Zero Rss

Zombie Home Foreclosure Numbers Increase In 38 US States

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

The number of residential zombie foreclosures in the second quarter of 2026 marginally increased from the previous quarter, with such foreclosures rising in the District of Columbia and 38 out of the 50 U.S. states, real estate analytics company ATTOM said in a May 21 statement.

Homes in Huntington Beach, Calif., on July 12, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

"Out of the country's 104.9 million residential properties, 245,376 were in the foreclosure process in the second quarter. Of those, 8,312 properties, or 3.4 percent, were 'zombies,' meaning the owners had abandoned the properties before the end of their foreclosure proceedings," ATTOM said. "The second quarter zombie rate was slightly higher than the 3.3 percent rate posted in the first quarter."

Among states with at least 100 zombie residences, Georgia recorded the largest quarter-over-quarter increase, with the number of such properties rising by 98 percent. Zombie foreclosures rose by 67.2 percent in North Carolina, 42 percent in Indiana, 35.5 percent in Iowa, and 15.4 percent in South Carolina.

In states with at least 50 zombie homes, only two saw a dip in such properties in the second quarter - Washington and New York, which declined by 13.1 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

A zombie foreclosure typically happens when a homeowner receives a pending foreclosure notice and decides to leave the home before the legally required exit date, leaving the home vacant.

As long as the foreclosure is not completed, the owner continues to be the title holder of the property. The owner can usually pay a lump sum to the lender and pull the property out of foreclosure.

However, if the lump sum is not paid, the property will end up with the lender. Following this stage, the homeowner has to leave the place when the lender requires them to.

ATTOM's analysis of 138 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties and at least 100 properties in the foreclosure process showed that Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had the highest share of properties in zombie status at 13.2 percent.

This was followed by Wichita, Kansas, at 12.9 percent; Youngstown, Ohio, with 11.4 percent; and Cleveland and Akron, both in Ohio, at more than 10 percent each.

ATTOM's data also showed that almost 1.4 million homes in the United States were vacant in the second quarter, which represents 1.3 percent of America's residential properties.

"The increase in zombie foreclosures across most states may reflect a foreclosure market that is slowly returning to more normalized levels," Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, said.

"At the same time, overall vacancy rates remain relatively steady nationwide, while zombie foreclosures still represent only a small share of homes in the foreclosure process."

According to a Jan. 18 post by Rocket Mortgage, the owner of a zombie property under foreclosure will still be responsible for bills.

For instance, the owners must pay property taxes, failing which they could face a tax lien. Homeowners' association fees must be paid; failing which, the association could file a lawsuit. Similarly, bills for trash removal, maintenance, and other services should be paid as well.

The owner's credit score could get negatively hit, potentially impacting their ability to secure loans in the future.

"The best way to steer clear of a zombie foreclosure is to stay current on mortgage payments. During the mandated waiting period after you receive a foreclosure notice, you can put a halt to foreclosure by paying a large lump sum," the post said.

"Also, a deed-in-lieu agreement can sometimes prevent foreclosure even after the process has started. This is when you turn ownership of your home over to the lender to avoid foreclosure."

Meanwhile, mortgage delinquency is rising in several states, according to a May 21 statement by financial services company WalletHub.

The findings are based on mortgage data from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. During this period, the average number of delinquent mortgages rose by 12.32 percent in Vermont. This was followed by Delaware, with a 6.92 percent jump, and Louisiana, with a 4.4 percent rise.

"If you are delinquent on mortgage debt, you typically have until the debt is 30 days past-due, meaning you have missed two payments, in order to get current. After that, the lender will report the delinquency to the credit bureaus, which will damage your credit score," Chip Lupo, analyst at WalletHub, said.

"Therefore, it's important to try to get current on your debt as quickly as possible. If you are experiencing financial difficulty that prevents you from paying, ask your lender if they will allow temporary forbearance until you get back on your feet, which may prevent you from being reported as delinquent."

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 11:40

Russia Hammers Kiev With Massive Barrage, Likely Including Oreshnik Hypersonic IRBMs

Less than two days after President Vladimir Putin vowed revenge for a Ukrainian strike that hit a secondary-school dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk oblast, Russia unleashed a massive, multi-weapon barrage on Kiev early Sunday, one that apparently included the rare use of Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missiles.

Private videos show clusters of bright objects at supersonic speed descending from the sky near Kiev May 24, 2026. They claim to be Russia’s intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system. Moscow has not officially confirmed the use.
The footage resembles videos that circulated… pic.twitter.com/lSDg8iydzX

— T. Sassersson, Editor@NewsVoice (@newsvoicemag) May 24, 2026

While authorities are still sorting through the wreckage, they say at least one person was killed in the blitz that started a 1 am and continued into the early morning light, when a nine-story residential building was hit. Others were trapped in an air raid shelter, its door having been buried in debris. At least 20 people were injured. Many videos purporting to capture the attack and its aftermath assault are circulating on social media: 

First video via https://t.co/qJDAGuNQMrhttps://t.co/3cfZgiWUgt

Cherkasy, just down the Dnieper from Kyiv, saw major damage from a Russian drone raid, with a 9-story apartment building hit by a Russian Shahed attack drone. pic.twitter.com/kCnVIgXXRj

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 24, 2026

AMK Mapping, a pro-Ukraine account that chronicles the war on X, described the Russian attack on Kiev as "enormous," saying it included hundreds of Geran-2 drones, at least 20 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, 12 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 6 Kalibr cruise missiles, 4 Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles and 2 Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs). Putin has hailed the Oreshnik as un-interceptable, as it reportedly travels at more than 10 times the speed of sound. 

Everyone’s counting missiles. The interesting part is the variety. Ballistic, cruise, hypersonic, IRBM, and drones converging in one window is a deliberate saturation profile, forcing the air defense to solve too many different problems at the same time. Mixing an Oreshnik IRBM…

— DSG Strategic Services (@DSGStratServ) May 24, 2026

This video is said to show an industrial facility -- some are describing it as an arms factory -- near Kiev: 

🇷🇺🇺🇦🔥 more scenes of the insanely huge fires engulfing industrial zones and infrastructure around Kiev. The largest combined hypersonic, ballistic, cruise missile and drone attack on Kiev of the war. https://t.co/6G4RHJiCHG pic.twitter.com/oIQ5F2bjl6

— THE ISLANDER (@IslanderWORLD) May 24, 2026

On Friday, Putin accused Ukraine's "neo-Nazi regime" of intentionally targeting civilians in a "terrorist" overnight drone attack that struck a school for 14- to 18-year-olds in the Luhansk oblast. Donetsk and Luhansk together comprise the Donbas region that Russia has been battling to wrest from Ukraine since February 2022. The death toll has mounted, with Russia now saying 18 people were killed when the dormitory was struck. Ukraine claims it was targeting a drone command unit. 

Footage showing the moment of a Russian Iskander-K cruise missile impact in Kyiv this morning.

Smoke from an earlier impact is also visible. pic.twitter.com/H6vRy5W7fC

— AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 (@AMK_Mapping_) May 24, 2026

Hours ahead of Russia's huge attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used social media to warn that an Oreshnik assault was in the works, citing intelligence received from American and European partners. He also said the use of such formidable weapons shouldn't be tolerated by other countries: 

"The use of such weapons and the prolongation of this war...sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors. If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes. We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war." 

Russia carried out a massive air attack on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, overnight, hitting dozens of targets, including multiple apartment buildings.

Seen here, a local resident films a Russian missile barely miss his building. pic.twitter.com/elstIJL2lR

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 24, 2026

On Friday, Russia's UN ambassador said the dormitory horror meant that Ukraine was incapable of being negotiated with. "This clearly confirms the treachery and non-negotiability of Kiev, which, with the encouragement of its Western sponsors, is not only not committed to a peaceful settlement, but also openly sabotages it," Vassily Nebenzia told a meeting of the UN Security Council. "This deliberate attack on a civilian facility where children study and live, carried out at night when the dormitory was full, was clearly carried out with the aim of maximizing the number of victims." 

In 2024, President Trump assured voters that he'd bring an end to the war in Ukraine before he even took office. With hopes brimming that his Iran folly will soon be behind him, maybe -- despite Nebenzia's proclamation -- Trump can now push for a negotiated end to this one too.  

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 11:05

The Replacements: How US Helps Foreign Workers Take American Jobs

Authored by Steven Edginton via RealClearInvestigations,

Mary, a veteran Silicon Valley marketer who can't find a job, considers herself a victim of an H-1B visa program run amok.

Her story, a U.S. native replaced by a foreign-born employee who is willing to work at a significantly lower wage, has become commonplace, particularly in the tech industry. Adding insult to injury, she says, her CEO, who hails from India, told her to train the man he selected to replace her before laying her off.

Despite stints at Google and Cisco and two years of job hunting, Mary can no longer compete in a job market saturated with foreign-born H-1B visa holders. "I had experience. I should have walked right into these corporate jobs, but I didn't. Why? Because Silicon Valley is flooded with people who work for two-thirds of the price, or even half price," said Mary, who asked to be identified only by her first name.

U.S. tech workers like Mary are at the center of a battle brewing in Washington, D.C., over reforming the troubled H-1B visa program, which is designed to fill highly skilled positions when qualified American workers can't be found. The controversy pits tough-on-immigration Republicans and some Democrats against the most formidable of opponents - Big Tech, the primary beneficiary of a program considered by critics to be little more than a pipeline of cheap labor.

In the last few decades, the California dream has gone global as U.S. tech firms have filled their ranks and C-suites with employees born abroad. Intel is no longer the company of its founders, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, but of Malaysian-born Lip-Bu Tan, its CEO since March 2025. Microsoft is led by Satya Nadella; Alphabet Inc. by Sundar Pichai; Adobe by Shantanu Narayen; IBM by Arvind Krishna; YouTube by Neal Mohan; and T-Mobile US by Srinivas Gopalan - all of whom were born in India.

