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Hawaii Braces For Direct Tropical Storm Hit On Big Island

Hawaii's Big Island is under a hurricane warning as Tropical Storm Lala is expected to make landfall on Saturday local time, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"This is a very serious storm," Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told reporters late Friday night. "We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time. So none of us really have experienced this really in, you know, the last couple of decades."

Friday August 14, 2026, 10:10 PM: Lala is about to become a full-fledged hurricane and hit the southern end of the Big Island of Hawaii, with rainfall amounts of 12.5 to 27 inches by Saturday at 9 PM. The storm is expected to rapidly strengthen in the next 6 to 12 hours to a… pic.twitter.com/Ig3FMFIbKs

— Jason D Farhang (@jason61987) August 15, 2026

Green said Hawaii will see "an incredible amount of water," warning residents and visitors to prepare for extremely heavy rain and widespread flooding, as well as the possibility of major power outages.

"We're hoping that it's going to be sufficiently far south that we just get the periphery of the storm, but, no promises, we've seen storms turn," Green said.

As of 0800 local time, the NHC said Tropical Storm Lala was roughly 140 miles southeast of South Point, Hawaii, packing sustained winds of 65 mph and moving west-northwest at 13 mph.

The FOX Forecast Center warns that "30 inches of torrential rain could deluge higher terrain and favored windward slopes, triggering widespread, life-threatening flash flooding and severe mudslides."

Big Island of Hawaii is gonna get it... #Lala barreling.. certain chance (purple) of Tropical-Storm-Force winds pic.twitter.com/Z7quHJptX7

— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) August 15, 2026

The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii ...

... was Category 4 Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 11:05

Socialism Simplified: A System Where Government Uses Your Money To Solve Everyone Else's Problems

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

They are coming for your money, and they have a ton of momentum right now. Democratic Socialists are winning election after election by promising free stuff, but of course free stuff is never actually free. Somewhere along the way, someone has to pay for it. If you find yourself protectively reaching for your wallet as you read this, I don’t blame you one bit. Socialism is a system where the government uses your money to solve everyone else’s problems. Unfortunately, it is also a system that is becoming increasingly popular among our young adults.

In a previous article, I noted that a poll that was taken in 2025 found that a whopping 62 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 now have a positive view of socialism.

That should chill you to the core.

Meanwhile, Americans view capitalism less favorably than they once did…

• Fewer than half of Americans say capitalism is working even “somewhat” well — down from 60% about a decade ago, according to a June Wall Street Journal-NORC poll.

• 61% of Americans said they were bothered “a lot” by the feeling that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes, per a Pew Research Center poll in January. That included 41% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.

• The same poll showed another 60% overall — and 42% of Republican-inclined voters — said the same about some corporations paying their fair share.

• And views of big business went from 19 points positive in 2012 (58%-39%) to 25 points negative last year (37%-62%), according to the Gallup data.

This is crazy.

So why is this happening?

Well, the truth is that a large portion of the population is very frustrated with the economy.

The rising cost of living has been absolutely eviscerating the middle class, and many young adults consider homeownership to be completely out of reach because home prices are so absurdly high.

When someone comes along and starts promising all sorts of free stuff in this very harsh economic environment, it can be very seductive.

But if the Democratic Socialists of America were actually able to implement their entire agenda on the federal level, it would more than triple federal spending…

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) propose new spending that could more than triple federal outlays. They propose the government pay for health care, housing, higher education, and electricity. Jobs are government-guaranteed, retirement benefits are expanded, paid family leave is universal, fossil fuels are eliminated, and reparations are paid.

The DSA platform claims that the bill for all this will be sent to “the richest individuals and corporations.” Tally up that bill, and it ballparks between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in new spending over the next decade. Confiscating every dollar of high-end wealth and corporate profits would cover only a fraction of those costs. The DSA agenda necessitates high taxes on middle-class Americans.

If you took every penny from every billionaire in America, that would only account for 8.4 trillion dollars.

So where is the rest of the money going to come from?

They don’t have an answer to that question, but they have been winning major races all over the country.

And now a 37-year-old Democratic Socialist named Francesca Hong is favored to win Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary…

The 37-year-old restaurateur and chef-turned-member of the state Assembly is leading in polls by relatively wide margins ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who represents the famously liberal state capital of Madison, comes equipped with politically problematic tweets covering everything from abolishing the police to the racist origins of Thanksgiving.

It is hard to believe that someone like that could actually become the next governor of Wisconsin.

I wouldn’t even hire her to run a Dairy Queen.

But this is where we are at as a society, and it appears that lots of Democratic Socialists will be heading to D.C. after the midterm elections.

In 2026, Democratic Socialists have been repeatedly winning primaries in deep blue congressional districts…

• Claire Valdez (New York – 7th District): Won the Democratic primary in an open congressional race.

• Darializa Avila Chevalier (New York – 13th District): Defeated a 30-year progressive incumbent in a highly publicized upset.

• Melat Kiros (Colorado – 1st District): Defeated long-time incumbent Representative Diana DeGette in the Denver-based Democratic primary.

• Christopher Rabb (Pennsylvania – 3rd District): Won the open Democratic primary race for this Philadelphia-based congressional seat.

• Donavan McKinney (Michigan – 13th District): Unseated incumbent Representative Shri Thanedar in the Michigan Democratic primary.

What will D.C. look like if the Democrats take back both the House and the Senate?

Some of the Democrats that are running for seats in Congress appear to be absolutely psychotic.

If there is a major progressive wave in the fall, that could potentially make Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez one of the frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

As Ben Shapiro has aptly pointed out, she seems to be pushing a new version of “woke” that is more palatable to many Americans…

Woke 1.0 forced Americans to say, “Am I racist or am I not?” Woke 2.0 is, “Is American capitalism inherently corrupting and bad? Is the West’s system of freedoms and free markets inherently imperialistic, colonialist, genocidal, and racist?”

It’s easier to pitch woke 2.0 than woke 1.0. Why? Americans have been convinced over the course of the last 25 years or so that America is the bad guy, that we and our allies are fundamentally evil, that our foreign policy decisions of the past two decades and maybe longer, going all the way back to World War II, according to some, are actually terrible and horrible, and we’re the bad guys in the world.

Add the economic angst right now, combine those two things, and you get woke 2.0, Ocasio-Cortez’s new program. It is about hatred of America.

But no matter how AOC may want to market it, the content is still the same.

In so many ways, the socialists want to turn our country completely upside down and make it the exact opposite of what it once was.

They intend to do this by taking over the Democratic Party.

Democratic Socialists always run for office as Democrats, and most of them openly identify themselves as Democrats…

Self-identified democratic socialists do not see socialism as being mutually exclusive and continue to identify with other terms on the left, including more mainstream Democratic labels. Of Socialist Democrats, 92% consider themselves to also be Democrats, 84% consider themselves to also be Obama Democrats, and 80% consider themselves to also be progressive.

We are being told that there is a civil war in the Democratic Party, but the truth is that the differences between “mainstream Democrats” and Democratic Socialists are not actually that significant these days.

They are all heading in the same direction. Mostly, their disagreements are about how far to go and how fast it will take to get there.

We already have the biggest government in human history, but they want to make it even bigger.

But socialism doesn’t work.

As Margaret Thatcher once warned, the problem with socialism is that the socialists always eventually run out of other people’s money to spend.

Considering the fact that we are nearly 40 trillion dollars in debt, our country is rapidly approaching that point too.

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

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 10:30

Influential Wife Of Anthropic CEO Pitched Post-Conviction Epstein On 'Luxury Porn' Company, And Claude Has No Idea

Anthropic has filed confidentially for what could be the largest public offering in history. Yet, one of the most influential voices shaping its chief executive holds no official position at the company, appears in no regulatory filings, and has been quietly scrubbed from the internet. She also pitched a porn company to Jeffrey Epstein - less than two years after he got out of prison for sex trafficking minors.

Her name is Cami Clark, wife of CEO Dario Amodei. According to a Wall Street Journal investigation published Thursday, she has spent five years operating as a strategic adviser to the head of a company now seeking public capital at a valuation north of $2 trillion - all without a title, a salary, or formal disclosure.

Cami Clark and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at a summit in New Delhi in February. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Her marriage to Amodei has been scrubbed from Claude too... Ask Anthropic's own chatbot about Amodei's marital status, and Claude replies that it "doesn't seem to be clearly confirmed."

Someone actively worked to keep it that way. Amodei's Wikipedia page did not mention his marriage until this summer, and it still omits his wife's name. Google searches for his wife instead return photographs of his sister, Daniela Amodei, who co-runs the company. Citing its own analysis and a person familiar with the matter, the Journal reports that targeted efforts have been made to erase references to Clark online.

In 1999, at the age of 20, she married 64-year-old Reno architect Waldemar Eklof III, who had designed buildings including the city’s Atlantis Casino Resort. They divorced three years later. On a now-defunct personal website, Clark said she dropped out of architecture school in 1999. 

...

Around 2010, she and Michelle Capocefalo started Eddice, which described itself as a “revolutionary porn company.” Named for Eddice Munson, Clark’s maternal grandmother, it aimed to emphasize sex positivity in a male-oriented porn industry, and carried the tagline: “intellectually promiscuous.”  -WSJ

And she would pitch that company to Epstein... 

The emails

What was scrubbed from the web is now partly a matter of federal record. Clark appears in the Epstein files released by the Justice Department.

On March 3, 2011, literary agent John Brockman - the man who spent years introducing Jeffrey Epstein to scientists and Silicon Valley executives - emailed Epstein from a Wired party where he was the guest of honor.

"You should connect for dinner with my girls - Cami and Michele - who I met last month in Munich," Brockman wrote. "They're in LA raising money for porn movie aimed at women's market." He included a link to their site, eddice.com.

Clark replied to Epstein directly that night, copying her business partner, Michelle Capocefalo.

"Hello Jeffrey! We would love to have dinner with you this evening. Does that work for you?" She included her cell number.

A year later, she circled back. Epstein didn't remember her.

"Cami Clark, John Brockman introduced us last year at Ted," she wrote on March 8, 2012. "We have the free luxury porn company. Does that ring a bell?"

"yes,, a loud gong," Epstein replied.

"Hahaha I was going to say, you would be the first person ever that didn't remember us," Clark answered.

Epstein wrote back that he was "in the caribeanc until april. as you recall i live here" - a reference to Little St. James - "but am willing to look at whatever you think viable."

"Hahaha I was going to say, you would be the first person ever that didn't remember us :)" https://t.co/fvCv0oPiwt pic.twitter.com/mEeiMsKyAJ

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 14, 2026

She pitched him on investing. Per the Journal, he declined: "Can't do sex TV." Clark then pivoted to a second venture, a social dieting app for women. The correspondence ran for roughly two years, during which she invited him to a Manhattan housewarming party and connected with him on LinkedIn.

Jeffrey Epstein was released from custody in July 2009 after pleading guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution. Brockman's introduction came in March 2011 - twenty months later.

Epstein was a registered sex offender at the time, and his conviction was highly public. The Journal explicitly notes his status in its account of the exchange.

Her blog "Eddice" was taken down long ago. But on the internet everything lasts forever...https://t.co/jREzpDWmwv https://t.co/acpnwcVngF

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 14, 2026 Sounding Board

Clark does not work at Anthropic, officially. According to people close to the company who spoke to the Journal, she functions as a sounding board and strategic adviser to Amodei. She sits in the front row at his public appearances and networks with investors at Davos and the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley. When Narendra Modi convened AI executives in New Delhi this year and restricted each to a single guest, Amodei brought his wife.

She also brought Anthropic one of its earliest and most consequential investors. Clark dated former Google CEO Eric Schmidt from 2011 to 2014, before she met Amodei. She introduced the two men, and Schmidt - by then investing in startups - participated in Anthropic's $124 million Series A in May 2021.

She later tried to convert that relationship into a formal position.

Michelle Capocefalo and Clark at a gallery event in New York in 2010. RYAN MCCUNE/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

In February 2021, Clark pitched Schmidt on an investment vehicle called the Mother of AGI Fund. Per a 40-page proposal reviewed by the Journal, its stated purpose was to be "an elegant solution to formalize Cami's involvement in Anthropic (Dario's company), manage Eric's investment," and invest across the broader AGI ecosystem. Daniela Amodei and other co-founders opposed it, and the proposal went nowhere. Clark and Amodei married the following year.

