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One Dead, 15 Missing After "Significant" Flash Flood Rips Through Grand Canyon

The National Park Service said flash floods swept through a section of Arizona's Grand Canyon, leaving one person dead and 15 others unaccounted for.

⚠️ UPDATE: Significant flash flooding in Bright Angel Canyon has closed Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the entire North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, Black Bridge, Silver Bridge and the Colorado River to river traffic until further notice.

As of this morning, 62 people… pic.twitter.com/oohovKcax9

— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) August 30, 2026

The flooding struck the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area at about 2:30 p.m. local time Saturday. Recovery crews found the body of a 46-year-old man near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River on Sunday evening.

"As of this evening, recovery operations have been completed for a 46-year-old male near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River. The Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office is currently onsite. There is no additional information to share at this time. We will provide updates as soon as available," the National Park Service wrote on X late Sunday.

August 30 Update — 6:30 PM:

As of this evening, recovery operations have been completed for a 46-year-old male near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River. The Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office is currently onsite. There is no additional information to share at this…

— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) August 31, 2026

Footage:

Hikers and campers scrambled for cover as a storm triggered heavy rain and flash flooding in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch regions of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The storm caused significant damage to nearby footbridges and trails, according to the National… pic.twitter.com/NRNmfdmmC1

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 30, 2026

DRAMATIC NEW VIDEO!

Flash flooding led to a nightmare at Mooney Falls in the Grand Canyon on Friday resulting in a life-threatening situation. Waterfalls of rushing water forced hikers to take shelter in this cave until conditions improved.#azwx pic.twitter.com/ZY00ch2xv1

— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) August 25, 2024

The flooding also damaged the Transcanyon Waterline, forcing the National Park Service to implement strict water restrictions across the area. The outage could affect drinking water supplies for visitors, as well as operations at hotels, restaurants, campgrounds, and even emergency facilities.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 10:00

Strategy Buys $370M Of Bitcoin In First Purchase Since June

Via Decrypt.co,

Strategy has started buying Bitcoin again after a summer spent selling it.

The Bitcoin treasury company picked up 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million in the week to August 30, at an average of $80,318 apiece, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

That takes its stack to 845,050 BTC, bought for $63.73 billion at an average of $75,412.

It paid for the purchase by issuing stock. Strategy sold 4,531,421 MSTR shares through its at-the-market programme over the same week, raising $602.8 million net of commissions.

Bitcoin took $369.7 million of that, STRC buybacks $151.8 million, dividends on the same preferred stock $50.7 million, and $30 million went into its USD Cash account.

This is the biggest purchase since May 18th...

Selling low, buying higher

Strategy sold 6,948 BTC for roughly $432.5 million between May and August, working out at about $62,250 a coin. It has now bought back at $80,318, roughly 29% higher, leaving it 2,345 BTC lighter than before the selling started, with about $63 million of the difference retained in cash.

When STRC slipped below its $100 par value in June, a funding route Strategy had used to buy Bitcoin closed off, and the company built a Digital Credit Capital Framework authorising up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin sales to cover dividends and buy back preferred shares at a discount. It resumed buying only once MSTR recovered enough to make equity the cheaper option.

The firm's dollar pots have grown alongside. The USD Reserve, ring-fenced for preferred dividends and debt interest, stood at $5.10 billion on August 30, with the unrestricted USD Cash account at $1.61 billion. Combined, the $6.71 billion puts net leverage at 0.0%, the company said.

Strategy also repurchased 1,557,177 STRC shares for $151.8 million during the week, leaving $364.8 million of the $1 billion digital credit repurchase authorisation. A separate $1 billion authorisation to buy back MSTR stock remains untouched.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 09:40

Michigan Senate Candidate El-Sayed Apologizes For Comments After Synagogue Attack

Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times,

Progressive Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, apologized on Aug. 29 for comments he made in March after an armed assailant drove into a Detroit-area synagogue and opened fire.

El-Sayed, who edged out establishment candidate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the Democratic primary earlier this month, apologized to the state's Jewish Democratic Caucus for linking the local attack to Israel's actions in the Middle East.

"My comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify," El-Sayed told reporters Saturday in Lansing.

"To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I'm really sorry. That was not my intention."

The former Wayne County health director initially released a statement that attempted to link the actions of the shooter, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, to events that impacted Ghazali's family in the days leading up to his attack.

"Ayman Ghazali lost family, including two children, in an airstrike in Lebanon last week," El-Sayed said in his statement back in March.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that Ghazali's brother, who was killed in the Lebanon strike, was a Hezbollah commander.

In a March video statement, El-Sayed said: "Ayman Ghazali hurt people."

"There is no justification for what he did. It was wrong and he never should have done it. Hurt people hurt people. A week earlier, an airstrike killed his niece and nephew. Imagine if that had never happened. Imagine there was no war in Iran. Imagine if there were no airstrikes in Lebanon. Imagine if his family had never died. Imagine there was never an attack on Temple Israel. That's the world that we want to live in. That's the world we need to build for."

Ayman Ghazali died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the synagogue attack. A security guard, who Ghazali hit with his car, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

At least 30 law enforcement officers went to the hospital for smoke inhalation caused by the burning car.

No children or staff were injured.

El-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers, a former U.S. Representative, for the open U.S. Senate seat held by U.S. Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, who did not run for reelection because he wanted to pass the job to the next generation.

"I always knew there would come a time to pass the torch to the next generation of public servants and allow them the opportunity to bring fresh energy and ideas to our nation's capital," Peters said when he revealed he was not running for reelection in January 2025.

"Our founding fathers envisioned members of Congress as citizens serving their country for a few terms and then returning to private life. I agree. After three terms in the House and two terms in the Senate, I believe now it's time for me to write a few more paragraphs in my current chapter and then turn over the reins.

The Cook Political Report has rated the race between El-Sayed and Rogers as a "Toss Up."

Five out of six polls taken in August show El-Sayed with a slight lead, while one poll from Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research shows Rogers with a slight lead.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 09:00

Stock Futures Drop To Close Out August As Oil Jumps On Renewed Iran Hostilities

US stock futures dropped in thin trading with most traders out as summer draws to a close, while oil prices jumped after the US and Iran exchanged attacks for first time in weeks. Brent futures rallied almost 4% topping $90-handle and WTI contracts rise above $86 a barrel. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures dropped about 0.2% and contracts on the Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.1% as most Mag 7 stocks drop while energy stocks rise (CVX +2%, XOM +2%) with as tensions resume in the Middle East. Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 equity index edged 0.2% lower, with UK markets closed for a holiday. Asian equities fall across the region. Nikkei sheds almost 1% while the Kospi closed flat, reversing an earlier loss. Hang Seng drifts 0.7% lower and ChiNext is down 1.3%. The dollar weakens against most FX majors. The yen strengthens back below 160/USD following Treasury Secretary Bessent’s BOJ remarks. Offshore yuan is 0.1% firmer after a small manufacturing PMI beat. Treasury 10-year yields are flat at 4.72% after Friday's post J-Hole blowout as the curve bull steepens despite higher energy prices. In commodities, the overnight Middle East attacks are driving oil prices higher with WTI above $85/bbl and Brent above $90/bbl. Elsewhere base metals are outperforming precious even as gold recovered from a $50 drop to trade unchanged around $4,460 an ounce. This week’s macro data include ISM / NFP with NFP one of 2 key prints (CPI) for the Fed to determine a Sept hike. Stronger ISM may boost the broadening portion of the rally. AVGO earnings may boost the Tech / AI theme.

• In premarket trading, Mag 7 stocks are mostly lower with the exception of NVDA which rises 0.6% after Friday's slide (Apple -0.3%, Meta -0.1%, Amazon -0.4%, Alphabet -0.5%, Tesla -0.6%, Microsoft -0.6%)
• BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN) rises 4% after the company said it had entered into binding terms with Ascendis Pharma, resolving the patent and ancillary disputes concerning Ascendis’s Yuviwel.
• Energy stocks (CVX +2%, XOM +2%) rise with oil as tensions spiked in the Middle East, with the US and Iran exchanging strikes for the first time in about a month and Tehran claiming a tanker was hit by mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) rises 2% after UBS analyst Alex Stansbury raised the recommendation on to buy from neutral.
• PG&E (PCG) falls 15% and Edison International (EIX) declines 5.5% as California legislators introduced a bill that would update the state’s wildfire response without shifting liability away from publicly traded utilities.
• Pinterest (PINS) slips 3% after announcing Chief Financial Officer Julia Brau Donnelly will step down from her role on Oct. 30 after three years with the company.
• Science Applications (SAIC) rises 8% after the government IT services contractor boosted its revenue guidance for the full year.
• SLB (SLB) inches 1% higher after agreeing to acquire Kelvion, a firm that provides data center cooling solutions, from investors including Apollo Funds for $3.4 billion in cash.

In other corporate news Amgen’s Repatha (evolocumab) reduced the risk of death by 20% in high-risk adults without prior heart attack or stroke, versus placebo, in a pre-specified Phase 3 trial. SpaceX and NASA are delaying the launch of a planned mission to the International Space Station to fix an oxidizer leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system. Shein Global Holdings Ltd. priced its IPO in Hong Kong. The fast-fashion retailer raised $1.7 billion, giving it a market value of $26 billion that’s a far cry from the $100 billion it once commanded. The shares fell as much as 17% in gray market trading.

US markets are set to open lower in the last trading session of a low-volume August as oil prices jumped on the back of renewed hostilities in the Middle East. A renewed rise in oil prices complicates the outlook for interest rates as investors digest Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s hawkish inflation comments at Jackson Hole. Traders boosted bets on a September rate hike after he spoke, although some market commentators expressed skepticism about such a move. That said, traders already have an eye on the month ahead, with cross-current signals from other assets including bonds, the energy complex and currencies, while conversations on AI capex are never far from earshot. 

A lot of weekend commentary was devoted to digesting the Warsh speech at Jackson Hole, with some commentators of the view that it wasn’t as epochal as the volume of attention suggests. Yes, the tone was hawkish, but some bond investors are voicing skepticism about Fed hikes. Warsh said financial conditions aren’t currently restrictive and described rates as the Fed’s “predominant tool” for achieving its mandate, while stopping short of signaling support for a hike in September. Even so, bond investors at ABN Amro Investment Solutions and Brandywine Global Investment Management are skeptical that higher rates will happen

The Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977 lists three objectives: maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The third receives remarkably little attention, with the first two hogging the limelight, notes Gary Paulin of Northern Trust Asset Management. “Could that objective become more important if the other two prove difficult to manage simultaneously?” Paulin thinks it could.

Meanwhile, real-world inflation remains in view: Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter of soybeans, cotton, coffee, sugar and orange juice, is about to kick off planting season facing a global diesel crunch colliding with a seasonal spike in demand for the fuel. Goldman Sachs stepped up warnings of tightness in global refining driven by wars in the Middle East and between Moscow and Kyiv, with the bank more than doubling its forecasts for profits from making diesel.

Additionally, the US-China AI funding divide remains a perplexing question for investors. While hyperscalers have gone from accounting for 2% of US nonfinancial investment-grade bond issuance in 2025 to 19% this year, China’s AI race is creating no such pressure on yields as its tech firms rely predominately on bank loans and equity financing rather than the bond market. But a resource-hungry AI revolution will require broader funding avenues over the long run. Speaking of AI, SK Hynix is studying the feasibility of a joint venture to make memory chips in Japan to meet surging AI demand while controlling production costs. And Amazon is expected to be the next hyperscaler to tap Australia’s debt market for billions of dollars in capital, according to the Financial Review. 

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) has increasingly become an expression of semiconductor/AI FOMO, with investors chasing upside through long calls, creating a “vol up/spot up” dynamic at times this year before the recent reversal. And the semiconductor cohort that drove the early summer tech melt-up is giving way to other pockets in tech, as explored in today’s Taking Stock column. 

In geopolitics, this week’s G20 meeting in North Carolina is in focus. The US Treasury has excluded journalists from several media outlets, including Bloomberg News, from the gathering. Bessent is said to be pushing the G20 to rethink China trade terms, Reuters reported.  

European stocks trade sideways at the start of the week with the Stoxx 600 down 0.1% as oil prices and bond yields rose amid simmering tensions between the US and Iran, and on low volumes, with London closed for a bank holiday.  Here are the biggest movers Monday:

• Engcon gains as much as 9.5%, the most since July, after Swedish business daily Dagens Industri named the construction equipment firm its stock of the week, recommending readers buy shares in the company
• InPost trades little changed after its stronger than expected 2Q profitability was overshadowed by a weaker outlook for the remainder of the year, with new EU customs rules on small parcels set to weigh on volumes in Poland
• Bakkafrost shares fall as much as 7.6%, the most since July, after the salmon farmer reported its latest earnings. SB1 Markets says another weak quarter in Scotland weighs on the result due to “significant” biological issues

Asian stocks recovered from earlier declines as South Korean shares swung to a gain, while regional financial companies also advanced. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed after earlier dropping more than 1%. Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.5%, led by gains in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, while China’s CSI 300 Index rose 0.3%. Regional stocks had fallen at the start of trade after Fed chair Kevin Warsh sounded hawkish in his comments at Jackson Hole on Friday. MSCI’s regional equity gauge has risen 3.1% in August, snapping two months of declines.  A gauge of Asia’s bank shares led gains on expectations of higher yields. Energy and utilities stocks also rose on higher oil prices stemming from the US attack on Iranian rocket launchers that were preparing to send mines into the Strait of Hormuz. A gauge of Asia’s bank shares led gains on expectations of higher yields. Energy and utilities stocks also rose on higher oil prices stemming from the US attack on Iranian rocket launchers that were preparing to send mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Warsh had warned inflation isn’t meaningfully slowing and added policymakers must be confident that it is clearly moving to their objective. Otherwise, they “have work to do.”

