China Is Deliberately Using Fentanyl To 'Kneecap' The US, FBI Director Says

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

Communist China has a long-term plan to weaken the United States by fueling the fentanyl crisis, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.

Patel sat down for a wide-ranging interview with podcaster Joe Rogan on June 6, saying that President Donald Trump has done an “amazing job” at going after drug trafficking organizations and shoring up the southern border. However, the root of the U.S. fentanyl crisis lies with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he added, due to China’s exports of fentanyl precursors.

One thing is clear is that China is “not making a ton of money” with its precursor exports, Patel added.

“In my opinion, the CCP [has] used it as a directed approach because we are their adversary,” Patel said. “And their long-term game is, ‘how do I,’ in my opinion, ‘kneecap the United States of America, our largest adversary?’” Patel said.

Patel said that the long-term plan is to “take out generations of young men and women” who could have taken on jobs such as a police officer, a soldier, or a teacher.

“That’s what they [China] are doing, when you wipe out tens of thousands of Americans a year. It’s a long-term plan for them,” he said.

In 2024, there were an estimated 48,422 deaths involving synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to data from the CDC.

In March, Trump imposed an additional 20 percent on Chinese imports over China’s role in facilitating the production of fentanyl.

Patel said China has lied to the world about stopping fentanyl precursors.

“What they did was to trick the world. They came out and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna sell precursor X.’ They’re like, ‘So now we’re out of the fentanyl trade entirely,’” Patel said. “The problem is, there [are] 14 other precursors you can use to make fentanyl, and they’re still shipping all of those.”

India and Canada

Since assuming the post of FBI chief, Patel said his bureau started a “massive enterprise” to go after China-based companies making fentanyl precursors. Now, the Chinese firms are shipping precursors to India and Canada instead, he added.

“They’re taking the precursors up to Canada, manufacturing it up there, and doing their global distribution routes from up there, because we’ve been so effective down south,” Patel said.

Patel said he “just got off the phone with the Indian government.”

“So my FBI is over there working with the heads of their [Indian] government, law enforcement authorities to say, ‘We’re going to find these companies that buy it, and we’re going to shut them down. We’re going to sanction them. We’re going to arrest them where we can. We’re going to indict them in America if we can. We’re going to indict them in India,’” Patel said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued its latest annual threat assessment report in May, expressing concerns about sophisticated fentanyl “super laboratories” in Canada.

The report noted that while fentanyl originating from Canada remains small compared to the volume coming from Mexico, it still poses a concern. “These [Canadian] operations have the potential to expand and fill any supply void created by disruptions to Mexico-sourced fentanyl production and trafficking,” the report states.

In January, two pharmaceutical companies in India, Raxuter Chemicals and Athos Chemicals, were charged with criminal conspiracy to distribute and import fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere. Bhavesh Lathiya, a founder and senior executive of Raxuter Chemicals, was arrested in New York City and indicted on similar charges.

The companies used deceptive and fraudulent practices to avoid detection, including mislabeling packages, falsifying customs forms, and making false declarations at border crossings, according to prosecutors.

In May, federal authorities arrested 16 individuals and seized more than 400 kilograms of fentanyl across five states, in the largest fentanyl bust in DEA history, according to the Department of Justice.

Patel warned that drug traffickers are producing counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl and using pill presses to shape them like candy or gummy bears, making them more appealing to young people.

Three Chinese nationals and a China-based company were charged in May for allegedly importing pill presses and other equipment for making “lethal fake pills” into the United States.

“I promised the president, the American people, we will not have kids dying of fentanyl overdoses in our streets. Just give me a little bit more time. We have a massive operation going on around the world on this,” Patel said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 06:30

These Are The Top 10 US States By Defense Spending

DoD contracts hit $609.2 billion across U.S. states in 2023, up $50.5 billion over the year.

Overall, Texas outranked Virginia as the leading recipient of Department of Defense spending—largely concentrated in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Over the past decade, Texas’ share of defense spending has increased by 10% while Virginia’s has remained fairly stable.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the top 10 U.S. states receiving defense spending, based on data from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Texas Receives the Biggest DoD Contracts

Here are America’s leading states for defense contracts and related spending in fiscal year 2023:

With $71.6 billion in spending, Texas ranks first overall, fueled by an $8.9 billion annual increase.

Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest arms companies, operates several factories in Texas, including an F-35 assembly plant. Meanwhile, RTX Corporation and General Dynamics run facilities across the state.

Following in second place is Virginia, home to 247,214 Department of Defense personnel. Strikingly, more than 228,000 acres of land are managed by the Department of Defense across the state. Along with the Pentagon and Marine Corps Base Quantico, it houses the world’s largest naval base.

In third spot is California, with $60.8 billion in spending. With more than 30 military installations and 161,000 active-duty military personnel, California plays a critical role in America’s military and national security operations. Together, defense and security activities contributed 5.1% to California’s GDP, equal to an estimated $196.7 billion in 2023.

To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on military spending around the world.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 05:45

The New World Order's Endgame

Authored by Todd Hayen via Off-Guardian.org,

Imagine it’s late 2025, and you’re at the grocery store, but your digital wallet’s throwing a tantrum. “Transaction denied: You questioned the climate mandate on X.” Your punishment? No organic kale for you, science denying, conspiracy theorist.

Welcome to the New World Order’s fever dream, where autonomy is as outdated as a VHS tape. We’ve all been shouting into the void about this globalist circus since 2022. Since then we’ve dealt with this geopolitical mess through the trade wars, the CBDC obsession, the wars in Europe and the Middle East, the threat of more scamdemics, all building to a 2025 power grab that will make dystopian novelists jealous.

But we don’t sip the Kool-Aid. This article rips apart the NWO’s playbook, exposes its psychological dirty tricks, and hands you a toolkit to stay free. Ready to outsmart the overlords? Let’s roll.

If 2024 were a movie, it’d be a geopolitical thriller with too many plot twists. Elections swept through Africa, the Americas, and beyond, flipping alliances like pancakes. Populists surged in Europe, nationalists flexed in Asia, and the U.S. election had everyone clutching their popcorn. Meanwhile, U.S.-China tensions simmered, Russia played energy czar, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) kept cooing about “global resilience.” The IMF reports trade restrictions tripled since 2019, splintering the world into economic fiefdoms. The U.S. dollar still holds court—over 80% of trade finance—but China’s e-CNY (China’s digital currency) is strutting onto the stage, and sanctions are pushing countries to ghost SWIFT like it’s a bad Tinder match.

This isn’t just chaos; it’s psychological warfare. Constant upheaval—will food prices soar? Will borders lock down?—keeps you jumpy, ready to grab any “stable” lifeline, even if it’s a globalist leash. The NWO feeds on this fear, dangling supranational solutions like the UN’s “Pact for the Future” or WEF’s Great Reset as humanity’s only hope. It’s a classic trick: scare people witless, then offer a saviour. Hey, we’re smarter than all that, eh? Dig into alternative sources like The Kingston Report or Off-Guardian, question every headline, and champion local governance over Davos pipe dreams. The NWO wants you rattled; stay sharp and sovereign instead.

Trade in 2024 was less “global marketplace” and more Hunger Games with extra tariffs. The U.S. hammered China with tech bans, the EU doubled down on protectionism, and supply chains buckled under post-Ukraine energy shifts. Russia, now the world’s gas station, tightened its grip on critical minerals, while inflation had folks rationing their coffee. Canada’s trade spats with the U.S. over lumber didn’t help, and developing nations scrambled for scraps as rich countries hoarded resources. These disputes aren’t just about money; they’re about control.