More recently, Clark has been carrying the company's political water - telling political insiders that Anthropic's mission is to protect America and that the company is not as "woke" as critics claim. This pivot follows the Trump administration designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk after Amodei refused to lift restrictions on the Pentagon's use of Claude - a designation the company is currently challenging in court. At Sun Valley in July, she lunched with Ivanka Trump and spoke with Jared Kushner, whom Amodei had previously approached about investing.

What about the S-1?

While none of the above is illegal, Anthropic is no longer a private startup answerable only to a handful of venture funds willing to stomach idiosyncratic risk. It filed confidentially with the SEC on June 1 and is reportedly targeting an October listing. Investors told the Financial Times the valuation could exceed $2 trillion, which would make it the largest public offering ever conducted.

Registration statements require the disclosure of related-party arrangements and material influences on management. An unpaid, untitled adviser who introduced a lead investor, proposed a fund to formalize her stake, and carries corporate political messaging is precisely the kind of dynamic institutional buyers expect to see disclosed before they price a book.

So is the fact that someone - particularly someone who actively sought Jeffrey Epstein's involvement in a porn business after he was convicted for sex trafficking minors - has been made difficult to find. Anthropic's entire commercial premise relies on being trusted with a technology it readily admits is dangerous. That pitch justifies an enormous premium to enterprise customers and, soon, to public shareholders. It rests entirely on the proposition that the company is more careful, more transparent, and more institutionally sound than its competitors.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 10:30

Post-Maduro Venezuela Wants Its $4BN In Gold Back From England

Venezuela wants its gold back. And now with Maduro having been removed and Caracas being essentially a puppet of Washington influence and interests, it has a much better chance at this than ever before.

Venezuela’s government and opposition are teaming up to wrest back $4 billion in gold bullion currently locked in the Bank of England’s vaults, according to a Friday report by the Financial Times.

Bank Of England/Shutterstock

A freshly issued joint statement confirmed they are actively working "to recover Venezuela's international reserve assets held in the Bank of England."

If successfully repatriated, the funds are slated in part for post-earthquake reconstruction efforts and to soften the blow of years of US sanctions, which still haven't actually been fully lifted.

The funds have been the subject of a lengthy court battle, after since 2018 the United Kingdom has blocked access by denying recognition to Venezuela’s revolutionary socialist government.

Despite Maduro having been ousted by a US military operation last January during a shock overnight military raid on the capital, the Bank of England is demanding absolute legal clarity on who actually holds the reins of power in Venezuela before agreeing to open up the vaults.

An unnamed opposition figure revealed to the FT that both factions are hashing out a "transparency mechanism" designed to ensure the billion-dollar windfall isn't quietly siphoned off.

President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro's former VP, has made personal request to King Charles for the gold:

The bullion has been the ​subject of a long-running legal battle in British courts, and it has not been released despite Maduro's capture by the U.S. in January and a ​request by acting President Delcy Rodriguez to King Charles.

The South American ​nation was hit by devastating twin earthquakes at the end of June that killed ‌more ⁠than 6,000 people.

Rodriguez said the government and lawmakers had agreed to focus on projects aimed at rebuilding households, health capacities, electricity availability and clearing rubble, and to this end, "concentrate efforts to promote ​the recovery of ​Venezuela's international assets ⁠in the Bank of England."

Venezuela had long charged England with "theft" as part of a regime change agenda aimed at the former government, which Washington had finally effected early this year.

For the first time there is no longer a clean "we don’t know who the legitimate government is" excuse... The value of the gold roughly doubled while it was frozen.

This is a perfect case study in how physical resource control actually works.

Since 2018–19 the UK has refused to release roughly 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold sitting in the Bank of England vaults — now worth around $4 billion — because London did not recognise the Maduro… https://t.co/GzMdOquAbS

— ResourceGeopolitics (@ResGeoPol) August 14, 2026

Under Rodriguez, the socialist system does remain in place, however Caracas has shown itself to now side with the US and West on a variety of foreign policy issues - from shifting its outlook on Israel, as well as distancing itself from Russia, China and Iran.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 09:55

Racist Plan For Berlin's 'Blacks-Only' Swimming Pool Day Canceled Over 'Safety Concerns'

Via Remix News,

A planned event at the temporary publicly funded “Volksbad” pool in front of Berlin’s Volksbühne theater has been canceled following an alleged surge of online hostility and threats. The initiative, organized in collaboration with the association Each One Teach One (Eoto), was set to reserve the public bath exclusively for Black children and young people for a six-hour window on Friday before opening to the general public.

The organizers are claiming that they could no longer protect participants. According to a statement from the Volksbühne, the event was canceled because the initiative “has become the target of right-wing and racist incitement.”

If we may allow for some editorializing here, this claim is pure propaganda. As much as the fever dreams of the left would like to believe it, KKK members and rabid neo-Nazi extremists are not going to show up to an art project in Berlin and target Black kids.

In short, the organizers got called out for their racist and exclusionary plan, some people complained about it online, and now they need a dramatic pretext to cancel a project that made them look racist.

While the event has been canceled, the theater stands behind the initiative. Lilienthal defended the policy, arguing that the approach aligns with local policy by “implementing Berlin’s anti-discrimination law,” which allows for protected spaces for individuals affected by discrimination.

The question is who gets to define “marginalized groups” and “discrimination.”

For example, there is no doubt that across Germany, young White people are increasingly the target of structural and organized attacks based on their race, especially in the German school system, where they are often a minority. Cases have been exhaustively documented time and time again, yet, it is important to remember that this group would never be permitted to have their own exclusionary swimming day. After all, the dominant ideology governing Germany is that White Germans could never face systematic discrimination. Even commissioning a study to document these incidents would be highly controversial for the left.

🇩🇪🔴 A young German girl spoke of the nightmare she experiences from her Muslim classmates.

"Sometimes they say to me that I’m German. And yeah, then they laugh at me, curse at me and tease me. Others are always Muslim, and they ask me why I am not a Muslim. I said I am a… pic.twitter.com/gggVOm9IPs

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 21, 2025

Eoto, which receives taxpayer money to empower Black people and runs Berlin-Wedding’s Black Communities Center, is also claiming the event was under threat, according to German newspaper Tagesschau. The organization reported receiving “racist threatening emails as well as threats of violence and discriminatory comments on social media” once public outrage began around the event. Consequently, Eoto stated that physical and mental safety for the children “cannot be guaranteed on Friday at the public bath, not even by security forces and police.”

Volksbühne director Matthias Lilienthal confirmed to RBB hat bathing operations will be suspended between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. entirely on Friday. Instead, Lilienthal said he plans to be on-site at noon to engage in open discussions with the public.

🇩🇪🔴 Yara was the last German in her classroom, and she ended up being bullied and stabbed.

Yara was only 6 but was "bullied and ostracized, and in the end even seriously injured."

Yara's father said that parent-teacher meetings required a translator.

"I had the feeling that… pic.twitter.com/KHk1QFYJnA

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) September 16, 2025

Claiming that all Black people face blanket discrimination while implementing an openly discriminatory practice that actually favors them is something the theater should perhaps reflect on. However, Lilienthal’s claim that Berlin’s anti-discrimination policy actually allows for openly discriminatory practices such as this one is open to legal challenges.

Berlin does legally permit and provides taxpayer money to support dedicated spaces for certain racial groups already, such as the Black Communities Center in Wedding. Again, no White “safe space” would ever be permitted.

So, even if this pool initiative is no doubt racist and exclusionary, it could very well be legal under Berlin law but still very open to legal challenges. For example, for typical public events like concerts, club nights, or festivals, the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) applies strictly. In theory, you cannot reject people from a swimming pool based on skin color and suddenly say that “no White people allowed.”

However, under German constitutional law, the freedom of association and assembly allows groups to host focused political workshops, empowerment meetups, or educational panel discussions intended specifically for marginalized groups. These events are legally classified as “targeted empowerment” or educational platforms that compensate for structural disadvantages or create temporary psychological safety.

Again, the definition of a “marginalized group” raises further legal gray areas that can be challenged. In fact, the entire law creates a problematic form of discrimination.

It is also true that certain community groups and organizations have already secured an exclusive time slot, such as the Gangway Crew, which works with homeless people. However, there is so far no record of any other racial group, such as Hispanics or Asians, securing a time slot at the swimming pool exclusively for themselves. The question is also why do only Blacks of all “discriminated” groups receive a time slot?

The leadership of the taxpayer-funded group is doubling down and is likely looking to pursue similar events in the future, despite the threat that evil neo-Nazis may be lurking in the bushes waiting to attack innocent Black children at the first chance.

“We will continue working with Eoto, we will continue our events, and we will also consider an initiative for these children and young people,” Lilienthal noted, confirming that a replacement event is being planned.

In terms of discrimination, Alternative for Germany (AfD) supporters are likely at the top of the charts in Berlin, where even the whiff of supporting the party can lead to job loss, social ostracism, and violent attacks from Antifa. In the major cities of Germany, being associated with the AfD in any manner is an open invitation to violent attacks.

Sure, an AfD-only swimming event supported by taxpayer money is pretty laughable, but in terms of events that might actually be attacked in Berlin, it might be a top candidate. Yes, Antifa might literally be waiting in the bushes.

Meanwhile, taxpayer money will continue to flow to organizations that continue to idolize minorities, with most of them run by very privileged White people. The Volksbühne venue operates on a substantial budget, benefiting from over €20 million in annual public taxpayer subsidies. The pool itself, measuring 25 meters in length and 1.30 meters in depth, can host a maximum capacity of 46 swimmers simultaneously, with the total budget designed to accommodate an estimated 20,000 visitors over the course of the swimming season. Admission may be free but obtaining an online reservation for a spot is highly competitive.

🇩🇪❓"Why don’t you have any German friends?"

🔺"Because they don’t belong to us. I can’t stand the Germans too much."

Thousands of German students now face discrimination and sometimes outright assault from foreigners in their school systems.

Yet, the narrative of the "evil… pic.twitter.com/3EtIdpGpna

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 19, 2025

Maybe in the future Germany can have a swimming day for “battered White kids” in Germany’s multicultural school system, but you shouldn’t hold your breath.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 09:20

China Copies America's Futuristic "Sub-Second Detect-To-Fire" Anti-Drone Swarm Dome Gun

China appears to have replicated a next-generation counter-drone system we first covered in mid-July. The system uses a multi-barrel hemispherical array that reduces much of the latency associated with conventional turrets, shortening the sensor-to-shooter engagement cycle. Beijing's apparent interest reflects the design's potential as a next-generation counter-UAS system capable of engaging drone swarms approaching simultaneously from multiple directions.

X user Drone Wars revealed that Chongqing Jianshe Industry, a Chinese state-owned arms manufacturer specializing in light weapons, developed a multi-barrel weapon concept designed to counter drones approaching from multiple directions.

Drone Wars added more color:

The patent describes several barrel assemblies connected to a common propellant chamber. Each assembly uses a feed tube containing spherical projectiles, with a spring mechanism automatically moving the next projectile into position after firing. According to the design, propellant gas drives a locking block during firing, closing the feed opening and preventing gas from escaping. Once pressure drops, a return spring moves the block back, reopening the feed path and allowing the next projectile to enter the firing position. The concept reportedly allows multiple barrel assemblies to be mounted at different angles, enabling simultaneous fire in several directions. The design appears intended to increase the likelihood of engaging small drones approaching from different angles.

China’s Chongqing Jianshe Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. has reportedly developed a multi-barrel concept intended for countering unmanned aerial vehicles.

The patent describes several barrel assemblies connected to a common propellant chamber. Each assembly uses a feed tube… pic.twitter.com/AfBCMVNZTv

— Drone Wars (@Drone_Wars_) August 13, 2026

Circling back to our report last month, titled "Sub-Second Detect-To-Fire": Futuristic Dome Turret Could Be US Military's Answer To Drone Swarms, China's answer to Picket Defense Systems' multi-barrel hemispherical array appears very similar.