All told, a remarkable two-thirds of the Valley's nearly 400,000 tech jobs are now held by those born abroad, according to a 2025 report from the think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Today, more tech workers were born in India (23%) and China (18%) combined than in the U.S. (34%).

Low-Cost Talent

The influx of low-cost Asian talent has clearly helped fuel profits in one of America's most influential sectors. But there is a downside to this tech boom - the sidelining of U.S. workers thanks to the H-1B visa program that's no longer working as intended. Created in 1990, the federal program has morphed into a vehicle for employers, particularly in the nation's tech centers, to recruit much cheaper foreign labor at the expense of U.S. tech workers, according to Harvard economist George J. Borjas.

While the H-1B program spans multiple industries, it's overwhelmingly concentrated in tech. Last year, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy, and Google were the biggest visa users, with Amazon alone recording more than 13,000 applications. These companies find the savings from hiring foreign workers hard to resist. The job of software developer, for instance, accounts for 38% of all H-1B visa workers, according to a 2026 paper by Borjas. And these foreign software developers earn about 30% less than their U.S. counterparts, the economist estimates.

Since many of these tech jobs pay six figures, the savings quickly add up. Borjas estimates that companies, on average, save nearly $100,000 per worker over six years by hiring an H-1B worker rather than an American. The arrangement "redistributes wealth from those who compete with immigrants to those who use immigrants," Borjas wrote in 2016. That, in turn, helps account for the soaring stock prices of Big Tech since the 2008 financial crash.

False Rationale

The vaguely written H-1B law has been easy for companies to exploit. Hassan Abdullah, an immigration attorney and H-1B advocate, said the supposed congressional basis of the law - to fill highly skilled jobs with foreigners if Americans aren't available - has always been a fiction. "The regulations don't necessarily say that," said Abdullah, who helps companies get the visas. "Throughout all my years, I've never had to even consider that as a factor."

One of the most glaring weaknesses of the law, critics say, is that most companies applying for these visas are not required to demonstrate that they were unable to find qualified American workers. Only companies with more than 15% of their workforce on H-1Bs must make small efforts to recruit U.S. citizens, such as publicly announcing open positions.

Companies are required to pay foreign workers at least the "prevailing wage" for the occupation and region, a provision that should theoretically reduce the incentive to hire employees from Asia. But the process relies on self-reporting and has been easy to manipulate because salaries are calculated using broad regional averages that often fail to reflect real market wages in the technology sector.

As a result, the number of H-1B visa workers has skyrocketed. When an annual cap of 85,000 new visas is combined with renewals, 2025 was a banner year with 406,348 approved visas, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Seventy percent of those visas were issued to Indians. That compares with a total of 275,317 visa approvals in 2015.

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, who's part of the MAGA wing of the GOP, reacted to these numbers on X, calling the program "a national security nightmare. Enough. No more flooding the market with 400k+ H-1B visas while our people and our sovereignty gets screwed."

With criticism of the visas dovetailing with broader anti-immigration sentiments, the Trump administration has made the most serious move yet to restrict the program. Six months ago, the USCIS announced a new $100,000 fee that companies must pay per new H-1B worker living outside the U.S. While official figures have not yet been released, some immigration experts estimate that the fee may lead to a 30% to 50% decline in new visa applications.

"This is the first year we have not filed any H-1B visas for people outside the U.S. because tech companies don't want to pay the $100,000 fee," said immigration attorney Navdeep Meamber, who is based in Silicon Valley.

But companies have found a workaround. Meamber said she has seen an uptick in the number of clients filing for the visas for workers already in the U.S., particularly those such as students who transferred from other visa types to H-1Bs.

"The $100,000 fee is not reducing the numbers because foreign students, especially those who get on the Optional Practical Training program, can move into the H-1B pipeline without paying that fee," said attorney Rosemary Jenks, a campaigner for immigration reform with the Immigration Accountability Project. "So there are still plenty of H-1B visas being issued every year."

American Ingenuity

Silicon Valley wasn't always dominated by foreigners. Some claim the true birthplace of Silicon Valley can be found in a garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. It was there that David Packard, a native of Colorado, and Bill Hewlett of Michigan founded Hewlett-Packard in 1939. Robert Noyce, a native son of Iowa and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, critically made from silicon, gave name to the valley after the substance. With his colleague, Gordon Moore of San Francisco, they founded Intel in 1968.

Throughout the post-war years, America's booming tech industry was largely pioneered by natives. By the 1980s, however, concerns were raised about the dwindling number of young people available to fill STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) jobs in the future. Erich Bloch, director of the National Science Foundation, told the American Council on Education in 1985: "The pool of potential students from U.S. schools will become smaller. Demographic projections, of which you are all aware, show the number of 18-to-24-year-olds declining by about 20% over the next decade."

The 1990 Immigration Act, signed by George H. W. Bush, created the H-1B visa, a temporary work visa lasting a few years aimed at filling the labor shortages Bloch had warned about. Since then, as in many industries, tech firms have sometimes struggled to find employees, particularly specialized engineers, during times of rapid growth. But whether the industry faces a persistent shortage of American workers is a matter of debate among economists and labor analysts.

Major technology companies reject the criticism that the H-1B system is primarily a source of cheap labor. Executives stress that the program allows American firms to recruit engineers and researchers with advanced technical expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductor design, and complex software development, where qualified talent can be scarce. They also contend that many H-1B workers are paid high salaries and that access to global talent helps keep American companies competitive against rivals in China and elsewhere.

Critics of the visas point to waves of layoffs, today driven by AI, accompanied by the growth in H-1Bs, as evidence that a labor shortage is nothing more than a fig leaf. Michael Capuano of the Federation for American Immigration Reform wrote in a blog post last year that "Google laid off 951 U.S. employees in 2024, but found room for 1,058 new H-1B workers. Apple laid off 735 people in 2024, but signed on 864 new H-1B employees. Microsoft laid off 3,426 workers from 2022 to 2024 and hired 3,259 new H-1Bs during that same period."

A 2023 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute similarly found that the top 30 H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new H-1B workers in 2022 while laying off at least 85,000 employees during the same period.

In addition to cheaper talent, critics say H-1B visas also provide a captive workforce. Because employers can sponsor visa holders for permanent residency, many workers become heavily reliant on keeping their jobs in order to remain in the United States. Critics argue this dynamic discourages employees from changing companies or demanding higher wages, with some likening the system to a form of indentured servitude.

Tribalism At Play?

Critics say favoritism has also contributed to foreign dominance of the tech sector. After foreign-born employees take on leadership roles, including CEO, they sometimes attract and hire more foreigners by tapping their own professional and social networks.

Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, argues that "professionalism doesn't exist in these IT departments anymore," adding that "when you look at the hiring, it becomes very tribal; It's really India versus the rest of the world."

Microsoft saw the number of decisions on H-1B applications rise from 2,983 in 2014, when Nadella became CEO, to 6,258 in 2025. Google's numbers jumped from 2,309 in 2015, when Pichai took the top job, to 7,868 in 2025. During these years, these companies also grew, making it hard to know if the percentage of foreign workers increased. At IBM, H-1B decisions have remained consistent since Arvind Krishna was named the leader.

Meamber, the immigration lawyer, disputes the idea that companies run by foreign-born leaders are more likely to rely on labor from their home country. "The CEO doesn't even know who is being hired. These decisions are being made at a lower level by the HR team and by the recruiters," she said.

Stephen Vivien, an engineer, said he witnessed Indian employees help each other get hired by sharing interview questions when he worked at Google. "There were a lot of H-1B workers and they created their own little network," he said. "[When] one Indian guy would be coming up for his interview, the other Indian guys who had [already] gotten hired would call and share the questions."

In April, a New York jury found New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions liable for $8.4 million after a former executive sued the company, which was founded in India, for discrimination against non-Indian and non-South Asian workers. The executive argued he was passed over for a promotion and was later fired for raising concerns about bias against non-Indian employees.

The decision follows a separate successful lawsuit brought by three other employees against Cognizant in 2017, all similarly claiming discrimination against non-Indian workers, though the company is appealing and denies all allegations. In both lawsuits, juries found in favor of claims that Cognizant had used the H-1B program as a tool to discriminate against American workers. Since 2009, the company has received tens of thousands of H-1B visa approvals.

Reformers Vs. Big Tech

While restrictions to the program, including last year's $100,000 fee, have yet to meaningfully slow its growth, some Republicans have called to abolish it. In February, Florida representative Greg Steube introduced the EXILE Act, which would end the H-1B visa program entirely.

A proposed reform that might gain more bipartisan support targets the ineffective prevailing wage requirement that allows firms to underpay foreign workers. One idea floated by Republicans would create a minimum salary requirement for H-1B workers that's much higher than the current pay scale, thus removing the financial incentive to replace U.S.-born workers.

Ro Khanna, the Democratic congressman representing much of Silicon Valley, said on the All-In podcast last year that "there's definitely abuse [that] needs to be corrected" in the H-1B program. Khanna said a new prevailing wage standard would be a reform he could support.

But legislation that would raise labor costs would be opposed by Big Tech, armed with its war chest of money and influence in Washington. Jenks, the lawyer, said H-1B reformers face a tough fight. "The donors on this issue include all of the high-tech companies, whether it's Microsoft, Facebook, all of them," she said. "They put millions and millions of dollars every year into lobbying."

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 10:30

With Commercial Real Estate Still Challenging, Lenders Offload Troubled Loans At A Loss

Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

While leasing activity and vacancy trends suggest the U.S. commercial real estate market is stabilizing, office values are still well below post-pandemic peaks, recent reports show.

