AI Will Not Make The Planned Society Viable

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

In 1935, the mainline publisher Macmillan printed a book called “Planned Society” edited by American economist and journalist George Soule. The core idea was that mass unemployment, the economic depression, financial instability, and material deprivation all have a solution. We need the best and the brightest to come to power with a new plan for the whole of society.

metamorworks/Shutterstock

What followed were many chapters exploring the idea. With the right plan, government can produce and deliver food. It can build all the houses and apartments. It can be the main influence in capital markets and hence fix business cycles. It can set prices and guarantee they are the right ones. It can provide minimum living standards for everyone, plus provide education and health care.

The ethos of the book was not about replicating the Soviet experience, which was already discredited by that time. Sloganeering about revolutionary workers and expropriating the expropriators was not in fashion. Indeed, powerful intellectuals and industries truly feared such attitudes. The planned society of the sort mapped out in this book was to be the alternative.

The underlying presumption of the book—one shared by nearly all public intellectuals at the time—was that both freedom and democracy have failed. They have led to the chaos of economic collapse and social division. These old-fashioned ideas—rooted in simply allowing society to evolve on its own—were deeply unscientific. They needed to be replaced by new ideas from the Ivy League.

The moniker “planned society” also served as a replacement for socialism as a political agenda. Why did socialism have to be replaced? First, it was a political loser thanks to the disasters unfolding in the Soviet Union. Second, all classes of people in the U.S. and the UK like their property rights, religion, and families, and had no interest in a scheme to jettison them. Third, no one at that point in time had a solution to the fundamental economic failing of socialism.

To understand that latter point, let’s go back more than a decade earlier to 1920. Economist Ludwig von Mises had written an article called “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth.” He offered a novel counterpoint to socialist theory. It had normally been assumed that socialism failed because people are not angels and therefore cannot be expected to work for the good of all.

Mises said something different. He was glad to imagine a world of people who are community-minded, unselfish, and need no monetary incentives to work and do a good job. They are happy to produce, share, and commit themselves to the well-being of all. Let’s say that all men are angels. Even then, he said, socialism will necessarily fail for a precise technological reason.

Socialism imagines getting rid of the private ownership of capital, which are the produced means of production. We are talking about steel, wood, all tools, trucks, and anything else that is neither natural resources nor consumer good. Those would all be owned collectively. In this way, socialism said, it could stop value from unfairly flowing from workers to owners. This addresses the core argument of Karl Marx in his book “Capital” and a constant complaint of socialists from time immemorial.

With collective ownership of capital goods, the market for them would disappear. Along with that there would be no trading of capital and no prices for them. Without such prices, accounting for profits and losses from capital would also vanish. We are left with just huge piles of stuff that have to be allocated through some means other than normal accounting. That means that the planners would have to be in charge.

What signals would the planners have? Prices have been taken away. They would have no access to information systems about the needs of society. They would not know whether scarce amounts of steel should flow to trains, trucks, bridges, buildings, repairs of old things, or building of the new. They would not know whether cotton and wool need to go to blankets, clothing, beddings, or uniforms. They would have no idea what the trade-offs were of these decisions and no means by which to assess whether they had made the right decision.

And then you have the problem of change. In the real world, everything is always changing: consumer tastes, technology, seasonal needs, demographics, and talents. A socialist society managed by elites would lack any signaling system to adapt to such changes. Society would get stuck in place and economic life would stagnate. This is the best possible outcome. The worst outcome is sheer chaos.

“Without economic calculation there can be no economy,” Mises wrote. “Hence, in a socialist state wherein the pursuit of economic calculation is impossible, there can be—in our sense of the term—no economy whatsoever.”

What would replace the economy?

“There will be hundreds and thousands of factories in operation. Very few of these will be producing wares ready for use; in the majority of cases what will be manufactured will be unfinished goods and production goods. All these concerns will be interrelated. Every good will go through a whole series of stages before it is ready for use. In the ceaseless toil and moil of this process, however, the administration will be without any means of testing their bearings. It will never be able to determine whether a given good has not been kept for a superfluous length of time in the necessary processes of production, or whether work and material have not been wasted in its completion.”

Finally: “Thus in the socialist commonwealth every economic change becomes an undertaking whose success can be neither appraised in advance nor later retrospectively determined. There is only groping in the dark. Socialism is the abolition of rational economy.”

The argument was devastating to European intellectuals. Mises’s point was born out in Soviet experience. No one could really come up with an answer to it until the Polish economist Oskar Lange in the mid-1930s took it on. He said that the planners would not need real markets insofar as they could simulate markets with auctions. The state could hire financial traders to bid and ask, thus yielding prices that the planners could take in as information to feed their plans.

That argument was further met by F.A. Hayek who broadened Mises’s point into a general theory of knowledge in society. All social systems need information for coordination and planning but from where is that information drawn? He said that the only reliable information is connected to time, place, and real human experience. Even then, all economic decision-making is a speculation about human needs and future uncertainties. The data we need is necessary to localize and disperse, and even and often embed tacitly in habits, mores, and traditions.

The planners, he said, will always be ignorant relative to the intelligence of the societies over which they preside.

By the 1950s, the planners developed a new scheme that seemed to refute all the past critics of socialism and offer a new way toward organizing a rational society. They claimed that the advent of the computer age had made socialist planning entirely possible. “Let us put the simultaneous equations on an electronic computer and we shall obtain the solution in less than a second,” wrote Lange. “The market process with its cumbersome atonements appears old-fashioned. Indeed, it may be considered as a computing device of the pre-electronic age.”

Of course that scheme did not work. The knowledge problem, clarified Hayek, was not merely a technical issue that can be solved with more computing power. It was a learning and discovery problem that requires freedom of action, choice, and trading to generate useful information that adapts to change.

You see where this is going now. Myriad thinkers have once again rallied around a technological solution to the socialist problem of rational economic calculation and wise use of resources.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, has written: “In the era of big data, the abilities of human beings in obtaining and processing data are greater than you can imagine. With the help of artificial intelligence or multiple intelligence, our perception of the world will be elevated to a new level. As such, big data will make the market smarter and make it possible to plan and predict market forces so as to allow us to finally achieve a planned economy.”

This is the same hubris that led Vladimir Lenin to believe that solving the economic problem under communism was easy as pie, until he discovered two years after taking power that even the pies disappeared.

It will be the same with the people who think AI will make the dream come true. You already know this. Even the best data is past data. It does not provide a crystal ball to the future. It is also deeply mistake prone. As with all planned systems, it provides no mechanisms for adaptation to reality even when that reality is screaming for change.

Isn’t it remarkable? For some reason, intellectuals are forever reluctant to admit that they are in no position to plan society under any ideological flag, and that freedom alone is capable of generating the best possible social and economic outcomes. The old solutions of individual rights and freedom—the rallying points of America’s Founding Fathers—have not only stood the test of time but still offer the best model for the future.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 22:35

How Big Is Australia? Visualizing How Many Countries Fit Inside

Australia ranks 54th by population, 14th by gross domestic product…and sixth by size?

The infographic below, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, puts its staggering scale in context by showing how many familiar nations could sit comfortably inside its outline.

The data for this visualization comes from UN Statistics Division, using total area estimates.

Australia’s True Size Revealed

Covering nearly 3.0 million square miles (7.73 million km²), Australia is the sixth-largest country, sitting just behind Brazil.

Note: Population data sourced from the International Monetary Fund.

Its landmass is roughly equivalent to the combined size of nine other countries, including 7th-ranked India.

For an American perspective, it’s the size of the contiguous U.S. west of the Mississippi River.

Humans often underestimate continental scale when viewing Mercator maps, so stacking countries gives a more intuitive sense of magnitude.

ℹ️ Related: For more on the Mercator projection, check out: The Problem With Our Maps.

Yet with only 27 million residents, Australia’s average population density is nine people per square mile.

The average population density of the combined nine countries is 687 people per square mile.

Why So Much of Australia Is Empty

The emptiness stems largely from the notorious Outback.

Roughly two-fifths of the continent is classified as arid or semi-arid desert, encompassing the Simpson, Tanami, and Great Victoria deserts.

Summer highs above 110°F (43°C) and some of the lowest rainfall on Earth make permanent settlement costly and risky.

Consequently, more than 85% of Australians cluster in coastal metro areas such as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Visualizing Africa’s True Size on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 22:10

Want a Job? Ditch The Degree And Pick Up A Trade

Authored by Roslyn Kunin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

At over 7 percent, the unemployment rate in Canada is the highest it has been in a decade. For those under 25, it surpasses 14 percent. This is a real challenge for young people at the beginning of their working lives. The usual rules for getting started on a promising career no longer seem to apply.

A welder works at a new condo building under construction in downtown Vancouver, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

A university degree does not open doors the way it used to. There are many more university graduates than there are openings that require this qualification, and this does not even consider the mismatch that exists between the fields of the vacant positions and those of the graduates.

The government has reacted to this sad situation by severely curtailing the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) allowed into Canada, presumably to save jobs for unemployed Canadians. It may not work. TFWs have been brought into Canada to fill jobs that, even in times of high unemployment, Canadians would not fill.

Agricultural workers are an example. Youth (and older workers) are reluctant to take seasonal jobs that require long hours of demanding physical labour outdoors for the rates of pay that our food-producing sector can afford.

TFWs also play a big role in entry-level service jobs, another area that is hard to fill with Canadians, especially if they have a university degree. Finding Canadians for these jobs is particularly acute in smaller centres and more remote locations.

Not only are the jobs left unfilled by reducing TFWs unattractive to most Canadians, but many of the more attractive jobs are now, or soon will be, replaced by AI. Older workers will recall how swathes of lower-level white-collar jobs, such as secretaries and clerks, were eliminated by the introduction of computers.

Now the work of higher-level positions can be done by AI. This includes junior executives, many mid-level management positions, and any position that has the word agent or broker in the title—areas where many aspiring leaders got their start. Now it is even harder to find any openings.