"Fixed multi-barrel hemispherical array: no slewing delay. Sub-second detect-to-fire. No dead zones, no blind spots, no reaction time," Picket wrote in a slide deck.

This week in the counter-UAS market, Northrop Grumman unveiled a chain gun designed to defend critical infrastructure from drone swarms.

The skies are changing. Defending against one threat isn’t enough anymore. Our Raid Hunter™ is built to meet the challenge with precision-guided gunfire and the speed needed to help protect what’s critical. pic.twitter.com/Meuqyg04oY

— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) August 11, 2026

We suspect a procurement supercycle for drone and counter-drone systems will kick off next year.

How to profit:

• "Only The Beginning": How To Profit From The Asymmetric Warfare Boom
• Unusual Machines Jumps After Trump Slaps 100% Drone Tariff In "Hard Decoupling" From China
• This American Drone-Motor Company Is Positioned For "Massive Procurement Tailwind"
• Wall Street Zeroes In On This "Pure-Play" US Attack Drone Company

Drone swarms with fully automated kill chains will only increase demand for next-generation counter-UAS systems, such as multi-barrel hemispherical arrays.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 08:45

War On Rowling Continues (Sans Facts)

Authored by Christian Toto via American Greatness,

Journalists love to ask two questions spun from the same unhinged premise.

Do you support trans women in women's sports, and do you agree with author J.K. Rowling's "anti-trans" views?

The former bullies athletes for passing Biology 101. The latter targets the Harry Potter author at every possible turn.

We're seeing both in action of late. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is under media assault for sharing a simple truth about men in women's sports, a fact supported by science at every turn.

"She's MAGA Barbie," select outlets cry!

Rowling is under a fresh attack from an actor lucky enough to snag a role in HBO Max's hotly anticipated Harry Potter TV series. Bel Powley, who plays Petunia Dursley in the upcoming series, told The Telegraph that she "strongly disagrees" with Rowling's position on trans issues.

"I strongly disagree with J.K. Rowling's views on gender. I think that the trans community deserves safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance ... but I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first generation of readers and, again, I love magic and spookiness."

That's why Powley took the gig. That, and the paycheck, of course. It's likely that The Telegraph asked Powley about the Rowling issue and that the actress didn't bring it up on her own.

Either way, it's part of a larger, disturbing media trend. Reporters describe anyone who doesn't embrace the whole activist trans agenda as "anti-trans." And they never ask the person in question to share specifics on what they're criticizing or recite the actual comments by the "villain" du jour.

For Cunningham, that means her critics won't admit the obvious. Men have clear, distinct biological advantages that don't vanish if they embrace "womanhood" or take hormones. Cunningham spoke very clearly on the issue. She did so without malice or political rhetoric.

The media and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, targeted her anyway.

Rowling also has been very careful in her language on trans issues. She doesn't wish the trans community harm. Her initial statements on the subject were kind and hardly alienating.

She simply understands the need for separate spaces for biological women while acknowledging the physiological differences between male and female athletes.

Oh, and she's faced frequent death threats for sharing her commonsense opinions.

Here's what Rowling wrote in 2020, responding to the very early stages of the Left's war on the beloved author.

"Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk...I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men."

Does that sound cruel or hateful? Hardly. Did Powley read Rowling's long, personal essay on the subject back in 2020? Has she read it lately? Unlikely.

The same is likely true for John Lithgow. The veteran actor plays Professor Dumbledore in the series, and he, too, has been coaxed into savaging Rowling for her trans views. They're "inexplicable," Lithgow said. Has he tried speaking with her directly? She's a key player behind the scenes of the new HBO Max show.

Why not start there?

Has he read everything she's said on the matter? Where does he agree or disagree? It's fine to disagree, of course, but he must know the intense cancellation movement she's faced in recent years.

Or does he realize that the "safe" position in Hollywood for anyone, let alone an 80-year-old actor, is to slam Rowling and leave any critical facts out of the conversation?

To be fair, the legacy media does just that, too.

Christian Toto is the editor of HollywoodInToto.com - "The Right Take on Entertainment." He's an award-winning journalist and movie critic whose film reviews are heard on radio stations across the country. He co-hosts Denver's Mike Rosen at the Movies radio show on KOA NewsRadio as well as the weekly "Hollyweird" segment on The Michael Brown Show.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 08:10

North Korea Rages At Upcoming US Drills: "Rehearsal For Aggressive War"

North Korea has issued a severe warning over the upcoming joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea, characterizing it as a rehearsal for an aggressive war and that it is is ready to respond.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry described Friday that these planned drills look different, and will be more dangerous, compared to all prior ones of the past-half decade, in that they appear offensive in nature as the exercise will focus on modern warfare tactics.

The Associated Press

The 10-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will kick off this coming Monday, August 17, and will see tens of thousands of military personnel from the United States, South Korea participate - but also other allied countries such as Australia.

"The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare," the North Korea condemnation reads. 

"By doing so, it did not conceal its aim to complete preparations for the substantial military confrontation with the DPRK. This is tantamount to an admission that the exercises, which the US and the ROK describe as 'annual' and 'defensive' ones, are a rehearsal for an aggressive war," the ministry added in a statement published by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

US military magazine Stripes has admitted that growing North Korean defense cooperation with Russia has given new impetus and shape to the joint war games:

North Korea’s growing military partnership with Russia and the battlefield experience its troops have gained in the war with Ukraine is shaping how U.S. and South Korean forces prepare for a potential conflict on the peninsula, a senior United Nations Command officer said Thursday.

Australian army Lt. Gen. Scott Winter, deputy commander of U.N. Command, said the allies are accounting for Pyongyang’s increased use of technology, its ballistic-missile development and lessons learned by North Korean troops supporting Russia as they prepare for Monday’s start of Ulchi Freedom Shield.

The command is "very conscious" that North Korea has used its relationship with Moscow as an opportunity to test ballistic missile systems and gain contemporary battlefield experience, Winter told reporters during a briefing on the exercise at the Press Center in Seoul.

Meanwhile North Korea has further stated: "It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent," and so the country "will more clearly express its stance on the enemies to cope with any threats and challenges through the responsible and decisive exercise of the right to legitimate self-defense."

North Korea threatens 'overwhelming' response to US-South Korea joint military drills — KCNA

Pyongyang claims the exercise that begins August 17 is not merely 'defensive' but rather 'provocative', simulating modern warfare, including drone, electronic and cyber operations pic.twitter.com/D9cjx5OcgC

— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) August 14, 2026

In Ukraine, President Zelensky has this month been highlighting a deepening role by Pyongyang in helping Russia militarily, including alleged use of North Korean ballistic missiles on Ukrainian cities.

Interestingly, Zelensky is using this narrative to try and goad South Korea into changing its policy and export heavy weapons, including anti-air defenses, to Ukraine.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/15/2026 - 07:35

It Was Destroyed In Just Days...

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

In a matter of days, once-pristine beaches in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta have been reduced to open-air dumps and disease-ridden camps occupied by thousands of illegal migrants who refused to leave after the mass invasion from Morocco.

Locals describe feces, urine, garbage, and makeshift shacks covering the sand. Contagious illnesses are spreading. Mass brawls with bladed weapons have broken out.

What was a quiet coastal stretch has become a third-world encampment on European soil.

???Ceuta beaches are completely occupied by migrants, according to locals.

"We can't take our kids to the beach, we can't go. They are occupied, they are full of shacks, people are eating there, throwing food, it's full of clothes, feces, urine."

Infectious diseases like... pic.twitter.com/XzFztXYJb6

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 13, 2026

Footage circulating widely shows Trampolín Beach and surrounding stretches completely taken over. Residents report they can no longer bring their children to the shore.

"We can't take our kids to the beach, we can't go. They are occupied, they are full of shacks, people are eating there, throwing food, it's full of clothes, feces, urine," one local said.

?? Shocking footage from Ceuta shows a completely polluted beach where hundreds of illegal migrants set up an illegal encampment.

It took just a few days for illegal migrants to turn a local pristine beach into a dump filled with garbage and excrement. pic.twitter.com/ZZ1QilXIc0

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 13, 2026

Infectious diseases including scabies, tuberculosis, and impetigo are rising sharply. Another resident warned of a "health catastrophe," noting WhatsApp groups filled with photos of children suffering from these conditions.

Ceuta University Hospital has responded by opening an emergency disaster wing with more than 30 beds.

?? More makeshift shacks and shanty huts are being erected on Ceuta's beaches each day.

With too few toilets and showers, residents report beaches covered in human waste and rubbish.

Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/VKP5vXyJj4

— Europa.com (@europa) August 13, 2026

Aquí, en esta playa de Ceuta habría que obligar a Sánchez y toda su familia a veranear. pic.twitter.com/wZbhC51OU5

— AlterEgo?? (@ultraheroe12) August 13, 2026

This is the lingering reality after the late-July surge that saw estimates ranging from 50,000 to as high as 80,000 people cross from Morocco into the tiny Spanish territory of roughly 84,000 residents.

While the legacy media sought to abruptly remove the story from the news cycle by focusing on many of the Moroccan arrivals eventually returning, thousands - largely sub-Saharan African men - remained.

In just a few days, Ceuta has become worse than a third world country. EU politicians want Europe to become like that too. pic.twitter.com/GFBmW19Ola

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) August 12, 2026

Reception centers collapsed. Beaches became the default solution. Makeshift shacks of branches, plastic, cardboard, and scavenged materials now stretch along the shore.

With too few toilets and showers, human waste and rubbish carpet the sand.

Los ceutíes no pueden ir a la playa y no solo por la presencia de inmigrantes en actitud intimidatoria. Me pasan foto de la "calidad" del agua en El Chorrillo. #Ceuta. pic.twitter.com/GR9ETQHEuO

— Susana Burgos (@burgosusana) August 12, 2026

Red Cross teams distribute food rations daily while the settlement expands.

Ceuta looks like the zombie apocalypse after the Moroccan invasion. pic.twitter.com/Len3M6fpz7

— Don Keith (@RealDonKeith) August 13, 2026

Violence has followed. A mass brawl erupted among sub-Saharan migrants at Trampolín Beach, leaving several injured with bladed weapons. Videos capture the chaos of men fighting amid the trash-strewn shoreline that once drew local families.

?? A mass brawl erupted among sub-Saharan African migrants at Trampolín Beach in Ceuta, leaving several people injured with bladed weapons.

Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/JBKlTINqs9

— Europa.com (@europa) August 12, 2026

The human cost extends beyond pollution and fights. In the weeks after the invasion, health sources at Ceuta University Hospital treated at least five girls under 14 for alleged rapes, plus an underage boy, according to reports.

Many of these minors have been sleeping on the streets due to shelter shortages. The emergency department has been handling 300 to 400 migrant patients a day while operating with pre-crisis staffing.

Emergency-room doctor Susana Ascaso described the situation as a "health disaster," stating: "It's not that we refuse to receive them, it's that there is no room for them."

She added that undetected cases of tuberculosis, hepatitis, and other diseases remain a serious risk. Residents now compete with the new arrivals for medical care in a system pushed past its limits.

Separate incidents underscore the breakdown in security. A 20-year-old Moroccan migrant with a prior criminal record that included sexual assaults broke into a fifth-floor apartment in Ceuta, climbed onto a balcony, and climbed into the bed of a sleeping 62-year-old Spanish woman, Beatriz Ferron, while wearing only underwear.

Ferron recounted: "He jumped onto my bedroom balcony. He came into my bedroom and got into my bed. I thought he was my husband, and when I turned around, I found a stranger in his underwear in my bed."

She said she felt violated and expressed relief she was not alone, adding she did not know what would have happened otherwise. The man was arrested, convicted under a fast-track process, and expelled.

Early claims that the invaders had simply "gone home" proved incomplete. While large numbers did return after shops closed and food ran short, thousands stayed. Beaches and hills remained occupied.

Official estimates of remaining migrants varied widely in the first days and weeks, but the physical evidence on the ground - camps, waste, and ongoing disorder - made clear the problem had not vanished.

Across Europe, the placement of large numbers of military-age migrant men into quiet, cohesive communities repeatedly produces the maximum cultural friction and public outrage. Ceuta's beaches, once ordinary recreational spaces for Spanish families, have been transformed into something unrecognizable in days.

