Zero Hedge

Migrants Placed In Tiny British Village Will Out Number Locals By 10 To 1

Migrants Placed In Tiny British Village Will Out Number Locals By 10 To 1

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

The official line is that 1,256 single adult males will be placed at the old MoD depot on the edge of the Oxfordshire hamlet. Yet the document villagers pulled out of the consultation pack talks about "accommodation for 3,510 service users."

That is not a rounding error. In a place of 350 people and 46 children, it is a demographic wrecking ball.

The Home Office calls the figure an "outdated estimate" and "categorically untrue." But the document has not been withdrawn.

The village has no pub, no shop, no pavement on the approach road and no street lighting worth the name. Men of fighting age would be free to come and go from a site that backs onto the children's playing field. That is the plan they are being told to accept as "fairness."

This is the same village that first exploded in July when the 1,250 figure landed with almost no consultation.

Children from the parish wrote to the Prime Minister asking him not to take the only home they had known. Seven-year-old Rex Perkin, whose family has lived there more than a century, worried he would no longer be able to walk to his sister's grave. On 4 July - American Independence Day - 96 percent of those who voted backed a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. The second vote is now days away.

The new row began when residents working through the planning papers found an Unexploded Ordnance risk assessment for Bicester Site A. It states that "the proposed scheme" relates to "accommodation for 3,510 service users." The assessment is dated March this year. It is still online. It has not been amended.

The official planning application seeks a ten-year "temporary" change of use for "non-detained asylum accommodation," open 24 hours, for up to 1,256 single males aged 18 to 65. Consultation closes on 17 September. The village's symbolic independence referendum is two days earlier, on 15 September - Battle of Britain Day.

Parish council chairman Tim McNally put the contradiction in plain English.

"Although the proposal states 1,256 single males between the ages of 18 and 65, the service users focuses on 3,510," he said. "That is ten times the size of the village of Piddington. Now if that is an error, correct it. This is more than alarming. It is either deception at the greatest level or incompetence at the highest."

Resident campaigner Ian Darby told GB News the same suspicion is now general.

"Clearly we're concerned and it's slightly beggars belief that if there was some original thinking at sort of 3,500 people, that they'd still be daft enough to include an old report that is no longer relevant in this consultation," he said.

He added, "Some of us are a little bit more suspicious and worry that that is potentially their ultimate plan, which for this village, just to remind everybody, would be ten times the size of this village. It's a takeover. It's a complete destruction of a beautiful little village."

A Home Office spokesman replied: "It is categorically untrue to suggest we are seeking to house 3,510 people at the MOD Bicester. As our planning application clearly states, we are considering the site to accommodate up to 1,256 asylum seekers."

They added that community concerns are "central to our immigration reforms" and that hotels are being emptied in favour of former military sites.

Villagers note the 3,510 figure was never pulled from the file. They also note the application arrived after a 56-day wait with 11 sections redacted, including material on suicide and self-harm, health and safety, and handling a death on site.

Piddington is a single-lane hamlet of thatched and brick cottages, a 13th-century Grade II-listed church, and a parish playing field. The nearest amenities are miles away down an unlit B-road with no pavement. Gardens sit close to the depot fence. The site is about 750 metres from family homes.

Resident Melise Witkin, 59, told the Mail the argument is not class and never was.

"This is not about being rich or poor, this is about safety," she said. "We are 356 people in the village with 46 children and 1,250 men turning up is a recipe for disaster. People walk their dogs, children play, I just think it is madness. This is about safety, nothing more. Even for them [the asylum seekers], along that road there is no pavement, there are no street lights. We don't have a pub, we don't have a shop, what are the asylum seekers going to do here."

Karen Joy said the fear is already in the houses.

"We feel we have been ignored," she said. "We are a very small village and there is nothing for the people in the asylum camp to do. Our worry is that they will wander into our village and the security is nil. We feel scared. That is all I feel, to be honest."

Victoria Hubbocks described what the change does to ordinary life. She runs at 5am. Her 11-year-old walks the dog alone. The village currently switches street lights off overnight because everyone knows everyone.

"I go for runs at 5 o'clock in the morning and I don't feel scared. I will have to change that," she said. "I think it effectively takes away my children's childhood." On the Prime Minister's demand that every area "step up," she added: "Step up? Fair enough, but ten men to each woman in Piddington isn't a fair proportion in any way, shape or form."

Joe Marshall, on the parish council, said police who visited the site left a phrase behind that nobody in Whitehall wants to repeat.

"We're sitting ducks," he said. "The police have come and had a look and said that we're sitting ducks, and we've not been given any reassurances." He also said the application is "full of inconsistencies," littered with typos, and missing "really crucial documents."

Mario Terzino has an 18-year-old daughter who walks the dog alone. That stops if the camp opens. "We've got no public transport. There is nothing here," he said. "It's not about who's going to the base. It's about the scale. We're talking about 1,250 people, or males, going into a site which is literally adjacent to our playing field. It's just bonkers."

Piddington is being sold as an isolated planning row. It is not. It is the same template stamped across rural Britain: take a high-trust village with no night-time economy, no spare police, and a children's play area, then drop in a barracks-worth of single adult males and call it "equity."

At RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, a village of about 600 faces around 1,200 single adult males beside a primary school and nursery - six migrant men to every local woman.

 

In Gronant, North Wales, residents woke to find a former village hall, freshly turned into new-build homes, handed to asylum seekers with blacked-out vehicles and no warning. Locals called it an "absolute betrayal."

Crowborough in East Sussex watched hundreds of single adult males arrive at a former army camp. Women reported feeling unsafe. Volunteer patrols followed. Barnham in Suffolk sits on the same list. Together the three English MoD sites were framed as housing about 3,750 people while hotels are emptied.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham's answer to Piddington was not a pause. It was a doctrine. "All parts of the country need to play their part." Middle-class and leafy places, he said, can no longer sit outside the map. Borders minister Anna Turley called it a "more fair and equitable system" and insisted the men would be "contained" on site - while also confirming they "will be allowed out."

The cheerleaders for this policy tend to live nowhere near it. They praise "sharing the burden" until the burden is a lane with no pavement and 46 children. Then the enthusiasm thins out.

Reform UK's Zia Yusuf, who visited the village, blasted the 3,510 assessment.

"It's now been revealed the lying Labour Government had assessments carried out based on housing 3,510 migrants in the English village of Piddington, more than double the official figure of 1,256," he said. "That would have been 10 illegal migrants for every one resident. Villagers' lives will be ruined overnight. Ministers continue to conceal the true scale of what is coming, and the numbers keep rising before a single migrant has even arrived."

Samantha Phillips, 61, a 26-year resident now helping organise self-defence classes for women and children, said: "If this was to happen, if we were to get 3,510 male migrants, then the entire population of Piddington represents less than one tenth of the size of the local male migrants."

Andrea Owen, who grew up in the military community around Bicester, put the cultural point without a think-tank filter. "The British traditions and the British way of life are just being ripped away."

Look at the map and the pattern stops looking like incompetence. Channel crossings continue. Hotels become a political embarrassment. The solution chosen is not detention and removal. It is dispersal into the least densely populated, least policed, most culturally intact corners of the country.

They could not have picked places more alien to a cohort of fighting-age men from the other side of the world if they had tried. No mosque. No late-night high street. No anonymity. A medieval church, a playing field, dog walkers, and children who still treat the lane as their own. Then the same officials express surprise when women book self-defence classes and a parish council talks about independence.

Darby's warning is the one that matters if the 1,256 cap is even real. Once the site is open, it is the easy tap. "If I were sitting in their shoes and this was open even initially at sort of 1,200, and you did have a rush of new asylum seekers arriving, you're going to come here first, aren't you? Because you've already won the battle."

McNally asked the question Whitehall will not answer. "How can a government do this to us? Our children - our children's lives - are the ones that are being undermined."

The consultation ends on 17 September. The village votes on the 15th. Legal options are being prepared. A petition against using MoD sites without proper local consultation has already passed the threshold that forces a government response. Activity on the ground has already been reported. Ecological, electrical, sewage and water documents, residents say, are still not properly in place.

A government that wanted the least disruption would not park thousands of unvetted men against a playground in a hamlet of 350. A government that wanted maximum cultural shock would do exactly that - then lecture the people living there about "playing their part."

Piddington is not refusing to exist in modern Britain. It is refusing to be used as the demonstration site for a policy that treats English village life as surplus.

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/11/2026 - 05:00

What More Evidence Does The Blob Need That Michael Gove Was Right?

What More Evidence Does The Blob Need That Michael Gove Was Right?

Authored by Toby Young via The Daily Sceptic,

When I think of Michael Gove perusing the latest PISA league tables, proving yet again that his education reforms have transformed the life chances of English schoolchildren, a line from Broadcast News, the 1987 romcom, comes to mind.

"It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you're the smartest person in the room," says a veteran television news man to a young female producer.

"No," she replies. "It's awful."

When it comes to teaching and learning, the man who ran the Department for Education from 2010 - 14 really does know better. As he has pointed out, a natural experiment has taken place in Great Britain over the last 16 years - longer, if you date the beginning of the reform programme to the Labour and Skills Act 2000 - with England implementing a raft of educational reforms and Scotland and Wales stubbornly sticking to the same old failed formula. The results in the just-published 2025 PISA data are there for all to see.

English 15 year-olds scored 492 in maths, 497 in reading and 516 in science - 29, 36 and 34 points respectively above the OECD average. England now sits comfortably in the upper reaches of the developed world, having climbed into the top 10 in all three subjects.

Wales, by contrast, has fallen below the OECD average, its maths score declining a full 10 points since 2022. Scotland, though still nominally above the international average, has flatlined since its own dismal 2022 showing and now trails England by roughly a year's worth of learning. Just think about that: in Scotland, the average child is a year behind his English counterparts. (In Wales, they are two years behind.)