There are still good jobs in desirable locations that pay well, where vacancies tend to exceed job seekers and which will be difficult or impossible for AI to replace. Most Canadians do not even consider these opportunities or are barely aware of them.

The people needed now and into the future are trades workers, technicians, and technologists. Also needed are people who can provide a level of human contact that machines cannot offer in medicine and other areas.

Use the phrase “hands-on” to determine which occupations are safe from an AI takeover. AI cannot fix a leaky pipe or wire a new building. It cannot deliver a baby.

Nor can AI create and maintain the physical underpinnings of our 21st-century world. For this, technicians and technologists are required. Right now, there are openings for technicians and technologists in engineering at all levels and also in design, maintenance, inspection, project management, and other fields.

Such in-demand occupations are regulated in B.C. by the Association of Technicians and Technologists of B.C. Current job openings are listed here. Institutes of technology and many universities and colleges offer the training that would lead to positions like these. Most courses take two years, less than a university degree. Many technician and technology positions offer upward mobility into areas like management or professional engineering.

For those who prefer to deal with people, we will still need doctors, nurses, and other health professionals even as AI takes over the more tedious administrative aspects of that work. Counsellors and advisors will still be needed, but they will need to have both excellent people skills and detailed expertise in fields like financial planning, employment, and others. The more routine support and advice can and will be provided by AI.

Even in hands-on occupations, practitioners will still have to keep up to date with AI and other developing systems. These current and future developments will be like the telephone—useful and necessary in whatever we do. But they will also free us from the tedious administrative requirements that until now were part of just about every job.

We now find ourselves in an uncertain economy with high and rising unemployment. What used to be good ways to find a job or establish a career are no longer working, and AI-related elimination looms over many positions. But there are still many hands-on occupations that AI cannot fill and that offer good jobs now and excellent career prospects to those willing to consider them.

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

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 21:45

These Are The Most Viewed Wikipedia Pages Of 2025 (So Far)

The most visited Wikipedia pages of 2025 reveal a mix of politics, entertainment, and timeless curiosities.

As Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti shows in the chart below, the list also highlights Wikipedia’s continued reach as a global (mis)information hub, even as new competitors like Grokipedia begin to emerge.

The data for this ranking comes from We Are Social. It compiles total page views across all languages between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.

Public Figures Dominate the Rankings

U.S. President Donald Trump took the top spot with nearly 69 million views, followed by Elon Musk with over 58 million. The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and Kamala Harris also ranked high, reflecting the intense global focus on American politics. Notably, ChatGPT placed third, underscoring continued public fascination with artificial intelligence and its impact on daily life.

Entertainment and True Crime Drive Massive Traffic

Media releases once again drove major spikes in page visits. The Marvel film Deadpool & Wolverine drew over 28 million views, while a new Netflix docuseries reignited interest in Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted three decades ago for the murder of their parents.

Timeless Topics Remain Perennial Favorites

Certain pages persist year after year. “World War II” and the “Deaths in 2024” and “Deaths in 2025” pages attracted millions of views. Entries like “United States” and “List of U.S. Presidents” also remain staples of global interest.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Amazon Reigns: The Most-Visited E-Commerce Sites of 2025 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 21:20

Long-Term Melatonin Use Linked To Nearly Double Heart Failure Risk, Study Finds

Authored by Cara Michelle Miller via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Melatonin, a natural hormone, is often labeled a heart-healthy sleep aid. However, an extensive new study suggests that regular users face a higher risk of developing heart failure, hospitalization, and even death over time.

Michelle Lee Photography/Shutterstock

Adults with chronic insomnia who used melatonin for a year or longer faced a 90 percent higher risk of developing heart failure within five years compared to non-users.

The preliminary analysis, presented Monday at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025, tracked more than 130,000 adults diagnosed with insomnia. Among those who took melatonin for more than a year, 4.6 percent developed heart failure, compared with 2.7 percent of nonusers.

Melatonin users were also more than three times as likely to be hospitalized for heart failure and had almost double the risk of dying from any cause. Still, the two groups differed only modestly in absolute terms—7.8 percent of long-term melatonin users died during the study period versus 4.3 percent in those not taking melatonin—a gap of about 3.5 percentage points.

“The takeaway isn’t that melatonin is ‘bad’ or that everyone should stop taking it,” Dr. Ekenedilichukwu Nnadi, chief resident in internal medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, who led the research, told The Epoch Times in an email. “It’s that we shouldn’t assume something is risk-free just because it’s natural or sold over the counter.”

Melatonin, a hormone the body naturally produces at night, is often regarded as a safe, easy fix for insomnia and is frequently taken nightly by people struggling to sleep. Its use has more than doubled over the past decade, with about 12 percent of Americans diagnosed with chronic insomnia and millions more struggling to sleep most nights.

What the Study Found

Researchers used data from more than 130,000 adults diagnosed with insomnia. Roughly half had been prescribed melatonin or reported self-use; the rest had no melatonin use. None had heart failure or used prescription sleep aids at the start of the study.

The results held even when researchers required multiple prescriptions to define “chronic use,” reinforcing a link to long-term, versus occasional, melatonin use.

“This doesn’t prove that melatonin directly causes heart failure,” said Nnadi, noting that the study was observational. People who take melatonin every night may simply have more severe insomnia, which itself could raise heart risks.

Still, the study’s size and careful matching make the findings notable—and raise important questions about supplement safety, he said.

“It shows that people with chronic insomnia who took melatonin long-term were more likely to experience these outcomes. It’s an unexpected and important signal that needs to be studied further.”

What the Study Can’t Tell Us

The research could only track prescribed melatonin, since some over-the-counter use isn’t recorded in medical records. That means some people counted as “nonusers” may have taken melatonin without telling their doctors.

“That would actually bias the results toward no difference. In other words, it would make melatonin look safer than it might be,” said Nnadi. “So the fact that we still saw a strong, consistent association suggests the signal is real.”

“Of course, this limitation is exactly why we need randomized, prospective trials to confirm whether melatonin itself is contributing to these risks.”

Unlike prescription drugs, melatonin supplements are not strictly regulated.

The actual amount of melatonin can vary widely from one brand to another. A study found that the amount of melatonin you get can vary significantly from what’s on the label—ranging from -83 percent to +478 percent—suggesting that some products may supply far higher levels than the body is designed to handle.

Most people in the United States buy melatonin over the counter, without any prescription, and may take it for months or years. In the UK, Australia, and the European Union, melatonin is available only by prescription for short-term treatment of insomnia.

Mixed Evidence on Heart Effects

Melatonin also acts as an antioxidant and has been associated with improved heart benefits for people with existing heart issues—improving heart function and reducing stress on the heart muscles. However, these studies were small, short-term trials on animals or carefully selected patients using pure, prescription-strength melatonin.

“Our study is different,” said Nnadi. “We looked at real-world use: supplements taken nightly for years, in diverse populations with varying doses and product quality in patients that specifically have chronic insomnia. That’s a very different scenario.”

Melatonin helps regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle, peaking at night to signal the brain that it’s time to rest. For people with insomnia, taking melatonin before bed can help promote sleepiness and support a more restful night. It can also modestly influence blood pressure and heart rate as the body transitions to rest.

Although the study didn’t identify a mechanism, possible effects could involve heart rhythm, blood pressure, or metabolism—effects that are not fully understood—especially with supplements taken over many months or years.

Insomnia itself, meanwhile, has been linked in previous research to increased inflammation, higher nighttime blood pressure, and changes in stress hormones such as cortisol—all of which can strain the heart over time and raise the risk of heart failure.

Expert Recommendations

Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a sleep researcher at Columbia University who was not involved in the study, said in her preliminary analysis that she was surprised that some patients were prescribed melatonin for more than a year.

“Melatonin, at least in the U.S., is not indicated for the treatment of insomnia,” said St-Onge, who chairs the writing group for the American Heart Association’s 2025 scientific statement, Multidimensional Sleep Health: Definitions and Implications for Cardiometabolic Health, adding that “people should be aware that it should not be taken chronically without a proper indication.”

The Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade group for supplement manufacturers, agreed that melatonin should be used occasionally and that anyone with long-term sleep difficulties should consult a medical professional before using it.

What Should You Do?

For those struggling with consistent sleep, Dr. Muhammad A. Rishi, a sleep medicine physician at Indiana University Health, previously wrote to The Epoch Times via email that melatonin supplements should be used carefully.

Even though melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone, Rishi said that the supplements change a person’s mental or physical state, and therefore, should be treated as a drug.

Common side effects include headaches and dizziness; it can also interact with other medicines, such as anticoagulants—drugs that help prevent blood clots. Sleep doctors typically advise starting with the lowest effective dose—about 0.5 to 1 milligram—taken one to two hours before bedtime, and only for one to three months. Long-term effects remain unknown.

Persistent insomnia can signal an underlying condition, such as sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, depression, or chronic pain. When a sleep specialist identifies the correct diagnosis, treatment options can then be explored.

“For people using melatonin occasionally or short-term, it may still be fine. But for those taking it nightly for years, especially with heart disease or risk factors, it’s worth having a conversation with your doctor,“ Nnadi said. ”We need to treat supplements with the same care and skepticism as prescription drugs.”

“Our study,” he added, “is a reminder that more isn’t always better, and that we need stronger evidence before calling any supplement ‘heart-healthy.’”

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 20:55

Florida Is America's Most Rent-Burdened State

The cost of housing continues to strain American renters, especially in states with rapid population growth and limited housing supply.

This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, ranks U.S. states by the share of renter households spending more than half of their income on rent—commonly known as being “severely rent-burdened.”

The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimates.

America’s Highest Rent Burdens

Across the country, roughly one in four renter households is severely burdened by rent. But in some states, that share climbs much higher.

