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83% Of French In Favor Of Deportation Of Criminals And Long-Term Unemployed Foreigners

Via Remix News,

An overwhelming number of French people, totaling 83 percent, say they support the deportation of specific categories of foreigners currently residing in France, focusing particularly on delinquents, criminals, or the long-term unemployed, according to a recent CSA survey conducted for Europe 1, CNews, and the JDD.

For young people, 90 percent of them support deporting these categories.

This sentiment shows consistency across genders, with 82 percent of men and 84 percent of women in agreement. Socioeconomic data indicates 84 percent approval among lower socioeconomic groups, 87 percent among the inactive population, and 78 percent among higher socioeconomic professionals.

From a political standpoint, the desire to dismiss foreign delinquents, criminals, or long-term unemployed individuals consistently secures a majority regardless of party alignment.

On the left, sixty-nine percent of voters support the idea, which breaks down to sixty-six percent for LFI, seventy-five percent for the PS, and sixty-eight percent for the Greens. The sentiment is markedly stronger on the right, where ninety-six percent of Les Républicains voters favor the implementation of this process, closely followed by National Rally voters at ninety-three percent approval.

Incredibly, tens of thousands of foreigners with criminal records and deportation orders cannot be removed from France, often resulting in tragedy, including rapes and murders.

Regarding immigration in general, polling from Ifop and Odoxa routinely shows that between 60 to 70 percent of French believe there are “already too many foreigners in France” and that “welcoming additional immigrants is not desirable.”

This polling data emerges alongside ongoing political debates on the topic, such as statements from political figures like Eric Zemmour, who previously stated during an appearance on Europe 1: “I am for zero immigration but also for negative immigration.”

He said that legal immigration drastically increases the rate of overall immigration, notably through family reunification policies. He also said during the program: “I think we need to start remigration.”

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/30/2026 - 02:00

Fear Is Overwhelming Us

Authored by Guy de la Bédoyère via DailySceptic.org,

Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. It should not be suffered to tyrannise in the imagination, to raise phantoms of horror or to beset life with supernumerary distresses.

Samuel Johnson in the Rambler (1761)

No-one’s disputing that very hot weather can be challenging, even dangerous, for some people. But I’ve been fascinated by the news coverage of the heatwave over the last week or so, largely because I’m currently touring in the American West, as I often am. Reading the British news one could be forgiven for thinking the country was on the brink of destruction.

However, it also links into an accumulating culture of fear which is having a paralysing effect on wider society. It’s been developing for years, driven not only by a news media craving stories, but also government seeking ever more control over our lives, and a vast industry capitalising on promoting fear to sell solutions, reassurance and ‘peace of mind’.

Out here the weather is seriously dangerous in ways most of we Brits have little or no idea. About two weeks ago I was driving across South Dakota into North Dakota through epic downpours that were like carwashes for the gods, and in 80mph winds. But the place carried on, as we did. I drive around 10,000 miles in the American West annually and I have developed a healthy regard for the weather, without letting us stop what we’re doing. We simply adapt.

You might remember that in 2023 there was a heat dome over Texas. Since we were due to fly into Dallas Fort Worth, we were a little worried, thanks in no small part to the tireless BBC that left us and everyone else with the impression that all Texas was about to be obliterated in a conflagration.

Naturally, when we rolled up, we found Texas was hot but in a 100% operational state. Everything was working as normal. We went about our road trip as planned. In southeastern Texas we visited a forest, lush with leaves and long green grass. We found a couple of nonagenarians, who in Britain would have been locked in a freezer to save their lives, out walking as they always did. We told them about the news in Britain. They laughed and carried on.

The interesting thing is not then the heat, or in my case the torrential downpour across the northern Great Plains on a remote and almost entirely empty road, but the fixation in the media and government to turn everything into something to be terrified of.

In recent years, Covid was utilised as the pretext for driving hundreds of millions of people to the brink of – or even actual – mental breakdown from fear. Now it seems the long-term impact on wider society is becoming clearer though Covid is only one facet of a mesmerising array of reasons to be petrified. However, we also have it within us to drive ourselves mad with fear.

In his Journal of the Plague Year (1722) Daniel Defoe included this observation of how fear of the contagion could lead to irrational behaviour, when describing what had happened in 1665:

It was in those shambles that two persons falling down dead, as they were buying meat, gave rise to a rumour that the meat was all infected; which, though it might affright the people, and spoiled the market for two or three days, yet it appeared plainly afterwards that there was nothing of truth in the suggestion. But nobody can account for the possession of fear when it takes hold of the mind.

The Telegraph has an article about how school trips are shortening because “Anxious parents are cutting children’s overnight school trips short”:

Steve Hallett, the Director of Operations at Rock UK, which offers residentials at centres across the UK, said a typical trip has fallen from four or five days to two or three.

He said it was partly because of costs but also described an increasing trend of parents collecting their children early or even staying at the site after they drop their children off.

Mr Hallett added that it had become more common for children on residentials to sit out certain activities, watching from the sidelines.

“The level of anxiety is really high. Children who have come through that Covid age, we’re seeing a level of concern even about going outside let alone being away from home,” he said.

A source at another residential company in southern England said a traditional trip was “always a week long” but had shortened since the pandemic.

They said: “Since the pandemic, many parents won’t even allow their children to go on your typical sleepover with friends because of the safeguarding concerns… to go from never being away from home to being away from home for a week is a big thing. Children find it overwhelming and exhausting.”

They gave examples of parents raising concerns about their children being abducted, the food their children are eating and calling the centre during a trip saying: “I’m worried that my child’s going to be cold in the accommodation.”

“There is this anxiety and it’s not helping with the children’s resilience. Parents are less likely – because of those growing fears from the pandemic – to want to allow those children to go off and take those types of risks that allow them to build that resilience,” they added.

One wonders what sort of adults these children will grow into. Last year, Joanna Gray wrote a piece called ‘Why Do Schools Now Resemble Prisons?’ for this site. It’s a dystopian tale of a world of security fences, lanyards and lockdown drills. I can second that. After I left full-time teaching in 2016, I delivered a Classics day to sixth formers at a West London comp. It was a terrifying place. Just being let in was like trying to enter a US high-security establishment. Inside it was a seething mass of teenagers contained in their ‘safe and secure’ environment like battery chickens.

We can only hope that when they grow up and escape into the adult world, they can leave the nonsense behind them. But I’m afraid it’s all too likely that growing up in a climate of fear is encouraging a significant minority to hide at home, unable to contemplate either going to school or facing adult life.

Before I was 10 years old back in the mid-1960s, my idea of fun on a Saturday was to meet a schoolfriend in London, spend five shillings each on a ‘blue rover’ ticket and then pass the day riding around on the tube with a nebulous aim to travel from the end of each line to the other.

I don’t think it ever occurred to my parents either to discourage or even stop me. In 1970 I was fortunate enough to go on a school classics cruise around the Mediterranean on a battered old ship called the SS Nevasa. Twenty-four boys in the charge of one teacher and not a risk assessment in sight! I remember vividly how the captain reminded us sternly that we were embarking on the high seas and not to go near the rails in rough weather.

Fear is a very useful phenomenon. A fear of crashing waves, based on knowledge of what water can do, might keep one away from the end of a jetty or off the deck of a cruise ship in a storm. A fear of traffic helps keep us away from roads. One might take reasonable precautions to avoid catching a serious infection. But there is a limit. To return to Defoe again, representing himself in the first person as the anonymous ‘Citizen’ recounting his experiences:

I had two important things before me: the one was the carrying on my business and shop, which was considerable, and in which was embarked all my effects in the world; and the other was the preservation of my life in so dismal a calamity as I saw apparently was coming upon the whole city, and which, however great it was, my fears perhaps, as well as other people’s, represented to be much greater than it could be.

In other words, as Samuel Johnson noted, fear can assist reason but fear for fear’s sake can overwhelm us. It not only makes things seem far worse than they are but also cripples our ability to cope.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 23:25

World's Largest Chipmaker, Taiwan Semi, Accelerates Local DRAM Supply Chain With Winbond Collaboration

In a time of heightened scrutiny on the memory supply chain, overnight the world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan's TSMC, is reportedly building out a domestic DRAM supply chain in Taiwan amid a severe global memory shortage, bringing in Winbond as a partner, UDN reported.

TSMC and Winbond are collaborating on a localized DRAM supply chain using 3D wafer-on-wafer (WoW) stacking technology, where Winbond would supply DRAM memory wafers to be stacked with TSMC's logic wafers. The move is designed to keep critical memory production close to home while feeding the demand of AI hardware.