So Lord Gove has been vindicated. But knowing he was right won't be much comfort, given the resistance to his reforms in the devolved nations. No free schools, no academies, no 'comprehensive grammars'. No phonics, no spelling and grammar tests, no maths mastery, no EBacc, no Progress 8. Just the same old romantic dross - 'problem solving', 'transferable skills', 'child-centred learning' - that has failed Scottish and Welsh schoolchildren for decades.

Instead of replicating Westminster's knowledge-rich curriculum, Edinburgh and Cardiff rolled out a skills-based "curriculum for excellence". Even today, in spite of the overwhelming evidence of its failure, the SNP Education Secretary, Màiri McAllan, is still defending this rag-bag of progressive clichés.

Scotland's education system, she said in response to the latest PISA figures, looks at "artistic expression, problem solving and moral education" so it produces "well-rounded individuals who are ready and capable to be resilient in this world". Not so ready and capable, Màiri, if they can't read, write or add up. As Gove rightly concluded, there's no evidence schools can teach artistic expression, problem solving or character traits like resilience, so it's better to focus on what they can teach.

The unions have a lot to answer for. In England, it was a standing joke among education reformers in the early 2010s that the 'n' in the NUT stood for 'no' because England's largest teaching union had blocked every reform for the last 50 years. Gove and his trusted lieutenants like Nick Gibb faced down the NUT and drove through his reforms in the teeth of ferocious opposition. But his Scottish and Welsh counterparts weren't so robust, quickly abandoning any effort to overhaul their failing schools when the unions objected.

Some of this can be explained by not wanting to copy what the hated Tories were doing down south. But even when the OECD recommended Scotland reproduce some of the measures that were clearly succeeding in England - a pared-down academic core, greater headteacher autonomy, stricter behaviour management policies, more rigorous assessment - the EIS, Scotland's largest teaching union, threw up its arms in horror. Each time Scottish education ministers have so much as gestured towards reform, the union has treated it as an act of war.

All of which must be profoundly depressing for Lord Gove. What more do you need? he must be thinking. Worse, the current Labour Government is in the process of dismantling the Gove reforms. Incredibly, Bridget Phillipson and now Lucy Powell have looked at the PISA data and concluded that England's education system should be more like that of Scotland and Wales - less school autonomy, no more free schools, continuous assessment instead of rigorous exams, toothless behaviour policies, and a neutered Ofsted. At the heart of Labour's new national curriculum, we're told, will be 'sustainability' and 'decolonisation'.

The blob is back and the smartest man in the room must be reluctantly concluding that no amount of evidence will convince his opponents he was right.

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/11/2026 - 03:30

Mideast Chaos Sends Supertanker Rates Soaring To $800,000 A Day

Mideast Chaos Sends Supertanker Rates Soaring To $800,000 A Day

Supertanker rates on the Baltic Exchange's benchmark Middle East-to-China shipping route have surged to a staggering $800,000 a day. With US forces having destroyed five Iranian-linked tankers and Tehran threatening further escalation in recent days, prospects for near-term stabilization remain limited.

The freight surge signals that crude oil and refined products continue to flow but are becoming increasingly costly to transport out of the Gulf region to global markets.

According to Bloomberg, US Gulf-to-Asia shipments on very large crude carriers average about $29.5 million per voyage, equivalent to $15 a barrel before any additional war-risk charges or unexpected delays.

Kpler expects VLCC earnings to remain above $100,000 a day into early next year, compared with historical levels that exceeded $45,000. Morgan Stanley analysts point out that two-year leasing rates could surge another 20% to 30%.

Manu Sehgal, vice president of strategy and feedstock supply at Indian refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy, told Bloomberg that "crude volume is there. What's hampering it is the transit; what's hampering it is the shipping."

A fleet of tankers conducting ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman is helping keep barrels flowing through the Hormuz chokepoint. Vitol's CEO estimated earlier this week that roughly 10 million barrels a day were crossing the waterway, while Goldman analysts put that figure at around 15 million.

The Baltic Exchange's new Gulf of Oman-to-East Asia benchmark has surged 85% since inception, reaching almost $386,000 a day this week.

This means surging tanker rates add another layer of inflation pressure for global central banks. Those costs can filter through to gasoline, diesel, freight, and ultimately consumer goods on store shelves. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/11/2026 - 02:45

Austria's Headscarf Ban For Under-14 Schoolgirls Comes Into Force

Austria's Headscarf Ban For Under-14 Schoolgirls Comes Into Force

Via Remix News,

Austria's new nationwide ban on "traditional Muslim" head coverings, including hijabs and burqas, for girls under 14 in both public and private schools, has now taken effect as of Sept. 7, 2026. in Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland.

The start date coincided with the start of the new school year.

Austria's remaining states will follow with a ban next week as well.

The measure, framed by the government as a child-protection and gender-equality policy, immediately faced visible resistance from Muslims and the first formal legal challenge.

At an Islamic primary school in Vienna, reporters from Austrian news outlet Heute observed young girls arriving to school still wearing headscarves accompanied by their mothers. One child wore a pink hijab coordinated with her dress; two slightly older students entered in simple hijabs without parents. School officials did not immediately clarify how they would apply the ban on private Islamic institutions.

The law requires schools to start with conversations involving the student and her legal guardians. Repeated violations trigger involvement of child-protection services, with fines of €150 to €800 possible for parents as a last resort. Teachers, already under strain, must initiate these talks. There are now fears of real conflict arising in the coming months.

Integration Minister Claudia Bauer of the conservative ÖVP described the headscarf as "a sign of oppression and a means of controlling girls from the earliest childhood." Chancellor Christian Stocker has separately called for a constitutional ban on political Islam, saying he does not "want to live in an Islamic state."

The right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), the most popular party in the country is known for its even harsher stance toward migrants and Islam in the country. FPÖ politician Ricarda Berger stated there is "no place for political Islam in Austria, and certainly not in our schools."

The party wants a general ban on all headscarves and face coverings in schools for both students and teachers alike, which would cover all ages.

Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr of the liberal NEOS acknowledged uncertainty about the law's fate at the Constitutional Court, stating: "You can never be completely certain."

He added that the government and education ministry "carried out very intensive consultations" to draft a constitutionally compliant text.

Only the Greens opposed the bill in parliament. Green politician Sigi Maurer accused Wiederkehr of "creating new conflicts and offloading them onto the teachers," saying the minister wanted to "foist the role of police officers onto them."

Teachers' union chairman Paul Kimberger noted that some communities had already announced they would resist and that certain conversations with parents "will probably have limited success."

The Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ), the largest Islamic organization in the country, condemned the ban as discriminatory. Spokesperson Carla Amina Baghajati said, "We believe it unjustifiably restricts the fundamental right to freedom of religion and disproportionately affects Muslim girls. Rather than protecting children, it singles out a specific religious practice and risks excluding the very children it claims to support."

The IGGÖ has pledged to support families challenging the law at the Constitutional Court. A request for annulment was filed on the first day of school.

A 2020 Constitutional Court ruling had struck down an earlier ban limited to children under 10, finding it violated Austria's duty of religious neutrality. The court dismissed premature challenges to the new law in July because it had not yet entered force, but that procedural barrier is now gone. Left-wing student groups have called for protests. An 11-year-old girl demonstrated against the ban in February carrying a banner that, translated into English, read, "My headscarf, my decision."

The Constitutional Court is likely to have the final word on the issue.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/11/2026 - 02:00

We Are In World War Xi

We Are In World War Xi

Authored by Karen Siegemund and Bradley A. Thayer via American Greatness,

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues, Americans may blame Russian leader Vladimir Putin for starting "World War III." It is correct that World War III has started, but its cause is the People's Republic of China (PRC), not Russia.

The war did not start with Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 or with the appeasement of Russia in the years before Putin's foolish aggression. It started with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The

CCP has been at war with the U.S. since coming to power in 1949 and has employed many fronts in this war to undermine America and the West. The CCP's May 2019 declaration of "People's War" against the U.S. was CCP leader Xi Jinping's call for a maximal effort against America. Not coincidentally, the COVID-19 outbreak soon followed. The CCP lied about COVID's origins, refused to share information with the world, and used Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), as its willing accomplice. Another front is CCP election interference. President Trump has revealed the CCP's interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election in an effort to secure President Joe Biden's victory. Biden's open borders allowed many hundreds of thousands of military-age Chinese men into the United States - prepositioning a force to strike against the American people in their homeland. The sustained chemical warfare attack that is fentanyl is another avenue of attack, destroying American lives and families. The CCP's success at buying American and European politicians and journalists to serve as its agents of influence is yet another, as is TikTok.

Putin is not the source of World War III. Putin is, in the scheme of World War III, a secondary player. It is Xi who is driving World War III. It seems that the common denominator for every manifestation of this global crisis, whether overt or covert, foreign or domestic, is that Xi Jinping and his CCP have either inspired or enabled them - or at least, stand to be the principal beneficiaries. Consequently, while some call this World War III, one might consider a more apt name to be "World War Xi."

It was Xi who gave the green light to Putin to invade Ukraine when they met in early February 2022. Xi and Putin have met over 11 times since then, most recently in Bishkek, and on each occasion, Xi has evinced strong, public support for Putin's war. While the Russo-Ukrainian war is not yet resolved - it has lasted longer than World War I - it already has a clear winner: the PRC. The PRC provides great assistance to Russia - diplomatic, economic, and "dual-use" military aid - all of which is important to sustain Russia's war. Beijing is receiving a prodigious return that is helping Xi win World War III.

First, by sustaining the war, the PRC occupies the U.S. and so diverts attention from its aggressive acts and preparations for war over Taiwan, which might include attacks against the U.S. itself. The U.S. intelligence community and military have only so much bandwidth, and the conflicts in Iran, Ukraine, and elsewhere in the Middle East are filling it. In addition, U.S. stockpiles are drained by the conflict in Iran and aid to Ukraine, including Patriot, ATACMS, and other missiles, and 155mm artillery rounds, all of which reduce the ability of the U.S. military to fight a high-intensity war with the PRC. In turn, a reduced U.S. arsenal hurts U.S. conventional deterrence in key theaters, like the western Pacific and Taiwan.