The same dynamic appears when authorities house groups of single men in small communities far removed from any cultural or practical familiarity with the newcomers.

The result is predictable: littered public spaces, health risks, heightened fear among residents - especially women and children - and a rapid erosion of the everyday order that locals took for granted. It is hard to design a more efficient method of generating upheaval.

Spanish authorities have installed floating barriers, conducted sweeps with the Spanish Legion, and coordinated returns with Morocco. Hospitals and police remain under strain. Local leaders continue to report that the city has not returned to normal.

The images and resident testimony from Ceuta offer a stark preview of what happens when borders fail and numbers overwhelm capacity. Europe has been given the footage. The only remaining question is whether anyone in power intends to act on 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 Sat, 08/15/2026 - 07:00

Escobar: The New Great Game, Revisited

Authored by Pepe Escobar via 'Geopolitics Prime' substack,

It took only a few Yemeni missiles on Saudi refineries to wake up “leadership” vectors of the Ummah; not over 100,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza by the death cult.

The Mecca Sunni NATO pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan remains a puzzle. Or dodgy sub-standard theatre – complete with photo ops and sparse intel sharing. The full text has not been released. Everything is quite vague, only stressing “collective deterrence”.

Against whom, it’s in the eyes of the beholder. All options – Eretz Israel, US-Israel, India (in case of attacking Pakistan) – might apply. The operative concept is “might”. Add to it Turkiye’s myriad NATO constraints: a viper’s nest in itself.

Significantly, Turkiye informed Iran before signing the Mecca deal. Extra layers of spin even promote Iran joining the deal in a later stage, as Riyadh in theory rejects military strikes on Tehran, and Iran might be covered by Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, flanked by Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, right, signing a joint defence agreement in Mecca, on August 7, 2026

Geography, once again, will dictate matters. Turkiye will remain in NATO – because Turkish elites are essentially Atlanticist. Saudi Arabia would have to perform miracles to extricate itself from the US security umbrella – and Indian labour. Pakistan’s priority is China and the New Silk Roads, plus the IP gas pipeline from Iran. Mecca is essentially Deterrence Theater.

A different, more intriguing scenario would point to the instrumentalization of Greater Turan – a key Turkiye objective – to the benefit of the US/Zionist combo. That would point to a neo-Ottoman remix, now reconfigured as the leadership of comprador Arab affairs. As in Ankara recreating the Ottoman hierarchy with itself at the center – as a matter of “saving” Zionists and Salafis from themselves.

It seems that the Mecca spark came from MbS himself (no one really knows, as things in Riyadh are so opaque). As Riyadh is being deprived of exporting oil via the Red Sea by Yemen – and might even lose their oil wells if things get rough – why not bet on benign neo-Ottomanism?

Why the US can never lift sanctions on Iran

Oil export routes through and around the Strait of Hormuz. Source: International Energy Agency, February 2026.

Meanwhile in Iran, under a revamped – by Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the solidified consensus is that Tehran will never compromise, especially under the current “no war, no peace” status.

Washington would have to meet a set of very harsh conditions before the Strait of Hormuz reopens, including:

1. The end to US threats and “insults”;

2. Permanent end to US wars against Iran and its allies in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq;

3. Lifting of the American naval blockade and withdrawal of all US forces;

4. No less than $300 billion in compensation for war damages;

5. Lifting of all sanctions;

6. Unconditional release of all frozen assets;

7. Iran’s right to charge up to 7% on cargo transit;

8. A ban on US and Israeli vessels;

9. A 20% violation toll on ships if conditions are breached.

Call it an intimation for a US surrender: a capitulation on every front – from “follow the money” to military expulsion, end of sanctions and total Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Even grains of sand across the Old and New Silk Roads are aware that humongous US debt is avid for new mechanisms to be fed with control over natural resources – from oil and gold to rare earth minerals. And these natural resources must be priced in US dollars and the petrodollar.

Iran – the key crossroads of Eurasia – has absolutely everything the US needs. Yet it’s sovereign, independent and intimately aligned with the Russia-China strategic partnership.

So this has all the makings of a Forever War. Washington will never lift sanctions on Iran. That’s politically – and geoeconomically – impossible. And Washington, whoever is in power, will never accept Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, administrative fees included, because that seals, in practice, the imperial failure to use economic sanctions as its “diplomatic” tool of choice.

The result is that some of the serious consequences of the war unleashed on February 28 are already quite clear. Those include the possible financial destruction of the GCC, complete with the collapse of their ruling regimes; Yemen’s nearly inevitable geographical expansion; virtually complete international isolation of the death cult; a massive global economic crisis in tandem with a US financial crisis; and Iran’s accession to the status of prominent West Asia power, prominent Eurasia power, and prominent Global South power.

All that implies a massive geoeconomic game-changer facilitating a much faster rise for BRICS – and BRICS+ – complete with the solidification of Shanghai as the ideal solution for Global South capital to secure their savings.

Watch out for the “Eurasian Axis”!

The Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder and Piracy will not take any of that lying down. So the chessboard will continue to be destabilized even in nodes that in theory are controlled by the Sovereign Independents.

Enter the Caspian Sea – a key node of the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), one of the premier connectivity corridors of 21st century pan-Eurasia trade, linking BRICS members Russia, Iran and India to Central Asia while bypassing Western sanctions and NATO-controlled maritime chokepoints.

Hybrid War in the Caspian perfectly fits the imperial scenario of provoking negative systemic fallout expanding beyond Russia and Iran all the way to China and Europe. After all China regards the Caspian as a key connectivity channel between Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects and Central Asia and Europe.

So the Caspian could become the apex of a geopolitical divide near the center of Eurasia, contraposing Washington/Tel Aviv/Kiev to the BRICS/SCO Sovereign Independent civilization-states.

Enter, once again, Turkiye – now as the possible missing link in the Zionist axis drive to connect both wars (NATO on Ukraine, US/Israel on Iran): after all they are the one and same war from the beginning.

Still it will be a hard sell to seduce Sultan Erdogan to go after Russian and Iranian strategic assets in the Caspian, even indirectly via Azerbaijan. An even more complex replacement would be Kazakhstan, which for all of its “multi-vector” policies is a full SCO member, a full Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) member and a BRICS+ partner.

Turkiye’s actions should be ultimately measured by the official drive to strengthen the Organization of Turkic States (OTS; Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are both members) and what they might come up with to try to choke Iran’s geopolitical maneuvering.

Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States at an informal summit in Turkistan, Kazakhstan, May 15, 2026

Once again: it’s all about how they will play the Greater Turan card across the Caucasus and especially Central Asia, with their vast reserves of oil, uranium, lithium and critical minerals.

Moscow is carefully observing it all, with extreme discretion. Incidentally, last November Kazakhstan became the first Central Asian “stan” to join the Abraham Accords, in connection with a massive US-Kazakhstan minerals deal.

History Repeating is always quirky: we’re back to the original, late 19th century Russia-Britain Great Game. MI6 after all fully supports Greater Turan – as a premier counterpunch to the Three Sovereigns, Russia, Iran and China. Or what Trump has recently defined, for the first time ever (Elbridge Colby whispering in his ear?) as the “Eurasian Axis”.

At the National Museum in Astana, Kazakhstan, there’s a flashy panel representing all Turkic peoples, over 40 ethnic groups. Uygurs are in the mix, as well as Kazakhs and Azeris. But to translate that into Turkiye moving as a great player across Eurasia – complete with support from fake mythological narratives – is a whole new ball game.

The whole drive is not more sophisticated than creating a market for outright Turkic nationalism, with the Central Asian “stans” incorporated at best as junior partners.

Mecca as a Hail Mary pass

As the imperial pressure over The Three Sovereigns won’t relent, interlocked signature moves make all the difference. For instance: China investing in the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan as an extra road to reach Iran.

The Wakhan Corridor at Afghanistan’s eastern edge, where a proposed highway would create a direct land connection with China.

It’s The Great Game all over again: the Wakhan Corridor came out of nowhere at the end of the 19th century to “protect” British India from Russia’s advances in Turkestan. It connects with China’s Xinjiang for only 70 km or so, as I saw during my Pamir Highway travels before Covid.

This is one of the most high-altitude strategic borders on the planet. Only 5 months ago, Beijing came up with a new county in Xinjiang, Cenling, overlooking the border. Everything in this mountain wilderness is run from Kashgar, where the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) begins.

Translation: on top of the China-Iran railway – previously bombed during the war on Iran by the Americans – this is an extra overland path from China to Iran bypassing the maritime routes, susceptible to Trump’s blockades.

China, in trademark win-win mode, will go all the way betting on both options simultaneously: CPEC, via Pakistan, and the Wakhan, via Afghanistan.

To round up our travels across selected spots of the New Great Game: in the end everything will be decided in West Asia. And that brings us back to the Mecca Sunni NATO pact.

This sharp analysis points to Mecca as a Hail Mary pass linked to the current sore lack of petrodollar recycling by the petro-monarchies – the mechanism propping up that monster, unpayable US debt; the pyramid of derivatives; and Wall Street’s solitary AI mega-bubble.

And this is what’s really driving the imperial desperation to settle something, anything with the Persians.

Because Iran has defined the prime geoeconomic battleground for the RICs (Russia, Iran, China, the new Primakov triangle), much more efficiently than endless BRICS discussions: the collapse of the GCC petrodollar racket.

Without this racket, a financialized neo-colonial empire run by remote control is absolutely impossible.

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 23:25

Where The World Is Burning In 2026

As of August 1, 2026, wildfires and landscape fires have burned 112.3 million hectares of land across the globe, an area roughly the size of South Africa.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Sofie Gilbert, uses data from the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) via Our World in Data to show where that burning is concentrated in 2026 as of August 1.

The data includes prescribed burns, agricultural burns, and uncontrolled wildfires.

Africa Is the Epicenter of Global Fire Activity

More than half of the world’s burned land so far in 2026 is in Africa.

The data table below shows the land area burned for every country as of August 1, 2026:

RankCountry or TerritoryArea Burned in Hectares
(YTD to Aug 1, 2026)ShareRegion 1🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo13,611,12612.1%Africa 2🇦🇺 Australia11,801,65010.5%Oceania 3🇦🇴 Angola7,473,0346.7%Africa 4🇸🇸 South Sudan6,955,0226.2%Africa 5🇨🇫 Central African Republic6,017,8815.4%Africa 6🇲🇲 Myanmar4,325,7023.9%Asia 7🇮🇳 India4,029,7043.6%Asia 8🇷🇺 Russia3,335,0293.0%Europe 9🇬🇳 Guinea3,250,9922.9%Africa 10🇿🇲 Zambia3,213,6872.9%Africa 11🇻🇪 Venezuela2,977,4662.7%South America 12🇳🇬 Nigeria2,807,2002.5%Africa 13🇹🇭 Thailand2,669,5502.4%Asia 14🇱🇦 Laos2,641,3212.4%Asia 15🇺🇸 United States2,371,2072.1%North America 16🇨🇳 China2,265,0572.0%Asia 17🇨🇦 Canada2,031,7541.8%North America 18🇧🇷 Brazil2,030,2091.8%South America 19🇪🇹 Ethiopia1,851,1311.6%Africa 20🇬🇭 Ghana1,763,3951.6%Africa 21🇰🇭 Cambodia1,525,3121.4%Asia 22🇲🇱 Mali1,490,6981.3%Africa 23🇨🇲 Cameroon1,435,3731.3%Africa 24🇹🇩 Chad1,309,1551.2%Africa 25🇲🇽 Mexico1,264,8231.1%North America 26🇸🇩 Sudan1,203,1581.1%Africa 27🇸🇳 Senegal1,187,5911.1%Africa 28🇹🇿 Tanzania1,048,6630.9%Africa 29🇨🇴 Colombia891,9850.8%South America 30🇲🇿 Mozambique787,0660.7%Africa 31🇿🇦 South Africa784,6470.7%Africa 32🇸🇱 Sierra Leone731,5350.7%Africa 33🇲🇬 Madagascar687,0860.6%Africa 34🇨🇬 Congo677,3540.6%Africa 35🇧🇫 Burkina Faso553,7190.5%Africa 36🇧🇴 Bolivia546,4900.5%South America 37🇦🇷 Argentina545,3040.5%South America 38🇺🇬 Uganda519,6010.5%Africa 39🇮🇩 Indonesia488,3650.4%Asia 40🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire451,5270.4%Africa 41🇰🇿 Kazakhstan429,5200.4%Asia 42🇵🇾 Paraguay405,6690.4%South America 43🇧🇯 Benin343,4160.3%Africa 44🇭🇳 Honduras320,8840.3%North America 45🇨🇱 Chile304,9830.3%South America 46🇻🇳 Vietnam283,6380.3%Asia 47🇵🇭 Philippines237,1680.2%Asia 48🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea228,4400.2%Oceania 49🇹🇬 Togo208,9050.2%Africa 50🇳🇮 Nicaragua205,3060.2%North America 51🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau198,4970.2%Africa 52🇿🇼 Zimbabwe191,3330.2%Africa 53🇨🇺 Cuba181,7210.2%North America 54🇪🇸 Spain179,6770.2%Europe 55🇬🇹 Guatemala171,3980.2%North America 56🇧🇼 Botswana170,8550.2%Africa 57🇱🇷 Liberia170,4280.2%Africa 58🇳🇵 Nepal156,2150.1%Asia 59🇺🇦 Ukraine154,2020.1%Europe 60🇳🇦 Namibia145,0110.1%Africa 61🇧🇩 Bangladesh143,9820.1%Asia 62🇮🇷 Iran119,4920.1%Asia 63🇬🇦 Gabon103,4190.1%Africa 64🇨🇷 Costa Rica98,0350.1%North America 65🇩🇿 Algeria97,9850.1%Africa 66🇬🇲 Gambia97,6640.1%Africa 67🇫🇷 France96,0500.1%Europe 68🇳🇪 Niger87,0000.1%Africa 69🇵🇰 Pakistan80,4850.1%Asia 70🇮🇹 Italy69,0500.1%Europe 71🇮🇶 Iraq65,8260.1%Asia 72🇰🇪 Kenya62,4590.1%Africa 73🇲🇳 Mongolia60,4470.1%Asia 74🇲🇼 Malawi57,6400.1%Africa

