Barbara Shecter of the National Post reports OMERS squeezes out 2.2% return in 'challenging' first half:

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System generated a 2.2 per cent investment return in the first half of 2025 while facing down a “challenging environment for investors” amid global economic uncertainty and exposure to the United States.

The pension manager’s $3.1-billion gain for the period of Jan. 1 to June 30 pushed its net assets to $140.7 billion. 

More than half of the fund’s assets, 55 per cent, are in the U.S., where the Donald Trump administration has destabilized global trade with a series of punitive tariffs.

“OMERS had a positive start in what was a particularly challenging environment for investors,” chief executive Blake Hutcheson said. “As we manage through the current short-term challenges, in both public and private investing businesses, this team continues to unlock opportunities that deliver both immediate and long-term value.”

OMERS’ first-half results were hurt by a more than five per cent decline by the U.S. dollar despite some hedging. The pain was partially offset by the strengthening of the British pound and the euro, but currency had a negative impact of 1.2 per cent on its first-half results.

“Active decisions to hedge currencies added almost one per cent to returns, protecting portfolio value,” Jonathan Simmons, the fund’s chief financial and strategy officer, said. 

Over the five years that OMERS has reported mid-year investment results, the average annual net return has been 8.7 per cent. Over 10 years, the pension fund has posted an annual net return of 6.9 per cent for a total gain of $70.2 billion.

Infrastructure and public equities drove returns in the first six months of 2025, though six of the portfolio’s seven asset classes, including credit and bonds, contributed positively. Private investments were the weak spot, with private equity posting a negative return of 1.3 per cent. 

“Private investment valuations and transaction activity, particularly in private equities and real estate, continue to be held back by uncertainty in the global marketplace,” Simmons said.

The real estate portfolio, which represents 15 per cent of the portfolio, posted a return of 1.1 per cent in the first six months of the year. OMERS, along with other Canadian pension funds, owns office buildings hammered by the shift to remote and hybrid work during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But OMERS said conditions were improving after a series of challenging years for the industry. 

“Despite market uncertainty, results were supported by strong operating fundamentals, particularly in office and hotels,” it said in a release on Thursday.

The pension fund for municipal workers in Ontario was also a landlord for insolvent retailer Hudson Bay Co.

OMERS’ real estate division, Oxford Properties, went to court this month to argue against transferring some of those leases to an “unvetted and unproven” entrepreneur who is attempting to buy some former locations of the storied Canadian retailer. The court filing said the lease transfer could “jeopardize the stability, reputation, and performance of these assets” in which Oxford has invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

“A diminution in the value or stability of Oxford’s real estate portfolio would negatively impact the performance of OMERS’ investments, and, by extension, adversely affect the long-term interests of millions of current and future pension plan beneficiaries,” the Aug. 9 filing said. 

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail also reports that governments and institutional investors show alignment on big project financing, OMERS CEO says:

Co-operation among large investors, industry leaders and governments is rapidly increasing as parties discuss how to get major projects off the ground to protect Canada against the threat from tariffs, the CEO of the OMERS pension fund says.

Demand for new infrastructure, energy and defence investment is surging, and so is investors’ willingness to explore big-ticket investments in projects of national importance, Blake Hutcheson, chief executive officer of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, said in an interview.

OMERS earned a 2.2-per-cent return in the first half of 2025, adding $3.1-billion to its assets in spite of a tough start to the year for markets, according to a mid-year update released Thursday. With high volatility in public markets and sluggish dealmaking for public assets, Canadian pension funds are eyeing a growing opportunity to make new investments at home.

“The conversations are at a level that I haven’t seen for at least a decade, where we are exploring some private and public opportunities in earnest,” Mr. Hutcheson said. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, in my view, where the governments, the financiers and the pension plans can and should do some meaningful things in Canada.”

Mr. Hutcheson was careful to add a caveat that OMERS has a fiduciary duty to pursue the best returns with the least risk for members, and doesn’t intend to accept weaker investment results. But he said the “dialogue and a willingness to do things” are at a high mark.

“Is it crystal clear, are we ready to jump? The short answer is no,” he said. “Are we optimistic that we can do things in this space? The answer is yes. … And for the sake of the country, we’re hopeful.”

Through the first half of the year, infrastructure investments delivered the strongest gains for OMERS, increasing by 3.6 per cent, while private credit and publicly traded stocks produced solid returns.

The falling value of the U.S. dollar between January and June hampered OMERS’s investment performance, reducing total gains by 1.2 percentage points. But OMERS had hedging positions that it increased late last year, which helped offset some of those currency losses, reducing the potential drag on its overall results by one percentage point.

With widespread uncertainty over tariffs, wars, markets and currencies, “we think it’s a solid start to the year,” Mr. Hutcheson said. “As investors, you really just want to be certain that you know where the goalposts are, and they’ve been moving around a lot lately, so it hasn’t been an easy first half.”

Over 10 years, OMERS has earned an average annual return of 6.9 per cent, adding more than $70-billion to its portfolio. Over the past five years, the average gain has been 8.7 per cent.

OMERS invests on behalf of about 640,000 Ontario public-service workers, including nurses, firefighters and police officers.

Its assets increased to $140.7-billion as of June 30, up from $138.2-billion at the end of 2024.

The OMERS real estate portfolio bounced back with a 1.1-per-cent gain in the first half of 2025, after suffering a loss last year. The performance of office properties has started to rebound from pandemic lows as employers push staff to work from home less frequently.

“We never lost our commitment to high-quality office,” Mr. Hutcheson said. “Even in the worst days during COVID, my view was: Never count that asset class out.”

The lone asset class that produced a half-year loss for OMERS was private equity, down 1.3 per cent. 

Earlier today, OMERS issued a press release stating it earned $3.1 billion in the first six months of 2025:

TORONTO, Aug. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMERS generated a net investment return of 2.2%, a gain of $3.1 billion, for the period of January 1 to June 30, 2025. This result brings the cumulative 10-year net investment income figure to $70.2 billion. Net assets at June 30, 2025 totalled $140.7 billion.

“OMERS had a positive start in what was a particularly challenging environment for investors,” said Blake Hutcheson, OMERS President and CEO. “As we manage through the current short-term challenges, in both public and private investing businesses this team continues to unlock opportunities that deliver both immediate and long-term value. Over the five years that we have reported our mid-year investment update, our talented global team and investment strategies have delivered an average annual net return of 8.7%.”

“Six of our seven asset classes delivered positive results in the first half of 2025. Infrastructure and public equities drove returns, supported by credit and bonds,” said Jonathan Simmons, OMERS Chief Financial and Strategy Officer. “Currency had an overall negative 1.2% impact on our results, driven by a significant decline in the U.S. dollar, and partially offset by strengthening of the British pound sterling and euro. Active decisions to hedge currencies added almost 1% to returns, protecting portfolio value. Private investment valuations and transaction activity, particularly in private equities and real estate, continue to be held back by uncertainty in the global marketplace.”

“While we expect continued market instability for the remainder of 2025, we believe our diversification in quality assets positions us well to see through this cycle, with ample liquidity to pursue opportunities that meet our objective of paying pensions for generations to come,” said Mr. Hutcheson. “We proudly serve 640,000 Ontarians and we work every day to build lasting value that will serve them throughout their retirement.”

About OMERS
OMERS is a jointly sponsored, defined benefit pension plan, with more than 1,000 participating employers ranging from large cities to local agencies, and 640,000 active, deferred and retired members. Our members include union and non-union employees of municipalities, school boards, local boards, transit systems, electrical utilities, emergency services and children’s aid societies across Ontario. OMERS teams work in Toronto, London, New York, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Singapore, Sydney and other major cities across North America and Europe – serving members and employers, and originating and managing a diversified portfolio of high-quality investments in government bonds, public and private credit, public and private equities, infrastructure and real estate.

Media Contact
Don Peat
Director, Media Relations
1 416.417.7385
dpeat@omers.com

Net Assets
$ Billions

Net Return History
to June 30, 2025

6-month
(January 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025)

2.2%, a gain of $3.1 billion   10-year
(July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2025)

6.9%, a gain of $70.2 billion   

Diversified by Asset Class and Geography
OMERS invests in high-quality assets that are well-diversified by geography and asset type.

Asset Diversification
As at June 30, 2025

Geographic Diversification
As at June 30, 2025

Asset Class Investment Performance

Net Returns   Six months ended 
June 30, 2025 Government Bonds 2.1 %Public Credit 1.6 %Private Credit 2.7 %Public Equities 2.4 %Private Equities (1.3 %)Infrastructure 3.6 %Real Estate   1.1 %Total Plan 2.2 %   

Investment Performance Highlights
Over the six months ended June 30, 2025:

• The more than 5% decline in the U.S. dollar in the first half of the year meaningfully detracted from our returns across asset classes, particularly in public and private equity. Our active decisions to hedge our currency exposure added almost 1% to the portfolio, including an approximate 30-basis point lift from our increase to U.S. dollar hedges at the end of 2024. This currency management strategy, combined with our diversification in the British pound sterling and euro, mitigated the otherwise negative impact on the portfolio.
• Our strategic focus to deploy into fixed income assets continued to positively contribute to our returns. Government bonds, public and private credit each delivered positive performance primarily due to interest income and a decline in bond yields.
• Public equities delivered positive performance from core large-cap holdings in financials, communications services and information technology sectors.
• Private equities were held back as investor confidence remains challenged and markets continue to exhibit very low levels of activity. As a result, valuations continue to be impacted by slow earnings growth and headwinds within certain industry sectors.
• Infrastructure continues to deliver steady results, with most assets performing in line with expectations.
• Real estate delivered a positive return after a series of challenging years for the industry. Despite market uncertainty, results were supported by strong operating fundamentals, particularly in office and hotels.

Liquidity
We continue to maintain ample liquidity, with $17.4 billion in liquid assets to pay pension benefits, fund investment opportunities, satisfy potential collateral demands related to our use of derivatives, and to fund expenses.

Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings

This Investment Update presents certain non-GAAP measures. These measures are calculated on the same basis as those calculated and presented in our 2024 Annual Report. This Investment Update and the Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements (the “Interim Financial Statements”) are unaudited. OMERS Administration Corporation’s financial performance set out in this Investment Update is only for the period ended June 30, 2025, unless otherwise indicated. Past performance may not indicate future performance because a broad range of uncertainties (including without limitation those related to interest rates and inflation) could have an impact on the performance of various asset classes. The financial information included in this Investment Update should be read in conjunction with the Interim Financial Statements.

Portfolio update
We continue to invest in assets that build strong futures for communities and members alike.
Below is a selection of activities undertaken since January 1, 2025.

• We acquired full ownership of a high-quality office portfolio in Western Canada that includes seven office properties in Calgary’s and Vancouver's central business districts, totalling 4 million square feet. This portfolio is 95% occupied.
• We broke ground on 70 Hudson Yards, the first 1 million plus square foot, ground-up office development in New York City in over five years.
• We sold a 9.995% stake in Transgrid, the largest electricity transmission network in Australia, to Australian sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund. As part of this transaction, OMERS will manage that interest on their behalf in addition to our own 9.995% stake. 
• We announced a transformative co-investment of over $200 million to retrofit the existing office buildings at Canada Square in midtown Toronto. The redevelopment will deliver 680,000 square feet of highly functional and modernized office space.
• Our shopping mall investments were recognized as national and regional market leaders in sales performance by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Yorkdale continues to dominate as Canada’s top-performing shopping centre for the second year running with ~$2,300 in sales per square foot. Square One Shopping Centre and Scarborough Town Centre also increased their sales per square foot.
• We officially opened the doors to the $1.3 billion Parkline Place, celebrating the opening of this new commercial office and retail destination in Sydney, Australia co-owned by Oxford Properties, and which includes the first new office tower in Sydney’s Midtown in almost a decade. 
• We announced a joint partnership with AustralianSuper that aims to build a significant industrial and logistics venture across Europe. As part of this joint venture, we announced the acquisition of Broadheath Network Centre in Greater Manchester.
• OMERS Finance Trust (OFT) successfully closed two significant note offerings, a EUR 1 billion, 10-year note and a USD 1 billion, 5-year note. This marks OFT’s third EUR and ninth USD offering.

Subsequent to the end of June:

• We broke ground on the first major purpose-built housing project in Scarborough in over a generation on the west side of Oxford’s Scarborough Town Centre shopping mall. The development will consist of three residential towers of 1300 units with the aim of delivering critically needed housing in a historically undersupplied area for people at a variety of different price points, including a 21% allocation for affordable housing. 

Alright, this afternoon I had a chance to discuss OMERS' mid-year results with CEO Blake Hutcheson and CFO & CSO Jonathan Simmons.

I want to begin by thanking them both for taking the time to talk to me and also thank Don Peat for setting up the Teams meeting and sending me the relevant documents.

As always, these are mid-year results, in line with what OTPP and CDPQ posted but OMERS has a different asset mix, more tilted to private markets (see asset mix above).

I also want to correct something from last week when I covered CPP Investments' quarterly results,  OMERS and La Caisse do provide asset class performance for mid-year, OTPP does not.

Alright, Blake began by giving me the overview:

The results are self-explanatory. My main message is it's a very volatile world with respect to geopolitics, with respect to tariff conversations, with respect to currency fluctuations, with respect to elections including in this country.

In the context of all that, we feel our results are a solid start to the year, so we go forward from here with strength but it has been a very difficult investment environment.

You know as well as anybody, one thing you want as an investor is a high degree of certainty, where are the goalposts. This has been a period where there's anything but certainty as the mood of the day can swing depending on one utterance or another. 

The good thing is we have a long view and a diversified portfolio and we really try to separate the headlines form the underlying economic fundamentals and facts. That's our best defence, focus on things we can control: high quality assets, lots of diversification, put our energy into our greatness as opposed to the noise of the day. That's going to continue to be our mantra.

You know me, I started in 2020 so I like to keep track of the 5-year return and the 5-year return since my first month or two has been 8.7% which is a compelling story.

It's been an active semester, diversification is helping.

What you might want to see is the currency hurt us so far this year, it's helped us other years, so you can't have blessings every year. It's cost us 1.2% but we are really proud of our hedging strategy because they protected an additional 100 basis points or thereabouts because it could have been a lot worse if they weren't active. And we took all our hedges off for a number of years after 2020, we were thoughtful and redeployed. It was an overt strategy, it largely paid off.

When we look at our plan, our expectations for the year, our credit book, our equities book, our infrastructure are maybe a little bit behind in some cases but on track to meet our budgets. 

Our other privates are slower. Real estate, the good news is we are in the black now, that's starting to turn the corner. Our mutual friend Dan Fournier has made a major difference in the culture and consideration we've put in that business. 

And our difficult one like many others is our private equity portfolio. We have a new head of private equity, we just finalized the strategy yesterday with our Board as to where that business will go in the future, maybe in the fall we'll take some time to share it with you. We got our arms around where we are strong, where we are weak, where we have to deploy more, where we have to deploy less. That one is a work in progress and we don't see selling or buying, we don't see a lot of activity that gives us data points -- negative or positive -- in the private equity space because again, with all the uncertainty out there, people aren't sellers at prices where we can buy. That business has been our weakest link this half.

I guess the other thing is we remain committed to Canada. The flash numbers say we are down in Canada to 16%, our assets are at about 21% which is where we started the year and it's roughly 55% in the US. The 16% takes into account primarily cash accounts because we used to carry more Canadian cash and we deployed a lot, particularly in real estate the first half. 

But our 21% is constant and we are going to continue to invest heavily in the United States, pretty commensurate with our current book, but we want to do more in this country. We feel this is an all hands on deck moment in Canada, we are seeing really positive and hopeful signs come out of the federal government at this point, more so than we've seen in a decade where government decision makers both federally and provincially in most of the Canadian markets we invest across Canada, there's a harmony that didn't exist, there is a sense of mutual purpose that didn't exist, and I think Canadians are coming together. 

We are hopeful we can do more, particularly in infrastructure and real estate in Canada to be part of the solution in this all hands on deck moment for our country.  

I don't know exactly what that means in terms of allocations -- you know the business well -- we can't give somebody a home court discount, we are a fiduciary, we have to make sure it hits our risk-adjusted expectations and return. It's not that we can -- however big our heart is -- gift anybody when we are responsible for 640,000 people but it does mean we are underwriting more than we have in the past, we are having bigger and more important conversations with various levels of governments than what we had in the last decade.

We want to do more in Canada, we hope to do more in Canada and we want to be part of the go forward success and future of this country.

That's a great overview which covers all the main points.

On infrastructure which had another solid half, Blake added this:

We have 30 assets, it's a broad portfolio, it's a highly concession run asset class for us. With big businesses like Bruce Power, it's been a consistent high single digit asset class for us year in and year out and this year is no exception. It's really the broad shoulders and the consistency of that wide portfolio that continues to get us in the 7-8-9% range and it has less volatility than our other asset classes. You don't see the exit multiples change a lot for those businesses, they stay pretty constant. So it's a steady Eddy business for us, no surprises.

Indeed, the yield is always around 8% or more a year for OMERS and others.

In private equity, I noted that some critics of OMERS purely direct strategy have privately told me that asset class needed to be revamped there but I also note that all pension funds are experiencing a tough slug in PE, not just OMERS, even those that do more fund investments.

Blake responded:

Of our privates, the real estate business not withstanding recent years because it's been difficult, and our infrastructure business  have been really steady long-term producers for us with great teams. And our private equity business has done well for us too and I don't want to diminish the contribution it's made for us in any way.

In the last few years, we have had to rethink our strategy because it's hard to compete with the best players in the world when we are relatively small.  

So, from a buyout perspective, we retreated from direct investing in Europe, we are very much focused on North America. As we cycle out of those assets in Europe, we will use that capital to redeploy into more fund type investments where bigger players with bigger teams can get into assets we couldn't get to.

I don't want to be critical. We have done a detailed assessment, we are at a point and time where we are changing our focus and strategy. We will consistently and deeply invest in Canada and the United States but less so in Europe and the available capital will go to funds.

With our new head of private equity (Alexander Fraser), he just presented the new strategy this week, there will be lots of nuanced changes to that portfolio to right size it and position it well for the future. That is underway, when we are ready, we will be happy to share with you those prospects.

But we have a really good team, we have a really good new leader and I'm actually energized to see their direction of travel. This was a difficult half not just for us but for most people in the marketplace and sometimes when you get those difficult moments, it gives you the motivation to make the changes you need to make and we are making them.   

I noted rates are higher for longer, dampening returns in private equity and real estate and the other thing that worries me is if there will be more inflation in the US, wage inflation can lead to more margin compression in private and publicly listed businesses.

I also noted there was a big Bloomberg article yesterday on how pension funds missed the big tech rally, but pension funds are not there to beat the S&P 500 every year, so while there may be some pressure in privates over the short run, over the long term, they offer more stability and yet people remain focused on the short term.

I asked Blake if they've been feeling this pressure to take risks where they shouldn't be taking risk to deliver higher returns and he responded:

Jonathan and I feel incredibly supported by our board. I can honestly say while short-term results are interesting and certainly people watch our annual results with vigour, we are a long term investor. I don't feel any compulsion to beef up the shorter term at the expense of the longer term.

We all have to be nimble right now. It's an ever changing world. We need to remain on our toes. We need to be assessing all of the inputs from an economic, political and fundamental perspective. You can never be complacent and continue to win in the markets but I don't feel any compulsion to think short term because of the short term pressures, never have, it's not the nature of our board, it's not the nature of the way we approach the business.

And great assets, great management teams, great fundamentals, not in every cycle but they tend to see through cycles, when you compromise asset quality, when you compromise people quality, when you compromise businesses to get some short term yield, it doesn't end so well. 

That's the discipline and that the discipline that has enabled us to deliver our 8.7% return in the last five years.

But the private equity component of our business, this isn't something we picked up this year and decided we needed to have a new direction, this has been a 2-3 year focus and it's going to require a few more years to get it to a place where we expect it to be as part of our asset allocation.

