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Food Retailers Troubled By This Chart

Consumer staples and food retail equity analyst Scott Marks at Jefferies told clients Saturday that one of the most concerning charts for food retailers is the sharp decline in average benefits per SNAP participant under the Trump administration, as the USDA intensifies efforts to root out fraud, waste, and abuse.

SNAP's elevated payment error rates are setting up a new fiscal fight between the Trump administration and states.

Marks said food retailers are caught in the crosshairs:

SNAP error rates set up state cost-sharing showdown. USDA last week released FY2025 SNAP payment error rates, showing a national rate of 10.62% (a modest improvement vs. FY2024) that still translates to roughly $10B in improper payments, with all but 10 states landing above the 6% congressional threshold.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, FY2025 marks the first year of data that can be used to determine state cost-sharing obligations beginning October 2027, when states above the threshold will be on the hook for 5%, 10%, or 15% of their benefit costs depending on tier.

Combined with already-falling SNAP participants (down ~11.6% y/y to ~37.3mm recipients in March on tighter work requirements), the looming cost shift raises the risk of further benefit tightening or eligibility friction at the state level, which would be an incremental headwind for food retailers and center-store packaged food categories most exposed to SNAP spend.

Here's the chart:

Value-focused food retailers such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, 7-Eleven, WinCo Foods, Save A Lot and Food 4 Less are among the most exposed to SNAP spending.

Major grocery and retail names with meaningful SNAP exposure include Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Costco Wholesale, BJ's Wholesale Club and Ahold Delhaize, the parent of Food Lion, Giant, Stop & Shop, Hannaford and other U.S. grocery brands.

The Trump administration continues to purge SNAP of fraud, waste, abuse and, of course, illegal aliens. Since President Trump signed the OBBBA into law one year ago, enrollment in the food program has fallen to just 37 million people, down 5 million from a year earlier.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 12:15

Putin Invites Trump To Visit Russia In 'Constructive' July 4th Phone Call

A nearly 90-minute phone call between Presidents Trump and Putin on July 4th could signal shifting White House priorities, as it tries to find permanent offramp and settlement in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, but also as the Ukraine war seems to be fast heating up again.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in comments made public Sunday that Trump offered Putin to help find a solution to the war in Ukraine.

Shutterstock, Sputnik via EPA

"The American president once again confirmed his readiness to work towards a rapid end to the fighting and find solutions to overcome the crisis," Ushakov said of Trump's call. He called conversation "business-like and quite constructive."

The spokesman further stated that Russia sought "a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, with due account of Russia's fundamental approach."

But Ushakov also lashed out at the Zelensky government, accusing it and its European allies of "counting on extending and even escalating the conflict, and on terrorism against civilians."

This referred to the fact that Ukraine's repeat drone strikes deep inside Russian territory have severely damaged energy infrastructure, as well as hit residential buildings and areas, resulting in casualties.

Ushakov further described that in the call Putin "depicted the real situation on the battlefield where the Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one locality after another."

Putin had also apparently renewed his initial Alaska Summit invitation for Trump to visit Russia, where further bilateral dialogue can take place, Axios noted.

Trump on Saturday had also held a call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, who later said on Telegram the talk was "very good".  Zelensky stated that "There is a real prospect to end this war and American resolve will have a crucial meaning."

Zelensky and Trump are expected to continue the discussion at the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara, set for July 7-8.

Zelensky had further taken the opportunity to highlight some of the latest weapons support from Washington: "We are grateful to the United States for all the assistance we have received – from Javelins and Patriots to political support – and we deeply value that America stands by us in defending our independence. I am grateful to every American heart that cares about the future of Ukraine, Europe, and everyone around the world for whom freedom matters," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Trump and congratulated him for the U.S. 250 independence day. The Kremlin says the call lasted an hour and a half. Putin invited Trump to visit Russia https://t.co/ZOfR0tE4fv

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) July 4, 2026

Currently each warring side disputes the degree to which Russian forces are advancing. Supporters on either side have even been issuing contradictory battlefield maps, and the fog of war is thick.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 11:05

UK Government's Shocking Bid To Rig YouTube Algorithm To Force-Feed BBC Propaganda

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

In a brazen move that reeks of authoritarian control, the UK government is pushing plans to seize influence over YouTube's recommendation system. Their goal is to prioritise content from the BBC, and other state backed propaganda machines, while burying independent journalists and creators who dare challenge the official narrative.

This isn't subtle nudging - it's direct engineered suppression, which they're dressing up as "protecting democracy" from so-called disinformation. As public trust in legacy media plummets, the establishment's response is to rig the game rather than earn back credibility.

YouTube itself has warned creators about the proposals. The platform alerted users that new rules could force it to give privileged positioning to approved outlets, limiting growth for everyone else and reshaping what millions see daily. Independent voices who built audiences by speaking truth to power now face algorithmic exile.

Look at this appalling state censorship.

Labour now want to seize control of YouTube's algorithm.

They want YouTube to artificially boost the BBC and Channel 4's content, and suffocate independent journalists and producers.

The BBC has been biased to pro-mass migration,... pic.twitter.com/QbwrRNjkSo

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 5, 2026

GB News' Alex Armstrong labelled the move "an act of pure tyranny, designed to control you, your family and your friends on an industrial scale."

'An act of pure tyranny, designed to control you, your family and your friends on an industrial scale. They want you to be sheep.'@AlexArmstrong shares his outrage at government plans to push 'propaganda' and state controlled media to the top of your social media feed. pic.twitter.com/kZ2cQ6ykmS

— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 4, 2026

The Free Speech Union described the move as "beyond dystopian."

This is beyond dystopian. https://t.co/fnaA4FOm5A

— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) July 5, 2026

People fled to platforms like YouTube and X precisely because of the BBC's documented biases on mass migration, Net Zero, and more - biases even internal BBC reports have acknowledged. Now, the government wants to drag that failing model into your feed by law.

Technology and free speech lawyer Preston Byrne slammed it as the British government seeking to "influence and control the marketplace of ideas."

'It's the British government seeking to influence and control the marketplace of ideas.'

Technology and free speech lawyer Preston Byrne reacts to government plans to push 'propaganda' and state controlled media to the top of your social media feed. pic.twitter.com/CSWuyVWaqw

— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 4, 2026

Lord Toby Young highlighted the absurdity in The Spectator: calling the targeted media "trustworthy" is a misnomer when people have already abandoned it. Forcing platforms to promote it won't restore trust - it will confirm the desperation.

In my latest @Spectator column, I ridicule the Government's Media Green Paper and its proposal that social media platforms should be forced to boost 'trusted' media sources, like the BBC.

"Isn't it a bit of a misnomer to describe the media content the government wants people to...

— Toby Young (@toadmeister) July 4, 2026

The Free Speech Union also linked the development to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's exit from X, where she cited threats to democracy all while her department advances state-favoured content rules.

Lisa Nandy has quit X. Yes, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has decided that, rather than challenge so-called misinformation and disinformation, she would rather vacate the stage.

She has dubbed the platform a threat to democracy and free speech.

Since when... pic.twitter.com/n5MrboDwup

— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) July 4, 2026

It's the same playbook we've seen over and over: label dissent as dangerous, then legislate your preferred sources into prominence.

The Mercian News pointed out the BBC's own admission that only around 30% of the public trusts national news organisations, with over 50% trusting social media more. Forcing exposure won't fix that - it exposes the contempt for audience choice.