Psychologically, economic pain is a compliance machine. When your bank account’s crying and the shelves are empty, you’re more likely to nod along to promises of universal basic income or digital ration cards—complete with fine print that says “obey or starve.” You and I see the game: trade wars are a feature, not a bug, designed to funnel power to global elites while leaving us dependent. Remember 2022’s supply chain chaos? It’s back, and it’s wearing a new outfit. We need to fight back by going local. Hit farmers’ markets, barter with your neighbour for eggs, and tell global trade czars to shove it. Your autonomy’s worth more than their imported widgets.

Now, let’s talk central bank digital currencies—CBDCs, or the NWO’s shiny new shackles. By mid-2024, 134 countries, covering 98% of global GDP, were deep in CBDC fever. China’s e-CNY clocked $986 billion in transactions, paying for everything from school fees to hospital bills. The EU’s digital euro is slated for 2025, Brazil and India ran pilots, and even the Bahamas has a digital sand dollar.

Sounds like progress, right?

Nope. These are digital chokeholds. Programmable money lets governments play dictator with your wallet: buy approved goods, fine; fund a protest, no dice. X posts call it a “totalitarian nightmare,” and they’re spot-on. China’s already linking payments to social credit, and the Atlantic Council smirks about “managing privacy” (translation: torching it).

The psychological hook is insidious. CBDCs normalize surveillance, cooing, “Nothing to hide, nothing to fear,” until you’re fine with Big Brother auditing your smoothie budget. Worse, they make money a privilege, not a right, tying your purchases to compliance. Imagine a world where your vaccine status dictates your grocery budget—Canada’s 2022 bank freezes were a sneak preview. Tell me about it, I experienced this firsthand. Don’t fall for the digital bait. Stick to cash, dive into decentralized cryptos like Bitcoin or Monero, and keep your transactions off the grid. The NWO wants your wallet wired; cut the cords and stay free. Of course, we all already know all this.

Let’s channel Carl Jung for a minute, because the NWO’s endgame is a full-on assault on your psyche. Geopolitical chaos, trade wars, and CBDCs are a triple whammy against your inner “self.” Fear from global instability kills critical thinking—think 2020’s pandemic panic, but on steroids. Economic desperation breeds conformity; when you’re broke, you’re less likely to rock the boat. Digital money enforces compliance, turning dissent into a financial death sentence. Together, they’re a psychological cage, designed to make you a docile cog in the globalist machine.

Look at China’s social credit system, where a bad score means no train ticket. Or Canada’s 2022 trucker crackdown, where bank accounts were frozen for waving the wrong flag. These aren’t glitches; they’re blueprints. The NWO wants you scared, dependent, and silent, your autonomy swapped for a pat on the head. I think most of you reading this are built a bit different. Let’s reclaim our psyche with mindfulness to stay grounded, critical thinking to sniff out lies, and community to fight the loneliness trap. Form a book club, start a garden co-op, or just chat with a neighbour who gets it. The NWO thrives on isolation; you thrive on connection.

So, what’s 2025 and 2026 cooking? If 2024’s trends are any hint, brace for digital IDs, CBDC-controlled economies, and trade barriers that make self-reliance a fairy tale. The NWO’s endgame is a world where your every move is tracked, your money’s on a leash, and dissent is a museum piece. But shrews (us dissenters) don’t play dead. Here’s your 2025 battle plan:

1. Stay Informed: Ditch the mainstream noise for The Kingston Report, Off-Guardian, The Corbett Report, or X’s raw takes. Truth is your superpower.

2. Protect Privacy: Hoard cash, use encrypted apps like Signal, and embrace cryptos that don’t bow to banks. Your data’s not their toy.

3. Build Community: Form local networks for bartering, support, or just griping about the WEF. Shrews are a tribe, not a flock, or a herd.

4. Speak Out: Share your insights, whether it’s a blog post or a snarky meme. Every voice cracks the narrative.

The NWO’s 2025 power grab isn’t a conspiracy; it’s a neon sign flashing “control.” Geopolitical shifts, trade disputes, and CBDCs are the scaffolding, built on your fear and surrender. But you’re a shrew, not a sheep. You see through the psychological smoke, and you’re not here to clap for your chains.

The NWO bets on compliance, so bet on defiance. Stand firm, think critically, and take back your freedom in 2025. The endgame’s coming, but shrews write the rules.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 05:00

These Are America's Largest Defense Contractors

In 2023, the Department of Defense budget totaled $609.2 billion, equal to $1,819 for every U.S. resident.

Following a wave of consolidation in the past few decades, a handful of defense contractors dominate the industry. At the same time, many of these firms provide a diversified range of capabilities—from munitions and nuclear submarines to services that manage IT infrastructure.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the top U.S. defense firms by contract value, based on data from the Department of Defense.

The Top 10 Defense Firms by Contract Value

In the table below, we show the largest American defense contractors in fiscal 2023:

With $61.4 billion in contracts, Lockheed Martin stands as the largest overall by a wide margin.

Most notably, it completed a $30 billion contract to build F-35 fighter jets for the Pentagon and allies in 2023. Along with this, it was awarded contracts to manufacture precision-strike rockets and nuclear spacecraft.

Following next in line is RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies, at $24.1 billion in contracts. As the world’s most valuable defense company, RTX is worth $183 billion, driven by its broad range of missile systems, commercial aviation, and advanced technologies.

Ranking in third is Virginia-based General Dynamics, which typically generates the most revenue from its IT systems and marine divisions.

Overall, the number of prime contractors for the Department of Defense has declined from 51 in the 1990s to just five today. These legacy firms include Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman.

To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on military spending by country.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 04:15

James Madison's Appeal To Reasonable Discourse

Authored by Susan Brynne Long via RealClearPublicAffairs,

On June 8, 1789, James Madison rose before Congress and performed an about-face. The founder who had opposed the addition of a bill of rights to the Constitution conceded to pressure from advocates of adding amendments to protect Americans against abuses of government power. He gave a speech in which he defended amendments he never wanted.

Madison understood that in the critical moment of the nascent republic, compromise was necessary to move the country forward. His example of moderation amidst hostile rhetoric on both sides is a timely reminder in our present moment of division.

Why did Madison not think a bill of rights was necessary in the American political context?

The framers, led by Madison, codified a reversal of the political order that existed in the British colonial system. The people, not the monarch, were the source of all governing authority in the new republic. Under the Constitution, the people delegated – but did not surrender – their authority to the government. According to many pro-Constitution Federalists, Madison among them, this made a bill of rights superfluous.

The issue over adding a bill of rights originated in the state constitutions. The Virginia Bill of Rights pronounced that all power “derived from the people” before enumerating the protected rights of Virginians. Opponents maintained that this was paradoxical, because it presumed the government’s authority to infringe upon the people, which was declared in the same document to be the source of all governing authority. Nonetheless, many Americans felt that such declarations of their rights were essential.

Speaking in support of this perspective, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on interference.” Similar sentiments forced legislators in North Carolina to add a bill of rights to their constitution after their first convention did not draft one.