The San Francisco skyline on Jan. 20, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

As owners scramble to make payments on under-occupied office buildings, many lenders are reluctant to foreclose to avoid the headache of taking ownership and reselling the properties, according to David Marino, cofounder of Hughes Marino, a San Diego-based corporate real estate advisory firm.

According to Cushman and Wakefield, a global commercial real estate services company, national office sublease inventory in the first quarter declined by 13.6 percent year over year, to 101 million square feet, while vacancy may have peaked. Sublease space peaked in January 2023, at 189 million square feet, according to the commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group.

A February report from the financial data and research company MSCI also shows that office prices are showing signs of stabilization, though they are still well below their post-COVID-19 pandemic peak. Commercial property prices rose by 0.3 percent year over year in January, but downtown office values declined by 1.3 percent, and were down by 40.2 percent from three years ago.

Massive Perks

Speaking recently with Siyamak Khorrami, host of EpochTV's "Market Insider," Marino said the commercial real estate market is still challenging, as the pandemic has made remote work a new normal. "The horses are out of the barn and never coming back," he said.

An April 1 report from job search platform FlexJobs shows that remote-job postings in the first quarter increased by 20 percent month over month, with 65 percent of positions targeting experienced workers. The platform predicts continued growth in the work model for the rest of the year.

An April 16 Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that 22.6 percent of workers teleworked or worked from home, a measure commonly described as remote work, in March.

Marino said about 85 percent of companies in the United States have had their leases expire in the past six years and have been able to resize, leaving many office markets with 20 percent to 30 percent availability. As a result, commercial landlords have been offering potential tenants massive perks, including free rent packages.

"I just represented a client in an engineering firm for 14,000 square feet, which is basically space for about 7,065 people. And the landlord that just bought a building down the street was in escrow and wanted to win this deal," Marino said. "They gave us an eight-year lease with a year free. In other words, my client moves in at the end of this year and doesn't pay rent in all of 2027."

In addition, Marino said the landlord paid for all of the tenant improvements to remodel the space, plus a cash moving allowance.

'B' Loans

However, banks and lenders can face an even bigger problem when loans cannot be repaid. Rather than pursuing immediate foreclosure proceedings, many lenders are resorting to creative solutions that allow landlords to retain ownership of these buildings, he said.

Marino noted that there have been "hundreds and hundreds of foreclosures" throughout the country, in particular during the past three years. Typically, he said, commercial loans include a "balloon" provision, which requires repayment or refinancing within seven to 10 years, or the property must be sold.

"What's happened in the last three years is a lot of owners have hit that balloon mark and interest rates went from 3 to 6 percent, so if your occupancy goes from 90 to 60 percent, you're immediately underwater," he said. "Lenders in those situations have generally foreclosed on the properties and resold them at a big discount."

In some cases, lenders don't want to foreclose because they don't want to become landlords. As an alternative, Marino said, they may split an existing loan into two pieces. In this scenario, a lender could, for example, take a $100 million loan and set $30 million of that aside as a "'B' loan," treating it as a different loan.

"What I've seen in the last three years is the lending community getting very creative, trying to salvage what they can," he said. "The lenders don't want to foreclose on the real estate, nor do they want to put somebody into default unnecessarily."

According to Marino, some metro areas are affected more than others. In San Diego, he said, 11 high-rise office buildings have already been foreclosed or are going through a forced-sale process when the loan hit the balloon payment stage.

A couple of those buildings are being converted to residential use, which Marino describes as a "micro trend" and not a significant impact on office inventory nationwide. He noted that close to a third of quality buildings in the city have already transitioned through financial negotiations with lenders.

Downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco have also experienced their share of office building foreclosures, Marino said.

"There's still going to be more, and the developers that own these things, frankly, are handing the keys back," he said. "There [are] some really ugly tax consequences."

For example, he said, if a buyer purchased a building for $200 million with $150 million in debt and today the building is worth only $80 million, the owner would rather walk away.

"These are typically individual assets with their own individual Partnership Agreement, and they're collapsing all over the country," he said.

No Signs Of Systemic Fallout

To Khorrami's question about how this will impact banks and lenders, Marino said it would depend on the percentage of the lenders' assets allocated toward commercial real estate.

"The rollover of the debt is typically distributed over many, many years, so you don't have all these loans really expiring at the same time within one financial institution," he said. "My experience so far is that we're not going to see a collapse of the banking sector because of commercial real estate."

While the road could be bumpy, he said, it's not going to be a trigger effect like it was during the early 1990s. Many of the older vacant office buildings are being sold at land value, minus the cost of demolition to start over and convert them into residential projects.

RentCafe, a rental housing research platform owned by Yardi, estimated in a March report that about 90,300 apartment units were in the office-to-residential conversion pipeline nationwide at the beginning of this year, marking another record year for such projects.

The warehousing market, meanwhile, appears to be booming, Marino said. He noted that the rise of online shopping has created an escalating demand for huge warehousing space.

"You look at an Amazon distribution building, and some of these things are a million square feet," he said. "They're some of the biggest buildings in the country."

The issue is that construction, including land acquisition, permitting, and design, can often take up to three years, he said.

From 2020 to 2025, Marino noted, 1.2 billion square feet of warehouse buildings were being constructed across the country. In another five years, he predicts, the country could see an unprecedented amount of massive warehouse construction.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 09:20

1 In 4 Cars Sold Globally Is An Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicle adoption continues to accelerate worldwide, reaching new milestones in 2025.

As Statista's Tristan Gaudiaut details below, according to the IEA Global EV Outlook 2026, published on May 20, global sales of electric cars, including plug-in hybrids, surpassed 21 million units last year, more than doubling since 2022, when annual sales first exceeded 10 million.

As the chart shows, EVs now account for roughly one in four passenger car sales globally, meaning their market share climbed to 25 percent in 2025, up from just 2 percent in 2018.

You will find more infographics at Statista

This rapid growth has been driven largely by China, which remains by far the largest market.

With more than 13 million electric vehicles sold in 2025, the country alone accounted for around 60 percent of global sales.

While adoption has also increased steadily in the rest of the world, with nearly 8 million units sold – largely in Europe and the United States – the data highlight China’s dominant role in shaping the global EV market.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 08:45

German Taxpayers Bled Dry: Mass Migration Cost €40 Billion In 2025

Via Remix News,

Migrants cost German taxpayers — just at the federal level — €24.8 billion in 2025, according to new data in the “refugee costs report” from the German Federal Ministry of Finance. However, the true sum is much higher.

The €24.8 billion is strictly the federal bill. The actual, combined national cost of migration for Germany is that €24.8 billion plus the massive, separate billions that the individual states and municipalities had to pull from their own local tax revenues to cover their own deficits brought on by mass immigration.

Welt notes that the total figure is indeed much higher, since it does not include states and local communes, but Welt does not provide this combined data.

Nevertheless, previous years indicate that this number is at least €15 to €20 billion. That means any total figure is likely well over €40 billion, but as in previous years, it may actually go as high as €50 billion.

The total costs cover several areas, including the federal government’s contribution to the refugee and integration costs of states and municipalities. One controversial issue is exactly how much money the federal government is transferring to the states and municipalities, which they argue is not enough to cover all their costs.

Essentially, the federal government only pays out a flat rate per initial asylum application, amounting to €7,500 from the federal government, allocated via a modification in the VAT distribution. This advance payment reached €1.25 billion for 2025. Additionally, the report assumes that the federal government holds a claim for repayment from the states totaling €250 million for 2025.

However, this only covers a fraction of the cost. The states indicate that the total costs in the area of flight and migration are significantly higher than the VAT resources available to them on the basis of the flat rate.

Of course, all of these expenses only cover specific areas like housing, direct social benefits, and integration courses. The true cost is still far higher than €40 billion to €50 billion.

The costs, for instance, do not cover expenses associated with the substantial foreign prison population. They also do not cover the need for the vastly increased police forces and counter-terrorism efforts. There are also “gray areas” that lead to other hidden taxes on Germans brought on by mass immigration. For instance, mass immigration has led to vastly higher housing prices, more road traffic, crowded hospitals, and longer wait times for medical treatments.

Germans are even paying higher health insurance premiums now due to mass immigration.

The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) has repeatedly criticized the federal government for creating a massive multi-billion-euro deficit that forces them to raise premiums, with the core of the complaint revolving around “non-insurance benefits.” These are social welfare benefits mandated by the government that are paid out to people who have not paid regular insurance contributions into the system. This includes long-term unemployed citizens and refugees.

When asylum seekers first arrive in Germany, they are not members of the statutory health insurance system. Under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, their healthcare costs are covered, with local municipalities and state social offices paying their bills. 

The financial friction begins once a migrant’s asylum application is approved, or if they have been in the country for 36 months without a final decision. At this point, they transition into the standard welfare system, known as citizen’s money.

Once on welfare, they are fully integrated into the statutory health insurance system. This is where the GKV-Spitzenverband argues the math breaks down, with the government only paying €108 per person per month for welfare recipients, the majority of which are migrants and those with a migration background, when the care actually costs between €300 and €350 a month.

This has resulted in a multi-billion euro deficit, which the insurance companies say now needs to be passed on to Germans actually paying for their health insurance.

In short, Germans are being squeezed from all sides due to mass immigration, and despite claims that foreigners would pay the pensions of Germany’s aging population, this is clearly unrealistic. Instead, Germany’s elderly may now be expected to work even longer, with a strong movement in the government to raise the retirement age to 73.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 08:10

US Approves "Homing All The Way Killer" Missile Support Sale To Ukraine

The US State Department has officially cleared a $108.1 million hardware and sustainment package to keep Ukraine's frontline air defenses online, after there's not been much in the way of big dollar headlines concerning Washington's longtime military support to Kiev of late.