Warsh’s remarks “were the clearest signal yet that the Fed sees inflation, not growth, as the bigger risk right now,” said Billy Leung, an investment strategist at Global X Management. “Markets have quickly repriced September hike odds.” “On the positive story, under the surface is that AI monetization is broadening out,” Leung said. “We saw enterprise software and cybersecurity names post some of their strongest moves of the year on earnings, which tells you the AI trade is no longer just about chips and hyperscalers.”

In FX, the dollar weakens against most FX majors. The yen strengthens back below 160/USD following Treasury Secretary Bessent’s BOJ remarks. Offshore yuan is 0.1% firmer after a small manufacturing PMI beat.

In rates, treasury 10-year yield eases a basis point to 4.71%. Australian yields are little changed. JGB futures inch slightly lower.

In rates, treasuries mixed with the yield curve steeper in thin trading conditions with UK market closed for a bank holiday. Front-end tenors outperform as investors continue to digest Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s hawkish comments on inflation last week in Jackson Hole, which spurred the biggest increase in 2-year yields since June 17 as additional tightening was priced in. Front-end yields are 1bp-2bp richer on the day, long-end tenors cheaper by about 1bp, steepening 2s10s by about 2.5bp, 5s30s by about 2bp, unwinding a small portion of Friday’s dramatic flattening move; 10-year yields are little changed around 4.72% Long-end tenors may benefit over Monday’s session from anticipation of buying related to the month-index index rebalancing at 4pm, which will increase its duration by an estimated 0.10 year.  Regarding Fed policy expectations, around 16bp of tightening remains priced in for the Sept. 16 decision; Barr, Waller and Hammack are scheduled to speak this week before the Sept. 5 start of the external communications blackout around that meeting. IG dollar issuance slate empty so far, and Treasury coupon issuance is on hiatus until next week’s 3- and 10-year note and 30-year bond auctions.

In commodities, oil benchmarks are up more than 3%, after tensions rose in the Middle East, with the US and Iran exchanging strikes for the first time in about a month while Tehran claimed a tanker was hit by mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent futures rally almost 4% topping $90-handle and WTI contracts rise above $86 a barrel. Gold falls more than $40 to near $4,410 an ounce.

US economic data calendar includes August Dallas Fed manufacturing activity at 10:30am; ahead this week are ISM manufacturing and services gauges, JOLTS job openings, ADP employment change and, on Friday, the August jobs report

Market Snapshot

Top Overnight News

• Iran and the United States traded attacks for the first time in over a month overnight into Monday. Iran fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for a strike on Iranian rocket launchers that the US said were trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The exchange of strikes came just days after President Donald Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz free from mines and is a break with Washington’s recent shift in focus to maximizing economic pressure on Iran rather than military actions. CNN
• Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the U.S., with the supreme leader urging the government to address the hardship and the president saying foreign trade has shrunk by a third due to the American sanctions and blockade. Yet Tehran signaled no retreat on Saturday, ‌vowing to withstand U.S. pressure, pursue diplomacy and maintain what it said was control over the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters
• President Donal Trump said Friday night the United States has reached an oil agreement with Venezuela, a move he said will “more than double” American oil reserves, increase oil supply and lower gas prices. The deal is said to “secure majority control” of more than 65B barrels worth of oil reserves in Venezuela, or ~20% of the country’s total. CNN / FT
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he will encourage G20 members to re-examine terms of ‌trade with China to shrink global imbalances and press Beijing to rebalance its economy away from exports and toward domestic consumption. Bessent said in an interview ahead of a G20 finance leaders meeting that the current flood of exports from China was unsustainable, even though the U.S. direct trade position with China was "rapidly improving." Reuters 
• China’s official manufacturing PMI remained in contraction in August, suggesting that momentum has yet to rebound after July’s sharp downturn. BBG
• China will start checking the security of its military supply chains, joining other nations in ramping up self-reliance of their defense industries.
• Iranian authorities seized an unidentified bulk carrier for polluting waters in the Persian Gulf near Bandar Abbas, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reports.
• SK Hynix is exploring a joint venture to make memory chips in Japan to meet surging AI demand, Chairman Chey Tae-won said. BBG
• South Korea’s industrial production for Jul came in ahead of expectations at +0.2% M/M (vs. the Street -0.5%). BBG
• Russia’s Defense Ministry said it is planning “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, days after launching a devastating attack on a warehouse near Kyiv, amplifying fears of another winter assault. CNBC  
• September is historically the worst month for Wall St, and traders are preparing for volatility during the coming weeks, with the FOMC meeting on 9/16 potentially a major catalyst. Barron’s 
• A bipartisan US bill would permanently ban Chinese internet-connected vehicles, and target Chinese software and hardware in US autos: NYT 

Geopolitical Update

• US attacked two missile launchers of the IRGC on Larak Island on Sunday, which were said to be on standby to launch missiles with sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz, while there were later reports of explosions heard near Larak Island.
• US Central Command said IRGC claims of US aggression in the Strait of Hormuz are false, but added the US conducted limited precise action against IRGC minelaying forces that posed an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US strike on Larak Island would be met with a response and punishment, while it said several soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded in the assault.
• Iran's Revolutionary Guards later announced that they retaliated with missiles and drones against two US bases in Jordan and warned that any attack against them will be met with a more devastating response, although a US official cited by Fox News stated no major damage in Iranian attacks on US forces in Jordan and that all missiles were intercepted.
• Iran's Press TV noted reports of Iran firing missiles towards US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and there were reports of explosions heard in the UAE and in Qatar, while Iran's army later said it launched tens of drones at the Al Minhad air base in the UAE.
• IRGC said a supertanker caught fire and was halted after being struck by two naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, while it added that the tanker was attempting to pass illegally through the Strait of Hormuz and that ships must comply with its rules for passage. IRGC separately announced that it shot down a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
• Iran's Foreign Ministry said it will respond decisively to any further enemy military aggression, and stated that the US and parties supporting its military actions bear full responsibility for consequences of escalation.
• US President Trump reiterated in a pre-recorded Fox News interview that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and said the Iran blockade has been unbelievable, while he also commented that the US had to intervene in the Middle East to prevent Iran from using a nuclear weapon against Israel and other countries in the region and possibly against the US.
• US President Trump posted a generated video with the caption "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!"
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said the US Treasury plans to impose more Iran secondary sanctions every week, starting with banks. He also stated that they are telling banks it's not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the Iranian regime, and they will probably just sanction a bank outright next time, after the US imposed curbs on an Egyptian bank's United Arab Emirates branches.
• Iranian President Pezeshkian said they are not looking for war, but will give a decisive response to the aggressors, while he added that instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any countries and will create challenges for everyone.
• Iran's President said on Friday that Iran is ready for cooperation and understanding with regional countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while it is to open its route if four commitments are met. He also stated that Iran is to increase gasoline prices, and that exports and imports have decreased by up to 35% because of US sanctions and the blockade.
• US officials said they are monitoring the Strait of Hormuz and will strike any forces that threaten navigation in the waterway, Al Arabiya reported.
• Iran's IRGC Navy said compliance with regulations issued for the Strait of Hormuz is mandatory and warned against being “misled” by the US, Press TV reported.
• Yemeni armed forces reportedly targeted Saudi ships in the Red Sea, ISNA reported citing Yemeni media reports.
• UAE Ministry of Defense denied reports that Al Minhad Air Base was targeted by missiles, calling the claims unfounded and saying it remains on high alert and fully prepared to respond to any threats.
• Iranian oil operations are continuing on Kharg Island, and the oil sector there has not stopped, Al Hadath reported.

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks were mostly lower heading into month-end and after recent hawkish comments from Fed Chair Warsh at Jackson Hole, while tensions in the Middle East escalated over the weekend after the US and Iran resumed strikes for the first time in over a month. ASX 200 saw mixed price action and was initially kept afloat amid strength in the top-weighted financials sector and with gains also seen in energy, utility and consumer industries, although upside was limited and eventually reversed following disappointing Private Sector Credit and Company Profits data. Nikkei 225 gapped lower at the open to below the 66,000 level, although it was off today's worst levels as participants also reflected on stronger-than-expected Japanese Industrial Production and Retail Sales data. KOSPI retreated amid weakness in its tech heavyweights and with a report noting that day traders are abandoning Korean chip leveraged ETFs in large numbers, with leveraged ETFs targeting twice the daily returns of chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, on course for their first monthly outflow. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were subdued, with risk appetite not helped by the latest official PMI data, in which headline Manufacturing topped forecasts, but Non-Manufacturing disappointed and both remained in contraction territory.

Top Asian News

• Japanese government is to request JPY 143tln for the budget (general account) in FY27, Nikkei reported citing sources.
• South Korean President Lee nominated Lee Hyoung-il as the new finance minister and Kang Shin-chul as defence minister.
• China’s MOFCOM targets around CNY 60tln in total retail sales of consumer goods by 2030.
• New Zealand government cancelled fuel tax hike planned for next year.

European bourses are mixed to start the week, with Italy's FTSE MIB outperforming while Germany's DAX 40 lags. To note, UK markets are closed today for a Summer Bank Holiday. Little in terms of newsflow; however, the US and Iran exchanged strikes for the first time in around a month at the weekend, with the US targeting Larak Island while Iran struck two US bases in Jordan. Overnight, South Korea's KOSPI gapped lower and traded with losses as much as 3.6%, before reversing and closing with gains of 0.5%. Samsung Securities' Roy Lim explains this reversal by pointing to notable buying by pension funds, primarily in tech names. Lim said pensions bought KRW 120bln worth of shares over a 20-minute period heading into the close. Sectors are mixed. Chemicals top the sector pile, with Autos and Energy completing the sector outperformers. Tech is the laggard, with worries that the Fed hiking rates will drag yields higher and, in turn, weigh on tech. Real Estate and Industrials round out the sector laggards.

Top European News

• German North Rhine Westphalia CPI (Aug MM) 0.2% (Prev. 0.9%).
• German North Rhine Westphalia CPI (Aug YY) 2.9% (Prev. 2.7%).

FX

• Some USD weakness emerged this morning with DXY falling to a base around 99.50 which is the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the 99.19-99.72 rally seen after Warsh’s speech. Sell side commentary viewed the speech as hawkish, but Morgan Stanley said it was “not convinced it means hikes are coming” while GS said nothing is yet baked in and with focus on incoming data. Some also note algos reacted to Warsh’s use of “hike” within the context of “hikes on the trails”, in his use of a Kohn/Bernanke analogy. Note, month end may be playing a part in some of the moves seen this morning, where Barclays sees moderate USD selling.
• Action elsewhere paints the picture of the weaker USD, with all majors firmer vs. the Buck.
• JPY leads with earlier, modest losses accelerated around 160.00 where it fell to a 159.74 base. Data overnight showed better-than-expected Japanese Industrial Production and Retail Sales data, though nothing which moved JPY at the time.
• EUR keeps focus on French politics where PM Lecornu’s preview of the 2027 budget ruled out tax increases and de-indexing small pensions. In terms of the 2027 presidential election, an Elabe poll showed Le Pen victorious in every run-off tested, while Philippe (centre) currently appears best placed to challenge, polling at around 47.5%. On the left is Mélenchon, whose odds have ticked lower in recent days, perhaps a welcome development to EUR and EGBs. For now, EUR within a thin 1.1578-1.1606 with UK participants away on Bank holiday. To remind, Barclays sees moderate EUR buying vs USD.

Fixed Income

• A contained start to the week for fixed income. The European morning has been particularly quiet, owing to the fact that the UK is away on Bank Holiday. USTs are currently firmer by a few ticks, in 108-01 to 108-09 parameters; note, the initial low went below last week’s trough by half a tick, and any resumption of the move looks to 107-31+ from the last week of July.
• Overnight, USTs, JGBs and Bunds were all in relatively narrow ranges and ultimately didn't significantly differ from the unchanged mark. Broadly speaking, the main focus was the weekend’s geopolitical updates and particularly US action on Larak Island and then Iranian retaliation.
• Geopolitics aside, desks remain focused on the speech by Fed Chair Warsh last week, which had a hawkish skew and has contributed to the implied probability of a September 25bps hike increasing to just under 60% currently via CME, vs around 41% one week ago.
• Bunds reside in the red by a few ticks. Nonetheless, the benchmark holds at the upper-end of 123.43-60 parameters. No move to the German State CPIs, which saw the Y/Y tick up modestly from the prior, in-fitting with consensus for the 13:00BST mainland figure. On Tuesday, we get the Flash EZ HICP series, and given what we have seen so far the energy component may be the most pertinent.