Madison was ultimately persuaded to change his position on the necessity of a bill of rights by those of Jefferson’s position. In a March 15, 1789, letter answering Madison’s opposition to the protectionary amendments, Jefferson implored his fellow founder that “the good in this instance vastly outweighs the evil.” Madison had posited that an exhaustive list of individual rights was impossible to achieve. Jefferson answered that “half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.”

Madison went further than changing his mind: he became an opponent of his own position.

Addressing his fellow delegates to the Constitutional Convention in a steamy Independence Hall, Madison rebutted popular arguments raised against a bill of rights and acknowledged his change in position. “I will own that I never considered this provision … essential to the Federal Constitution,” he noted. But he conceded that the amendments were “neither improper nor altogether useless.”

Answering the argument that a bill of rights was irrelevant to the new American political order, Madison vilified the Constitution’s admission of discretionary authority. The document empowered Congress “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” for the execution of its enumerated powers. A bill of rights, Madison contended, would offer a protection against abuse of this power.

The founder confronted the most formidable argument against adding a bill of rights to the Constitution. By enumerating the rights of the people, would the proposed amendments not “disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration?”

To critics raising such opposition, Madison pointed to his proposed amendments, which included careful language. The rights enumerated “shall not be so construed as to diminish the just importance of other rights retained by the people, or as to enlarge the powers delegated by the Constitution.” The Bill of Rights was not an exhaustive list, but rather an additional bulwark against possible abuses by the national government.

Ending his speech, Madison made an eloquent political appeal: “it will be proper in itself, and highly politic, for the tranquility of the public mind, and the stability of the Government” to add a bill of rights to the Constitution.

Madison could have stopped his argument there. Instead, he called for moderation in political rhetoric going forward.

The ratification debates had been fraught with vitriolic language and accusations. Madison took aim at his Antifederalist opponents who had charged Federalists with wanting to “lay the foundation of an aristocracy or despotism” by reordering the American government. Calling for compromise, Madison asked the Federalists to follow his lead and approve the Bill of Rights. This would prove that “they were as sincerely devoted to liberty and a republican government” as their opponents.

Madison’s commitment to cross-party compromise, and his appeal to temper political rhetoric, are relevant to our present moment. Democrats and Republicans alike often use dire, inflammatory language when discussing a range of contemporary issues. The impending financial shortfall of Social Security could cause a devastating recession. President Trump’s 2024 election signaled “the end of democracy” in America. Over 200 years ago, similar rhetoric spurred James Madison not to greater indignation, but to a political sacrifice that led to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Between ideology and national unity, and even survival, Madison chose the latter. Modern lawmakers would be wise to reflect on his example.

Susan Brynne Long, Ph.D., is a historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History and a fellow with the Jack Miller Center.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 03:30

Visualizing AI Innovation Across The Globe

AI is no longer a theoretical tool, only accessible in research labs. Today, it is a ubiquitous technology being adapted across every industry, driving intense global competition and spurring innovation.

For the second story in the AI For All series, Visual Capitalist partnered with ACT | The App Association to provide a global perspective on AI innovation.

A World of AI Innovation

With a healthy global spread of AI companies providing computing and foundational models, there is a robust competitive environment driving innovation.

Incumbents in the largest markets, who have the lead in the AI race, face fierce competition from scrappy AI startups around the globe.

It’s not just the vast U.S., Chinese, and European markets that are making advancements in AI. Innovators around the world, including from lower-middle-income nations (according to World Bank classifications) such as India, are thriving and competing on an equal footing.

Regulation or Innovation

Some policymakers are eager to regulate AI.

Rapidly evolving technology often prompts government overreactions, and when regulation overreaches, it risks stifling innovation

When balancing innovation and regulation, policymakers must ensure that the benefits they create outweigh the costs they impose.

A heavy-handed approach to AI regulation only strangles innovation or forces innovators into jurisdictions with less regulation. In either case, both consumers and competition suffer.

Are you looking for more insights into the world of AI?

The App Association will release its comprehensive guide on June 12th, 2025, examining how premature or overbroad antitrust action could jeopardize AI innovation and outlining a policy approach better aligned with the realities of emerging technology.

But if you can’t wait until the 12th, you can learn more about the AI economy here.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 02:45

30 Days Of Merz's Germany: No Chainsaw, No Reform

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

After thirty days under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the contours of his government are becoming clearer. From an economic policy perspective, the diagnosis is sound—but the treatment will worsen the disease.

Those who remember the Bundestag battles between then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) and his fiery rival, opposition leader Friedrich Merz, recall a man who once wrapped his rhetoric in the cloth of classical liberalism. Back then, Merz championed free enterprise where the state overreached, demanded tax cuts where the middle class was burdened, and called for deregulation to unleash growth. Had the "Milei chainsaw" existed in his time, Merz would have snatched it up with pride.

But those sweet days of opposition are long gone. Today, the spirit of the old CDU-SPD “grand coalition” has returned—with Merz sounding more like a budget manager than a reformer.

Big Promises, Hollow Delivery

Merz began his term promising to reignite the “power of the social market economy.” But across Berlin, there’s hardly anyone who knows how to make good on that vision. He spoke of liberating the economy, cutting red tape, recommitting to Germany’s constitutional debt brake, and ending the green-socialist central planning that’s throttled growth.

Yet skepticism is warranted. His campaign promises already lie in shambles, not least on migration. Germany's border crisis continues under the fig leaf of federal police presence—a familiar pantomime. The Merz-led CDU bears sole responsibility for blocking real reform by childishly excluding the AfD from any policy alignment. This exclusion has sabotaged a possible political pivot. The “traveling chancellor,” who’s spent more time abroad than at home, will eventually crash headlong into immigration reality.

Style Over Substance

Merz’s zigzag course on the debt brake illustrates his preference for optics over substance. Instead of defending the constitutional limit on borrowing—a cornerstone of conservative fiscal thinking—he caved to his new left-leaning allies. Exploiting extra-budgetary “special funds” to circumvent the constitution is fiscal malpractice. The debt brake, once a firewall against runaway spending, is now exposed as a paper tiger.

Merz seems more inclined to avoid conflict than to defend the future. He trades tomorrow’s prosperity for today’s consensus. But real political discourse requires conflict—especially with those partners who uphold the so-called firewall against the AfD. In the moralizing echo chamber of the mainstream, real fiscal debate has no place.

Rising welfare costs due to recession, labor market erosion, and uncontrolled immigration will be patched over with increased payroll taxes and federal transfers. And as absurd as it may sound, the government’s solution is a trillion-euro “investment package” intended to give the illusion of forward momentum. Real reforms—on pensions or health care—remain off the table. Public debt is set to surge from 63% to 95% of GDP, pushing Germany into the middle tier of Europe’s debtor nations. But as long as social peace (or coalition harmony) is preserved, the price is deemed acceptable.

Fantasy Tools for a Real Crisis

Berlin bets on baby steps: a slight cut to corporate taxes, a reinstated degressive depreciation rule. These micro-measures are bundled under the marketing slogan “investment booster.” Familiar buzzwords return—cutting bureaucracy, speeding up permits, digitalizing the administration. Merz talks of a “business-friendly climate” but offers little more than old slogans in new wrapping.

Even his flagship idea—“growth ateliers”—to simplify bureaucracy for small firms is more linguistic inflation than serious reform. No ministries have been eliminated. The civil service continues to grow unchecked, the last booming “sector” of the economy. Businesses now bear €146 billion annually in administrative costs. In today’s Germany, entrepreneurs serve as fiscal prey.