The cash injection targets the maintenance and optimization of the US-designed HAWK system - which is short for the "Homing All the Way Killer" surface-to-air missile system.

Bild/Getty Images

Depending on the exact missile variant deployed, the platform handles tactical interceptions of enemy aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles at operational ranges spanning 25 to 30 miles.

The newly approved sale reportedly does not provide new systems, which would bring a much higher price tag, but is instead focused on keeping existing legacy systems operational.

The State Department's Thursday news release detailed a transaction which featured long-term systems support, including erectable mast trailers, major technical modifications, spare parts, consumables, software support, and contractor engineering services - per a media redout.

The statement sought to provide ongoing justification from the Trump admin's Ukraine policy:

"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political and economic stability in Europe," it said.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has formally notified Congress of the package, and is expected to sail through, after which the contract will be mostly fulfilled by Colorado-based defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp.  

Ukraine originally integrated the HAWK into its arsenal at the tail end of 2022 via a $400 million security assistance package. And last year Washington authorized a foreign military sale dedicated to a HAWK Phase III upgrade and related sustainment.

Ukraine could see a new rush by Western partners to supply and update air defense systems across the war-ravaged country, given the air war is steadily escalating.

Russia earlier this month sent a record 1,500+ drones and missiles against Ukrainian cities in only a 48-hour period. This was immediately on the heels of a successful 3-day 'Victory Day' ceasefire having held, which was backed by President Trump.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 07:35

UK Net Migration Decline Masks True Demographic Replacement As British Exodus Accelerates

Via Remix News,

The left-wing U.K. government has claimed it is making real progress in tackling the ongoing migration crisis enveloping Britain after official statistics published on Thursday showed that net migration had decreased to 171,000 last year. However, that figure alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

“I promised to restore control to our borders. My government is delivering,” under-pressure Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X in response to the latest publication by the Office for National Statistics.

“Net migration is now at 171,000, down from a high of 944,000 under the Conservatives,” added Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, claiming the government had “restored order” after the unprecedented figures under the last Conservative administration.

Yet, a glance at the broader figures shows the reported number isn’t as impressive as the government would have you believe.

In the year ending December 2025, the total number of people immigrating to Britain stood at 813,000. For comparison, this figure is around two-thirds of the population of the U.K.’s second-largest city, Birmingham.

That figure comprises 110,000 British nationals returning to the U.K., and 76,000 EU citizens. By far the largest contingent of immigrants was from non-EU countries, accounting for 627,000 arrivals.

The 171,000 figure is also largely offset by emigration — nearly a quarter of a million (246,000) British nationals left the country, while 118,000 EU nationals and 278,000 non-EU nationals also packed their bags.

Total emigration of 642,000 was marginally down on the 680,000 recorded the previous year.

So, while the headline figure looks impressive, that is still a considerable decline in British nationals — down a net figure of 136,000 — effectively being replaced by largely non-EU immigrants. A total of 138,000 Indians, 56,000 Pakistanis, 54,000 Chinese, and 47,000 Nigerian nationals arrived.

The figures suggest that Britain remains a major destination for long-term migrants, and the scale of departures has become an increasingly important factor when reflecting on the overall migration picture.

The net figure for British nationals was the largest exodus since the 1960s.

Meanwhile, non-EU net migration to the U.K. still remains higher (by some margin) than in any other year preceding 2021.

Migration monitoring groups released statements on Thursday contesting the Labour government’s assessment that it was successfully tackling the problem.

“Our immigration system is dysfunctional,” wrote the Centre for Migration Control.

“Three quarters of a million foreign nationals still arrive every year, and one in five people living in Britain was not born here.

“Rather than heed these warning signs, Labour ministers will insist they have ‘taken back control,'” it added.

Other commentators noted that the Home Office no longer publishes the numbers of immigrants who entered the country on a visa that has since expired, and assumes they have left, leaving the figures contentious.

Reminder that net migration figures have been unreliable since the Home Office stopped publishing visa overstayer numbers in 2020

And recent falls in net migration have supposedly been driven by non-EU student/grad visa-holders, who have the strongest incentive to overstay https://t.co/Tpoi2tLphz pic.twitter.com/s1lcd6JeMD

— David Algonquin (@surplustakes) May 21, 2026

“If people’s visas expire and ONS has no record of them leaving the country, they simply assume that they have left — one reason to treat emigration and ‘net’ migration figures with care,” noted Conservative MP Neil O’Brien.

Academic Matt Goodwin, who most recently stood for the right-wing Reform U.K. party in a by-election, warned, “The British people are being demographically replaced – there is no other term for it.”

Migration Watch U.K. called the recent migration wave into Britain “one of the most rapid and drastic demographic changes, outside of war, in human history — no wonder the public are concerned!”

It further questioned why the British public should be “thankful that net migration has ‘crashed’ from the city a size of Birmingham arriving in a single year, to a city the size of Norwich.”

“Where is the infrastructure for this massive inflow of immigrants?” it asked.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/24/2026 - 07:00

Free Speech Shouldn't Be Just For The Party In The White House

Authored by Charles Sauer via RealClearMarkets,

One of the most important Executive Orders signed by President Trump on his first day in office was Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. As the title suggests, the order forbids any U.S. Government employee from taking any actions that violate the First Amendment rights of any American citizen. The Executive Order is intended to protect against future encroachments on the right to free speech like those that occurred under the Biden Administration.

During the Biden years, government officials routinely pressured social media companies to silence Americans for questioning the official response to COVID-19. For example, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that, unless social media companies "voluntarily" removed posts containing "misinformation," the Administration would apply "appropriate legal and regulatory measures." Other members of the Administration sent messages to social media executives, addressing them as if they were poorly performing White House interns. At least one Biden staffer, Deputy Assistant to the President Rob Flaherty, even dropped an F-bomb in an email to Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, inquiring why a post he "requested" be taken down was still up.

In March of this year, the Justice Department signed a consent decree with Louisiana and Mississippi settling a lawsuit brought by the states on behalf of their citizens whose First Amendment rights were violated by the Biden Administration's censorship. The settlement forbids the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency from threatening social media companies for refusing to remove or limit the viewership of "content containing protected free speech." Unfortunately, some members of the Trump Administration seem to have not read this Executive Order.

For example, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, while a vast improvement over his predecessor Lina Khan, thinks the FTC should use its power to punish woke corporations for engaging in First Amendment-protected activity. The FTC recently settled a case, along with eight states, brought against major advertising companies. The suit alleged that the companies worked with progressive media watchdog groups, such as NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, in order to limit the placement of ads on conservative sites. The ad agencies' defense was to claim that they were protecting brand safety.

Brand safety refers to advertising placement agencies avoiding sites with controversial political opinions or objectionable content. One problem with the FTC's case is that being concerned with brand safety makes valid business sense. A business whose customers largely come from a demographic that tends to support progressive politics will not want to advertise on pro-MAGA websites for fear of alienating its existing customers. Similarly, a brand whose customers are mostly conservative will not want to advertise on AOC 2028. The main problem with the FTC case is that organizing boycotts of a business because of the business's political activities is a First Amendment-protected activity.

Boycotts have a long and distinguished history. They were instrumental in the civil rights, labor, and other progressive movements. Boycotts have been used by conservatives, most notably by social conservatives, to pressure advertisers to stop running ads on programs that offended them. Organizers of these boycotts worked with conservative media watchdogs like the Media Research Center. Now, thanks to the precedent set by Andrew Ferguson, the next Democrat FTC Chair could target the Media Research Center and their allies for conspiring to restrain trade by organizing boycotts.

Chair Ferguson also wrote to (then) Apple CEO Tim Cook warning him that Apple could face a federal investigation for "unfair or deceptive or practices." The deception in question is the claim that Apple's news aggregation site is ideologically neutral, when in fact it promotes stories from left-wing sources while ignoring stories from conservative sources. Even if this were true, Apple has a First Amendment right to choose what news sources to feature in its news aggregator. If consumers are dissatisfied with Apple's selection, they are free to use one of the many conservative news outlets on the internet.

Chair Ferguson and government officials like Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendon Carr are not just violating the First Amendment - they are violating President Trump's executive order on free speech. Unfortunately, the President's commitment to free speech is also less than consistent. President Trump and his appointees must stop violating the First Amendment - otherwise America will become a country in which free speech only exists for those who won the last election.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 23:20

Wyoming Is America's Deadliest State For Workers

Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld created the following map to show workplace fatality rates across all 50 states in 2024.

Wyoming recorded the nation’s highest workplace fatality rate at 13.9 deaths per 100,000 workers, compared with just 1.1 in Rhode Island.

Several Southern and Mountain West states also reported rates well above the national average of 3.3.

The state-level divide highlights how workplace risk remains concentrated in specific industries and regions across the U.S. economy.

Why Resource-Heavy States Rank So High

In states like Wyoming and North Dakota, oil and gas extraction remains a major source of employment. These industries often involve remote job sites, heavy equipment, long shifts, and hazardous operating conditions.

The concentration is especially visible in the data. Roughly 30% of Wyoming’s workplace deaths in 2024 occurred in natural resources and mining, while the industry accounted for nearly half of all workplace fatalities in North Dakota.

Agriculture and logging also contribute to elevated fatality rates across several rural states. Workers in these industries routinely operate large equipment, work outdoors in extreme conditions, and travel long distances on rural roads.

The national workplace fatality rate stood at 3.3 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2024, meaning several states recorded rates nearly double the U.S. average.

America’s Freight Corridors Also Face Higher Risks

Transportation incidents remain one of the leading causes of workplace deaths in the country.

