roman Empire to another. They were not “immigrants”, illegal or otherwise.

Keep in mind, the Pope lives within a secure compound protected by two miles of walls standing 40 feet high. The Vatican is one of the most restricted pieces of ground on the planet. Like most globalist elites, he never has to deal with the consequences of the mass immigration policies he supports.

For instance, the Vatican has refused to comment on the rising tide of crime and violence (including rape gangs) caused by mass immigration, specifically from Muslim countries. Nor has he commented on Islamic communities enforcing Sharia Law in Europe in defiance of integration.

In fact, Pope Leo pretends as if these problems simply don’t exist and that the millions of people opposed to third world migration are acting out of bigotry rather than a rational concern for the safety of their families and their culture.

And make no mistake, the Catholic Church has played an integral role in the spread of mass immigration. Under Joe Biden, the Catholic Church enjoyed over $200 million in direct grants for helping bring hundreds of thousands of migrants to the US. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was responsible for settling around 18% of all “refugees” and asylum seekers entering the US from 2021 to 2024.

The EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) has budgeted over $10 billion from 2021 to 2027 for organizations helping to settle millions of migrants in Europe, and a large portion of that budget goes to Catholic-based NGOs.

To many Christians the Pope still represents a central figure of influence despite the Vatican’s clear shift to the political left over the past several decades and its increasing abandonment of traditionalism. To non-Catholics (and wise Catholics), the office of the Pope is viewed as a Trojan Horse designed to destroy Christianity and the west from within.

The Vatican has grown into a purveyor of the progressive movement since the Vatican II reforms in the 1960s. These reforms including a focus on “interfaith relations” (universal religion) and a policy of detaching the church from its role as a pillar of western civilization. Today, 47% of Catholics vote Democrat despite the fact that woke ideology directly violates many of the most sacred Christian principles.

The Church’s interest in Muslim immigration spiked in 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI and they have been deeply involved with mass migration programs ever since, often in coordination with leftist politicians.

The Alliance Between The Vatican And The Luciferian Elites

Nothing woke up the masses more, in my opinion, than the nightmare of the Covid pandemic. During this crisis the globalists proudly proclaimed their intentions to lock down the world, enforce perpetual vaccine mandates, establish a medical tyranny and fast-track every NWO program imaginable.

One such program was the “Council For Inclusive Capitalism”, which I believe was the intended foundation for a global government; the top of the pyramid. The project was announced as a partnership between globalist controlled corporations, leftist NGOs, climate organizations, the Rothschild Family and, of course, the Vatican.

The Vatican’s mission within the council seemed to revolve around promoting socialism as “Christian adjacent” (This is a lie – Christianity encourages independent and voluntary charity, not forced charity through government taxation or atheistic collectivism). They were also tasked with forming a platform for a “universal religion”, or a union of religions.

The CIC took advantage of the hysteria surrounding the pandemic to advance the multicultural agenda as well as ESG (a program meant to use corporations to enforce woke ideology through social and financial influence). The project ultimately failed when the covid narrative fell apart.

The Council has since gone underground.  However, in 2026 the Vatican Bank approved the appointment of François Pauly, a former Rothschild director, to lead its Board of Superintendence.  The CIC is undeniable proof that the Vatican and associated leaders are intertwined with the luciferian elites. It is no longer a conspiracy “theory”, but a confirmed fact.

The Crusaders Were Right, The Globalist Pope Is Wrong

In 1095 AD at the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II gave a speech on the relentless invasion of the Ottoman Turks which was threatening to destroy Europe and the last vestiges of western civilization. He appealed to Christian men to stand and fight, to stop the erasure of Christendom. For 300 years the Muslims had cut into the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, migrating and conquering as they went.

By the time of Urban’s call to arms, the Islamic caliphates had taken over 60% of all Christian lands and were on the doorstep of Western Europe.

Before this speech it was widely believed that Christians would not organize or fight. The success of Urban’s plea for action shocked the Pope himself. Thus began the First Crusade to save the west. In the end, the Muslims were pushed out of Europe, back to the Arab lands. Without the crusades we would still be living in the dark ages of a Muslim theocracy.

Nothing has changed since then in terms of the conflict. The western world is still completely incompatible with Islam. What has changed, rather, is the circumstances and the players. Today, the Vatican is a multicultural monstrosity working with people who, more than anything, want open borders, the dismantling of the west and the elimination of Christianity.

They clearly see Islamic immigration (and third world immigration from socialist nations) as a valuable weapon for cleaving the US and Europe. As I noted in my recent article “The US Separation From And NATO Is Long Overdue”, European globalists have used mass immigration to implant a foreign army to subdue and control the native population. It is a tactic as old as time – Political leadership using subsidized foreign hordes as a way to control their own rebellious citizens.

This is why they have ignored every reasonable call by the populace for reforms and deportations. This is why they ignore the rape gangs, the murders, the terrorism. They WANT these things to happen. That’s why they let the barbarians inside the gates in the first place. The Vatican and the Pope are a part of this agenda. As an institution, the Papacy was tasked with protecting the western world. If the Vatican is casting aside this sacred duty, then it no longer represents Christianity.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 17:15

Why Did China Reserve A Vast Offshore Airspace For 40 Days Without Explanation?