Since Blake is an expert in real estate (he was formerly the head of Oxford Properties prior to becoming CEO of OMERS), I asked him if he's seeing signs of a comeback in offices since more companies are demanding back to the office from their workers.

He responded:

I think you've heard me say this consistently even during Covid, people need to live somewhere, people need to work somewhere.

Even in Covid, when everyone was saying the office is going the way of the dodo bird, we were building office buildings at Oxford. 

The truth is high quality AA, AAA office buildings will continue to do extremely well and didn't even break during Covid.

Secondary and tertiary assets, many of them are in deep trouble because there is a migration to quality.  

Looking at office, our portfolio is best of class in every market we are in around the world. In Toronto, we are 95% leased, across Canada, we are practically 95% leased. We just invested by buying out CPP Investments in seven big office buildings in Canada which put sour conviction where our wallet is.

We just announced a new building we are building in Hudson Yards, 70 Hudson Yards in New York, a large consulting firm is taking 800,000 square feet of 1.4 million, and that will be the first new office building in five years in Manhattan. I'm totally confident it's going to do extremely well.

So in our 62-year history at Oxford but even in the last 10 or 12, when people say thou shouldn't touch and something is going in the wrong direction, we look at the history, high quality great assets, if they're not playing into the fundamentals, we will. 

And I like our odds. We finished a building in Vancouver called The Stack, it's ahead of plan from a lease perspective. 70 Hudson Yards will be great. We are just finishing a new building in Sidney, it's going to take a while but it's going to do great. 

So, a great office is a great office, we like the trends, we never felt that with high quality assets we were in jeopardy and when everybody else said don't build more, we built more. 

I asked Blake if Logistics and Multi-family continue to be the sectors driving the returns at Oxford and he replied: 

Logistics interesting enough, uncertainty around supply chains, we are not seeing big appetite, a lot of people are sitting on their hands because why take up more space until they see how this game of chess plays out.   

For a while the direction of travel for rates for an industrial building was only one way, it was higher growth than any other sector, that slowed relative to other sectors but we have a great portfolio that's functioning well.  

And multi-family, because it's typically a 97% leased business, you have the ability to finance several. You won't really see an improvement until the cost of funds comes down. Because you have a high level of debt, that has a significant impact on yield and values. It will be better in the next 2-3 years as the Fed rate comes down. Right now, it's an ok sector but until the cost of money comes down, it's not going to be what we hoped.

I shifted my attention to Private Credit and asked Jonathan Simmons what he sees there. 

Jonathan replied:

The private credit strategy, if I look back at the last few years, and we already talked about infrastructure and its contribution, private credit has to be the other one. Very strong returns from that asset class, we've been moving capital into it consistently. It's wheels on a treadmill with private credit because most of these are 5-year deals so the team is very busy with the underwriting. We are so pleased with the risk profile we've seen. A year ago, people asked me a lot of questions about credit quality, bu tit's holding up, the discipline is strong, the returns are very good for our pension plan so it's an asset class to like.

I ended by asking Jonathan and Blake what's keeping them up at night, what are they worried about the most in this uncertain environment.

Jonathan chimed in first: 

I crave for stability. It makes it much easier for decision makers to plan for the future, whether that be taking up more space in one of our buildings, or contracting one of our private equity businesses or getting a new project off the ground that we can invest in from an infrastructure perspective. When that stability comes back to the world, investors will have a much more enjoyable time. And it's been very choppy so that's what I look forward to the most.

Blake then added this:

I've always said, I don't need a competitive advantage, I need a level playing field and please don't break my jaw. And if I can invest in those environments, history has proven OMERS can do that, and my career suggests that's an environment I can excel in.

Because we share more with you than anyone, right now what keeps me up at night is our best friend, our biggest trading partner, our most important strategic alliance, the United States of America, we have deep friendships on both sides of the border. America needs Canada, Canada needs America and we are at a moment in history where that frayed relationship is as sad as it is destructive. 

I think it can be fixed, I think it's going to require deep personal investments by our leaders spending time with their leaders because bees stick to honey. 

It was very difficult to do that until the new government was elected, I think they have a really good shot at it and I think it's really important.  

I don't know if it can be normalized but once we get the terms of engagement finalized, including USMCA over the finish line -- which by the way 93% of the trade of this country is captured by USMCA -- once we get over the finish line, and we remind each other that it's critical for all three parties in that document, it's going to be a difficult time emotionally and financially and economically.

That's what I worry about, how we can fix that relationship or at least improve it, how we get USMCA behind us and how we can work as a unified trading block in in North America to fortify ourselves against whoever the foe may be and make all three nations better because we are better together.  

So those are the things I think about, I think it's an important time in history, and as I said we at OMERS want to be part of the solution by investing in this country if we can a little more and by helping build cross border relations for the best interest of our members and best interests of Canada.

OMERS is doing its part to help all levels of governments in Canada succeed.

Once again, I thank Blake and Jonathan for another great discussion, I really appreciate their time and insights. 

Below, watch Bake Hutcheson at the Canadian Club Toronto discussing his views on leading and investing during these challenging times (April 16, 2025).

Last but not least. I want to sincerely wish Jonathan's daughter Jessica who is fighting cancer for a second time a speedy and full recovery (read Jonathan's post here). 

We are all rooting for you Jessica, stay positive and if you need a little inspiration, watch Isabella Strahan's documentary, Life Interrupted, I highly recommend you do so. 

Authorities Bust Multimillion Dollar LA-Area Cargo Theft Ring

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Authorities in Los Angeles County have cracked a storefront operation trafficking millions of dollars worth of goods allegedly stolen in train and cargo burglaries, officials announced on Aug. 20.

Cardboard boxes left from stolen cargo lay strewn across railroad tracks in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A total of $4.5 million in stolen property—including power tools, appliances, and electric bikes—was recovered on Aug. 14 and Aug. 19 when investigators searched two locations of DJ General Tool and Wire, located in Montebello and Huntington Park.

Several pricey brands were uncovered, including Dyson, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Makita products. Many of the items were being sold at the stores and online, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

LAPD detectives worked with the Union Pacific Police Department and the Los Angeles Port Police during the operation.

Dojoon Park, 41, of Montebello, was arrested on Aug. 14 and booked at the LAPD’s Metropolitan Detention Center on suspicion of receiving stolen property, a felony.

Park was released the same day, in accordance with the county’s zero-bail policy. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 8.

Neither DJ General Tool and Wire nor Park could be reached for comment.

“Organized cargo and retail theft strikes at the heart of our economy, impacting local businesses, workers, and everyday families,” said LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. “This operation underscores our department’s commitment to dismantling criminal networks that profit from stolen goods.”

The investigation is ongoing, and detectives anticipate more arrests, the LAPD said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office is expected to file charges against Park. The office did not return a request for information about the charges.

“Cargo theft is not a victimless crime,” Hochman said in a statement. “It hurts businesses, damages the supply chain, and drives up costs for everyone.”

The Port of Los Angeles has been a hot spot for cargo crime in recent years. Authorities have reported a surge in thefts, driven by organized crime rings.

Cargo theft in the United States and Canada reached a record high of 3,625 incidents in 2024, up 27 percent from the previous year, according to CargoNet data reported by wholesale insurance broker Burns and Wilcox.

California’s cargo theft incidents rose by 33 percent last year from 2023, the data showed.

In April, the LAPD arrested two prominent members of a South American theft group after an extensive investigation into cargo theft in the Los Angeles area.

Detectives arrested Oscar David Borrero-Manchola, 41, and Yonaiker Rafael Martinez-Ramos, 25, after investigators uncovered more than $1.2 million in stolen tequila, speakers, coffee, clothing, shoes, body wash, and pet food at storage facilities in the San Fernando Valley.

Authorities also recovered a stolen shipment of bitcoin mining computers valued at $2.7 million from Los Angeles International Airport. The computers were about to be loaded onto a plane headed to Hong Kong, the LAPD reported.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 23:30

What Would Be Your Last Meal? Here's What America Said

A new survey by Choice Mutual has revealed what Americans would most want for their last meal. The results show a mix of indulgence, comfort food, and sentimental favorites, with some clear winners across the country, according to MentalFloss.

At the very top of the list is steak, chosen more often than any other dish. Potatoes followed in second place, while pasta and noodle dishes came in third, and pizza fourth. Vegetables ranked fifth, with bread in sixth, lobster in seventh, fries in eighth, mac and cheese ninth, and burgers rounding out the top 10. Fried chicken placed 11th, ice cream 12th, salad 13th, sushi 14th, and cake 16th. Seafood lovers also voted in crab (18th), shrimp (19th), and salmon (25th).

Drinks were more straightforward. Soda was the favorite in every state, with wine coming second and water third. Tea, beer, juice, coffee, cocktails, hard liquor, and milk completed the top 10. When broken down by brand, Coca-Cola led the way, followed by Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite.

State-level data showed steak on top in 25 states, including Texas, California, and Florida, and tied in two others. Pasta took the number one spot in eight states and tied for first in two more, while potatoes claimed first place in four. For beverages, soda dominated across the board, with wine second in 17 states and tying in eight others.

MentalFloss writes that beyond individual dishes, nearly 40 percent of respondents said they would simply choose their favorite food, while about one-third preferred something comforting. One in six wanted something fancy, one in eight would go for a dish with sentimental value, and just 1 percent said they’d use the opportunity to try something new.

When asked who they would want preparing the meal, almost 30 percent chose a friend or family member. Around 16 percent preferred a celebrity chef, nearly 11 percent wanted their favorite restaurant’s chef, and just under 7 percent said they’d cook it themselves. The majority had no preference, as long as the food was good — a reminder that, even for a final meal, taste comes first.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 23:00

These Are The US Cities With The Most DUIs

Driving under the influence of alcohol remains a serious public safety issue across the United States. According to the NHTSA, 34 people across the country die every day from drunk-driving crashes.

In this visualization, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu shows the rate of DUIs per 1,000 drivers across America’s 50 biggest cities, based on an analysis conducted by LendingTree.