State Share of households spending >50% of household income on rent Florida 30.1% Nevada 28.0% California 27.5% New York 26.9% Connecticut 26.2% Hawaii 25.9% Oregon 25.0% Rhode Island 24.8% New Jersey 24.8% Louisiana 24.8% Michigan 24.7% Massachusetts 24.5% Georgia 24.4% Pennsylvania 24.1% Maryland 24.1% District of Columbia 23.8% Colorado 23.8% Texas 23.8% South Carolina 23.8% Arizona 23.5% New Mexico 23.4% Illinois 23.1% North Carolina 23.0% Ohio 22.7% Washington 22.7% Delaware 22.7% Indiana 22.3% Virginia 22.3% Vermont 22.0% Mississippi 21.9% Idaho 21.8% New Hampshire 21.8% Minnesota 21.6% Maine 21.5% Tennessee 21.3% Alabama 21.1% Kentucky 20.5% West Virginia 20.2% Utah 20.2% Wisconsin 20.2% Missouri 20.1% Iowa 20.0% Nebraska 19.9% Oklahoma 19.6% Kansas 18.8% Arkansas 17.9% Montana 17.1% Wyoming 17.0% Alaska 16.6% North Dakota 15.7% South Dakota 15.3%

Florida leads with 30.1% of renters spending more than half their income on housing. Rents in Florida increased by nearly 40% between 2019 and 2023 due to high population growth and limited rental supply.

Other high-burden states include Nevada (28.0%) and California (27.5%) in the West. Overall, coastal states are prevalent in the top 10, including New York, Oregon, and Hawaii.

Where Rent Pressure Is Lowest

At the other end of the list, rental housing remains relatively affordable in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains.

States such as South Dakota (15.3%), North Dakota (15.7%), and Wyoming (17.0%) report the lowest shares of rent-burdened households. These states also see relatively slower growth in population and demand for rental housing.

America’s Rent Problem

According to a survey of over 31 million households, housing is the single largest expense for renters in the United States.

Households that spend over 30% of their household income on housing costs are considered “cost-burdened”, and nearly half of all renter households in the U.S. fall in this category. Those who spend over 50% of their income on rent and housing costs are considered severely rent-burdened, and almost one in five U.S. households are in this bracket.

Rental unaffordability remains an important challenge for millions of U.S. households, especially as inflation and housing prices outpace wage growth across the country.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Top 20 Cities With Sky-High Rent in 2025 on the Voronoi app.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 20:30

3 Questions For Democrats After 2025 Elections

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Democrats won decisive victories in the 2025 elections, including a mayoral win in New York City and governorships in New Jersey and Virginia. Democrats also did well in races at the state and local levels.

Democratic candidates Abigail Spanberger (gubernatorial race, Virginia), Zohran Mamdani (mayoral race, New York City), and Mikie Sherrill (gubernatorial race, New Jersey), won key elections on Nov. 4, 2025. Getty Images

Despite the victory, their path forward remains no clearer than before, according to some political analysts. That’s because the top Democratic winners presented vastly different governing strategies to voters.

Zohran Mamdani, a political newcomer who describes himself as a democratic socialist, defeated traditional Democrat and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York.

Centrist Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, claiming even wider margins at the polls.

According to Michael Genovese, president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, whether Democrats will now embrace a leader who can mobilize the far edge of their party, or seek to solidify the middle while distancing themselves from far-left economic and social engineering, depends on this:

“Who captured the zeitgeist of the times?”

Here are three choices Democrats will face at a national level to solidify the gains of 2025.

How to Deliver Affordability

Economic issues were the focus of the major races, and Democrats won by promising change.

“The Democratic Party is a party of affordability,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a Nov. 5 press call. “Our candidates connected with voters at their core by running on what they truly care about: their families, their livelihoods, and the American dream.”

That worked well in 2025, with many Americans still dealing with high prices, and all elections were local.

The question now is how Democrats will deliver lower prices, more jobs, and lower housing costs at a national level.

In New York, Mamdani’s affordability plan rests on bigger government and higher taxes. He promised free bus service, free child care, and a rent freeze for nearly half of the city’s apartments to be paid for by an increase in corporate taxes and a 2 percent income tax on wealthy New Yorkers.

In Virginia, Gov.-elect Spanberger’s affordability plan strongly resembled that of President Donald Trump at some points.

She promised to reduce health care costs by cracking down on pharmacy benefit managers, reducing drug prices by negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies, and lowering energy costs by declaring a state of emergency and increasing production—ideas Trump already implemented at the national level.

Genovese wondered which approach Democrats will land on nationally.

“Are Democrats ... strongest when they go left, toward Mamdani, or are they best served by offering moderate, mainstream candidates, such as Spanberger and Sherrill?” he said.

Where to Stand on Gender, Israel

Apart from economics, the party must define a consistent position on issues that have been driven mostly by the party’s left wing, according to Richard Himelfarb, a professor of political science at Hofstra University.

One such issue is gender ideology.

Democrats have advocated for transgender rights and civil liberties, and the California Assembly rejected bills that would have banned transgender-identifying males from competing against women in school sports.

However, not all Democrats have drawn a hard line on this issue.

“Abigail Spanberger really dodged questions about what to do about biological men in women’s sports,” Himelfarb told The Epoch Times.

That worked in a state like Virginia, he said, but said, “I don’t know that the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2028 is going to be able to dodge that question.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also said on his own podcast in March that it is “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

Another issue that may call for a national position is support for Israel, according to Himelfarb.

The Democratic platform for 2024 states that “the United States strongly supports Israel in the fight against Hamas.” The platform also calls for a two-state solution, providing a home for the Palestinian people.

Yet, Himmelfarb said, “Opposition to Israel has been, in many ways, normalized in the Democratic party, and I think that you are going to see more of that going forward.”

As a case study in both issues, Himelfarb cites Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who questioned the inclusion of transgender athletes in female sports following the last election and was soundly criticized by fellow Democrats.

Moulton is challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the 2026 primary and has refused to accept contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

“So he’s basically saying, I’m not unequivocally supportive of the State of Israel. He’s tried to move to the left of Markey,” Himelfarb said.

It appears that voters on the left and center will demand clear positions on these issues in the next election.

What You Stand For

Democrats campaigned heavily against Trump in the 2025 election, as they have in most elections since 2016. The party’s 2024 platform mentions Trump 150 times in 92 pages but refers to the future just 31 times.

The party’s strategy now is to continue winning by focusing on household economics, which leaders believe they can own.

“We gave voters something to be for and not just against,” Martin said.

The approval rating of the sitting president is the most important factor in off-year elections, according to Henry Olsen, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Trump’s approval rating has been below 50 percent for weeks.

“The Democrats should have had a good night. It was theirs to lose,” James Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling and Research, said, referring to the Nov. 4 results.

Economic issues may not be as potent an issue for Democrats as they believe, according to Aaron Dusso, chairman of the Department of Political Science at Indiana University–Indianapolis.

Polling consistently indicates that voters trust Republicans to handle the economy more than they trust Democrats, Dusso said. There’s no guarantee that economic conditions won’t improve over the next 12 months.

Democrats must present a positive vision for issues that they can own, Dusso said.

“You’ve got to get [voters] thinking about other things, the issues that are primary for you.” For Democrats, that’s health care, social policy, and social issues, he said.

To win the next election, Dusso said, Democrats must do more than say, “We’re just like Republicans, just a little bit nicer. You’ve got to stand for something.”

The Epoch Times requested comments from the Democratic National Committee and did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 20:05

“Panic Unfolds": Nonprofit Sector Battered By 419% Surge In Job Losses And Grantmaking Freeze 

Long before the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, the protest-industrial complex, which fuels endless color-revolution-style operations against 'MAGA' and is bankrolled by billionaire-funded dark-money networks, declared war on President Trump and his supporters many years ago. It's only now that the White House is beginning to understand the NGO beast and the funding webs that quite frankly want regime change - at any cost necessary. 

This year alone, the Trump administration has dismantled USAID and threatened RICO charges against the Soros Foundation. There have been headlines in the news that the Gates Foundation abruptly severed ties with the Arabella Network and reports revealing foreign influence operations among far-left NGOs waging war on Trump. The nonprofit industry, one of the most mysterious and complex to understand, has been placed in the limelight for the world to see as the White House's coming crackdown has spooked nonprofits not just on the far left that want to destroy America from within, but even nonprofit operators on the right.

Take, Lawson Bader, president and CEO of DonorsTrust, a major conservative donor-advised fund, recently warned the White House against politically motivated investigations of leftist nonprofits without strong evidence of wrongdoing. Following the assassination of Kirk, Bader told The Free Press he's alarmed by "retaliatory rhetoric." 

Bader's comments came amid reports that the Trump administration is planning investigations into leftist nonprofits like Open Society Foundations and many other foundations, following Trump's pledge to fight "domestic terrorism and organized political violence." This also comes as Vice President J.D. Vance and senior adviser Stephen Miller have declared war on the radical left groups.

There have been numerous reports from the Capital Research Center and investigative researchers Peter Schweizer and Seamus Bruner of the Government Accountability Institute that show an abundance of evidence via 990 filings that Soros foundations and other leftist billionaire-funded groups funneled money into "pro-terror groups." 

Schweizer's top researcher, Bruner, even addressed President Trump on live television about the nonprofit crisis that has waged an endless war against the White House.

He said, "We have identified dozens of radical organizations, not just the decentralized Antifa organizations, but dozens of radical organizations that have received more than $100 million from the Riot Inc investors." 

Way more than $100M of US taxpayer money

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2025

Given the hard evidence uncovered by CRC and Schweizer's team, Bader and others in the industry have called for defending philanthropic freedom instead of digging deeper into the NGO world, warning that investigations into far-left charities could backfire and eventually be used against conservative causes.

We've got news for Bader and company: it's too late. The gloves are off, and if the new face of the Democratic Party, the DSA Marxists, ever seizes power at the executive level, it's game over.

Currently, the nonprofit world - on both sides of the political aisle - is trembling in fear at what the White House may do next.