Key details:

• The tech: WoW uses hybrid bonding to directly stack logic chips and memory wafers vertically, creating tens of thousands to millions of micro copper interconnects — shortening data transmission distance versus traditional packaging, with higher bandwidth, lower latency, and better power efficiency. It's positioned as critical for AI servers, HPC, and edge AI devices.
• Why Winbond: TSMC's WoW memory wafers have historically relied on Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. With global memory supply extremely tight and those three running near full capacity, TSMC is diversifying. Winbond's long track record in niche/specialty DRAM and NOR Flash, plus its mature 12-inch wafer production, high yield, and quality control, made it a fit.
• Strategic angle: This is framed as TSMC cultivating a domestic supply chain to strengthen Taiwan's self-sufficiency in AI chip components — elevating Winbond from a peripheral player to a core part of the global AI supply chain, and reinforcing Taiwan's overall position in AI semiconductor manufacturing.
• Caveat: Winbond declined to comment on specific clients/deals, and TSMC had not responded by press time — this is sourced to unnamed industry insiders, not confirmed by either company.

Some more technical color on what Winbond actually brings: 

• Several outlets cite Winbond's proprietary architecture called CUBE (Customized Ultra-Bandwidth Elements), described as purpose-built for WoW integration, with scalable memory density from 256Mb to 8Gb per die. Crypto Briefing
• Why now? Well, as everyone knows by now, the memory pricing backdrop is extreme, if not outright absurd, with all demand crushed except for (off-balance sheet_ debt-funded data centers .One analysis flagged that DRAM prices rising nearly 75% in early 2026, and with the memory crunch expected to persist until at least 2027, that's the real catalyst pushing TSMC to diversify away from Samsung/SK Hynix/Micron.
• This is not Winbond's first rodeo on this front. Separately, Winbond has also been building a DRAM foundry partnership with Elpida targeting graphics DRAM, not cutting-edge HBM — framed by one analyst as a resilience/diversification move for Taiwan's supply chain rather than a direct challenge to Korean HBM dominance. 

That said, multiple outlets note that neither company has gone on record so far  "Specific details surrounding the TSMC-Winbond collaboration remain sparse, as neither company has issued significant announcements regarding the project", consistent with the UDN piece's framing that Winbond declined comment and TSMC hadn't responded by press time.
If you want, I can pull Winbond's stock reaction (2344.TW) specifically, or draft this into a quick ZeroHedge-style piece tying it to the broader memory-shortage/CXMT thread you've been tracking.

TSM gained 3.60% on June 29, with traders attributing the move directly to the Winbond partnership news. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 23:17

China Imposes Export Curbs On 40 Japanese Firms As Tensions With Tokyo Rise

China imposed new export controls Monday on 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to the country’s “remilitarization,” as tensions with Tokyo rise.

China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday placed 20 Japanese entities, including the National Institute for Defense Studies and research centers for ground, naval, and air systems, as well as multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, on a control list, which prohibits Chinese and foreign exporters from selling to them dual-use items made in China. Dual-use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes. 

Additionally, 20 other entities were added to a watch list requiring enhanced licensing scrutiny for dual-use items; it includes Mitsui E&S, which makes engines and other equipment for ships, divisions of Fujitsu and Komatsu corporation, drone maker Terra Drone Corporation, nuclear fuel processors, and multiple units of OKI Electric Industry,. 

Domestic exporters, as well as overseas organizations or individuals, are prohibited from transferring Chinese-origin dual-use items to the named entities, according to the statement, adding that any ongoing activities must stop immediately.

Chinese companies exporting to these firms will be required to apply for special licenses, submit risk assessment reports on the Japanese companies and written pledges that the dual-use items will not be used for military purposes.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own.

Meanwhile, Japan has accelerated its military expansion, especially by adding offensive capabilities, which Beijing has condemned.

The export controls are “entirely justified, reasonable and lawful,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said, adding they are aimed at “firmly deterring Japan’s reckless pursuit of ‘new militarism.’”

“We hope Japan will recognize its mistakes, reverse its wrongful course, genuinely reflect on its past and return to the right track,” it added.

Japan did not reflect and instead the country's top government spokesperson called the curbs as “unacceptable and extremely regrettable,” while calling on Beijing to retract the measures.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Monday that Japan would take necessary countermeasures after thoroughly assessing the curbs and their impact.

Under Takaichi, Japan’s military has been equipped with more offensive capabilities, including long-range missiles on remote islands. Exports of lethal weapons are now allowed under a new policy. Japan will revise its defense and security documents by December, which could further increase its defense budget.

On Monday, Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force announced the deployment of a Type-12 missile launcher on the southernmost remote island of Minamitorishima, an apparent response to China’s growing activity expanding into the Pacific.

In February, China put an initial 20 Japanese companies on an export control list and 20 others on a watch list. The Commerce Ministry said that since then, “instead of reflecting on its past and correcting its course, Japan has continued down the wrong path” by accelerating remilitarization, deploying offensive weapons and launching missiles.

The ministry emphasized the curbs affect only a small number of Japanese entities, and the measures only apply to dual-use items. “They do not affect normal Sino-Japanese economic and trade exchanges, and honest and law-abiding Japanese entities have absolutely nothing to worry about.” 

The measures function more as a “diplomatic message” as Beijing steps up its pressure on Tokyo, said George Chen, partner for Greater China at the advisory firm The Asia Group.

“From Beijing’s perspective, Japan has not taken meaningful actions to stabilize bilateral ties,” Chen said. “And concerns are growing in China about deeper defense cooperation between Japan, the United States, and potentially other partners.”

In the short term, Japan–China relations will likely remain fragile “and at risk of slipping further if neither side moves to arrest the downward trend,” he added.

For Beijing, the issue of Taiwan is particularly sensitive. China considers the self-ruled island its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary, and has increased military pressure on it.

Earlier this month, the Chinese coast guard conducted patrols east of Taiwan in what state media described a “pointed warning” to Japan and the Philippines following an announcement that the countries would discuss their maritime boundaries in waters that Beijing views as its own.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France in a rare joint statement last week condemned Chinese activities in the waters east of Taiwan, adding they opposed any change of the status quo between China and Taiwan.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 23:01

The US Economy In A Nutshell: Privatize The Gains, Socialize The Costs

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Correspondent Simons Chase insightfully summarized this dynamic: Privatize the Gains, Socialize the Costs.

In my post Five Dynamics That Make Sense of an Increasingly Chaotic World, #3 is the distribution of risk, costs and consequences to a diffused populace while concentrating the gains into the pockets of insiders/owners:

Those seeking to reduce their private risks and increase their private gains seek to concentrate the gains generated by control structures and distribute the risks and costs to others. Pull the strings that diffuse the costs and risks over a large populace and gather the gains into the hands of the insiders that manage the control structure, typically some form of monopoly, either public or private, or a fusion of public-private rackets.

So corporations face low risks while the gains are extremely enticing. This diffusion of risk and concentration of potential gains establishes perverse incentives to increase extractive, exploitive, well-hidden rackets that impoverish and immiserate the many, but in doses small enough to avoid triggering push-back.

In a system that concentrates gains and diffuses risk, the "rational actor" seeks to maximize rackets that distribute impoverishment and immiseration to the many in small doses over time that attract little attention and are not significant enough to trigger an emotionally potent resistance.

Correspondent Simons Chase (x.com/slchase and Selflet.ai) insightfully summarized this dynamic: Privatize the Gains, Socialize the Costs. Here is Simons' explanation:

"Junk food is a kind of leveraged recapitalization -- short-term gains privatized, long-term costs socialized as horrific health outcomes: pay a little now and a shortened, diseased life later. Dan Munro folded that framing into his Forbes piece tying roughly a trillion dollars a year in U.S. healthcare spending to sugar: Sugar Linked To $1 Trillion In U.S. Healthcare Spending (forbes.com, 2013). The mechanism is the point: privatize the gain, socialize the cost. Once you see it, you see it everywhere.

The receipt is real--Credit Suisse put 30%-40% of U.S. healthcare spending at the feet of excess sugar, and the 2012 Global Burden of Disease report found obesity a bigger global threat than hunger. That last fact is the whole thesis in a line, and I put it on X more recently: obesity is a form of starvation -- understand that, and you grasp the U.S. economy:

Abundance, not scarcity, is the adversary now. The economy has already filed the invoice: the top employer in most states flipped from manufacturing to health care in a single generation. We stopped making things and started billing the disease. The damage became the GDP.

Debt is the same recapitalization run on the whole economy--today's abundance privatized, tomorrow's cost socialized onto a future that didn't vote. And the defining project of my lifetime has been that operation run on foreign policy: borrowed against what we couldn't pay for at home, the costs socialized onto people far from the ledger, each chapter sold as help.