Had Merz been serious about reviving Germany’s economy, he would have acted swiftly to reduce both living and production costs. Abolishing the CO₂ tax, scrapping the solidarity surcharge, or reopening the door to nuclear power would have been powerful signals. But nothing of the sort will happen. The list of rational reforms grows the deeper one ventures into Berlin’s political jungle. Merz needed a chainsaw. He won’t even pick up a paring knife.

Empty Words, Heavy Consequences

Given the crisis in Germany’s key industries—especially automotive—one might have expected a bolder course. Ending Brussels’ and Berlin’s war on combustion engines would be a start. The construction sector remains flatlined. Yet no serious attempt is made to roll back overregulation or the self-destructive climate laws. ESG mandates won’t be repealed. The “Heating Act,” the green centerpiece of the last government, will remain in place—merely “reformed.” Translation: pretend to change, preserve the core.

So far, the new government’s trajectory mirrors that of its predecessor. Merz frequently invokes Ludwig Erhard, the father of the social market economy, but betrays no real commitment to his principles. As the U.S. turns up the pressure in the trade war, Merz will face a decision: side with Brussels in building Fortress Europe, or begin dismantling the regulatory stranglehold on the Eurozone economy.

Either way, he’ll do it with a straight face. For like his predecessors, Merz too wants to go down in history as a “climate chancellor.”

* * *

Thomas Kolbe, born in 1978 in Neuss/ Germany, is a graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden Tue, 06/10/2025 - 02:00

Amazon To Invest $20 Billion In Pennsylvania To Expand Cloud Infrastructure

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is doubling down on its AI ambitions with a $20-billion expansion plan to build two new data center campuses in Pennsylvania, including one directly adjacent to a major nuclear power plant, Reuters reports. 

AWS is targeting the deployment of multiple data centers over the next 10 years, and the buildout will be fueled by carbon-free nuclear power, making it one of the largest private-sector nuclear-backed energy deals in the U.S. to date, according to OilPrice.

The first site, slated for Salem Township near the 2.5 GW Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, leverages a standing engineering framework based on the campus’s 960 MW design capacity. 

Amazon is partnering with Talen Energy, a former power utility-turned-nuclear innovator, which will supply the cloud giant with electricity from its Susquehanna nuclear power station, located in Luzerne County. Talen previously spun off its nuclear arm into Cumulus Data, which is developing a 475 MW data center campus adjacent to the power plant. That infrastructure will now be part of Amazon’s AI backbone.

That project is currently under FERC review after regulators capped its supply to 300 MW, citing grid reliability concerns. Still, AWS is pushing ahead, eyeing renewable-like stability without the typical grid bottlenecks.

Analysts say the move could accelerate the return of baseload nuclear as a strategic energy asset in the U.S. data economy. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called the deal the largest in the state’s history, with construction expected to generate over 1,250 union jobs in the near term.

"Pennsylvania is competing again—and I'm proud to announce that with Amazon's commitment of at least $20 billion to build new state-of-the-art data center campuses across our Commonwealth, we have secured the largest private sector investment in the history of Pennsylvania," said Shapiro. 

In the broader energy context, Amazon’s bet aligns with a rising wave of private-sector clean energy procurement that hopes to successfully sell a different story about AI’s energy use: That hyperscalers can reframe this as ESG-possible. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 23:10

Plane With Up To 20 People On Board Crashes In Tennessee, Officials Say

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A plane with as many as 20 people on board crashed in Tennessee on Sunday, leading to several people being airlifted to hospitals, the state highway patrol confirmed.

A plane with as many as 20 people on board crashed in Coffee County, Tennessee, on Sunday, officials say. Tennessee Highway Patrol

“Initial reports suggest 16–20 people were on board. Some have been airlifted to nearby hospitals,” the Tennessee Highway Patrol wrote in a post on social media platform X, adding that the plane went down in Coffee County, around 60 miles south of Nashville.

In a post on Facebook, the highway patrol said that several people have been flown to hospitals. Others are being evaluated on-site, it added.

“This remains an active and developing situation,” said the law enforcement agency. “Tullahoma first responders and Coffee County EMS are leading response efforts. Please avoid the area to allow emergency crews room to operate safely. They will share more updates as information becomes publicly available.”

Based on the two social media posts, no fatalities have been reported as of Sunday afternoon.

Video footage released by the highway patrol on social media show the aircraft appears to be a small plane, which was broken in half.

The Epoch Times has contacted the City of Tullahoma, where the crash took place, for comment.

A spokesperson told CNN there were no fatalities, saying that the incident occurred at the Tullahoma Regional Airport. Federal Aviation Authorities officials are en route to assist in the investigation, the spokesperson added.

More details about the victims, the injuries, and information about what led up to the crash or how it occurred were not immediately available.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 22:40

Iran Says It Obtained Trove Of Documents On Israel's Secret Nuclear Arms

Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib is claiming Tehran has acquired a "treasure trove" of sensitive Israeli documents, including information on Israel's secret (but long not-so-secret) nuclear weapons program, as well as apparent evidence of US and European knowledge and support.

"The transfer of this treasure trove was time-consuming and required security measures. Naturally, the transfer methods will remain confidential, but the documents should be unveiled soon," Khatib said. He vowed to make them public, at which point this could force either an Israeli or US official statement.

A partial view of the Dimona nuclear power plant in the southern Israeli Negev desert, AFP.

Iranian state TV unveiled the alleged clandestine operation on Saturday, though no evidence was provided. Additionally, Israel has yet to acknowledge anything regarding theft of its files, which may have occurred through a cyber-breach.

The Associated Press reporting on Khatib's words strongly points to cyber espionage, given the US-sanctioned intelligence chief's background:

Khatib said members of the Intelligence Ministry “achieved an important treasury of strategic, operational and scientific intelligence of the Zionist regime and it was transferred into the country with God’s help.”

He claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained and insisted they would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the U.S., Europe and other countries, he claimed, obtained through “infiltration” and “access to the sources.”

He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib, a Shiite cleric, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over directing “cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals.”

Israel has for decades had an undeclared nuclear weapons program, which the United States has never formally acknowledged, also with the State Department consistently refusing to answer questions on it.

The nuclear arsenal is commonly estimated to be somewhere in the range of 90 to 300 warheads, and it being undeclared means it remains completely outside international oversight.

Regional Muslim-majority nations have long called out Western hypocrisy on the issue. Iran's nuclear energy program has been tightly monitored under the prior Obama JCPOA nuclear deal, and current talks with Washington aim to reestablish a similar monitoring regimen. Certainly Tehran will attempt to leverage these alleged documents as it deals with Washington on the issue.

#BREAKING EU helps Israel with nuclear weapons

Iran MFA says the files Iran obtained from Israel will expose active involvement of some European states in Israel’s military nuclear program.

He says the same states that constantly preach non-proliferation & question Iran's… pic.twitter.com/d9VUciRXfD

— War Intel (@warintel4u) June 9, 2025

The US has also fought entire wars on the basis that an Arab regime might have WMD (weapons of mass destruction) - with Iraq and Libya being notable cases. Gaddafi was convinced by the Bush administration to 'come in from the cold' and give up any nuclear or chemical weapons aspirations, only to be overthrown by NATO-backed and al-Qaeda linked rebels a decade later, with the help of US, French, and UK warplanes.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 22:10

60 People Arrested During San Francisco Protest Against Immigration Raids: Police

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

At least 60 people were arrested on Sunday after protests against federal immigration raids in San Francisco escalated into violence, according to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).