The BBC is so trusted that the government has to use the law to force you to pay for it and now has to use the law to force you to watch it. https://t.co/BAmXtFGZce

— The Mercian (@TheMercianNews) July 5, 2026

Even some on the left, like the Labour Digital Rights Network, have criticised the hypocrisy of engineering a sanitised internet while claiming to fight Big Tech.

? The government's new media consultation is a blatant attempt to seize control of social media algorithms and enforce a "state-approved" news feed.

Under the guise of promoting "trustworthy news", @DCMS is exploring legislative options to force platforms like YouTube to give... pic.twitter.com/J8HOlOgyon

— Labour Digital Rights Network (@LabDRN) July 5, 2026

? The government's new media consultation is a blatant attempt to seize control of social media algorithms and enforce a "state-approved" news feed.

Under the guise of promoting "trustworthy news", @DCMS is exploring legislative options to force platforms like YouTube to give... pic.twitter.com/J8HOlOgyon

— Labour Digital Rights Network (@LabDRN) July 5, 2026

The post continues...

The hypocrisy is staggering. Just days after @lisanandy proudly announced she was abandoning @X because it "favours abuse and misinformation", her department is now trying to artificially engineer a sanitised internet elsewhere. We cannot afford to let the state become the sole arbiter of truth online. Yes, we are highly critical of Big Tech's toxic algorithms that monopolise our attention and harvest our data to generate profit. But the solution to surveillance capitalism is robust regulation, algorithmic transparency, and data protection - not a state-dictated media feed.

Resistance is already brewing. YouTube's warnings have sparked calls for pushback. Creators and users are urged to respond to the government's consultation, which closes August 31. Ben Graham suggested a practical defence: block the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 channels to starve the forced promotion of engagement.

If you think the algorithm is being reshaped, the simplest response is to take control of your own feed.

Block the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 if you don't want them in your recommendations.

They can't push content you don't engage with. https://t.co/zpOYPWJGAL

— Ben Graham (@BenGrahamUK) July 4, 2026

Of course, the government could, via it's regulator Ofcom, simply mandate that these sources cannot be blocked and must be injected into people's feeds. They could also employ a more subtle manipulation of the algorithm to ensure it happens, regardless of any blocking.

Preston Byrne argued Google should draw a hard line - threatening to close its UK data centre and operations rather than comply with foreign censorship demands. American tech shouldn't bend to UK overreach.

Google has exactly one data center in the UK.

All it has to do is threaten to close it and pull out its personnel. That is the answer to foreign censorship, it is the only answer, and the longer Big Tech ignores the option the more cancerous foreign regulation will become. https://t.co/YANnrNtkoc

— Preston Byrne (@prestonjbyrne) July 4, 2026

The government frames this as voluntary cooperation with legislation as backup, especially during unrest. Critics see it as the thin end of the wedge toward a Ministry of Truth, where "approved" sources drown out scrutiny of open borders, policy failures, and elite consensus.

This isn't about quality journalism - it's about control. When legacy outlets lose the audience on merit, the state steps in to mandate relevance. Independent creators built YouTube's vibrancy; now they're collateral in a war on wrongthink.

Britons deserve better than algorithmically enforced propaganda. The pushback must be fierce: block, respond to consultations, support platforms that resist, and back politicians who reject this surveillance-state creep. Freedom of information is too vital to surrender to failing institutions desperate to cling to power.

This UK initiative does not stand alone. Similar moves are advancing in lockstep across the continent as governments seek greater leverage over information flows.

Germany has pursued measures to force social media platforms to boost state-aligned content and sideline dissenting material under the banner of "public value."

The EU's Democracy Shield framework has drawn sharp criticism as a vehicle for mass censorship that effectively ends open discourse under the guise of protecting democracy.

In France, President Macron has pushed aggressive censorship proposals widely described as a Ministry of Truth power grab.

The pattern is unmistakable: governments leveraging regulatory power to privilege official or state-funded sources while algorithmically demoting alternatives.

The BBC prioritization scheme fits into a rapid succession of UK measures that collectively tighten state influence over digital space and public narrative.

The under-16s social media ban has been exposed as a monumental pretext for total digital surveillance infrastructure.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov warned that the policy represents the digital iceberg that could sink the free internet.

Separate reporting revealed the UK government maintains a dedicated "thought police" unit aimed at controlling the mass migration narrative.

Further proposals would empower authorities to block "false information" during crisis events, creating an official Ministry of Truth mechanism.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has separately called for a government social media disinformation unit, adding another layer of official narrative enforcement.

Advocates insist elevating BBC content will help users encounter more "reliable" information. The claim collapses under even cursory examination of the broadcaster's recent track record.

The BBC has repeatedly been accused of sinking to new lows on accuracy and impartiality.

Its former news director stated that trans bias and progressive orthodoxy drove her departure.

Additional controversies include a high-profile fake news editing scandal that prompted a $10 billion lawsuit from President Trump.

Further examples involve portrayals of Islamic child slavery in Afghanistan as somehow necessary, biased handling of Islamist issues in Britain, and presenter conduct that drew sharp rebukes from figures like John Cleese.

 

Mandating algorithmic favoritism for any single outlet, especially one with the BBC's baggage, will not restore trust. Alternative platforms continue to grow, and Community Notes-style transparency tools already expose manipulation faster than official gatekeepers can suppress it.

Governments that distrust citizens to navigate information without state curation reveal more about their own insecurities than about any genuine disinformation crisis.

The free exchange of ideas, even uncomfortable ones, remains the only proven defense against real propaganda.

These latest European and British maneuvers represent the opposite impulse: centralized narrative control dressed up as public protection.

Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic have seen this playbook before and are increasingly unwilling to play along.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 10:30

Red Sea Blockage Fears: Cargo Ship Attacked Off Southwest Yemen

A Red Sea disruption would be terrible timing for global shipping and energy markets, coming just as vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has started to normalize in recent weeks.

An overnight report that a cargo ship was attacked by "armed assailants" in the southern Red Sea off Yemen is a reminder that the region's maritime-risk premium has not totally disappeared; it has simply shifted chokepoints.

"UKMTO has received a report of an incident 30NM southwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen. A cargo vessel has triggered a distress alert stating that they are under attack by unknown armed assailants," the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations wrote in an alert published on X early Sunday morning.

If the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway of the Red Sea that sits between Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, begins flashing red again, the Suez-Red Sea maritime trade route could quickly become a major headache for global shipping companies, forcing more vessels around the Cape of Good Hope and reigniting pressure on freight rates, insurance costs, and energy-linked supply chains - thus fueling inflation.

Nomura's Chief Economist for India and Asia ex-Japan, Sonal Varma, recently outlined for clients the critical importance of the Red Sea:

Since the Houthi attacks in 2023, global trade via the Red Sea has fallen, but the Bal el-Mandeb Strait and Suez Canal still account for 9% of global maritime traffic, ~20% of global container traffic and ~8.7% of world oil supply (including the SUMED pipeline). The Cape of Good Hope is an alternative route that will be used, but it involves longer transit times, higher fuel costs and increased freight rates.

Why this matters for Asia:

Most of the crude oil and condensate shipped via the Red Sea is destined for Asia (~68% of total), especially India. Around 40% of Asia-Europe trade transited through the Suez Canal in early 2024, including manufactured goods (electronics, vehicles and textiles), intermediate inputs for supply chains (auto and electronic components) and agricultural products (wheat, rice, sugar and tea).