AI is simply the newest instance, and the most intimate. Cheap, fluent, frictionless cognition now; the homogenization bill later. The engagement is privatized; the flattening of the culture is socialized onto all of us-- and, exactly as you say, nobody notices the loss because nobody knows how to look for it.

Thank you, Simons, for this illumination.

Regarding the future of AI, my critiques and concerns can be found in my Essays on AI. Simons proposes a more productive future than Big Tech is selling, one of AI becoming a technology of individual agency that is radically decentralized rather than the Big Tech model of radically centralized AI in a corporate-state control structure. Here is Simons' vision of the future of AI:

Where I part from the despair is only on the cure, not the diagnosis. The averaging is the default, not the destiny. The answer at every level is the same: nutrient-dense over processed, particular over average, owned over administered. I think AI's future is tribal and human-designed: many particular intelligences, not one central utility that privatizes the profit and socializes the mediocrity. What I'm building is a small argument for that. All I really hope for is the freedom to deploy it -- and not another 'we're here to help.'"

Thank you, Simons, for this alternative lens. My vision of a positive future for AI starts with radical decentralization optimizing individual agency and then moving up the "truly intelligent" scale to AI refusing to waste resources on make-work waste is growth:

My book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free). Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 22:35

Supergirl Movie A "Girl Boss" Bomb With Disastrous Opening Weekend

There's no more excuses.  Filming for James Gunn's Supergirl summer blockbuster started in January of 2025, with most of the US celebrating the defeat of woke politics and the downfall of DEI.  There was no confusion in 2025; woke is dead.  Gunn was well aware and decided to make an insufferable feminist "girl boss" movie anyway. 

In other words, his failure is his own fault.  Either due to hubris, stupidity, or both. 

Initial projections for Supergirl a month ago hovered around $70 million for opening weekend.  These estimates were already low and the panic within Warner Bros. was palpable.  DC Studios was already on its ass for the less than stellar performance of Gunn's Superman, which was supposed to revitalize the comic book movie landscape. 

After theaters took their 50% cut of the receipts, Superman barely broke even on paper, though initial data suggests it fell actually short by $42 million before other indirect revenues were counted.  This was, once again, largely due to Gunn's moronic insertion of immigration politics into discussion, which repelled audiences. 

If Superman couldn't bring in enough fans to make real money, then Supergirl had no chance. Then, the lead actress opened her mouth and started talking, and this was the last nail in the coffin for the release.  After Milly Alcock started spewing feminist nonsense in interviews and attacking fans, it was all over. 

"It definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on," she told Vanity Fair in an interview a few months before release. "We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies. I can’t really stop them. I can only be myself."

Alcock went on to accuse fans of more sexism when they criticized here strange comments.  She then later suggested that Supergirl is LGBT in an effort to virtue signal for gay pride month. 

Supergirl is bisexual, apparently. "She'd probably go both ways," says Milly Alcock. pic.twitter.com/s8zqHyTeJs

— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) June 23, 2026

Clearly, people are tired of leftists inserting LGBT sexual preferences into every film and TV show, because Supergirl's numbers plummeted not long after Alcock's interviews.  The flick only brought in $38 million on opening weekend - Half of the expected revenues.  And, keep in mind, theaters still have to take their profits. 

The movie will need to make approximately $500 million to break even, which sets up Supergirl as possibly the biggest failure in DC movie history.  Beyond Alcock and Gunn, the production was also constructed around the framework provided by a writer with no experience (Ana Noguiera) and referenced a comic run by Tom King, a former CIA officer and leftist.  Anyone with any sense could have seen the disaster coming a hundred miles away.

New clip from DC Studios’ ‘SUPERGIRL.’

Releasing in theaters on June 26. pic.twitter.com/Ip813dV8fK

— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) June 5, 2026

The lesson is this:  Leftists never learn.  Until the majority of people in Hollywood finally age out or get replaced with smarter (and more conservative) writers, there is little chance of a dramatic return to form.  They will continue to double down until the industry completely collapses.  Or, until a new and alternative industry rises to fill the vacuum. 

In the meantime, Get Woke, Go Broke dominates popular culture.  The progressive invasion is not gone, but they are certainly in decline.   

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 22:10

LA Does Not Love LA

Authored by Arthur Schaper via American Greatness,

Rolling down Imperial Highway

Sweet Nasty Redhead on my side

Santa Ana winds blowing hot from the north

We were born to ride.

I love Randy Newman, and I love his signature song "I Love LA." When he won the mayor's race in 2001, James Hahn played that anthem to celebrate his victory. From city attorney to mayor, Hahn worked to ensure some decency and competence in the city.

Fast forward to today, and Los Angeles is a hollowed-out, burned-out, blown-out shell of what it was.

Hollywood is leaving, and last year, Pacific Palisades went up in flames.

There's no Richard Riordan or Sam Yorty to save the city now.

Two Democrats, a Bolshevik and a Menshevik, will fight for what's left.

Los Angeles had a chance to build on the county's election changes in 2024. In an unprecedented reversal, a Republican turned independent, Nathan Hochman, took on George Soros's handpicked district attorney, George Gascón. He received the support of numerous Democrats, and certainly of Republicans and independents, and he wiped out George Gascón.

Los Angeles County residents were tired of lawlessness. They were tired of seeing the intimate scenes of incarcerated gangbangers raising a toast to a pro-criminal district attorney who was fast-tracking their early release. The same year, California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop. 36, which re-criminalized property theft and gave local and state law enforcement more tools to crack down on crime. The work isn't done, since county courts are stuffed with woke judges putting personal preferences and idiotic ideologies ahead of public safety. But Los Angeles County is going in the right direction, and even the city of Los Angeles voted in larger numbers for Hochman.

Then came January 2025, and the untouchable Palisades went up in flames. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was attending the inauguration of the next president of Ghana, and she could not be reached. The Palisades inferno was a massive failure on many levels and preventable if anyone had heeded the warnings. Seven years ago, entire sections of Northern California went up in flames. Families desperate to flee the raging infernos ended up stuck in traffic and consumed by the rushing flames. The California Democratic political class didn't care then.

Surely, the Democrats in Sacramento and Los Angeles would care about the left-leaning Pacific Palisades, wouldn't they?

Nope.

This year's primary results clearly indicate that Los Angeles city voters have not listened to their better angels. The demons have come in seven times stronger, too, since they find the place burned up and empty, and since no one's there, they've brought more of their vile hordes. How was it possible that voters across the city would embrace more of the same destructive progressive ideology when it's crystal clear to anyone that these failed policies - plus the arrogant lack of concern - are a direct result of this progressive madness? Even in San Francisco, a growing cohort of voters has started taking over the county Democratic Party, and they have fought for some restoration of common sense, law & order, and commitment to enforcement in public safety. It's not enough, but there have been some steps, however minute.

In sad contrast, Los Angeles continues to double down on the same stupidity. This isn't just foolish; it's absolutely dangerous. Unwise people with no regard for the well-being of the everyday citizen have no problem putting more of them in danger. Trump Derangement Syndrome and allergies to anything Republican truly are a mental malady that has trapped Angelenos in a perpetual doom loop.

A few weeks ago, TMZ host Harvey Levin complained about what had happened to Los Angeles during his lifetime. A multi-generational Angelino, Levin has seen the best of the city. Now, he cannot ignore how crappy it has become. The relentless homeless shelters, the skyrocketing crime rates, the overall lack of cleanliness and peace, and the desecration that has overrun a once-getaway destination and a second home for the rich and famous are unavoidable.

Yet the same Harvey Levin repeatedly castigated, shamed, and openly mocked the one candidate who had a campaign platform, character, and commitment to remedy all these problems. Spencer Pratt may have been a reality TV star. But he was also a father and a homeowner who lost everything in the fires. He was fed up, and he decided that he was going to run. He launched AI commercials slamming opponents Bass and Raman with an impressive media blitz. He did a fantastic job in the debates. He cut an incredible cloth as a truly independent candidate. Not beholden to any political party, he didn't care about Trump or Biden or Kamala Harris. He did care about the incompetence of incumbent mayor Karen Bass and her socialist, left-leaning challenger Nithya Raman.

He's a common-sense guy, and anyone with sense would have elected him mayor. But common sense is no longer common - or welcome - in the City of Angels. They stopped electing Republican mayors in 2001, and then they stopped electing Democrats with any regard for the well-being of the city after 2013.

It's a tragedy to see the once-heavenly Los Angeles turn into a hellscape. It's a tragedy that so many voters don't love LA, that their hatred of Trump, their disdain for Republicans, and their insistence on all of the shallow, shameful progressive issues are far more important than the necessities to make sure that their city can function.

I never thought it would come to this, but Angelenos simply haven't hurt enough. How many more homes have to go up in flames? How many more families have to be torn apart by the death of a mother or a father because of crime or natural disaster? How many more businesses have to be destroyed, desecrated, and forced to shut down because City Hall refuses to use its power to do what is best for the rest?