Authored by via The Epoch Times,

China has imposed a 40-day offshore airspace restriction larger than Taiwan without explanation, signaling a potential shift toward sustained military readiness near Japan and U.S. allies.

China filed Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) reserving offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, a 40-day window, without announcing any military exercises or offering a public explanation. The reserved zones cover an area larger than Taiwan’s main island, spanning from the Yellow Sea facing South Korea to the East China Sea facing Japan, including airspace north and south of Shanghai.

The restrictions carry no vertical ceiling, designated SFC-UNL, meaning surface to unlimited altitude. Civil aviation remains unaffected. Commercial flights are still permitted to pass through these areas, but must coordinate carefully with Chinese air traffic control authorities.

NOTAMs of this type have previously been used to signal Chinese military exercises, which typically last a few days. China has issued comparable restrictions along the same coastline at least four times in the past 18 months, but those lasted only three days and were openly linked to announced exercises, missile launches, or live-fire training events.

This time, Beijing provided no warning, no declared exercise, and no explanation. China’s Ministry of Defense and civil aviation authorities issued no statements and did not respond to requests for comment.

The November and December 2024 precedent is directly relevant. In November 2024, Shanghai air traffic control issued a NOTAM restricting seven large sections of airspace off China’s coast for periods spanning three days. Those zones overlapped with airspace subsequently used during large-scale military exercises in December 2024.

China provided no reason for the November restrictions, and they passed relatively unnoticed by the international media. Analysts assessed that they may have served as a rehearsal for the more significant airspace reservations that accompanied the December exercises.

Ray Powell, director of Stanford University’s SeaLight project, which tracks Chinese maritime activity, told The Wall Street Journal that the combination of SFC-UNL designation and a 40-day duration with no announced exercise suggests “a sustained operational readiness posture—and one that China apparently doesn’t feel the need to explain.”

Christopher Sharman, director of the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, said the zones could provide China an opportunity to practice air combat maneuvers relevant to a Taiwan contingency.

Ben Lewis of PLATracker, an organization that analyzes the Chinese military and regional security development, assessed that the longer window likely gives China’s military scheduling flexibility for spring training and said he does not anticipate major exercises given the Kuomintang chair’s visit to Beijing and the planned Trump–Xi summit in mid-May.

The restricted zones lie hundreds of miles north of Taiwan but sit directly along approaches facing Japan and South Korea. A senior Taiwanese security official told the Journal the reservation is “clearly aimed at Japan,” reflecting Chinese efforts to deter U.S. allies and erode American military influence in the Indo-Pacific while U.S. attention remains on the Middle East conflict.

Past Chinese drills have focused on controlling air routes the U.S. military would use in a Taiwan contingency, and the pause in daily PLA flights near Taiwan that preceded these NOTAMs also remains unexplained.

The restrictions carry implications for the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. The United States recently moved long-range missile assets from the Pacific to the Middle East, and the restricted zones cover approaches directly relevant to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command force projection. Japan faces the most direct exposure, as the East China Sea portion of the restricted airspace faces Japan’s southwestern island chain, where Japan has deployed long-range missiles capable of reaching parts of mainland China.

By using a routine aviation mechanism without stating a military purpose, China imposes costs, heightened readiness, intelligence resources, and diplomatic caution on all three parties simultaneously, without triggering the international backlash that an announced large-scale exercise would generate.

No public U.S. government response to the restrictions has been reported. The U.S. military nonetheless continues operations in the region. USS John Finn conducted a Taiwan Strait transit on March 10, with the U.S. 7th Fleet stating the mission “demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific” and that American forces “will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows.”

On March 28, one day after China’s airspace restrictions took effect, Japanese fighter jets scrambled to intercept a new variant of China’s Y-9FQ anti-submarine warfare aircraft over the East China Sea, approximately 160 miles northeast of Okinawa. Japan’s Ministry of Defense, in releasing details of the intercept, stated that it “will continue to collect information and conduct surveillance on military movements around Japan 24 hours a day and will take all necessary measures against airspace violations.”

Japan has also increased defense spending to 2 percent of GDP ahead of schedule and is working with the United States to expand the joint military presence in Japan’s southwestern region.

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 16:25

Israeli Media Says IDF Soldiers Looting 'On A Crazy Scale' In Lebanon

Authored by Brett Wilkins

While media coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon mainly focuses on the slaughter of hundreds of Lebanese civilians and destruction of entire villages, Israel Defense Forces commanders are tacitly condoning widespread looting by their troops in Lebanon, according to reporting Thursday.

Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, interviewed a number of IDF personnel who described routine theft of items including motorcycles, televisions, paintings, sofas, and rugs from the homes and businesses of some of the more than 1 million Lebanese forcibly displaced by Israel’s assault on its northern neighbor.