Commodities

• Over the weekend, tensions between the US and Iran escalated after US forces struck IRGC missile and minelaying capabilities on Larak Island, prompting Iran to retaliate with missile and drone attacks against US and regional military targets. Further, Iran reported striking a tanker with mines, downing a US drone and targeting US vessels, while both sides exchanged warnings of further retaliation. President Trump reiterated that Iran cannot obtain nuclear weapons, while Washington is also intensifying economic pressure through additional sanctions. Despite the escalation, Iranian leaders said they do not seek war and remain open to regional cooperation, whilst also warning of a decisive response to further attacks.
• WTI Oct and Brent Nov futures gapped higher at the open after the US and Iran resumed strikes for the first time in over a month. The contracts are firmer by over 3%, with USD 84.11-86.53/bbl and USD 89.03-91.38/bbl ranges respectively. Dutch TTF surged by some 4% intraday and tested EUR 70/MWh this morning. “Tight supply entering the heating season leaves the market vulnerable to spikes higher later in the year”, ING says.
• Metals are flat/mixed with the complex somewhat cushioned by the softer USD despite the backdrop of higher energy prices. Spot gold moves closer to its 100 DMA to the downside (USD 4,370/oz) after dipping under Friday’s low (4,445/oz) to trade in a current USD 4,396-4,472/oz range. 3M LME copper trades in a narrow USD 14,223.68- 14,388.55/t.

Central Banks

• Riksbank Deputy Governor Jansson said Sweden’s inflation outlook has become more uncertain after unexpectedly high inflation readings this summer but the Riksbank's have scope to wait before adjusting monetary policy, even if there are some risks of elevated inflation going forward. Jansoon added that Sweden’s economic recovery could prove more persistent than expected but does not currently see signs that Sweden’s economy is at risk of overheating soon.
• New Zealand NZIER Shadow Board recommended the RBNZ hike the OCR by 25bps to 2.75% at its meeting this week.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• The EU is to unveil "one of the biggest" Russia sanctions list in retaliation of hybrid threats, with the package to come alongside bilateral measures being prepared by Berlin, POLITICO reported citing sources.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky is to send top sanctions adviser to Capitol Hill this week in a bid to convince House lawmakers to drop their opposition to the Senate-passed Russia sanctions bill, Punchbowl reported.

US Event Calendar

• 10:30 am: Aug Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, est. 1.6, prior 1.3

 

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 08:39

Book-Sellers Alarmed As AI Giants Shred Millions Of Books

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,

Charlie Becker's family bookstore in Houston has been connecting people with literature for more than 30 years.

Becker said the family has "seen a lot of changes" since his dad opened the used and rare book store in 1993.

Charlie Becker, owner of Becker’s Books, in Houston on Aug. 8, 2026. Mark Felix for The Epoch Times

When he was 12 years old, Becker remembers his dad making one of the store's first larger purchases. Another local business planned to get rid of its collection of books, but first called Becker's father.

"It was in their [company's] last days, and they said my dad had to pick up the books. I went with him to the warehouse," he said.

Becker grew up with that story of rescuing books bound for a landfill with his dad. Over the years, he has watched the entire industry of acquiring and selling books change with the rise of the internet, digital cataloging, and the emergence of major sellers such as Amazon.

For generations, booksellers have worked to preserve humanity's writing. However, the recent revelation that millions of print books are being scanned to train artificial intelligence models and then destroyed presents an unprecedented challenge.

To make matters worse, book collectors and sellers say there's no easy way to make it stop.

The practice of what has been dubbed AI "book shredding" burst onto the scene after a 2025 court document revealed that AI tech giant Anthropic purchased millions of printed books, removed their bindings, then scanned each page into digital datasets. Afterward, Anthropic shredded and discarded the originals.

It was revealed that the project was part of an ongoing expansion of Anthropic's central library, which has an aim to collect "all the books in the world" and retain them "forever." The undertaking was called Project Panama.

Pages from Anthropic's website and the company's logo are displayed on a computer screen in New York City on Feb. 26, 2026. To train artificial intelligence models, the tech giant purchased and scanned millions of printed books, then shredded the originals. Patrick Sison/AP/File

The same document noted that Tom Turvey, former head of partnerships for Google's own book-scanning project, was hired to acquire material for the project. Turvey's team emailed "major book distributors and retailers about bulk purchasing their print copies for Anthropic's 'research library.'"

Court filings from the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit, unsealed in January, named retailers such as Better World Books and World of Books as vendors from which Anthropic acquired thousands of books.

Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.

"Sourcing books is a widely used approach for training large language models across the AI industry," an Anthropic spokesman told technology website Tom's Guide. "None of our data acquisition programs buy and destroy rare or antiquarian books."

While a federal judge ruled the destructive scanning of legally purchased books qualified as transformative fair use-alteration of an original work for a new purpose-the practice has sparked a growing wave of public outrage.

Concern is also growing among book dealers, many of whom say systematically shredding books means more than just losing words, but also cultural artifacts.

Between the Lines

"What I've been hearing is alarming. People are right to raise a red flag about it," Susan Benne, executive director of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, told The Epoch Times.

The association has been a trusted source of rare and print books since 1949. Benne said the destruction of printed materials, even if they're not rare or antiquarian, strikes at the heart of something sentimental in most people.

"Just the attachment to maybe something you read as a child or in college, I think it's hard for a lot of us to see that kind of destruction," Benne said. She compared AI book shredding to a flood, a museum fire, or a similar disastrous event that wipes out a repository of human knowledge and culture.

"It hits the same nerve."

Books fill the shelves at Becker’s Books in Houston on Aug. 8, 2026. The book industry has changed dramatically since the store was founded in 1993, from the rise of the internet and Amazon to the use of books to train artificial intelligence models. Mark Felix for The Epoch Times

Becker agrees with this and thinks the practice of destructive book shredding, particularly to train AI, triggers something "visceral" in people. "I do think we lose something culturally when certain books are deemed as commodities or expendable," he said.

However, Becker said it's important to clarify that not all of the books being fed into the jaws of AI training were rare or out of print.

"A lot of people are upset because they have the idea that it's all these rare books like priceless works," he said. "But people need to keep in mind, a lot of times it can be stuff like an old GE refrigerator manual."

Benne concurred. "Just because something is out of print doesn't mean it's rare. From what we've heard, many [of the books] were common items."

However, she added, "That's not to say people shouldn't be worried."

Suspicious Orders

One of the greatest challenges to stopping this practice is a lack of transparency around who is buying the large volumes of books.

In July, a 404 Media report flagged the book database ISBNdb for promoting print book acquisition services that would keep buyer information confidential.

(Left) A sign for Becker’s Books in Houston on Aug. 8, 2026. Owner Charlie Becker attributes a recent spike in book sales to “AI book shredding,” the practice of buying, scanning, and shreding books to train artificial intelligence models. (Right) Books are stacked at Becker’s Books in Houston on Aug. 8, 2026. Mark Felix for The Epoch Times

ISBNdb has since changed the landing page on its website titled "Printed Books Sourcing for Your AI LLMs Dataset Needs." The website now states that the company was "exploring demand" and has "chosen to pivot away from that direction."

When questioned about this practice, a representative from ISBNdb reiterated the statement on the company's website. ISBNdb has never "purchased, scanned, or destroyed a book for AI training or anything else," the representative told The Epoch Times. "We have never bought or sold printed books for AI training: no orders, no purchases, no books."

But even if they had, that's just one aspect of the issue. Non-disclosure agreements can be involved when sellers are working with big buyers, Benne said. "It's not currently common practice to ask a seller, 'What are you going to use this book for?'"

The lack of available information is why Becker thinks it's important to know what books are being scanned for AI use and then destroyed.

"Literally no one knows; that's part of the problem," he said. "Somebody who cares about our literary heritage should be in that pipeline somewhere, but that's not what's happening."

Back in April, Becker noticed a sudden spike in book sales: between double and triple his usual weekly sales tally.

Working in the warehouse for his family's store, he said, "You kind of get a feel for what people order."

The warehouse holds about 300,000 titles, and when the sales volume began picking up, he dug into the orders.

"That's when I went online, and I saw a lot of people were talking about the same thing," he said.

"This is crazy. I counted, I looked deeper: The last 100 book orders we'd received, 95 were from the same buyer. For all the book orders to come in that way, it was very strange."

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 08:25

24 States To Sue US Postal Service Over Mail-In Ballot Restrictions

When did "election integrity" become such a contentious issue in the US?  Perhaps it was election night in November 2020 when Joe Biden and the Democrats received an impressive "hockey stick" spike in votes after most Americans went to bed.  Most of these votes came from absentee mail-in ballots, an event which inflated Joe Biden's numbers to 81.2 million - The greatest number of votes any candidate has ever received in US history.

That's right, the candidate who was rarely seen for half of the campaign cycle and who could barely fill a room during campaign speeches was apparently the most popular candidate of all time.  

It's understandable why a large percentage of the public viewed this incident with great suspicion.  In 2024, with covid confusion gone and all eyes watching the polls carefully, Kamala Harris fell short of Biden by 6.3 million votes.  Ironically, many Dems suggested that that the election was "rigged" in Trump's favor because of the sizable discrepancy between Harris and Biden. 

They didn't consider the possibility that the 2020 election might have been rigged in Biden's favor, giving him a vote count that probably won't be matched again for many elections to come.

Or, maybe Joe Biden really was that charismatic, earning the most votes of all time.  He's a sharp and engaging guy.  In any case, the Trump Administration has made election integrity the centerpiece of its political mission.  Two important policies are at stake:  Voter identification which nearly 80% of the public supports, and limitations on mail-in ballots including tracking and verification to prevent fraud. 

Democrats are aggressively opposed to both, calling the measures "racist" and "fascist". 

Why?  Probably because they want the option to cheat.  There's really no other explanation for standing against secure voting.  Trump's efforts to pass these rules into law through traditional congressional measures has been met with numerous obstacles, including a small handful of Republicans who are siding with the Democrats. 

Trump is now trying alternative pathways. The March 2026 executive order that triggered the USPS rule is titled Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections. It says unique ballot-envelope identifiers such as barcodes “enable confirmation that only citizens receive and cast ballots, reducing the risk of fraud and protecting the integrity of Federal elections.”

The Postal Service also reserves the right to reject ballots without proper verification of legal voter recipients.  Sounds like commons sense, and the Supreme Court has agreed, for now.  The court issued a procedural stay that let the executive order move forward, but the legality remains in question.  

Meanwhile, 24 states and the District of Columbia have moved to sue the Postal Service to prevent ballot tracking measures.  The rule would require states to enroll mail-eligible voters in a USPS portal, use USPS-approved ballot envelopes with trackable barcodes, and allow USPS not to deliver ballots that do not meet those conditions.

The states argue that this exceeds USPS’s authority, interferes with states’ control of elections, and risks blocking lawful ballots shortly before the November 2026 midterms. 

Democrats in multiple states have been rather open about their intentions to allow illegal immigrants to vote in elections.  For example, the D.C. Council (Democratic) passed the Noncitizen Voting Act in 2022. It lets noncitizens vote in local D.C. elections. During House voting to repeal that law (2024 and again June 2025), 148 Democrats voted no - meaning they wanted D.C. to keep illegal immigrant voting in place.

Ballot measures help to prevent blue states from skirting federal voting laws when it comes to citizenship.  

The blackpill argument in light of voter fraud is that the system is "already too far gone to save", but there's no such thing as an overnight fix.  Such problems take years to develop and they take years to remedy, starting with basic baby steps and fundamentals. 

Extensive tracking of mail-in ballots to make sure they're secure and legitimate is a no-brainer.  It should already be law.  The fact that certain groups don't want any verification in place for voting tells us everything we need to know about their intentions.    

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 08:05

Bessent Convenes G20 Finance Chiefs To Confront China's $1.2 Trillion Trade Surplus

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors later today in Asheville, North Carolina, to discuss strategies for reviving economic growth, correcting global imbalances, reassessing trade relationships with China, and addressing the sovereign debt mess.

The agenda today will also include plans to deepen Iran's economic isolation, Reuters reported, citing a senior US Treasury official. The discussions signal a continuation of the financial-pressure campaign Bessent unveiled last week (read here).

"The world cannot have a China with a $1.2 trillion trade surplus," Bessent told the outlet on Sunday. "The rest of the world is going to have to examine their terms of trade with China."

Bessent accused Beijing of attempting to "export its way" out of an economic slowdown by flooding overseas markets with cheap Chinese goods that undermine foreign industrial bases. He said G20 members should pressure China to stimulate domestic consumption rather than dump goods in overseas markets.

A Treasury official told Reuters, "And so we're really focusing on this head-on in our G20 discussions to ensure that our economies compete on productivity, innovation, and investment, and not on just sort of policies that push excess production and excess capacity into global markets."

The comments from Bessent and the Treasury official echo similar comments from the administration, which is pressuring Beijing to change its export-heavy economic model because of the damage it inflicts on foreign industrial bases. Europe's auto manufacturing base has found that out the hard way with the flood of BYD EVs. 