According to The Free Press, the administration is weighing how to make good on that promise, and "everybody is concerned across the board about being investigated," said one nonprofit boss managing more than $1 billion in assets. Another said the fear of probes is already chilling fundraising across the sector.

Heads of Soros-aligned organizations have privately discussed changes to their compliance practices to avoid legal exposure. One foundation reportedly tightened its lobbying policies, while some donors have already pulled back.

Conservative watchdogs have amplified scrutiny of foreign influence. And that's most likely the angle the administration will take on "dismantling" the NGO world. 

Just days ago...

European Billionaires Funneled $2 Billion Via Transatlantic NGO Network To Erode U.S. Democracy, Finance Anti-Trump Protest Machine https://t.co/7deOFtVMwE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 1, 2025

And this.

Black Lives Matter Under Federal Investigation For Donor Fraud; Report https://t.co/tkXdsYcqh0

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 1, 2025

The White House has also shown interest in foreign-linked donors, such as the Cuba connection and the China connection via Marxist billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN on @GOPoversight signed on to our investigation into billionaire Neville Singham.

We will NOT TOLERATE CCP sowing division in our country! pic.twitter.com/MSa3e2V5GQ

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 13, 2025

The pressure campaign against the nonprofit world has already delivered impressive results, with several liberal foundations freezing or scaling back grantmaking and a wave of layoffs rippling across the sector.

The latest jobs data via Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows an absolute apocalypse for the nonprofit job market:

Non-profits continue to be impacted by Government funding as well as rising costs. These entities announced plans to cut 27,651 this year, an increase of 419% from the 5,329 announced by this point in 2024.red striking results, with several liberal foundations freezing or scaling back grantmaking and a wave of layoffs rippling across the sector.

"When you shine light on billion-dollar NGO networks, they scramble. We are seeing the panic unfold in real time -- burner phones, law firms, and retreat statements. That tells you our research is hitting the mark. When you follow the money, the facts speak louder than spin," Bruner told us. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 19:40

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Friday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Employment Report for October.

• At 10:00 AM, University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for November).

The Technology That Police Call A Game-Changer, And Raises Privacy Concerns

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

CHULA VISTA, Calif.—The scene that unfolded along Interstate 5 looked like a carefully choreographed action-film sequence. But it was a real life-or-death situation.

Drone footage from the Chula Vista Police Department during a rescue operation. Edited by The Epoch Times, Chula Vista Police Department

Flames and smoke billowed into the night sky from a vehicle that had crashed off the roadway. Upon arrival, police discovered that the car’s driver was trapped inside, screaming in agony.

“C’mon, give me your hand!” an officer yelled, as he and three others worked frantically to extricate the man through a rear window they had broken.

Panting and grunting, the officers struggled. Then, seconds after they pulled the man to safety along the highway’s berm, the car exploded. A ball of fire engulfed it—just as a fire truck arrived.

The Hollywood-worthy timing, captured on video, is breathtaking.

“That guy probably would have perished,” Chula Vista Police Capt. John English said, if not for the officers’ heroism—and the aid of a camera-equipped, airborne drone.

By relaying real-time information to officers as they head to emergencies such as this one, drones help police plan their actions.

English reviewed video of the fiery rescue with The Epoch Times, explaining how a drone helped officers save the man’s life.

As the car burned, the drone’s aerial view allowed police to quickly identify the best route to the scene. Without that perspective, officers easily could have chosen a more distant highway entrance. “That would have taken extra time to get there—and they didn’t have it,” English said.

Also, because the drone’s thermal imaging showed no person near the burning car, officers suspected someone might still be inside the wreckage. That fear increased their sense of urgency, helping to avert tragedy.

Although the man and three of the four rescuing officers were hurt, all recovered. That incident, on Oct. 13, 2023, stands out as a dramatic example of how drones are bolstering police work across the nation.

Officers have used terms such as “game-changer,” “transformational,” and “revolutionary” to describe the impact of drones on their jobs.

Others are raising alarms over this technology’s capability to be intrusive.

In Eureka, a city of about 25,000 people in northern California, opponents recently stopped local police from even looking into a drone program.

The city’s police had relied on outside agencies for drone assistance in several situations, such as locating armed suspects near school campuses, and negotiating with a suicidal person who threatened to leap from the city water tower. Lacking a local drone fleet “can limit timely access to this critical resource,” officials said, explaining the reason for the proposed study.

A police officer in the Chula Vista Police Department’s drone division monitors air traffic in Chula Vista, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2025.

After citizens pressured city leaders to back away from the idea, the city announced that the proposed drone study was cut from city council’s Oct. 21 agenda.

An opposition group, which declared victory on its website, said it expects the city to resurrect the proposal. If that happens, “We vow to keep fighting surveillance overreach … [to] preserve our integrity, safety, and privacy in our rapidly changing world.”

Advocates say that police already are following standard procedures that safeguard people’s privacy while greatly enhancing public safety. They consider drones a crucial asset at a time when many police agencies are understaffed and underfunded.

From Rescues to Arrests

In the seven years since Chula Vista pioneered using drones as first responders, increasing numbers of police and fire agencies have adopted the technology.

Some, including Chula Vista, still use advanced, affordable drones from DJI—a source of security concerns because the company is based in China, which has a history of stealing American technology and data.

Chula Vista says its devices have always operated with U.S.-based software “to bypass the drone manufacturer’s systems.” Data from the drones is encrypted and stored on U.S.-based servers “that meet federal requirements for confidential law enforcement databases,” the police department’s website states.

Skydio, a U.S. company, supplies drones to 800 public safety agencies, including New York City, where police are using the aircraft to quell the dangerous trend of riding on top of subways—known as “subway surfing.”

In Cincinnati, which sits along the Ohio River, police used a drone to track a felony suspect who jumped into the water and tried to swim away.

In Redmond, Washington, officers used a drone to reveal the hidden location of a missing elderly man with dementia. He was found safe, sitting in a wooded area.

A police officer monitors a drone flight near the Chula Vista Police Department in Chula Vista, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2025. Drone use for first response is spreading nationwide, though some critics cite surveillance overreach and data security risks, especially with Chinese-made models. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Police in all three cities run drone first response programs. Drones go airborne to relay and record live video images from scenes where people reported disturbances or circumstances that appear to imperil lives, safety, or property.

Across America, officers credit drones with improving police safety and efficiency. Drones also help police rescue people, de-escalate contentious situations, and arrest suspects.

“We hear more and more reports from our customers about people actually surrendering to drones,” Skydio CEO Adam Bry said at a 2024 conference in California.

His audience had just watched a staged, live demonstration of a remote police officer using a drone to track a fleeing suspect. Using the drone’s loudspeaker, the officer ordered him to put his hands up and walk toward on-scene police. Such an outcome “is not far-fetched at all,” Bry said.

Chula Vista Laid Groundwork

Jon Beal, CEO of the Law Enforcement Drone Association, said he expects the drone first responder trend to grow rapidly, largely because of “trailblazers” such as Chula Vista.

That department’s leaders “stuck their necks out” to figure out drone methods that are now being replicated across the nation, he said, noting that departments fine tune policies to meet each community’s needs.

Over the years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been removing approval obstacles.

And President Donald Trump’s June executive order supporting expansion of drone use in the United States further aims to streamline the administration’s processes for drones.

It builds on a directive he issued during his first presidency, ordering agencies to update regulations for “unmanned aircraft systems”—the technical term for drones and their related equipment—while ensuring safe operations. He aims to spur drone use in sectors ranging from agriculture to commerce and emergency management.

Officer Ben Miller pilots a drone and monitors the scene its camera reveals at the Cincinnati Police headquarters in Cincinnati on Sept. 12, 2025. Malinda Hartong for The Epoch Times Applause and Concerns

The technology’s role in law enforcement has become increasingly important, Beal said. “We believe we’re getting to that place where … it’s almost negligent” if departments fail to use every tool available—including drones, he said.

That’s particularly true in “search-for-persons operations” and high-risk incidents, Beal said. Those might include police serving search warrants targeting dangerous people or responding to shootings-in-progress, unruly crowds, or standoffs with barricaded suspects.

In such circumstances, the high-tech devices give officers two new advantages: “an eye in the sky and time on their side,” Beal said.

About 2,500 police agencies own at least one drone, and 400 police departments run some type of drone program, Beal estimated.

Those numbers are low, considering America is home to about 18,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

But “we’ve got law enforcement agencies buying drones on a daily basis,” Beal said.

Agencies that lack their own drones often borrow them from neighboring departments.

And, as agencies’ drone use expands, people on both sides of the political aisle are raising concerns, Beal acknowledged.

In Eureka, California, an Oct. 17 social media post from a group calling itself “The Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction” called drones “militarized police technology” and “fascist.”

“Research is only the first step,” the post said, alleging police would move toward “a military drone surveillance program.”

Beal said it’s impractical—and irresponsible—for agencies to deploy drones for general surveillance. It makes no sense for officials to say, “Hey, we’re gonna go out and fly a drone for 10 hours today and hopefully find something,” he said.

Misusing the technology, he said, could ignite backlash against drone programs across America.

Beal’s 2,000-member nonprofit helps train drone operators and sets standards to ensure that the technology is being used “the right way,” he said. His group assists public safety agencies not only across America but also in Canada, Europe, South America, and Australia.

A drone operator flies a Chula Vista Police Department drone in Chula Vista, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2025. Authorities said the drone provides precise location data that guides officers and enables a rapid response. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times Tales From Two Cities

To learn more about police drones, The Epoch Times visited Chula Vista as well as Cincinnati’s new program, which began this summer.

Although the two departments are located 2,200 miles apart and serve starkly dissimilar communities, both follow some of the same key principles. Their drone pilots must be federally certified, and policies prohibit general patrolling or random surveillance with drones.

Unique factors affect police drone operations in each city.

Chula Vista, which means “pretty view” in Spanish, enjoys Southern California weather that is reliably clear and sunny—ideal drone-flying conditions.