Vandalized house, with Hebrew graffiti, in Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab, vai L'Orient-Le Jour.

Israel has seized control of more than 50 villages in southern Lebanon as part of its expanding so-called “Yellow Line,” with residents who cross it risking their lives. Their absence offers IDF troops the opportunity to loot with no Lebanese resistance.

The looting of civilian homes and businesses is formally known as "pillage" and is strictly prohibited under numerous Israeli and international laws and conventions. However, according to the IDF soldiers and officers interviewed by Haaretz, senior and junior commanders know about the pillaging but are not punishing offending soldiers.

“It’s on a crazy scale,” one soldier said. “Anyone who takes something – televisions, cigarettes, tools, whatever – immediately puts it in their vehicle or leaves it off to the side, not inside the army base, but it’s not hidden. Everyone sees it and understands.”

Soldiers interviewed said commanders’ responses range from turning a blind eye to prohibiting looting but not punishing offenders. “In our unit, they don’t even comment or get angry,” one soldier claimed. “The battalion and brigade commanders know everything.”

Another said that “battalion and brigade commanders do speak up and get angry, but without action, those are empty words.” Some IDF soldiers have even posted videos of their looting on social media – usually with no consequences.

Responding to the Haartez report, the IDF claimed:

The military views any harm to civilian property and acts of looting with utmost severity and unequivocally prohibits them. Any allegation or suspicion of such acts is thoroughly examined and addressed with the full weight of the law. In cases where sufficient evidence is established, disciplinary and criminal measures are taken, including prosecution. The Military Police Corps conducts inspections at the northern border crossing as forces exit Lebanon.

However, some military police checkpoints along the border have been removed, and in some locations there have never been any checkpoints at all.

🇮🇱🇱🇧IDF soldiers reportedly filmed looting homes in southern Lebanon.

The video shows troops taking belongings from civilian houses during the ground operations.

Israel’s campaign has displaced over 1 million Lebanese in under three weeks…pic.twitter.com/RRgjX8T9Rb https://t.co/iGcjA9NbXt

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 20, 2026

Widespread looting by IDF soldiers has previously been documented in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank, sometimes by the perpetrators themselves.

IDF looting has also been reported in Syria, where Israel has seized as many as 200 square miles of additional territory in 2024, including dozens of border villages, under cover of the Gaza genocide. Israel already conquered and occupied much of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967.

Israeli forces also allegedly backed Palestinians who looted Gaza aid convoys in order to boost the narrative that it’s Hamas, not Israel, thatof is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching starving Gazans.

Looting of Palestinian property was particularly rampant during the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were ethnically cleansed to make way for the establishment of Israel.

The systematic theft of Palestinian land, homes, and property – which continued with the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights in 1967 – is accelerating today, and can be witnessed in videos of settler pogroms in the West Bank and infamous footage of an American-born settler colonist telling a Palestinian family whose home he’s trying to steal that “if I don’t steal it, someone else is going to.”

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanon town of Deir Aames.

The IDF warned residents of the town earlier to evacuate after it said Hezbollah had launched rockets from the area. pic.twitter.com/FQVwrwwmPh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 24, 2026

Such unchecked usurpation emboldens further thievery. One soldier interviewed by Haaretz for Thursday’s article said the pillage would effectively end if there were serious consequences for offenders, pointing to units in which commanders took a tough stance against looting, resulting in negligible levels of the crime.

“Lenient enforcement sends a clear message. If someone were dismissed or jailed, or if military police were stationed at the border, it would stop almost immediately,” they said. “But when there is no punishment, the message is obvious.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 15:35

Fusion Energy: Why America Needs To Own Its Technology

Authored by Lawrence Kadish via The Gatestone Institute,

For decades, fusion energy has been the great scientific pursuit - clean, limitless power drawn from the same physics that powers the sun. Enormous progress has been made in the technology required to harness nuclear fusion and significant investment is now being made by private companies and President Donald J. Trump's White House.

As we advance on fusion success, however, there is a danger of progress being halted by an enormous challenge: the supply chain. Without an American-based industrial infrastructure to source, manufacture, and deliver the materials fusion energy requires, our nation's dominance in this crucial field is at risk.

Consider the "shopping list" needed to create a viable fusion reactor.

Start with its fuel, tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope. There are not a lot of tritium supplies anywhere in the world.

Accordingly, you need to manufacture them – an enormous challenge before you even get to sustaining the actual fusion reaction.

The same issue applies to magnets needed to keep the fusion reaction contained and running.

The list goes on.

It is not a secret for those advancing our nation's energy independence through fusion.

David Kirtley, CEO of Helion Energy, a major leader in the field, has stated that supply chain challenges could put fusion's future here in America at risk.

As a result, they have moved some key technology manufacturing in-house.

In testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Jackie Siebens, Helion Energy's Director of Public Affairs, stated that building the supply chain and infrastructure necessary to scale fusion is "chief among" the company's challenges.

She warned that fusion power plants will rely on key components including semiconductors, capacitors, high-quality metals, and magnets —and that the manufacturing of those key items is currently concentrated in a few countries, chiefly China. Why are we not surprised?