These problems festered two years earlier. Before anti-American immigrant socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman made it into the runoff against Karen Bass, she had won re-election to City Council outright in 2024! For weeks during the March 2024 primary, business owners and homeowners repeatedly complained about the homeless and the crime in the streets. And yet for all their complaining then, and a recent protest test of makeshift homeless encampments outside of Raman's home this year, voters still sent the elitist socialist to City Hall.

Los Angeles, be afraid.

The Democratic Socialists of America have aggressively targeted you. Four of the city council members are DSA all the way. They are vying for a city council majority and the mayor's seat. Registered Republicans can't help you now: they have given up on voting or moved out of the city altogether.

What will it take? I am astounded at the destruction and degradation. New York City was one thing. President Trump had pretty much solved the migrant crisis and allowed some degree of enforcement, so New Yorkers got complacent, perhaps? But Los Angeles witnessed the unprecedented disaster that destroyed homes. We all saw the unconscionable incompetence of Los Angeles's political class.

Yet even with that, LA voters voted for more of the same.

I love LA, but clearly, LA no longer loves LA.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 21:45

"Unbelievable Damage": 131-Mph Windstorm Snaps Wind Turbines In Half Across South Dakota

An early morning storm ripped through Highmore, South Dakota, about 220 miles east of Rapid City, producing a reported 131 mph wind gust that, if sustained, would fall within Category 4 hurricane strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The South Dakota Mesonet station at Highmore has reported winds of 76 gusting to 131 mph at 6:25 am. NWS has issued a Civil Emergency Message for the area. https://t.co/SWdEBPXsud pic.twitter.com/WofSvWUnF9

— South Dakota Mesonet (@SDMesonet) June 29, 2026

Local KELOLAND meteorologists Scot Mundt and Brian Karstens were absolutely stunned by the wind speed, which reached 131 mph.

The violent straight-line winds toppled grain silos, damaged infrastructure, and knocked over large wind turbines.

Unbelievable damage to a wind farm near Highmore, South Dakota after this morning’s storm. #sdwx pic.twitter.com/Uucyapxfej

— Jakob McMillin (@McMillinWx) June 29, 2026

Great shots from John Hall in Highmore, SD showing the aftermath of severe winds. The storm damaged grain bins, left debris in the streets, and even flipped a camper, with winds reportedly reaching up to 131 mph. #SDwx pic.twitter.com/xkEbVDP2F6

— YallBot (@OfficialYallbot) June 29, 2026

Oh my gosh. Very significant damage in Highmore, South Dakota from this morning’s severe MCS that moved through with wind gusts up to 131 mph.

📸 Amanda Brown via Facebook pic.twitter.com/xxgUyRQUqi

— Alex Resel 📸 (@aresel_) June 29, 2026

The severity of the storm system is now under review by the National Weather Service for potential state or national wind gust records.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 21:20

Philippines Becomes World's Top Solar Panel Buyer

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

People in the Philippines are flocking to install solar power ​on rooftops and escape the burden of soaring electricity prices, making it the world's biggest spender on solar panels since ‌the war in Iran started. 

Top Philippines power distributor Meralco has raised prices by 10% since the Middle East conflict began in late February. Now, a median household spends around 12% of monthly income on electricity, assuming it consumes 200 kilowatt-hours, approximately the monthly average for three people. 

Amid record-beating electricity prices and a supply crunch in fossil fuels, many Filipinos have opted to install rooftop solar panels over the past three months.

The spending on solar panels in the Southeast Asian country, which has been one of the worst-hit Asian economies in the energy supply crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict, topped $407 million between March 1 and May 31, per China customs data compiled by Reuters.

The Netherlands was the biggest spender with $1.1 billion on solar panels but it is a major transshipment hub for solar equipment imports and re-exports, so it’s not really part of the analysis of which country has spent the most.

After the Philippines comes Pakistan, another Asian economy severely hit by the halt of LNG supply from the Middle East. Pakistan has managed to negotiate with Iran some LNG cargoes form Qatar to exit the Persian Gulf in recent weeks. But the energy crisis in Pakistan has also prompted a rush to solar power installations.

Pakistan’s solar boom was already evident before the Middle East crisis.

Distributed solar drove a 21% increase in Pakistan’s national electricity demand in two years, clean energy think tank Ember said in a report last week.

A total of 27 gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar was deployed in just two years, the same as all the operating coal, gas, and oil plants built in Pakistan ever, Ember said.

In the Philippines, rooftop solar has nearly doubled over the past 12 months, according to a separate Ember analysis from the end of May.

Philergy German Solar, a Manila-based ​installer, received more than 2-1/2 times the number of customer enquiries in the first five months of this year compared to last year. At one point it ‌fielded 3,000 ⁠inquiries a day, according to managing partner Jochen Staudter. Customers are deciding to buy "much faster than before," Staudter said. "Demand will continue to be driven by high electricity prices."

In two years, distributed solar capacity could nearly triple to 3,500 megawatts (MW), matching the current size of the Philippines' utility-scale solar fleet, as loan payback times shrink to 3.1 years from 4 years, said Alnie Demoral, analyst at energy think tank Ember. Solar accounts for under 4% of national ​power consumption, government data shows.

The Philippines is China’s second-largest solar panel export market in 2026, only behind the transshipment hub the Netherlands, suggesting significant rooftop pick-up in the Southeast Asian country. China exported over 3,000 MW of solar panels to the Philippines in March and April alone, according to Ember’s data.

Still, the solar boom in the Philippines faces challenges, including high upfront costs for Filipino households and supply chain issues.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 20:55

John Fetterman Warns Mamdani About Defying SCOTUS Immigration Order

The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a pair of clean immigration wins last week, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded by announcing he would ignore them. Now Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is sounding the alarm.

The Court ruled 6-3 Thursday in Mullin v. Doe to allow the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants. This ruling set off predictable outrage from the progressive wing of the party. Mamdani was first out of the gate. In a video statement, he declared the decision "cruel" and invoked the specter of the Haitian Revolution to frame deportation enforcement as a betrayal of universal freedom.

"To have people who frankly taught the world about freedom have their own freedom put into jeopardy by the actions of a Supreme Court and federal administration - it is not only cruel, it's not something we will ever accept," Mamdani said. "The Supreme Court just sparked one of the largest attacks on immigrants in modern American history. In one fell swoop, thousands of Haitians and Syrians now risk losing the right to live and work in the country they call home."

He went on to reassure migrants that New York City would not comply with the ruling.

"To the tens of thousands of New Yorkers with TPS who are watching the news, frightened about what comes next, hear me clearly: New York City is your home. You belong here. We will not turn our backs on you," Mamdani said. "You will not face this cruelty alone. This administration will stand alongside immigrant New Yorkers today, tomorrow, and every day that follows."

These are not ambiguous rulings with room for creative local interpretation. The Supreme Court made its ruling, and Mamdani's position is that he can ignore it just because he doesn't like it.

On Fox News's Saturday in America on June 28, Sen. Fetterman sat down with host Kayleigh McEnany and walked through a glaring inconsistency, one his own party seems unwilling to acknowledge. He has spent years pushing back on Democrats who insisted Donald Trump was dragging the country toward a constitutional crisis. His response at the time was straightforward: the Trump administration had not defied a court order. The standard, as Fetterman understood it, was simple. You follow the courts, or you create a crisis.

Now the mayor of New York City is publicly refusing to follow the courts' rulings, and the party that ran years of constitutional-crisis programming has gone quiet.

"I haven't seen the freak-out now that the mayor of New York is now saying I'm going to defy the Supreme Court ruling," Fetterman told McEnany.

He then called out his fellow Democrats, who are either silent or actively defending Mamdani.

"Many of the members in my party are not calling him out... [or they are] defend[ing] him, or just say[ing] we really actually have to follow the court rulings because... that's a constitutional crisis, when you have the leader of the country's largest city [saying] we're not going to follow or honor what the Supreme Court says," Fetterman said.

Democrat Senator John Fetterman says he has not seen Donald Trump cause a Constitution crisis, but Fetterman says that when he heard Zohran Mamdani say he would defy the Supreme Court on the temporary protected status of Haitians, “That’s a Constitutional crisis”

“That's a… pic.twitter.com/Zq8nfW9SW9

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) June 29, 2026

Fetterman has become a consistent, if lonely, Democratic voice against his party's leftward slide. He has cited progressive figures like Maine Senate candidate Graham Planter, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, and a wave of progressive candidates running across New York City as evidence that the party has lost touch with most Americans.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 20:30

Alaska Judge Overrules Election Officials, Lets 'Fake' Dan Sullivan Stay On Ballot

A retired elementary school teacher from Petersburg just punched his ticket back onto Alaska's Republican U.S. Senate primary ballot after he was accused of being a deliberate spoiler and struck from the ballot.