Second, the war cements Putin's dependence on the PRC. Putin is Xi's myrmidon, the supplicant in the relationship. Truly, Putin is Xi's useful idiot. Xi drafted Putin to serve in his anti-Western alliance, which costs Putin his autonomy. Xi's ultimate ambition is to overthrow U.S. power and position in the world and shackle the world to the PRC's tyrannical ambitions. Putin's interest would have been better served by emerging as the tertius gaudens of the conflict between the U.S. and the PRC. Now that he has tied Russia's interests to the PRC, he will walk the path Xi requires of him. That requires Russia to accept diminished influence when Russia's interests conflict with the PRC, such as in Central Asia, and to serve as an instrument of distraction for the U.S. and its NATO allies while China expands its military power and strategic ambitions. Putin must fear that once he has served his usefulness, Xi may overthrow him.

Third, Putin also serves as a lightning rod, attracting the world's animus and attention for his acts while Xi's genocide in Xinjiang remains too often unremarked and in the background. The PRC's preparations for war against Taiwan and its increasingly coercive measures against the Philippines also do not receive the attention they deserve.

Fourth, as a result of the Ukraine war, Xi has secured his northern flank. Russian conventional and nuclear military power is now a tool to be employed in conjunction with or apart from the PRC's military - but to serve Beijing's interests. The U.S. has a "multiple front" war problem with which it must contend.

Moreover, Xi has secured his western flank in Central Asia. The Central Asian states perceive Russia as a threat due to the invasion of Ukraine and see Moscow as the junior partner in the Sino-Russian relationship. For Xi, this is a remarkable occurrence at the same time that China is committing genocide against Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang or East Turkistan. The PRC's western flank is as secure as it has been in recent years. With two flanks secure and Xi's ability to project power expanding, it is no surprise that Xi is aggressing on the PRC's southern and eastern flanks.

The bottom line is that the Russo-Ukrainian war greatly benefits the PRC. As the PRC gains in military might, this hurts the ability of the U.S. to defend its national security interests elsewhere, including in the western Pacific. In turn, this weakens the ability of the U.S. to deter aggression against Taiwan, the Philippines, and other states, as well as the ability to fight a war with the PRC, should deterrence fail.

The costs of the Russo-Ukrainian war are high in every respect. While Moscow may eke out a Pyrrhic victory, the true winner of the war is Beijing. The war continues because Xi wants it to, and his aid allows Putin to pursue his folly.

With its strategic position strengthened and its power projection capabilities expanding, the PRC is putting in place the conditions necessary for aggression. The U.S. and its allies should expect China to center its belligerency on its southern and eastern flanks. This aggression might be kinetic - indeed, at some point it will be so - against India on Beijing's southern flank, against Taiwan on the eastern, and possibly even against Japan and the U.S. But the PRC will continue to employ all the tools of statecraft to bring its might to bear to cause the change it wants. Thus, the world should expect diplomatic, ideological, and economic pressure to be employed by the PRC against them, while Beijing also seeks to undermine the governments of India, Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S. We should also anticipate the continued expansion of the PRC's domestic influence in those countries through the use of the PRC's United Front Work Department to subvert them and other overt and covert efforts.

It is a new world. Soviet dominance over the PRC during the Cold War is now reversed. In World War III, the PRC calls the shots because of Putin's strategic idiocy. Having the PRC's northern and western flanks secured is a key step toward Xi's greater belligerence. The CCP is employing many tools in this war, and the American people need to recognize the avenues of attack.

The U.S., its allies, and its partners must move beyond anticipating aggression to recognizing its certainty and the reality of World War Xi.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 23:25

25 Years Later, Air Travel Still Bears The Imprint Of 9/11

25 Years Later, Air Travel Still Bears The Imprint Of 9/11

Authored by Jeremy Lott via The Epoch Times,

The terror attacks 25 years ago this week had enduring costs for America's commercial aviation sector.

Today's domestic fliers are on balance worse off for it, with higher costs, fewer choices, and more delays.

That's because, on Sept. 11, 2001, men who were part of the al Qaeda Islamist terror network bought tickets and boarded four passenger planes out of Boston, northern Virginia, and Newark, New Jersey.

Once airborne, the 19 terrorists hijacked those planes and managed to fly two of them into the World Trade Center towers and one into the Pentagon.

The remaining plane, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, was brought down by a revolt of passengers and crew who had pieced together what was happening with the other planes.

The Boeing 757 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, instead of its intended target, which the National Park Service identified as the U.S. Capitol.

At the World Trade Center, more than 2,700 people died that day.

When Flight 93 went down in Pennsylvania, all 44 people, including seven crew members and 33 passengers, including the four hijackers, died on impact.

At the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles Airport to Los Angeles crashed, 189 people died, including 125 people in the building, six airline crew members, 53 passengers, plus the five hijackers.

Airlines in the Red

For the airlines, the financial impact was awful and bordered on existential.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights for several days. Once the planes were cleared for takeoff, many would-be passengers were jittery about being airborne. After all, they had just watched domestic planes slam into skyscrapers on their television sets, over and over.

These planes had long been seen as mechanical marvels that shortened long trips and brought the world closer together. The al Qaeda hijackings turned them instead into visible instruments of previously unimaginable destruction on U.S. soil.

Looking back at that day, the International Air Transport Association did not sugarcoat it.

"On September 11, 2001, the world changed forever," Willie Walsh, former director general of the air travel trade group, said in a fact sheet for the 20th anniversary of the day.

"Those of us old enough to understand what was happening at the time still remember where we were when we heard the horrific news. Indeed, for many, it probably still feels like yesterday."

The attacks were not only "assaults on the United States of America," as far as the world of aviation was concerned. Those weaponized planes were also aimed straight at the "global air transportation system - a facilitator of peace and freedom," he said.

Financial fallout from the attacks was swift and severe. Revenues and profits nosedived.

U.S. passenger airlines had posted profits of $2.2 billion in 2000. They lost $8 billion in 2001, and revenues did not climb back to 2000 levels until 2004.

Those losses contributed to the bankruptcies of several air carriers, most notably US Airways and United Airlines in 2002. United stayed aloft, but US Airways eventually was absorbed by American Airlines.

Airport Security Costs

An act of Congress created the Transportation Security Administration, popularly known as the TSA, in November 2001 to help address security concerns. The TSA took over screening at most airports.

The Aviation and Transportation Security Act also greatly expanded a previously existing air marshals program to put many more armed, hidden officers on flights to thwart future would-be hijackers.

Costs for U.S. fliers grew higher, in part to pay for the new, slower airport security. U.S. taxpayers are paying for it as well. The amount spent on the TSA has varied from year to year. At present, the yearly price tag is in the $11 billion range.

Gary Leff, proprietor of the popular View from the Wing website, is not happy about that.

"It's not clear what we've gotten spending over $10 billion annually," he told The Epoch Times.

TSA oversaw the formalization of what some critics have called security theater, with belts and shoes off, liquids limited in size, passengers subjected to various scanning devices, and lots and lots of plastic tubs.

Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project, says he still believes that TSA security beats the alternative.

"It's really easy to beat up on the TSA, and I've done it quite often myself. In fact, there's an entire chapter on TSA criticism in my book 'Attention All Passengers,'" he told The Epoch Times.

At the same time, he said, it's important to remember "what airline and airport security was like prior to 9/11," when "security was the responsibility of the airlines, and it was often non-existent."

"I think we can all agree that the airlines' efforts in outsourcing airport security on 9/11 was a spectacular failure," McGee said, adding that TSA's existence indicates "that aviation security is taken seriously enough that it's the responsibility of the federal government."

He said he would not want to have such a "vital function that is so intrinsic to national security be outsourced to the lowest bidders again."

Where TSA Can Improve

Yet there are downsides to having the TSA as it is currently organized. Instead of scrapping the agency, however, McGee suggested, "Let's think instead about how Congress can fix the TSA for all of us."

The federal government funds the TSA. When government shutdowns happen, as they do periodically, this creates problems for airport screening. TSA still functions during government shutdowns but not well.

Agents go unpaid, sometimes for long stretches. They have a statutory guarantee of back pay once the government is funded again. Yet overtime is discouraged, and absenteeism rises. This leads to longer screening times and missed flights.

That is what happened during the 76-day partial government shutdown of agencies under the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.

Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting TSA administrator, testified in late March that the "cost of coming to work [was] becoming more untenable for the workforce." The agency's daily call-out rates had increased from 4 percent to 11 percent and at some airports were greater than 50 percent.

This reduced screening capacity was hiking wait times to "over four and a half hours at certain airports, raising major security risks and missed flights for passengers," McNeill said in prepared remarks.

In contrast, a handful of airports participate in the Screening Partnership Program. This allows private contractors to do the screening, under TSA regulations and nominal supervision, with a different line of funding.

The largest airport in the program is San Francisco International Airport (SFO). At roughly the same time that McNeill was sounding the alarm before Congress, the airport was reassuring fliers that they could enjoy their spring break travels.

"While we've seen and heard about the long security checkpoint lines over the last few weeks at major airports around the country, SFO is NOT experiencing this issue," the airport announced on social media.

During the partial government shutdown, the airport's screener-contractors were "being paid without interruption," and screening was "operating as usual."

The San Francisco airport regularly posts its security checkpoint wait times. For Sept. 6, waits ran between one and nine minutes for general boarding and between zero and four minutes for fliers with TSA PreCheck authorization.

The San Francisco example illustrates the gap between what TSA might be and what it actually is, Leff said. "Instead of regulating security provided by others," he said, the screening agency "largely regulates itself, which has led to a lack of accountability."