The geopolitical stakes could not be higher. Helion Energy correctly argues that without a strong domestic supply chain, the U.S. risks losing its strategic energy dominance even as it advances on fusion energy success

Our nation's leaders must treat protecting the supply chain with the same urgency as research funding to achieve fusion energy breakthroughs.

Washington needs to recognize the challenge and encourage the creation of an "American made" network of fusion technology suppliers that will protect our future.

It is a race where second best will leave a nation in the dark.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 15:15

Ilhan Omar Accused Of Trying To Steer $1.4M To Nonprofit With Somali Restaurant For Address

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is facing fresh accusations after Republicans flagged her reported push to direct more than $1 million in federal taxpayer funds to a small Somali-led nonprofit whose listed project address matches a Minneapolis restaurant.

The nonprofit, Generation Hope MN, describes itself as providing addiction recovery services, peer support, job training, and mental health support for the East African community. The address tied to Omar’s earmark request - 326 Cedar Ave S / 411 Cedar Ave S - matches Sagal Restaurant and Coffee, a Somali eatery. Conservative investigator Angela Rose documented the site in a video, using Google Street View archives and on-site footage to show minimal or no clinic signage over years, with the building primarily operating as a restaurant. The owner has confirmed Generation Hope uses upstairs space in the multi-tenant property, but critics highlighted the optics amid Minnesota’s fraud history.

Minnesota Rep Ilhan Omar attempted to send $1.46 million dollars in funding to an address for a nonprofit called “Generation Hope”

The address to receive the money isn’t a treatment facility, it’s a restaurant

After this was discovered House Republicans stripped the earmarked… pic.twitter.com/iwwSZMi75H

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 24, 2026

Omar, joined by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, had requested approximately $1.031 million (with some reports citing up to $1.46 million in initial figures) through the Department of Justice’s Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program for the group’s “Justice Empowerment Initiative.” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and other Republicans flagged multiple concerns: the restaurant address, three directors listing the same residential home address in filings, and the organization’s limited demonstrated capacity for large-scale treatment services. House Republicans stripped the earmark from a FY2026 spending package in January 2026. GOP senators later requested a formal DOJ fraud investigation into Generation Hope MN.

This development coincides with a separate but related state-level investigation. On April 22, 2026, Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins (R), chair of the House Fraud Prevention & State Oversight Committee, publicly released a formal data request letter to Omar after the congresswoman reportedly declined multiple invitations to testify about her MEALS Act (H.R. 6187, 116th Congress). That 2020 legislation, incorporated into the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, expanded child nutrition programs and loosened some eligibility requirements during the pandemic—changes critics say contributed to conditions enabling the massive Feeding Our Future scandal, which allegedly defrauded taxpayers of more than $250 million. Court records and trials have implicated numerous individuals in Omar’s district, many from the Somali-American community, with some having ties to her orbit (including a former staffer who pled guilty and associates at sites like Safari Restaurant, where Omar appeared in a 2020 promotional video). Omar has distanced herself from the defend ants and called the fraud “reprehensible,” while urging the public not to broadly blame the Somali community.

Robbins’ letter demands detailed records of Omar’s communications with key players, her office staff, and the Minnesota Department of Education by May 5. Omar has not publicly responded to the latest demand.

Additional layer of recent scrutiny: Omar’s amended financial disclosures and dissolved winery Compounding questions about oversight of public funds, Omar is also facing intense Republican-led scrutiny over her personal finances. In her 2024 disclosure (filed in 2025), she and husband Tim Mynett reported combined assets valued between $6 million and $30 million - a dramatic increase from prior years - largely tied to two companies Mynett co-owns: eStCru LLC (a California winery) and Rose Lake Capital (a venture capital firm). After inquiries from the Office of Congressional Conduct and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who requested records citing “serious public concerns,” Omar amended the filing in mid-April 2026. The new version lists joint assets at just $18,004 to $95,000, with the companies now valued at “none.” Her office blamed an “accounting error” in which liabilities were not properly subtracted and stated she is “not a millionaire.”

Notably, the eStCru winery LLC was officially terminated (dissolved) on April 4, 2026 - days before the amendment became public. Independent investigator Angela Rose (who also produced the Generation Hope video) previously visited the listed address and described the operation as a “phantom” or shell business: no active wine production, no tastings, no product available for purchase, and a facility sign confirming it had “ceased operation.” ZeroHedge and other outlets have reported on suspicions of inflated valuations and potential shell-company activity.

No criminal charges have been filed against Omar personally in any of these matters. Her office has defended the MEALS Act as emergency pandemic aid, distanced her from Feeding Our Future defendants, and called the disclosure revisions voluntary and accurate. Generation Hope’s supporters maintain it is a legitimate community organization operating within available space. Rose Lake Capital and eStCru have faced prior investor disputes, but Mynett has denied wrongdoing.