Much of this reflects deliberate seasonal burning. Across sub-Saharan Africa, fire is a long-standing tool for clearing land, managing pasture, and preparing fields for planting. Even so, the scale is striking: Africa has recorded roughly 26 times as much burned area as the United States so far in 2026.

The Democratic Republic of Congo leads all countries with 13.6 million hectares burned, an area roughly the size of England. Angola follows at 7.5 million hectares, South Sudan at 7.0 million, and the Central African Republic at 6.0 million.

Major Fire Seasons Beyond the Global Leaders

Burned-area totals alone do not measure wildfire severity or risk, particularly because the GWIS dataset includes agricultural and prescribed burning. Still, several countries outside the global leaders have experienced significant uncontrolled wildfires in 2026.

Spain has experienced one of the year’s most severe fire seasons. Driven by extreme heat and drought, wildfires had scorched approximately 180,000 hectares as of August 1, an exceptionally high total for this point in the season. A massive fire in Ávila became the largest in Spanish history, and with simultaneous fires raging across France, combined evacuations across both countries surpassed 300,000.

Canada has recorded 2.0 million hectares burned as of August 1, with fires active across multiple provinces. The 2026 season follows the country’s record-breaking 2023 season, which burned approximately 15 million hectares according to Natural Resources Canada, seven times the historic national annual average.

The United States has recorded 2.4 million hectares burned, with Oregon and Washington experiencing some of the most severe ongoing fires. More than 100 large wildfires were actively burning as of early August, driven by drought conditions affecting more than a quarter of the country’s land area.

As four decades of U.S. wildfire data show, the number of fires has declined over time while the total land burned has increased, pointing to fires that are fewer but more intense.

Australia Stands Apart in the Southern Hemisphere

Outside Africa, Australia has recorded the largest burned area at 11.8 million hectares. That ranks second globally behind the Democratic Republic of Congo and accounts for nearly all of Oceania’s 11% share.

The data table below shows a regional breakdown of land area burned in 2026 so far:

RegionArea Burned in Hectares
(YTD to Aug 1, 2026)Share Africa61,870,30055.1% Asia19,733,18217.6% Oceania12,061,71410.7% South America7,813,3777.0% North America6,804,9056.1% Europe3,992,4043.6% World112,275,880100%

Asia accounts for 18% of global burned land. Myanmar leads the region at 4.3 million hectares, followed by India at 4.0 million. Thailand, Laos, and China each add between 2.3 and 2.7 million hectares.

South America contributes 7% of global burned land, led by Venezuela at 3.0 million hectares and Brazil at 2.0 million. Europe accounts for just 3%, with Russia responsible for most of the region’s 3.3 million-hectare total.

If you enjoyed this graphic, check out How Much CO2 do Wildfires Contribute Globally? on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 23:00

All ICE Enforcement Officers In Maine Equipped With Body-Worn Cameras, Sen. Collins Says

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Friday that all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Maine have been given body-worn cameras and trained how to use them.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, Calif., on July 27, 2026. Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images

Acting ICE Director David Venturella announced on Aug. 8 that federal agents would be equipped with body-worn cameras by the end of the month in a move to increase "transparency and accountability."

The cameras are a key measure that congressional Democrats demanded during a months-long dispute earlier this year over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In an Aug. 13 post on X, Collins said that she was pleased that as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, all ICE officers in Maine "have been equipped with body-worn cameras and trained in their use."

Collins said that when she spoke to Venturella last month, he committed to deliver body-worn cameras to ICE agents across the country by the end of August.

"I urged him to prioritize Maine, and they have arrived more than two weeks ahead of schedule," she added.

Democratic lawmakers have demanded that ICE be reformed following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during operations in Minnesota earlier this year. Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renee Good were both shot and killed by ICE agents in January.

According to a notice published by the DHS on Aug. 10, ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on gloves that can deliver electric shocks for its agents.

The devices, known as CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E, or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, are expected to be delivered by March 31, 2027, according to the notice.

The notice refers to the gloves as "conductive distraction and de-escalation" devices, which ICE seeks to buy for Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement Removal Operations officers and agents.

The device manufacturer, Compliant Technologies, stated on its website that the devices were designed "to supplement existing tools for law enforcement, corrections, security, EMS [Emergency Medical Services] and the military."

The devices must be applied directly to a person's skin and are ineffective when applied through clothing or hair, according to the user manual. No more than two gloves should be used at a time, with each application lasting not more than 15 seconds, it stated.

A DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email at the time that ICE aims to ensure its officers have the tools and equipment they need to safely arrest and remove "criminal illegal aliens" from the country.

"Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards," the spokesperson said.

In an Aug. 7 statement, ICE said it arrested more than 1,200 illegal immigrants across Georgia under Operation Safe Community-Atlanta, which targeted illegal immigrants with criminal histories, including charges of aggravated assault, sex crimes, assault and battery, and crimes against children.

The Trump administration is also imposing heavy fines on illegal immigrants.

In a July 23 statement, DHS said that more than $84 billion in civil fines have been imposed on such individuals. This includes a $998-per-day charge levied on any illegal immigrant who does not leave the country despite a final order for removal.

"Under President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, DHS is working faster than ever before to remove criminal illegal aliens from our country," assistant secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement at the time.

"Our message to illegal aliens is clear: LEAVE NOW. If you don't, you will face the consequences, including fines, arrest, and deportation. Illegal aliens have a choice," she added.

Tom Ozimek, Troy Myers, Jack Phillips, and Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 22:35

Forget Reminding Young People About 'Boat People': South America's Rejection Of Socialism Is Happening In Real Time

Andy Laperriere, Piper Sandler's head of US policy research in Washington, wrote in a note on Thursday that explained both parties are moving left on economic policy as populist measures gain support across the political spectrum. His big-picture view is that "hard-left and socialist candidates" are damaging the Democratic brand primarily through deeply unpopular positions on open borders, defunding the police, and transgender politics. In effect, the party's socialist class is willing to sacrifice broader electoral viability to defend nation-killing policies that most voters reject.

Policies with cross-party support include a $15 federal minimum wage, a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates, restrictions on Wall Street's purchases of single-family homes, and expanded government intervention lowering drug prices.

Even Republican voters back several of those proposals by wide margins, suggesting the post-election policy threat to markets will extend beyond Democratic control of Washington.

Here's where the numbers are striking: About 80% of Republicans support banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, 79% favor capping credit card rates, and 75% back a $15 minimum wage. Across all voters, 63% support higher taxes on corporations and billionaires, while 59% favor government-provided health coverage.

Laperriere pointed out that President Trump and JD Vance have helped move Republicans away from Milton Friedman-style free-market economics by framing trade, corporate power, and economic transactions in increasingly zero-sum terms.

Laperriere said Democrats face a different kind of problem, noting that the party's socialist and progressive economic proposals are often popular, but its positions on policing, immigration, and gender remain deeply unpopular. Only 29% of voters support abolishing ICE, 24% back transgender athletes competing outside their biological sex, and 11% favor abolishing the police.

Laperriere noted that two-thirds of Democratic voters now hold a favorable view of socialism, partly because younger folks have no lived memory of Soviet bread lines, the Berlin Wall, or the Vietnamese "boat people" who fled communism.

Furthermore, as we've outlined, the failed socialist experiment in South America has resulted in a once-in-a-generation shift to common-sense right-wing leaders, with Trump-backed Abelardo de la Espriella taking power in Colombia just a week ago. 

The political shift has extended far beyond Colombia. In recent years, voters across Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, and El Salvador have either rejected socialist governments or moved decisively against far-left parties.

Laperriere argues that younger Democratic voters lack any living memory of the "boat people" and therefore have little historical context for understanding how socialist and communist systems fail. But the warning signs are not confined to the Cold War era; rather, years of left-wing governance in South America that have coincided with currency crises, persistent inflation, capital flight, institutional deterioration, and rising crime that resulted in failed states, such as Venezuela and Cuba, are more than enough to show youngsters that socialism has failed - yet again. Latest figures show that there are nearly 800,000 illegal aliens from Venezuela in the US - and we wonder why ... 

More from Laperriere:

We want to make two related points in today's piece. First, voters across the political spectrum are more open to progressive/populist economic ideas than perhaps most investors think – and both parties (if Vance is the GOP nominee) are going to increasingly offer the voters leftof-center economic policies. The hard left and socialist candidates are not swimming upstream when they call for higher taxes on the wealthy, price controls, and more government entitlements. It's their ideas on the police, the border, and gender identity that will hurt them politically. Second, Democratic voters are fed up with their own establishment for two main reasons: a sense their leaders are feckless when it comes to challenging Trump and the fact that a significant and growing share of the Democratic voting base is hostile to Western civilization. 

We argued in our recent piece, A Policy Bear Market, that both parties increasingly evince an open hostility or at least a wariness to free markets. As we noted in that report, JD Vance is running against Milton Friedman and market fundamentalism. President Trump has tapped into a growing sense that the system is rigged – and over time has convinced more Republicans this is true. He has a zerosum view of economic transactions in which one side is, in his words, getting screwed. It's true there has always been economic populism on the right, and as we often noted you could call it 'populism' because it's popular. It's popular to say we won't touch your benefits, to make the other guy pay higher taxes, and to scapegoat other people for the price you have to pay for drugs, gasoline, or anything else. But as the table below shows, a lot of ideas we generally associate with the left end of the political spectrum enjoy broad or at least considerable support among Republican voters. The move to the left on economic policy isn't limited to Democratic voters.

And of course there has been a seismic shift to the left among Democratic voters. We noted in a recent piece that two-thirds of Democratic voters have a favorable view of socialism. Part of the reason is it has been a long time since ordinary voters have seen socialism in practice. Ask a group of people who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s what 'boat people' means and most of them will be able to tell you it's people who got on leaky boats (or put their children on them) to flee communism and seek a better life. It's most associated with immigrants from Vietnam but also Cuba and other places. See President Reagan's brief 1982 Christmas radio address for a moving story of US Navy sailors rescuing some Vietnamese in a desperate situation to get a sense of the phenomena. 