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Axios earlier this month, "We did that for 25 years with our best people, and everything got worse," referring to efforts to persuade China to shift toward greater consumption.

The Treasury's warning ahead of today's G20 meeting comes as the Trump administration prepares to impose a 7.5% tariff on Chinese goods over excess manufacturing capacity. The measure would restore Trump's second-term tariffs on China to roughly 20%.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters earlier today that any differences with the US should be resolved through dialogue.

"China-US economic and trade ties are mutually beneficial in nature," Guo said at a regular briefing in Beijing. "China never seeks a trade surplus and opposes unilateral tariff measures in all forms."

Last Monday, Bessent announced "Operation Economic Outcast" against Iran, resulting in sanctions against nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, including many based in China. The objective is to break China's reliance on cheap crude imports from the Gulf region.

Politico recently reported that hawkish lawmakers on Capitol Hill have urged the Trump administration to target large Chinese banks to cut off Iran's economic lifeline.

The Trump administration appears to be recalibrating its pressure campaign against the world's second-largest economy carefully ahead of President Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month. We suspect the Trump team is negotiating with China before the meeting, with any meaningful escalation in tariffs or sanctions more likely to follow after the meeting. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 07:20

China's Record Ship Swarm Around Taiwan Sends Decoupling Alarm To Wall Street

One of our emerging investment themes (beyond nuclear, AI, and "Powering Up America") is the accelerating US-China decoupling, with a particular focus on companies with robust ex-China supply chains as Beijing increasingly weaponizes exports of strategic materials, including tungsten and germanium.

At the same time, the Trump administration's expanding sanctions campaign against Chinese entities linked to Iran is adding another friction point to an already deteriorating bilateral relationship. Looking toward 2027, one of the biggest geopolitical tail risks could be a Chinese blockade of Taiwan, which would severely disrupt global trade, semiconductor production, and critical supply chains.

The latest report from Taiwan's main English-language daily newspaper, the Taipei Times, shows that China deployed a record 244 coast guard, research, and other government vessels around the island.

The surge in Chinese vessels surrounding Taiwan, in what may be a mock blockade run, exceeded June's total of 55 vessels and averaged nearly 8 ships per day. Another 152 were detected during the first three weeks of August.

About 60% of the ships were Chinese coast guard ships, while research and other government vessels accounted for the rest. The figures exclude the People's Liberation Army Navy warships operating around Taiwan almost daily.

"When we say the situation is becoming increasingly severe, we mean that the number of their government vessels in the waters surrounding Taiwan has increased, and there was a marked increase in July," a senior Coast Guard Administration official told the local outlet.

The outlet said the Chinese vessels were likely involved in "oceanographic sampling and seabed survey operations," which could contribute to China's "anti-submarine warfare databases."

Ryan Martinson, an expert on China's maritime strategy at the US Naval War College, told the outlet that "any kind of data/knowledge is highly useful for Chinese naval forces, which will operate in these waters in the event of a conflict."

In the past couple of months, Martinson said he had observed a "very large increase" in the number of Chinese research ships operating around Taiwan, especially to the east of Taiwan proper.

"This is not a new 'play' in its 'playbook.' Rather, the novel aspect is that the scale of these operations around Taiwan is unprecedented," he said.

Overnight news:

Overnight, 3 out of 3 sorties consisting of PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels, and 5 official ships crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern and eastern ADIZ.

-Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense pic.twitter.com/MTIYAH2Cob

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 30, 2026

What is becoming evident is that China may not even have to fire a shot to isolate Taiwan. However, we do not expect a future quarantine or blockade before Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President Trump in Washington on September 24.

After the Trump-Xi summit, however, China hawks on Capitol Hill could get their way, as a new Politico report says lawmakers are pressing the Treasury Department to target Chinese banks over Iran.

"Any country complicit in providing an economic lifeline to Iran's terrorist regime, including China, must be held accountable," said Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Select Committee on China.

LaHood noted that sanctions on Chinese banks that do business with Iran would send "a clear message to China and every other nation that enabling Tehran's malign actions will come at a cost."

Taken together, the surge in Chinese government vessels around Taiwan appears less like routine maritime activity and more like preparation for a future quarantine or blockade. 

For markets, any move toward a blockade would accelerate US-China decoupling and trigger severe disruptions across semiconductors, shipping, energy, and critical-material supply chains.

Decoupling Theme:

• China's Tungsten Chokehold Turns Almonty Into a Critical-Metal Lifeline
• "BlackDiamonds Are Forever": How To Profit From The China-Driven Germanium Squeeze

We're already mapping out critical material supply chains outside China to help readers be well prepared for what seems to be an incoming crisis. 

Notably, a blockade or quarantine could be imposed at virtually any time of year and is not weather-dependent. However, a full-scale Chinese invasion has two favorable windows:

• Spring: roughly March through May, with April often cited as the best month
• Autumn: roughly late September through November, with October often cited as the best month

Beijing does not need favorable invasion weather to begin isolating Taiwan. The record number of ships around Taiwan may only suggest that much more is to come.

This also comes as President Trump has declared the Strait of Hormuz a "New U.S. Territory," complicating matters for China because about 45% to 50% of the country's crude oil imports normally transit the critical waterway.

The US has also struck the "biggest oil deal in history" by taking a majority stake in Venezuela's oil industry, cutting into yet another source of cheap crude for China.

Taken together, China might feel more pressure than ever to blockade Taiwan, particularly given that the U.S. military is experiencing a "beyond critical" shortage of missile interceptors and other critical weapons. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 06:55

Feds Arrest Foreign National In California On Voter Fraud Charges

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Federal officials on Aug. 28 arrested a foreign national living in California who they say illegally registered to vote and made false statements.

Election workers conduct ballot tabulation at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California's state primary election in the City of Industry, Calif., on June 2, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, a Honduran national and lawful permanent resident living in Southern California, is accused by prosecutors of making felony false claims of being an American citizen on voter forms. He faces two charges-making a false claim to U.S. citizenship and fraudulent voter registration.

Rivera, who entered the United States in 2002, was also accused of physically disrupting federal immigration operations during a protest at the federal office earlier this year in Camarillo, California. For that, he was given a misdemeanor citation before pleading guilty and receiving a one-year probation sentence, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Aug. 28.

According to the DOJ, Rivera sent a federal agent text messages between April and July, writing to the agent at one point: "Your not the good guy I can't wait until the mid terms you dont have qualified immunity then we can start and indict all you guys one bye one [sic]."

Following an investigation, Rivera allegedly was discovered to have registered to vote and proclaimed that he was a U.S. citizen in his 2025 application. Records that were obtained by the California secretary of state and the County of Los Angeles show that the "United States of America" was listed as his birthplace, according to the DOJ.

"There is no record of Rivera seeking or obtaining U.S. citizenship," said the DOJ in a news release about his arrest, adding that he hasn't voted in an U.S. election.

"Noncitizens who commit fraud so they can vote in American elections do so in violation of federal law and should expect to be prosecuted," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, in a statement. "Let this criminal complaint serve as a reminder that the Justice Department stands ready to enforce the laws Congress enacted to ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections."

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that "today's arrest is the first of many to come" in his district.

"Because states like California allow non-citizens to easily register to vote and receive a ballot by mail, there is no telling how many non-citizens are currently registered," he added in an X post.

Video footage that was included in the U.S. attorney's post showed law enforcement officials surrounding a man who was being handcuffed.

It's not clear if Rivera Flores has legal representation who can speak on his behalf. He was expected to make an initial court appearance in the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles on Aug. 28.

It comes weeks after Essayli announced is office is pursuing several election fraud investigations alongside the FBI to carry out a "comprehensive audit of California's voter rolls" amid questions about the state's election systems.

"California's election system has serious structural vulnerabilities," Essayli wrote on X in June. "Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence."

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 06:30

Unitree's Blockbuster IPO Short Circuits

Shares of Unitree Robotics have nearly halved since the Chinese company's blockbuster IPO almost two weeks ago, as concerns about a humanoid robotics bubble continue to mount. Not even China's World Humanoid Robot Games or World Robot Conference generated enough enthusiasm among retail or institutional investors to rekindle upward momentum.

The warning signs were first visible from the opening bell in Shanghai. Unitree initially surged 629% when it began trading on Shanghai's Star Market, immediately transforming China's first publicly traded humanoid robot manufacturer into a real-time indicator of the industry.

Unitree's valuation remains detached from even the assumptions of its own underwriting team. Citic Securities analysts valued the company at between 50.6 billion yuan and 55.9 billion yuan six to 12 months after listing. Even after the stock was halved, it is still worth more than four times the top of that range.

Through July, Unitree said it had produced about 18,000 humanoids, while first-quarter revenue increased 68.5% from a year earlier to 423 million yuan. Its current market capitalization is roughly 147 times its annualized first-quarter revenue.

"Given that level of uncertainty, Unitree's high valuation is probably not justified," said Chen Dong, CIO for Asia at Bank J. Safra Sarasin, citing the stock's lofty price-to-earnings ratio and the difficulty of staying ahead in an "infant-level" industry where competition is intensifying.

Zhang Ying, an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said, "Widespread adoption is currently hindered by financial constraints, such as high upfront and maintenance costs, and technical limitations, such as short battery life, which make it difficult for manufacturers to justify the investment."

Unitree founder Wang Xingxing told the World Robot Conference in Beijing shortly after the IPO that mass-market adoption of these robots would be achieved within the next decade. That timeline is broadly in line with the forecasts we have provided readers from multiple institutional desks.

Unitree Strikes Double Gold on Day One🥇🥇🏃
The First World Humanoid Robot Games
Unitree takes first place in all Day-One races
1500m track race — 6:34.40 (Unweighted)
(Unitree H1 humanoid robot — the same model featured in the Spring Festival Gala)
400m track race — 1:28.03… pic.twitter.com/V1BPoNQMMP

— Unitree (@UnitreeRobotics) August 15, 2025

More broadly, the Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index (a yuan-denominated equity benchmark tracking Chinese companies involved in humanoid robotics, including robot manufacturers, AI systems, motion controls, precision actuators, and industrial automation) shows that the bubble has been deflating since peaking in mid-2025.

The next big test for Unitree and China's robotics industry is whether they can scale commercially before Tesla brings its humanoid robot to market, which JPMorgan analysts expect to occur in the second half of 2027 (read here).

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 05:45

One Every Minute: These Numbers Are Unsustainable...

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

One migrant is now being granted settlement or citizenship in Britain every single minute, according to newly released Home Office figures.

In the three months to June 2026, 140,122 foreign nationals were given indefinite leave to remain or British citizenship - 1.07 people every 60 seconds. Across the full year, nearly 200,000 were handed indefinite leave to remain (ILR), a 16-year record and a 24 per cent jump on the year before. Another 245,520 were granted citizenship. Applications to become British hit an all-time high of 315,224.

This is the so called "Boriswave" arriving at the welfare office. The people waved in when salary and skills thresholds were slashed are now converting temporary visas into a permanent claim on housing, the NHS, benefits and, in time, the state pension.

'The numbers we see now are a huge increase on where they have been in the last few years.'

Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control reacts to Home Office data showing one migrant is being granted settlement or citizenship in Britain every minute. pic.twitter.com/k1PRUEofoH

— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 30, 2026

Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, put it without decoration: the numbers are unsustainable, and the damage will have to be undone.

ILR is not a courtesy stamp. It is the right to remain for life, to access the same welfare entitlements as a citizen, to apply for social housing, and, after a further year, to apply for a passport. Once that status is issued, reversing it is a political fight the Home Office has spent years refusing to have.

Bates told GB News the latest settlement totals are "a huge increase on where they have been in the last few years." In the year to June, he noted, Britain issued around 200,000 grants of settlement - a 243 per cent increase on 2017. Every one of those people, he said, can claim benefits, social housing and NHS care, "and they will all end up being pensioners drawing money from the state."

Full segment:

"Just one in five of those individuals are actually work main applicants," Bates said. "Over half are family members and dependants, and actually one in seven are refugees. So this idea that they're all going to be economic dynamite and aren't going to make use of Britain's welfare state is pie in the sky thinking."

Indian nationals led settlement grants, with Chinese grants quadrupling. The pipeline behind them is larger still. The Home Office's own earned-settlement consultation estimated that between 1.3 million and 2.2 million people will settle in the UK between 2026 and 2030, with a central forecast of 1.6 million and a peak year around 450,000 in 2028.

Health and care visa holders who arrived in the post-2021 surge become eligible in a cluster from 2027. That is not a trickle. It is a second population event, baked in before Shabana Mahmood's promised 10-year wait even takes effect.

Bates's warning was blunt. "If the Labour Government continues to drag its heels on its reforms to indefinite leave to remain, then we could be facing a catastrophe." Even "the Home Office's conservative estimates suggest a £10billion, or up to several hundred billion pounds." "This is something that simply a country's books cannot afford."

While the settlement machine stamps papers, the asylum machine prints invoices.

The asylum system cost the British taxpayer £4.3 billion in 2025/26. Official Home Office spending on asylum stood at £4.36 billion in that year. Centre for Migration Control toted up the last ten years at £25 billion spent accommodating, supporting and processing illegal arrivals and asylum claimants. Bates calculated that as £150 a year from every household, an eightfold rise on the bill a decade ago.