Still, the overlapping controversies - the earmark red flags, the state records demand, deep ties to individuals later implicated in fraud schemes, and the sudden financial disclosure swing followed by a business dissolution - have fueled outrage among critics who argue they reflect insufficient transparency around public funds and personal finances in Omar’s district. With the May 5 deadline approaching, lawmakers, watchdogs, and taxpayers are watching closely for any response.

We can't wait for absolutely nothing to happen to her. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 14:55

FDA Approves First Gene Therapy To Treat Deafness

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

Federal regulators on Thursday approved the first gene therapy to restore hearing, just two months after the therapy’s maker formally requested a license.

Dr. Marty Makary, the Food and Drug Administration's commissioner, in an undated file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Food and Drug Administration approved the Regeneron therapy, Otarmeni, for children and adults with severe or profound hearing loss associated with OTOF gene variants.

The approval came 61 days after Regeneron filed for a biologics license, under a new effort known as the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher Program that emphasizes quickly reviewing applications for products that address unmet needs.

“Today’s approval is a significant milestone in the treatment of genetic hearing loss,” Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA’s commissioner, said in a statement.

“Through the national priority voucher pilot program, the agency is accelerating therapies for rare diseases with unmet medical needs while proving we can successfully review even the most complex submissions—such as novel dual vector gene therapies and combination products requiring coordination across multiple offices and centers—in significantly shortened timeframes.”

Genetic mutations account for about half of cases of inherited hearing loss. Variants in the OTOF gene account for 2 to 8 percent of those cases.

To treat deafness, Otarmeni is administered to each ear using a syringe and catheter provided in the accompanying kit.

Regulators approved Regeneron’s therapy after reviewing data from a clinical trial involving 24 patients aged 10 months to 16 years. Of the 20 patients included in the efficacy analysis, 80 percent experienced improvement in hearing after receiving Otarmeni.

Common side effects of the drug included ear infection, nausea, and dizziness.

Dr. A. Eliot Shearer, an otolaryngologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an investigator in the trial, said in a statement released by Regeneron that the one-time therapy provides “remarkable hearing improvements.”

“I’ve witnessed firsthand my trial participant responding to their mother’s voice, dancing to music and interacting with the world, and these moments are now possible for more children born with this specific form of hearing loss,” he said.

Dr. Marty Makary, the Food and Drug Administration's commissioner, in an undated file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Regeneron said it will provide the therapy free of charge to patients in the United States as part of a deal struck with President Donald Trump and announced on Thursday.

Dr. George D. Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, said in a statement that Otarmeni was an “unprecedented breakthrough” in gene therapy.

“Otarmeni is a huge scientific leap and is representative of Regeneron’s approaches to continually push the boundaries of science to benefit humanity,” he said.

“This unprecedented breakthrough in gene therapy has already proven to be life-changing for many of the children in our clinical trial and their families. We are honored to be in the position to be the first company to ever offer such a gene therapy advance for free to those in the U.S. and serves to highlight our belief that the biopharmaceutical industry can be a genuine force for good in the world.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 14:35

Race To Refill U.S. Weapons Stockpiles Will Supercharge War Economy

The U.S. military's 55-day war with Iran has alarmingly drawn down several categories of high-end air-delivered munitions, forcing the Department of War to draw from critical stockpiles in Asia and Europe. The drawdown of these weapons only suggests a possible readiness problem and helps explain why President Trump's war economy is set to accelerate, with expected increases in munitions production. 

The New York Times has released a report that says since the US-Iran conflict began in late February, the US military has burned through roughly 1,100 JASSM-ER long-range stealth cruise missiles, more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, over 1,200 Patriot interceptors, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS missiles.

"The Iran war has significantly drained much of the U.S. military's global supply of munitions, and forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe," the outlet said, citing internal Defense Department estimates and congressional officials.

The report continued, "The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, and it has forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions, Trump administration and congressional officials say." 

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, stated earlier this week, "At current production rates, reconstituting what we have expended could take years." 

One of the first major signals that the DoW was set to call on private industry to begin ramping up Trump's war economy was a report earlier this month that said the Trump administration was exploring whether U.S. manufacturers, including GM, Ford, GE Aerospace, and Oshkosh, could convert civilian industrial capacity into weapons production as multiple conflict areas across Eurasia drag on and deplete critical weapons stockpiles.

The historical precedent is that America converted its automotive base during World War II to produce record numbers of main battle tanks, bombers, and fighter planes to win the war.

"The United States has many munitions with adequate inventories, but some critical ground-attack and missile-defense munitions were short before the war and are even shorter now," Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the outlet. He recently published a study estimating US weapons stockpiles.

Evidence of converting underused civilian industrial capacity has recently emerged, with the German automaker Volkswagen set to transform its Lower Saxony factory from producing T-Roc Cabriolets to manufacturing parts for the Iron Dome missile interceptor system.

The important signal we are gathering here is that the US may have to convert underutilized civilian industrial capacity, including truck and auto production lines, to weapons output.