States positioned along major freight and energy corridors often see higher concentrations of long-haul trucking, industrial transport, and warehouse activity. That includes parts of the South, Great Plains, and Mountain West.

Long driving hours, highway exposure, and physically demanding loading work all raise fatality risks for transportation workers. For instance, trucking remains central to Mississippi’s economy and is the leading industry for workplace deaths. In rural states, longer emergency response times can further worsen outcomes after serious accidents.

Why Northeastern States Tend to Be Safer

Many Northeastern states reported workplace fatality rates well below the national average in 2024.

Part of that divide comes from industry mix. States like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have larger concentrations of office-based employment and fewer workers in mining, drilling, agriculture, or logging.

Higher population density may also play a role. Urbanized states tend to have shorter transportation routes, more developed infrastructure, and faster access to hospitals and emergency services.

Geography Still Shapes Workplace Risk in America

The gap between America’s safest and deadliest workplaces highlights how closely occupational risk is tied to local economies.

In many higher-risk states, dangerous industries are also some of the best-paying and most economically important. Energy, transportation, agriculture, and heavy industry continue to support thousands of jobs despite the elevated risks.

That creates a difficult tradeoff for many local economies, where some of the most economically important industries also carry the highest workplace risks.

As a result, workplace safety in America varies sharply depending on the industries that dominate each state’s economy.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on manufacturing jobs by state.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 22:45

Israel Unleashes New Gaza Strikes Soon After Trump Says Iran Peace Deal 'Largely Negotiated,' Hormuz To Reopen As Final Terms Discussed Summary

• Israel launches significant new attacks on the Gaza Strip just as word of a tentative US-Iran peace deal is driving international headlines.

• Trump says an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and will be announced “shortly,” with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz included among the deal’s key elements.

• Mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days

• Waiting game in Tehran, via Iran Foreign Ministry: "We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days."

• Trump, officials have canceled prior travel plans: Trump says "Circumstances pertaining to Government" are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend.

//--> //--> //--> US x Iran permanent peace deal by May 26, 2026?
Yes 8% · No 93%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

*  *  *

New Gaza Strikes, as Israel Accused of Trying to 'Sabotage' Tentative US-Iran Peace Deal

Reuters is confirming new significant strikes on Gaza just as Washington unveiled that a tentative peace deal with Iran has been "largely negotiated" and is at the goal line:

Israeli strikes killed at least ‌three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded two others in the ​Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

The development is being met with accusations that Israel could be trying to sabotage what it may see as a 'bad deal' with Tehran. All of this has been met with polarized and mixed reaction across the political spectrum:

What is possibly left to bomb?
Children and people in tents?? https://t.co/TEETwUgFj6

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) May 23, 2026

Ted Cruz not happy...

I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran “deal,” being pushed by some voices in the administration.

President Trump’s decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of his second term. He was right to do so, and we achieved extraordinary…

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 24, 2026

Pro-Israel hawks not happy either...

Correct. Israel will not tolerate this. https://t.co/R3BoQrIZwR

— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) May 23, 2026

The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world.

Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out…

— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) May 23, 2026 Trump: Iran Deal "Largely Negotiated," Hormuz Reopening Included

President Trump has now posted that an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and is “subject to finalization” between the United States, Iran, and the regional governments involved in the talks.

Trump said he remains in the Oval Office after what he described as a “very good call” with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, focused on a Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to “PEACE.” He also said he separately spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that call “likewise, went very well.”

“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump wrote. Most notably, he said that, as part of the agreement, “the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.”

The statement marks a major escalation from earlier comments that talks were merely progressing, though Trump framed the agreement as not yet finalized. Key unresolved issues remain unclear, including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, frozen assets, and the mechanics of reopening and administering Hormuz.

Needless to say, if this holds through Tuesday, your ears may pop from the sudden change in elevation. 

US and Iran Move Closer to Extending Ceasefire by 60 days, say Mediators

The FT reports that mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days and lay the framework for discussions on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

People briefed on the high-stakes talks said it would include a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a commitment to discuss the diluting or handing over of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

🇮🇷 Iran's foreign ministry spokesman:

▫️We are focused on finalizing the MOU

▫️A 30 and 60 day timeframe is included in the text of the MOU.

▫️But as long as the MOU has not been agreed, this period has not yet begun.

▫️Over the past week, the two sides' positions have been… pic.twitter.com/GXzrKHj4WI

— Nader Itayim | ‌‌نادر ایتیّم (@ncitayim) May 23, 2026

The US would also ease its blockade of Iranian ports and, in phases, agree to sanctions relief and unfreezing Tehran’s assets held overseas.

Donald Trump told Axios on Saturday that he would meet his senior officials to discuss the proposal, but the US president added it was a “solid 50/50” whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them to kingdom come”.

He was also expected to hold a call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey on Saturday, an Arab official said.

Rubio on Deal, Enrichment, & 'Progress'

Secretary of State Rubio speaks from India:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said progress has been made in the ongoing peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, saying the war will be solved “one way or the other” amid a visit to India.

“There’s been some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done,” Rubio told reporters in Delhi. “This issue needs to be solved, as the president said, one way or the other.”

The US top diplomat has issued a lot of words but with little substance in terms of anything 'new' suggesting any level of breakthrough:

Rubio: "There might be some news (on Iran) later today. There may not be. I hope there will be. I am not sure yet. There has been some progress done. Even as I speak to you now there is some work being done. There is a chance that maybe later today, tomorrow, maybe couple of days we may have something to say, but this issue needs to be solved one way or another. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The strait needs to be open without tolls. They need to Give their enriched Uranium. We need to address the issue of enrichment. The president’s preference is to deal with it in a diplomatic way. That is what we are working on right now."

Latest Statements from Tehran on Draft Status

Via Bloomberg: Iran's talks with the US are focused on ending the war on all fronts, and neither the nuclear issue nor sanctions are being discussed at this stage, state TV cites Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying:

• “We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days.”
• “After the memorandum of understanding is finalized, it will have to be negotiated in later stages.”
• “The final draft of an agreement text between Iran and the US is still under review.”
• Says 30- and 60-day timeframes have been included in the text.
• “In recent days discussions and proposals were raised regarding certain points and wording where differences of opinion still existed. Some of these are still under review and pending final assessment.”
• “At this very early stage, the matter of releasing frozen assets must be clarified.”

War Preparation Underway: CBS

CBS is reporting that the Trump administration, specifically the Pentagon - as well as intelligence community officials - are currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days.

However, like with much of the latest speculation and reporting regarding what comes next in the Iran war, the report included the important caveat that nothing is ultimately confirmed or final: "No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon."

"Some members of the US military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes," several sources said.

"Defense and intelligence officials began updating recall rosters for US installations overseas as tranches of troops stationed in the Middle East rotate out of theater, part of an effort to reduce the American military footprint in the region amid concern about possible Iranian retaliation," CBS said.

Trump Sticking Near Oval

Additionally, Trump's own Truth Social post about missing his son's wedding has set off an avalanche of speculation that renewed attacks are imminent.

"Circumstances pertaining to Government" are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend, Trump wrote in the post. "I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!" Trump said. The day prior he had been vague in answering reporters' questions on the matter.

"He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it," he had said. A number of pundits noted the ease with which he frequently goes down to Florida to play golf, and that it's strange that he would now miss his son's wedding.  However, the wedding is being held out of country, at a small island in the Bahamas, and so this does bring with it extra logistical and security planning and logistics.

As for potential new military action, it's obvious that Trump has been growing increasingly impatient and frustrated about Iran's lack of compromise when it comes to negotiations over several days and weeks.

The White House has made recovery of the country's enriched uranium a top priority, while Tehran has repeatedly slammed the door on this as an option and has not budged. The Iranians aren't even making the nuclear issue part of talks to achieve peace, and have made clear their view this would be for future, post-war negotiations.

More Latest Negotiations Back-and-Forth

US-Iran de-escalation hopes drove crude oil and rates lower and put a bid in equities by the end of Friday's trading day, amid speculation that President Trump would stay at the White House over Memorial Day weekend instead of attending Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas.

"As Iran/oil/rates pressure eased on de-escalation hopes, leadership rotated toward small caps, equal weight, housing, transports, discretionary, and selective defensive growth, with short covering in high short-interest/profitless tech and consumer cyclicals reinforcing the catch-up trade," UBS analyst Torsten Sippel wrote in a note to clients late Friday.

Early Saturday morning, Bloomberg reports that President Trump held a phone call with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, regarding Pakistani-led efforts to de-escalate Gulf tensions and preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

Iran's top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran earlier today amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring the US and Iran to a peace deal, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media. Ghalibaf told Munir that Iran's Armed Forces "have rebuilt themselves during the cease-fire in such a way that if Trump foolishly restarts the war, they will definitely be more crushing and bitter for the U.S. than on the first day of the war." The Iranian top negotiator also said, "We will not compromise on the rights of our nation and country."

There was a series of headlines from Sky News Arabia, citing sources, indicating that a major push for regional diplomacy was underway earlier today, with officials from Iraq, Oman, Jordan, and Qatar working to mediate with Tehran to avert another flare-up in the conflict. Sky News Arabia sources said Pakistan’s mediator helped break the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear file, though several major issues remain unresolved, including the conflict in Lebanon, sanctions on bank accounts, the status of Iranian ports, and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Gulf area.

Iran is reportedly demanding the lifting of restrictions on its ports and a U.S. military withdrawal from the region before reopening the Strait of Hormuz and entering a new round of talks within 30 days.

There is also a reported internal conflict between Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guard over Tehran’s negotiating demands.

Latest Headline Round-Up

Latest negotiation headlines (via sources) from Sky News Arabia:

• Iranian Foreign Ministry: Iraqi and the Omani Foreign Minister discuss in a phone call the ongoing diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation

• The foreign ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the necessity of concerted efforts to ensure the success of mediation efforts with Iran to reach a sustainable solution that addresses all the roots of the crisis and prevents the renewal of escalation.