And it is a low-rise city, with buildings mostly 20 stories or lower—simplifying drones’ flight paths.

The police headquarters building is only about four stories high, but its rooftop enables a miles-wide view. It’s one of the locations from which police launch drones.

Under federal rules, a person must be present at the site; that’s typically a contractor who performs maintenance on the drones and coordinates flights with a drone operator inside the building. The indoor employees operate controls and monitor computer displays of maps and of drone-collected images.

In contrast, Cincinnati faces more obstacles for its drone flights.

Midwest weather tends to be more fickle, and skyscrapers form the Queen City’s distinctive skyline—posing challenges for drones. Tall buildings can disrupt GPS signals that guide the aircraft. The structures also may create a “canyon wind effect” that can destabilize drones.

Numerous federal flight restrictions affect Cincinnati airspace, too. While Chula Vista lacks a professional sports team, Cincinnati is home to three: Reds baseball, Bengals football, and FC Cincinnati soccer. Those teams’ schedules and the presence or movement of Vice President JD Vance, whose permanent residence is in Cincinnati, all can cause the FAA to impose restrictions.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 19:15

Take Two Plunges After "Grand Theft Auto VI" Delayed Again, To November 2026

The stock of Take-Two Interactive plunged after the company announced it was delaying the release of Grand Theft Auto VI again, pushing back the much-anticipated video game by six months to November 2026.

In a statement that accompanied the company's quarterly results, Take-Two said it’s giving the Rockstar Games “team some additional time to finish the game with the high level of polish players expect and deserve.”

Unfortunately it is also the kind of repeated pummeling the company's bulls by now also expect and deserve. 

The delay to Nov. 19 of next year means costs to complete the game continue to mount. It’s the second public delay for Grand Theft Auto VI, which was originally slated for release in fall 2025 before it was pushed to May of next year. 

Grand Theft Auto VI, a crime story set in a fictional version of Miami, is expected to be one of the most lucrative video games of all time. The previous game, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold more than 220 million copies, making it the second-best-selling game ever, just below Minecraft.

Shares of Take-Two fell about 7% in extended trading after the delay was announced, overshadowing quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates.

For the second quarter ended Sept. 30, Take-Two reported bookings of $1.96 billion, beating estimates of $1.72 billion. Adjusted earnings came to $1.46 a share, above estimates of 94 cents. 

“It’s always painful when we move a date,” Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick said on a call with investors. “We’ve never regretted it in retrospect.” Zelnick added that rival game companies have released unfinished products in the past rather than delaying. “They did so at their peril,” he said.

Last week, Rockstar Games fired more than 30 staffers in a move that led British labor organizers to accuse the company of union busting. The company told Bloomberg that the fired employees were leaking confidential information

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 18:49

"There Be A $hit-Storm A-Brewin'"

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

The chart below paints a disturbing picture for those not in the top 10%... 

And the accusations regarding who is responsible are predictable, endless, and mostly wrong.

“The top 10% of US households now hold 87% of all US stocks owned by households, with the top 1% alone owning 50%. By comparison, the remaining 90% hold just 13%, while the bottom 50% hold only 1%. The wealth gap has never been bigger.”

– Kobeissi Letter

The “tax the rich” crowd are loud and ignorant of facts, but that doesn’t stop them from bloviating and screaming shrilly on the left wing media channels.

The top 10% aren’t the problem.

They constitute the entrepreneurial class, who open new businesses and hire employees. Most of the top 1% are also hard working creators of wealth.

It’s the .01% globalist billionaire class who are mainly to blame for the economic shitstorm brewing on the horizon.

Young people now overwhelmingly see socialism as preferable to capitalism because they have been indoctrinated by left wing professors and the legacy left media mouthpieces, promoting the Mandamis, AOCs, Bernies and Pocahontases of the world. It doesn’t matter their socialist/commie agenda has a 100% proven record of being erroneous and economically disastrous anywhere on earth it has been implemented, with millions of dead bodies as proof. The truth is we have not experienced true free market capitalism since the unholy conception of the Federal Reserve and initiation of the Federal income tax in 1913. That was surely a bad year for humanity.

When the wealth data is presented in a fair and accurate way, it truly paints a picture of woe for the bottom 50%. Of course, those in the top 10%, who own all of the stocks and businesses, along with most of the real estate, feel little or no pity for the bottom 50%. They think they are lazy, ignorant and stupid. In many cases, that is an accurate assessment, but there are millions of hard working people in the bottom 50% who are there because the .01% like it that way. George Carlin’s famous rant captures the reality of their situation:

“They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that.

You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money.”

Carlin’s disturbingly accurate description of America from two decades ago is truer now than it was then. “They” have accumulated trillions more, while the rest of us have seen our standard of living relentlessly decline due to the Federal Reserve manufactured inflation – designed to accelerate stock market gains and leave the masses destitute. The USD has lost 97% of its purchasing power since the Creature from Jekyll Island slithered from the swamps of DC in 1913. Your 2% to 3% annual raise is consumed by the 5% to 10% increase in things you need to live (food, energy, medical care, education) every year. That is why the Bottom 50% has an average net worth of $54,300.

The real question is who are “THEY”? It is certainly not the top 10%, or even the top 1%. Whether you refer to them as the ruling elite, oligarchy, globalist cabal, or satanic psychopaths, they constitute only a fraction of the 1%. There are approximately 3,000 billionaires in the world, with about a third of them in the U.S. That means they make up about .0003% of the U.S. population and an even smaller percentage of the 8.2 billion global population. Many of these billionaires are just the children or spouses of men who accumulated that wealth. That leaves a few hundred men meeting  the criteria of psychopaths in suits, with totalitarian tendencies, ensconced with a heaping helping of greed, thirst for power, and desire to rule the world.

Let’s be honest, these psychopathic pedophile billionaires and their cadre of well compensated legions of apparatchiks placed within the government, media, universities, finance industry, “think” tanks and fake “charitable” foundations, believe the bottom 50% are nothing more than mouth breathing parasites. They are the ignorant lower class Proles in Orwell’s 1984 and the semi-literate Deltas in Huxley’s Brave New World. They have always been despised by the ruling class throughout history. The current crop of oligarchs truly believe they can replace the “worthless eaters” with robots and AI. Their de-population agenda of killing off the weak, poisoning the healthy, and imprisoning the remainder in a CBDC techno-gulag of their making, is in progress.

Most upper middle class people are trapped in the normalcy bias of ever growing stock market gains boosting their 401k wealth and thinking a doubling of their home’s value over the last five years makes sense. The level of cognitive dissonance among the masses is at all-time highs, as they can see our unsustainable Ponzi financial system is built on a mountain of unpayable debt, but they continue to go further into debt, assuming the overlords running this shitshow will just bail everyone out again when it collapses for the final time.

Maybe they are right, but I think the psychopaths in suits are getting ready to “pull” a Building 7 on our asses. When I bring up the Great Taking scheme to normies, I get nothing but blank stares because it is inconceivable to them that invisible forces who control the levers of our financial system would conduct a “bail in” operation to save the world from the very financial implosion they have engineered. The normies argue the rich would be hurt the worst because they have the most to lose. What they don’t realize is the overlords know what is going to happen and will position themselves and their devoted  minions to benefit from the financial collapse.

The likes of Gates, Soros, Theil, Altman, Musk, Buffett, and many other shadowy billionaires believe the planet would be far more efficient, productive, and profitable for them if it was occupied by a few billion less eaters. They believe their technological advancements and authoritarian mandates would create a world where they wield unquestioned power and control over our lives. They tested their plan using the Covid Plandemic and it convinced them the ignorant masses could be corralled and coerced in any direction they choose.

They used lies, propaganda, and misinformation to convince billions to shutdown the world, huddle in fear within their hovels, shun friends and relatives, inject themselves with an untested dangerous gene therapy that didn’t stop or diminish the virus, fear the annual flu, bow down to the totalitarian measures inflicted upon them by politicians and bureaucrats, and be happy with the pittance doled out to them by their government overlords. They “convinced” 5.6 billion people to get injected with their de-population serum, without a hint of outrage or push back.

Meanwhile, the net worth of the billionaire club grew from $8 trillion in 2019 to over $16 trillion today. Shockingly, the majority of that growth was in the technology and finance realms. Has your net worth doubled since the pandemic? Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $700 billion in the past year alone. These people rule the world, make the laws, siphon the profits through their control of the Federal Reserve, Washington DC, Wall Street, Big Pharma, Silicon Valley, and the Military Industrial Complex, while senior citizens have to decide between paying for their medicines or putting food on the table, and young people see no chance of ever owning a home.

Most cynical old codgers, like myself, have trouble visualizing enough people banding together and leading a revolution to overthrow the existing social order. And as long as the bread and circuses are sustained through their money printing debt to eternity scheme, revolution will be postponed. But, the arrogance and hubris of the billionaire psychopaths knows no bounds. Their wealth harvesting operation will reach a limit, unforeseen circumstances (natural disaster, war, massive fraud uncovered) will trigger a financial collapse. The bottom 50% are already destitute. When college educated upper middle class debt slaves lose 80% of their faux wealth in the blink of an eye, the opportunity for real revolution will present itself. Someone will need to stand up.

The ruling class will seek to implement their Digital ID/Digital Currency malicious plot as the solution to the financial collapse they created. This is where it should get interesting. Will the masses again fall for their fear propaganda, totalitarian dictates, lies about the true nature and causes of their purposely engineered crisis, or will someone stand up for truth, honesty, and allowing future generations to not grow up as slaves within a billionaire controlled techno-gulag? This conflict will likely arise within the next five or so years.

The causes of revolution are always the same:

1) A privileged elite class reap all the wealth while pissing on the lower classes;

2) The lower and middle classes are taxed to the point of poverty;

3) The government increases debt to an unsustainable, unpayable level;

4) wasteful military adventures drain the Treasury;

5) rampant government corruption;

6) societal discontent & chaos;

7) economic/financial crisis.