Implications for Asia:

With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Red Sea disruptions would aggravate the supply crunch. The cost of oil and petroleum product imports would rise for the region overall, with a higher burden for India, owing to its dependence on Russian oil via the Suez Canal. Asia's exports to Europe could also be adversely affected, due to higher freight costs and longer transit times. The dependence of the European auto industry on component imports from Asia would also likely impact the auto sector.

Latest Gulf area news (courtesy of Bloomberg):

Khamenei Funeral Proceedings

• Iran began a mass funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, July 4, with his body lying in state at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Mosalla mosque complex for public visits over the weekend

• Tens of thousands of mourners streamed to the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran on Saturday to view the caskets of Khamenei and some of his family members

• Iranian authorities predict up to 20 million people will turn out over six days of funeral ceremonies beginning Saturday

• Khamenei's coffin, wrapped in an Iranian flag, was placed on a platform alongside the coffins of family members killed in the same US-Israeli attack on February 28

Khamenei's Death and War Context

• Khamenei, who ruled over Iran for 37 years, was killed along with several family members in a US and Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war in late February

• Iran feared it was too dangerous to hold funeral rites for four months, but is now proceeding shielded by a tentative truce and an America distracted by its 250th July Fourth celebration

Post-War Political Landscape

• Iran's new leadership is described as younger, savvier, ruthless and even more hard-line, contradicting Trump's claim of accomplishing "regime change"

• After surviving months of strikes by the US and Israel, the Iranian regime has emerged emboldened

Hormuz Tensions

• At least eight ships attempting to leave the Persian Gulf along the Omani coast turned back between Friday and Saturday, with some switching to a route closer to Iran

• The number of vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast fell to a trickle on Sunday, after several made sharp reversals on Saturday

• Iran's ambassador to Beijing said China and other friendly nations will be granted 'special considerations' when Tehran determines service fees for ships using the Strait of Hormuz

• Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister warned the UK and France against meddling in the Strait of Hormuz, stating it is not a military playground for extra-regional powers

International Naval Presence

• French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will return to its home port in Toulon after a nearly two-month deployment near the Strait of Hormuz, while mine countermeasure assets will remain deployed 

Oil Market

• Major OPEC+ members agreed on Sunday to add 188,000 barrels a day to their output target for next month, adding to the prospect of more supply if a US-Iran peace pact can stick

• Flows of oil and natural gas have been returning to normal and prices have tumbled since an interim US-Iran accord was signed last month that pried open the Strait of Hormuz

Latest ZH Coverage:

• Ships Abruptly U-Turn Near Hormuz As Some Shift To Iran-Approved Routes

• Europe Capitulates, Sees Iranian Hormuz Fee Collection As 'Inevitable'

• Iran Runs Into Big Problem: No Buyers For Its Oil, As Full Tankers Pile Up Off China

• 'Gave Iran Week Off Because We're Nice': Trump References Ayatollah Funeral In Rushmore Speech

Professional subscribers can read more on energy markets and chokepoints here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 09:55

Wage Growth As A Leading Inflation Indicator

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Wage growth peaked four years ago. Since 1985, it has led CPI by three to seventeen months in every single cycle. The May 4.2% inflation print is the noise. Watch the wages.

Headline CPI just printed 4.2% year-over-year for May. The highest reading since April 2023. The 10-year Treasury punched above 4.6% on the back of it, then pulled back recently. Energy ran +23.5% over the past twelve months on the Iran war, accounting for roughly 60% of the monthly all-items gain, and the doom crowd keeps pushing this is 1979 all over again with rate hikes ahead, a recession behind, and a cornered Fed. Here is why they are likely wrong.

After three decades of watching inflation cycles turn, I can tell you the variable that actually leads CPI peaks is wage growth. And wage growth peaked fifty months ago.

Wage Growth Leads. CPI Follows.

For decades, economists taught the Phillips Curve as if it were a law of physics. Tight labor markets push wages up. Higher wages push prices up. Inflation is born. That model worked through the 1970s. It hasn’t worked since.

Two things broke it. First, Paul Volcker pushed the funds rate to 19% in 1981 and held it there until the wage-price spiral snapped, and union density collapsed. COLA clauses vanished from labor contracts, globalization began pulling tradeable-goods prices toward the global marginal cost of production, and the entire institutional architecture that had transmitted wage gains into consumer prices through the 1970s came apart. By the mid-1980s, the relationship had inverted.

Second, the Fed earned credibility. Once households and firms believed the central bank would tolerate a deep recession to stop inflation, expectations re-anchored near 2%. Workers stopped pricing future inflation into today’s wage demands. I walked through the duration implications of this regime in my recent rising-rates piece, so I won’t relitigate the bond math here.

Here’s the inversion in plain terms. Before 1985, CPI ran first. Workers chased it with catch-up raises. Wages followed prices. After 1985, the causation flipped. Wage growth comes first because tight labor markets signal demand pressure before that pressure is transmitted to consumer prices. Wages aren’t reacting anymore. They’re forecasting.

That distinction sounds small, but it changes everything. It changes which indicator tells you something, and whether today’s CPI print is information or noise. It also changes how to interpret the current data, which the doom crowd is misreading.

Four Cycles, Four Times Wages Led

The chart below plots wage growth in black against CPI in red, from 1965 through May 2026. The gold-tinted section is pre-Volcker. The white section is post-1985.

Look at the pre-1985 stretch. The red line peaks first. The black line follows. In 1970, CPI peaked in February. Wages didn’t top out until May 1971, fifteen months later. In 1980, CPI peaked in March. Wages peaked in January 1981, ten months later. The 1974 oil shock is the only pre-1985 case in which wages and the CPI peaked together.

Now look at the post-1985 stretch. The pattern flips.

In 1990, wages peaked in June and CPI peaked in October, a four-month lead. Then, in the 2008 cycle, wages peaked in February 2007 while CPI didn’t peak until July 2008, a seventeen-month lead. In the post-Great Recession cycle, wages peaked in May 2010, and the CPI peaked sixteen months later in September 2011. And in 2022, wages peaked in March, and CPI peaked in June, a tight three-month lead driven by goods inflation transmitting quickly through broken supply chains rather than the slower wage-to-services pathway that had run the previous three cycles. Same direction every time.

Over four different cycles, wages repeatedly led. The lead ranged from three to seventeen months, and the direction never broke.

When Real Wages Compress, Inflation Dies

The lead-lag pattern is the headline finding. The deeper mechanism runs through real wages.

Real wage growth is nominal wage growth minus CPI inflation. When workers’ wages outpace prices, they spend more. They sustain demand, and inflation has room to keep running. When prices outpace wages, workers cut back. Demand falls. Inflation rolls over within about a year.

I ran the correlation across every monthly observation from January 1965 through May 2024. The correlation between today’s real wage growth and the change in CPI over the following twenty-four months is +0.72 across 713 monthly observations. That’s an extraordinarily strong relationship in macro data, where values above 0.5 are rare.

When real wages compress to negative levels, the next two years see CPI deceleration. When real wages run hot, CPI accelerates over the following two years. The relationship holds in both regimes. The gold pre-1985 dots show it. The navy post-1985 dots show it.

Now look at where we are.

Real wage growth ran +1% to +1.5% through most of 2024. It’s now -0.6%. Workers are no longer outrunning inflation; they’re falling behind, and although this isn’t the four-percent compression of 1980 or the deep negative readings that preceded the 2008 demand collapse, the direction matters because every single time real wages have crossed below zero in the post-1985 sample, CPI has rolled over on a twelve-to-twenty-four-month lag. The pattern is clean.