For instance, border agencies frequently operate what are called red teams, whose job it is to try to get contraband through a checkpoint.

TSA ran red teams for years. They found that TSA screeners are very bad at catching items that have been flagged as dangerous.

"After a series of embarrassing disclosures about their failure rates detecting dangerous items at checkpoints [with] failure rates over 90 percent a decade ago, they simply stopped releasing information on their effectiveness publicly," Leff said.

As the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, Leff said that the response to the attacks has had bad effects for both fliers and would-be fliers.

"For travel, it's meant that trips take longer. That means fewer trips by air than there'd otherwise be. It likely means more car trips, which are far less safe, and more loss of life as a result. But we never examine second- and third-order effects," he said.

Last year, 64 people on commercial airlines died in the United States. All of the deaths came when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a small commuter plane over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29. Three people in the helicopter also died.

Over that same period, 36,640 traffic fatalities were reported on American roads.

Progress and Innovation

Former International Air Transport Association boss Walsh saw one bright spot at American airports in the first 20 years following Sept. 11.

He thought that TSA PreCheck, where frequent fliers trade more information about themselves and a small fee for expedited screening, was worth celebrating.

Walsh acknowledged that "extraordinary measures" were probably necessary to get things flying again, post Sept. 11, but he made the case that the need for many of these measures had long-since passed.

Future American airport security could "move beyond the one-size-fits-all, rules-based model that still ... governs passenger security screening" and establish "firm deadlines" to sunset unnecessarily stringent rules, he said. These changes would make sure that "what we are doing is relevant."

James Fallows is a journalist, a small craft pilot and the author of several books, including a few on aviation.

"Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel," was the original title of one of those books, published only months before Sept. 11, 2001.

Fallows saw the beginnings of something new taking shape. He observed smaller craft playing a bigger role in transportation and thought that would grow into a somewhat decentralized air-taxi system in the future.

The Epoch Times asked him about how the terror attacks had affected that development, and how he sized up its prospects today.

"So much has changed in the 25 years since the 9/11 attacks," Fallows said. For several years, "dramatically tightened security rules limited private air travel of all sorts."

However, that was not the whole story.

"The increasing congestion of airlines, and the ongoing progress in aircraft and engine design, has led to steady growth in private jet travel - for those who can afford it."

The next step is to bring that experience to more people. Many companies are working to create an "air taxi model" that people of modest means can afford to hail, Fallows said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 22:35

Diesel Crunch Set To Worsen As Refining Capacity Falls Short, Industry Warns

Diesel Crunch Set To Worsen As Refining Capacity Falls Short, Industry Warns

The global diesel market - already trading at record prices - is set to further tighten in the coming months and keep fuel prices high, raising the prices of all goods and threatening the inflation targets of the central banks.

Industry officials, who gathered at the APPEC petroleum conference in Singapore this week, warned that the market has not seen the worst of the diesel crisis yet. Analysts say the real stress in oil markets is in the diesel market right now, OilPrice reported.

Global fuel markets are very tight and inflexible, despite the higher crude oil flows out of the Persian Gulf in recent weeks, Russell Hardy, chief executive of the world's biggest independent oil trader, Vitol Group, said on Tuesday.

“We're still not running enough refining capacity to prevent those draws, and we keep eating into the surplus that exists around the world,” Hardy said at the event, as carried by Bloomberg.

Despite the uptick in flows from the Strait of Hormuz, only 1 million barrels per day (bpd) out of an estimated 10 million bpd outbound flows are refined products, the rest is crude.

Refinery capacity is constrained in the Middle East, due to Iranian strikes on refineries and the trickle of fuel flows through Hormuz.

Moreover, refinery capacity in Russia is also severely restricted by nearly-daily Ukrainian drone strikes at Russian refineries, while Russia has banned diesel exports until at least the end of September.

Refineries in the United States and elsewhere have been running at maximum capacity this summer, having delayed maintenance. But they are unlikely to continue operating at these elevated utilization rates for much longer.

If the global refining system can sustain these processing rates until the end of this year, “it is going to be an achievement,” Shaikh Khaled Ahmad Al Sabah, managing director for international marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), told Bloomberg.

“I think we’re going to see a very difficult winter coming in Northwest Europe,” the executive said. “This is only the beginning.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 22:10

Oil Tanker Rates Hit Record Highs as Middle East Shipping Risks Soar

Oil Tanker Rates Hit Record Highs as Middle East Shipping Risks Soar

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Oil tanker rates have jumped to record highs as escalating risks to shipping in and out of the Middle East are prompting traders and tanker operators to undertake inefficient and more expensive trade routes.

While the crude oil supply is actually there, shipping it through the Strait of Hormuz remains a very risky endeavor, especially in light of the escalating U.S.-Iran tanker war in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, while Saudi Arabia has started to move crude cargoes out of the region through the north of the Red Sea and from Egypt’s Mediterranean ports.

The much longer workarounds are tying tankers and supertankers for longer with the shippers, tightening the market of available vessels so much that rates are skyrocketing to all-time highs. 

For example, the benchmark daily rate for a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to ship oil from the Middle East to China has hit a record high of almost $800,000, per data compiled by Bloomberg.

The price of chartering a supertanker to ship crude from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has now hit a lump-sum fee of $29.5 million per run, and that’s not even factoring in fees for additional war risks or unexpected delays. 

“The VLCC positions list is now so tight that no one would be too surprised if we see the WS 400 mark breached for a Fujairah/East run off a prompt-ish position before long, crazy as it may sound,” shipbroker Fearnleys said in its latest weekly report for the week ended September 9.

“The oil still needs to get out through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranians have increased efforts to stop that from happening. It’s a fragile state of affairs,” the shipbroker added.

“There’s quite a few bottlenecks all at the same time,” Alex Grant, Equinor’s global head of crude, products and liquids trading, told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the APPEC petroleum conference in Singapore.

“The market is quite stressed with all of that, and that’s showing up in the shipping rates.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 21:40

Why Family-Run Grocers Are Suing New York Over City-Run Stores

Why Family-Run Grocers Are Suing New York Over City-Run Stores

Authored by Russ Jones via The Epoch Times,

Josefina Aguirre grew up among the piñatas hanging from the ceiling of Little Mexico Meat Market, the store her parents opened in New York City's El Barrio in 1997, three years after her father crossed the border from Mexico at 17.

She has a bachelor's degree in business management, a qualification her parents, Oscar and Guadalupe Aguirre, insisted on. But she came back to work at the store anyway - to the same three coolers of fresh cheese and cilantro, the same shelves of jalapeños and tomatillos, and the same customers who still bring in their mail so she can read it to them in English.

The store has survived the opening of a Costco nearby. It survived COVID-19, barely. Her father caught the virus and died before he ever got to enjoy the retirement he had worked 28 years for.

Now, Aguirre and her sisters, who run the shop together, are bracing for what they see as the biggest threat yet: a city-subsidized grocery store that can sell a $10 steak for $7, because, unlike them, it doesn't have to turn a profit.

"We're not scared of competition," Aguirre told The Epoch Times on Aug. 29 from behind the counter in Spanish Harlem. "We just want fair competition."

A dozen blocks south, Yessica Lezama hears the same fear from her parents. Benito and Carmen emigrated from Mexico and became U.S. citizens before opening El Pueblo Mexicano Grocery on Third Avenue 25 years ago. They were drawn to the stretch of neighborhood known for its Mexican community.

Lezama, 38, has worked with her parents for three years, serving the same customers and stocking the same shelves of fruits, vegetables, and Mexican products that have kept the store going for a generation.

"I think it will have a bad impact on sales," Lezama said of the mayor's grocery store plan. "Since we're a Mexican store, the city-run store won't sell the same products, but it will still hurt us."

Lezama said nearby business owners have formed an informal network to share information and support one another as the plan moves forward, meeting regularly to talk through their options.

"We help each other," she said. "It is hard enough already. We don't get a lot of help, and we're worried about going out of business."

Her parents are hoping to do more than just survive, Lezama said. They are working with a small-business association to modernize the store.

"My parents need help to make it more beautiful," she said.

2 Lawsuits, 1 Target

Aguirre is one of hundreds of small-business owners now represented in two lawsuits filed against New York City by the Multicultural Business Coalition, a group representing roughly 1,000 minority-owned bodegas, delis, and supermarkets. The group argues that Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to open city-run grocery stores will drive them out of business rather than help their neighborhoods.

The coalition filed a class-action complaint in the New York County Supreme Court on Aug. 24, alleging antitrust violations and predatory pricing, and a second suit the same day alleging that the city retaliated against members after they began organizing against the mayor's plan.

Together, the suits mark one of the most direct legal challenges yet to a marquee policy of Mamdani's first year in office.

The first complaint states, "The Defendants' municipal grocery stores deny the Class Members, hundreds of grocers, many small grocers equal protection, as they are not able to offer discounts that markedly depart from globalized commerce, thereby violating New York's Civil Rights Law."

The second suit states that the "opening of the underlying municipal grocery stores ... is diametrically opposed to the City's longstanding reasons for refusing to allow Walmart to operate grocery stores in the City: that the fallout from allowing Walmart to operate deep discount business, while bringing 'affordability,' further enriching a multibillion-dollar business, would eliminate an untold amount of opportunity for minority businesses, and small business at large."

Mamdani responded to the suits the same day they were filed.

"I'm confident in both the legality of this - that it will stand up in court - and the importance of delivering it," he said at an Aug. 24 news conference.

Frank Garcia, the coalition's chairman and head of the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, said the mayor's confidence misses what's actually at stake for the coalition's members.

"My grandfather opened up one of the first bodegas in the late 1960s, when East Harlem was burning," he told The Epoch Times.

"I am proud to be following in his tradition, because what Mayor Mamdani is doing is disgracing his memory."

Inside the $70 Million Plan

Under the plan, first unveiled last year, the city will spend $70 million to open five publicly owned grocery stores, one in each borough, offering staples at prices roughly 30 percent below market rate.