Protesters confront police in San Francisco on June 8, 2025, in a still from video. AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Police said officers began monitoring the assembly near Sansome and Washington streets around 7 p.m. on June 8 as protesters engaged in “First Amendment activity.”

The demonstration escalated when some protesters allegedly committed assault and vandalized property, prompting police to declare the assembly unlawful. Many people left the area after the declaration, police said in a statement.

Several protesters had refused to leave and continued to engage in illegal activity as they moved toward Market and Kearny streets, where they vandalized buildings and an SFPD patrol vehicle, it stated.

The SFPD said its officers detained protesters who refused to comply with the dispersal order. Three police officers were injured during the incident, with one transported to a hospital for medical treatment. Police also recovered a firearm at the scene.

“Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco but violence—especially against SFPD officers — will never be tolerated,” the SFPD stated, adding that an investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

Footage shared on social media shows police in riot gear forming a barricade to block protesters gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in San Francisco.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the protest has since “wound down,” and that the city is working to clean up the damage and restore public transportation services to full operation.

Lurie stated in a social media post that his office will “never tolerate violent and destructive behavior, and as crowds dwindled, a group that remained caused injuries to police officers, vandalized Muni vehicles, and broke windows of local businesses.”

Protesters confront police in San Francisco on June 8, 2025, in a still from video. AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Protests against ICE raids began in Los Angeles on June 6, following the arrest of dozens of illegal immigrants in the city as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation. Sporadic protests later broke out in New York City and San Francisco.

Authorities deployed National Guard personnel to Los Angeles as protests continued on the third day on June 8. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that several business owners have reported incidents of looting during the protests.

President Donald Trump has directed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi to take all actions necessary “to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion” and bring an end to the riots.

“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” he stated on Truth Social. “Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated on June 8 that he had formally requested the Trump administration to withdraw the deployed troops from Los Angeles and return them to his command.

“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed,” Newsom stated.

At least 27 people were arrested on June 7 following the protests. During the third day of protests in Los Angeles, members of the National Guard faced off with demonstrators, leading to tear gas being fired at a growing crowd near a federal complex in the city, according to video footage.

The confrontation broke out in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, as a group shouted insults at members of the guard lined shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields. Near downtown, at least four Waymo self-driving cars were set on fire. Flashbang crowd control grenades were deployed throughout the evening.

Jack Phillips and Joseph Lord contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 21:40

'Clean Sweep': RFK Jr. Boots Entire CDC 'Rubber-Stamp' Vax Panel

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired every member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel in a sweeping move he says is meant to restore public trust, but critics are calling it reckless and radical.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been plagued by conflicts of interest, rubber-stamp behavior, and opaque decision-making for decades - and that only a “clean sweep” could fix it.

The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. It has never recommended against a vaccine—even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust. -RFK Jr.

The 17-member ACIP panel - made up of independent scientists, doctors, and public health professionals - was scheduled to meet later this month to review recommendations, including those involving COVID-19 vaccinations for children. That meeting will still go ahead, but without the current panelists, some of whom Kennedy said were 'last-minute Biden appointees' whose terms would have otherwise extended until 2028.

“Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy wrote. 

Kennedy’s defenders say this is exactly the kind of bold move needed to break the credibility crisis surrounding vaccine science and government health agencies. The new appointees, he pledged, “won’t directly work for the vaccine industry” and will “refuse to serve as a rubber stamp,” instead fostering “a culture of critical inquiry”.

But critics say the move reeks of ideology and raises fears that Kennedy will stack the committee with vaccine skeptics or unqualified appointees, further eroding trust.

“Firing experts that have spent their entire lives protecting kids from deadly disease is not reform — it’s reckless, radical, and rooted in conspiracy, not science,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a scathing statement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who said Kennedy had pledged to leave ACIP intact during confirmation talks, posted on X that he was now concerned about who would replace the experts.

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy wrote.

Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.https://t.co/iXjTDieAwY

— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) June 9, 2025

Kennedy, however, insists this isn’t about ideology — it’s about transparency, independence, and restoring the public’s faith in an institution that once commanded global respect.

“In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators,” Kennedy wrote. “Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back.”

Whether the public sees this as reform or a purge, one thing is clear: the Trump administration is moving fast to reshape America’s health bureaucracy — and no sacred cow is safe.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 21:10

The LA Unrest Poses A Pressing National Security Threat To The US

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

This is because it concerns the country’s second-largest city, could disrupt one of its top economic hubs, and might evolve into an irredentist campaign by Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies.

Large-scale unrest has gripped parts of Los Angeles since late last week in response to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent operations against illegal immigrants there. Trump authorized the National Guard to restore order but clashes still continue. The unrest poses a pressing national security threat since it concerns the country’s second-largest city, could disrupt one of its top economic hubs, and might evolve into an irredentist campaign by Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies.

The immediate roots are the Biden Administration’s de facto open borders policy that allowed millions of illegal immigrants, mostly from Ibero-America, to flood into the country. Then there’s the influence of summer 2020’s unrest, which convinced activists and agitators alike, including the professionals among them, that they can riot with impunity. And finally, the Mexican Cession from the mid-19th century is also relevant, which some Mexican nationalists and their US leftist allies refuse to recognize as legitimate.

These factors combined to catalyze the ongoing unrest, which has seen the involvement of various NGOs, radical leftist movements, and like-minded philanthropist Neville Singham according to “Data Republican’s” viral two-part investigation on X. This has led to parallels being drawn to summer 2020’s Hybrid War of Terror on America that was analyzed here at the time. To be sure, some of the participants in both were genuinely autonomous, but others were and are operating as part of something larger.

Observers should also remember that Democrat-aligned elements of the US “deep state” funneled American arms to Mexican cartels as part of Operation Fast & Furious, which they maintain was a botched sting operation though critics remain convinced that it was something more nefarious. It therefore can’t be ruled out that some of these forces at the very least wouldn’t mind if those cartels sow chaos on the US’ side of the border on the pretext of “protesting” ICE to create problems for Trump.

Beyond the speculative involvement of (possibly “deep state”-backed) Mexican cartels, there are also autonomously acting Mexican nationalists among the illegal immigrant, naturalized, and second- and later-generation communities in LA that are participating in the unrest together with US leftists. They’re allies in that neither recognizes the legitimacy of the mid-19th century’s Mexican Cession, ergo their support for open borders in order to “reclaim” this lost territory as a form of “historical justice”.

Some multipolar-minded apologists have likened this to the uprisings in Crimea and Donbass after “EuroMaidan”, but the key difference is that they were led by Ukrainian citizens of Russian origin who rebelled in defense of their human rights after radicals seized power and threatened to subjugate them. By contrast, the Trump Administration hasn’t signaled that it’ll do anything similar against legal American residents of Ibero-American origin, it’s simply enforcing the law by expelling illegal immigrant invaders.

Legal US residents of Ibero-American origin can freely speak, publish in, and teach their languages. They also have equal rights (apart from being unable to vote till obtaining citizenship) and benefited from “affirmative action”. For all intents and purposes, Mexican nationalists who legally reside in the US can live as if they’re in Mexico (even better since they otherwise wouldn’t have left) so long as they remain law-abiding, thus discrediting the “historical justice” argument that some have used to justify the unrest.