2008, Re-Run

The closest parallel to the current setup isn’t 1979. It’s 2008.

In early 2007, wage growth peaked at around 4.1%. The labor market was strong. Unemployment was below 5%. Real wages were positive but compressing. Then oil prices rose from $60 to $147 in 18 months. Headline CPI followed the oil chart straight up. By July 2008, CPI was running at 5.5%, and every television commentator was warning of runaway inflation.

What happened next? Demand cratered. The real-wage compression had been working in the background for over a year. By the time CPI peaked, the consumer was already broken. Within twelve months, CPI was negative. The worry wasn’t inflation anymore. It was deflation.

I’m not predicting a 2008-style collapse. Bank balance sheets are stronger now, household leverage is lower, the labor market hasn’t started shedding jobs the way it did in late 2007, and the Fed has more room to act than it did when the funds rate was already at 5.25% on the eve of the financial crisis. But the inflation setup is structurally identical. We have a clean wage peak that led the cycle by years. We have an oil-driven CPI bump landing on top of decelerating wage growth. And we have a bond market still digesting, which signal matters.

Notice in the chart above how cleanly wages turned over in March 2022. CPI followed three months later. Since then, both have fallen. The May bounce on the red line is the Iranian energy shock. Wages didn’t bounce. That divergence is the tell.

What The Doom Crowd Needs To Believe

The bear case isn’t crazy. It needs two things to be true that aren’t true yet.

First, wage growth has to re-accelerate. The story goes that tariffs and immigration restrictions tighten the labor market, wages rise again, and a second wave of inflation ratifies the headline bounce. The problem is the data. Wage growth in May was 3.56%, the lowest reading of the entire current cycle. The deceleration has been monotonic from the 7.0% peak in March 2022 through every month of the past four years, and labor market indicators from the JOLTS quits rate to the Atlanta Fed Wage Growth Tracker continue to point in the same direction. No turn yet.

Second, long-run inflation expectations have to de-anchor. That’s the 1970s playbook. It’s also where the Fed’s credibility lives. Currently, there is little risk of that as the 10-year breakeven inflation rate sits near 2.4%. The Cleveland Fed’s 5-year forward rate expectations are near 2.5%.

What This Means For Portfolios

Three implications. First, the duration sell-off looks overdone. When the 10-year is above 4.5%, it is pricing structural inflation. However, wage growth is telling you the structural force runs in the opposite direction, the breakeven curve is barely budging from its 2.4% base, and the bond market’s ten-basis-point rally on the Iran peace headline told you exactly what the marginal buyer thinks is driving the recent move. I made the broader case for owning duration into a wage-led disinflation in my recent rising-rates piece, and nothing in the May print changes the view.

Second, the trade is asymmetric. If wages keep decelerating, 10-year yields will fall meaningfully over the next 12 months. If wages re-accelerate, the monthly prints will tell you in time to adjust. The cost of being wrong is small. The cost of missing the move is high.

Third, the equity tilt favors quality compounders and long-duration growth over commodity producers. Disinflation expands multiples but compresses cyclical earnings. The 2008-2009 pattern was multiples up, EPS down. A milder version of that setup tilts the same way.

Inflation isn’t a single print. It’s a regime. Regimes are determined by what leads, not what follows.

The doom crowd is staring at a coincident indicator being pushed around by an oil shock and calling it a trend, when the actual leading indicator, the one that’s worked in every single post-Volcker cycle, the one with a +0.72 correlation against the path of CPI over the next two years, is wage growth, and wage growth peaked fifty months ago, sits at 3.6%, and is dragging real wages into compression. That setup forecasts disinflation. NOT acceleration.

I’m not saying inflation is dead. I’m saying the burden of proof has shifted. Until wages turn up and expectations de-anchor, watch the wages

Frequently Asked Questions Why does wage growth lead CPI after 1985 but lag it before?

In the pre-Volcker era, inflation expectations were unanchored. Workers and firms priced wages today based on expected future inflation, so wages tracked CPI. After Volcker broke the wage-price spiral and the Fed established credibility, expectations stabilized. Wages now reflect labor-market tightness rather than expected inflation, meaning wage growth signals demand pressure before it shows up in consumer prices.

If wage growth peaked in March 2022, why did CPI peak only three months later?

The 2022 cycle was unusual because the CPI peak was driven heavily by goods inflation from supply-chain disruptions and the oil price spike driven by the war, which quickly translated into higher prices. In more typical cycles, such as 2008 or 2011, the lead time stretched to 16-17 months. The current setup more closely resembles 2008, where an oil shock layered on top of an already-decelerating underlying trend.

How do you measure real wage growth, and why does it matter?

Real wage growth is nominal wage growth (AHETPI YoY) minus CPI YoY. It measures whether workers are getting richer or poorer in real terms. When real wages are positive, consumers sustain demand, and inflation has room to keep running. When real wages turn negative, consumers cut back, demand falls, and inflation tends to roll over within twelve to twenty-four months. The May 2026 reading is -0.6%, the lowest of this cycle.

What would change your view on this thesis?

Two things. First, a sustained re-acceleration in wage growth, meaning the labor market is tightening again rather than slowly normalizing. Second, a meaningful rise in long-run inflation expectations, particularly the 10-year breakeven rate above 3% or the Michigan 5-10-year survey above 4%. Either would shift the probability distribution. Until then, wage growth continues to point toward disinflation.

Why is the 10-year Treasury elevated if wages are pointing to disinflation?

The bond market is reacting to the May CPI print and the renewed oil shock, both of which are coincident or backward-looking signals. The 10-year breakeven sits near 2.4%, meaning most of the yield rise reflects higher real rates and term premium rather than higher inflation expectations. That’s a different story from 1979. Yields fell roughly ten basis points the day the Iran peace headlines hit, which tells you the market knows the inflation bump is energy-driven.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 09:20

The UK's Latest "Debanking" Scandal Should Give Everyone Pause

Authored by Nick Corbishley via NakedCapitalism.com,

UK-based readers may recall the moment almost exactly three years ago when the word “debanking” entered the mainstream British English lexicon. The prestigious London-based private bank Coutts had just decided to close Nigel Farage’s bank account due to his unsavoury political views and alleged Russian connections. That decision turned out to be very costly.

Almost immediately, Farage did what Farage does best: he whipped up a massive media frenzy. In next to no time two senior banking scalps had been claimed: those of Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of Coutts’ parent bank and “Big Four” lender, Natwest (formerly known as the Royal Bank of Scotland) and Coutts’ chief executive Peter Flavel.

Within a month, Natwest’s share price had slumped 8%, wiping £1 billion off its market cap, much of which was being propped up with public funds, and generating juicy returns for short-selling hedge funds. As we reported at the time, the resulting scandal drew much-needed public attention to a long-standing but accelerating trend — the “de-banking” of people and organisations with politically inconvenient views:

[T]his is hardly a one-off event: as I reported a couple of weeks ago, banks on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly debanking their customers, often without explanation. I gave the example of California-based writer, activist, and social and political commentator Elad Nehorai, whose political views and ideals could not diverge more from those of Nigel Farage. Yet he, too, had his account at Bank of America, his bank of many years, summarily closed with no apparent warning or explanation…

Without a bank account, it is almost impossible to participate in the economy. And it is getting more difficult as cash becomes harder and harder to access and use. As Alex Lo writes for South China Morning Post, “Banking is a fundamental utility like water and electricity, and that’s precisely why democratic societies are increasingly turning to its use as a method of censorship and repression.”