Data & Discussion

The data for this visualization is based on LendingTree’s analysis of “tens of millions” of insurance quotes from 2024.

They ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities by the number of DUI violations per 1,000 drivers, highlighting regional differences in driving behavior and law enforcement.

Rank City State DUIs per
1,000 Drivers 1 Omaha NE 4.48 2 San Jose CA 3.68 3 Sacramento CA 3.55 4 Virginia
Beach VA 3.46 5 Fresno CA 3.31 6 Minneapolis MN 3.3 7 Long Beach CA 2.83 8 Bakersfield CA 2.78 9 Oakland CA 2.76 10 New York NY 2.73 11 San Diego CA 2.68 12 Colorado
Springs CO 2.63 13 San Francisco CA 2.59 14 Milwaukee WI 2.39 15 Albuquerque NM 2.35 15 Columbus OH 2.35 17 Mesa AZ 2.33 18 Denver CO 2.23 19 Raleigh NC 2.16 20 Indianapolis IN 2.11 21 Tucson AZ 2.05 22 Phoenix AZ 2.04 23 Las Vegas NV 2.01 24 Los Angeles CA 1.94 25 Nashville TN 1.81 26 Seattle WA 1.67 27 Kansas City MO 1.66 28 Portland OR 1.57 29 Washington DC 1.56 30 Boston MA 1.5 31 Charlotte NC 1.49 32 El Paso TX 1.38 33 Oklahoma
City OK 1.37 34 Austin TX 1.32 35 Louisville KY 1.28 36 Jacksonville FL 1.23 37 Atlanta GA 1.18 38 Tampa FL 1.17 39 Baltimore MD 1.14 40 Fort Worth TX 1.08 41 Arlington TX 1.03 41 Dallas TX 1.03 43 Houston TX 1.02 44 San Antonio TX 1.01 45 Detroit MI 0.81 46 Philadelphia PA 0.66 46 Memphis TN 0.66 46 Miami FL 0.66 49 Tulsa OK 0.65 50 Chicago IL 0.45 Omaha Leads the Nation in DUIs

Omaha, Nebraska tops the list with 4.48 DUI violations per 1,000 drivers. That’s nearly 10 times the rate seen in Chicago, which ranks lowest at 0.45.

While it’s hard to say why Omaha took the top spot, possible reasons could include higher car dependency or stricter DUI enforcement. Either way, it stands out significantly from the national average.

California Dominates the Top 10

Six of the top 10 cities with the most DUIs are located in California. San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno, Long Beach, Bakersfield, and Oakland all report high DUI rates ranging from 2.76 to 3.68 per 1,000 drivers.

This may reflect the state’s large population and vehicle-centric culture, though variations in enforcement or reporting practices could also play a role.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Violent Crime Rates by State on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 22:10

The Middle East: The Decisive Battleground Of WW3

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

It’s important to recognize that world orders are nothing new.

World orders have long been the frameworks through which major global powers set the rules of the game. They define the structure of international political relations.

Thinking in terms of world orders requires zooming out entirely—taking the geopolitical view from 40,000 feet.

On a smaller scale, it’s similar to how the most powerful criminal organizations in a city—such as mafias and street gangs—form agreements to divide their activities and territories among themselves.

Eventually, though, these arrangements always break down, leading to violent power struggles until a new agreement is reached, reflecting the shifting balance of power.

A similar dynamic is at play with the most powerful countries, world orders, and world wars.

You can think of world orders as epochs—distinct historical periods marked by evolving global power structures.

Peace of Westphalia (1648 to 1803): This agreement ended the Thirty Years’ War and established a framework for European international relations for over two centuries by maintaining a balance of power among major European states. It involved the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Sweden, the Dutch Republic, and various German territories. This world order persisted until the Napoleonic Wars disrupted the balance, necessitating a new international arrangement.

Congress of Vienna (1814 to 1914): The military defeat of Napoleon I led to this world order, which cemented Britain as the dominant global power. The Congress of Vienna set the foundation for European politics until the onset of World War 1 in 1914.

Treaty of Versailles (1919 to 1939): The victors of World War 1 established this world order, introducing institutions like the League of Nations. However, it collapsed when Germany, Italy, and Japan sought to overturn it and impose their own world order during World War 2.

The Current US-Led World Order (1945 to Today): The victors of World War 2 created the current world order with the US as its leader. This system includes institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—all headquartered in the US. This world order has largely been unipolar, with the US exerting significant influence over international policies and decision-making.

World War 3

While many don’t realize it, World War 3 is already underway.

Let me explain…

Total war between the world’s largest powers that reshuffled the international order defined the previous world wars.

However, with the advent of nuclear weapons, total war between the largest powers today—Russia, China, and the US—means a nuclear Armageddon where there are no winners and only losers.

That could still happen despite nobody wanting it, but it’s not the most likely outcome.

World War 3 is unlikely to be a total war between the world’s largest powers, like the previous world wars.

Instead, the conflict is playing out on different levels—proxy wars, economic wars, financial wars, cyber wars, biological warfare, deniable sabotage, and information warfare.

In that sense, World War 3 is already well underway, though most fail to recognize it.

Russia, China, and their allies are seeking to reshape the US-led world order that has been in place since the end of World War 2.

While they resent US dominance, both Russia and China hold a position—albeit a subordinate one—within the current system. They have permanent seats on the UN Security Council and are members of key international institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO.

Unlike Germany and Japan in World War 2, Russia and China do not appear intent on completely overturning the current world order. Doing so could invite nuclear Armageddon. Instead, they aim to shift the balance away from US dominance to a multipolar world where they wield greater influence.

The conflict is playing out just below the threshold of direct military conflict. Nevertheless, it is a high-stakes struggle among the world’s major powers to determine the future world order, just as in previous world wars.

This is World War 3. It’s happening right now and unfolding rapidly.

In fact, World War 3 has been ongoing for over a decade.

While WW3 lacks an official starting date, two pivotal events in 2013 and 2014 signaled the beginning of this global struggle between Russia, China, and the US to reshape the world order.

The first was the rise of Xi Jinping in March 2013. It quickly became evident that China was no longer content with being a junior member of the US-led system. Instead, Beijing sought a role commensurate with its power—at minimum, equal to the US, if not the world’s dominant force.

The second was the US-backed coup in Kiev in February 2014, which led to the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian government and its replacement by a pro-US administration.

Ukraine is Russia’s most vital neighbor—both culturally and strategically. Slavic nations, including Russia, trace their heritage to the Kievan Rus’, a federation of tribes centered in present-day Ukraine that existed from the late 800s to the early 1200s.

Ukraine is also of immense geopolitical value. For years, US strategists have pursued the idea of integrating Ukraine into NATO, a move that would significantly weaken Russia’s military position and further isolate Moscow—an appealing prospect for those favoring a unipolar world.

After the 2014 coup, Moscow became convinced that the US was determined to bring Russia under its control. In response, Russia saw no choice but to push back—primarily by aligning with China and other nations to shift the world order from unipolar to multipolar.

I believe these two events marked the beginning of a global struggle among the most powerful nations to reshape the international order—World War 3.

Since then, the conflict has only escalated and may soon reach a tipping point that changes everything.

The graphic below (click to enlarge) maps out the timeline of recent world orders and world wars, offering a clearer perspective on their evolution—and where we may be headed next.

The US-led world order has undergone several distinct phases since the end of World War 2.

From 1945 to 1991, it was defined by the Cold War—a global struggle between the US and the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the post-WW2 world order experienced a massive shift, with the US emerging as the undisputed global superpower. This era, often called the “unipolar moment,” lasted from 1991 until Trump’s inauguration in 2025.

Though it endured for 34 years, the notion that the US could maintain a unipolar world order indefinitely was never realistic.

President Trump seems to recognize that maintaining it is not just unrealistic but unsustainable. He appears to have decided that it is in the US’s best interest to transition to a multipolar reality on its own terms rather than be forced into it by a chaotic collapse.

We are now in a volatile adjustment period as the unipolar world order gives way to a multipolar one.

Does that mean World War 3 is over?

I don’t think so. But it does mean we have entered a new phase of it.

There is still much to be determined—most crucially, the boundaries of the US, Russia, and China’s spheres of influence in this emerging multipolar world.

With the war in Ukraine all but lost and the prospect of victory in Taiwan shrinking by the day, the US government appears to have accepted that the complete subjugation of Russia and China under its unipolar dominance is no longer an achievable goal.

The goalposts of World War 3 have shifted.

Rather than total victory and preserving the unipolar world order, the US is now focused on maximizing its power within the new multipolar landscape—while limiting the influence of its most formidable rivals: Russia and China.

While the US seems to be moving away from the unipolar model and begrudgingly acknowledging the existence of rival powers (Russia and China), it still seeks to be the dominant force in a multipolar world.

The boundaries of the US, Russia, and China’s spheres of influence in this emerging multipolar world have yet to be defined, and the situation remains volatile and dangerous. Whether Trump can successfully guide the US—and the world—through this transition without descending into greater conflict remains an open question.

On a smaller scale, this mirrors how powerful criminal organizations—such as mafias and street gangs—operate within a city. Ideally, a gang or mafia would eliminate all rivals. However, when certain rivals prove too strong to destroy, the conflict shifts toward defining boundaries until a formal arrangement is reached that divides territories.

The same dynamic is now unfolding on a global scale between the US, Russia, and China as World War 3 plays out.

Each side is maneuvering to expand its power and influence until a new arrangement is reached that defines the balance of the multipolar world.

Determining the precise boundaries of various spheres of influence in a multipolar world—and formalizing them into an agreement—will be a complex and prolonged process. It won’t happen overnight.

Until a formal agreement is reached among the world’s major powers—much like the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars, the Treaty of Versailles following World War 1, and the Yalta Conference at the close of World War 2—World War 3 will continue.

The Middle East: The Decisive Battleground of WW3

The Middle East presents one of the greatest uncertainties in the emerging multipolar world. I believe the region will be pivotal.