Nevertheless, some of the rioters are clearly driven by nationalist motives as proven by them waving the Mexican flag as they violently attack members of the security services, hence the importance in quelling the unrest as soon as possible so that it doesn’t spiral out of control. There are also political and economic considerations too, but these pale in comparison to the need to expel illegal immigrants from the border region, especially those Mexicans who might resort to terrorism to further irredentist plans.

About that, it’s possible that violent irredentism isn’t all that popular among Mexican illegal immigrants but that (possibly “deep state”-backed) cartels from there and elsewhere like Venezuela are trying to push this notion, hoping that it’ll provoke copycat unrest in other major cities. Most of them in the US have significant Ibero-American populations, including illegal immigrants, so the real orchestrators (if there are any as is speculated) might hope to “inspire” “solidarity protests” across the US.

All that can be known for sure is that the images of Mexican flag-waving rioters in LA naturally give rise to worries of an emerging irredentist campaign that poses a pressing national security threat to the US and therefore challenges Trump to employ all legal means at his disposal to put it down or else. Despite everything that he’s done so far following the letter of the law, his opponents might soon dishonestly accuse him of behaving as a “fascist dictator”, all in an attempt to “inspire” more unrest.

Therein lies the objective of the real orchestrators and/or political opportunists depending on one’s belief about who’s behind the riots: it’s all about eroding Trump’s authority, misportraying him as a “fascist dictator”, and altogether galvanizing the Democrats far ahead of fall 2026’s midterms. These goals are being advanced by autonomously acting participants and professionals alike, with some of the first not realizing the role that they’re playing the larger scheme, thus making it a Color Revolution.

This description doesn’t automatically imply regime change intentions nor the involvement of a foreign government, it only refers to the weaponization of protests, which is nowadays common across the world after the relevant socio-political technology wildly proliferated over the past quarter-century. The reported involvement of so many diverse actors in this one shows how serious the attempt is to destabilize the Trump Administration, which could have far-reaching global implications if it succeeds.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 20:40

China's Need For US Chemicals Greater Than US Need For Rare Earths

US petrochemical producers may have found themselves on the front line of global trade wars, BNEF reports, with China’s dependence on the US for feedstocks (see "Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates") blunting the impact of its dominations of exports of rare earth metals.

China imported more than 565,000 barrels per day of petrochemical feedstocks from the US in 2024 according to the Energy Information Administration, with a value of over $4.7 billion. That dwarfed the $170 million of rare earths the US imported last year, about 70% of which came from China, according to the US Geological Survey.

The figures show the dependence the US and China have developed on each other by ever tightening trade links over the past few decades. While China has a tight grip on refining many metals crucial for industry, it also takes in niche chemicals from the US that are difficult to buy elsewhere.

China leans on naphtha to produce most base chemicals, which are processed further to end up in everyday items like electronics and clothing. However, some plants can switch to cheaper propane when the economics make sense, which they do regularly. Propane dehydrogenation plants however can’t process alternatives like naphtha. The US accounted for over half of all China’s propane imports in 2024. 

US producers have looked to China to buy their ballooning volumes of feedstock, the market value of which has almost quadrupled since 2020. China accounts for almost half of all new mixed-feed ethylene and propylene production capacity set to come online globally over the next four years, based on data compiled by BloombergNEF.

A forced divorce

The honeymoon period may be about to end. Following the implementation of tariffs by President Donald Trump’s administration in April, China retaliated with its own on US imports — including a 125% tariff on feedstocks like propane and ethane. The duty effectively killed the economics of importing US feedstocks. 

Alternative sources of propane may be hard or expensive to come by, with producers in the Middle East sending most of their supplies to India, South Korea and Japan. While some rerouting could take place, Middle Eastern players could use the lack of alternatives for China’s propane dehydrogenation plants to charge a premium. China’s propane dehydrogenation operators, like Hengli Petrochemical, have already suffered from weak margins over the past years. Many may opt to shut their operations temporarily.

A messy settlement

China moved quickly to remove tariffs on US ethane as trade talks commenced. However, while China seems willing to buy US ethane, the US administration may no longer allow it. Enterprise Products Partners — the largest US-based exporter of petrochemical feedstocks — received a notice on Wednesday from the Bureau of Industry and Security at the US Department of Commerce, denying licenses to export ethane to China on the basis that such flows “pose an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to a ‘military end use’ in China.” Energy Transfer received a similar communication.

China’s ethane cracking capacity is dwarfed by its capacity to process naphtha and propane, but almost all of its ethane imports come from the US. The restrictions will have a significant impact on the Lianyungang and Tianjin plants, owned by Satellite Chemical, Sinopec and INEOS. SP Chemicals, a Singapore-based producer, sources most of its feedstock from Enterprise Products Partners.

As the trade war continues, it appears commodities may lead the confrontation, with players on both sides set to feel the pain.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 20:10

US To Formalize Military Presence In Syria In Deal With AQ-Linked Govt

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The US is working to formalize its military presence in Syria by signing a deal with the new al-Qaeda-linked government, according to a report from The New Arab.

The report was published Friday and said that a high-level US military delegation was expected to meet with Syrian officials in the coming days with the goal of shifting the US military presence from an illegal occupation to a formalized, legal partnership.

Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

The report comes as the US has been drawing down its forces in northeastern Syria and handing over some bases to the Kurdish-led SDF. The US is expected to maintain only one base in Syria, the al-Tanf Garrison in the south, which is situated where the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan converge.

From al-Tanf, the US helped its proxy militia, known as the Syrian Free Army (previously known as the Revolutionary Commando Army), join in on the offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024.

A formal deal on al-Tanf would signal that the US is planning a long-term or even potentially a permanent military presence in Syria. The Pentagon has said that it’s currently working to reduce its forces in Syria to fewer than 1,000 troops in the country. According to the latest reports, approximately 1,500 US troops are currently stationed in the country.

The US has embraced the new Syrian government that’s led by HTS despite the group still being listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization due to its al-Qaeda roots.

President Trump recently met with HTS’s leader and Syria’s de facto president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, and praised him as a “young, attractive guy” with a “very strong past.”

Sharaa got his start with al-Qaeda in Iraq, where he fought an insurgency against US troops before being imprisoned from 2006 to 2011. In 2012, he traveled to Syria and formed al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the country, the al-Nusra Front.

Map source: Stars & Stripes

In 2016, Sharaa claimed the al-Nusra Front was cutting ties with al-Qaeda. At the time, he thanked the “commanders of al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties.” In 2017, he merged his group with several other Islamist factions to form HTS.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 19:40

Sen. Tuberville Blasts Zelensky For Seeking To 'Lure NATO' Into A War Ukraine Is 'Losing'

Republican Senator from Alabama Tommy Tuberville has blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for trying to "lure NATO" into their war with Russia, given Ukraine knows it is 'losing' the over three-year long conflict.

"There is no doubt, because he cannot win this war on his own. He knows he’s losing," Tuberville said in Sunday remarks while being interviewed on John Catsimatidis’s radio show "Cats Roundtable" - as reported in The Hill.

Source: CQ Roll Call

While the Trump administration, and particularly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, long ago made clear that Ukraine will never join NATO, some European nations have continued to push the initiative.