However, the resulting government inquiry concluded that customers were not being “debanked” for political reasons. As a result, not only has debanking continued but debanked customers now face the prospect of being blocked from setting up new accounts at other banks, as the Telegraph reported on Monday:

Banks are planning to block “debanked” customers from setting up accounts with other lenders, potentially leading to innocent people being effectively locked out of the financial system, The Telegraph can reveal.

Lobby group UK Finance is developing a platform that will allow banks to share data on their customers where they detect “markers of economic crime”.

Lloyds, Barclays and Revolut have already started sharing data about customers, leading to accounts being frozen or closed, The Telegraph understands, following a pilot in 2024.

The data-sharing platform will build on that pilot to make a UK-wide system, which could automatically bar people from opening another account.

But concerns have been raised that thousands of innocent customers and businesses who have been debanked unfairly could be barred from opening up an account with another bank, effectively leaving them locked out of the financial system.

The latest victim of the debanking trend is the left-wing news website The Canary, which has accused the Lloyds Banking Group of “withholding a substantial amount of our money”  after nearly a decade of use. The news outlet — which brands itself as “radical working-class media” — says “Lloyds has not explained why it has taken this action… despite multiple communications from us”.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Canary speculated about the possible reasons behind Lloyds’ decision, including its anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine stance:

Whilst we do not currently know the reasons behind our debanking, we cannot afford to be naive about this.

We do know that multiple other politically engaged people have suffered similar actions by other banks in recent times. It is not lost on us that powerful banks are able to restrict the financial activity of anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine organisations and individuals.

It is an outrage that the Canary has been unceremoniously dropped into financial instability with no notice or explanation from Lloyds.

Starmer’s Last Attack

It would hardly come as a surprise the attack was in response to The Canary’s pro-Palestine sympathies. The UK government has done everything within its not inconsiderable powers to criminalise pro-Palestine, anti-genocide activism, including by scrapping the ancient right to trial by jury. Through its new National Security Law, the outgoing Keir Starmer government seeks to bulldoze literal thought crime legislation into law — in Orwell’s native United Kingdom.

I need to explain something very important to you.

The law that the govt used to arrest me, Section 12(1A) — the first ever use against a journalist — is a very short line. It is vague on purpose. And that is the exact line they have copied into the new "National Security Bill"

— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) July 1, 2026

You can say something that is 100% factual, but if it paints what they deem a "proscribed organization" — even one that has never harmed the UK — in a "good" light, you can get 14 years in prison. (That's also copied from the Terrorism Act).

Anything you say can be twisted.

— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) July 1, 2026

An article in The Canary explains just how dire a threat the new National Security Law poses to journalism and political dissent, describing it as “one last power grab” by Keir Starmer’s outgoing government:

As I am sat here writing this, there’s a sense of terror kicking in. I’m a journalist. It’s my job to be in the know about foreign affairs. At the Canary we pride ourselves on bringing people the news that the mainstream doesn’t dare. But this terror is absolutely nothing compared to what other people must be feeling.

This radicalised weaponisation of new legislation will hit marginalised communities so first and hardest. Journalists and community workers with direct, lived and painful connections to global conflict zones are facing a massive legal trap. If a reporter so much as quotes an entity that the home secretary has designated as a threat, they face immediate prosecution.

Civil liberties groups warn that the law will grant the Home Office absolute power to decide who is allowed to speak. And by leaving the definition of ‘assisting a designated body’ vague, the state has created a total monopoly on the narrative. It’s very much going to be, follow their way and toe the line, or go to jail, it seems.

Indie media outlet Zeteo warned of the severe danger of this new power-grab. The outlet warned that journalists face immediate arrest simply for conducting public interest interviews with banned groups. People will only get one side of the story. There will only be one narrative fed to us… and it will be the government’s.

The timing of Lloyds Bank’s debanking of The Canary is also curious, coming just two months after it announced the launch of a daily left-wing print tabloid — and what’s more, one that defends Palestinian rights. Following an injection of cash last year from used car and property website founder Cecil Hetherington, Canary director Steve Topple hailed the new tabloid as an alternative to the corporate press.

After its debanking, the Canary says it is now in a “financially precarious situation” and does not know when “money that Lloyds is holding will be returned” or how it will affect “our ability to get another bank account in the future”.

“The immediate effect has been that we have been unable to pay any staff or contractors,” Topple told Novara Media. “We have a large team, and all of them are now extremely distressed and in limbo. Many of them are marginalised people and it has hit them very hard. We are trying our best to mitigate the situation and have so far received much-appreciated support from members of the public.”

Lloyds’ actions have already triggered a storm of protests from across the political spectrum.

This is a disgraceful move by @LloydsBank

Be under no illusion, it's an attack on all independent media in UK that doesn't tow the government line

If Lloyds doesn't sort this immediately, a widespread boycott campaign should ensue https://t.co/VbdqcKcI9i

— Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) July 1, 2026

Corbyn told the Canary that the anti-democratic attempt to silence an independent news site was "a very dangerous road"

Via @skwawkbox https://t.co/rgxQhu6HmI

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) July 2, 2026

The Canary has been debanked by Lloyds.

Debanking is one of the most pernicious forms of cancellation that an individual or organisation can face — something the FSU is only too familiar with.

Lloyds has provided no explanation for its decision and has not told The Canary when… https://t.co/Y2YKbFC1wu

— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) June 30, 2026 A Growing Phenomenon

The first major target of debanking in the UK, well over a decade ago, were members of the British Muslim community, particularly those involved in Pro-Palestinian activism. But unlike with Farage, their plight was met with total radio silence in the mainstream media, as the veteran journalist Peter Oborne recounts in the video below.

Peter Oborne Exposes Nigel Farage Banking Bigotry @OborneTweets pic.twitter.com/sir2vSAPlq

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) July 11, 2023

By the time Farage had lost access to Coutts’ banking services, in the summer of 2023, banks in the UK were closing nearly one thousand accounts daily, with just over 343,000 closed in 2022, compared to about 45,000 in 2017.

Following the Farage affair, the Financial Conduct Authority conducted an investigation into banks’ debanking practices, the conclusion of which was that banks had not been closing customers’ accounts for political reasons. Farage described the outcome as “farcical”.

In the US, recent victims of debanking include Scott Ritter, the former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector who is a prominent critic of US and Western imperialism. In January, his bank of 26 years, Citizens’ Bank, closed all of his accounts, including his and his wife’s joint accounts with their daughters, without offering an explanation, as he recounts in the first minutes of the following interview with Judge Napolitano:

In a letter to Ritter Citizens Bank apparently that not only was it under no obligation to divulge the reasons for closing his accounts but that Citizens’ policy actively prevents any disclosure of any information concerning the decision to close the account. As Cato Institute notes, this silent treatment often has to do with confidentiality laws:

However, these are not laws meant to protect the financial privacy of customers. Rather, this confidentiality is to prevent citizens from finding out they are under criminal investigation. For example, reports filed under the Bank Secrecy Act are restricted so heavily that banks cannot share the details of the reports or even admit that a report exists.

While Ritter does not know the exact reasons for his debanking, he suspects that someone in the FBI, fully armed with the “totality of [his] banking transactions”, had “tipped off” Citizens Bank about “suspicious activity” that resulted in Citizens Bank issuing an SAR [Suspicious Activity Report].”