If the US and its allies prevail there, it could open the door to containing Russian and Chinese influence within a multipolar world.

But if Russia and China gain the upper hand in this strategic region, the US will suffer a major geopolitical downgrade, much like the British Empire after World Wars 1 and 2.

The region is further complicated by the presence of powerful regional players like Turkey, nuclear-armed Israel, and Iran, all of whom have their own interests.

The US, Russia, and China will not only need to define their boundaries in the Middle East, but so will these regional actors. There’s no sign of a resolution anytime soon. The region remains volatile, and the potential for a regional conflict escalating into a global confrontation remains a real possibility.

A key question is Iran’s role in the multipolar world order. If the Middle East is pivotal to the global balance of power in a multipolar world, then Iran is pivotal to the balance of power within the Middle East.

Control of Iran would give the US even greater leverage over the Middle East’s hydrocarbon resources. A US-aligned government in Tehran could help block China’s Belt and Road Initiative from pushing further west and potentially cut off 14% of China’s oil imports. It would also hinder Russian trade through the Caspian Sea and serve as a launchpad to destabilize Russia from its southern flank.

In short, bringing Iran under US influence would open the door to further undermining both Russia and China. For them, Iran is strategic depth.

Russia and China cannot afford to let Iran fall—and the US and Israel cannot afford to let it stand. The question is: who will prevail?

It’s doubtful that the US and its allies can win the war in Ukraine against Russia or a potential war over Taiwan against China. Their best shot at rolling back Russian and Chinese influence in a multipolar world is through striking Iran.

That’s why I believe the US and its allies will make their last stand to preserve global preeminence by attempting to overthrow Iran’s government—likely through full-scale war. Whether they’ll succeed is another question entirely.

As the Middle East becomes the decisive battleground in the struggle to shape the new world order, the consequences are not just geopolitical—they are deeply personal. The outcome of this conflict could trigger the most dangerous economic crisis in a hundred years, one that threatens your financial stability, personal freedom, and way of life.

To help you navigate what’s coming, I’ve prepared an urgent Special Report: “The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… and the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now.” It explains the global forces at play, what they mean for you, and the critical steps you can take today to prepare. Click here to access the report and read it now. History is moving fast. Don’t get left behind.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 21:45

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

Friday:
• At 10:00 AM ET, Speech, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Economic Outlook and Framework Review, At the 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Moran, Wyoming

Trump Hits International Criminal Court With 2nd Round Of Sanctions

The Trump administration has expanded its punitive measures against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its going after Israel, on Wednesday imposing sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors from the ICC. This is also based on the court's past decision to investigate US officials over alleged war crimes committed by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the The Hague-based court a "national security threat" and accused it of being used for "lawfare" against the US and Israel - at a moment a warrant for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still active. 

International Criminal Court

The sanctioned judges and deputy prosecutors have been identified as Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada - as named by the Treasury and State Department.

The list of people have all have been involved in ICC cases related to the US or Israel - but Washington says they've been involved in the politicization and overreach represented in the court's recent actions.

"United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC's politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach," Rubio stated.

This is the second wave of sanctions in only less than three months - with the first involving action against four additional judges.

In reaction, the court condemned the new US sanctions, saying "These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions."

"They constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world," it continued.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has prepared arrest warrant applications for Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich on charges of apartheid.

However, ICC sources are concerned they will not submit them for fear of sanctions. pic.twitter.com/wNq1wT4tfV

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 16, 2025

Additionally she statement published to the ICC website said, "The Court calls upon States Parties and all those who share the values of humanity and the rule of law to provide firm and consistent support to the Court and its work carried out in the sole interest of victims of international crimes."

Trump intensified the effort shortly after resuming office in January 2025. Within days, he issued an executive order warning that sanctions would be imposed on anyone participating in ICC investigations concerning alleged war crimes by the US or Israel.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 19:40

US "Pauses Issuance Of Worker Visas For Truckers" To Address Illegal Alien CDL Crisis Killing Americans 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking decisive action to address the non-domiciled commercial driver's license (CDL) crisis, which has transformed America's highways into both a public safety nightmare and a national security threat. Countless Americans have lost their lives this year at the hands of non-English-speaking migrants/illegal aliens operating 80,000-pound big rigs - yet they should never have been on the road, but were allowed to because rogue sanctuary states handed out CDLs like candy. Under the Biden-Harris regime, tens of thousands of these migrants flooded into the trucking industry, many unable to read road signs in English. 

"Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers," Rubio stated on X on Thursday evening.

He added: "The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers."

Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.

The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 21, 2025

Rubio's action at State comes days after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy addressed the horrific crash in Florida involving an illegal alien operating a big rig, who made an illegal U-turn, killing three Americans. 

Duffy blasted "non-enforcement and radical immigration policies" for turning the trucking industry into a "lawless frontier," allowing unqualified foreign drivers to operate massive 40-ton rigs.

This cannot happen again.

.@FMCSA is launching an investigation into both the driver and White Hawk Carrier.

Here’s what we know:

1. Washington State improperly issued the driver a full-term CDL. Asylum seekers or illegal aliens are NOT allowed to receive this!

2. New Mexico… pic.twitter.com/Qlf8T68IJz

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) August 19, 2025

Responding to Rubio's action is American Truckers United's (ATU) Shannon Everett, whose trucking advocacy group has been one of the main forces driving urgency in alerting the Trump administration to the non-domiciled CDL crisis killing innocent Americans, in some cases, wiping out entire families. 

"At American Truckers United, we are forever grateful for the swift and decisive action taken by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who truly puts Americans first. We thank him for this bold step in pausing all work visas for commercial truck drivers, which we believe is the first occupation-specific visa restriction ever implemented by a Secretary of State to protect American workers," Everett told ZeroHedge. 

He continued, "Secretary Rubio has shut off the supply lines. Now it will be up to Secretary Duffy to clean house!" 

ZeroHedge began covering the migrant CDL crisis in March, together with ATU, warning about the deadly consequences of open-border chaos.

Here's the reporting:

• Advocacy Group Calls For U.S. Probe On Non-English Speaking Migrant Truck Drivers After Deadly Austin Crash

• Biden Handed Out CDLs Like Candy... Now U.S. Highways Are A Public Safety & National Security Nightmare

• Rolling Risk: Unvetted Migrants Behind The Wheel Of Big Rigs Threaten U.S. Safety & Security

• From North America To Australia, Migrant Truckers Are Fueling A Highway Safety Crisis

• English Trucking Rule Takes Effect, Federal Probe Begins Of Sanctuary State Migrant CDL Pipeline

• Letter Urges Transportation Sec. Duffy To Ban Foreign CDLs Amid Series Of Highway Crashes

• Highway Mayhem: Trucker From Sanctuary State Illinois Arrested After Baltimore Shooting Spree

• Walmart, Amazon Truck Depots Display Multilingual Signs, Raising Alarms Over Migrant Drivers With No English

• Watch: American Truckers United Issues Dire Warning On 'Unsafe' Highways Amid Flood Of Migrant Drivers, Crashes

• Florida Highway Horror: Migrant Truck Driver Leaves 3 Americans Dead Amid CDL Crisis

• Illegal Alien Behind Fatal Florida Big Rig Crash; Sec. Duffy Signals Major Action On CDL Crisis

• "This Cannot Happen Again": Sec. Duffy Readies Major Action Against Rogue States Amid Migrant CDL Crisis

Everett told us that ATU began working with the State Department in July to address the crisis and restore safety to America's highways. Within a month, Rubio took decisive action, and now all eyes are on Duffy to see whether the DoT takes action against this public safety crisis and national security threat spurred by the Biden-Harris regime. 

Accountability is coming. Rogue sanctuary states run by globalist Democrats have been put on notice: they will be held responsible for the death and destruction on U.S. highways. Also on notice are the globalist-controlled mega-corporations and major trucking firms that recklessly hired non-English-speaking CDL holders.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 19:15

A One-Man Mission To Spread the Word: These 'Dirty Jobs' Are Plentiful And Essential

Authored by Gayle Jo Carter via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It’s a poster on the wall in his 1979 high school guidance counselor’s office that all these years later motivates Mike Rowe, the Emmy award-winning TV host, producer, narrator, podcaster, spokesman, bestselling author, and recording artist, on his quest to reinvigorate America’s enthusiasm, passion, and educational foundation for the skilled trades.

TV personality and America's leading advocate for the skilled trades, Mike Rowe. Courtesy of Michael Segal

The poster’s caption - “Work smart, not hard” - underscored an image of “the happy graduate with his diploma and the poor schmuck who won a vocational consolation prize,” recalled Rowe in a recent interview with The Epoch Times.

All these years later, Rowe remembers his guidance counselor pointing to the poster and asking him, “Which one of these guys do you want to be?”

“It was a very powerful moment for me,” said Rowe. “I remember thinking, ‘I wanted to lean across the table and give him a slap because the punchline in that poster is my granddad—the embodiment of a skilled worker had been affirmatively caricatured and lampooned and marginalized.”

At the time, Rowe was wrestling with his own future.

“I was 17 and I'd taken some tests and done well, and he wanted me to go to the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, maybe James Madison. I didn’t have any money, and there was no way I was going to borrow. Debt was the only four-letter word that was truly off limits in my house. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My plan was to go to community college for 26 bucks a credit and figure it out.”

In the decades since that guidance counselor meeting, Rowe, who eventually did go on to a four-year college, has turned his visibility and success into the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. Launched in 2008, the foundation works hard to debunk the myths and misperceptions about the trades and help close the skills gap through job boards, corporate partnerships, and scholarships.

“The problem with the push for college when we were in high school wasn’t that college was a bad thing,” said Rowe. “It’s that the push came at the expense of all other forms of learning.”

Get Back to Hard Work

The disappearance of shop and home economics classes “turned out to be maybe the most boneheaded decision in the history of modern education,” said Rowe, who believes it’s the lack of opportunity for students to work with their hands in classes like those, along with the devaluing of skilled trades that has brought on the dramatic skills gap for the booming job market in the AI proof skilled trades.