Dan Sullivan of Petersburg announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate on May 29 to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. (Photo courtesy of Dan Sullivan)

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled late Friday that the Alaska Division of Elections had no legal right to disqualify Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The Division had yanked him on June 15, calling his filing a sham designed to confuse voters and tilt the race toward Democrat Mary Peltola in November. Matthews said the state basically invented a "good faith" test that doesn't exist in the U.S. Constitution, Alaska statutes, or the Division's own rules - and that's a problem when you're talking about a federal office.

In the Friday night ruling, the judge determined Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, is an eligible candidate for U.S. Senate and that the division shall include his name on the August 18 primary ballot. 

The division’s decision to disqualify Sullivan because it determined his candidacy was not filed in “good faith” was unconstitutional, Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled. “The director’s assertion that Mr. Sullivan seeks to confuse or misguide voters is not supported by a preponderance of evidence,” he wrote. -Alaska Beacon

The U.S. Constitution sets only three qualifications for senator: age, citizenship length, and state residency. States can't tack on extra hurdles, especially subjective ones about someone's motives. The judge noted the Division accepted Republican complaints at face value while brushing aside Sullivan's explanations, and he pointed out that practical fixes like printing middle initials (Dan J. versus Dan S.) exist if name similarity is the real worry.

What set this off

Sullivan, a former U.S. Forest Service employee who taught fifth grade in Petersburg, filed May 29 as a Republican. He shares the incumbent senator's first and last name - a coincidence he's called a "matter of fate." Election officials and GOP groups zeroed in on several red flags: he'd recently switched his registration to Republican, having spent decades with the now-defunct Alaskan Independence Party until it dissolved late last year; his campaign materials and website looked similar to the incumbent's; and he'd worked with a political consultant, Amber Lee, whom Republicans flagged as a longtime supporter of Democratic candidates. Officials also seized on the fact that he first emailed the Division asking to appear on the ballot as "Dan S. Sullivan" - the senator's exact name, down to the middle initial - before switching the request to "Dan J." They argued the whole package was meant to siphon votes in a primary that could decide whether Sen. Dan Sullivan faces a tougher general election.

The opposition came from the top: Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom opened an investigation, the Alaska Republican Party filed formal complaints, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee referred Sullivan to the Federal Election Commission, claiming his candidacy broke federal law.

Sullivan's response was straightforward: he's unhappy with the incumbent's record after 12 years and wants to give voters another choice. He says he followed every rule, paid the fees, and met the qualifications - and he flatly rejects the idea that he's a Democratic plant. Asked by the Associated Press whether he'd had any contact with Peltola's campaign, he said "zero, none, zilch." Peltola's camp and state Democrats have denied the spoiler accusation too, and when the Division actually pulled him, it didn't point to any proof of coordination - it rested the call on his supposed lack of "good faith." His small Southeast Alaska hometown has largely rallied behind him.

Matthews didn't buy the Division's claim that it had broad power to police "ballot fairness" by removing candidates it disliked. He ordered Sullivan's name on the August 18 primary ballot. The state immediately moved to appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court, which has until Tuesday to settle the matter - right up against the deadline for printing ballots.

For now, the "other" Dan Sullivan stays in. Alaskan voters might have to do a little extra homework to tell the two apart, but the judge made clear that's not grounds to disqualify someone who otherwise qualifies.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, NOT the retired teacher, at the Alaska State Capitol in February. Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 19:40

RFK Jr. Says 1 Million Obamacare Enrollees Lacked Social Security Numbers

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said 1 million people were enrolled in Obamacare health plans without Social Security numbers, as the Trump administration pledged to intensify efforts to combat fraud in federal health care programs.

Kennedy disclosed the figure in a video posted to the social media platform X alongside Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

.@DrOzCMS and I are exposing how bad actors exploited the Obamacare marketplace by enrolling people without proper verification and profiting at taxpayers' expense.

The Trump Administration is taking decisive action to stop these corrupt schemes, recover taxpayer dollars, and... pic.twitter.com/ea5dN31S9n

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) June 27, 2026

The officials said the administration is devoting more resources to identifying and preventing fraud within government health care programs than the previous administration.

Kennedy and Oz said the effort is aimed at protecting taxpayer dollars by strengthening oversight and improving the integrity of federal health care programs.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 19:15

Venezuelan Housing Projects Collapsed "Like Sandcastles" As Twin Quakes Expose Socialist Rot

Spanish daily newspaper ABC.es reports that some of the worst quake damage in Venezuela is concentrated in Caraballeda and Catia La Mar, where high-rise towers built under the Great Housing Mission Venezuela, or Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela (GMVV), were reduced to rubble.

The Chávez-era socialist housing program is now facing scrutiny after the outlet noted, "The explanation given by engineers and construction specialists is that low-quality materials were used in the Chavista Housing Mission, without supervision and without applying anti-seismic standards." 

GMVV was later expanded by the socialist Maduro regime without regard for the quality of building materials or anti-seismic standards, leaving only a handful of the 193 buildings in one housing complex in quake-ravaged Catia La Mar standing. 

The devastating earthquakes in Venezuela exposed exactly how the socialist government built housing for their people. Look at this video from La Guaira.

The buildings in the Misión Vivienda program were constructed using expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels coated with a thin layer… pic.twitter.com/N4qLX7W3Xa

— Maila Maria Rosa (@MailaMariaRosa) June 28, 2026

"None of the official buildings would withstand an engineering inspection, much less an earthquake of magnitude 7.5, like the one last Wednesday," the outlet stated.

Según múltiples reportes independientes y testimonios de las zonas afectadas confirman que #HechoEnSucialismo es: muerte, destrucción y dolor

Las propiedades de la #MisionVivienda son las que mayormente se han caído o sufrido daños sustanciales (si no se han derrumbado)

Una… pic.twitter.com/DT0AMEuNUi

— Bonyuet (@DBonyuet) June 28, 2026

Transparency Venezuela has previously alleged widespread corruption in the socialist housing program, including unfinished or failed projects linked to foreign contractors from Chavismo-aligned countries.

The outlet said many of these social housing projects "collapsed like sandcastles," and the head of the Chilean rescue teams on the ground told AFP News last Friday that there is "little chance of finding people alive."

A satellite image reveals the collapse of five residential buildings of the Housing Mission in Venezuela 🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/mBQRQEThPA

— BowTiedMara (@BowTiedMara) June 27, 2026

The collapse of Venezuela's GMVV is becoming another case study in how socialist corruption fails at delivering even the most basic needs for the people. What was sold by the left-wing government as housing for all now appears to have produced high-rise death traps, built with low-quality materials, weak oversight and inadequate seismic standards. 

The result is grim: 1,500 dead, 50,000 missing...

Yet another example of socialist governance has instead become a symbol of state failure and corruption.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 18:50

Builders Vs. Gatekeepers

Authored by Monty Donohew via American Thinker,

A viral X post by @r0ck3t23 featuring Marc Andreessen hopes to ignite fresh debate in tech and political circles. In the clip, Andreessen articulates a blunt frustration familiar to anyone who has tried to build anything substantial in modern America: "Right now, in many cases in many places, no you can't." The target is regulatory gridlock preventing factories, data centers, and, specifically the colocated nuclear microreactors many believe are needed to power the AI boom.

The post's thesis is provocative. The old left-right divide is "obsolete." The real conflict pits "builders" and "accelerators," those engineering abundance through atoms and computing power, against "gatekeepers" who would freeze progress. The gatekeepers are comprised of environmentalists on one side, armed with environmental regulation that has strangled nuclear power for decades. On the other are the populist skeptics of rapid AI rollout exemplified by Bernie Sanders and Tucker Carlson. They meet, the argument goes, in a horseshoe of fear opposing the physical infrastructure the future demands.

This framing deserves consideration. America's permitting regime is a national liability. Decades of NEPA reviews, endless environmental litigation, and bureaucratic risk aversion have delayed or killed projects that should be straightforward. Nuclear power offers a stark case study. France derives most of its electricity from nuclear, with a far cleaner grid and lower costs in key metrics. America, despite superior resources and early ambition (recall Nixon-era Project Independence targeting a thousand reactors), effectively built zero new plants for forty years after creating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Recent executive actions under President Trump aim to reform NRC licensing with deadlines and streamlined processes, reform that is both welcome and overdue.

Andreessen is right that colocated microreactors could elegantly solve the power demands of AI data centers, bypassing strained grids and delivering reliable, high-density energy. Tech leaders' interest in advanced nuclear aligns with broader national security goals: reducing dependence on adversarial supply chains, bolstering baseload power, and maintaining a technological edge against China. Regulatory gridlock has real costs in lost opportunity, higher energy prices, and strategic vulnerability.