The asylum system cost the British taxpayer £4.3bn in 2025/26.

In the last decade a total of £25bn has been spent on accommodating, supporting and processing illegal migrants/ 'asylum seekers'.

This money should have been spent on British priorities. https://t.co/yXA9tSj3hf

— Centre for Migration Control (@migrationCtrl) August 28, 2026

Labour's answer is a press release about hotels. Hotel numbers have been cut. At the end of June there were 16,021 people in hotels, half the 32,041 of a year earlier and well below the 56,000 peak of 2023. Fewer than 160 hotels remain in use, against around 400 at the height of the Conservative mess. Thirteen more sites were handed back in August, with ministers advertising £51 million in savings from that batch and £224 million from this year's closures.

What they do not advertise is the relocation. 69,038 asylum seekers are now in houses, flats and bedsits - up 4 per cent in a year and double a decade ago. The North West, including Manchester, holds the largest share: 16,349 in dispersed private rentals, almost a quarter of the supported total. Bates wrote that some 73,000 people are now in non-hotel accommodation, up since the election. They are not going into detention. The detention estate has fewer than 2,500 beds. They are going into the street behind yours.

Andy Burnham's instruction to the country was that middle-class areas should "play their part" so the "poorest communities" do not take "the lion's share." In practice that means villages such as Piddington - population 350 - being lined up to host hundreds of unvetted arrivals. Hotels were a visible scandal. Houses in multiple occupation are a quieter one. The bill does not shrink because the sign on the door changes from "Holiday Inn" to "dispersal."

Mahmood's line is that control is being "restored." "A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly," she said. "Small boats numbers are also now falling, but we are not complacent."

The small print tells a different story. 86,000 people claimed asylum in the year to June - down 21 per cent, but still far above the pre-2021 normal. 33,000 came on small boats. Detected illegal arrivals totalled 38,000. Returns of people with no right to be here rose to 41,000, including 6,000 foreign offenders. That sounds like movement until it is set against the stock. More than 210,000 people have crossed the Channel since 2018. Analysis of Home Office figures found 9,694 of those dinghy arrivals had been deported between 2018 and the first half of 2026. Fewer than 10,000 removed in eight years.

Bates's assessment of Labour's record on the only number that matters - removal - was savage. "Less than eight per cent of small boat migrants who have arrived under Labour have actually been removed, and this includes, of course, those who were sent to France before sneaking back into the country." He added, that "Since Labour took power, the Home Office has deported more Poles than it has individuals from the top five small boat nationalities combined."

The backlog at initial decision has been cut to around 40,000, the lowest since 2019. Appeals have exploded the other way. In March 2023 there were roughly 8,000 cases in the First-tier Immigration Tribunal. By March 2026 the figure was well over 87,000. Applications are being "waved through," Bates wrote, while the courts fill up with a second queue. Failed claimants stay. The boats keep coming because the people in northern France can see the same statistics. "Even if their asylum application is eventually rejected, the human rights framework of this country, along with the Refugee Convention, means they will never be removed."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused ministers of shifting the problem, not ending it: "Labour are moving illegal immigrants out of hotels and into flats in your building, and now they are telling them to go and disappear without a trace." The Conservative offer is to leave the ECHR and "deport every illegal immigrant." Reform has gone further and talked about abolishing ILR as a category. Labour's offer is a longer wait, a £10,000 repayment levy for those who later earn, and another round of former barracks.

None of that touches the people already being stamped through at one a minute.

Settlement and the asylum bill are only half the ledger. The other half is what happens after arrival - and that is the file the government is in court to keep shut.

Ministers are spending public money to block the release of conviction data by nationality for England and Wales, the dataset the Centre for Migration Control requested under FOI and the Information Commissioner ordered out. Justice Secretary David Lammy sanctioned an appeal. Families of the dead and the raped asked him to drop it.

Alex Whyte, whose sister Rhiannon was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver by Sudanese small-boat arrival Deng Chol Majek at the asylum hotel where she worked, told GB News she felt "sick, disgusted and completely let down." Anger, she said, "doesn't even cover what I feel, and it never will." Labour, she added, is "too afraid to admit" what open borders have done. "Open your eyes. You are so aware of what is happening, but you are too afraid to admit it."

The families' letter to the Justice Secretary stated "Imagine if someone you loved had been attacked, abused, or killed by a person who had entered Britain from abroad." Victims and the public "deserve transparency about the people who enter our country and the crimes they subsequently commit." Withholding the data "damages trust" and blocks "meaningful action."

Partial figures already out explain the panic. Foreign nationals accounted for 14.1 per cent of sexual offence convictions in 2025. They made up about 9 per cent of the population and 26.1 per cent of sexual-offence arrests - 3.5 times the British rate. On the railways, CMC's British Transport Police data showed foreigners were 79 per cent of theft arrests in 2025, 40 per cent of drug-offence arrests, 37 per cent of sexual-offence arrests and 36 per cent of violent-crime arrests. Across England and Wales, foreign nationals were arrested 172,889 times in the year to March 2025 - one every 183 seconds.

That is why the Ministry of Justice is in a tribunal instead of a press conference. They know a nationality breakdown, published in full, would not produce a seminar. It would produce a reckoning. They know it would trigger mass unrest. So they fight the Information Commissioner with the same Treasury that cannot find an extra nurse and can find £4.3 billion for a system Bates described as "perma-chaos."

Net migration has come off the 2023 peak of 944,000. The year to December 2025 was estimated at 171,000. Work visas are down. Study visas are down. Labour waves those charts as proof the fever has broken.

Settlement is the delayed charge on the same account. You can slow the inflow and still lock in the stock. You can close a hotel and open a house. You can cut the initial backlog and watch the appeals list triple. You can talk about "earned settlement" while stamping 140,000 grants in a single quarter.

Bates's line on the student route captures the wider fraud. Around three-quarters of a million visas are still being issued, with students the largest slice. "We are seeing an increasing trend now of the student visa route being increasingly used not just actually to come and study at a world-beating university, but as a back door into Britain and a long-term migration route."

He further noted that more than 60 per cent of people arriving on student visas were still here more than three years after their courses ended. "So there is huge, huge pressure that is being piled already on the British welfare state."

That pressure is not an accident of weather in the Channel. It is a policy choice repeated by two governments: admit first, process later, settle always, remove almost never, and treat the public's demand for numbers by nationality as a public-order risk rather than a democratic right.

Mahmood says fairness is being restored. Burnham says nicer postcodes must take their share. The Home Office says the hotels are emptying. The stopwatch says otherwise. One grant a minute. Two hundred thousand settlements in a year. A quarter of a million new citizens. A record citizenship queue.

A forecast of up to 2.2 million more settlers before the decade is out. Four billion and more on asylum this year, twenty-five billion across ten. Nine thousand-odd Channel arrivals removed from more than two hundred thousand who came.

These numbers are unsustainable. The people running the system know it. That is why the crime file stays in the vault, why the hotels become HMOs, and why settlement is being issued faster than the country can absorb, house, police or afford it.

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 Mon, 08/31/2026 - 05:00

Google Retreats On 'Parasite SEO' Crackdown In Europe To Head Off EU Antitrust Fine

Alphabet's Google said on Friday that it has changed how it enforces its spam rules in Europe, following concerns from EU regulators that the policy could unfairly hurt news publishers and other websites that carry content from commercial partners.

The Google logo outside the company's offices in London on June 24, 2025. Carlos Jasso/Reuters

The dispute centers on Google's policy against "site reputation abuse," a practice often called "parasite SEO." It occurs when a third party publishes content on a well-established website primarily to benefit from that site's strong reputation in Google Search and gain higher rankings than the content might receive on its own.

Google introduced the policy to target arrangements in which outside companies use trusted websites mainly as vehicles for boosting their search visibility.

European regulators, however, raised concerns that Google's enforcement was too broad. They found that the policy was also reducing the search rankings of legitimate publishers simply because their websites contained material produced with, or supplied by, commercial partners.

Google said that from August 30, manual actions taken under the policy will no longer apply to users in the European Economic Area - the 27 EU states plus Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. The policy remains unchanged everywhere else. The policy does not apply to ZeroHedge, as Google explicitly distinguishes editorial syndication from “site reputation abuse.” This is different from "parasite SEO" where an outside company places unrelated content on a trusted domain in order to exploit that site's Google ranking strength. And - since Google search algos still hate us with the white hot passion of 1,000 suns, the 'ranking strength' aspect would be moot anyway. 

Google has now adjusted its approach in Europe in an effort to address those concerns and avoid a potential antitrust penalty. DMA breaches carry fines of up to 10% of global turnover.

The two sides are describing the same climbdown differently. "We welcome the repeal of this policy, which unfairly penalised publishers and other business users of Google Search," Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said, adding that "thanks to the DMA, Google Search will no longer demote press publications solely for hosting third-party content." Google, for its part, called it an adjustment to "our enforcement approach" - and warned that "an overbroad application of the DMA could prevent us from addressing real threats to the integrity of our search results."

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 04:15

Pentagon Strikes Iranian Island Target, In First US Military Action In Weeks

Update(1615ET): Things have been quiet for many days and weeks on the military front when it comes to the Iran war, but on Sunday there are some emerging reports of new but limited US strikes. According to the latest late Sunday from Axios:

Senior American official: Earlier today, American forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larzac Island. Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.

So despite the White House signaling a move away from military action and toward the economic warfare front, it's also clear that more sporadic tit-for-tat blows could follow. But Trump has lately made clear that military options are still on the table, and strikes will be utilized as needed.

CENTCOM says that they attacked two Iranian missile launchers on Larak island. This is the first time that they have struck an Iranian target in weeks.

— barry with the NED (@bonzerbarry) August 30, 2026

*  *  *

Propaganda has always been a problem when it comes to the fog of war.  The internet and social media add a new dimension to the confusion as conflicting information is allowed to spread like wildfire using civilians and media outlets as tools for propagation.

The lack of confirmation is exploited, often by both sides, and the truth becomes lost in the mire.  That said, the facts on the ground will eventually see the light regardless of spin.  In the case of the war in Iran, the facts on the ground do not bode well for the Islamic Regime. 

Iranian leaders now openly admit that the US blockade has crippled around 35% of the nation's exports and imports while domestic prices continue to skyrocket by 60% or more.  This, however, is not the most immediate problem for the regime.  

It would appear that initial reports of gasoline shortages across Iran did not convey the true scope of the crisis.  In the past week alone more evidence from within Iran has hit social media, showing mass lines at gas stations and panic among citizens as rationing is introduced. 

Energy officials have acknowledged a gasoline deficit of roughly 15 million liters every day, warning that strategic reserves have reached “dark red” territory.

Iran has ten main operating oil refineries plus the large Persian Gulf Star condensate refinery, which is the country’s biggest gasoline producer, meaning, they do have the capability to produce their own domestic gasoline supply.  So, why the shortages? 

 

Some refined products are shipped into Iran from foreign sources and the US blockade is stifling that supply.  However, there is also the possibility that the blockade has forced Iran to shut down a number of oil wells due to lack of storage.  Depending on the type of well, a shutdown can cause extensive damage and prevent new production for years to come.  It's likely that Iran's crisis is rooted in an oil supply problem as much as a refining problem. 

The Iranians have recently called for a return to the standards set by the MOU agreement with the US, and they have also accused the US of committing "war crimes", arguing that the blockade is causing a humanitarian crisis.

The recent admissions of economic damage, the fuel shortages and the assertions of humanitarian crisis are a sharp tone shift from Iran's posture only a month ago.  Couple this with the 400% surge in ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz and it would seem that Iran is losing the war outright.  If the blockade continues for another few months the financial damage could be irreversible and repairing resource flows could take years.    

It's not enough for the regime to survive if the economy they oversee dies.  

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 04:15

US Debt Matters, But The Euro Area May Create The Next Crisis

Authored by Daniel Lacalle via dlacalle.com,

The US $40 trillion debt has dominated global headlines. However, although the US fiscal challenges are relevant, we must remember an important lesson. Fiscal policy is not about who wins but who loses first.

According to official 2026 estimates, the present value of U.S. Social Security and Medicare financing gaps is about $95 trillion over 75 years, roughly 5% of the cumulative present value of projected GDP over that period, on top of federal debt held by the public, which is already projected at 101% of annual GDP in 2026.

However, the euro area's hidden fiscal burden is at least as large as its recorded debt. Official European Commission estimates put net accrued public-pension liabilities at around 150% of GDP, after future contributions are considered, while gross pension promises amount to roughly 371% of GDP. Importantly, this excludes much of the future pressure from health and long-term care spending.

What does this all mean? The next debt crisis may not come from the U.S. but from the eurozone.

First, the U.S. dollar remains the world reserve currency and treasuries are the most important asset for central banks globally, even with the recent gold purchases and rebalancing.

Second, the political landscape in most large European Union economies is one of fiscal denial. France's sovereign bond yields are now higher than Italy's. No eurozone government is willing to cut spending or limit future liabilities. Unfinanced committed liabilities (debt already assumed but not issued) exceed 300% of GDP in key euro area nations.