The stores won't sell beer, cigarettes, or lottery tickets and will be designed to keep prices low rather than turn a profit. The goal, Mamdani has said, is to make food more affordable in neighborhoods with high poverty rates and limited access to full-service supermarkets.

The Bronx location, in an affordable housing complex in Hunts Point, is expected to open in 2027. The East Harlem store will be located at the 9,000-square-foot marketplace La Marqueta and is projected to open in 2029, according to city officials.

Mamdani has repeatedly defended the initiative.

"I continue to be fully confident in both the legality and the importance of our initiative to deliver five city-run grocery stores, one in each borough, to the people of our city," he said in a statement in July, noting that grocery prices in the city have climbed by roughly 30 percent in recent years and that City Hall could also ease regulations to help existing store owners in the meantime.

Garcia said the coalition tried repeatedly to meet with Mamdani before filing suit, without success, and that the city moved ahead without ever conducting an economic impact study.

"Why are they going against immigrant business owners who can't speak English and defend themselves?" Garcia said. "I don't see that the mayor is being fair."

Mark Jaffe, general counsel for the Multicultural Business Coalition and president of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, told The Epoch Times that the city's plan goes further than officials have admitted.

"Their plan is to eventually put every independent store owner out of business," Jaffe said. "And if you're lucky, maybe they'll give you a job."

When he pressed city officials for details on how the stores would actually be run, he said, he got no real answer.

"We asked what the business plan was," Jaffe said. "They told us, 'We don't need a plan, because the people we select will be responsible for coming up with the plan.'"

Jaffe also questioned whether a single store per borough would even reach the people Mamdani says he wants to help.

"Who is this really going to serve?" he said. "By the time you get on the train and spend two hours traveling, you're paying more" than you would have shopping at a neighborhood store.

An Economist's Warning

Economists are divided on what the lawsuits and the underlying policy mean for the city's food supply chain.

Christian Briggs, a political and economic analyst who has advised members of Congress, argued that the plan fits a broader pattern of government expansion into private markets.

"This is a manmade takeover of the food supply system," Briggs told The Epoch Times, comparing the initiative to nationalization efforts he attributed to past presidential administrations.

He noted that grocery stores typically run on net margins of just 4 percent to 5 percent, making a government-subsidized competitor selling goods 30 percent below market what he called "the beginning of the nationalization of our food chain supply system."

Briggs also predicted that despite the coalition's legal argument, consumer behavior would ultimately favor the city-run stores.

"'Free' is the most powerful word in the English language," he said, likening the grocery plan to the long-term trajectory of entitlement programs.

"The lawsuits are valid. They're justified. But in the end, you will not win over the word 'free,' because voters love free."

'Using Taxpayer Money'

Back at Little Mexico Meat Market, Aguirre said the math is simple and unforgiving. Her margin on a $10 steak helps cover her mortgage, her children's tuition, her rent, and utilities.

A city-run competitor selling the same steak for $7, funded by taxpayers rather than sales, doesn't have to make that math work.

"He can afford it because he's using taxpayer money," Aguirre said. "We don't have any help. Loans have been made difficult to get."

She and her sisters have quietly begun discussing plan B, such as teaching or other careers, or anything that doesn't mean losing more of what their father built before he died. That loss follows her behind the register every day - behind the same counter where her father used to stand.

"Is it fair for me to leave and start a new career?" Aguirre asked.

It's not a question she wants to answer. Not yet, anyway.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 20:05

Citi Says LatAm "Poised For Take-Off" As Powerful Tailwinds Align. Here's Why

Citi Says LatAm "Poised For Take-Off" As Powerful Tailwinds Align. Here's Why

Our focus on South America's improving investment outlook, underpinned by a generational shift from left-wing governments to more business-friendly governments, gained support Thursday from Citi's report, "LatAm Poised for Take-Off: The Macro Cycle Turns Latin America's Way."

Citi chief Latin America economist Ernesto Revilla wrote in a note earlier today that a right-wing political shift is serving as a tailwind alongside a weaker dollar, firm commodity prices, and global supply-chain realignment, while stressing that lasting gains depend on reforms and execution. 

Here is Revilla's take on improving LatAM markets: 

Latin America is entering one of its most favorable environments in years, with external and domestic conditions supporting a potential acceleration in growth. The global economy has remained resilient despite recent shocks, while a weaker U.S. dollar and firm commodity prices provide important tailwinds for the region. Latin America is also benefiting from shifting trade patterns, standing out as one of the few regions gaining import market share from both the U.S. and China. At the same time, stronger macroeconomic management, improving policy frameworks, and a more business-friendly political backdrop in several countries are strengthening the investment case. In this report, we examine whether these forces can translate into sustained growth and market outperformance. Our conclusion is clear: the opportunity is significant, but lasting success will depend on reforms, execution, and policy consistency.

Latin America is poised for take-off. Or to be more precise: the conditions for Latin America to achieve a higher rate of growth are the best they have been in decades, and it is time to capitalize on the opportunity.

The last time the region achieved a sustained acceleration in growth was from 2003-2008. Back then, a weak dollar (USD) and strong commodity prices combined to form the backdrop for growth. Those conditions, and more, are present again today.

Still, the development misfortune of Latin America is how little (or no) convergence it has achieved toward higher income levels. Convergence is the expectation that an emerging market will achieve higher growth rates to catch up to developed markets. As a region, Latin America has achieved little sustained convergence over the past 120 years. Consider that in 1990, LatAm's GDP per capita as a share of the U.S. was 28%; in 2024, it was 26.4%. Other regions, particularly Emerging Asia, have achieved significant rates of growth and convergence.

When looking at different eras of growth and development for Latin America, it is not easy to extract common characteristics of high growth episodes. Generally, one would expect that strong commodity prices, domestic political stability or at least policy continuity, and pragmatic governments are minimum conditions. Latin America has those again today. However, history shows that there were periods of strong growth without particularly strong commodity prices (1950 to 1973), or strong investment (the commodities boom of the 2000s).

However, the common denominator across eras when Latin America has achieved high growth and convergence (an increase in its GDP per capita as a share of the U.S. GDP per capita) is when the USD has been weak. This is because a weak USD implies easier financial conditions for emerging markets: Capital flows increase searching for stronger currencies and returns, debt repayment is cheaper, and commodity prices move higher. Right now, the global economy is facing a weak(er) USD regime that has benefited Latin America, and that for various reasons might be expected to continue in the medium term.

The region is enjoying many other tailwinds as well. Commodity prices, and hence terms of trade for the region, are the highest they have been since the supercycle of the 2000s. Latin America has benefited from the global trade reconfiguration as it has been one of the few places in the world that has gained market share both in China and in the U.S. since 2016 when trade tensions started. This is due in part to the extraordinary geographic advantage that Latin America enjoys, being far away from geopolitical conflict, and its possession of large reserves of the minerals and commodities that a world in flux demands. The nearshoring of manufacturing finds the region ideally positioned. Macro management in the region has matured as the successful fight against post-pandemic inflation demonstrates, even ahead of other developed and emerging markets.

The political cycle is a tailwind as well with a turn towards governments that are more explicitly business-friendly and reform-oriented. The right-wing turn, additionally, better aligns the region with a U.S. that is more active in the region at a time when increased foreign investment and attention is being focused on the region.

Despite the many tailwinds that are aligning in favor of the region, growth is not yet accelerating. Growth remains resilient but low, stuck around the 2% trend, below potential and what is needed to escape the non-convergence trap. That is why we see the current period as one of opportunity but not one of a guaranteed era of success. The bull case does not rest on current growth, but on valuation, level of currencies, carry, terms of trade, policy credibility, and the serendipitous combination of favorable factors not seen in more than a decade. Opportunity is there but needs to be captured through action and reforms.

There are challenges of course. We discuss in depth the fiscal one, which in a number of countries requires forceful action amid political constraints and institutional rigidities. We do not discuss others, such as the complex security situation, which has been on top of mind for voters in the region.

Not all favorable circumstances will be in place forever, and some of them are beyond LatAm's control. That is, some of the tailwinds are cyclical, not structural, and some depend on external circumstances, not internal ones. However, across modern Latin American history it is hard to find episodes when a set of positive factors combine serendipitously to set the stage for a higher level of growth and convergence. The stakes for 660 million people living in the region, for investors leveraged to the region's future, and for future generations are high. It also underpins the political stability of the western hemisphere.

This Citi Research report digs deep into the current set of positive factors surrounding Latin America, discusses macro, trade, fiscal and productivity dimensions, and discusses investment implications across asset classes. We are proud to welcome the perspectives of the region's heads of Banking and Wealth as well to add to our view.

Latin America is in the right place, at the right time.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index is testing a breakout above a price ceiling that has capped several rallies since roughly 2014. The red dashed line marks resistance near 3,000, where advances stalled around 2017-19. The circled area shows the latest rally pushing back above that level.

The key question is whether 3,000 becomes a new support level, given the political tailwinds from recent elections that have shifted much of the continent to the right after years of failed progressive experiments.

The next big election to watch is Brazil (read the latest report).

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 19:40

Sinopec Sees China Oil Demand Falling 8.9% in 2026

Sinopec Sees China Oil Demand Falling 8.9% in 2026

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

China’s Sinopec, the world’s top refiner by capacity, expects Chinese oil demand to drop by 8.9% in 2026 from a year earlier amid demand destruction from higher oil prices and the acceleration of electric vehicle adoption.

Oil demand in the world’s biggest crude oil importer is expected to drop by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) on average this year compared to last year, according to estimates by Sinopec’s research arm quoted by Reuters.

Gasoline demand is set for an 8.7% decline, while diesel consumption is expected to crash by 11.4%, Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute says.

The only petroleum product used in transportation that would see an increase is jet fuel, whose demand is expected to increase by 1.3% this year compared to 2025.