• The Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the continuation of coordination of efforts to support targeted mediation aimed at ending the escalation in the region and restoring security and stability.

• Sources to Sky News Arabia: The Pakistani mediator has succeeded in overcoming the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear file.

• Sources to Sky News Arabia: The issues that have not yet been resolved include stopping the war in Lebanon and lifting the ban on financial accounts.

• Sources to Sky News Arabia: Iran demands the lifting of the siege on Iranian ports and the withdrawal of military forces from the region to open the Strait of Hormuz and proceed to a round of negotiations within a 30-day timeframe.

• Sources to Sky News Arabia: There is a severe disagreement between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guard regarding Iran's demands for negotiations.

Additional overnight headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):

Economic Impact

• The dollar ended the week nearly unchanged as risk assets got a boost from optimism around US-Iran peace talks [BN]
• Germany's business outlook improved for the first time since the Iran war began, with an expectations index rising to 83.8 in May [BN]
• UK retail sales fell 1.3% as consumers made fewer car journeys amid the global energy shock from the Iran war [BN]
• Qatar Airways will skip bonuses for almost 60,000 workers this year after the war forced cancellation of tens of thousands of flights [BN]

Military Readiness

• The US halted arms sales to Taiwan to ensure sufficient munitions for the Iran war, according to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao [BN]

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post, with her anti-war views having spurred tension with the White House [BN]

Trade Disruption

• Japan is set to receive its first Persian Gulf oil shipment to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, with the Idemitsu Maru carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude [BN]

• Anglo American is redirecting Brazilian iron ore output to Asia as the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz prevents shipments to Bahrain Steel [BN]

Friday's US-Iran Wrap

• Iran Says 'No Deal' Will Materialize If US Insists On Enriched Uranium Handover

Hormuz Chokepoint:

• Iran Says 35 Ships Exited Strait Of Hormuz As Rubio Condemns Tolls

Chart of the Day (read UBS note): 

Fuel Shock Risks Begin Spilling Into Broader Economy

• Hormuz Shock Raises Recession Risk As Retailers Sound Alarm On Consumer Stress

Professional subscribers can review the latest institutional reads on Iran, Hormuz, energy markets, and more at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Any new US attack would likely see Israel join in, & Tehran vows it would retaliate. Getty Images"> Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 22:25

Gunman Dead, Bystander Wounded After Large Shootout With Secret Service Near White House, Trump Safe

After a very busy day in Washington and at the White House, given the Saturday flurry of diplomatic activity over the announcement of a tentative Iran peace deal, but which is still awaiting word and some details from Tehran, a deadly shooting erupted just outside the White House, resulting in a massive security and response and presence.

President Trump was at the White House when at around 6pm ET the Secret Service responded in a hail of gunfire as 21-year-old Maryland man Nasire Best opened fire at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

via Reuters

The president is safe, and the emergency has been declared over.

Somewhere between approximately 15 to 30 gunshots were fired, according to CBS News, which spoke to local law enforcement. President Trump was at the White House during the incident, "but was not impacted," the Secret Service spokesperson later announced.

A bystander was wounded, and the suspect was hit by by Secret Service officers upon returning fire. The gunman was wounded and taken to the hospital, where he later died. 

I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots. It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now. pic.twitter.com/iqdQwh4soq

— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) May 23, 2026

CBS reports upon the suspect's name being identified that "According to the source, Best had a previous run-in with Secret Service in July 2025 in which he tried to gain entry to the White House and was arrested and sent to a psychiatric ward for mental health issues."

A complete White House lockdown as since been lifted. According to more emerging details:

The Secret Service confirmed a couple of hours after the shooting that the man had died after exchanging fire with its agents.

The man had approached a White House security checkpoint and pulled a gun from his bag before opening fire, according to the Secret Service. Law enforcement shot back and wounded the man, who was taken to the hospital where he died. 

Fox reporting that an innocent bystander was hit when a gunman and Secret Service exchanged gunfire near the White House. Condition unknown. pic.twitter.com/mFKad4aZWg

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 23, 2026

As for the wounded bystander, the victim's information has not been released, and his condition not immediately known - after being rushed to the hospital.

New footage of the shooting near the White House pic.twitter.com/aTDtFD2onU

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) May 23, 2026

Per CBS, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson both praised the rapid response of the Secret Service as the shooting unfolded

In a post on X, Thune declared he is "grateful for the Secret Service and the agents' decisive actions to protect President Trump and everyone at and around the White House this evening."

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 22:13

Dozens Of Nations Scramble For World Bank Financing Amid Iran War Global Shock

Via The Cradle

Twenty-seven countries have moved to activate emergency World Bank financing mechanisms since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, Reuters reported Friday.

Three nations have already received approval for fast-tracked funding, while the other 24 are in the process of completing administrative procedures. 

Kenya and Iraq have publicly confirmed they are seeking emergency World Bank assistance, with Nairobi facing surging domestic fuel prices and Baghdad grappling with severely diminished oil revenues due to disruptions in maritime exports.

Getty Image

The 27 nations are drawn from a pool of 101 countries with access to pre-arranged contingent financing, including 54 that are enrolled in the World Bank's Rapid Response Option, a mechanism that allows sovereign borrowers to immediately redirect up to 10 percent of their undisbursed project balances.

World Bank President Ajay Banga has outlined a three-tier funding structure. Between $20 billion and $25 billion is available immediately through existing crisis instruments, rising to $60 billion within six months if the bank reorients parts of its broader portfolio, with longer-term structural changes capable of pushing the total to around $100 billion. 

Activity at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by contrast, has been minimal. 

Despite Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva anticipating that up to a dozen nations would seek between $20 billion and $50 billion in emergency assistance, sources told Reuters that very few formal requests have been filed, with countries in a "wait-and-see mode.”

The IMF previously warned that the US-Israeli war on Iran has significantly worsened the global economic outlook by disrupting energy markets, raising inflation, and weakening growth prospects worldwide.

It said the war had reduced expected global growth from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent, significantly worsened inflation, and posed major risks of further deterioration in energy supply routes.

From world markets still feeling the sting of the Iran war, to a host of central banks bracing for their next moves, these are the stories to watch in business and finance in the coming week https://t.co/xIhHy1MlEI pic.twitter.com/oqpUcNcUx9

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 22, 2026

The IMF added that prolonged fighting could deepen regional economic damage, potentially push the global economy toward recession-level growth, heighten uncertainty in financial markets, and accelerate broader geopolitical and economic instability.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 22:10

Ferrari Fever Hits Samsung, SK Hynix Workers As AI Memory Boom Mints New Wealth

The global memory boom, with Samsung at the epicenter of the production ecosystem, appears to be generating a sudden wealth effect among some employees, with local media reporting that newly enriched chip workers are now panic-buying luxury sports cars. 

A short clip from MBC News, the news division of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and one of South Korea's top national TV and radio broadcasters, featured at least one exotic car dealership reporting a sharp uptick in Samsung Electronics and Hynix employees seeking to buy high-end sports cars.

"We've been getting dozens of phone calls every day for the past month. The customers coming in are mostly employees from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. There have been a lot more people coming to look at cars priced over 100 million won (~$73,000 USD)," a MBC reporter could be heard saying in the news segment.

Just in: Employees at high-end and supercar dealerships in Korea say their showrooms are packed with Samsung and SK hynix employees. pic.twitter.com/LuCxWj3cpS

— Jukan (@jukan05) May 22, 2026

Google Search trends confirm a recent spike in internet searches for "Ferrari dealer" as Samsung and SK Hynix have become the world's most important memory companies.

Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix have gone absolutely parabolic ...

... as well as KOSPI.

Meanwhile...

• Korean Bubble Mania: Retail Investors Max Out On Margin Debt, Choose To "Risk Complete Collapse" Than Miss Stock Rally

We suspect the exotic-car buying spree will accelerate once Samsung and its largest union reach a new labor deal. Voting begins Saturday. Coverage here.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 21:35

State-Sponsored Suicide Authored by MN Gordon via dollarcollapse.com

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

- Will and Ariel Durant, The Story Of Civilization

Enemy Within

How does a superpower die?

Does it come from the blinding kill shot of a hypersonic missile streaking through the sky? Or, perhaps, a rogue cyberattack that mortally destroys the national power grid?

Will the end of America come with foreign tanks rolling through New York or a massive, coordinated amphibious attack on Los Angeles?

These dramatic scenarios make for captivating conjecture. But they're highly unlikely. If you look at the autopsy reports of the world's greatest empires, the ultimate cause of death is rarely a sudden, overwhelming external blow.

Long before the barbarians breached the gates of Rome, the Roman denarius had been systematically devalued into a glorified copper token to fund a bloated bureaucracy. This was characterized by widespread domestic corruption and endless military expansion.

So, too, long before the British Empire reluctantly packed up its global flags, it realized the staggering cost of multiple wars had left it financially bankrupt, structurally hollowed out, and entirely dependent on American loans.

Great civilizations don't usually get slaughtered by their rivals. They commit slow, sophisticated, economically optimized suicide.

As we move through 2026, the United States is following a well-worn, dangerous path. But it's traversing it at a speed and scale that would leave ancient Rome in the dust.

The reality that no politician will publicly admit is that America's out-of-control federal spending and its monstrous, multi-trillion-dollar financial system are doing far more structural damage to the country's long-term survival than any foreign adversary ever could.

By burying the nation in unpayable debt, Congress is willingly destroying America from the inside. Hence, the greatest threat to our future lies not across the ocean, but directly within our own borders.