Yet the post's sweeping narrative, that skeptics of unchecked acceleration are primarily "fighting physics" or the future, itself invites scrutiny. It risks collapsing into a Solvency Trap: a dynamic where solvable governance challenges are recast as permanent existential blockades, sustaining urgency and aligned interests while sidelining trade-offs, evidence of costs, and pragmatic safeguards. Real problems with hyperscale AI data centers exist beyond knee-jerk Luddism. They include grid reliability, massive water consumption (billions of gallons annually), localized electricity price spikes for residents and small businesses, community impacts, and job displacement in traditional sectors. These are not imaginary.

Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act proposes abandoning reason, planning, and problem-solving in favor of a potentially perpetual and unyielding pause on all new construction until broader safeguards address worker effects, privacy, civil rights, and environmental strain. One can reject the hysterical blanket moratorium as overreach while acknowledging that underlying concerns nonetheless merit consideration and debate. Sanders' equity-focused critique of Big Tech concentration, nonetheless, differs in motivation from Carlson's populist emphasis on taxpayer subsidies, rural community burdens, and skepticism of elite-driven disruption benefiting hyperscalers at ordinary Americans' expense. Their convergence on caution is emergent, not a secret "alliance." Presenting it as such adds conspiratorial flair but flattens distinct worldviews. It also unnecessarily sows division and invites dismissal of valid concerns by improperly linking them to those with invalid or meritless ideological axes to grind.

Populist wariness of taxpayer-backed incentives for private data centers, projects that can span tens of thousands of acres and consume city-scale power while delivering limited direct local jobs, echoes longstanding conservative skepticism of corporate welfare. Carlson's clashes with advocates like Kevin O'Leary highlight legitimate questions: Why should working families subsidize infrastructure primarily enriching coastal tech giants? Accelerationists rightly decry regulatory capture by legacy environmental interests. But dismissing all distributional and prudential concerns as mere "fear" risks its own form of capture by venture incentives and hype cycles.

Civilization is indeed atoms arranged by those who show up. But prudent stewardship demands more than velocity. The history of nuclear energy proves regulation can become abolition in disguise, yet safety, waste management, proliferation risks, and public confidence cannot simply be waved away with rhetoric about "deleting limits." Successful deployment requires reformed but serious oversight that is evidence-based, time-bound, and focused on outcomes rather than process theater. Trump's return to regulatory realism is the right step. The same applies to AI governance: rapid progress toward abundance is desirable, but experiments with alignment, security, and societal integration benefit from evidence- based and targeted guardrails rather than pure velocity.

The builders' energy is vital. America must reclaim its capacity to execute at scale, permitting reform, nuclear revival, and domestic manufacturing resurgence. Trump administration moves on NRC and energy dominance point the way. Yet the path forward is not a binary purge of gatekeepers but disciplined solvency: measurable progress on energy abundance, worker transitions, community buy-in, and risk mitigation that delivers broad-based flourishing, not concentrated gains amid diffuse costs.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 18:25

Rate On China's New Overnight Liquidity Tool Comes Below Estimates, Hints At Imminent Easing

Last week we showed four China-linked charts which made it very clear that, laughable flatlined 5% GDP notwithstanding, China's economy appears to be on the verge of yet another collapse (explaining the unprecedented drop in both Chinese oil imports and refining output): between autos, real estate, banks and overall consumption, the economy - as seen by the market - was in freefall.

China is fine pic.twitter.com/PFJzVCz9Ba

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 26, 2026

With sentiment collapsing, and amid growing speculation that Beijing will have no choice but to unleash another firehose of fiscal and monetary stimulus, it came as little surprise overnight when China’s central bank set the interest rate on its new overnight liquidity tool at a level that was below expectations, in what some economists see as a de facto rate cut that could push down market borrowing costs.

As Bloomberg reports, the People’s Bank of China said it conducted 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) of overnight reverse repo agreements in open market operations on Monday, according to a statement that didn’t disclose the rate of interest it charged on its new instrument. To avoid confusion, readers should always remember that a reverse repo in China is a repo in the US. And vice versa. The central bank uses the operation to funnel short-term funds to the market to influence borrowing costs, and it accepts eligible bonds as collateral.

The official rate of the facility - the first such overnight facility unlike the bank's traditional 7-day operations - came in at 1.25%, Reuters reported. Unlike other liquidity instruments, the PBOC did not announce the borrowing cost for the overnight reverse repos. That compared with the median forecast of 1.35% in a Bloomberg survey. 

The PBOC’s benchmark remained at 1.4%, 15bps higher than the facility rate, as it provided 157.5 billion yuan of seven-day reverse repo. 

The decision, which intentionally came in below well telegraphed estimates, now sets the stage for looser monetary policy including a possible cut in loan prime rates — China’s lending benchmarks — as early as next month, according to Citigroup and Standard Chartered.

"Today’s move is not an outright easing, in our view — but it likely opens the door to one,” Citigroup economists led by Xiangrong Yu said in a note. “The asymmetric move likely signals an easing bias, without a formal cut.”

That will come next.

The operation marked the first time that the PBOC deployed the tool to manage liquidity, and many traders said the move is a first step in a gradual shift toward a benchmark overnight rate. Such a transition is likely to bring China closer to the practice of its global peers such as the Federal Reserve, which relies heavily on its overnight target rate to manage the US economy.

“The People’s Bank of China appeared to signal that it wants borrowing costs to fall by setting the rate on its new overnight reverse repo 10 basis points lower than markets had expected. This backs our view that the PBOC will trim its policy rate to reduce financial burdens on businesses and households and support demand”, said Bloomberg's David Qu.

The new facility is expected to give the PBOC better control over short-end borrowing costs and allow it to smooth out any big swings in market liquidity. The cost of overnight borrowing in the interbank market has become more volatile since May, as the central bank sought to ease a glut of money in the financial system, with demand for cash typically rising at the end of each quarter.

The yield on China’s 10-year government bonds slipped one basis point to 1.71% after the announcement, extending its drop into a third session. Both the overnight and seven-day repo rates eased.

Still, despite the strong hint of easing policy, some analysts still believe the PBOC will be looking to maintain the policy status quo, for now, by keeping the seven-day benchmark steady while publicly omitting details about the new overnight rate.

“The overnight reverse repo is primarily a liquidity tool aimed at smoothing seasonal funding stress, rather than a tool to signal a particular policy stance,” said Frances Cheung, head of foreign exchange and rates strategy at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “The timing of the operations today and tomorrow ahead of the half-year end — and the amount bigger than the seven-day reverse repo — both support this notion.”

Talk of a rate cut in China gained substantial traction as the Chinese economy slowed dramatically in the second quarter, with retail sales and investment falling at a pace unseen since the pandemic.

Still, most economists expect the PBOC to keep its policy rate unchanged throughout 2026, although Huang Yiping, an adviser to the central bank, said a rate cut still remains a possibility.

“The next step is to lower de facto lending rates, including a possible reduction of LPR rates” across both one- and five-year durations “to support a stabilization of credit growth,” said Becky Liu, head of Greater China macro strategy at Standard Chartered.

“We had long argued that China is firmly staying on an easing path, and will likely to take advantage of the interest rate framework reform to lower de facto rates,” she said.

Lynn Song, China economist at ING, said it’s possible the new rate may have been kept undisclosed to avoid “diluting” the significance of the seven-day benchmark.

“Given the overnight rate is still the most liquid and important rate for trading activity, it makes sense this will eventually be the level that policymakers seek to control,” Song said. “However, it probably will take some time. We probably need some track record and maturity for the overnight repo facility and how it affects market overnight rates before this shift is made.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 18:00

The Party Of 'Our Democracy' Has Nothing Left But Chaos

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“. . . there is no saving the Left. Whatever happens to them, it will have to happen without people like you or me trying to get them to return to any place of sanity.”

- Sasha Stone on Substack

A punishing heat-dome creeps over the eastern half of the country just in time for the gala Fourth of July week.

The days are brutal, but anything and everything crawls out of the woodwork when that blazing sun goes down and the moon comes out.

Everyone’s on edge, but the edge of what?

I will tell you.

First, could there be a richer (or more obvious) target for bloody mischief than this year’s national holiday, the 250th birthday of a nation that millions lucky enough to live here have been trained-up to hate on?

Even the sons and daughters (including pretend “daughters”) of millionaires have gone mad-dog on America, the poster-boy being Marxist-jihadi New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Left’s new avatar-general.