Tuberville while commenting on Ukraine's brazen 'Operation Spider's Web' which destroyed Russian strategic bombers and other military aircraft a week ago, described of Ukrainian forces:

"They drove trucks 2,000 miles into Russia. They had drones that were covered up in the backs of these trucks. They got close to the targets, opened up these trucks, the drones flew out and destroyed somewhere around 40 major airplanes that Russia uses in their nuclear arsenal."

He seemed to present this as one rare and limited success. "It was devastating. Then again, both sides are at fault. Let’s get this thing over with. And President Trump is the one who can get this done," he continued. 

Russian state media also picked up on the provocative comments: "Hundred per cent, there is no doubt, 'cause he [Zelenskyy] can't win this war on his own. He knows he is losing," Tuberville said in an interview with the WABC broadcaster on Sunday, when asked if the Ukrainian president is trying to lure NATO into the conflict, Sputnik summarized.

Tuberville further echoed some prior criticisms issued first by Trump: "Zelensky is a dictator, and he has created all sorts of problems. We’ve got a lot of money that’s been missing. No telling where it’s gone…," the Alabama Senator said.

"I think both of these [nations] have lost close to 500,000 to 700,000 people. It’s devastating to the world," he added. 

While President Trump seems more and more willing to cease pushing the warring sides to the negotiating table, amid growing frustration, there's been no mention of halting arms flows to Kiev.

For anyone still parroting the fabricated bullshit lie that this war was "unprovoked", here’s a dose of reality:

In February 2014, Senator Chris Murphy stood alongside John McCain in Maidan Square and openly bragged about the US role in toppling Ukraine’s elected president,… pic.twitter.com/ZUzlsMLl11

— Richard (@ricwe123) June 2, 2025

The US administration now frames these arms transfers as 'defensive' in nature, but it's also clear that Ukrainian forces are heavily reliant on this Western aid as they mount attacks deep inside Russia.

Without it, Ukrainian front lines would probably rapidly recede, and the Zelensky government would be quickly placed in a situation where it would need to sign on to territorial concessions. But so far, the Ukrainian leader has refused to contemplate giving up land, and is even vocally resistant to ceding Crimea.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 19:15

AI Models Still Far From AGI-Level Reasoning: Apple Researchers

Authored by Martin Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

The race to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) still has a long way to run, according to Apple researchers who found that leading AI models still have trouble reasoning. 

Recent updates to leading AI large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude have included large reasoning models (LRMs), but their fundamental capabilities, scaling properties, and limitations “remain insufficiently understood,” said the Apple researchers in a June paper called “The Illusion of Thinking.” 

They noted that current evaluations primarily focus on established mathematical and coding benchmarks, “emphasizing final answer accuracy.” 

However, this evaluation does not provide insights into the reasoning capabilities of the AI models, they said. 

The research contrasts with an expectation that artificial general intelligence is just a few years away.

Apple researchers test “thinking” AI models

The researchers devised different puzzle games to test “thinking” and “non-thinking” variants of Claude Sonnet, OpenAI’s o3-mini and o1, and DeepSeek-R1 and V3 chatbots beyond the standard mathematical benchmarks. 

They discovered that “frontier LRMs face a complete accuracy collapse beyond certain complexities,” don’t generalize reasoning effectively, and their edge disappears with rising complexity, contrary to expectations for AGI capabilities.

“We found that LRMs have limitations in exact computation: they fail to use explicit algorithms and reason inconsistently across puzzles.”

Verification of final answers and intermediate reasoning traces (top chart), and charts showing non-thinking models are more accurate at low complexity (bottom charts). Source: Apple Machine Learning Research 

AI chatbots are overthinking, say researchers

They found inconsistent and shallow reasoning with the models and also observed overthinking, with AI chatbots generating correct answers early and then wandering into incorrect reasoning.

The researchers concluded that LRMs mimic reasoning patterns without truly internalizing or generalizing them, which falls short of AGI-level reasoning.

“These insights challenge prevailing assumptions about LRM capabilities and suggest that current approaches may be encountering fundamental barriers to generalizable reasoning.”

Illustration of the four puzzle environments. Source: Apple

The race to develop AGI

AGI is the holy grail of AI development, a state where the machine can think and reason like a human and is on a par with human intelligence. 

In January, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the firm was closer to building AGI than ever before. “We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” he said at the time. 

In November, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that AGI would exceed human capabilities in the next year or two. “If you just eyeball the rate at which these capabilities are increasing, it does make you think that we’ll get there by 2026 or 2027,” he said.  

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 17:10

California Dreamin'

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via kunstler.com,

"Call me crazy, but I think Dem politicians in LA publicly encouraging riots helps explain why they’re also incapable of issuing building permits for the fires months ago." —Mark Hemingway

And pretty soon, expect action in a dozen other states, you can be sure, because just as it was in the scorpion’s nature to sting the frog crossing the river in the old parable, it is likewise in the Party of Chaos’s nature to sow chaos in an American summer.

Mostly Peaceful Protesters

The operation to cue riots over the removal of illegal immigrants has been well-planned in advance. Chief lawfare artists Norm Eisen and Mary McCord have engineered the legal strategy to oppose enforcement of US immigration law. They will clog the courts with lawsuits to prevent it and enlist their allied federal judges to issue injunction after injunction paralyzing the deportation process. They will work day and night to get their violent street cadres out of jail, just as they did in the 2020 George Floyd riots, so that these mutts can go back into the streets to loot and burn some more.

It is, of course, the most cynical operation imaginable. The Democratic Party hustled XX-millions of border-jumpers into the country under the authority of their phantom president, “Joe Biden” for one purpose: to flood the swing election precincts with enough new voters to keep the Party of Chaos in power permanently. Now that the illegals are here, the party will do anything it can to foil their removal. All the hand-wringing and crocodile tears over “fearful families and communities” is just stage-business to dress-up the CNN videos.

The ultimate goal of this operation is to goad President Trump into declaring some kind of national emergency to put down the violence, and the objective of that is to point at him and holler, “Behold the fascist tyrant!” That’s the game. The catch is, the Democrats are mistaken in thinking they can replay the George Floyd hustle.

This time around, more than 70-percent of the American public is not-insane. They are not fooled by the term “undocumented” — as if some mysterious clerical error was made by the federal bureaucracy in processing these millions. The actual error was allowing them to stroll freely across the border in the first place, with massive assistance from NGOs that provided smart phones loaded with helpful apps, plus free plane and bus tickets, plus freshly-minted debit cards for walking-around-money, plus posh hotel reservations.

You can blame former Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas — since “Joe Biden” was demonstrably non compos mentis during his term in office — for what was a patently treasonous act. How is it possible that Mr. Mayorkas remains unindicted? By the way, before he was sworn in as Secretary of Homeland Security, he was a board member of one of the most aggressive NGOs actively assisting the recent massive wave of illegal immigrants: the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). The org, founded in 1881 under very different circumstances, has been enlisted to serve the Democratic Party’s program for flooding the voter rolls — just as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been transformed into attack dogs against the Democratic Party’s political opponents.

So, you watch now as the streets of Los Angeles fill with violent mobs waving Mexican and Palestinian flags burn cars, fling missiles and fireworks at police, and interfere with the deportation process of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. They are coming close to presenting themselves as a foreign enemy army and, as such, would invite a response from the defending US military.