All the dominoes are lined up, just waiting for the trigger flick which will start the cascade of consequences.

Fourth Turnings never fizzle out. They build to a crescendo of violent upheaval with clear winners and losers.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” 

- John F. Kennedy

We need to keep in mind there are only 3,000 billionaires on this planet and only a few hundred fall into the category of psychopaths in suits. Yes, they live in gated palaces with ample security forces, but the common folk of this country own over 300 million firearms. If or when they feel they have nothing left to lose, the protected privileged classes should start to worry. Their gates will protect them from the consequences of their actions. We may decide to Make Guillotines Great Again.

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

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 18:25

Amazon's Power Shortage Makes The Case For Why AI Needs Nuclear

As we have been consistently highlighting on Zero Hedge for the better part of the last two years, rapid growth in artificial intelligence and cloud computing is testing America’s electric grid and exposing the urgent need for new, always-available power.

The most recent example highlighted by Bloomberg was a case where Amazon has accused PacifiCorp, a Berkshire Hathaway–owned utility, of failing to deliver enough electricity for four planned data-center campuses in Oregon.

In a complaint to state regulators, the company said PacifiCorp provided too little power to one site, “no power” to a second, and “has refused to even complete its own standard contracting process for the third and fourth Data Center Campuses.” PacifiCorp argues it must protect “customer affordability,” saying: “We are open to ongoing discussions with Amazon to reach a resolution that achieves balanced outcomes for all customers.”

As President Donald Trump pushes to accelerate AI infrastructure, power demand from computing is forecast to more than double in the US by 2035, according to BloombergNEF. Utilities and tech giants now depend on each other — but utilities worry about straining the grid and raising bills if the AI boom falters.

That’s why new nuclear options are gaining attention. Another recent example highlighted by Bloomberg: First American Nuclear Co. plans to build self-sustaining reactors in Indiana to power data centers. The plant will begin with natural gas in 2028, then shift to a 240-megawatt liquid-metal fast reactor by 2032 that can reprocess its own spent fuel.

“Data centers are driving the demand for power,” said CEO Mike Reinboth.

The company aims to deploy six such systems, enough to power 1.5 million homes. Its technology uses lead-bismuth coolant — a design tested for years in Russian submarines. By recycling spent uranium, the reactors would slash waste costs and improve energy security. “The waste actually gives you energy,” said founder Bill Stokes.

From Oregon to Indiana, the message is consistent: digital growth is outpacing the grid. To keep AI running — and keep consumer costs stable — the U.S. will need reliable, scalable power. Nuclear is increasingly stepping in as the only technology that can provide it.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 18:00

Senators Say Bondi And Patel Are Being 'Sabotaged' On Epstein Files; Massie Isn't Buying It

Authored by Jose Nino via Headline USA,

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is challenging explanations that FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi lack full control of their agencies nearly a year into the Trump administration, particularly when it comes to their handling of Jeffrey Epstein investigation files.

Sen. Ron Johnson recently suggested that Patel and Bondi face significant internal resistance. While discussing newly released Arctic Frost investigation documents late last month, Johnson emphasized that records came from whistleblowers rather than official channels.

“We need to do everything we can to assist Director Patel and AG Bondi in making sure they have the staff to take control over these agencies,” Johnson said per a report by Blaze Media. “I think they’re being sabotaged within.”

Johnson added that partisan actors remain embedded in both agencies. “Right now I think Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are overwhelmed by all the mess they’re trying to clean up,” he stated. “There’s still partisan actors burrowed in, trying to sabotage their efforts.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., echoed these concerns, writing that Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino are “undoubtedly being sabotaged from within the FBI.”

Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are undoubtedly being sabotaged from within FBI

We should all be grateful for their willingness to serve

And if you pray, it’s not a bad idea to do so for them @FBIDirectorKash @FBIDDBongino https://t.co/VTOTHsjH3o

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) October 31, 2025

However, Massie questions whether internal sabotage explains the administration’s reversal on releasing Epstein files. “I also wonder why they flipped on the Epstein files,” Massie said. “We can’t chalk that up to sabotage or lack of resources.”

Almost a year into this administration, Senator Ron Johnson explains that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel do not yet have operational control of the FBI and DOJ.

I agree, but I also wonder why they flipped on the Epstein files. We can’t chalk that up to sabotage or lack of resources. https://t.co/pw5E6mXyKC

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 1, 2025

In February, Bondi publicly promised transparency, telling Fox News that the Epstein files were sitting on her desk and that she would release them, including what she described as a client list. But in July, the DOJ and FBI released an unsigned memorandum concluding their review and stating that no incriminating client list existed and no further files would be released.

The reversal sparked outrage among Trump supporters. During September congressional hearings. Massie confronted Patel about FBI documents detailing at least 20 men named by Epstein survivors, including high profile individuals in business, entertainment and politics. 

Patel claimed three separate U.S. Attorneys had assessed these allegations as not credible.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., recently launched a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing all Epstein files. The petition gathered 217 signatures as of early November, one short of the 218 needed for a floor vote.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 17:40

These Are The 40 Airports That Will Reduce Flights Due To Shutdown

The world’s busiest airport and 39 others across the United States were forced to decrease flights by 10 percent starting on Nov. 7.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the decision on Nov. 4, as it struggles with personnel shortages due to the ongoing government shutdown. Those flight controllers who stay on continue to work without pay.

“We can’t ignore it,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at a press conference on Nov. 4.

“If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we’ll come back and take additional measures.”

Beford added that he was unaware of the FAA taking any measures like this in his 35 years in the aviation industry.

As we noted previously, the list of affected airports was expected to be released on Nov. 6.

The list - obtained by The Associated Press - spans the country, affecting air travel to and from 24 states and several hubs for major passenger carriers including United Airlines, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest, Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines.

As T.J.Muscaro details below for The Epoch Times, the list includes Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, which is considered to be the busiest airport in the world; Memphis International Airport, which is a FedEx Superhub and considered the second-busiest cargo airport in the world; and global access points such as John F. Kennedy International Airport, Miami International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport.

The airports affected are:

1. Ted Stevens Anchorage International in Alaska.

2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in Georgia

3. Boston Logan International in Massachusetts

4. Baltimore/Washington International in Maryland

5. Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina

6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International in Ohio

7. Dallas Love Field in Texas

8. Ronald Reagan Washington National in Virginia

9. Denver International in Colorado

10. Dallas/Fort Worth International in Texas

11. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in Michigan

12. Newark Liberty International in New Jersey

13. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International in Florida

14. Honolulu International in Hawaii

15. Houston Hobby in Texas

16. Washington Dulles International in Virginia

17. George Bush Houston Intercontinental in Texas

18. Indianapolis International in Indiana

19. John F. Kennedy International in New York

20. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas

21. Los Angeles International in California

22. LaGuardia Airport in New York

23. Orlando International in Florida

24. Chicago Midway International in Illinois

25. Memphis International in Tennessee

26. Miami International in Florida

27. Minneapolis/St Paul International in Minnesota

28. Oakland International in California

29. Ontario International in California

30. Chicago O`Hare International in Illinois

31. Portland International in Oregon

32. Philadelphia International in Pennsylvania

33. Phoenix Sky Harbor International in Arizona

34. San Diego International in California

35. Louisville International in Kentucky

36. Seattle/Tacoma International in Washington

37. San Francisco International in California

38. Salt Lake City International in Utah

39. Teterboro in New Jersey

40. Tampa International in Florida

According to data from the FlightAware tracking service, there were more than 2,350 delays within, into, or out of the United States as of noon on Thursday, Oct. 6, with approximately 50 cancellations reported.

The FAA directs more than 44,000 flights daily, including cargo, commercial passenger, and private planes. Restrictions, it said, would remain in place as long as necessary, and they come just weeks before the nation enters one of the busiest travel periods of the year for Thanksgiving and the Christmas season.

“As we come into Thanksgiving, if we’re still in the shutdown posture, it’s going to be rough out there. Really rough,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News in an interview on Nov. 6.

“And we‘ll mitigate the safety side, but will you fly on time? Will your flight actually go? That is yet to be seen, but there’ll be more disruption.”

These restrictions would end with the government shutdown, which has been ongoing for more than a month due to the inability of a continuing resolution bill to pass the Senate.

Republicans currently hold a 53–47 majority in the Senate. However, 60 Senators need to vote yes in order to move the bill forward. Republican lawmakers continue to criticise Democratic lawmakers for continuing to vote no and failing to fund the government.

“I don’t have access to money to pay air traffic controllers during this shutdown,” Duffy said on X.

“Congress has said there is no money. I’d love to pay them, but I can’t. My message to Democrats is to sit down, figure it out, and not hold the American people hostage—especially when they want to travel.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the FAA for comment.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 17:20

When A Train Wreck Is No Accident

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

“In spite of all the rhetoric, we will go deeper in debt, the Fed will print more money, and the value of the dollar will continue to plummet.”

- Ron Paul

Never in history have the economic and political structures been so manipulated by those who are responsible for their safekeeping; never has so much been at stake, in so many countries, and facing collapse, all at the same time.

The great majority of people in the First World recognise that the world is passing through an economic crisis. However, most are under the impression that there are some pretty smart fellows running the show and all they need to do is tweak the system a bit more and we’ll return to happy days.

Not so. The “smart fellows” who are in charge of fixing the problem are in fact the very same people who created it.

Understandably, this a hard concept for most people to even consider, let alone accept, as the very idea that those in charge of the system might consciously collapse it seems preposterous. So, we might wish to back up a bit here and present a very brief history of the system itself, in order to understand that the eventual collapse of the economic system was baked in the cake from the very beginning.

Creating a Central Bank

From the very earliest days of the formation of the American republic, bankers (along with inside help from George Washington’s secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton) sought to create a banking monopoly that would create the country’s currency and become the central banking system.

The first attempt at a central bank was a failure, and strong opponents, including Thomas Jefferson, prevented a second central bank for a time. Later, further attempts were made by bankers and their political cronies, and each central bank was either short-lived or defeated in its planning stages.