To be frank, this is no longer peacetime procurement. It is wartime industrial mobilization, with Washington now being forced to confront the gap between the weapons it burns in the Middle East and the weapons its defense base can actually replace.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 14:15

Watch: GOP Rep. Declares SPLC "Absolutely" Culpable In Charlie Kirk Assassination

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

Rep. Andy Ogles was adamant when asked if the Southern Poverty Law Center bears responsibility for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The Tennessee Republican connected the dots between the SPLC’s long-running smear campaign against conservatives and the fresh Trump DOJ indictment exposing the group’s fraudulent operation funding the very extremists it claimed to oppose.

In a bombshell interview on The Benny Show, Ogles laid out the case plainly, tying the SPLC’s “heat map” of supposed hate groups directly to the violence that claimed Kirk’s life. 

The timing couldn’t be more damning: just one day after the DOJ dropped its 11-count indictment against the SPLC for wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering tied to over $3 million in donor funds secretly funneled to KKK leaders, National Socialist Movement members, and other violent extremists.

Congressman Says SPLC Is ‘Absolutely’ Culpable in the Assassination of Charlie Kirk

The SPLC's disgusting "Hate Map" didn't just smear conservatives like Charlie as racists and Nazis — it incited violence against them.

I asked Rep. Andy Ogles if he believes the SPLC bears… pic.twitter.com/fVFqX3meFd

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 22, 2026

As we highlighted, the Trump DOJ’s action exposed the SPLC’s decade-long scheme. 

The group raised millions by promising donors it would dismantle racist hate groups—then turned around and paid their leaders to stage activities the SPLC could report on, all while branding mainstream conservatives as the real threat. 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it bluntly: “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”

Ogles made the direct link to Kirk’s murder crystal clear.

“Absolutely, if you and I did that, they would be coming after us. They threw everything at us that they could… just follow the facts… If the right was doing this to the left, I mean, we all would have been in jail,” Ogles stated.

He continued: “Kudos to the DOJ for going after this. It can’t be lost, ladies and gentlemen, when you think about the murder of Charlie Kirk, when you think about some of these hate crimes that have happened across this country, would they have happened had it not been for this vile rhetoric from the left?”

Ogles didn’t stop there. He zeroed in on the SPLC’s infamous “heat map” that painted Kirk and Turning Point USA as dangerous extremists right up until the activist’s assassination.

“People need to understand that this conspiracy that was built by the left to paint the right as racist and Nazi and violent is totally fabricated!” he declared.

“So that begs the question, this HEAT MAP that they created, this vile contempt for Republicans, how did that play into Charlie Kirk’s murder?”

“Were they there on January 6th? You have millions upon millions of dollars. I mean, even in Nashville, you had the Patriot Front, they were posing as Nazis, marching in Nashville, right? You have a conservative organization, several in my district that are on this heat map of being the alt-right hate groups.”

The SPLC’s pattern is now impossible to ignore. For years the group has wielded its “hate map” like a weapon, smearing pro-life organizations, border security advocates, and America First voices as domestic threats. Kirk called them out repeatedly—exposing the fraud before his death. The SPLC kept attacking anyway.

The Trump DOJ’s indictment confirms what Kirk and countless others warned about: the SPLC wasn’t fighting hate. It was profiting from it, using donor cash to prop up the very groups it listed while targeting conservatives who dared push back against open borders, woke indoctrination, and deep state overreach.

The SPLC’s rhetoric helped create the toxic environment where political violence against figures like Kirk became thinkable. Ogles is right to demand real consequences. When the left’s smear machine gets exposed funding actual extremists, the same rules they demand for everyone else must finally apply.

The broader picture shows a pattern of leftist hypocrisy now unraveling under Trump’s DOJ. Multiple outlets have covered the indictment, confirming the SPLC secretly paid informants inside the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist groups from 2014 to 2023.

The group deceived donors, hid payments through shell companies, and used the resulting “reporting” to justify its bloated budget and political hit lists.

Charlie Kirk was right about the SPLC all along. His murder demands more than thoughts and prayers—it demands justice. The Trump administration’s move to hold these frauds accountable is a vital first step in restoring sanity and protecting free speech from the real inciters..

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:55

DOE's Nuclear Fuel Consortium Announces Seven-Year Plan

After eight months of closed-door meetings, the Department of Energy’s Defense Production Act (DPA) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium has rolled out its latest effort: a plan to strengthen America’s entire domestic nuclear fuel supply chain… over the next seven years.

BREAKING: @ENERGY is deploying the Defense Production Act to ensure that the U.S. will have the nuclear fuel it needs to power the reactors of today and tomorrow.

Representatives from 90+ companies have signed up to help secure our nuclear fuel supply chain.

Learn more:… pic.twitter.com/ts6wJ7MXho

— Office of Nuclear Energy | US Department of Energy (@GovNuclear) April 23, 2026

Unveiled at a public meeting in Washington, the “Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33” initiative brings together more than 90 companies to tackle every link in the chain, from mining and conversion to enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, recycling, and reprocessing.