The Towson University graduate turned opera singer turned QVC host turned “Dirty Jobs” legend tells the story of his “crooked, crooked path” nudged on by his former school teacher mother, Peggy Rowe—now a best-selling author and popular guest on Rowe’s podcast, “The Way I Heard It”—this way.

“Three years on QVC, and then eight years freelancing, probably 300 different jobs, and then a weird phone call from my mother—telling me that my grandfather was turning 90, and she had the perfect birthday present that I should get him,” recalled Rowe. “I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if before he died, he could turn on the TV and see you doing something that looked like work.’”

To honor his grandfather’s legacy and “mostly to shut my mother up,” laughed Rowe, at that time a host of a local San Francisco CBS show “Evening Magazine,” he took his cameraman into the sewers of San Francisco and profiled a sewer inspector.

“My pop was an electrician, but he only went to the seventh grade,” said Rowe. “And by the time he was 30, he was an accomplished welder, pipe fitter, steam fitter, and HVAC. I saw him build additions on people’s homes without a blueprint. He just had that chip. He just knew mechanically how everything worked. He could take that clock apart behind you and put it back together, blindfolded.”

Rowe was surprised that the profile of the sewer inspector generated so much mail and viewer engagement that a new recurrent segment, “Somebody’s Gotta Do It,” was born.

“We just kind of Forrest Gumped our way on the air,” said Rowe.

Mike Rowe's podcast: "The Way I Heard It" Courtesy Mike Rowe; Credit: Michael Segal Inspire a New Generation of Skilled Tradesmen

But then came the real work as Rowe discovered his true calling.

“MikeRoweWorks evolved very organically out of ‘Dirty Jobs’ in 2008,” acknowledged Rowe. As an apprentice on the TV series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe traveled to every state and worked with plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, pipefitters, brick layers, farmers, fishers, and a bunch of other skilled workers who help keep our polite society humming along.

“And like the show itself, it was a tribute to Carl Knobel, my pop. It was a simple attempt at the time to shine a light on 2.3 million jobs that were wide open—good jobs. In 2009, the country was in a recession. There were 12 million people unemployed, but on “Dirty Jobs,” we just saw ‘help wanted’ signs all over the place. It seemed clear that there was another narrative going on that had nothing to do with the creation of jobs, but rather the creation of enthusiasm for the jobs that already existed. That was the skills gap. And that’s what got me on my soapbox on Labor Day 2008. We'll be 17 this Labor Day.”

Rowe, who went on to narrate and host some of Discovery Channel’s most popular shows like “Deadliest Catch,” is just coming off awarding his foundation’s 2025 Work Ethic Scholarships to the tune of five million dollars to 526 men and women.

“We’ve given away, so far, 16 million dollars to over 2,600 recipients, supporting over 21 skilled trades in 46 states,” said Rowe.

Getting people interested in skilled trades—jobs AI can’t do—is helped by each and every one of these recipients who become shining examples of possibilities for potential workers.

“The workforce is out of balance,” said Rowe. “Five tradespeople leave and two replace them year after year.”

Hence, Rowe’s mission—“Work Smart and Hard”—“which began as an ad hoc PR campaign for a couple of million jobs,” turned into a lifelong commitment to the skilled trades.

“I went to Congress and I made some PSAs and stuff. The fans of “Dirty Jobs” were the ones who took it to the next level,” said Rowe.

“They helped me build an online trade resource center so anybody could go to MikeRoweworks.org and see thousands of jobs. That got the attention of Ford and Caterpillar, and a lot of other big, muscular companies that required a skilled workforce. They wanted to give me money, so I thought, ‘maybe work ethic scholarships’. That first year, we gave five hundred thousand dollars. The next year, we did 700,000. And the year after that, we did a million. It just kept building. We had 10 times the applicants this year as we did a year before. I can’t take a victory lap just yet. I’m not done.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 19:00

Walmart Still Undercuts Amazon On Food Prices As Last-Mile Grocery Race Intensifies 

Amazon's big move to roll out same-day grocery delivery across 1,000 new cities - on track for 2,300 by year-end - puts Instacart and traditional grocery chains squarely in the crosshairs. But the real shocker isn't Amazon's new expanded reach; it's that Walmart still reigns supreme as the lowest-cost grocer, setting the stage for an intensifying last-mile grocery war. 

News last week (read here) of Amazon expanding its same-day grocery delivery across a thousand more cities by the end of the year sent Instacart (CART) and DoorDash (DASH) shares tumbling. Goldman analysts forecast that millions of Prime members will flock to the service as it becomes available in their respective areas. 

It's increasingly clear that the last-mile grocery battlefield in the U.S. is shaping up as a two-horse race between Amazon and Walmart. There are other players, but none with the scale or firepower to compete seriously. 

Goldman analysts, led by Eric Sheridan, forecasted last week that Amazon can capture a low single-digit percentage of its 129 million Prime members for weekly grocery orders, potentially creating a "potential gross revenue opportunity of ~$30–200 billion."

Prime members new to ordering groceries on the platform will undoubtedly be hunting for deals ... unless their priority is more convenience.

In a separate note, Goldman analyst Kate McShane ran a pricing survey across broadline retailers (BJ's, Walmart) and grocery chains (Kroger, Sprouts) on select items.

The results: Walmart had the most affordability for shoppers, with prices 9.8% below the group average, followed closely by Amazon at -9.3%. Sprouts had the highest markups at +19.2% (limited SKU availability noted), while Kroger landed modestly above average at +2.2%. In a direct comparison, BJ's undercut Amazon with prices averaging 7.9% lower.

Comparing AMZN, KR, SFM, and WMT

Comparing AMZN and BJ

Comparing delivery costs between AMZN, BJ, COST, KR, SFM, and WMT

The last-mile grocery race is already crowded, with most major retailers offering same-day delivery directly or through Instacart. Walmart holds a big advantage, with stores within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, and now Amazon's aggressive push into the space ensures the battle will only intensify.

The only issue for Amazon: Walmart still owns the pricing advantage.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 18:50

FDA Advises Americans Against 'Mousse' Sunscreens, Warns 5 Manufacturers

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

Americans should “beware” of sunscreen products in mousse form as they may not be effective, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an Aug. 12 X post, with the agency sending warning letters to five companies marketing sunscreen products.

A sunbather applies sunscreen onto another in this file photo. Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

The letters were sent on Aug. 6 to Texas-based Supergoop, Pennsylvania-based Fallien Cosmeceuticals Ltd., Israel-based K & Care Organics, Sweden-based Kalani AB, and Florida-based Vacation Inc.

According to the agency, the sunscreen products marketed by these companies are sold as drugs. However, based on section 505 of the FD&C Act, sunscreens can only be approved for marketing in oil, lotion, cream, gel, butter, paste, ointment, stick, spray, and powder forms—and not in mousse and foam.

As for specific products under these brands, FDA took issue with Supergoop’s Play SPF 50 Body Mousse; Fallien’s TiZOs Sheerfoam Non-Tinted SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen; K & Care’s Botao Grow Naturally Kids Mineral Foam Spray; Kalani’s Sunwear Sun Mousse; and Vacation’s Classic Whip Broad Sunscreen Mousse, among a few others.

Vacation was also warned regarding the packaging of its sunscreen products, which the agency said resembled “metal canisters ordinarily used to package whipped cream products and similar dessert toppings.”

“Packaging drug products in containers that resemble food containers commonly used by adults and children can mislead consumers into mistaking the products for food, which is of particular concern as this increases the risk of accidental ingestion,” the letter said.

The FDA gave the companies 15 working days to address the violations.

The Epoch Times reached out to the companies for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Sunscreen Safety

According to an FDA post last updated August 2024, the agency regulates sunscreen “to ensure they meet safety and effectiveness standards” just as it does with other nonprescription drug items.

For instance, the FDA has recalled sunscreens due to benzene contamination. Benzene is a chemical used to manufacture industrial products such as chemicals and dyes, and used in items like sunscreens. Long-term exposure via inhalation and skin absorption can lead to cancers and blood disorders, the agency said.

A recall related to benzene took place back in July 2022, when the FDA announced that Edgewell Personal Care Company was withdrawing three batches of its Banana Boat sunscreens from the market. Samples of the products were found to contain trace levels of benzene.

Many sunscreens also fail to offer the expected protection, according to a May 20 statement from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The group evaluated 2,204 sunscreen products and found that more than 77 percent performed poorly in terms of skin protection or contained potentially harmful ingredients.

“Wearing any sunscreen is much more important and offers better sun protection for your skin than not applying anything,” said EWG acting chief science officer David Andrews. “But not all sunscreens are created equal.”

On the positive side, 63 sunscreens from 13 brands were found to qualify for EWG’s Verified mark, which is only granted to products meeting high standards.

According to EWG, a major shift in the sunscreen market is the increasing demand for mineral-based products containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide for UV protection, which are the only active sunscreen filters “generally recognized as safe and effective” by the FDA.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 18:25

Taxpayers On Hook For $3.5 Billion To Replenish Munitions US Used Defending Israel

Taxpayers are yet again on the hook for America's supposed "closest Middle East ally" as the Pentagon is planning to allocate at least $3.5 billion to restock weapons used in defense of Israel.

A Bloomberg report issued this week has reviewed Department of Defense budget documents prepared through mid-May. Emergency expenditures are highlighted which include US combat operations "executed at the request of or in coordination with Israel for the defense of Israeli territory, personnel or assets during attacks by Iran" or its proxies.

Image source: US Navy

The largest single portion of the funding is $1 billion that is earmarked for replenishing Standard Missile interceptors, specifically the SM-3 IB Threat Upgrade models made by Raytheon and deployed by US Navy ships to intercept ballistic missiles.

Each of these big missiles are estimated to be between $9 million and $12 million, and these were used in the initial April 2024 flare-up and brief round of fighting between Israel and Iran.

The US assisted Israel following the Netanyahu government's airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus - which was the first such deliberate attack by a sovereign government on a foreign embassy in history (the lone precedent being the Chinese embassy strike in Belgrade in 1999, which the US apologized for as an 'accident').