Ritter believes that donations he had received and subsequent cash withdrawals before his three trips to Russia in 2025, which thanks to US and EU sanctions is disconnected from the Western economy, may have triggered the move. According to Ritter, the “purpose of “de-banking” is to harass a targeted individual,” even in the absence of evidence pointing to any criminal activity.”

The reasons for an account closure, while often a mystery to the customers affected, often include operational reasons. Put simply, a financial institution chooses to close the account of a customer because the reputational risks of being associated with that client are simply too high. However, political or ideological motivations appear to play a part in some prominent cases.

The most clear-cut example of this was the Canadian government’s decision, in February 2022, to invoke the emergencies act to compel banks to seize the accounts of the freedom convoy protesters who had blocked several key border crossings. According to the minutes of a meeting between Canada’s Economy Minister, Vice President and WEF board member Chrystia Freeland and senior bank executives the day before the act was invoked, one CEO flagged concerns that if banks were forced to close accounts, it could be seen as the sector “being used as an arm of the government” or even “a political weapon.”

In 2022, Paypal banned the accounts of the UK-based Free Speech Union, its founder Toby Young and his online publication, the Daily Sceptic, for purportedly breaching its policies against hate speech. Worse still, the fintech giant surreptitiously slipped a line into its terms of service granting itself the right to fine customers $2,500 for spreading misinformation. When the news got out, provoking a huge public backlash, PayPal claimed it had all been a big mistake.

Of course, as NC readers EssCetera and Rev Kev pointed out in comments to a previous post, Paypal has a long, storied history of doing this sort of thing, going all the way back to its freezing of Wikileaks’ account in 2010. And banks in the US have been closing down the accounts of workers in the porn industry since at least 2014 as part of “Operation Chokepoint”, which targeted certain undesirable but legal business sectors (h/t Michaelmas).

From “Debanking” to “Civil Death”

If there’s one fate worse than being debanked, it is suffering through the ordeal of “civil death”. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian occupied territories, became subject to US sanctions roughly a year ago that cut her and her family off not only from US banking but also travel and tech.

In Albanese’s case, it was clear to her why she was being put under constraints normally reserved for narco-barons and terrorists: she had just published a UN report denouncing the more than 60 (largely Western) multinational corporations that are allegedly complicit in, and profiting from, Israel’s military occupation of Gaza.

“This fury [came] because I poked the bear,” she said. “Not in one eye, in both eyes.”

👉 “The moment I pointed to the fact that there are businesses who are profiting from it, yes, I get sanctioned.”

The first UN expert in 80 years to be sanctioned by the U.S. explains why she now faces a U.S. travel ban, frozen accounts, no ability to bank anywhere, cancelled… https://t.co/ia3WLhmyV7

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) December 11, 2025

In the clip below, Albanese explains (in French), as she fights back tears, the extent to which she has been barred from participating in basic civil life since the imposition of US sanctions against her:

“I can’t make payments with my working credit card nor can I do transfers; my health insurance has been cancelled, I can’t make hotel reservations… I’m being treated as if I were Pablo Escobar. “

UN official Albanese described financial and insurance restrictions imposed on her following her public statement characterizing Israeli actions as genocide.

"I can't make payments with my working credit card nor can I do transfers; my health insurance has been canceled, I can't… pic.twitter.com/zAH7paGjxm

— HatsOff (@HatsOffff) June 30, 2026

Other victims of civil death, this time at the hands of EU authorities, include the German journalist Hüseyin Doğru and Jacques Baud, a retired Swiss colonel and former senior strategic analyst for NATO. In both cases, the justifications were openly ideological. Baud was accused of of acting as a “mouthpiece” for pro-Russian propaganda and disseminating “conspiracy theories” about the war in Ukraine while Doğru was targeted due to his reporting on Gaza.

In the case of Doğru, both his wife and mother were also targeted with sanctions (h/t vao). In neither case were criminal charges imposed, and because the sanctions are defined as an administrative measure within the EU’s bureaucracy, neither Baud nor Dogru can appeal to a court of law in their respective countries of residence (Belgium and Germany). This is the very definition of Kafkaesque.

Worse still, these sorts of processes could soon be automated almost across the board, as I warned in my 2022 book Scanned:

Combining [central bank] digital currencies with digital IDs while phasing out, or even banning, the use of cash would grant governments and central banks the ability not only to track every purchase we make (and made in the past) but also to determine what we can and cannot spend our money on. They could also prevent certain “undesirable” people from buying anything. Anyone with a blocking notice attached to their digital identity would “thus be unable to do many of the most basic things independently,” says [German financial journalist Norbert] Häring.

Incidentally, the digital euro has already become a de facto legal reality, after the European Parliament (EP)’s economic and monetary affairs committee gave a green light to the eurozone central bank digital currency (CBDC) last week. Presumably, even many members of our highly informed readership will have been unaware of this fact since it all occurred against a wall of near-total media silence.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 08:10

Germany's AfD Tricks Thousands Of Antifa Revolutionaries

Germany's right-wing AfD party re-elected co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla at its annual conference in Erfurt, a central German city. Meanwhile, far-left activists, professional political agitators, and NGOs funded by dark money attempted to restrict access to the event through a coordinated pressure campaign.

BREAKING:

Around 2500 far-left militant Antifa extremists along with 25 000 far-left protesters have arrived in Erfurt to protest against the AfD’s federal party congress.

Journalists from @jungefreiheit and @apollo_news_de have been attacked by Antifa, beaten up and have had… https://t.co/2KAf4R74Zv

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 4, 2026

Der chronologische Zusammenschnitt aller Videos des brutalen Antifa-Angriffs auf die drei Apollo Reporter.

Was dieser Hass-Mob mit Demokratie zu tun hat, diese Frage sollten SPD und Grüne mal beantworten müssen... pic.twitter.com/Tg6MSQSfT7

— Benedikt Brechtken (@ben_brechtken) July 4, 2026

Kurzer Lagebericht – AfD-Bundesparteitag Erfurt

Die Delegierten sind bereits gegen 5 Uhr in der Messehalle angekommen. Die „Antifa“ und das „Widersetzen“-Bündnis haben komplett verschlafen – die Blockaden kamen viel zu spät. Der Saal war früh voll, der Parteitag konnte… pic.twitter.com/W1TudPJNzx

— Petr Bystron (@PetrBystronAfD) July 4, 2026

Local police estimate that around 15,000 far-left activists descended on Erfurt to block roads and prevent AfD members from reaching the convention area. However, as one news outlet pointed out:

AfD tricks Antifa. The motley crew of disheveled youths, chronic unemployed, students of babble studies, and NGO staffers sat on the street starting at 05:30 a.m. to block the AfD's arrival. But the AfD had already arrived an hour and a half earlier in a long convoy under police protection. And while the AfD delegates could leisurely have breakfast and prepare for the party congress that starts at 10 a.m., Antifa is squatting pointlessly on the street. With the AfD, you just get up earlier

AfD trickst Antifa aus.

Die Melange aus verwahrlosten Jugendlichen, Dauerarbeitslosen, Studenten der Geschwätzwissenschaften und NGO-Mitarbeitern saß ab 05.30 Uhr auf der Straße, um die Anreise der AfD zu blockieren.

Die AfD war aber schon eineinhalb Stunden früher in einem… pic.twitter.com/zYS42pZdg7

— GFrei.News (@GFreiNews) July 4, 2026

The conference comes as AfD's growing confidence among the population becomes evident, with the party leading polls ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives. Recent surveys put AfD support at 29%, compared to about 22% for the CDU/CSU bloc.