It has the odor, at least, of insurrection, while Democratic Party politicians pretend that this is all just “peaceful protest.” LA Mayor Karen Bass skates at the edge of sedition as she orders her city’s law officers to “not cooperate” with federal authorities who seek to find-and-deport illegal immigrants. In her youth as a leftist activist, Ms. Bass joined the Cuba-sponsored Venceremos Brigade. She traveled to Cuba eight times in the 1970s for training in regime change operations. (She claims it was only to do “humanitarian work.”) Ms. Bass is also alleged to have been affiliated in the 1980s with the Oakland-based Maoist organization Line of March, in the 1980s.

California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be just recklessly grandstanding, looking for a kayfabe fight with Donald Trump as he primps for his party’s 2028 nomination. You have to wonder whether the citizens of California — that is, documented citizens with bona fide US birth certificates — have noticed how Governor Newsom managed to wreck the state during his terms-in-office (and before that, as Mayor of San Francisco). By now, even the steadfast, Woked-up Democratic voters of Pacific Palisades must be a little bit suspicious that Governor Newsom does not really have their best interests at heart as he blusters at the president.

There’s another angle on the current violence, you understand. As the old song goes, Summer’s here / and the time is right / for dancing in the streets. Or fighting in the streets, as the Rolling Stones famously updated the idea in December 1968 — after the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August that year. Street fighting is one of the capital amusements of the sore-beset Gen Z, stuck with unpayable college loans, faced with a daunting job market, reduced to living in Mom’s basement, addled with sexual bamboozlement, and jacked-up on prescription drugs and other mind-altering substances.

All of that feeds a lack of purpose and meaning, one of the more baleful plights of the human condition, in turn, feeding mass delusion, mob violence, and social upheaval. But it’s also party time, an opportunity to get outside in nice weather and consort with your peers, Z’s among fellow Z’s, illegal immigrants with fellow illegals. It affords opportunities for intrepid acts of daring-do — taunting the cops, flinging bricks, doing wheelies and “donuts” with motor vehicles — in order to impress potential sex partners. In other words, looking for fun and excitement, as youth will.

Alas, none of this works too well in an era of profound boundary problems — exploited very deliberately by the Democratic Party, which has erased the moral boundaries between decent behavior and crime, just as it tried to erase the boundary between the United States and Mexico. All of that needs to be fixed. Mr. Trump is aiming to fix it. It is liable to be a heck of a struggle, perhaps even as bad as a new civil war.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 16:20

Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of 'Several' Patriot Missile Batteries

In early May it was first reported that a US-supplied Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel would be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. This was despite what the White House's National Security Council said at the time in a statement: "President Trump has been clear: he wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop."

But American and Western arms for Ukraine have continued flowing, with no end in sight, despite what was a very brief stoppage of maybe a couple days earlier in Trump's term. Israel has just revealed that it wasn't merely "one" Patriot battery transferred to Ukraine, but "several".

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky unveiled in a Sunday interview with Pravda USA that Israel has delivered several MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Kiev, in a clear significant escalation in its military support to the Zelensky government.

Getty Images

During the opening years of the war Israel largely remained on the sidelines, for fear of damaging sensitive relations with Russia, which has maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria's coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus.

Ambassador Brodsky told the Ukrainian media publication (according to machine translation):

The Patriot systems that we once received from the United States are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service with Israel in the early 90s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. And unfortunately, not much was said about this. But when they say that Israel did not help militarily, this is not true. This is not true," Brodsky emphasized.

This appears to be confirmation of what Axios reported in late January:

The U.S. military transferred around 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from storage in Israel to Poland this week in order to deliver them to Ukraine, three sources with knowledge of the operation tell Axios.

These are apparently older US-supplied systems which remained in Israel's stockpile. Still, the NY Times had presented that merely one Patriot battery was being prepped, in this May 4 report for example:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Israel is perhaps only making this public now in the context of Russia's air war against Ukrainian cities, and the capital in particular, heating up.

Israel gave its Patriot batteries to Ukraine, Israeli ambassador to Kyiv says in a TV interview. https://t.co/4DJArTlWOx

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 9, 2025

Tel Aviv is also facing unprecedented international scrutiny over the ongoing Gaza war, and no doubt wants a PR 'win' in the eyes of European nations, some of which are poised to recognize a Palestinian state. Israel seems to be jumping on in support of the European 'coalition of the willing' bandwagon, and wants the world to know this.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 15:45

IRS Reminds Taxpayers Of June 16 Payment Deadline, And The Penalties

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Estimated tax payments for the second quarter of 2025 are due on Monday, June 16, with taxpayers who fail to pay on time facing underpayment penalties, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said in a June 6 statement.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington on March 10, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Taxes have to be paid throughout the year on a pay-as-you-go schedule. One way to do this is by withholding taxes from wages, pensions, or government benefits such as social security. The second way is to make estimated tax payments on a quarterly basis.

“Taxpayers that receive income not subject to withholding, such as income from self-employment, gig work, interest, dividends, capital gains, rent, or 1099 earnings, may need to make estimated tax payments throughout the year,” said the agency. “This includes freelancers, retirees, investors, businesses, and corporations.”

Estimated taxes are applicable to taxpayers such as sole proprietors, partners, and S corporation shareholders who expect to have tax liabilities of at least $1,000 in a tax year. For corporations, taxes are applicable if they expect to owe at least $500.

Among individuals, estimated tax payments must be made by people earning money through gig work, sale of goods and services, or freelance work.

Individuals whose incomes are being withheld may also be required to make the quarterly estimated tax payment if sufficient taxes are not being withheld from their wages. To prevent this situation, employed individuals can ask employers to withhold a larger amount from their income.

“Paying on time helps taxpayers avoid falling behind on their taxes and possible underpayment penalties,” the agency said.

The IRS calculates penalties after taking into consideration factors such as the amount of tax underpayment and when the tax was originally due. The agency also charges interest on penalties.

In some cases, the agency may offer to remove or reduce the penalty in cases where the tax underpayment “is the result of a casualty, local disaster, or other unusual circumstance when it would not be fair to impose the penalty,” the IRS said.

Another June Deadline

June 16 is also the due date for taxpayers living and working abroad to file and pay their 2024 taxes.

“U.S. citizens or resident aliens residing overseas or in the military on duty outside the U.S. are allowed a two-month extension to file from the normal April 15 deadline. Since June 15 falls on a Sunday in 2025, the deadline is delayed to Monday, June 16,” the IRS said in a May 22 statement.

In case taxpayers are unable to file returns by June 16, they can request an extension to postpone the filing deadline to Oct. 15.

However, “an extension of time to file is not an extension to pay,” the agency clarified. “Interest will apply to any 2024 tax payments received after April 15, 2025.”

The IRS collected a record $5.1 trillion in revenues for fiscal year 2024, the first time revenues exceeded the $5 trillion mark. This was a roughly 9 percent increase over the revenues collected for the 2023 fiscal year.

The agency processed over 266 million returns and other forms in the last fiscal year and issued nearly $553 billion in refunds.

Meanwhile, the agency is undergoing a leadership change, with the Senate Finance Committee voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s IRS head nominee Billy Long, on June 3. With that vote, Long advances to a full Senate vote.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the committee chair, has said that if Long is selected to be the IRS head, he will work with him to “ensure the IRS focuses on helping American taxpayers to better understand and meet their tax responsibilities, and that it enforces the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.”

Long has faced opposition from Democrats, who have accused him of lacking direct experience with tax policy.

During his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on May 20, Long vowed to correct many of the issues plaguing the IRS, including taxpayer complaints of poor customer service and delayed refunds.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/09/2025 - 15:25