Officials outlined three broad goals for 2033: building a secure, cost-competitive domestic supply chain; accelerating advanced reactor deployment while closing the fuel cycle; and leveraging the DPA framework to align workforce development, financing, innovation, and collaboration. They also floated a series of 60-day sprints aimed at delivering quick wins.

What remains unclear is exactly how any of this will happen. No detailed roadmaps, budgets, or specific milestones were provided, leaving observers to wonder: what exactly has been going on for the last eight months since the consortium was announced? 

We have followed this process closely since the group’s kickoff last October, after President Trump’s May 2025 executive orders targeting the nuclear industrial base. The DOJ’s grant of antitrust immunity to let fuel companies coordinate without legal risk was also recently announced. 

The United States is expanding its nuclear supply chain, but the pace still lags behind surging demand from data centers, manufacturing revival, and national energy-security priorities.

Is it just a lack of real urgency? Maybe the American tech bros running some of the new nuclear startups should take some notes from the Iranian nuclear industry about quickly rebuilding the nuclear fuel chain…

IRAN'S ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY SAYS NUCLEAR SITES QUICKLY BEING REBUILT, ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE WITH GREATER POWER – IRANIAN MEDIA

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 22, 2025 Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:25

Dr. Oz Demands States Take Action On Medicaid Fraud

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

The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanded that states across the nation take action to crack down on fraud in Medicaid, one of the federal government’s health insurance programs.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaks during an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” in Washington on Jan. 16, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

In letters to state Medicaid directors, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said they should develop and file with his agency a comprehensive strategy to ensure that Medicaid providers are legitimate.

“Corrupt individuals and organizations masquerading as health care providers are defrauding Medicaid, and American taxpayers, of billions of dollars each year, placing valuable resources out of reach for those the program was intended to serve: low-income senior citizens, children, and disabled individuals,” Oz wrote.

Oz had recently previewed the effort, saying it would involve proving whether the providers “actually exist.”

“I love Medicaid; I cannot say that more fervently,” Oz said at a summit held by Politico. “If you love something, you protect it. You don’t let it get defrauded. You don’t let it get taken advantage of.”

If states do not take action, then audits may be an option, he said.

CMS has been investigating Medicaid and Medicare, and officials have said they have identified billions in fraudulent or potentially fraudulent spending, leading to actions such as deferring $259 million in payments to Minnesota. They have had to clarify some claims, including acknowledging an error in calculations regarding New York.

The new letters said CMS is acting under its responsibilities outlined in federal law, including the Social Security Act, and that CMS understands that states face challenges administering the complex Medicaid program. Oz said in the letters that CMS analyses are suggesting “a persistent and growing Medicaid threat posed by sophisticated actors knowingly exploiting these complex systems for financial gains.”

“A foundational element of Medicaid program integrity is ensuring that only legitimate, qualified providers are enrolled and participating in the program,” Oz said. “Confirming that each state maintains accurate and regularly updated provider enrollment information is a critical foundation of CMS' efforts to safeguard Medicaid program integrity, as it supports effective screening, monitoring, and oversight of participating providers.”

States were instructed to notify CMS of revalidation plans within 10 days and to follow up within 30 days with the strategy to make sure that providers are valid. It did not include any audit threats for noncompliance.

CMS declined to comment on the letters.

Oz added in a video statement that criminals are costing billions in taxpayer funds each year, and taking resources away from the needy.

“Here’s the bottom line: It’s time to make sure that providers of high-risk services are valid and meet all the requirements to deliver care to Medicaid beneficiaries,” Oz said in the video.

States have the ability to define which providers are high-risk, which might include providers without national identifiers, according to Oz.

“These are the gaps that criminals, including foreign nationals, exploit,” he said. “Revalidation works. It forces accountability, it removes bad actors, and it sends a clear message that the Medicaid system is not an unguarded piggy bank.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:05

U.S. Wheat Futs Hit Two-Year High As Wall Street Sounds Alarm Over Drought Shock

Hard red winter wheat climbed to a two-year high by the end of the week, as our coverage of the drought shock now hitting America's Breadbasket raises serious alarm bells on commodity desks.

The concern is not just reduced crop yields and quality. It is colliding with fertilizer shortages and elevated diesel prices, creating a broader inflationary transmission channel that could work its way through the food supply and translate into higher supermarket prices down the road.

Hard red winter wheat rose another 1% on Friday, with gains for the week approaching 6%. Active futures contracts in Chicago are now at their highest level since June 2024. Contracts are up 28% on the year.

On Thursday, UBS analysts, led by Jonathan Pingle, told clients that the drought conditions impacting the U.S. agricultural belt rank among the worst in more than 130 years:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Palmer Drought Severity Index hit its highest level for March since records started in 1895, and March was the third-driest month recorded, regardless of time of year, behind only the famed 1930s Dust Bowl: July and August 1934. Water levels on the Mississippi look fine, as the seasonal lows are typically in the fall, but river levels in Memphis sit 24 feet below this time last year.

Pingle warned clients, "All eyes have been focused on the Middle East, but another supply shock may be unfolding in U.S. agricultural production."