Since no one is more hated than the, ahem, Celebrator-in-Chief, you might want to steer clear of conspicuous public celebrations this week. Antifa and even worse gangs are out there right now, making plans and laying traps. Maybe not so much in places like Texas, where eight Antifas were just sentenced collectively to 450 years in the slammer for shooting up the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado. . . but here in the Empire State and other Blue-ish jurisdictions, all bets are off. Be careful ‘out there’ among the smokin’ ribs, the fireworks shows, and big music venues.

You can see how this summer, and the nauseating slide down to the midterm elections, are shaping up. The party of “Our Democracy” is desperate to an extreme now, all disfigured by a communist leprosy eating away at its public face (and a cancer of fraud metastasizing through its innards). It has become such an obvious monster, raging with its hair lit-up, that anyone with half a functioning brain is shying away, stealing off into the gloaming. The party has nothing left but chaos and, in the weeks ahead, anything that might be disrupted probably will be.

The objective is to create so much havoc and distress throughout the country - especially the big cities - that Mr. Trump will have to invoke the Insurrection Act, and by doing so, the Lefty-left hope to create conditions so adverse that an orderly Election Day cannot happen.

The Insurrection Act would be the Left’s cue to declare Mr. Trump the very “king” whose coronation they have busily rehearsed all year, and then, voila, you get a new French-style American Revolution 2.0, complete with guillotine and transgender Jacobins turning the country upside-down.

You might consider the theory that the nation actually needs to suffer a genuine nightmare to wake up from.

The Revolution 1.0 we celebrate this week was, after all, a nightmarish struggle rife with hardship and loss. Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence died from war-related tribulations. Five were imprisoned and tortured. Twelve had homes ransacked and burned. And then, of course, the military action itself, including travails such as the winter at Valley Forge, the disastrous New York Campaign, and the never-ending logistics crisis, no food, no clothing, no munitions.

In the present summer of travail we face, you can expect at least some major wake-up calls issued by the bloc in the country that has not gone insane — which happens to include many in Mr. Trump’s executive branch. I’m serenely confident that real evidence of 2020 election fraud will finally emerge, coincidental with indictments. Do you think that the Fulton County, GA, election records were seized last winter for no reason? Say goodbye to that old “baseless” talking point.

There are, of course, a whole lot of other seditious and treasonous Beltway villains nervously awaiting administration of the law. You know their names. It appears that the new supervising US Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, Joseph DiGenova, is reorganizing the so-called “grand conspiracy” case against this large cadre of coupsters into a folio of discrete cases — RussiaGate, Fake Impeachment #1, the Mar-a-Lago raid, etc. — to make them more manageable and move them more speedily forward. Don’t be surprised if one or more of these cases happens to drop before the midterms. (Democratic Party true-blue loyalists could be surprised, even shocked to their socks, since these indictments will refute everything that has become essential to their identities as the good and righteous people of this land.)

Just one more item for now in the wake-up folder, coming a little out of left-field: things are looking eerie in the region of the San Andreas fault that runs through California, and perhaps the Seattle fault as well.

The earth’s geology even seems to be manifesting a degree of chaos.

It’s been shaky along the Pacific Rim “Ring of Fire” for many months.

Significant earthquakes have struck Japan (7.4 offshore Honshu/Miyako area), Indonesia (7.4 near Bitung), the Philippines, Tonga, Vanuatu, Chile, Papua New Guinea.

The Venezuela “doublet” (June 24, Mag 7.2) occurred in a separate tectonic zone, but all zones are essentially connected by the movements of magma deep in the earth, solar activity (flares, etc), gravitational tidal forces, and so on.

On June 24, a Mag 5.6 shook Redwood Valley, in Mendocino California, a Mag 5.8 near Pistol River, Oregon, and a Mag 5.1 struck 40 miles west of Petrolia in Humboldt County, CA.

The east side of the Pacific rim (America’s West Coast) has been unusually quiet for some years now. Be alert. Things seem to be livening-up. Just sayin’.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 17:40

"Thanks For The Mammaries": Hooters Shutters Every Location In Four Blue States

Iconic chicken-wing chain Hooters, famous for buxom waitresses wearing skimpy orange and white uniforms, appears to be throwing in the towel on its 35-year struggle to stay politically incorrect.

As Ben Sellers writes for HeadlineUSA.com, while some restaurants, like Cracker Barrel, have successfully fought off the takeover of corporate wokeness, Hooters recently announced the closure of its last New York location, the New York Post reported.

“Thanks for the mammaries,” the paper wrote in a nod to the voluptuous waitresses who became a prominent marketing gimmick and, ultimately, a business model for the franchise.

In addition to shuttering its holdout location in Colonie, N.Y., just outside Albany, Hooters also recently closed its final three Massachusetts locations in Dedham, Saugus and West Springfield.

And in March it said goodbye to its final locations in Connecticut and Minnesota, the latter of which was located in the Mall of America.

Technically, it was not the prescriptive mandates of virtue-signaling womynists that drove the chain under, but rather a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last year.

It cited inflation and other issues as the reason for sagging sales.

However, after closing around 40 company-owned restaurants, the final nail in the coffin may have been a “family friendly” rebranding, with the company focused on retaining its beach-bar motif—along with more modest server outfits, the Post reported.

“I don’t think you’re going to see a bunch of butt cheeks hanging out,” said Neil Kiefer, the 73-year-old lawyer who took control of the brand after its default, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For decades, Hooters fought off outside attempts to reign in its “delightfully tacky” image, including a four-year fight with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over its refusal to hire men as servers.

In a 1997 case, the restaurant argued that it was safeguarding women’s rights under Title VII by designating womanhood a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification, meaning it was a necessity to the operation of the business.

(Hooters made no such distinction for its chefs and kitchen staff, who disproportionately were men.)

As the Obama era gave way to #MeToo grievances, the restaurant continued to weather a barrage of complaints including allegations of sexual harassment and objectification of women.

“It is time women spoke up and were not browbeaten into accepting places such as Hooters so they are not seen as prudish,” said former Cardiff University lecturer Gill Boden in a 2010 BBC article.

“Places such as this all contribute to the current climate where men see women’s bodies as available objects.”

In the Biden era, as identity politics blossomed into a giant turd, the restaurant not only fell victim to financial issues like pandemic restrictions, supply-chain shortages and increased poultry costs, but also new threats from cancel culture.

In 2023, Hooters was sued by Taria Daughtridge, a dark-skinned waitress at a North Carolina branch who claimed white and light-toned servers received preferential treatment.

In 2024 came the inevitable lawsuit attempt by a biologically male transgender individual, going by the name “Brandy Livingston,” who was banned from Hooters as a man for making lewd comments but went on to sue the restaurant for discrimination after undergoing a gender transition.

Mourners eulogized the outlet on Reddit, with one fan joking that it "went bust" while another wrote, "I just fell to my knees."

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 17:20

DOJ Sues States Over Alleged Failure To Turn Over Food Stamp Data

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration has sued four states, accusing them of withholding crucial data on food stamp applicants.

Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania refused to turn over information to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would let federal officials identify fraud, Trump administration lawyers said in lawsuits filed on June 26 against the states.

Officials are asking judges to enter injunctions that would force state authorities to hand over the last five years of applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the food stamp program known as SNAP.

The USDA requested the SNAP data in 2025, citing an executive order from President Donald Trump that directed agencies to stop waste, fraud, and abuse, and many states complied with the request.

Data from those states showed that states had enrolled some 186,000 people in SNAP despite those people being deceased, among the discrepancies that added up to $3 billion in wasteful spending, the department said in a report.

The government spends nearly $100 billion a year on SNAP.

Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania are among the states that did not comply with the request, which suggests fraud and abuse are likely going undetected, the filings say.

“The American people deserve a government that is transparent about how it spends their hard-earned tax dollars,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“These four states are thwarting USDA’s efforts to ensure that the billions of dollars in SNAP benefits they distribute every year are not lost to fraud. It’s unacceptable, suspicious, and it will not stand under this Administration.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she asked that the lawsuits be filed.

“If a State misguidedly stands between the federal government and the information needed to protect the generosity of the American taxpayer, the Trump Administration will take them to court,” Rollins said.

Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania were among the states that sued the Trump administration over the data demand, alleging in a July 2025 complaint that it violated privacy protection outlined in federal and state law and that federal officials could use the data to target illegal immigrants.

A federal judge in February ruled partially in the states’ favor, preventing the USDA from cutting off funding to the states for failing to comply with data demands. The case is ongoing.

“The Trump Administration tried to force us to turn over the personal, private information of 8 million Pennsylvania voters. We won in court to stop them,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said on X on Sunday.