Third, euro area sovereign assets have generated negative real economic returns since 2021, leading to a declining appetite from global investors. U.S. debt is a challenge, but euro area debt is significantly more problematic because the reported debt is only the "excessive deficit protocol" figure, not the total liabilities of public administrations.

Euro-area Maastricht debt captures only consolidated currency and deposits, loans, and debt securities at face value. It is therefore materially smaller than the full balance-sheet liabilities of public administration and narrower still than the euro area's implicit pension and public sector-related commitments.

The key lesson is that investors should be rightly concerned about issued debt, but they should be even more scared of expanding government size added to unfunded liabilities in a region crippled by economic stagnation.

All of this tells us that the recent global bond sell-off is not a temporary issue. Markets are telling governments that no central bank is going to hide their irresponsibility anymore.

Developed economies' governments have pushed all the limits of debt-funded policies and surpassed their fiscal, economic, and inflationary limits.

• Fiscal limit: More spending creates persistent deficits, and tax hikes never solve the issue. Government spending is a burden on taxpayers and the economy.

• Economic limit: More government spending and bloating GDP with debt-fueled public sector outlays only weakens the economy and productive investment, leading to stagnation.

• Inflationary limit: Government spending leads to persistent inflation and markets discount higher-for-longer consumer prices, eroding the economy while the combination of higher taxes and consumer prices demolishes the middle class.

The United States creates headlines because Treasury yields remain the global benchmark for the price of money and collateral, but the euro area may generate the next big sovereign shock because its member states borrow in a currency they do not control and governments refuse to reduce spending, resorting constantly to tax hikes and regulatory burdens that make the economy weaker.

As of 21 August 2026, the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield traded at 5.27% and the 10-year Treasury yield around 4.73% after a week of sharp moves that briefly pushed long-dated yields to their highest levels since 2007. However, if the world saw the U.S. as a risk and other nations as safe havens, German bond yields would be falling, as happened in other periods of risk aversion. That is not the case. Germany's 10-year Bund has soared to 3.26%, the UK 10-year yield is at a record 5.1%, and Japan's 10-year yield is near 2.89%, confirming that the repricing is global rather than U.S.-centric.

This is what matters for investors and governments. Long-term sovereign bonds are no longer the unquestioned safe assets. That is why gold is soaring too.

Long-term bonds are being repriced for inflation risk, fiscal deterioration, high debt supply, and the inability of central banks to disguise fiscal irresponsibility.

When the U.S. 10-year and 30-year yields rise, financing conditions tighten globally through mortgages, corporate credit, bank funding, and emerging-market borrowing costs. In this environment, the market is not moving to euro area debt for protection; it is moving away from it.

The United States retains the world reserve currency and has the deepest and most liquid sovereign bond market in the world. This does not eliminate the debt problem, but it changes its transmission. Furthermore, at least the United States government is keeping federal spending under control, although not cutting it as fast as desired. That is not the case in the euro area, where none of the large economies seem to have any intention to control spending; rather, the opposite. Thus, this adds to the pressure of unfunded liabilities.

The euro is the only global currency that faces re-denomination risk, and the fiscal policy of the euro area has opted for interventionism and government control rather than free markets. The ECB centralizes monetary policy in the euro area, yet governments spend and borrow as if they possess unlimited monetary credibility. Their only fiscal tool is higher taxes. This creates the risk that what begins as a liquidity event quickly becomes a solvency concern, especially when markets doubt whether Brussels, Frankfurt, and national governments will respond with a coherent strategy. We saw it in 2011.

Now, the euro area has added more risks. The "savings and banking union" and central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects do not provide relief for global investors; rather, they raise concerns that the euro area may have opted for interventionism and government control by imposing the use of the currency instead of enhancing its appeal as a global hub for free markets and capital attraction.

The savings and banking union project will not avoid a debt crisis in the euro area. With governments that do not accept spending cuts, the digital currency may only lead to surveillance, control, and, ultimately, higher inflation.

This is why the next crisis may come from Europe, not despite the U.S. debt problem but because the euro area lacks institutional flexibility, discipline, and an open market approach. Thus, if the euro area accelerates its interventionist plans to force investment and promote the use of the currency through repression, the problem may become more significant. If monetary policy cannot be a limit to fiscal irresponsibility and governments refuse to reduce their spending, the currency and the financial system are at risk. Resolving the United States' debt problem requires implementing spending cuts and fostering higher productive growth. Unfortunately, euro area governments are not generating economic growth and are instead increasing government intervention. As such, when confidence in a large member state disappears, the consequences are systemic for the entire monetary union.

The world is seeing the German spending experiment fail in real time, and that is why German bonds are falling as fast as others, instead of strengthening.

Recent data from France and Germany show that the problem extends beyond a small country within the union. The core of the euro area is weakening while the peripheral countries are either disguising stagnation with immigration and political spending (Spain) or are still in post-crisis mode.

France's 10-year yield has soared to levels not seen since 2008. German bonds, once viewed as a safe haven, weakened alongside other euro area issuers. The ECB anti-fragmentation tool disguised imbalances for a while and now has transferred the risk to all sovereign issuers.

France matters because it is the core euro-area economy alongside Germany. French public debt is expected to be about 118% of GDP in 2026 and could rise toward 130% of GDP by 2030. Markets now understand that no new prime minister is going to cut spending. They will repeat the same failed approach of the past three decades: raising taxes and postponing necessary spending cuts.

As markets begin to reprice France as a fiscal weak link rather than a core strength, the euro area's internal problems become impossible to ignore. This European project has made rising government spending and a large public sector the focus of policy, treating the private sector as a cash machine for an ever-expanding bureaucracy.

The real problem is not simply the absolute level of debt. The combination of high borrowing, big government, high taxes, and a lack of real growth capacity leads to rising interest costs, and it is now evident that central banks can no longer disguise this problem.

When U.S. borrowing costs rise, global financial conditions tighten. It is a significant problem that requires spending cuts, government shutdowns, and higher private sector growth. When euro area borrowing costs soar, they show evidence of the unsustainability of a European project based on expanding the size of government at any cost. When governments reject short-term pain, they pass it to citizens.

The solution is not more government, monetization, intervention, or more taxes on productive capital. The answer is credible spending cuts, lower structural deficits, stronger incentives for private investment, and reforms that eliminate regulatory burdens and lift productivity as well as economic growth. If nothing changes, U.S. debt will continue to tighten global financial conditions, but the euro area may still be the place where the next sovereign crisis erupts.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 03:30

Canadian Leftists Want To Use Great Lakes Seaway As A Weapon Against The US

If anyone had any doubt that Canada is a predominantly far-left country, one only need look at polls in support of Market Carney's trade war rhetoric against the US.  Over 70% of the Canadian population is currently in support of Carney's decision to dismiss trade negotiations with the Trump Administration. 

Much of the rhetoric online repeats leftist talking points, including the claim that America is now a "fascist" state and cutting a deal with Trump would be the same as "cutting a deal with the Third Reich".      

Keep in mind, Carney was so close to a deal with the US that Trump had paused new tariffs and Carney asked premiers to put American liquor back on provincial shelves.  The was two days before he abruptly backed out and abandoned any future talks.  Why?  Theories abound. 

The most prominent theory being that Carney has been talking with US Democrats and was convinced to avoid cutting a deal with Trump before the midterm elections in November.  Any deal would be seen as a win for Trump that might boost Republicans. 

Other theories cite potential foreign influence from the EU.  Carney was on vacation in Italy just before the negotiations were to finalize and he engaged in a flurry of meetings and calls with European officials just after his trade war decision.  Leftists governments in Europe and communists in China have much to gain by continued tensions between Canada and the US. 

It should be noted that the full text of the deal still has not been released to the Canadian public for review.  Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the Prime Minister to release details of the failed trade deal with the United States and reconvene parliament. 

“We need to see the deal that we rejected. Canadians have not seen it,” said Poilievre.       

Whatever may have happened to convince Carney to walk away from the best tariff deal that was offered to any country, the aftermath has stirred plenty of Canadian citizens into a hostile frenzy.  One is reminded of Scrappy Doo, yipping and yapping and nipping at the heals of a much larger opponent in the delusion that this will accomplish something. 

In the meantime, 33% of Canada's GDP relies on exports and 78% of those exports rely on US markets.  Furthermore, there are no practical alternatives.  Without a near-term deal with the US, Canada faces severe recession, or worse.  Canadian officials and the public have not yet come to accept this reality.  They have been busy conjuring ways to "hurt" the US, but these tactics are based on an ignorance of the bigger picture. 

For example, Canadian officials recommended shutting off electric supplies to the US eastern seaboard.  However, Canada provides less than 1% of all US electricity.  Meaning, they have no leverage. 

They also called for a shutdown of oil exports to the US, but the US is a net exporter of oil and the largest oil producer in the world.  Going without Canadian oil would cause prices to rise, but it would not do the kind of damage they are hoping for.  Trump's latest landmark deal with Venezuela will mitigate any potential supply disruptions from Canada.    

Plus, 70% of Canadian oil traveling from Alberta to Ontario uses pipelines that cross into US territory (the Enbridge Mainline).  It would be a disaster for them to escalate. 

This brings us to the newest ingenious idea from Canadian leftists, which is to shut down US access to the St. Lawrence Seaway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.  Or, increase tolls to crippling levels at the various Canadian controlled locks. 

Canada is now considering charging a toll for US ships travelling the Straight Of Ontario. pic.twitter.com/jNjLYVaUsA

— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) August 28, 2026

There is a problem with this plan, though.  First, Canada already charges tolls at these locks and has done so for decades.  

Every ship entering the Great Lakes goes through the Welland Canal, located fully in Canada. There’s no other option. $26.3 billion of US trade depends on it. Would be a shame if tolls skyrocketed or it was transit-taxed heavily…

Thank you for your attention to this matter. pic.twitter.com/CmAfXiToOR

— Stephano🍁Barberis (@HelloStephano) August 28, 2026

On the other hand, the US also controls at least two locks on the same waterway which Canadian ships use regularly.  The US government waived collection of tolls on the seaway back in 1986.  Meaning Canada is the only country that collects tolls, but this could be easily changed.  If Canada tried to charge higher tolls or block access, the US could to do the same, and the US has the actual military resources to enforce such measures.  

By extension, if Canada tried to initiate a wider resource war against the US, their oil pipelines going through the US could be cut off.  Once again, Canada simply has no economic leverage.  The sooner they accept this, the sooner they can avoid a painful economic decline.     

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/31/2026 - 02:45

No Whites Allowed, Britain's MI5 Tells Applicants

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Britain's domestic intelligence service is once again telling White university students they are not wanted.

For the 2027 Summer Intelligence Internship, MI5 has confined applications to people from a "black, Asian, mixed heritage or ethnic minority background" who also come from a "socially or economically disadvantaged background."

White British candidates - including those from the poorest homes - cannot even submit an application. The agency calls this a response to "underrepresentation." Critics call it what it is: racial exclusion.

The rule sits on the official careers page in plain English. Final and penultimate-year students may apply for the 2026/27 academic year only if they tick the approved ethnic boxes.

MI5's own wording is blunt: "We're confining the applications for this internship to those within this demographic due to a current underrepresentation in our workforce."

This is not a fringe outreach day. The placement is billed as a serious introduction to national security work. Interns are promised "unique insight" into operations and "meaningful contributions to real projects," not a seat on the sidelines.

The MI5 stint is expected to run from Monday 28 June to Friday 20 August 2027 across sites in Central and West London. Successful candidates are paid £4,849, with accommodation covered if they cannot reasonably commute. GCHQ is running a parallel scheme on similar racial terms.

MI5 accused of 'flagrant racism' as white candidates told not to bother applying for summer internshiphttps://t.co/wqPUXiNKrn

— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 27, 2026

Applicants must be British nationals, normally resident in the UK for seven of the last ten years, and able to survive the usual vetting. They still face a competitive sift. The racial gate comes first.

The listed groups include Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, mixed-heritage combinations, "other ethnic minority," and a narrow "White other" category covering Romany Gypsy, Scottish Travellers or Irish Travellers. White British is not on the list.

The socio-economic test is equally specific. At age 14 the main household earner must have been in technical, craft, routine or semi-routine work, or unemployed and seeking work - or the applicant must have been eligible for free school meals. A White student who meets that poverty test is still barred. An ethnic-minority student who meets it is invited in.

What happened to getting a job on merit?

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called it "flagrant racism from MI5 & GCHQ." He wrote: "White applicants for summer 2027 internships - including from disadvantaged backgrounds - can't apply. The scheme must be scrapped. Applications should be merit-based and colour blind. Working class white boys are among the most disadvantaged - yet are ignored."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage put the charge in institutional terms. "Yet again, taxpayer funds are being used to fuel a culture of anti-white prejudice across the public sector. It's racism. It's wrong. Only Reform will bring meritocracy back to our institutions. We'll ensure that nobody is discriminated against based on the colour of their skin."

This is not a one-off. The Summer Intelligence Internship has been running across MI5, MI6 and GCHQ since 2023. Every cycle has produced the same argument and the same official shrug. The agencies say the programme exists to "increase diversity within our organisations." Ministers treat the Equality Act 2010 as cover.