The second-largest funding request in the documents is $204 million to restock THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptors, produced by Lockheed Martin at a price tag of about $13 million each.

All of this will be pushed through despite recent polls showing public support for Israel being at a recent all-time low. The American public is also generally war-weary, given the now years-long conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and the fact that Washington has sunk billions into supporting one side of each war.

The American Right has also begun to shift, with notable figures like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene now actively pushing to cut all funds to Israel, being the first Republican to ever label what Israel is doing "genocide".

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 18:00

Trump Criticizes Court Decision To Block Major Arizona Copper Mine Land Transfer

Authored by Austin Alonzo via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a land transfer for a major Arizona copper mine, prompting a rebuke from President Donald Trump.

Campers utilize Oak Flat Campground in the Tonto National Forest, in Miami, Ariz., on June 9, 2023. Matt York/AP Photo

On Aug. 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a temporary administrative injunction to halt a congressionally mandated land exchange that would have given control of a large tract of land in Tonto National Forest in Arizona to international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP.

The court’s order stated that it was taking no position on the merits of the case but was acting to “preserve the status quo” as it expedites a review of the legal challenge brought by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other plaintiffs.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump criticized the delay, saying the project was needed to create 3,800 jobs and secure a vital resource.

“Our Country, quite simply, needs Copper—AND NOW!” he said in an Aug. 19 post.

“It is so sad that Radical Left Activists can do this, and affect the lives of so many people. Those that fought it are Anti-American, and representing other Copper competitive Countries.”

The ruling came shortly after Trump met with the CEOs of the two companies at the White House, a meeting that highlighted his administration’s support for the mine.

The United States Forest Service is listed as a defendant alongside Resolution Copper Mining LLC.

The appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments for the case in September.

On July 30, Trump signed an executive order creating a 50 percent tariff on imports of semi-finished copper products and intensive copper derivative products. The same order raised the possibility of further tariffs on imported copper in the future.

In a statement, Resolution Copper, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP, called the injunction a temporary pause so the court can consider “eleventh hour motions” by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other plaintiffs.

“We are confident the court will ultimately affirm the district court’s well-reasoned orders explaining in detail why the congressionally directed land exchange satisfies all applicable legal requirements,” the statement said.

The statement said the proposed mine has the potential to become one of the largest copper mines in the United States, “contributing $1 billion annually to Arizona’s economy and creating thousands of local jobs.”

In a statement he posted on LinkedIn on Aug. 19, BHP CEO Mike Henry thanked the Trump administration for its “strong leadership to reinvigorate mining and processing supply chains in and for America.”

The tribal leader at the center of the court case, San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler, responded directly to Trump’s comments in a Facebook post, saying that the tribe is “protecting America’s interests.” Rambler stated that the president’s comments “mirror misinformation” from foreign mining interests.

He said the project was a “rip-off” that would allow companies to extract billions in copper while paying “almost no royalties” to the federal government.

Rambler’s post also noted that Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder is a company owned by the Chinese government, and he alleged the copper would be shipped to China. The chairman reiterated the tribe’s primary concerns that the mine “will destroy a sacred area, decimates our environment, [and] threatens our water rights.”

On its website, Resolution Copper listed detailed responses to Rambler’s allegations.

“While both companies have operations and investors on nearly every continent around the world, Rio Tinto and BHP are committed to being transparent, ethical, and responsible corporations that provide the materials that shape modern society,” a statement posted on an undated “Myths and Facts” page states.

Rio Tinto is a British and Australian mining company traded publicly on multiple global exchanges. BHP is an Australian company publicly traded on that country’s Australian Securities Exchange.

The land transfer for the mining project was originally approved by Congress and signed off on by then-President Barack Obama in 2014. Various tribal interests and environmental groups have fought the transfer for years.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 17:40

Tariff-Driven Rally Reverses In Lumber Market

There is some good news in the lumber market: contracts have plunged more than 14% in recent weeks, reversing highs last seen during the pandemic shortages. The sharp reversal comes as bets on tariff-driven cost pressures and lower interest rates failed to lift demand. At the same time, disappointing housing data and weak earnings across the housing industry underscored the trouble festering. 

Traders ramped up bets that U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports and lower interest rates would lift costs and demand, but housing activity has failed to deliver any demand tailwinds.

There has been weak builder confidence (hitting 13-year lows), disappointing housing permits, and earnings misses at Home Depot, James Hardie Industries, Builders FirstSource, and UFP Industries.

Earlier today... 

Why is the housing market completely frozen? A new 30Y mortgage costs 6.80%. The average existing mortgage is almost 3% lower, or 4.11%. https://t.co/hOcBSnWZre pic.twitter.com/ctJozi9CGI

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 21, 2025

Canadian mills are operating at a loss, which will likely mean lumber supply cuts are just ahead. Even as tariffs doubled this summer, traders remained in "wait-and-see" mode on interest rates. Now the FOMC is preparing for an interest rate decision next month.

On Thursday, lumber futures for September delivery traded around $604 per thousand board feet, down about 14% from the settlement of $695.50 per thousand board feet on Aug. 1. 

Greg Kuta, president and CEO of lumber broker Westline Capital Strategies, told MarketWatch that lumber demand is sagging, with possible stabilization next year after Canadian mills dial back production.

Prices "got ahead of themselves with some overbuying on the way up, and a very large and unsustainable futures premium" developed, according to Steve Loebner, vice president of forest products and risk management at Sherwood Lumber, adding that upward pressure in price was driven by tariffs and future supply levels. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 17:20

US Adds Steel, Copper, Lithium To High-Priority List Under Uyghur Forced Labor Law

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

The United States will add steel, copper, lithium, and two other products to its import restriction list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Aug. 19.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington on Aug. 12, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

DHS said it was also adding caustic soda and red dates to its high-priority list for enforcing the UFLPA, which bans the import of products made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been committing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, according to human rights groups and lawmakers.

“The use of slave labor is repulsive and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labor practices pose to our prosperity,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

At present, there are 144 entities on the UFLPA Entity List that have been accused of using the forced labor of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, according to the statement.

DHS stated that as of Aug. 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had blocked more than 16,700 imported shipments valued at nearly $3.7 billion to examine whether they are prohibited under the UFLPA, and more than 10,000 of the shipments were denied entry.

“America has a moral, economic, and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation’s prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth,” Noem stated. “The Trump administration is taking action.”

The department also released its update to the UFLPA enforcement strategy, underscoring the Trump administration’s efforts to block Chinese goods made with forced labor from entering the United States.

According to the strategy report, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force listed high-priority sectors to provide importers with transparency and allow businesses to scrutinize supply chains involving products in those sectors.

“Ending forced labor is an economic and national security imperative for the United States,” Christopher Pratt, a senior DHS official performing the duties of the undersecretary for strategy, policy, and plans, stated in the report.

Pratt said that cracking down on imports made with forced labor helps protect compliant U.S. and international manufacturers from unfair competition while also promoting U.S. businesses and industries.

Under the UFLPA, businesses are banned from importing products produced wholly or in part in Xinjiang, unless they can provide “clear and convincing evidence” that no forced labor was used in producing the imported goods, according to the DHS website.

The United States has described the detention of more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang as a genocide, and both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for suppression in Xinjiang.

In March, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on current and former Thai officials involved in the deportation of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand to China on Feb. 27.

Eva Fu and Dorothy Li contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 17:00

US Space Command Prepares For Satellite Vs. Satellite Combat

Late last year, an American military satellite and a French counterpart carried out a delicate orbital maneuver that signals a new phase in U.S. space operations. The two conducted a rendezvous and proximity operation (RPO) near an undisclosed foreign satellite (likely Russian), testing the ability to approach, inspect, and potentially manipulate another nation’s asset.

Photograph: Alamy

According to General Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, the exercise demonstrated close coordination with France and reflected growing threats in orbit. “The French have talked about Russian maneuvers [near French satellites] over the years,” Gen. Whiting said. “And so…we demonstrated that we could both maneuver satellites near each other and near other countries’ satellites in a way that signaled our ability to operate well together.”

The success of the exercise, the first of its kind between the U.S. and a country outside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, has prompted plans to repeat it later this year, according to The Economist.

Space Command, re-established in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term, has largely focused until now on building its headquarters and expanding staff. Gen. Whiting says that phase is over. “We now have a combatant command focused on war fighting in space,” he said.

Two developments are driving that shift:

• Rising reliance on satellites for military operations. Gen. Whiting noted that America’s strike on Iran in June was “space enabled.”

• Expanding threats from China and Russia. Since 2015, Chinese satellite launches have increased eightfold, and Beijing’s capabilities now surpass Russia’s, U.S. officials say. China, Russia, and India have all tested destructive anti-satellite weapons, and Washington accuses Moscow of developing an orbital nuclear weapon capable of disabling thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites.

Guess we don't have space lasers after all?

From Defense to Offense

A few years ago, Space Command avoided discussing offensive capabilities. That stance has changed. “It’s time that we can clearly say that we need space fires, and we need weapon systems. We need orbital interceptors,” Gen. Whiting said in April.

He referenced Trump’s Golden Dome missile-defense plan, which includes space-based interceptors designed to destroy enemy missiles. The same technologies, officials say, could potentially target hostile satellites. “Space to space, space to ground, ground to space” capabilities, one official told The Economist, will be key to achieving “the lethality that is necessary to achieve…deterrence.”

Allies are also embracing a tougher approach. Britain announced for the first time this year that it plans to develop both ground- and space-based anti-satellite weapons. And through Operation Olympic Defender, the U.S. now works with six partners; Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and New Zealand - to deter “hostile acts in space.” The coalition achieved “initial operational capability” in April, with a joint campaign plan expected to be finalized this summer.

Rethinking Satellites as Assets

Managing satellites in a conflict environment poses new challenges. Traditionally treated as “individual forts,” satellites are rarely moved due to fuel constraints, which limits lifespan. To adapt, the U.S. is exploring several strategies:

1. Larger fuel reserves for greater mobility.

2. In-orbit refueling, a capability China demonstrated in June.

3. Proliferated constellations of satellites, where losses are acceptable because of scale.

The last strategy is already underway. The National Reconnaissance Office has launched more than 200 satellites since 2023, with a dozen more launches planned this year. SpaceX is also reported to be a leading contender for a proposed 450-satellite constellation to track missile launches and relay targeting data.