During the Cold War, socialism didn't have much purchase with voters because images of desperate people fleeing communism, the bread lines in the Soviet Union, and the fact that the guns mounted on the Berlin Wall pointed inward were there for all to see. There were a few exceptions (like Bernie Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union), but it was obvious to most voters that socialism doesn't work.

But the Berlin Wall fell more than 35 years ago and socialism is rarely practiced anywhere in the world today. Ask a younger group of people what 'boat people' means and you get blank stares. A whole generation of people have grown up having seen nothing of the kind. Instead, a generation of young people has been taught in many schools (especially elite ones) that America (and Western civilization more broadly) is racist and rotten. This view is held disproportionately among young and highly educated white voters. 

This is the coalition that is fueling the insurgent campaigns that have taken out most Democratic House incumbents who have lost their primaries this year. They hold not only progressive or even socialist economic views; they are hostile to Western civilization. They view borders and the police as the vestiges of racism. As the table above shows, these views (in contrast to some of their economic views) are wildly unpopular. Francesca Hong, who narrowly lost the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor this week, posted a few years ago that we should cancel Thanksgiving because it is "celebrating colonialism." We couldn't find a poll result for cancelling Thanksgiving, but imagine defending that in a general election. 

Nonetheless, she received more than 38% of the vote this week. That may be roughly the share of the Democratic primary electorate (which is much smaller than the Democratic general electorate, but nonetheless picks the candidates) that is hostile to Western civilization. Along with frustration with their leaders for being ineffective at challenging Trump, Democratic voters have been in a mood to vote out incumbents. The chart on the following page shows that 10 incumbents have been defeated in primaries this year, the most in a non-reapportionment year (in which incumbents end up running against each other or in territory they haven't represented before) going back to the 1950s. Most of the incumbents who have lost were Democrats who lost to younger, more left-wing candidates. The turmoil in the Democratic Party has a lot of similarities to the forces that propelled Trump to the Republican nomination in 2016. 

As a quick aside, of course there are other explanations for the shift to the left on economic issues. Corporate profits account for a larger share of GDP. Wealth is increasing faster than incomes, and that disproportionately benefits the wealthier people who hold assets. A decade of zero rates – and the return to more normal rates – has priced many younger people out of the housing market. There was the spike in inflation. There has been a steep decline in manufacturing employment during the past several decades (though not manufacturing output). And so on.

Regardless of the causes, the bottom line for investors is both parties are moving to the left on economic issues. The socialists and the progressive left have taken unpopular positions, but it's their social agenda that is likely to sink them politically. Many of these more left-wing economic policies are popular (including among many Republicans) and may be become law down the road.

Yet the nonprofit ecosystem of billionaire-backed foundations, far-left NGOs, Democratic Socialists of America activists, and progressive corporate media has little incentive to highlight the political shift across the Americas. The political backlash undermines the core narrative that capitalism is inherently destructive and that socialism will succeed if implemented correctly next time.

The Trump administration could exploit that vulnerability by expanding its messaging around Latin America's rightward turn. The objective would be to remind younger voters that socialism has miserably failed, and that its consequences always end in disaster: inflation, currency crises, capital flight, institutional decay, soaring violent crime and rising insecurity.

Related read: South America Just Rejected Socialism. So Why Is North America Buying It?

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 22:10

Judge Drops Case Against 6 Nevada Republicans Accused Of Falsifying 2020 Election Result

Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times,

Six Nevada Republicans, who were accused of submitting a certificate falsely declaring President Donald Trump had won the state's 2020 presidential election, will not face a trial after a judge dismissed the case against them on Aug. 13.

Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald walks on stage before speaking ahead of then-Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nev. on Jan. 27, 2024. John Locher/AP

Nevada Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled in favor of the defendants, who were Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, Nevada GOP Vice Chairs James DeGraffenreid and Durward Hindle, Clark County GOP Chair Jesse Law, and Douglas County GOP officials Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford - who, as a Democrat, will challenge Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, in November's election - brought charges of forgery and "offering a false instrument for filing or record" against the six, who all pleaded not guilty.

In December 2023, Trump suggested that the indictment was politically motivated and tied to the Biden administration.

Trump won in Nevada by a large margin in 2016, but lost the election in 2020.

The 2020 election, conducted under the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, was marred by allegations of electoral fraud.

After the Nov. 3, 2020, election, the six Republican electors gathered outside the Nevada Legislature to sign a certificate giving the state's six electoral college votes to Trump. The ceremony was broadcast online, and the video footage was used by the prosecution as evidence in the case.

It would later emerge that Biden had won Nevada by more than 30,000 votes.

The case brought against the six Nevada defendants centered on their intent in submitting the certificate.

Prosecutors argued that the defendants intended for the certificate to be recognized as Electoral College votes by then-Vice President Mike Pence, who had to determine who had won the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Defendants Said It Was 'Political Theater'

But the defendants said signing the certificate online was an act of "political theater" designed to publicize their concerns about alleged electoral fraud.

They said they had no intent to deceive a government agency but were preserving their rights to challenge the official election results.

"Testimony presented to the grand jury established that the submitted certificates were not treated as Nevada's official electoral certificates and were not accepted for filing or acted upon by the receiving agencies," she wrote in her ruling.

"Rather, the evidence demonstrated that the documents were recognized for what they were and returned because they could not be accepted.

"The Court further finds the public and political nature of Defendants' conduct significant in evaluating whether the evidence supports an inference of fraudulent intent.

"Defendants repeatedly explained the purpose of their actions during the televised ceremony and in contemporaneous communications."

Holthus said she concluded that the state had "failed to present sufficient evidence establishing the essential elements of the offenses charged."

Three similar cases in Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia have previously been tossed.

Nevada Attorney General to Appeal

Ford's office said it plans to appeal Holthus's ruling.

McDonald's defense attorney Richard Wright, in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, said Holthus's order was "well reasoned."

"This hasty, premature announcement of an intention to appeal [by Ford] reeks of continuing a politically motivated and legally doomed prosecution," Wright wrote.

He accused Ford of wanting to continue a "harassment" and "waste of expensive prosecutorial resources."

The Nevada decision came on the same day Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against five noncitizens accused of voting in the 2024 general election, and one U.S. citizen accused of registering her noncitizen spouse to vote.

The charges follow a state review of 38 suspected cases of noncitizen voting or related conduct from 2009 to 2025.

Donald Trump supporters protest the Nevada vote outside Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 5, 2020. Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 21:45

Trump's DOJ Will Reportedly Support End Of National Firearms Act After 92 Years

Why do Americans protected by the 2nd Amendment still need to get permission and approval from the ATF to have a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches, or a particular brand of stock, or a suppressor that, in most cases, doesn't silence a firearm at all but simply makes shooting it easier on a person's hearing?  Why, for 92 years, have citizens had to pay for a tax stamp and send their fingerprints to the government for guns that should be considered a constitutional right?

This is largely due to the National Firearms Act of 1934, passed under the highly overrated Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration.  The law became a permanent annoyance to every gun owner in the US and a lucrative revenue stream for federal agencies; at least, until now.  

Finally, after nearly a century, the law is being erased.  But how?  

The legality of the NFA relies heavily on the existence of a $200 tax stamp.  The government did not ban covered items outright in order to avoid a clash with 2nd Amendment protections.  Instead, they added a tax to various firearms and related accessories, then made the processing of the tax and approval on the purchases an arduous affair.  Until the Trump Administration stepped in, NFA approval on any particular item could take up to a year. 

This clunky process was deliberately designed to dissuade citizens from purchasing certain firearms and attachments.  For people suspicious of government lists, the fingerprinting and applications made them not want to bother.  Possession of any of the items covered under the NFA is considered a serious federal crime with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

However, when Congress passed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" in 2025, this included a provision which lowered the NFA transfer tax to $0.  With the tax stamp gone, the legal loophole which made the NFA possible was eliminated.  Now, an army of legal challengers have brought their case to federal courts to remove the NFA entirely, and they have succeeded (for the most part).

Expectations within the gun community were reserved (gun rights advocates have long waited for this moment and remain anxious that the DOJ will try to ruin the party with an appeal).  But, this does not seem to be the case.  Trump's DOJ missed the first 7-day deadline for an appeal.  They also have another 60-day deadline, but reports suggest that the DOJ has no intention of interfering with the court's ruling. 

Rumors are swirling that Trump was personally involved in the DOJ decision to support the removal of the NFA by refusing to appeal.  Reportedly, according to Rep. Andrew Clyde who has been leading the charge on the legal fight, Trump has confirmed that there will be no further DOJ challenges to the NFA decision. 

So what does this mean?  The federal government will be issuing guidance over the next 60 days on how FFL holders and gun shops can proceed with the transfer of items listed in the NFA.  At first, coverage is limited to the plaintiffs involved in the court ruling (and their customers), however, the DOJ has the power to nationalize the court's decision, effectively making the NFA null and void for everyone everywhere (this is now a likely outcome).

This means, suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs) and other items could be purchased without tax stamps, fingerprinting and wait times.  A basic background check (Form 4473) will remain in place.  It may take another couple of months, but it appears that the NFA is effectively dead thanks to the Trump Administration.  Gun owners had to suffer for nearly a century, but the long battle is ending.  

Meanwhile, the Hughes Amendment is still a problem, preventing the sale or transfer of machine guns made after 1986.  But it's all about winning one fight and moving on to the next, and the end to the NFA is an epic accomplishment; one which most gun owners never thought they would see in their lifetime.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 21:20

House Committees Detail Harvard Ties With Chinese Entities In New Report

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A report released by House committees on Aug. 13 alleged that Harvard University prioritized financial ties over American national security and received more than $600 million from China, the most of any U.S. university.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on March 29, 2026. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

The report, released by the House Select Committee on China and the House Education and Workforce Committee, alleged that Harvard created a nonprofit called Harvard Global to circumvent federal requirements for disclosing foreign donations to higher education.

According to the report, Harvard Global initially stated on its website that it could serve as a "proposal applicant and awardee" for awards the university was unable to accept for legal or financial reasons. The nonprofit later removed the language after the committees sent Harvard a draft of the report.

"Harvard created an entity in a blatant attempt to get around federal foreign funding disclosure laws. That's unacceptable, especially given Harvard's history of failing to comply with these requirements," Education and Workforce Committee chairman Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said in a statement.

The committees identified 140 publications co-authored by Harvard-affiliated researchers and researchers affiliated with Chinese universities, including a "Seven Sons" university, the report stated.

The "Seven Sons of National Defense" is a group of elite Chinese universities directly subordinate to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates China's defense sector.

The House committees alleged that Harvard-affiliated researchers have worked with "Chinese universities that, as a matter of policy, conduct extensive weapons research and development and hold top-secret security clearances with the PLA [People's Liberation Army]."

The report cited a 2023 research paper on magnetic materials co-authored by a Harvard-affiliated researcher and a researcher at China's National University of Defense Technology - which the U.S. government has placed on its entity list as a threat to American national security.

"From allowing violence against anti-China protestors to collaborating with entities linked to the PLA, Harvard has made serious mistakes and must act now to prevent more," said Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the Select Committee on China.

Moolenaar called for reforms at Harvard aimed at ending CCP influence on campus and safeguarding U.S. research.

Harvard University did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The report came after the Justice Department (DOJ) announced on July 20 that it was investigating whether Harvard violated Title VI by excluding American students from financial aid programs funded by China-based sources.

Universities are required by federal law to report gifts and contracts from foreign sources that exceed $250,000 in a year. Harvard had disclosed nearly $4.5 billion in foreign funding, of which $630 million came from sources based in China - the university's largest source of foreign funding - the department said.

According to the DOJ, Harvard appears to accept funds from China-based sources that require the university to establish financial aid programs "with preference given to students from particular countries."

Bill Pan contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 20:55

Russia Admits Renewed Petrol Shortages After Recently Claiming Situation Was Stabilized

Russia has shut down one major refinery at Orsk, around 800 miles from the front line, for six months after it came under drone attack this week. It has also suffered more terminal outages due to continued attacks on a vital Black Sea energy port.

"Crude oil exports from Russia's Sheskharis terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended on Friday following a ​drone attack, three sources familiar with the matter said, adding ‌to disruptions at one of the country's key export outlets," Reuters reports.