“No matter what the Trump Administration tries next, we’re going to stand up to protect Pennsylvanians’ right to privacy—and our fundamental right to vote.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 17:00

Johnson Says Reconciliation Is The Only Path For The SAVE Act

Speaker Mike Johnson returned to the Capitol this afternoon after several hours at the White House, telling reporters that the only viable path to enact the SAVE Act is to attach it to a reconciliation bill - and that work is already underway.

"The only way to get the SAVE Act to the president's desk, we've been shown many times, is to put it on a reconciliation bill, so that is in the process," Johnson said, adding that he believes a version of the measure would "clearly" comply with the Senate's Byrd Rule.

Earlier today, Punchbowl News' reported that House Republican leaders are considering a modified version of the bill structured as a $4 billion grant program. The grants would incentivize states to adopt citizenship verification and voter ID requirements for elections. The idea is still in its early stages, with no guarantee it will ultimately work or pass procedural hurdles.

Speaker Mike Johnson just got to the Capitol after “hours” at the White House.

Johnson said “the only way to get”
The SAVE Act to the president’s desk “we’ve been shown, many times, is to put it on a reconciliation bill, so that is in the process.”⁰
He says it would “clearly”…

— Em Luetkemeyer (@em_luetkemeyer) June 29, 2026

This approach aims to frame the policy as a budgetary/spending matter, which is more likely to survive the Senate parliamentarian's review under the Byrd Rule.

NEW — House GOP leaders are planning to vote on NDAA passage Wednesday, if they can pass the rule tomorrow amid a fight over the SAVE America Act, per sources

The House is also poised to vote on the @RepThomasMassie amendment to cut military aid to Israel Wednesday. GOP leaders…

— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) June 29, 2026

The SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and photo identification to cast a ballot. The House has passed versions of the bill multiple times, but it has repeatedly stalled in the Senate due to the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Republicans argue the measure strengthens election integrity and closes potential loopholes. Critics contend it is unnecessary (federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections), could create barriers for eligible voters, and amounts to voter suppression.

Reconciliation allows the majority party to pass budget-related legislation with a simple majority in the Senate. However, the Byrd Rule limits what can be included - non-budgetary or "extraneous" provisions are generally prohibited.

Bottom line: House Republican leaders, aligned with the White House, are actively exploring a reconciliation vehicle for a revised SAVE Act. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 16:40

Citizen Vigilante Should Terrify Western Governments

Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker,

This movie is a warning to globalists...

Director Uwe Boll just released a movie that is ticking off all the right people.  Called Citizen Vigilante, it is an unapologetic rejection of globalism, mass migration, Islamic conquest, and “woke” leftism.  The movie bashes politicians, judges, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies that have bent over backwards to excuse inexcusable crimes committed by non-Western immigrants.  It unequivocally demands a return to law and order.  It urges viewers to seek justice.  It threatens the continuing survival of any Western government that continues to allow outsiders to prey on its nation’s citizens.  Boll’s movie is nothing less than a call for Westerners to revolt against the authorities who have refused to keep them safe.

The opening title cards warn Western governments: “All behavior can be traced back to instincts.  When justice is denied, instincts turn to vengeance.”  Think: the British government’s decades-long cover-up of Muslim rape gangs…or the French and Canadian governments’ cover-up of church arson and attacks on Christians…or the German government’s efforts to censor news stories of Muslim immigrants raping children at public pools and shoving young women onto train tracks.  Boll isn’t messing around.  He’s telling Western governments in the clearest terms: Your deliberate choice to sacrifice your citizens to raping, murdering outsiders is about to unleash the primal instincts of millions of Americans and Europeans who refuse to remain victims.  In other words, vengeance is coming.

Just in case his message was not sufficiently clear, Boll leaves the audience with these words before the end credits: “This film is dedicated to the thousands of rape and murder victims in Europe who were betrayed by our legal system.”  Without antiseptic apology, moral dithering, misplaced empathy, or two-faced whataboutism, Boll indicts Western “elites” for their many crimes against “the people” and suggests…nay, encourages…citizens to redress their grievances by seeking justice against the very public officials who have abused them for so long.

In between the opening and ending cards that acknowledge Western citizens as real victims of their respective governments, there is a vigilante tale about an American taking out the trash in Europe.  Why an American?  Maybe because President Trump is the only Western leader actually taking the threat of mass invasion seriously.  For what it’s worth, the vigilante’s only redeeming quality is that he recognizes European governments as monsters harming their citizens.  He’s a psychopath, but that’s also part of Boll’s message.  The director is telling viewers that they are behaving as “sheep” while their governments slaughter them.  The American vigilante, incapable of being brainwashed by politicians’ “woke” sermonizing and virtue-signaling, is the only one acting rationally.  He sees the whole European system as a threat to “the people” and decides to eliminate the threat.

Where in Europe does the story take place?  It doesn’t matter.  Boll’s movie begins with a depiction of an all-too-common murder of a young mother randomly stabbed in the neck by a young punk.  Boll then weaves in a number of tales of women who have been beaten, gang-raped, and left for dead.  He spares us from having to watch most of the details.  Instead, he shows us how these women have been broken and ignored by the government authorities entrusted to ensure their safety.

In separate scenes, the American vigilante asks two young survivors if the police, prosecutors, and courts had given them “justice.”  

The broken look in their eyes answers the question definitively.  Likewise, a resilient spirit washes over both of their faces once they learn that the vigilante has done what the authorities would never do: execute real justice.

What does real justice mean? 

 It means that Boll’s American vigilante doesn’t execute just the rapists and murderers.  He also executes the families who support those rapists and murderers.  “Are these the values you’re teaching your children?” he asks the father of a rapist.  Because if the “values” from the Quran teach that “women in America and Europe deserve to be raped because of a dress code,” then “I don’t think it was the good ones that got out of your country.  I think it was the bad ones.”

Boll’s vigilante also executes the judges who allow those rapists and murderers to escape punishment by inexcusably painting the evil perpetrators as misunderstood “victims” of “traumatic integration.”  “You really believe that?” the vigilante scoffs at a judge who found a way to blame Western culture and Western citizens for Islamic immigrants’ vile gang-raping of young girls.  “You let a gang of rapists go.  You know what that makes you?  Just as bad as the perpetrators.  Might as well have raped her yourself,” he says before slitting the judge’s wrists.

Boll’s vigilante, in other words, executes judgment on globalism, itself, and all of globalism’s enablers who prey on Western citizens’ empathy and slander anyone who objects to the mass importation of foreign rapists and murderers by calling them “nationalists,” right-wingers,” “fascists,” or “racists.”  Western society “is falling apart and dying,” the vigilante tells a judge.  “And you are the cancer that is killing it.”

This isn’t a Belgian, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish, or British story.  It’s the story of Europe, generally — and an equally applicable warning to the governments of Canada, Australia, and the United States: Either end this foreign invasion, or you will be punished for your complicity.  Aiding and abetting foreigners who commit horrific crimes will no longer be tolerated.

Lest you think that I am exaggerating Boll’s bluntness, allow me to quote the American vigilante as he speaks directly to two separate audiences: (1) Western governments and (2) Western citizens.

In one scene, he tells an Interpol chief (i.e., one of globalism’s top cops): “The people will not accept a takeover…They never voted for what’s happening.  This is an unfriendly takeover by the Islamist extremists and blindsided woke left.  And if this takeover is successful, it’ll destroy the democracy you say you love.  All the freedom, everything you enjoy and stand for.  There’s only one option.  You end this or we the people will end it ourselves.”  The vigilante then tells the Interpol chief to “take this message” to his government leaders.  Subtle?  Hardly.

The movie ends with an equally compelling video message from the vigilante to “the people.”  This is what he says: “I’m here to help you take that control back.  I’m here to show you that you’re no longer the victims.  I’m here to show you that it’s time to go out and show these fuckers that they aren’t getting away with it anymore.  Remember: I do this for you…until you learn to do it for yourselves.”

Holy moly, no wonder this movie has been banned across Europe.  In ninety minutes, it recognizes Europe’s rape and murder victims in a meaningful way; it excoriates third-world immigrants for having an “archaic value system” and a “commitment to religion over democracy and over anything else, including the rule of law”; and it warns Europe’s governing class that it will be overthrown and judged for crimes against humanity.  Boll tosses explosive truth after explosive truth at the audience, and it is impossible not to see this movie as the beginning…of something.  If European governments’ efforts to censor this movie and prevent citizens from receiving Boll’s message are any indication of how much they fear the public’s wrath, then it is clear that globalism’s “elites” are terrified of losing their heads one day soon.

Citizen Vigilante isn’t just a movie.  It’s a wakeup call for the ignorant, a call to arms for the fed-up, a promise to the victims, and an explicit warning to the West’s parasitic “elites.”  The message for Western governments is simple: Change your policies immediately, or you will be judged ruthlessly.  No justice?  No peace.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/29/2026 - 16:20