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 12:45

Jane Street Made A Record $40 Billion In Trading Revenue Last Year, More Than All Wall Street Banks

The 10am slam in bitcoin, which we documented virtually every days since 2024 may have ended once Jane Street got busted for insider trading in the Terraform collapse, but that doesn't mean that the Wall Street HFT trading giant slowed down. On the contrary: according to Bloomberg, Jane Street Group reeled in a Wall Street record $39.6 billion of trading revenue last year, more than any Wall Street bank.

According to the report, the firm beat out all global investment banks after reaping $15.5 billion in the year’s final quarter, and with only 3,500 employees, it beat nearest rival JPMorgan by 11% during the year. The company's adjusted ETBIDA for the full year was a stunning $31.2 billion. 

While Jane Street’s profits were lifted by surging valuations of its stakes in privately held companies, the firm’s main business matching buyers and sellers across assets thrived on bouts of market volatility. The new annual record - which includes gains on long-term investments - shows "how the balance of power has shifted in one of the most lucrative arenas of global finance."

Jane Street’s "appetite for risk" helped the firm generate more than $11 million of revenue on average per employee.

Jane rivals Citadel Securities and Hudson River Trading also notched records of their own last year, pulling in a more modest $12.2 billion and $12.3 billion respectively, Bloomberg has previously reported. They and Jane Street have filled voids left by banks more focused on higher-returning businesses. JPMorgan posted $35.8 billion of trading revenue in 2025 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. $31.1 billion.

For banks, Jane's ascent - marked with various regulatory mishaps - is a manifestation of the fears they have long harbored about someday losing ground to upstarts when US regulators imposed prop trading rules which sought to curb betting by deposit-taking institutions after the 2008 financial crisis. Nonbanks don’t face the same strictures on capital as those too-big-to-fail lenders, and they have capitalized aggressively.

Starting in 2000, Jane Street cut its teeth trading American depository receipts, and later specialized in exchange-traded funds. It has since expanded across asset classes around the world, often profiting from mismatches in prices. At its core an HFT firm, Jane Street developed technology for handling thousands of trades within seconds like other high-frequency firms, but it also reaps gains by holding some positions for hours, days and even weeks.

While it has kept a remarkable low profile, its recent public appearances have been less than laudatory: The company's record haul is confirmation that Jane Street, long known for its secrecy, was able to keep growing after getting thrust into the spotlight in mid-2025 when authorities in India accused of manipulating markets while running what had once been one of the firm’s most lucrative trading strategies. Jane Street has denied those allegations and is fighting them in court. In February, Jane Street was sued by the bankrupt Terraform Labs estate, accusing it of engaging in insider trading that precipitated the $40 billion crash of cryptocurrencies associated with Terraform; this week the HFT firm also urged a judge to throw out that lawsuit.

Jane Street’s stake in rising artificial intelligence venture Anthropic PBC was the driving force behind $830 million of third-quarter gains from bets on private firms. That September, Anthropic boasted a valuation of $183 billion. Since then, the maker of the popular Claude artificial-intelligence model and developer of the much-feared Mythos has raised money at a $380 billion valuation and later received offers from investors for a round of funding that could value it at about $800 billion or higher.

Jane Street is also in funding talks for cloud-computing startup Fluidstack Ltd. and recently invested an additional $1 billion in AI cloud services provider and CoreWeave Inc.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 12:22

Cava's Lone Bear Analyst Flags Weak Foot Traffic After Stock's 123% Surge

Northcoast Research analyst Jim Sanderson has emerged as Cava Group's lone bear on Wall Street, warning in an interview with Bloomberg that the stock's 123% rally has gone too far.

"The risk profile, given what I see macroeconomically, is unnerving," Sanderson said in the interview. He noted that the recent surge in the stock has made it very expensive to own.

He continued, "The red flag for me was seeing that traffic at some of the mature locations seemed to be very underwhelming, and in many instances, trending negative for several months relative to the peer group."

Cava is the Mediterranean version of Chipotle and builds customers' meals around greens, rice, or pita, then adds proteins, spreads, toppings, and sauces. As with any fast-casual restaurant chain, there is typically a period of consumer hype. And as we all know, on a long enough timeline, nothing lasts forever.

Cava stock is trading at a hefty premium to both the broader market and industry peers. It trades at 159 times forward earnings, compared with Chipotle at about 28 times and the S&P 500 Index at nearly 21 times.

Bloomberg data show Sanderson is the only bear, as Wall Street analysts are largely bullish. There are 17 "Buys" on the stock, along with 13 "Holds." The average 12-month price target is $88.95.

Sanderson's interview follows a note earlier this week from Goldman analyst Christine Cho, who said fast food's "bang for the buck" promotions are working while casual dining's appeal is sliding.

If Sanderson's data on underwhelming foot traffic at certain mature locations is accurate, it may suggest that management will eventually need to deploy discounts or promotions to re-energize consumer interest in Mediterranean-style bowls, salads, and pitas. Otherwise, Cava's Wall Street growth story could seriously lose momentum.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/24/2026 - 12:05