AI Joins the Space Race

General Whiting also sees artificial intelligence reshaping orbital defense. In the future, he says, AI-equipped satellites could detect “nefarious” objects nearby and automatically maneuver to avoid them—or even deploy “defender satellites” to protect high-value assets.

For now, AI integration is happening on the ground. Space Command has built a large language model trained on its operational and threat data, enabling officers to query “SpaceBot” for real-time recommendations. Tasks that once required ten people and five hours can now be completed “at machine speed,” Gen. Whiting said.

With adversaries developing anti-satellite weapons and alliances forming to counter them, the U.S. is moving toward a more assertive role in orbit. As Gen. Whiting puts it, America’s next frontier of deterrence may be defined by “space to space, space to ground, ground to space” capabilities - and the speed with which they’re deployed.

h/t Capital.news

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 16:40

Trump Says He'll Patrol Washington With Police, National Guard Thursday

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump said that he will be patrolling the streets with police and the National Guard in Washington on the evening of Aug. 21.

Members of the National Guard patrol near the US Capitol on the National Mall in Washington, on Aug. 20, 2025. Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course. We’re going to do a job,” Trump told Todd Sternes on his radio show.

The president went on to say that the military stationed in Washington is doing a “fantastic job” at law enforcement in the nation’s capital.

President Donald Trump federalized control of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on Aug. 11, ordering about 800 National Guard troops to assist with law enforcement.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,“ Trump said at a White House press briefing at the time.

“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”

Starnes responded to Trump’s news of his plans to go on patrol, pondering whether the president would be given a uniform, and joked, “I want to see my president tase someone tonight.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 16:20

Only 17% Of 25-34-Year-Old Americans Have Attained The 5 Major Milestones Of Adulthood

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,m

What I am about to share with you is some of the clearest evidence yet that the middle class in America is being systematically destroyed.  Young adults are forming middle class households at an extremely depressed rate, and that is because the American Dream is simply out of reach for most of them in this very harsh economic environment.  If you can’t get a good job that pays an adequate wage, you aren’t going to be able to live a middle class lifestyle.  Sadly, many older Americans simply do not understand how difficult things have become for our young adults in this day and age.

The Census Bureau has produced a paper entitled “Changes in Milestones of Adulthood” that absolutely blew me away.

According to the Census Bureau, the 5 major milestones of adulthood are living away from your parents, completing your education, getting a job, marrying, and living with a child.  Since 1975, the success that our young people have had in attaining these milestones has declined dramatically…

According to the working paper, “Changes in Milestones of Adulthood,” almost half of all young adults in 1975 had reached four milestones associated with adulthood: moving out of one’s parents’ home, getting a job, getting married and having a child.

Five decades on, that progression has changed dramatically. The share of young adults that have followed the traditional pathway to adulthood has dropped to less than a quarter, according to the paper.

After reading that CBS News article, I had to go find the original paper.

I found it on the official Census Bureau website, and it says that in 2023 only 17 percent of young adults had attained the 5 major milestones of adulthood…

In 2005, the most common combination was young adults who had all five milestones (about 26% experienced all five milestones). By 2023, however, the proportion of young adults who experienced all five markers of adulthood declined to about 17%, and young adults who reported only experiencing the three economic milestones of living away from parents, completing education, and participating in the labor force was the modal combination. Finally, the residual category in Figure 2 representing the proportion of young adults who experienced any other combination of milestones declined from 36% to 30%, suggesting that the experiences of young adults have become more homogeneous for contemporary cohorts.

17 percent!

Just think about that.

If our society was in good shape, most of our young adults would be in a position to achieve all 5 milestones by the age of 25.

But our society is not in good shape.  According to the Census Bureau paper, the primary reason why young adults are not achieving these milestones is because they are “facing economic barriers”…

The reason for this, according to the paper, is that more young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 are facing economic barriers compared with previous generations. Changing societal attitudes around family formation are also contributing to the sharp decline in the share of young people reaching what the U.S. Census Bureau considers to be “key milestones.”

If I keep hitting people with more evidence day after day, maybe the skeptics will finally start getting it.

Our young adults are not entering the middle class fast enough to replace the older middle class adults that are dying off.

As a result, the middle class is steadily shrinking.

To be a part of the middle class, you have to be able to get a middle class job.

And right now the competition for middle class jobs among our young people is extremely fierce.

If you doubt this, just consider what a 23-year-old college graduate recently admitted to NBC News…

“Every guy I know that is without a job right now wants to work, but they just can’t get it,” said Eli McCullick, who has been looking for a job for more than a year after he graduated with a degree in sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder. “It’s demoralizing for guys who really want to get ahead and it’s just not happening.”

McCullick, 23, said he hasn’t even been able to get an hourly job at a restaurant or doing cleaning work at a hotel in the Boulder area, where he’s living at a property his father owns. The only way he has been able to earn money to cover his food and daily expenses has been to do odd jobs for friends and relatives, like shoveling horse manure, mowing lawns and helping an older woman prepare for a yard sale.

There is no way that I would want to be a fresh college graduate looking for a job right now.

It is terrible out there.

Another recent college graduate told NBC News that nearly all of his friends are unemployed and living with their parents…

Sean Breen, who graduated this spring with a communications degree from California State University, Long Beach, said he and nearly all of his high school friends, both men and women, are back home living with their parents and unemployed. He said even those who went to top-ranked colleges and got seemingly in-demand degrees are unable to find work.

“It is like a high school reunion,” Breen said. “We’re all, we are back in Marin County this summer, all unemployed, all trying to find a barista job, a part-time something, because we haven’t found anything.”

After having applied to hundreds of jobs, he said, Breen now plans to go to graduate school in the fall at Trinity College in Ireland, where tuition is significantly lower and, he hopes, jobs will be more plentiful.

This is the reality of what is really going on out there.

Those that keep insisting that “everything is fine” just need to stop.

The job market is freezing up and layoffs have absolutely skyrocketed compared to last year…

Layoffs have risen 140 percent from a year ago, a new report reveals.

Companies have already announced more than 800,000 job cuts this year alone, the highest since the pandemic upended the economy in 2020.

US-based employers cut 62,075 jobs in July compared to 25,885 in the same month last year.

Those numbers are staggering.

Unfortunately, 62 percent of U.S. consumers believe that unemployment will continue to get even worse during the months ahead…

• About 62% of consumers believe unemployment will worsen in the year ahead, according to the University of Michigan’s latest monthly survey.

• That’s bounced around a little in the last few months, but consistently hung around levels not seen since the Great Recession.

Do you remember how difficult it was to get a good job during the Great Recession?

Well, now we are entering a similar time.

That may help to explain why “job hugging” has become a thing in 2025…

Job hugging is the act of holding onto a job “for dear life,” consultants at Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm, wrote last week.

The rate at which workers are voluntarily leaving their jobs — known as the quits rate — has hovered around 2% since the start of the year, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Outside of the initial days of the Covid-19 pandemic, levels haven’t been that consistently low since early 2016.

The quits rate is a barometer of workers’ perceptions of the broader labor market, said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research in North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab. In this case, they may be nervous about getting another job or aren’t enthusiastic about their ability to find one, she said.

If you have a job that you highly value, don’t let go.

Hold on to it as tightly as you can, because if you lose it you may not find work again for a long time.

A lot of people are shocked by what is happening, but the truth is that nobody should be surprised.

There was no way that we were going to be able to defy the laws of economics forever.

The inexorable march of time cannot be stopped, and our future is going to look a whole lot different than most people anticipated.

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

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 15:30

The post Putting Universal Medicare Front and Center appeared first on CEPR.

Iranian President Inks Defense Treaty With Belarus, Seeks To 'Overcome US Sanctions'

Via The Cradle

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed 12 cooperation agreements during Pezeshkian’s official visit to Minsk on Wednesday, strengthening ties between the two nations in defiance of US sanctions.

A joint statement was signed alongside the dozen cooperation agreements which cover politics, international law, health, pharmaceuticals, industry, environment, tourism, art, media, free trade zones, industrial and special economic zones, and investment. Officials said the documents lay the foundation for long-term bilateral cooperation.

Iranian and Belarusian presidents, IRNA

Pezeshkian described the visit as “one of the turning points in relations between the two countries,” adding that “relations with Belarus are being pursued at the highest possible level.” 

He emphasized that “the Islamic Republic of Iran places no restrictions on strengthening its relations with Belarus” and that both sides would fully implement the 2023–2026 cooperation roadmap.

The Iranian president pointed to practical steps including joint investments, expanded customs cooperation, increased goods and passenger transit, and resolving private sector issues. He also called for stronger media and cultural exchanges “with the aim of presenting a real image of the two countries.”

At the joint press conference, Pezeshkian criticized the US and its European allies, saying they are “trying to spread unilateralism and dictate their viewpoints on other countries. Such an approach has not been and will not be tolerable by you and us.” 

He added that “western countries, led by the United States, are seeking to carve out our path in accordance with their own wishes,” but that Iran and Belarus “can overcome sanctions and problems by working together seriously.”

Pezeshkian thanked Minsk for supporting Tehran against “the aggressive attacks of the Zionist regime and the United States against Iranian soil and peaceful nuclear facilities,” calling them “a clear aggression against international law and an explicit violation of the UN Charter.”

Iranian president's official welcome ceremony in Minsk:

President of #Belarus officially welcomed #Iran's President in Minsk. https://t.co/fW1XJV4RD0 pic.twitter.com/SZpZFxiUFv

— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) August 20, 2025

Lukashenko called Iran a reliable partner, saying, “We can discuss all topics of interest and areas of cooperation, and elevate our relations to the highest levels,” later asking Pezeshkian to send his regards to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Both presidents highlighted multilateral organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and BRICS as frameworks to expand cooperation beyond Western-led structures.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/21/2025 - 14:40