In July, Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked the Cabinet Office why White candidates were ineligible. Dan Jarvis, minister of state for security, answered that the internships are "designed to provide insight" to people "from demographics and backgrounds under-represented within UKIC," and that "this is a lawful measure (as set out in the Equality Act 2010) used to encourage people from under-represented demographics to consider national security careers."

He added that anyone later applying for a proper job would face "fair and open competition, with selection based on merit."

That last line is doing a lot of work. The paid summer placement is itself the pipeline: mentors, projects, a foot in the door, a chance to apply afterwards with the agency already knowing your name. Excluding the country's majority from that pipeline is not a neutral "encouragement." It is a racial filter on the first rung.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's own guidance on positive action is narrower than the agencies pretend. Employers may encourage under-represented groups to apply. The Commission says that if they do so, "the advert should clearly state the employer is seeking applications from everyone but wishes to encourage applications from people with a particular protected characteristic."

Confining applications - telling one racial group not to bother - is a different creature. "Positive action" was sold as outreach. This is a closed shop.

Claire Coutinho has been making that point for years. When the scheme returned in 2025 she said: "Deciding who can do a summer internship scheme based on the colour of their skin is bad enough. To bar patriotic white Britons who want to serve their country, but allow white Irish people, is utterly mad."

She added: "To make matters worse, the security services will also shut you out if you're a child of a nurse, a cabbie or your dad ran a corner shop, while the child of an £80,000-a-year train driver is eligible. This is state-sponsored discrimination. We should just choose the best people for the job."

In the Commons she asked the obvious question: "What message does it send to our young people when they are told there are some job opportunities they cannot apply to solely based on the colour of their skin?" Equality, she said, "must mean equality of opportunity, not putting some people in society on a pedestal above others."

Jacob Rees-Mogg charged that "MI5 is institutionally, publicly racist against white people." He noted that the policy "discriminates against 92.6% of my constituents in Somerset."

Toby Young of the Free Speech Union gave the thought experiment that every defender of these schemes refuses to answer. "Imagine if it was the other way around, and the intelligence services were saying only white people can apply for our summer internships. There would be absolute uproar."

There would. If the advert had said "no Blacks," the building would be surrounded by cameras before lunch. Because it says, in effect, no ordinary White British applicants, the official class calls it inclusion.

The security services are not improvising. They are copying a model that British policing has already normalised.

West Yorkshire Police, one of the country's largest forces, has run a two-track application system for police constable roles. Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates have been able to apply year-round. White applicants from British, Irish and Eastern European backgrounds have been told to wait for specific recruitment windows.

An internal whistleblower told The Telegraph that minority applicants were treated as "gold" and White candidates as "bronze." The whistleblower said: "The process restricts progression opportunities for White British candidates, while individuals from other backgrounds are swiftly advanced through recruitment stages."

Ethnic minority candidates, the same source said, were regularly "shortlisted, sifted, assessed and invited to an interview before White candidates can even apply."

The force's own website made the hierarchy official: "We are currently accepting applications for the two police constable entry programmes (uniform and detective) from people from our under-represented groups... If you are not from one of these groups, please keep checking this page for future recruitment opportunities."

West Yorkshire dressed this up as Positive Action under the Equality Act. A spokesman said ethnic minority representation among officers was around 9 percent against a local minority population of 23 percent, and that early applications were merely "held on file" until a window opened for everyone.

The whistleblower's account was that the holding file was a fiction: the favoured group moved while everyone else waited outside.

At Thames Valley Police the ideology went further than the application form. Officers were put through mandatory "equity training" on "white privilege," "micro-aggressions" and the difference between being "non-racist versus anti-racist."

This followed an employment tribunal finding that the force had positively discriminated against White officers by appointing an Asian detective inspector without considering White candidates who had served 19 to 26 years.

Former assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, who led an independent review, recorded "strong feelings of frustration." "As white males they felt disadvantaged and ... they had the perception that unfairness was allowed for minority groups but not for majority populations," she wrote.

The review warned that the training "can often be seen as demonising white people and therefore building barriers to the learning." White officers' response was "very strong, at times bordering on aggressive." They felt "they have no support within the force." There was "a tangible feeling of being overlooked."

Minority staff were not grateful either. Some said they would not seek promotion because "even if they did succeed in securing promotions their efforts would not be accepted by some as genuine." Some described the force as a "hostile environment."

Former government adviser and ex-officer Rory Geoghegan said officers "deserve far better from their leaders than to be crudely categorised by skin colour and subjected to reductive, divisive ideologies." The review, he argued, failed to confront "the unthinking acceptance of critical race theory - a deeply political framework that has no place in an impartial police service."

That is the culture now being imported into the agencies that handle terrorism, hostile states and domestic subversion. First the police. Then the Bar. Now MI5.

The legal profession built the same wall and called it progress. A paid internship linked to the Bar Council and the 10,000 Interns Foundation offered London Living Wage work experience while restricting eligibility to specified ethnic minority backgrounds. White applicants were excluded outright.

Sophie Corcoran applied anyway. She is now suing. In her own account of the case she wrote that the central issue is simple: "should organisations operating in Britain be permitted to deny opportunities to people purely because they are white? I believe the answer must be no."

She draws the distinction the agencies keep blurring. Encouraging under-represented people to apply is one thing. "Outright excluding others from opportunities on racial grounds" is another.

She further noted, "The Equality Act was never intended to create a hierarchy of races where some groups are protected from discrimination while others are expected to tolerate it, but this is exactly what these schemes do."

The schemes also flatten every other kind of hardship into a racial cartoon. "A wealthy privately educated applicant from an affluent background can qualify for some race-based schemes, while a working-class white applicant from a struggling town cannot."

White working-class pupils have been the lowest-attaining major ethnic group at GCSE level for more than a decade. Corcoran herself grew up with epilepsy, hearing difficulties and dyslexia and attended a failing state school. None of that counted. "Just because someone is black does not automatically mean he or she is disadvantaged. Equally, just because someone is white does not mean he or she is not disadvantaged."

Rupert Lowe called the Bar scheme "vile, anti-white racism." Corcoran urged "everyone knows that if the races were reversed, such policies would never be considered acceptable. Equality cannot operate on a double standard."

The intelligence agencies' own socio-economic test makes the double standard sharper. They admit class exists. They even try to measure it by the parent's job when the applicant was 14, and by free school meals. Then they add a racial veto.

National Audit Office internships have run on a similar exclusionary logic, limiting places by sex, "black heritage" or lower socio-economic status and shutting middle-class White men out of a taxpayer-funded programme.

Transport for London has run placements reserved for BAME, disabled or disadvantaged candidates. The pattern is no longer a few over-eager HR departments. It is how the British public sector now allocates opportunity.

Intelligence work is not a diversity seminar. It is judgment, languages, technical skill, nerve and loyalty. The agencies' public line is that "a diverse organisation is vital to ensure diverse insights." That sentence has become a mantra. It is used to justify shutting the country's largest ethnic group out of the training ground.

A security service that filters the next generation by race is telling the public something larger than a recruitment statistic. It is saying the majority population is surplus to the pipeline. It is saying competence will be balanced against a demographic target. It is saying the Equality Act now functions as a permission slip for the one form of racial discrimination institutions are eager to practise.

The other way around remains the test. A Home Office page that read "no Blacks" would end careers by nightfall. A police force that labelled White applicants "gold" and everyone else "bronze" would be in special measures. A Bar scheme that barred African and Asian students would be treated as a national scandal. MI5's page does the reverse, year after year, with ministerial cover and a press office that talks about underrepresentation.

Merit is not a right-wing hobby. It is the only honest way to staff an intelligence service. Britain's problem is not that too many White working-class students are bursting through the gates of Thames House. It is that the people who run the gates have decided some citizens are the wrong colour to knock.

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 Mon, 08/31/2026 - 02:00

The Telephone, Political Entrepreneurship, And Theodore M. Vail

Authored by Joshua Mawhorter via Mises Institute,

Originally, this article was intended to be an exploration as to how-after a period of initial patent monopoly and an all-too-brief episode of freer market competition-cronyism reestablished a telephone monopoly that would last for decades. While such an article is worthwhile and hopefully forthcoming, I was struck by the influence of one man's leadership strategy as president of AT&T/the Bell System and how open he was about limiting competition in his industry, inviting regulation, and seeking a "middle ground" between a pure state-owned monopoly and true free market competition.

That man was Theodore M. Vail. This article largely presents Vail in his own words and seeks to demonstrate how transparent he was about inviting state intervention to move his industry toward monopoly.

By way of brief introduction, Vail joined the Bell enterprise in 1878 as general manager, helping build the young telephone industry. After leaving in 1887, he returned in 1907 as president of AT&T, where he pursued his vision of "One Policy, One System, Universal Service" and moved the Bell System toward consolidation and government regulation. He provides a quintessential illustration of political entrepreneurship and cronyism in the telephone industry.

Historian Burton Fulsom's The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America makes the critical distinction between "political entrepreneurs" and "market entrepreneurs" (p. 1):

Those who tried to succeed in [business] through federal aid, pools, vote buying, or stock speculation we will classify as political entrepreneurs. Those who tried to succeed in [business] primarily by creating and marketing a superior product at a low cost we will classify as market entrepreneurs. (emphasis added)

Along similar lines, Patrick Newman defines cronyism in the following way, "government intervention that benefits special interests at the expense of the public interest." This distinction is critical because it qualitatively differentiates those who succeed through the production-and-exchange mechanism and those who use the political means and cronyism to gain wealth at the expense of the public.

Theodore N. Vail: The Beginning of the End of Competition (1907-1913)

"Effective, aggressive competition, and regulation and control are inconsistent with each other, and cannot be had at the same time." - Theodore M. Vail, AT&T's 1910 Annual Report

On April 30, 1907, Vail rejoined AT&T as president, "marking the beginning of the end of telephone competition." According to Adam D. Thierer in "Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments In the Development of The Bell System Monopoly," "His return to the firm changed its fundamental focus from competition to consolidation."

Rather than market competition, Vail's most important goals as president of AT&T were "the elimination of competitors, the befriending of policymakers and regulators, and the expansion of telephone service to the general public." Vail pushed for "One Policy, One System, Universal Service." Of course, since this could not be achieved on a free market, or even on a hampered market that allowed a good degree of genuine competition, it had to be achieved by further state intervention.

As the above quote from Vail recognized, market competition and "regulation and control are inconsistent with each other, and cannot be had at the same time." Obviously, Vail favored the latter. He went on to state further, "Control or regulation. . .means everything which is the opposite of and inconsistent with effective competition." And, in 1917-after several successful efforts to limit competition through state intervention-Vail declared,

These two [competition and control/regulation] are absolutely inconsistent. If the public is getting the fullest advantage of control and regulation, no competition except destructive competition can exist. . . .

Under proper control and regulation, complete, соextensive competition could not exist.

What follows below are some selected quotes from Vail, in his own words and in context, that express his desire for government intervention and regulation into the telephone industry that would benefit AT&T. The interested reader should note Vail's transparency.

Regarding his goal of a universal telephone system and in the context of some competition, Vail wrote in AT&T's 1910 Annual Report,

It is not believed that this [a universal telephone system] can be accomplished by separately controlled or distinct systems nor that there can be competition in the accepted sense of competition.

It is believed that all this can be accomplished to the reasonable satisfaction of the public with its acquiescence, under such control and regulation as will afford the public much better service at less cost than any competition or government-owned monopoly could permanently afford and at the same time be self-sustaining.

Vail's belief, as stated above, was that there should be neither pure market competition nor full state ownership but the soothing and seductive "middle" solution-regulated capitalism or a "mixed market." Of course, this sounds reasonable to many people because they misunderstand or forget the nature of the state and also misunderstand the relationship between the state and big business. The key insight to understand is that state intervention-usually in the name of the "public good"-often purposely benefits big business at the expense of the consuming public.

Vail also openly expressed his desire for a monopoly under one system. He believed there would be two acceptable methods by which this could be accomplished:

This process of combination will continue until all telephone exchanges and lines will be merged either into one company owning and operating the whole system, or until a number of companies. . .[are] closely associated under the control of one central organization exercising all the functions of centralized general administration. But whatever may be the form of the operating organization, there is bound to be for legal purposes and the holding of franchises, some sort of subordinate state organization which will bring the business and property in each locality under the jurisdiction of the state in which it is situated and operated.

Vail opposed full nationalization, instead preferring cronyism. Over time, Vail's wishes were largely granted by the state as AT&T entrenched a monopoly through politics. In 1910, Vail directly argued that regulated companies should be protected from competition. He wrote,

If there is to be state control and regulation, there should also be state protection-protection to a corporation striving to serve the whole community (some part of whose service must necessarily be unprofitable), from aggressive competition which covers only that part which is profitable.

Governmental control should protect the investor as well as the public. It should ensure to the public good service and fair rates. It should also ensure fair returns to the investor.

A public utility giving good service at fair rates should not be subject to competition at unfair rates.