In a rare moment, the Russian government acknowledged that some regions of the country face new petrol shortages. "The situation remains tense in several regions of the country regarding fuel supplies to service stations," the government newly confirmed in a Friday social media post.

Getty Images

Oil companies are "taking the necessary measures to increase deliveries to the most vulnerable regions," the official and somewhat rare statement added.

Krasnodar Oblast regional governor Venyamin Kondratyev separately stated, "The situation regarding petrol supplies at service stations has become complicated."

Oil companies "have again started imposing restrictions on the amount of fuel supplied and reduced service station opening hours," he continue.

"This is causing concern among the region's residents and visitors," the governor added, describing that he's urging external help to rush fuel supplies to the region.

Clear signs of the renewed crisis began emerging this week, including extremely long lines at fuel pumps. According to eyewitness accounts in one regional source:

Gas stations in at least 12 Russian regions are once again reporting hours-long lines for fuel, according to a count by the news outlet 7×7. The regions include Krasnodar Krai, the Voronezh, Kaluga, Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov, Tula, Saratov, Smolensk, Penza, and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as Primorsky Krai.

Purchase limits have also returned. The Sochi city administration announced August 11 that gas stations in the region had imposed limits “due to logistical disruptions in fuel supply,” and it asked local residents and tourists to “refrain from using personal vehicles whenever possible” to ease the strain on gas stations.

In the Orenburg region, Governor Yevgeny Solntsev reported a “difficult situation with fuel.” Starting August 12, gas stations there capped purchases at 30 liters (about 8 gallons) of gasoline and 60 liters (about 16 gallons) of diesel and adopted an “odd-even” system: drivers with license plates ending in an even digit can fill up on even-numbered days, while everyone else fills up on odd-numbered days. Solntsev also promised to bring in police officers “to coordinate the situation at gas stations.”

It was only two weeks ago that Kremlin officials declared that the crisis - which was very evident earlier this summer especially in Crimea - was abating and that supplies were headed back toward being fully operational.

Reports that shortages have even hit remote Arkhangelsk...

Gasline shortages have reached ruZZia’s Arkhangelsk, 1400km from Ukraine.

Also everyone staying silent about how there are massive lines at all the gas stations in Moscow again, even though there's supposedly gas available? pic.twitter.com/4HH6ZkK60p

— Claretta Nijhuis (@NijhuisClaretta) August 14, 2026

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak had said at the end of July, "The situation is gradually stabilizing, a number of oil refineries became operational again. The balance is better now, and the situation at fuel filling stations has considerably improved, including when it comes to supplying agricultural producers," Interfax quoted him as saying.

But that assessment now appears to have been premature, also as Ukrainian long-range drone strikes continue pounding vital Russian energy sites.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 20:30

Patriots Won't Let Communists Take America

Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker,

 Meet at the Liberty Tree...

This chapter in American history could be titled, “The Bad Guys Keep Winning Because They Suffer No Consequences for Their Treachery.”

Islamo-fascists and communists have taken over the Democrat Party and threaten to take over the U.S. Congress.  

Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton has been brought to justice for conspiring with parts of the Intelligence Community to frame President Trump as a Russian spy.  The same Ukrainian and British Intelligence agents who helped orchestrate the first ridiculous impeachment against Trump (ostensibly set in motion because the president asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy why Joe Biden’s son was making tens of thousands of dollars each month as a board member of a Ukrainian energy company) continue trying to instigate an all-out war between the Russian Federation and the United States.  The mainstream media and globalist politicians want us all to forget that they used COVID as an excuse to roll out totalitarianism around the planet — justifying widespread censorship, lockdowns, mass surveillance, deadly chemical injections, and the abrogation of God-given rights in the name of “public health.”  Our scientific institutions refuse to say clearly that COVID was most likely engineered in a Chinese bio-lab with funding from U.S. taxpayers that Dr. Anthony Fauci had redirected to assist his friends and business associates overseas.  Nobody has been prosecuted for any of these crimes, just as nobody was prosecuted when President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder used the ATF to arm Mexican drug cartels, the IRS to target conservatives, and the USA PATRIOT Act to spy on political enemies (including all of the Republican presidential candidates for the 2016 election).

During the Obama and Biden administrations, Christians were prosecuted for being faithful servants of Christ.  Parents were put on domestic terror watchlists for objecting to radical infusions of “transgenderism,” pornography, and race-based discrimination in their children’s public school curricula.  The Democrat Party nationalized healthcare, used USAID budgets to subvert foreign elections, and redirected trillions of taxpayer dollars into “climate change” slush funds for domestic and foreign political allies.  The Obama-Biden regime defamed police officers as inherently racist and disparaged all white Americans as inherently “privileged.”  Decades of solid improvement in race relations in the United States were thrown out the window, as Democrats told their voters that white, heterosexual males deserve to be vilified and attacked.  For fifteen years, Antifa goons, BLM rioters, Islamic supremacists, and other violent left-wingers have burned down neighborhoods, destroyed churches, looted businesses, terrorized motorists, and harassed, threatened, and murdered ideological adversaries.  Instead of reporting on years of leftist domestic terrorism, corporate news talking heads still pretend that President Trump’s MAGA voters are the biggest threat to the United States.

It is easy to list the long train of abuses that have been committed against us and lose hope for the future.  Particularly because nobody has been held accountable for any of the serious crimes listed above, a lot of American patriots have begun to wonder whether our country can even be saved.  It can be saved.  But doing so will require Americans to get their minds right about the struggles ahead.

I often ask American patriots who express premature defeat whether they would give up so easily if this were 1776, rather than 2026.  My point is two-fold: First, we are most definitely living through a critical period of American history when, just as was true during the time of our Founding Fathers, the fate of our country rests in our hands.  Second, the odds that we shall succeed in saving America today are at least as high as they were two-hundred-fifty years ago.

Sometimes the people who are most proud of America’s past accomplishments are too quick to throw in the towel when it comes to America’s future.  But the origin story of the United States is epic because it was so unlikely.  The Boston Massacre was in 1770.  The Boston Tea Party occurred three years later.  By the time the Second Continental Congress declared Independence from Great Britain in ’76, American colonists were still sharply divided over the merits of war.  The Revolutionary War continued until ’83.  The Articles of Confederation, ratified in ’81, was superseded by ’89.  When the Founders drafted the U.S. Constitution, they effectively tabled the peculiar institution of slavery, knowing that the issue would collapse the Union.  During the 1790s, the heavily indebted United States endured severe economic troubles, and many members of Great Britain’s Parliament expected to reacquire their former colonies just as soon as interstate squabbles and economic calamity doomed the young nation.  When the British captured and burned much of Washington, D.C., in 1814, they nearly succeeded.

When Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty began meeting at the Green Dragon Tavern in 1765, do you think they knew it would take fifty more years to secure America’s Independence for posterity?  Do you think John Hancock, Paul Revere, or any of the Bostonians who met around the “Liberty Tree” would have cared?  Their preserved correspondence to other patriots throughout the colonies reveals two things above all else: (1) They knew that they were the underdogs, and (2) they relished the fight.  They leaned into their political and moral principles.  They defended their convictions.  They embraced righteous indignation.  “[W]ith a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,” the signers of the Declaration of Independence “mutually pledge[d] to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Those extraordinary men risked absolutely everything to go up against the greatest empire in the world.  Few outside of the American colonies believed they would prevail.  A healthy contingent of British elites predicted that the colonies-turned-states would fight among themselves and dissolve the Union within a short number of years.  Some Americans with Loyalist sympathies continued to expect a return of British rule until the conclusion of the War of 1812 seemed to finally put the matter to bed.

I do not expect today’s American patriots to become Nathan Hale, Patrick Henry, Caesar Rodney, or John Paul Jones.  I do not expect Americans to step into the shoes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin.  But I do expect Americans to respect their country’s past enough to remain confident, steady, and determined as we fight the battles to come.  Because, frankly, the threats we face today pale by comparison to the threats that our ancestors were able to overcome.  What one man can do, another can do.  What one generation can accomplish, so can the next.

We humans have this psychological “glitch” when it comes to being the “underdog.”  When we feel that the challenge before us is almost too great to be met, some of us become even more committed to prevailing.  Once we’ve won, however, we begin to take our victories for granted.  We start to assume that things were always meant to turn out the way they did.  Yet, strangely, the first sign of trouble weakens our resolve.  As soon as some other scrappy opponent starts banging down our door, we begin to worry that everything will be lost.  We forget that we used to be the ones banging down doors.

What I would like to remind my friends is that we American patriots have an advantage that this militant generation of communists and Islamo-fascists will never have: This is our country, and there are tens of millions of us who will never allow enemies of freedom to conquer it.  I don’t care how many “black-pill” pessimists scream, “The end is nigh.”  They are wrong.

Our enemies took over the universities.  They took over the Deep State.  They see total victory within their sights.  But they’ve never seen American patriots actually fight.

We are not sheep for the wolves to devour.  We are the hunters who scare the wolves away.

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 20:05

ICE Roundup Of Haitian Migrants Begins In Ohio

It all started with complaints from residents in Springfield, OH that a surge of Haitian migrants was causing chaos and an odd disappearance of local wildlife and pets.  City officials and local companies where shipping the migrants in by the thousands and giving them jobs.  NGOs arranged for extensive handouts including housing, food and cash. Initially, all of this was done while avoiding any discussion with the community at large. 

The surge started after 2021, but the Biden Administration denied that such a plan existed.  Within a few years, Springfield's Haitian population grew from a couple thousand to over 15,000 migrants.  That's nearly 25% of the total population of the city.  This does not happen without government coordination.

When Donald Trump dared to address the issue in a debate with Kamala Harris, the media and Democrats exploded with outrage.  But Trump's assertion that the migrants were "Eating the dogs and eating the cats" in Ohio likely helped to win him the presidency.  His position echoed a growing concern among native citizens over the rapid invasion of the third world into the US and the fact that most of these people will never assimilate into American standards.

This problem is about the be rectified, with ICE officially operating in Ohio.  The Haitian round-up has begun.  With the latest Supreme Court decision, TPS designations can now be terminated by the Trump Administration. Many migrants exploiting TPS are being called in by ICE to turn in their passports and wear an ankle monitor.  These are people who will likely be deported in the near term.  NGO's are already trying to preempt deportations by mobilizing well funded left-wing activists.

🚨 JUST NOW: Hundreds of liberals are showing up to the ICE office in Ohio where HAITIAN MIGRANTS must check in as they face deportation...

...nearly EVERY SINGLE ONE IS A WHITE LIBERAL!

Just look at the crowd. At least 80% is old and white.

Every single time. The suic*dal…

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 9, 2026

The most common argument against deportations is the claim that Haiti is a "violent and dangerous place" and sending migrants back would be the same as "sending them to hell."  The counter-argument is simple:  Why would Americans want to import hell into their own backyard?

There are currently over 300,000 Haitian migrants across the country that were, up until 2026, enjoying Temporary Protection Status (TPS), making it legally impossible to deport them.  The recent changes could affect all of these people and set the stage for mass deportations for the majority of them.  Media propaganda in favor the "poor oppressed migrants" will be rampant as this process unfolds.

Haitian Migrants in Ohio Who Lost Temporary Protected Status Are BREAKING DOWN in TEARS After Being Fitted with ANKLE MONITORS

Notice all of the media cameras there to capture the moment?

Staged and performative.

Temporary means temporary.

They all must go home.…

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 9, 2026

Local leaders and employers in Springfield have long interfered with the enforcement of immigration rules and credited the Haitians with the "economic revitalization" of the region.  Native residents continue to disagree with this claim.

In reality, the surge of cheap labor allowed manufacturers to avoid hiring locals who cost more.  Democrats ran Springfield for decades (until 2024 when they were finally voted out), and ran the city into the ground. They were happy to flood the city with Haitians in the expectation that eventually these people would become full citizens and vote left-wing for the rest of their lives.

Make no mistake, the importation of third world migrants by Democrats is undoubtedly an agenda to transplant a loyal voting block to replace more conservative American citizens.  Conservatives and many independents are celebrating deportations as a reversal of a horrific multicultural scheme that benefited progressives at the expense of the wider public.    