Act Of War

Let's talk about the ghastly numbers. They're often ignored by the general population because our brains are hardwired to glaze over when we start talking about trillions. Here we'll break them down for you.

Right now, the official U.S. national debt has blown past $39 trillion. To put that into perspective, if you spent one dollar every single second, it would take you about 32,000 years to spend $1 trillion. America owes 39 of those.

But the real issue isn't just the total balance on Washington's credit card. It's the cost of keeping the account active. The yield on a 30-year Treasury bond recently climbed above 5 percent for the first time in nearly 20 years. Yet today's balance is much larger than it was 20 years ago. When you owe $39 trillion, even a tiny uptick in interest rates transforms your budget into an insurmountable nightmare.

America is currently burning through roughly $3 billion every single day just to pay the interest on its existing debt.

Think about that for a second. Before a single pothole is filled, before a single soldier is paid, before a single school lunch is funded, or a Medicare claim is processed, $3 billion dollars vanishes into thin air every 24 hours. It doesn't buy new equipment, it doesn't rebuild infrastructure, and it doesn't help struggling families. It's purely the cost of treading water.

Instead of investing in the future, we're paying for the profligacy of the past.

If a foreign nation managed to sabotage the U.S. economy so severely that it drained $3 billion a day out of the federal Treasury, it would be viewed as an act of war. We would mobilize the military.

Yet, because this bleeding is caused by our own fiscal policy, we pretend it isn't happening and go back to scrolling on our phones.

Vicious Doom Loop

The entire American lifestyle - and by extension, the global economy - is built on the singular, fragile assumption that the rest of the world will always want to buy American debt. For decades, this was a safe bet. Treasuries were considered risk free in terms of default.

The U.S. dollar, while under threat of the U.S. government's making, remains king of the global financial system - for now. When global chaos hits, investors run to U.S. Treasuries like a safe harbor in a storm. This exorbitant privilege allowed Washington to spend money it didn't have without facing immediate consequences.

But that privilege resulted in a dangerous lack of discipline and created a catastrophic level of arrogance. Politicians on both sides of the aisle began treating the national debt like a meaningless artifact. To Congress, and as elaborated by the late Dick Cheney, "deficits don't matter."

Unfortunately, the mathematics of debt do matter. And right now, the system is locked into a vicious, mechanical doom loop. Here's how it works...

Every month, while you pay your bills, live within your means, and balance your personal finance books, the Treasury issues mountains of new debt just to pay off the old debt that's maturing. All the while, it's borrowing more to cover current overspending. Yet, because the market is getting flooded with U.S. bonds, investors are demanding higher yields.

Higher yields mean refinancing becomes more expensive. More expensive refinancing creates even larger deficits. Larger deficits require issuing even more bonds.

The financial system is, in effect, cannibalizing itself to stay alive. No enemy army could design a more effective trap to paralyze the American financial system.

When an enemy attacks, the damage is obvious. Buildings fall, smoke rises, and the country rallies together. But when financial decay sets in the destruction is deceptive. For many people, the cause is unclear.

Inside Job

Over the decades, American leaders assumed the world had no choice but to use the dollar. Where else were they going to go?

But our adversaries and allies alike have watched this fiscal train wreck unfold and are methodically diversifying their reserves. They realize that a superpower running a $39 trillion deficit is a precarious foundation for the global economy.

Central banks around the world have accelerated their gold purchases to historic levels. Countries like China have been systematically reducing their holdings of long-term U.S. Treasuries.

It's not a sudden boycott of the dollar. Rather, it's a slow calculated diversification. As the rest of the world lightens up on their purchases of U.S. debt, the Federal Reserve becomes the buyer of last resort. That means creating credit out of thin air to buy U.S. Treasuries. This is a formula for runaway inflation. The type that has destroyed countless currencies throughout history.

To be clear, Fed asset purchases have been occurring for much of the 21st century. So, too, have U.S. government policies of dollar debasement. This sophisticated state-sponsored suicide takes place in ongoing Congressional hearings, mundane Treasury auctions, continuous debt ceiling increases, pretend government shutdowns, and carefully scripted statements by the Fed using concocted syntaxes that are designed to keep people from panicking.

As America closes in on its 250-year anniversary it's being drained of its capital. The government continues to borrow tomorrow's prosperity to pay for today's political promises. All the while, the people watch the infrastructure of the nation's cities crumble as $3 billion a day is directed to service interest payments. The currency buys less and less every year, forcing citizens onto an endless economic hamster wheel.

Alas, it hasn't taken an enemy to destroy America. Our politicians have already done the job for them.

Sincerely,

MN Gordon
for Economic Prism

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 21:00

Another Detransitioner Wins A Huge Settlement

A woman who underwent a double mastectomy after identifying as "nonbinary" has reportedly secured a confidential $3.5 million settlement after suing the mental health professionals who approved her for the life-altering procedure. Camille Kiefel, 36, alleged in a malpractice lawsuit that two Oregon therapists signed off on the surgery after only brief telemedicine consultations, despite a documented history of mental health issues. The settlement was reached just days before the case was set to go to trial. 

The case is already fueling renewed scrutiny of how quickly some medical providers have approved irreversible gender procedures for vulnerable patients struggling with serious mental health issues.

The settlement comes after another detransitioner, Fox Varian, won a $2 million judgment back in February against the providers who referred her for a double mastectomy at age 16. Soon after the settlement was announced, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons announced its position on gender transition surgeries for minors, concluding “there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents.” According to reporter Benjamin Ryan, at least 30 detransitioners have sued healthcare providers in the past four years.

Kiefel’s complaint, filed in 2022, named licensed clinical social worker Amy Ruff and licensed professional counselor Mara Burmeister, along with their respective employers, Brave Space and the Quest Center for Integrative Health. According to the suit, it took only two telemedicine Zoom sessions, each lasting about an hour or less, for Kiefel to get approval for the surgery.

Kiefel's history at the time of those consultations showed obvious signs of mental health issues that should have been taken into account, but clearly were not. She had a documented record of trauma, depression, ADHD, and suicidal ideation. Her path toward identifying as "nonbinary" began even earlier.

She has described a childhood incident in which her best friend was sexually assaulted when both girls were in the fifth grade. "I started dressing more masculine after that," she recalled. "I just wanted to protect myself." In college, a women's studies course introduced her to the concept of being nonbinary, and she came to believe adopting that identity could explain the gender-related distress she had carried since childhood.

Despite the approval of the mental health professionals, the surgery did not resolve her gender dysphoria, and within two years, she detransitioned. 

In the interim, she developed vertigo, tinnitus, and Raynaud's syndrome, a condition that causes extremities to go numb and cold. She eventually began working with a naturopath and exploring the relationship between gut health and mental wellbeing. Once she addressed her physical health through nutrition, she says both her mental and physical condition improved substantially. 

That improvement is what forced the harder question.

"So while I'm addressing all my physical health issues, I start to question whether or not the surgery was helpful for me," she told Fox News Digital. "And then about a year and a half later, I de-transitioned."

 "I didn't want what happened to me to happen to other vulnerable girls and women," she said. 

Her lawsuit alleged professional malpractice, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud, each rooted in the same core allegation: that she was neither properly evaluated nor genuinely informed before she consented to an irreversible procedure. "And I wasn't given true informed consent. And that's something that everyone deserves to have for any medical procedure," she said.

Kiefel says she reached out to gender medicine organizations in hopes of creating dialogue around how vulnerable patients are screened and counseled. Those efforts went nowhere. "So for many, I think for a lot of this is going to be the lawsuits that are actually going to create change," she said. Given that Brave Space, one of the named defendants, has since shut down permanently, the courts may be the only venue left with any real leverage.

Despite detransitioning, her body will never be the same. “And it is difficult because there's like little reminders like, I'll be looking in a mirror after taking a shower and those ugly scars are still there," she said. "Dresses don't fit me the same way ... I'd like to have kids, but I would never be able to nurse them, and I'll never have that connection with them, and then they won't get the benefits of breast milk. So it's been difficult."

Despite the physical and emotional scars caused by her transition, by her own account, Kiefel is now the most mentally stable she has ever been. 

Cases like this are likely to reshape gender medicine for years to come, as doctors, therapists, and hospitals face growing legal and financial pressure over how quickly irreversible procedures were approved for vulnerable patients. The era of rubber-stamping gender interventions after cursory evaluations appears to be coming to an end, with malpractice lawsuits succeeding where internal oversight and medical institutions failed.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 20:25

Building American Cities That Would Make The Founding Fathers Proud

Authored by Charles Ma via RealClearPolicy,

American cities need bold renewal. What we need is a "MadeCity" vision - a vision for intentionally crafting or "making" cities that emphasize the enduring higher order potential within people.

Beginning to plan and build such cities as part of America's upcoming 250th anniversary is a fitting way to extend John Winthrop's vision for America as a "City on a Hill." A MadeCity is a living monument to faith, freedom, and entrepreneurship - the very ideals that turned a collection of colonies into the greatest nation on earth.

Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, is the ideal place to begin. Transforming the District into a true MadeCity would restore Americans' faith in their country and give the world a renewed beacon of hope. It would remind citizens of the Founders' deep faith and worship that sustained them through the Revolution and the creation of a new republic. The arts would play a central role, turning our capital into a place of inspiration and reverence rather than just a sterile bureaucracy. Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and families would drive the transformation, proving that America is not destined to be a nation of elites and dependents, but of creators and builders with shared vision and purpose.

As Proverbs reminds us, "Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint." Today, too many Americans feel hopeless, taught to rely on government instead of cultivating motivated citizenship. Proper education can change that. We must teach young people the truth: America is the greatest nation on earth - a superpower of liberty, economic freedom, and human flourishing. Our most valuable currency is not dollars but our youth, talent, and leadership.