Then, in 1913, the heads of the largest banks met clandestinely on Jekyll Island, Georgia, to make another try. Having recently lost yet another bid to create a central bank, due to the public’s understandable concern that the big bankers were already too powerful, a new spin was placed on the idea. This time, they decided to present the idea as a government body that would be decentralised and would have the responsibility of restricting the power of the banks.

However, the new bill was in fact the same old bill, with a new title and some minor changes in wording. But this time, it would be presented by the new president, who was a liberal.

The president, Woodrow Wilson, had in fact been handpicked by the banks. The banks then scuttled their own conservative party’s candidate, got the Democrat Wilson elected, then installed a secretary of the Treasury whose job it would be to ensure that the Federal Reserve was created.

The bill was widely supported by the public, even though, in truth, it was not a federal agency, but a privately owned conglomerate, controlled by the banks. Neither was it a reserve. It was never intended to store money; it was intended to give the biggest bankers control of the economy. They followed the central principle of uber-banker Mayer Rothschild: “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.”

From the start, the new institution peddled itself as the protector of the people’s interests, but it was quite the opposite. Its purpose from its inception was to control the economy and the government by controlling the issuance of the currency. In addition, it was to be a system of taxation.

Typically, a population accepts a certain amount of direct taxation but has its limits of tolerance. Yet, the bankers understood that a less direct method of taxation was infinitely more profitable and infinitely safer from criticism.

Inflation as a Profit System

Inflation was not always the norm. At one time, prices were relatively static from one generation to the next. But the Federal Reserve touted the idea that “controlled” inflation was in fact necessary for a prosperous economy.

Of course, the greater the debasement of the currency through inflation, the more the central bankers profited. But at some point, the currency would have lost virtually all its value and it would be time for a reset. The currency would need to collapse and a new one created.

And so, the Fed set about its hundred-year programme of continuous inflation. Although there have been periods of lower inflation (and even deflation), the programme stayed more or less on course, and now, its hundred-year life has all but ended: the dollar has been devalued almost 100%.

And so, we find ourselves at the day of reckoning. The economic crisis we are now facing (not only in the US; it will be felt, to a greater or lesser extent, worldwide) is not a mere anomaly that we need to “push past”. It’s a systemic crisis. It’s been created by design and the system must collapse.

Of course, the central banks are in the process of protecting their interests, to make sure that, whilst this will be a major economic calamity, they themselves will continue to profit. The damage will be borne by the general public.

This began in earnest in 1999, with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, allowing banks to create a massive, reckless mortgage spree. It was backed by the government’s “too big to fail” policy that guaranteed that, when the banks predictably became insolvent as a result of the loans, government would bail them out. (And by “government” we mean “the taxpayer”; it was he who picked up the bill for the banks’ recklessness.)

The End Game

The next step in getting ready for the collapse is an all-out effort to confiscate the wealth of the public. This can be seen in the effort to push investors away from solid forms of wealth protection such as gold and silver and into stocks, bonds and bank deposits. More recently, we’ve seen the emergence of an effort to end the use of safe deposit boxes and a push to end the use of paper currency in making transactions.

The end objective is to force as much money as possible into deposits in banks, then take it. The US, EU and a few other countries have passed confiscation legislation, allowing the banks carte blanche to confiscate and/or refuse to release deposits.

Of course a reset of these proportions will not be without its fallout. The public will be horrified at the outcome, at the realisation that the very institutions they thought had been created to protect them had never been intended to serve their interests at all.

Once they realise that the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme has been foisted on them, they will be hopping mad and justifiably so. Those who had not had the foresight to internationalise themselves, to remove themselves as much as possible from the system, will most certainly want to get even in some way.

And this makes clear why governments, particularly that of the US, are working so hard to create a police state. Unless a totalitarian state can be created, those who are presently taking the wealth may not be able to fully realise their objectives.

The coming train wreck is no accident. It has long been planned. That the “smart fellows in charge” will somehow save the day is therefore a vain hope indeed.

It’s still possible to back out of the system, but it’s getting more difficult every day. The window is closing, and the time to internationalise is now.

*  *  *

As the cracks in the global financial system deepen, the window for protecting your wealth and freedom narrows by the day. Understanding how and why this collapse is unfolding—and how to position yourself before the reset—is no longer optional. Our Special Report: Guide to Surviving and Thriving During an Economic Collapse reveals practical steps to safeguard your assets, secure mobility, and stay ahead of the coming financial upheaval. Click here to access your copy and prepare while there’s still time.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 17:00

Disagreements Emerge Over US-China Rare Earth Deal, As US Adds Uranium, Silver To Critical Minerals List

Two days ago, when discussing China's surprising announcement that Trump should not cross four "red lines" (including i)Taiwan, ii) democracy and human rights, iii) China's political system, and iv) development rights) or risk a collapse of the trade truce, we said that "ever since the recent "truce" in the trade war between the US and China was signed in Korea one week ago - the latest of many such ceasefires meant to be broken - skeptics have been patiently counting down until this latest ceasefire is torn up, and tensions between the two superpowers flare up once more."

Needless to say, China telling Trump what the US president can and can not say is one of those things that the generally "sanguine and quite calm" US president tends to not be too excited about, and which leads to occasional bursts of outrage which then restart trade wars.

Then yesterday, we said that it felt like "'the cracks in this latest trade deal are already starting to show, whether it is Beijing ordering Trump what he can't talk about, or quietly ring-fencing its domestic data center by banning US Al chips" and further said that "while China granted Trump a 1 year reprieve on rare earths, it is quietly tightening the export noose on other, just as important minerals. According to the Global Times, China has introduced new export controls on silver, antimony, and tungsten."

We concluded that "the game of export whack-a-mole in the second World Trade War continues: today the US is getting rare earths (at least until Trump has another Truth Social meltdown), but just got stopped out on other, just as important materials. This export control rotation will continue until the day the US is self-sufficient, which however due to the abovementioned environmental limitations, will take a very long time unless somehow the US govt funnels enough money in domestic producers (and allows them to dump the toxic by products anywhere - who knows maybe Elon can blast them off into space) to short circuit the process."

Until then, we told readers, "go long stocks of domestic miners that specialize in extracting and producing anything and everything that China feels like no longer exporting to the US."

We didn't have long to wait for this to manifest itself in practice, because moments ago the Nikkei reported that not only is China making inroads with new export controls, but the question over the old ones still hasn't been accurately resolved. That's because, "discrepancies have emerged over the details of China's agreement with the U.S. to pause rare-earth export restrictions, with Washington saying past controls will also be eliminated, a condition that has not been announced by Beijing."

Here is what we know: Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to lower tariffs and ease export restrictions during talks in South Korea last week, with the Chinese Commerce Ministry saying that rare-earth restrictions that had been announced on Oct. 9 would be postponed for a year, there appeared to be some confusion over what was actually agreed upon. 

The restrictions to be paused would have expanded the types of rare-earth elements for which export licenses are required and tightened controls on the export of equipment used for exploration and refining, as well as the technologies necessary for manufacturing rare-earth magnets. They would also require foreign companies making products containing Chinese rare earths to obtain permission from Beijing when exporting to other countries and regions.

And here is where the confusion arises: while China says it will postpone the new regulations for a year, a fact sheet released by the White House on Saturday does not include a time frame, saying "China will suspend the global implementation of the expansive new export controls on rare earths and related measures that it announced on October 9, 2025."

The difference regarding earlier Chinese restrictions implemented on April 4 - which include a requirement for export licenses for seven types of rare earths, including dysprosium, used in high-performance magnets for electric vehicles and fighter jets - is even more pronounced. Following last week's U.S.-China summit, the White House asserted these export licenses would no longer be required, saying China would "effectively eliminate" its current export controls.

But this was contradicted by authorities in the rare-earth industry development zone in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. On Monday, an official social media account stated that the April regulations would remain in effect.

Authorities in Inner Mongolia said on social media that April export controls, which Washington claims will be withdrawn

The city, located in one of China's most polluted areas (because rare earth mining is one of the most toxic activities known to man) is one of China's leading rare-earth producing regions, and the authorities that made the post are reportedly involved in practical matters such as issuing export permits. 

Additionally, Chinese financial news outlet Caixin confirmed the April regulations are still in effect. "As long as the Chinese side deems them valid, the regulations will continue," a Chinese industry insider said.

Some observers say China can continue to pressure the U.S. through customs procedures regardless of whether or not restrictions are in place. Beijing has done this before. In 2010, China halted rare-earth exports to Japan during a dispute over the Tokyo-administered Senkaku Islands, which China claims as the Diaoyu. Although a legal framework for controlling exports was not fully established at that time, Beijing exerted pressure on Japan by claiming procedural delays.

China accounts for 70% of rare-earth production and over 80% of rare-earth magnet manufacturing. It has been leveraging this bargaining chip in negotiations with Washington.

Exports of rare-earth magnets to the U.S. in April were down 59% year-on-year, according to an analysis of trade statistics by Chinese research company FerroAlloyNet. Amid escalating trade friction and the imposition of tariffs over 100% by both sides, exports were drastically cut. They halted almost completely in May, falling 93% on the year.

Global supply chains were thrown into disarray, with Ford Motor temporarily suspending operations at some U.S. plants. In September, the most recent data available, exports of rare-earth magnets to the U.S. were still down 30% year-on-year. 

Some rare-earth elements, including the particularly rare dysprosium, are concentrated in China and a few other countries.

"The U.S. will likely accelerate efforts to develop supply chains independent of China, but for the time being, it will not be able to escape its dependence on China," said a source at a non-Japanese company familiar with rare earths.

Which is precisely what we said yesterday, and why the US will have no choice but to invest billions in domestic companies and supply-chains that bypass China.

Fully aware that the US has to ramp up its own supply chains, the US added copper, silver and uranium to a government list of critical minerals as the Trump administration broadens its scope of what commodities it deems vital to the American economy and national security.