"Germany’s AfD is at 28% in national polls, the most popular party, and 41% in an eastern state where an election will be held in September: add the far left, and populism is >50% of the electorate. There appear few stable German political coalitions that exclude the AfD" - Rabo

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 11, 2026

Weidel and Chrupalla used their speeches to attack mainstream parties, blast globalists, and sharpen their anti-immigration message.

AfD became the second-largest party in last year's elections, with its influence growing amid mounting public frustration with liberals and their failed globalist policies, whether nation-killing open-border migration, de-growth climate policies, or other progressive policies that are ruining the West. 

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

Multicultural French Crowds Brawl Over Discount Air Conditioners As Heatwave Looms

Via Remix News,

France was gripped by chaos on Thursday, July 2, 2026, as an exceptional sale of discounted air conditioners at Lidl descended into long lines, emptied shelves, and physical fights between customers nationwide. The retailer had put 200,000 units up for sale — nowhere near enough to meet demand as yet another heatwave looms next week following a record-breaking heatwave just last week.

Videos of the various incidents went viral across social media.

In Lyon, a youth was seen ripping an air conditioner from a woman while they tussled on the ground. He then proceeded to push her back multiple times.

🇫🇷🔴A multicultural youth steals an air conditioner from a woman in a Lidl supermarket in Lyon, France.

Lidl launched a sale of 200,000 air conditioners as yet another heatwave looms for France.

Demand was far higher and mass brawls were seen across France in the discount… pic.twitter.com/ChcNOjOiUM

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 2, 2026

In another video, a large brawl broke out between numerous women, including women in headscarves.

🇫🇷Violent brawls break out over air conditioners and fans during a large sale in France's Lidl supermarket.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/RnZqvf6XrP

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 2, 2026

Overall, the situation was quite chaotic in numerous locations.

🇫🇷🔴Diverse crowds brawled across France over cheap air conditioners after a record-breaking heatwave.

Lidl supermarket launched a sale on 200,000 air conditioners but demand was far higher than supply in the end.

The end result was chaos in many stores.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/9OJYwzMWcZ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 2, 2026

“Lidl France deplores the incidents that occurred in its stores,” the retailer told AFP in response, acknowledging that its employees “had to manage tensions, in a sometimes difficult climate.” The company attributed the shortages to “the sales cycle of [its] products,” explaining: “Products ordered one year in advance and arrive on Thursdays in our supermarkets, always at a fixed price.”

The chain had also tried to defuse tension with humor on social media, responding to a post about a fight over a Lidl air conditioner with a meme referencing Game of Thrones. But the levity didn’t stop clashes from breaking out at multiple Lidl locations across the country, including in Rennes and Nanterre.

In Nanterre, around a hundred people gathered according to BFMTV. A line began forming at 7:30 a.m. even though the store didn’t open until 8:30 a.m.  The news outlet described that the doors then “collapsed” under pressure from the crowd trying to make their way into the store. It further noted that “fights broke out between several people over the ten air conditions that were available.”

A similar scene played out in Paris, where crowd were largely good-natured, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), though altercations still broke out among customers trying to cut ahead.

In Hazebrouck, in northern France, journalists from La Voix du Nord reported that there were only four air conditioning units available for around 60 customers. Le Parisien documented similar crowd scenes at several Lidl stores across the Île-de-France region, while Ouest-France reported that police also had to intervene in Trélazé and near Angers, where the situation escalated as soon as one store opened.

The Lidl frenzy is just the latest flashpoint in a broader rush on fans and air conditioners across France and neighboring countries as the country braces for another heatwave forecast by Météo France. Many residents are eager to avoid a repeat of the extreme heat seen at the end of June — and lines had already been forming at stores selling air conditioners, fans, and even survival or cooling blankets in Meudon in the preceding weeks.

Belgium saw a nearly identical episode at Aldi, where a promotional sale of air conditioners priced at 145 euros similarly spiraled into disorder, with customers wrestling units out of each other’s hands.

Other major French retailers have faced the same surge in demand. Fnac Darty CEO Enrique Martinez told BFM Business that “people were waiting outside the stores from 4 a.m.” during the heatwave, and that “some came to blows.” He added that “the teams worked hard to serve everyone and bring in as much equipment as possible” from warehouses.

At Leclerc, the numbers tell a similar story. “We sold 700,000 fans and coolers in three weeks” — an increase of almost 200 percent, Michel-Édouard Leclerc said Thursday on TF1. “We sold nearly 60,000 air conditioners, that’s also more than 35 percent [more].” He added: “We still have some left. Now it’s distribution problems to take into account population movements with ‘departures on vacation.'”

Read more here...

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

What Happened To The 56 Signatories Of The Declaration Of Independence

Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times,

Today the United States celebrates the 250th - or semiquincentennial - anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

Congress voting on the Declaration of Independence. Library of Congress/Public Domain

While July 4 marks the day Thomas Jefferson's revised draft of the Declaration of Independence was adopted, it would take months for the document to be signed by all 56 men who would eventually affix their names to it.

Several key figures in American history - George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, among others - don't appear among the signatories of the Declaration of Independence at all, having been serving in military roles or other capacities at the time.

None of the 56 signers died as a result of their signature, but before the war was over, five would be captured, 12 would have their homes destroyed, and 17 would lose their entire fortunes. None of the 56 signatories ever renounced the cause of independence of their own free will.

Here's what happened to the men who pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" to the cause of American independence, on the basis of "self-evident ... Truths" that not even a global empire - or a king - could deny.

'The Sage Of Monticello': Thomas Jefferson

Easily the most well-known of the Declaration's signatories - as well as its author - Thomas Jefferson enjoyed several benefits later in life from his role in the document's drafting.

During the war, Jefferson nearly faced capture by the British during his tenure as governor of Virginia, forcing him to flee from his Monticello estate. That led to accusations of "cowardice" that eventually prompted Virginia legislators to launch a formal inquiry, in which Jefferson was acquitted.

Later, Jefferson served in a series of key posts, first as the U.S. ambassador to France, then as secretary of state under President George Washington and vice president under President John Adams.

After he was elected president - an event dubbed the "Revolution of 1800" - Jefferson's egalitarian vision expressed in the Declaration of Independence came to be viewed as one of the most critical documents of the American founding.

'The First American': Ben Franklin

While Jefferson often gets the lion's share of the credit for drafting the Declaration, Ben Franklin is credited with one critical edit to the document.

Widely recognized as a multi-disciplinary polymath, Franklin has been dubbed "the First American" by history for his early and long-running calls for American colonial unity.

In the preamble to the Declaration, Jefferson had originally written, "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable."

Franklin - who served on the drafting committee - replaced this with the revision: "We hold these truths to be self-evident."

Franklin later served as ambassador to France and lead negotiator on the deal to end the war with Great Britain, was the "president" - or governor - of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788, and served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Shortly before his death in 1790, Franklin made his last political statement with his support of a petition calling on the federal government to abolish slavery.

'The Atlas Of American Independence': John Adams

John Adams, the future second president, was one of the first delegates to the Continental Congress to call for independence. He was also among the most outspoken in its defense, leading him to be dubbed by some as "the Atlas of American Independence."

In February 1778, Adams was nearly captured by British warships while leaving on a diplomatic mission for Paris with his son. Adams took up a musket to fight the British vessels, but it took a mix of skillful navigation and a fortuitous storm to shake the pursuers. Had he been captured, Adams likely would have faced imprisonment in the Tower of London and execution for treason.