 

Around 52% of all Haitian households are on some form of welfare, including SNAP and cash assistance.  An army of NGOs operate to provide aid to these groups and help them game the system.  The TPS framework has long been abused; many migrants under TPS are only supposed to reside in the US for 18 months but end up staying for a decade or more.

Haitian migrants send an estimated $4 billion to $6 billion each year in remittances to Haiti. These funds make up nearly 20% to 25% of the country’s gross domestic product.  Time and time again, we see third world immigrants using the US as a cash cow to support the economy in their country of origin rather than assimilating.  They view America as an open market to be raided, not as a new and better home.  

This is why the majority of US voters continue to support deportation efforts.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 19:40

Your Grandfather's Military Is Dead

Authored by Byron King and Sean Ring via DailyReckoning.com,

You may have already seen some of what I’m about to share in The Daily Reckoning. But given what we’re focused on here and the sheer amount of money now moving into this corner of the defense industry… I think it deserves a second look.

The drone itself is only part of what’s happening here. Building a military around unmanned systems requires an enormous industrial ecosystem underneath it like chips, sensors, batteries, rare-earth magnets, software, machine tools and, most importantly, the factories capable of producing these systems at scale.

That’s the side of this story Byron has been looking at.

So with that, I’ll pass it over to Byron to show you just how much the battlefield is changing and what this massive buildout could mean for investors…

We’re out of time. The future is now.

I’m talking about drones, which are no longer an exotic military sideshow, tucked away in research labs while the so-called “real warriors” plan the next campaign. Like phalanxes of marching soldiers, or guys riding horses into battle, that era is over. Drones are now the latest – and likely decisive – military thing.

The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, law enforcement and even firefighters are in the drone business. If it can fly, float, roll, crawl, loiter, listen, jam, scout, strike or blow itself up at the right place and time, it belongs in the new, unmanned order of battle.

Think of drones the way old-timers once thought of radios, radar, GPS, precision navigation or night vision. First, they look like clever add-ons, bolted to the airframe, deck plates, or a rack in the back of a truck. Then they become force multipliers. Over time, they become doctrine. Finally, they become table stakes.

Air Power Gets Less-Manned

Begin with air power. The Air Force has been “droning” for years, whether it used that word or not. Cruise missiles, decoys, loitering munitions, anti-radiation weapons and electronic attack packages have blurred the old line between aircraft, missiles and science fiction sky-robots.

A loitering munition can search, wait, attack or return if there is nothing worth killing. MALD, the Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, spoofs air defenses. HARM, the high-speed anti-radiation missile, hunts radar systems. Together, these tools show where air combat has gone: aircraft, missiles and semi-autonomous or autonomous systems now occupy the same battlespace.

MALD missiles. Credit Raytheon/RTX.

In other words, the drone is no longer a science and engineering experiment. It has become a business model for modern war, and a rebuke to past planning processes, acquisition timelines and chronic risk aversion, all designed for a slower world that is long past.

The Pilot Becomes a Mission Commander

Here’s the next step: collaborative combat aircraft, or CCA. These are unmanned aircraft that function via artificial intelligence (AI), built to fly alongside manned fighters, bombers, surveillance birds and tankers. They carry sensors, scout ahead, jam radars, haul missiles, absorb enemy fire or hit targets where commanders do not want to risk a living, breathing pilot. But the key part of a CCA is not the airframe; it’s the autonomy stack that lets the machine sense, decide, maneuver and cooperate inside a larger combat network.

For years, a small community of defense visionaries argued that war would become faster, cheaper, more distributed and driven by autonomous systems and AI. They were called too commercial, too theoretical, too Silicon Valley-ish. Turns out, though, those guys were right.

Now the Air Force has moved CCA from PowerPoint Dreamland to contracts, flight test and production. The air service is not just buying drones. It’s moving toward a procurement model in which hardware and mission software can be competed and upgraded on separate timelines. A future F-35, F-47 or B-21 will not fight alone. It will fight inside a moving code-cloud of sensors, shooters, jammers and electromagnetic tricks.

Drone is my copilot and wingman. Future notional CCA. Credit US Air Force.

And the central question is not whether a pilot is comfortable with an autonomous wingman. Broadly, that decision has been made and now the issue is how the overall package works in wartime, especially when ideas cycle through in days and weeks (and as we’ll discuss below, this is one of many lessons from Ukraine).

Trust in new technology is not an immediate and warm feeling; it must be earned. So, before anyone trusts an AI-driven CCA, the software, communications and cyber defenses must survive deception, electronic attack, GPS denial, spoofed data, degraded links and every other dirty trick a thinking enemy will throw at them.

The old Pentagon way of buying and building new weapons was to fund new ideas on the margin while protecting legacy programs of record. But that luxury is gone, which is why CCA is not just an aviation story. It’s a validation story, a software-assurance story and a network-resilience story.

Manned or unmanned, every aircraft is now a node in a large kill chain. If the network is hacked, delayed, spoofed or denied, the airplane’s performance becomes almost secondary.

The Navy Builds Mother Ships

Characteristically, the Navy took longer to get there, but it is getting there. In the mid-2010s, Northrop Grumman’s X-47B proved that an unmanned aircraft could launch from and land on an aircraft carrier; no small trick, considering that carrier aviation is one of the most demanding operating environments on earth (as I know from first-hand Navy experience).

Navy X-47B autonomous drone in 2015. Credit U.S. Navy.

The actual, experimentalX-47B aircraft (image above) went into storage; but over time, the idea behind the program morphed into Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray, an unmanned carrier-based refueling aircraft.

And okay, aerial refueling may sound boring, but it’s not (again, ask me how I know). Because tanking is range, range is reach and reach is combat power. Meanwhile, MQ-25 lays the command-and-control foundation for a future carrier air wing full of unmanned systems.

Follow that drone-style logic into non-carrier shipbuilding. New vessels are being built with dedicated space to store, fuel, prepare, arm, launch and recover unmanned systems — not just aerial drones, but surface and underwater drones too. In other words, a modern warship is no longer your granddad’s gray hull, stuffed full of guns, missiles and sailors. It has become a mother ship for both controlled and autonomous drones.

USS Somerset (LPD-25) can carry aerial, surface, subsurface drones. Credit U.S. Navy.

Whether launched by air, surface ship or submarine, drones can scout or attack. Underwater drones can map, listen, lay sensors, hunt mines, shadow submarines or perform missions too dangerous or dull for real people. That creates opportunities not just for traditional shipyards, but also for suppliers that can build unmanned vessels cheaply, quickly and at scale.

Ukraine Shows the Future

This is where Ukraine enters the story as a brutal laboratory and testing-range for drones. Small FPV (first person view) drones, long-range strike drones, loitering munitions and improvised systems have changed the character of the battlefield.

Drones watch trenches, spot artillery, attack armor, cut logistic lines, strike air bases and force both sides to move, hide, jam the other guy, and adapt fast. In fact, the life cycle of a drone’s usefulness is not years or months. It can be weeks, days, even hours or minutes because the enemy watches, learns, jams, copies and counters.

One critical lesson from Ukraine is that drones are not just warfighting tools. They are product development under fire.

Production Wins Drone Wars

For investors, the market angle is that drones are not just weapons. They are complex, moving AI learning systems. They require software updates, signal processing, anti-jamming tricks, antennas, batteries, motors, optics, tactics, operators and constant verification.

A drone unit is part air arm, part artillery observer, part radio shack, part machine shop, part software lab and part test range. The side that manufactures faster, ships quicker, assembles more efficiently, tests more realistically, updates software faster and repairs better gains the warfighting edge.

The Factory Is the Front

Now we get to the hard part. You don’t win a drone war with a boutique defense-industrial base. You win it with production, and not by the dozens, hundreds or thousands, but by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

For this vast scope of buildout you need carbon fiber, fiberglass, aluminum, titanium, specialty steels, small engines, propellers, batteries, rare-earth magnets, chips, cameras, antennas, LIDAR, software, test ranges, machine tools and skilled workers. And you need mines, mills, refineries and factories… especially factories.

This is why the new defense companies are talking like mass production industrialists. For example, Anduril’s Barracuda family is built around software-defined, mass-producible autonomous air vehicles. The selling point is not just range or payload. It’s fewer tools, fewer parts, faster assembly and a supply chain designed for scale; to “make it rain missiles,” so to speak.

Mass drop of Anduril “Barracuda” drones. Credit Alex Hollings/You Tube.

In a high-end war, the current arsenal of “exquisite” weapons will be consumed faster than Congress can hold hearings about why the armed forces are out of them. Gold-plated systems designed like hand-sewn, bespoke Saville Row suits may be impressive. But that’s not how to win a modern war against a capable foe.

Follow the Supply Chain

All of this does not mean the old defense primes will go away. Far from it. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon/RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing, Huntington Ingalls, L3Harris and others in that arena still have customer relationships, classified program access, integration muscle, product lines, assembly and est facilities, workforce depth, access to capital, and of course entre to Congress.

But the drone boom is opening cracks in the castle wall. Legacy primes have checkbooks and technical benches that can scale. But startups can move faster. The likely winners will combine Silicon Valley speed with Detroit-style production, along with Pentagon-grade technical authority and combat reliability. In other words, the procurement establishment can no longer afford to treat the new crowd as a kiddie-table sideshow.

Watch shipbuilders too. The Navy’s future is not just buying more big gray hulls. The sea service is building out a mixed fleet of crewed ships, unmanned surface vessels, underwater drones, autonomous mine hunters, maritime sensors and launch-and-recover platforms. That points toward demand for steel, engines, electrical systems, autonomy packages, rugged communications, modular payload bays, shipyard capacity and repair yards.

Along these lines, one company that is both legacy but also quite nimble is Huntington Ingalls (HII). It’s worth a longer writeup all on its own, but not here. The takeaway is that HII builds nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, and large numbers of surface ships, while is also has an aggressive program of drones called Romulus and Remus; the former being surface drones and the latter for underwater. The company is definitely working to secure long-term Navy business.

(Note: HII is not an official recommendation and we won’t track it here in Strategic Intelligence. But it’s a solid company for long term investors.)

On the other side of the planet, China understands all this about drones and the industrial base. Indeed, China has spent decades building the upstream and downstream muscle behind modern war: ore deposits, mines, mills, refineries, critical minerals, rare-earth magnets, batteries, electronics, components and final assembly. China’s shipyards alone are nothing less than astonishing.

Back here in the U.S., we’re just at the point of broad realization that every drone needs a supply chain before anyone can even think about finding a target. Carbon fiber, chips, magnets, batteries and sensors do not emerge from policy papers. They come from industrial systems that have yet to be built out in America.

All of this also puts rare earths and battery metals on the front page of defense investing. Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are magnet words. Magnet words are motor words. Motor words are drone words. Add lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum and tungsten, and suddenly the drone story is also a mining story, a refining story, a battery story and an industrial metals story.

And no, we’re not tossing out the old platforms. Submarines are still war-winning weapons. Just as aircraft are critical weapons. Plus missiles, tanks, ships, satellites and radars. But ore in the ground is a weapon too. Refineries are weapons. Machine tools are weapons. Battery plants are weapons. Software libraries are weapons. Assembly lines are weapons.

Here’s the takeaway: in the new age of drone warfare, the factory is not behind the front. The factory is the front.

The Investment Lesson

Here’s the investment lesson: Drones change tactics because they put eyes, ears and explosives everywhere. They change operations because commanders can coordinate fires, movement and logistics with persistent surveillance and rapid feedback. And they change strategy because nations must plan for production depth, electronic resilience, data dominance and supply-chain sovereignty.

Follow the money and you’ll find it flowing toward autonomy, software, sensors, counter-drone systems, batteries, rare earths, machine tools, cyber resilience and the old-fashioned industrial base that still wins wars.

Modern war is industrial war, now fought at software speed. Stockpiles matter, but stockpiles run down. Production keeps armed forces in the fight, and logistics keeps production relevant.

So, while we’ve been discussing drones, don’t confuse the shiny moving thing with the whole story. The real story of a drone is the stack beneath it: motor, magnet, battery, chip, sensor, code, secure network, factory, mine and ore in the ground.

This is where the next great defense trade begins: not with an aircraft on a runway or a ship cutting a wake, but with the magnets, batteries, tools and factories that make drone war possible.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 19:15