The updated US Geological Survey list adds 10 minerals to bring the total to 60, including metallurgical coal, potash, rhenium, silicon and lead, according to a US government site. It includes 15 rare earth elements. The list replaces a 2022 version. 

Rare earths have become a flashpoint in trade tensions between the US and China, with Trump pushing to encourage domestic mining of the material after President Xi Jinping threatened to curb exports. 

The USGS list dictates what commodities are included in the Trump administration’s Section 232 probe into processed critical minerals and derivative products announced mid-April, which could lead to tariffs and trade restrictions. President Donald Trump has made it a priority to bolster domestic supply of these minerals, arguing that an over-reliance on foreign supplies jeopardizes national security, infrastructure development and technological innovation.

The list also informs direct investments in mining and resource recovery from mine waste, stockpiles, tax incentives for US mineral processing as well as streamlined mining permitting.

The resource industry had been pushing for certain metals and minerals, like copper and potash, to be included on the list. Much of the potash used in the US is shipped from Canada, which accounts for roughly 80% of imports of the mineral. Copper imports, meanwhile, comprise almost half of total US consumption and come from countries including Chile, Peru and Canada. The bulk of global copper refining is done in China.

Silver’s inclusion has been a concern for precious metals traders and manufacturers that rely on the material. Any tariffs on silver could wreak havoc on the metals markets because the US relies heavily on imports to meet domestic demand. Silver has wide industrial applications and is used in electronics, solar panels and medical devices.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 16:40

Does The Democrats' Chaos Strategy Work?

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

We can draw a few conclusions from an off-year election, when iconic races in blue states went, as expected, overwhelmingly Democratic.

Nevertheless, there is only a year left before the midterms. So Republicans must react to even these paltry results.

1) Democrats’ chaotic nihilism still works.

The chaos strategy causes so much turmoil, noise, and negative media coverage that the confused voting public simply cannot sort it all out. The public wishes the upheaval would just go away and often blames those with the most current authority—logically, the incumbent Trump and his administration.

2) Every day of Trump’s first year, there were either campus eruptions, Tesla firebombings, street violence against ICE, or crazy district judges’ injunctions.

The bedlam becomes force multiplied by unhinged outbursts from Democrats like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Eric Swalwell, and the proverbial Squad.

The latest firecracker was thrown by a now Biden-like, faltering Nancy Pelosi, who recently screamed on CNN that President Trump “is just a vile creature, the worst thing on the face of the Earth.”

The public has no time to sort out all the actual causes for such mad hattery. It knows only from Democrats that the commotion is roughly correlated with “Trump.”

Note that there is never a positive Democrat “Contract with America,” since it is impossible to advance anything popular or moderate past its now firmly socialist base.

3) Democrats also use the chaos strategy to target key electoral groups.

In this week’s election, Republicans finally grasped the purpose of the pre-election shutdown.

It was designed to galvanize key constituencies to get out the vote in a low-turnout year. The lockdown was especially aimed at two groups: laid-off and unpaid government workers and entitlement recipients terrified that their checks would dry up.

Both turned out disproportionately in Virginia and New Jersey.

The Democrats are likely to resolve the shutdown soon, as the initial momentum gained by paralyzing the government is now diminishing.

The same strategy applies to the Hispanic vote that had defected in large numbers to Trump in 2024. However, this week, in many counties, the Hispanic vote shifted back toward the Democratic Party.

The truth does not get out enough that 70-80 percent of deportations are targeted at those with either criminal records or prior deportation orders.

Instead, the nonstop violent protests, the dangerous nullification threats from blue-city officials, and the slanted media coverage worked like proverbial propaganda to reduce ICE to “the Gestapo.”

Too many of the public believed that “Nazis” were hounding only law-abiding housekeepers and landscapers, who have been here for decades and only by accident forgot to make their de facto Americanness official.

Or so the successful Big Lie went—and went unchallenged.

The administration and MAGA do not talk enough about positive news of GDP growth, tolerable inflation, massive foreign investment, a calmer Middle East, or numerous miraculous ceasefires around the globe.

Instead, when there is a vacuum in self-praise, it is more easily replaced by the sensationalism of Trump’s “revenge tour” in hounding the boy scout James Comey and poor Letitia James, of taking a wrecking ball to the revered White House, or of insulting for no reason our blameless, “nice,” and gentle Canadian neighbors. The economy not culs-de-sac win elections.

4) Much of the Trump agenda, other than spectacular military recruitment and a secure border, is more long-term than instantly gratifying.

The multitrillion-dollar foreign investments may take a year or two to create jobs and spark the economy.

The deportations will take time to switch more jobs to U.S. citizens.

New gas, oil, and nuclear energy production, trimming the federal workforce, deregulating, and greenlighting AI and other new technologies will not be felt immediately.

After the summer 1984 convention, even Ronald Reagan trailed the anemic Walter Mondale in a few polls. Then the first three quarters of GDP—cumulatively over 7% growth—were digested, as the economy took off and buried Mondale by the November elections.

5) There is no longer a Democrat Party. It is now an unapologetically neo-socialist Jacobin movement.

So traditional negative advertising designed to incur scandal and shame simply does not always work. All that matters is the hard-leftist fides of a candidate—period!

Threaten a political opponent with assassination? Brag about killing his kids?

Tattoo the 3rd Panzer SS Division death’s-head insignia on your chest?

Promise to arrest a foreign head of state when he visits your city?

Boast about grabbing the “means of production.”

So what?

To the new left, this is just proof that their new candidates and voters “mean business.” They cannot be shamed—not even by mocking Charlie Kirk’s wound or hoping Trump is not so lucky a third time.

There is plenty of time for Republicans to digest these results, especially the strategy and dangerous nature of the new left, along with the mercurial moods of the swing voters—and the need to stick to the economy.

But the clock is ticking.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 16:20

Ford Mulls Scrapping F-150 Lightning After Dismal Demand, Mounting Losses

Ford is reportedly set to scrap the F-150 Lightning, once hailed by top executives as the company's "modern Model T," amid absolutely terrible demand. Production lines for the electric pickup remain paralyzed after an aluminum shortage halted operations last month.

A new Wall Street Journal report indicates that the F-150 Lightning is on the chopping block after $13 billion in EV losses since 2023. If accurate, this would make the money-losing truck America's first major EV casualty.

CEO Jim Farley previously called the F-150 Lightning "as revolutionary as the Model T," promising a truck that would democratize electric mobility just as the original Model T democratized driving. Yet how could Farley have been so wrong about the Lightning ... and did his climate-change blinders end up damaging shareholder value? It's something the board should be taking a hard look at.

Demand for the EV truck is absolutely horrendous.

Adam Kraushaar, owner of Lester Glenn Auto Group in New Jersey, told WSJ that F-150 Lightning demand is "not there." He also sells GMC, Chevy, and other brands. "We don't order a lot of them because we don't sell them."

WSJ noted, "No final decision has yet been made, according to people familiar with the discussions, but such a move by Ford could be the beginning of the end for big EV trucks." 

The big question is whether Farley and other top executives ignored red flags, such as declining orders, dealer warnings, and mounting losses on the EV truck, in their push to appease the globalist climate change cult on Wall Street. If the report is accurate, we wonder whether the board could find grounds to review his terrible EV judgment under the duty of care. 

In October, Ford sold just 1,500 Lightnings, versus 66,000 petrol-powered F-Series trucks. EV sales overall have plunged 24% year-on-year after federal tax credits expired. 

Ford shares have trended lower after the April 2022 release of the EV truck.

WSJ noted, "The company is now racing to build a compact $30,000 EV pickup."

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 15:40

US Appeals Court Resurrects Trump's Attempt To Dismiss NY Criminal Conviction

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday revived President Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss his business records criminal conviction, ruling the president can move his case out of a New York state court.

A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed an order from a lower court judge, saying the judge had “bypassed what we consider to be important issues bearing on the ultimate issue of good cause.”

The panel of judges on the appeals court signaled that it did not weigh in on the merits of Trump’s lawyers’ arguments to dismiss the conviction. His lawyers filed court papers earlier this year to try to move the case out of New York so he could seek a ruling from a federal judge on whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity allows him to toss last year’s Manhattan jury verdict convicting him of falsifying business records.

“We leave it to the able and experienced District Judge to decide whether to solicit further briefing from the parties or hold a hearing to help it resolve these issues,” the appeals court judges wrote.

The panel further said the lower court “should resolve Trump’s motion for leave to file a second removal notice in any particular way” and said it should “consider the motion anew in light of our opinion.”

In May 2024, a jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump pleaded not guilty, maintaining that it was part of a widespread attempt to subvert his 2024 presidential campaign.

Weeks after Trump’s election victory in 2024, the judge in the case sentenced him to unconditional discharge, meaning that he faced no further penalties such as fines or jail time. The conviction, however, will remain on his criminal record.

Just days before Trump was inaugurated in January, Judge Juan Merchan noted in his order that the sentence was made with considerations of Trump being elected president.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied a bid from Trump’s attorneys to remove the case, prompting Trump’s appeal. The judge maintained that Trump had “not satisfied the burden of proof required to show the basis of removal.”

The petition to the U.S. appeals court is one of many appeals that Trump has filed to dismiss the criminal conviction.

Separately, Trump had filed court papers with the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division of the First District, appealing the criminal conviction.

“Targeting alleged conduct that has never been found to violate any New York law, the DA [district attorney] concocted a purported felony by stacking time-barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory, which the DA then improperly obscured until the charge conference. This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction,” his lawyers wrote in a filing in October.

Aside from the Manhattan case, criminal charges were also brought against Trump in Washington, Florida, and Georgia. The Washington and Florida cases, which were brought by former special counsel Jack Smith, were later dropped. The Georgia case, brought by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, was dismissed by a state appeals court on Jan. 17, three days before Trump’s inauguration.

Tyler Durden Thu, 11/06/2025 - 15:20