The Founders - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington - were men of faith who thought and built on a grand scale. They were entrepreneurs and visionaries as much as statesmen. Franklin revolutionized printing and invention. Washington built a thriving business at Mount Vernon. They and countless others created vibrant cities - New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore - and inspired the rise of Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond. Their greatest fear was that future generations would fail to keep the republic they sacrificed to establish. Franklin's warning rings loud today: "A republic, if you can keep it."

Yet too often our current leaders and builders operate with short-term, accountant-style thinking - applying band-aids when visionary, long-term transformation is required. Mayors and politicians focus on the next election cycle instead of monuments that will stand for centuries. We went to the Moon with courage and faith. Reaching Mars - and rebuilding our cities - demands the same spirit.

Government has an important constitutional role, but it cannot replace the human drive to create. Our $39 trillion national debt is sustainable only because the world retains confidence in America's future growth and productivity. That confidence must be earned, not assumed. True wealth is not created by trading stocks or relying on today's tech giants alone. It is built by bold minds who invent, manufacture, and construct - the same spirit that produced the iPhone, the assembly line, and the great American cities of the past.

Post-World War II Europe offers a powerful lesson. Nations rebuilt with purpose, drawing on faith and resolve to rise from ruins. America, never defeated, has even greater potential. Washington, D.C., is perfectly positioned to lead a new revolution in urban building - one grounded in faith-based entrepreneurship that honors the "Great Experiment" our Founders began.

We are a nation born in courage, not caution. Our builders must stop fearing failure and start believing again in the possibility of creating the next great American cities. Families need inspiration. Communities need purpose. The next generation needs to see living proof that the American Dream is alive and being built - not managed or regulated into mediocrity.

MadeCities are the answer. They are places where we create the conscious arrangements that make living irresistible and remarkably fruitful, where a quantum currency is realized through specified complexity and manifold beauty. Just as living organisms thrive as the result of the intelligent design and coordination of their many diverse parts, MadeCities promote human flourishing as a consequence of the integrated design of their different essential elements and institutions, whether residential, recreational, commercial, cultural, legal or religious. Indeed, a living and thriving city depends on the intelligent design and planning of its founders inspired by the Way, Truth, and Life of God the Creator.

Here is a bold framework: "How might we create cities that grow in the favor of both God and Man?" A living city where we as citizens are living stones, feeding on living waters, responding to a living God. This is what made America unstoppable and MadeCity's core Movement.

Ryan Higgins, a descendant of one of the founding families in the U.S. said the following about our nation's amazing history: "In 1623, my 13th great grandfather fled a tyrannical government and risked life and limb to come to the New World because he knew the recipe to human flourishing could not be found in a King. As a man of deep faith, Richard Higgins knew the only Hope worth fighting for was a civilization rooted in God, with a heavy emphasis on family and community. Made City is taking that same mindset into 2026 and beyond" and "our current concrete jungles across the US have lost hope, creativity and community. The result is clear to see; isolation, record levels of depression, anxiety and mental health issues." Higgins is correct to point out that what we have been doing for decades is not working.

Washington DC is the place to start. I hope to play a role in continuing America's tradition of faith-driven entrepreneurship and in helping build the next City on a Hill. America cannot remain the land of the free unless it is also the home of the brave, the innovative and the bold.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 19:50

"I Think It Will Reduce Our Jobs": Jamie Dimon Predicts AI-Driven Workforce Shift At JPMorgan

Artificial intelligence is set to significantly alter hiring patterns at JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to CEO Jamie Dimon, who said the bank expects to recruit more AI-focused talent while reducing reliance on some conventional banking roles over time, according to Bloomberg.

During a Bloomberg Television interview at the firm’s China Summit in Shanghai, Dimon acknowledged the long-term impact AI is likely to have on employment across the industry. “I think it will reduce our jobs down the road,” he said. “There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, and it will make them more productive.”

The shift reflects a broader transformation underway on Wall Street, where major banks are accelerating investments in automation and generative AI to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Executives across the sector have increasingly spoken about the technology’s ability to replace repetitive work while reshaping how financial institutions operate.

Bloomberg writes that unlike some peers who have framed the transition more bluntly, Dimon emphasized that workforce reductions could largely happen gradually through attrition rather than mass layoffs. JPMorgan, which sees roughly 25,000 to 30,000 employees leave annually, has enough turnover to retrain or reposition workers as roles evolve, he said.

He also argued that AI’s impact will not be limited to eliminating jobs. New positions are expected to emerge, particularly in areas tied to client relationships and revenue generation, even as some support and operational functions become more automated.

Dimon’s remarks followed controversial comments from Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters, who recently said the bank was replacing “lower-value human capital” with technology as part of a plan to cut thousands of support positions. Goldman Sachs President John Waldron has likewise described traditional back-office work as a “human assembly line” susceptible to automation, while HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery warned this week that AI would “destroy” certain jobs even as it creates others.

Addressing the backlash surrounding Winters’ comments, Dimon defended the executive while acknowledging the wording had landed poorly. “It was an inartful way to say something,” he said. “I think it will be old jobs. If back-office jobs disappear, we need more front office jobs to cover more clients.”

Research from consulting firms and banks suggests the disruption could be substantial. McKinsey estimates that nearly a third of work hours in finance and insurance may eventually be automated, while Citigroup has projected that more than half of banking jobs face a high likelihood of either replacement or augmentation through AI technologies.

Still, Dimon cautioned against allowing the transition to move too quickly without considering the broader consequences. “I think it’s incumbent upon us, society, to think through if it happens too fast,” he said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 19:15

Iran Destroyed 20% Of Pentagon's MQ-9 Reaper Drone Fleet: Report

Via Middle East Eye

Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US's pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.

The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.

via AFP

The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.

Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.

The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.

Iran’s ability to shoot down MQ-9 Reaper Drones is another demonstration of how it has managed to deploy some air defense, despite claims from US President Donald Trump that the country’s defences have been “obliterated”.

A US official told The New York Times this week that Iranian military commanders may have mapped out flight patterns of US fighter jets and bombers over their skies, raising the risks should Trump decide to restart the war on Iran.

Days before the US and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire in April, Iran shot down a F-15E Strike Eagle warplane, sparking a massive US recovery operation for the pilots. If Iran had been able to capture the US pilot alive, it would have put tremendous pressure on Washington, experts say.

The New York Times reported that Russia may have helped Iran map US flight patterns in order to better position their military assets and air defense systems.

Iran and Russia have a long-standing security arrangement. Russia has assisted Iran by providing satellite imagery of US warships and military personnel, according to multiple US media reports.

Various regional media had featured reports of downed Reaper drones through March into April, at the height of the air war over Iran:

🇾🇪 Iranian and regional media outlets, including Iran’s Fars News Agency, are reporting the downing of a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen’s Marib province, the key oil and gas region located in north-central Yemen today.

The claim and the footage has not yet been confirmed by… pic.twitter.com/In3GVmuLJG

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) May 17, 2026

Iran’s air defence comprises a mix of domestically produced systems along with Russian and Chinese systems.

Middle East Eye was the first to report that China had provided air defence batteries to Iran, following the June 2025 war that culminated in the US bombing three Iranian nuclear sites.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 18:40

Disney Asks FCC To Declare 'The View' A News Show, Exempt From Equal Time Rule

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

Disney is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to declare the daytime talk show "The View" a "bona fide news" program to bypass the federal equal opportunities law, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced May 22.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris (C) chats with the hosts during a commercial break at “The View” in New York on Oct. 8, 2024. From left are Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Whoopi Goldberg, Harris, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

The show, co-hosted by Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro, has come under scrutiny in recent years for its programming that heavily favored progressive guests and commentary.

In February, Carr told reporters the agency was investigating whether the show violated the federal "equal time" requirements for political candidates.

The equal time rule requires broadcast radio and television stations to give comparable airtime to legally qualified political candidates.

In May, Disney-owned TV stations KTRK-TV, Houston, Texas, and American Broadcasting Companies (ABC) filed a request with the agency to exempt the show.

"The companies ... suggest in their Petition that they believe the federal equal opportunities statute itself would not survive First Amendment scrutiny today or at least if it is applied today to 'The View' would not survive any such review," the FCC stated in a public notice issued May 22. "The companies also point to a letter from an FCC staffer from 2002 in support of their argument that 'The View' qualifies as bona fide news."

If FCC commissioners exempt "The View" from the equal time rule, the program would be allowed to continue having almost exclusively left-leaning politicians and guests on to discuss political issues.

"Disney argues that The View qualifies as 'bona fide news' under the law, comparing itself to Meet The Press or Face The Nation," Carr posted on X. "Therefore, Disney argues, it can have one partisan candidate for office on The View while denying equal opportunities to all others."

Under the law, television shows don't qualify as news shows if their content is based on partisan purposes, such as if they intend to harm someone's candidacy for office, Carr said.

The FCC has opened public comment on the request, allowing written comments until June 22, before commissioners consider the request.

Stations can petition the FCC to seek exemptions from the rule for bona fide news programming.

Congress created exemptions for two news programs, "Meet the Press" and "Face The Nation," in 1959 by passing an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, because of the traditional question-and-answer formats used.

Congress passed the equal time rule to prevent media gatekeepers from deciding the outcomes of elections, Carr said.

"The law, even when it applies, does not prohibit anyone from having any candidate appear on any show," Carr said. "Rather, Congress intended it to empower voters with more information and encourage more speech."

In April, the FCC ordered an early review of license renewals for Disney's ABC television stations as part of an ongoing investigation into whether the company and its stations were following federal communications laws and rules.

President Barack Obama appears on the ABC daytime television talk show "The View" in New York, alongside hosts (L–R) Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Saul Loeb/Getty Images Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 17:30