Keeping track, state control and regulation should provide protection from "aggressive competition," protect from the profit-and-loss test, assure "fair" returns to investors, and ensure that a firm offering its goods for "fair" rates should be protected from those who offer their services at "unfair" rates (i.e., lower prices). Of course, such high-minded rhetoric-"fair," "striving to serve the whole community"-are arbitrary and simply prejudge the conclusion in favor of whatever AT&T, industry insiders, and government regulators decide.

However, Vail reassures us that he is not an enemy of all competition,

It is not that all competition should be suppressed, but that all competition should be regulated and controlled. That competition should be suppressed which arises out of the promotion of unnecessary duplication, which gives no additional facilities or service, which is in no sense either extension or improvement, which without initiative or enterprise tries to take advantage of the initiative and enterprise of others by sharing the profitable without assuming any of the burden of the unprofitable parts or which has only the selfishly speculative object of forcing a consolidation or purchase. (emphasis added)

Thus, instead of allowing entrepreneurs and consumers to freely interact and decide the landscape of the market based on what goods they produce and value, the extent of alternative competitors, market prices, and profit and loss, competition only ought to be allowed within the range that the state and key firms decide.

As opposed to a pure free market and state ownership, Vail argued that regulated capitalism would have all the benefits of both without the disadvantages of either.

When thoroughly understood it will be found that "control" will give more of the benefits and public advantages, which are expected to be obtained by state ownership, than could be obtained through such [private[ ownership, and will obtain them without the public burden of either the public office-holder or public debt or operating deficit. It is conceded that as a rule private management is better, more economical and more efficient than public management, and much more advanced and enterprising.

When through a wise and judicious state control and regulation all the advantages without any of the disadvantages of state ownership are secured, state ownership is doomed.

Apparently, according to Vail, there was nothing to fear, "The proper use of corporate organization or combination under proper regulation or control cannot be objected to."

AT&T, Antitrust Danger, & the Kingsbury Commitment (1912-1913)

At first, to attempt to achieve his vision of a uniform system under AT&T, Vail began acquiring a number of independent competitors until such activity caught the attention of the federal government because of existing antitrust statutes. Michael K. Kellogg, John Thorne, and Peter W. Huber write in Federal Telecommunications Law (1999),

In 1912, fresh on the heels of its victory against Rockefeller, the U.S. Justice Department threatened to take on Vail. There followed a great deal of sound and fury, no doubt reflecting America's traditional populist mistrust of monopoly. In the end, however, government officials would conclude that monopoly in communications was much more tolerable than monopoly in oil.

To avoid antitrust lawsuits, Vail orchestrated the Kingsburg Commitment in 1913 (a year with which readers are doubtless familiar for several other reasons). According to industry historian Gerald W. Brock in his book The Telecommunications Industry: The Dynamics of Market Structure (1981),

Rather than risk legal action that could be adverse to the system, the Bell system entered into negotiation with the attorney general and in December 1913 reached an agreement known as the Kingsbury Commitment.

Correctly assessing the precarious situation of AT&T, Vail tried another-more successful-strategy. The strategy that was reached was essentially an agreement between AT&T and the federal government. AT&T agreed to abandon further acquisitions, sell its Western Union holdings ($30 million), and permit independent telephone companies to interconnect with its system, while the government allowed AT&T to retain its increasingly-dominant position. For Vail, this was a far more favorable alternative to having the government dismantle the Bell System. It constrained AT&T's expansion through acquisition but gave it something far more valuable-the government's acceptance of AT&T's dominant, regulated position in the telephone industry.

Richard Vietor writes in Contrived Competition: Regulation and Deregulation in America (1994, p. 172; also quoted in Thierer),

Vail chose at this time [i.e., around the time of the 1913 Kingsbury Commitment] to put AT&T squarely behind government regulation, as the quid pro quo for avoiding competition. This was the only politically acceptable way for AT&T to monopolize telephony. . . . It seemed a necessary trade-off for the attainment of universal service. (emphasis added)

This was precisely Vail's strategy. Robert W. Garnet-author of The Telephone Enterprise: The Evolution of the Bell's Horizontal Structure-writes (1985, p. 130; also quoted in Thierer),

Regulation played a crucial role in Vail's plans. Astute enough to realize that the kind of system he proposed-universal integrated monopoly-would stand little chance of gaining public approval without some form of public control, he embraced state regulation. In doing so, he broke with the company's long-standing opposition to what [AT&T] management had traditionally regarded as an unwarranted intrusion on its prerogatives. But after years of unfettered competition, during which the firm's financial strengths had been sapped and its efforts to build an integrated system had been dangerously undermined, regulation became a much-preferred alternative. (emphasis added)

Conclusion

All this provides ample evidence of the cronyism and political entrepreneurship within the telephone industry. While speaking of banking in particular, Rothbard provides a simple and profound general insight which every student of economic and political history ought to remember,

Fortunately for the cartelists, a solution to this vexing problem lay at hand. Monopoly could be put over in the name of opposition to monopoly! In that way, using the rhetoric beloved by Americans, the form of the political economy could be maintained, while the content could be totally reversed. (emphasis in original)

This history also serves to confirm the key insight of Gabriel Kolko's The Triumph of Conservatism, that-contrary to the popular historical narrative concerning the Progressive Era-certain key businesses often invited and helped shape regulations in order to achieve a cartel or a monopoly at the expense of the consuming public. Instead of the government and the consuming public teaming up against big business, the government and big business largely teamed against the consuming public. "Competition was unacceptable to many key business and financial interests," writes Kolko, therefore, the power of the federal government had to be sought to establish monopoly. But don't just take Kolko's word for it, take that of Theodore M. Vail in 1917,

We have repeatedly and constantly contended that competition, so far as the public utilities are concerned, is costly, unsatisfactory, undependable. That as an incentive to development or improvement [competition] has passed its period of usefulness, if indeed it ever had any.

We have also contended with equal constancy, that with combination of like utilities under proper control and regulation the service to the public would be better, more progressive, efficient and economical than competitive service given by the separate systems.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/30/2026 - 22:10

Rise And Fall Of "Climate Crisis" Info War As Dems Urge Politicians To Avoid Global Warming Talk

The "climate crisis" headlines forced down the throats of the American people only began to emerge when socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and unhinged leftist Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal in early 2019. That was the moment when global-warming headlines spiked and the NGO complex ramped up activist networks through protests and an informational war in the press, tricking the public into supporting climate bills intended to solve a made-up crisis.

Fake News

By March 2019, those climate-crisis headlines had intensified as Democrats desperately tried but failed to pass the Green New Deal.

More Fake News

Then, in 2022, those same headlines spiked again as Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unexpectedly announced the Inflation Reduction Act, reviving much of the climate agenda.

It was all a lie. 

By August 2022, the IRA had passed and President Biden had signed it into law, flooding the Democratic Party's pet projects with $369 billion.

But those headlines subsequently peaked in late 2022. Democrats moved on after securing their massive funding package, and climate was no longer the party's main focus. This suggests that the earlier propaganda push was merely an informational war against taxpayers designed to hustle them.

Climate-crisis headlines remain out of fashion in 2026 as Democrats pivot toward socialism, thirdworldism, protect criminal illegal aliens, and quadruple down on all things woke.

Even AP's new reporting makes the case for the retreat clear: Climate ranks poorly among voters' priorities, suggesting that the public has increasingly rejected the party's climate-grift narrative as bullshit.

The retreat in climate propaganda has become so pronounced that researchers have coined the term "climate hushing." The Democratic-aligned Searchlight Institute has urged candidates this election season to stop emphasizing climate change because it ranks poorly among voters' priorities.

The shift in talking points is playing out in Massachusetts, where Markey, a leading sponsor of the Green New Deal, is placing less emphasis on climate policy as he faces a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.

All of this demonstrates that the entire climate-crisis propaganda campaign was about pushing legislation through Congress to fund NGOs and climate projects, not actually about the climate.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/30/2026 - 21:35

US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

U.S. forces, on Aug. 28, sank a vessel in the eastern Pacific that the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said was serving as an at-sea refueling point for drug-trafficking boats.

A vessel suspected of providing at-sea refueling for drug traffickers burns after being targeted by U.S. forces on Aug. 28, 2026. U.S. Southern Command

SOUTHCOM, which oversees military operations in and around Central and South America, said U.S. forces worked in coordination with the government of Ecuador to track down the vessel.

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel, previously identified and targeted under Department of the Treasury sanctions, was operating in support of the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization," SOUTHCOM said in a press statement.

Los Choneros is one of more than a dozen Latin American transnational criminal enterprises that the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization since the start of President Donald Trump's second term.

According to SOUTHCOM, U.S. Marines and sailors launched from the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio to board and search the vessel, and did so without incident.

"Individuals removed from the vessel were safely escorted to Ecuador. Once cleared, U.S. forces sank the vessel," SOUTHCOM said.

SOUTHCOM has since published footage purporting to show U.S. forces boarding the suspect vessel, as well as footage of the boat being destroyed in a fiery blast.

"Today's operation is a stark example of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition's power to dismantle the sophisticated, clandestine narco-terrorist tactics and capabilities that have enabled the trafficking of dangerous drugs destined for American communities," SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan said of the operation.

The Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, formed in March of this year, is a military partnership between the United States and other Western Hemisphere nations to disrupt cartel operations.

The U.S. military had been taking a more forceful approach to disrupt cartel operations even before recruiting regional partners through the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.

On Sept. 2, 2025, U.S. forces bombed a boat in the Caribbean Sea, which officials said was transporting narcotics, killing 11. It was the first in an ongoing series of strikes on drug boats.

U.S. forces have struck dozens more vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in the past year. Most recently, SOUTHCOM claimed responsibility for a strike in the Caribbean on Aug. 25 that killed four people it identified as members of a drug-trafficking network.

The campaign of lethal strikes on boats has met with scrutiny and criticism.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), in an Aug. 3 letter to the president, said: "A careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking."

A December report by Human Rights Watch described the campaign of boat strikes as a series of "extrajudicial killings."

The family members of two Trinidadian nationals who have been missing since October filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States in January. The plaintiffs claimed that the two missing men had been working as migrant laborers in neighboring Venezuela, and had arranged a boat ride home to Trinidad and Tobago, but were likely killed in an Oct. 14 strike by U.S. forces.

The U.S. government has not publicly identified any of the individuals they believe to have killed in these boat strikes.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/30/2026 - 21:00

These Are The World's Safest (And Least Safe) Cities

Doha ranks as the safest major city in the world in 2026, while Caracas sits at the opposite end of the ranking.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, compares the world’s safest and least safe major cities using Numbeo’s 2026 Safety Index. Scores are based on five years of user submissions covering perceptions of crime, personal safety, property crime, and violent crime. They do not measure official crime rates or exposure to geopolitical conflict.

The Cities With the Highest Perceived Safety

Here are the 10 highest-scoring major cities with populations of two million or more.

Rank Most Safe Cities Country Overall Score (0-100) 1 🇶🇦 Doha Qatar 84.6 2 🇦🇪 Dubai UAE 83.8 3 🇹🇼 Taipei Taiwan 83.4 4 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China 78.2 5 🇸🇬 Singapore Singapore 77.7 6 🇯🇵 Tokyo Japan 75.9 7 🇨🇳 Shenzhen China 75.5 8 🇸🇦 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 75.4 9 🇸🇦 Jeddah Saudi Arabia 75.1 10 🇰🇷 Seoul South Korea 74.6

Four of the top 10 cities are in the Middle East, including two in Saudi Arabia: Riyadh and Jeddah.

Gallup’s latest Global Safety Report reinforces the pattern. Singapore had the world’s highest share of adults who said they felt safe walking alone at night, at 98%, followed by Saudi Arabia at 93% and the UAE at 90%.

Asia dominates the rest of the top 10. Outside the Middle East, every city represented is in East or Southeast Asia, while European cities are notably absent despite routinely leading global livability rankings.

The Cities With the Lowest Perceived Safety

At the opposite end of the index, the 10 lowest-scoring cities are concentrated in just two regions.

Rank Least Safe Cities Country Overall Score (0-100) 1 🇻🇪 Caracas Venezuela 18.5 2 🇿🇦 Johannesburg South Africa 19.2 3 🇿🇦 Durban South Africa 19.5 4 🇧🇷 Salvador Brazil 23.5 5 🇧🇷 Fortaleza Brazil 24.1 6 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 24.6 7 🇧🇷 Recife Brazil 25.0 8 🇪🇨 Guayaquil Ecuador 25.3 9 🇿🇦 Cape Town South Africa 26.4 10 🇨🇴 Cali Colombia 29.1

The bottom of the ranking is heavily concentrated by country. Brazil accounts for four of the 10 cities, while South Africa accounts for three, including Johannesburg and Durban. South Africa also has one of the world’s highest homicide rates.

Gallup data show a similar geographic pattern. Of the 10 countries where people felt least safe walking alone at night, nine were in sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. South Africa ranked lowest globally, with just 33% of adults saying they felt safe walking alone at night.

Guayaquil’s low ranking also comes amid a sharp rise in violence. Guayas province, where the city is located, recorded 4,106 homicides in 2025, the most of any province in Ecuador and up 26.5% from 2024.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on America’s most dangerous cities.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/30/2026 - 20:25