The high oil and fuel prices amid the Iran war accelerated the structural shift toward EVs this year, eating into the road transportation fuel demand.

China has managed the Strait of Hormuz crisis better than most expectations as it slashed its imports of crude oil and temporarily banned fuel exports in the spring and early summer.

The high oil prices destroyed some demand and sped up the adoption of EVs, which has been growing anyway in recent years, suppressing total oil demand even without blocked crude supplies in the Middle East.

Amid falling road fuel demand, Sinopec, or China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation as it is officially known, is looking to transform its business.

Sinopec will be allocating more capital to new energy and chemicals by the end of the decade to grow revenues and profits amid the lowest domestic fuel sales in China in nearly a decade.

In its first-half earnings release, Sinopec flagged falling domestic fuel sales, which have been weighing on the company’s earnings for two years now.

“Due to the dampening effect of high oil prices on demand and accelerated substitution by new energy, domestic refined oil products consumption declined by 8.6% year on year, among which gasoline decreased by 7.9%, diesel decreased by 11.5%, while jet fuel (kerosene) rose by 1.3% driven by holiday travel and the recovery of international routes,” Sinopec said in its press release.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 19:15

Several US Warplanes Damaged In This Week's Iranian Attack On Base In Jordan: Report

Several US Warplanes Damaged In This Week's Iranian Attack On Base In Jordan: Report

The Iranian ballistic missile attack on an American base in Jordan this week ranks as one of the single biggest missile volleys sent over Jordan since the start of the US-led war.

The Tuesday night into Wednesday attack targeted Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, multiple international reports say. Widely shared but unconfirmed social media videos appeared to show several direct impacts on the base. But at least some of the images have been authenticated by outlets like Dropsite News.

Source: USAF

US Central Command (CENTCOM) sought to downplay the attack, saying initially that all troops were account for, but not immediately divulging whether casualties resulted. 

Since then, the Pentagon has said that no deaths resulted from the strikes on Jordan, during which time over 30 Patriot missiles were deployed as an aerial defensive measure.

While the Pentagon has remained mum on specifics, officials have acknowledged light material damage at the base.

New reporting from CBS says that several US military aircraft were damaged in the attack, based on anonymous defense officials, with at least one warplane being knocked out of commission:

Multiple American military aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes overnight Tuesday into Wednesday local time on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, people with direct knowledge of the matter told CBS News. 

One A-10 Thunderbolt, an attack aircraft known as the Warthog, was struck and lost a wing, the sources said. 

Roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were reportedly put back into service, according to the people familiar with the damage, who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

If the report is accurate, this means that clearly a number of missiles got through the dozens of Patriots launched to intercept. In summary...

  • Around eight F-15s reportedly suffered damage, while an A-10 Warthog was struck and lost a wing
  • US forces fired more than 30 Patriot missiles during the attack, costing over $126 million

Unconfirmed video: "The US Army is transferring Black Hawk helicopters from the American Muwaqqaf Al-Salti base in Jordan, including damaged helicopters."

Dozens of expensive aircraft, including large refuelers, have been destroyed by Iran's 'retaliation' throughout Operation Epic Fury as part of its 'debasifaction' campaign.

This has led to a broad retreat of US forces from 'frontline' Gulf bases, which may actually never be fully reconstituted again, or even rebuilt.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 18:50

Trump Broadens Interior's Role In National Energy Emergencies

Trump Broadens Interior's Role In National Energy Emergencies

Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump expanded the number of Cabinet officials who can independently exercise emergency powers involving the nation's energy supplies for the second time in six months.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum testifies on Capitol Hill on April 29, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

An executive order issued Sept. 8 gives the interior secretary authority under the Defense Production Act that had previously rested largely with the energy secretary. Trump added the energy secretary alongside the commerce secretary under a similar provision in March.

Before March, the commerce secretary held authority under one provision intended to maximize energy supplies. Trump's action Tuesday leaves the three officials independently authorized to act on energy-related matters under the Defense Production Act.

The Defense Production Act, created five years after the end of World War II, allows the president to tell private companies to give federal contracts priority over private-sector customers. It also allows the president to provide financial incentives to increase the supply of materials and technologies considered vital to national defense. Congress has reauthorized the law more than 50 times since its enactment in 1950.

The Interior Department oversees federal lands and waters containing significant energy and mineral resources. Its agencies administer onshore oil and gas leasing and production, while the interior secretary approves the five-year schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales. The department's energy portfolio also includes coal, critical minerals, geothermal energy, and wind and solar development on public lands.

The new order gives the interior and energy secretaries independent authority to require that certain energy-related contracts receive priority and to allocate energy resources when necessary to support national defense.

The order also establishes a process for resolving disagreements between the two departments. Energy-related disputes between the interior and energy secretaries will be referred to the National Energy Dominance Council. Disputes involving national defense infrastructure or military operations will be referred to the National Energy Dominance Council and the National Security Council while coordinating with the Department of War.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a former North Dakota governor, also chairs the White House National Energy Dominance Council. In March, Burgum went to Venezuela to meet with leader Delcy Rodriguez to discuss investments and expansion of the country's natural resources.

Nearly six months later, Trump announced a deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels from Venezuela's oil reserves. Trump said the deal was a partnership of private businesses and was brokered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth while working with Rodriguez.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 18:25

Right-Wing Bolsonaro Overtakes Socialist Lula On Polymarket As Brazil Election Nears

Right-Wing Bolsonaro Overtakes Socialist Lula On Polymarket As Brazil Election Nears

Polymarket's "Brazil Presidential Election" market, with nearly $150 million in trading volume, now favors right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro over leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of October's election. The shift follows polling data released earlier this week showing Bolsonaro pulling ahead in a hypothetical runoff, although the candidates remain statistically tied within the margin of error.

Bolsonaro took the lead on Polymarket around 8:20 a.m. ET, and by early Thursday afternoon, he stood at around 52.8% versus Lula's 44%.

On Tuesday, the BTG Pactual/Nexus survey showed that Bolsonaro had edged ahead of Lula for the first time. This comes as a deepening Supreme Court scandal strengthens the conservative challenger's campaign.

As the gap between Bolsonaro and Lula narrowed in recent weeks and the race became a toss-up, we pointed out an "explosive surge" in call open interest in the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ).

On Thursday, Citi chief Latin America economist Ernesto Revilla told clients that Latin America is "poised for take-off," as a right-wing political shift across the continent, a weaker dollar, firm commodity prices, and global supply-chain realignment were producing tailwinds for the region.

Also this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off his South America tour on Tuesday, first meeting with Trump-backed Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella to strengthen security and economic ties as several countries in the region shift toward right-wing governments. 

A Bolsonaro victory would cement South America's broader shift from unhinged left-wing regimes toward the common-sense right.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 18:00

Trump Admin Proposes Excluding Illegal Immigrants From Census Count

Trump Admin Proposes Excluding Illegal Immigrants From Census Count

Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration is proposing to change how the U.S. Census is conducted by excluding illegal immigrants from the population totals that are used to determine political representation.

The Census Bureau posted a proposed rule on Wednesday that said it also wants to prohibit the inclusion of questions about race and ethnicity or sexual orientation on the census in "short-form questionnaire or any questionnaire used for purposes of the enumeration."

The proposed rule said that questions about race and sexual orientation have a "sensitive" nature and could impede responses, and removing them could lead to a higher rate of participation.

The proposed rule cites the definition of "usual residence" as a reason to exclude illegal immigrants.

It states, "Given the historical meaning of 'usual residence' as tied to allegiance, durable permission from the sovereign to settle within the United States, and establishment of domicile within the United States, the Census Bureau proposes to include lawful permanent residents within the apportionment base, while excluding from the apportionment base illegal aliens and aliens whose legal status is less durable and indefinite in length than lawful permanent resident status."

The proposal would extend beyond unauthorized immigrants. It would also exclude foreign citizens whose legal status is "less durable and indefinite in length" than lawful permanent resident status.

The Census Bureau said it is considering using its "enormously broad access" to administrative records to determine an individual's legal status.

The proposed restrictions on demographic questions would apply to the census conducted every 10 years, but not to the American Community Survey or other Census Bureau surveys.

The Census determines how the 435 seats in the House are divided among states, affects Electoral College representation, and the distribution of federal funding.

Excluding undocumented immigrants could reduce the representation of states with large immigrant populations, such as New York and California.

New York Attorney General Letitia James's office said it was exploring legal options over the proposed changes in a post on X on Wednesday.

"The Constitution is clear. Every person living in the United States, regardless of immigration status, must be counted in the Census," James's office stated.

"We stopped the Trump administration's Census attacks in 2020, and we're exploring our legal options to fight back again."

The White House didn't respond to an email seeking comment.

Trump directed the Commerce Department to develop a plan for the U.S. Census that excluded undocumented immigrants in August 2025.

Trump said the count should use modern data, including information from the 2024 election, but did not specify whether he wanted an additional Census before 2030 or a change applying to future counts.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 17:40

Ten AI Jobs That Pay Up To 85% More Than Traditional Tech Jobs

Ten AI Jobs That Pay Up To 85% More Than Traditional Tech Jobs

Tech professionals who add AI skills to their existing expertise can earn significantly more than those in traditional roles, according to a September 2026 study by software talent marketplace Lemon.io. In some cases, the salary premium approaches 85%, while several career transitions could take less than six months, according to Lemon.io.

The research compared established tech jobs with their AI focused equivalents using average base salary data from Indeed, Built In, and Coursera. It also analyzed Google Jobs postings and monthly search volume to determine which AI titles have genuine hiring demand. The roles were then ranked by the salary increase over their traditional counterparts.

ML site reliability engineers came out on top, earning an estimated $240,000 a year compared with $130,000 for traditional site reliability engineers. That is an increase of nearly 85%, or $110,000 annually. The role builds on distributed systems expertise while adding skills such as GPU fleet management and maintaining reliable machine learning training workloads. The transition is estimated to take five to nine months, with 587 job postings identified.

AI/GPU cloud engineers followed with a salary of $250,000, the highest overall pay in the study. Traditional cloud engineers earn around $140,000, meaning AI specialization could increase their salary by nearly 79%. The role requires additional expertise in GPU computing, high speed networking, and storage for large AI workloads. The estimated transition takes five to nine months.

AI solutions architects can earn around $215,000 a year, nearly 60% more than the $135,000 average for traditional solutions architects. The additional skills center on areas such as RAG architecture, model selection, and AI governance rather than deep infrastructure expertise. Experienced architects could potentially make the transition in three to six months, and the study found 765 job postings for the role.

The Lemon.io study shows that Software engineers moving into AI engineering could increase their average salary from $145,000 to $230,000, adding about $85,000 to their annual pay. Existing programming, system design, and CI/CD experience remains valuable, while additional skills include LLM orchestration, RAG pipelines, and AI agent frameworks. The transition takes an estimated four to eight months, and nearly 1,000 job postings were identified.

AI product managers earn an estimated $210,000 annually, compared with $135,000 for traditional product managers, a salary increase of nearly 56%. The role does not require engineering level expertise, but it does demand a solid understanding of AI technologies and their capabilities and limitations. With an estimated transition time of three to six months, it is also one of the more accessible moves in the ranking.

AI analytics engineers can increase their average salary from $122,000 to $185,000, a gain of almost 52%. The transition is among the quickest, taking an estimated three to five months. The research identified 700 job postings for the position.

AI infrastructure engineers earn around $185,000 annually, compared with $130,000 for traditional infrastructure engineers, representing an increase of about 42%. The transition takes an estimated six to 12 months, making it one of the longer paths, but hiring demand is substantial, with 993 job postings identified.

AI data architects earn approximately $190,000 a year, around 40% more than the $136,000 average for traditional data architects. Professionals could potentially make the transition within four to seven months. The study recorded 488 available positions for the role.

LLM engineers earn an estimated $215,000 annually, compared with a baseline salary of $155,000, resulting in a salary premium of nearly 39%. The role also generated more search interest than any other position in the study, with 1.27 million monthly searches. The research identified 817 job postings, while the transition is estimated to take three to six months.

AI application developers round out the top 10, earning around $180,000 a year compared with $137,000 for traditional application developers, an increase of just over 31%. Despite having the smallest salary premium in the ranking, the role had the most job openings, with 1,254 postings. The estimated transition takes four to six months.

The findings suggest that tech professionals may not need to completely change careers to benefit from growing demand for AI expertise. Adding AI capabilities to existing experience in software development, cloud computing, infrastructure, data, or product management could translate into tens of thousands of dollars in additional annual pay.

The salary advantage may not last indefinitely, however. A senior talent sourcer at Lemon.io said employers are currently paying a premium because qualified AI candidates remain relatively scarce. As more professionals acquire these skills and the talent pool expands, the gap between traditional tech salaries and their AI equivalents is likely to narrow.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 17:20

South Koreans Rally Against Hormuz Deployment In Front Of US Embassy

South Koreans Rally Against Hormuz Deployment In Front Of US Embassy

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com

Protesters gathered near the US Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday to rally against joining the US war with Iran, as the South Korean government is considering deploying military forces to help the US efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Carrying signs that read "Do Not Join a War of Aggression" and "No Military Deployment to Hormuz," the protesters chanted, "We cannot send our young people into a sea of death," according to AFP, which reported from the scene and estimated that about 60 people took part in the demonstration.

via AFP

"Sending our troops to an illegal war waged by the United States is unacceptable," Choi Young-ok, a member of Korean Peace Solidarity for Sovereignty and Reunification, a group that is highly critical of the US military presence in South Korea, told AFP.

"There is no reason for us to send troops when no other country has done so or said it would," added Choi, who also warned that sending South Korean troops would "inevitably lead to casualties."

Also on Wednesday, the office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said it has not yet made a final decision on whether Seoul will send troops to the Strait of Hormuz. "The government has not yet finalized its policy and is cautiously assessing it," said Seong Ghi-hong, a press secretary for the presidential office.

Due to its reliance on energy and other exports from the Persian Gulf, the US’s war with Iran has triggered an energy and economic shock in South Korea, and the US is now reportedly putting pressure on Seoul to join the war in some way.

The South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday that the South Korean Defense Ministry has sent a fact-finding mission to the region to assess the potential deployment.

The team is expected to visit the UAE, which hosts US military bases, and could serve as a hub for operations if South Korean forces are deployed to assist in the war.

Amid the South Korean government’s deliberations, Iran has warned Seoul not to get involved.

"The military presence or operational participation of other nations in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would inevitably be viewed as direct support for the party committing acts of aggression, and would lead to serious consequences," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei wrote on X on Monday.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 17:00

Oracle Rises After Cloud Revenues Beat Thanks To Massive CapEx, Soaring Debt

Oracle Rises After Cloud Revenues Beat Thanks To Massive CapEx, Soaring Debt

Earnings season may be over, but the occasional earnings reports are still trickling through, and moments ago we got the latest off-season report from the most indebted company in AI, Oracle, which reported adjusted revenue for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate, and which helped push the stock higher, but just barely above where it opened. 

Here's what ORCL reported moments ago for its fiscal first quarter:

  • Adjusted revenue $19.35 billion, +30% y/y, beating estimates of $19.13 billion 
    • Cloud Infrastructure revenue (IaaS) $7.39 billion vs. $3.3 billion y/y, beating estimates of $7.19 billion
    • Software revenue $5.55 billion, -3% y/y, missing estimates of $5.67 billion
    • Hardware revenue $774 million, +16% y/y, beatring estimate $671.1 million
    • Service revenue $1.41 billion, +4.8% y/y, estimate $1.38 billion
      • Software Support revenue $4.90 billion, -1.2% y/y, beating estimates of $4.88 billion
      • Software License revenue $655 million, -14% y/y, missing estimates $718.8 million
  • Adjusted operating income $8.15 billion, +31% y/y, beating estimates of $7.81 billion
  • Adjusted operating margin 42% vs. 42% y/y, beating estimates of 40.8%
     
  • Adjusted EPS $1.92 vs. $1.47 y/y, beating estimates estimate $1.75 
     
  • CapEx $28.5BN, Exp. 22.3BN

Oracle's cloud computing revenue growth topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting the company’s large AI data center projects are helping boost its financial results. Of note, sales in the cloud infrastructure business jumped 121% to $7.4 billion, above the median estimate of $7.19 billion, however this was all on the back of far greater capex spending (see below). As a reminder, this is the hockeystock the company projected for its Cloud Infra Revenue a year ago. Good luck with that.

The financial highlights visually:

A breakdown of ORCL's cloud revenue: the growth rates while material, are well below some of its largest - and far less indebted - peers.

Looking ahead, the company projects EPS to be between $1.83 and $1.91 in constant currency and between $1.85 and $1.93 in USD, which represents growth of 19% to 23% in constant currency and 21% to 25% in USD (excluding a one-time gain from Q2 FY2026.)

Including the investment gain, Q2 FY27 non-GAAP EPS is expected to decline between -19% and -15% in constant currency and decline between -18% and -14% in USD.

For the full fiscal year 2027, Oracle expects total revenue to be at least $90 billion (up 34% in constant currency), and non-GAAP EPS to be at $8.10 (up 18% in constant currency).

While we doubt the market will give it much credit for its RPO, especially since it comes with so much massive off-balance sheet debt, that if one were to actually look at how it is funded, the stock would crater, 

The bigger question is when will ORCL's massive capex convert into actual revenues...

... and more importantly cash flow, as the company continues to burn billions every quarter and is forced to fund itself with ever greater amounts of equity sales and debt. 

ORCL also said it completed an earlier-announced plan to sell $20 billion of equity from time to time at market value. Ahead of Thursday’s earnings, several analysts had raised questions about the timing of the at-the-market equity sale. 

Oracle, traditionally a boring provider of database software, has refashioned itself as a provider of computing power for artificial intelligence work and is embarking on a major build-out of data centers for OpenAI and other customers. It has done so by spending massive amount of capital and taking on even more massive amounts of debt as its cash flow is deeply negative. 

Wall Street is watching the scale of spending on these ambitious projects and how quickly Oracle can complete them. The company said it added 850 megawatts of data center capacity in the quarter.

In response to the beat, ORCL shares gained modestly, rising 4% in extended trading after closing at $152.94, sliding sharply into the earnings. In other words, the stock is now where it closed yesterday.

The stock had dropped 38% since its June 1 high for the year on concerns over financing needs, rising component costs and news reports on data center construction challenges, wrote Derrick Wood, an analyst at TD Cowen, ahead of the results.

And since there is little indication the cash burn will end any time soon, buying ORCL CDS here appears like the far more prudent thing to do than buying the stock and praying...

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 16:46

Supreme Court Blocks Missouri Republicans' New Congressional Map

Supreme Court Blocks Missouri Republicans' New Congressional Map

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Thursday from using the state's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, an order that puts Missouri back under the districts adopted in 2022. The order ran one page, disclosed no vote, gave no reasoning, and drew no noted dissents.

In this photo taken with a smartphone, people opposed to a congressional redistricting plan rally outside the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo., Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

Missouri Republicans drew the new map - known as HB 1 - during a 2025 special session called by Gov. Mike Kehoe, part of a wider redistricting push President Trump encouraged. It was intended to give Republicans seven of the state's eight House seats, reworking the Kansas City-based 5th District held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of Missouri's two Democratic members.

Opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures late last year to put the map to a statewide vote. Hoskins rejected the petition on Aug. 4 - the day of Missouri's primary - arguing the state constitution "does not authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting plans passed by the General Assembly."

The Missouri Supreme Court disagreed unanimously on Sept. 3, holding that the constitution "authorizes a referendum as to 'any act of the general assembly' and no exception applies." Because the petition was "legal, sufficient, and timely," the court concluded, the new map was never in effect and will not take effect "unless and until approved by the voters at the November 2026 general election."

The court also dismantled Hoskins' warning that abandoning the new map would cause confusion and expense, calling the argument "wholly unpersuasive" and noting that "these arguments are particularly misplaced given the secretary's delay created" the problems he was complaining about.

The constitutional argument

Hoskins went to the U.S. Supreme Court that Friday night, telling the justices Missouri was "genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election." His core claim was an elections-clause theory: that the Constitution gives state legislatures, not voters signing a petition, the power to set the "Times, Places, and Manner" of federal elections. He added that the state ruling disenfranchised "hundreds of thousands" of voters by moving them into districts where they would be "forced to vote on General Election candidates they had no role in choosing."

Richard von Glahn, who led the referendum committee People Not Politicians, argued the justices had no power to review a ruling resting purely on state law, and that on the merits Hoskins' "Elections Clause theory runs headlong into more than a century of precedent recognizing that state constitutional referendum procedures may constrain congressional-redistricting legislation."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from Missouri, turned Hoskins down Tuesday afternoon without referring the request to the full court.

Then it got complicated

Less than an hour later, a federal judge ordered the opposite. Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order requiring the state to use the 2025 map, in a case filed Sept. 4 by Rep. Robert Onder, a Republican representing Missouri's 3rd District, among others. Clark acknowledged that "conducting state elections in accordance with the Missouri Constitution undoubtedly qualifies as an important interest," but found the federal challengers faced irreparable harm "because many Missouri voters would have to cast their general-election votes for candidates whom they had no role in nominating."

Missouri spent the next two days under directly conflicting orders from its own supreme court and a federal one. Hoskins had instructed election administrators to implement the 2022 map immediately after the state ruling. On Sept. 8 he sent a second email telling them to use the 2025 map instead - the act that put him in contempt proceedings.

Von Glahn's team went to the Eighth Circuit Tuesday night. That court declined. They returned to Kavanaugh Wednesday afternoon with a 25-page filing, and this time he referred it to the full court. Attorney Abha Khanna told the justices Clark's order "has been in place for mere hours, but the chaos it guarantees has already taken root," and that leaving it in place would cause the disruption Purcell forbids "by subjecting election officials to irreconcilable judicial commands on the eve of an election, with a federal court inserting itself to wreak havoc on the State's elections."

Their central procedural argument: Clark lacked authority to act without convening a three-judge court, which federal law generally requires for constitutional challenges involving congressional apportionment.

What Thursday's order does and doesn't do

The order stays Clark's ruling - the second time the dispute reached the Supreme Court in a single week - and resolves nothing else. It does not decide standing, the three-judge-court question, or the merits. The stay holds while the appeal proceeds in the Eighth Circuit, and ends automatically if the justices decline to hear the case.

"The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear, as was the Missouri Supreme Court," von Glahn said in a statement, adding that Hoskins "has shown that he cannot effectively do the job he was elected to do."

Hoskins' lawyers had filed minutes before the ruling came down, warning that election authorities were already preparing ballots under the 2025 map and that switching back risked the Sept. 19 deadline for military and overseas ballots. The U.S. solicitor general joined the state in opposing the stay.

The order came the same morning Hoskins was due before the Missouri Supreme Court to argue why he should not be held in contempt over that Sept. 8 email. He had asked Clark to block the state proceeding. Clark declined.

Missouri's deadline to finalize general election ballots has already passed. Some counties paused work on congressional ballots entirely while others prepared the portions unaffected by the fight. Voters will decide the map itself in November as Proposition A. The first ballots go out Sept. 19.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 16:40

When Grievance Enters The Huddle

When Grievance Enters The Huddle

Authored by Andre Billeaudeaux via American Thinker,

The NAACP is asking some of America's best black high-school football players to consider withholding commitments from public universities in eight states because of congressional redistricting. Current athletes are encouraged to consider transferring and using their NIL platforms to support the cause. The slogan is direct: "No Representation. No Recruitment. No Revenue."

The campaign followed the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision striking down Louisiana's intentionally created second majority-black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Rather than leaving that dispute in the courthouse and statehouse, the NAACP is asking black athletes to carry it into their college choices, campuses, and locker rooms.

That is a heavy psychological load to place on a 17-year-old who may have spent a decade developing the talent, discipline, and confidence required to be recruited by Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, or another major program. Universities want him, NIL money may follow, and the NFL may eventually follow that. At the moment when his talent has given him control over his future, he is being encouraged to see himself as a victim and act on that grievance.

Black Studies professor Elwood Watson called it "grossly irresponsible and unfair" to enlist young athletes in such a political fight, warning against turning them into "athletic guinea pigs or pawns." Educator Rann Miller questioned asking young black athletes to sacrifice NIL and career opportunities when comparable sacrifices are not being demanded from the adults asking them to join the fight.

Sports psychology supplies another warning: mental fatigue. It is not simply being tired, but a state associated with sustained cognitive demands, reduced cognitive efficiency, impaired attention, and increased perceived effort. The athlete's body may be capable of performing while his brain is required to process too much.

Now consider the NAACP's ask, particularly the age of the people being asked. Research following decision-making from adolescence into adulthood has found that younger people place greater value on immediate rewards and that the capacity for planning ahead continues developing into young adulthood. The NAACP is asking athletes at this stage to weigh immediate political and social rewards against educational, financial, and professional opportunities that may not fully materialize for years - maps, representation, family expectations, teammates, transferring, and whether to use his NIL identity politically - all while coaches try to get him to read a defense and execute the next play.

A 2026 BMC Psychology meta-analysis involving 19 study records found mental fatigue associated with poorer reaction time, technical execution, and decision-making. The measured effects were roughly one-half of a standard deviation for reaction time, six-tenths for technical performance and two-thirds for decision-making, where the results were the most consistent.

Elite athletic performance seeks the opposite condition: flow. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described flow as complete absorption in an activity, where action and awareness merge, concentration intensifies and irrelevant thoughts are excluded. The athlete's attention is consumed by what he is doing now.

I was a student of Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who used Walter Mischel's famous marshmallow experiment to demonstrate the importance of time perspective. The child faced an immediate reward - one marshmallow now - or delayed gratification for two later. When researchers returned 14 years later, those who had resisted the immediate reward averaged 250 points higher on the SAT, got into less trouble and were described as better students, more self-confident, and determined. Zimbardo's point was that "they were future-focused rather than present-focused."

Put that against the NAACP's call. The immediate reward is obvious: take a stand, demonstrate solidarity, and receive the approval accompanying the cause. The delayed reward may be worth millions over a lifetime: choose the university and coach offering the best chance to develop talent, earn an education, maximize NIL value and perhaps reach the NFL.

The marshmallow has simply become considerably more expensive.

Elon Musk supplied the cultural shorthand "woke mind virus," warning against replacing individual "skills and integrity" with race and group identity and describing the constant injection of race into issues as "divisive and corrosive to society."

Former college coach Tommy Tuberville put the football problem this way: if a quarterback effectively takes himself out of the common mission, "that tends to tear down your team" and takes the "moral loyalty out of it." Before a game his players stood to honor America and afterward knelt to honor God. Coaches build common identity, loyalty and concentration because eleven individually talented players still have to perform as one.

Reverse that process - introduce distraction, immediate political reward, victimization and racial division - and then expect it to disappear when the ball is snapped.

Colin Kaepernick gave us an opportunity to see what happened next.

On August 26, 2016, Kaepernick sat during the national anthem before a preseason game against Green Bay, explaining that he would not stand for a flag representing a country that "oppresses black people and people of color." He subsequently began kneeling, turning an ordinary pre-game ritual into a national argument involving race, police and America.

The 49ers were already expected to be bad, with Las Vegas setting their preseason win total at only 5½ games. They finished 2-14, a 64% shortfall from that already miserable expectation. Kaepernick started eleven games and went 1-10, while his individual statistics - 16 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 90.7 passer rating - were hardly disastrous.

In 2015, the season before the kneeling controversy, San Francisco surrendered 387 points. By 2016 it finished 32nd in yards and points allowed, surrendering 480 points - 93 more than the previous season, a 24% increase. Kaepernick did not play defense, but his teammates shared the locker room, media attention, anthem controversy, and decisions about whether to participate, disagree or remain silent.

I began describing the phenomenon at the time as Self-Inflicted Degradation of Performance Syndrome, or SIDOPS - my term for grievance and resulting distraction degrading individual performance and spreading through a team's shared environment. Work I published in 2017 - 18 compared protesting teams against Vegas expectations and asked whether a victim-based mental state and social contagion might show up in athletic performance - years before the 2026 mental-fatigue research reported measurable degradation in reaction time, technical execution and decision-making.

"Hands Up, Don't Shoot" became a national rallying cry following the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, but Eric Holder's Justice Department later found no credible witness who could establish that Brown was shot while clearly surrendering. Witnesses supporting that account were contradicted by physical evidence, changed their accounts or recanted, while investigators found no eyewitness who said Brown uttered "don't shoot."

The slogan survived the facts, just as grievance can survive the event that created it.

Ten years later, Kaepernick says the NFL is still "actively blackballing" him and that he no longer watches professional football: "I watch college football."

Before the kneeling, Kaepernick had quarterbacked a Super Bowl team and earned a contract potentially worth more than $100 million. During the kneeling season he went 1-10 and never played another NFL game. Ten years later, he still describes himself as a victim of the league that once made him a star.

Now the NAACP is encouraging young black athletes to bring a similar grievance into decisions that may determine their own futures. Kaepernick's career cannot prove what SIDOPS predicts, but it provides a warning of what may follow.

Before asking another gifted young athlete to organize his future around grievance, look at the scoreboard - and remember what happened to the last quarterback who took a knee.

Image generated by ChatGPT.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/10/2026 - 16:20

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