In one of the most remarkable coincidences in history, Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826 - 50 years after the Declaration's adoption day. Adams's final words, "Jefferson still lives," were in fact mistaken: the third president had passed away at Monticello hours earlier.

'The First Founding Father': Richard Henry Lee

Less well-known than either Jefferson or Adams, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee was no less instrumental in bringing about independence, authoring the part of the Declaration stating the 13 colonies "are, and of Right ought to be, free and independent States."

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted this "Lee Resolution." Adams famously predicted incorrectly that July 2, rather than July 4, would be celebrated as the American Independence Day, and would be commemorated with, "pomp and parade ... from one end of this continent to the other."

During the war, Lee faced military attacks on his property, chronic stress that took a toll on his health, and a severe hit to his finances as the war hit international shipping and the tobacco trade he relied on.

He later served as the first Virginia senator alongside William Grayson, joining the anti-Federalists in opposing a national government. Lee died in June 1794 at age 62.

The Midnight Rider: Caesar Rodney

A lesser-known but critical signatory of the Declaration was Caesar Rodney, who rode 80 miles to Philadelphia while suffering from facial cancer to cast a tie-breaking vote for Delaware's delegation in favor of independence.

Unanimous support from all colonies was required to authorize the Lee Resolution - meaning Rodney's vote was critical to final adoption.

Rodney later served as "president," or governor, of Delaware until 1781, and died in 1784 of facial cancer at age 55.

The First Signer: John Hancock

John Hancock's signature on the Declaration - the first - was so large that his name became an American idiom for one's signature.

The Massachusetts revolutionary leader had been serving as president of the Second Continental Congress since May 24, 1775.

Hancock, aside from being the first signer, is the only person who actually signed the document on July 4, 1776.

Hancock was at the head of a massive commercial empire, deriving his wealth partially from inheritance and partially from smuggling. Had American independence failed, Hancock - as well as his family - would have lost everything.

Despite close calls, he made it through the Revolution without facing capture. However, several of his properties were destroyed or occupied by the British during the conflict, while Hancock expended nearly half of his personal wealth financing the cause of independence.

He later served as the first governor of independent Massachusetts, and died in 1793 at 56.

The Last Signer: Thomas McKean

Like several other delegates to the Second Continental Congress, Thomas McKean of Delaware left to join the Revolution as soon as he cast his ballot in favor of independence.

This meant that he was ultimately unable to sign the documents until months - or, by some estimates, years - later. While historians are confident that McKean is the final signatory, the exact date is disputed, with estimates ranging from early 1777 all the way to 1781.

McKean took part in key battles during the conflict, assisting in the defense of New York City and Delaware. By 1781, McKean was serving as president of the Continental Congress, making him the civilian authority directing the Battle of Yorktown, which ended the war.

After the Revolution, McKean served as chief justice and governor of Pennsylvania. During the War of 1812, he led a civilian defense group against the British, taking up arms one final time before his death in 1817 at the age of 83.

The One Who Renounced His Signature: Richard Stockton

While none of the 56 signers ever willingly renounced their support for the Declaration, historians think that signer Richard Stockton of New Jersey renounced his signature under coercion and following a long period of captivity by the British.

Imprisoned by the British, Stockton signed a parole agreement in which he reneged on his signature and pledged not to take part in the war. Under the agreement, Stockton resigned his seat in the Continental Congress.

Later, Stockton reaffirmed his loyalty to the United States before his death at age 50 in 1781.

The Fighters

Like McKean, several signers went on to take part in the conflict.

These included Rodney, Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut, Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia, and William Floyd of New York.

Others who left Philadelphia to join the conflict were taken as prisoners of war during the Revolution.

One of these was George Walton, who was wounded and captured during the Battle of Savannah. Despite spending months in British custody, Walton survived and was eventually freed, going on to serve as a governor, chief justice, and U.S. senator for Georgia.

Three others - Thomas Heyward Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge - were taken prisoner during the Battle of Charleston. All three survived months of captivity at St. Augustine, Florida, with Heyward becoming the last of the three to die at age 62 in 1809.

Homes Looted, Occupied, Or Destroyed

Many other signers faced consequences related to their properties and estates. Some of the most prominent of these included Lee and Hancock.

In New York, meanwhile, signer Francis Lewis had his property destroyed by the British, who captured his wife during the attack. Held in captivity for months without a change of clothes or adequate food, Elizabeth Annesley Lewis was ultimately freed under a prisoner exchange negotiated by Washington, but died shortly thereafter from the stress of the ordeal.

Also in New York, signers William Floyd, Philip Livingston, and Lewis Morris had their vast estates occupied by the British during the war, with the properties being used as barracks or stables.

Signer John Hart of New Jersey was also forced to flee from his home - and his wife's deathbed - when Hessian troops attacked his farm and mills.

The Longest-Lived Signer: Charles Carroll

In 1832, Charles Carroll of Maryland knew that he was dying.

The only Catholic signer of the Declaration, Carroll had by then been the sole remaining signatory of the document for around six years.

He gained the accolade on July 4, 1826, following the deaths of Adams and Jefferson, who were among the final three living signers. Franklin had passed more than 40 years earlier.

By 1832, Carroll was well-used to the questions he received from young people and reporters, who were set on preserving as much of the early Republic as possible during the twilight years of the 1820s.

Before his death, Carroll played a key role in welcoming the new era of American life, laying the first stone of the B&O railroad, one of the first steps toward the transcontinental railroad that would take decades yet to be completed.

Carroll's passing was commemorated in the papers and on the streets of the blossoming American republic, whose citizens recognized that with Carroll's passing, the first generation of the United States was truly over.

Commenting on his status near the end of his life, Carroll wrote, "Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings. ... I do hereby recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document ... and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured to my country may be perpetuated."

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 23:20

Majority Believes They Will Achieve The American Dream

250 years after American independence, a majority of people in the United States continue to believe in their personal American Dream.

As Statista's Kathraina Buchholz reports, 69 percent of those interviewed by Gallup in the beginning of the year say that they will achieve it in their lifetime.

This is in contrast, though, to 54 percent saying that not everybody can achieve the American Dream in this day and age.

You will find more infographics at Statista

While in a question about other people, Americans' answers are driven by a more sober view, positivity still prevails in regard to one's own success story.

58 percent of Americans also say that they think the American dream is unfinished, a further indication for the disillusionment many feel with the idea in the current environment.

The number is similar among Republicans and Democrats. Republicans, however, are more likely to say that the American Dream has succeeded and less likely to say that it has failed.

When asked what the American Dream means for them in an open-ended question, a third of respondents mention freedoms and individual rights, while 28 percent say financial stability or homeownership.

Only 18 percent mention upward mobility explicitly.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 22:45

Waste Of The Day: Stolen Education Grants

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

Topline: A North Dakota woman was convicted last month of five counts of theft for stealing $131,000 in state grants meant for after-school programs.

Key facts: Faith Dixon, 47, was one of the top recipients of $2 million that the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction awarded in October 2021 for its Out of School Time program to support children impacted by school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her nonprofit, Faith4Hope, instead sent the funds to her then-husband's food stand, her brother's music and production company and her sister-in-law's dance studio, according to court documents reviewed by InForum.

Dixon's lawyers claimed she disbursed the money in "good faith" to help children, despite the conflicts of interest. But assistant attorney general Jeremy Ensrud showed some of the funds were spent on Dixon's own "day-to-day living expenses."

Dixon's ex-husband pleaded guilty to theft last year. He admitted the grants to his food stand were not spent on providing culinary classes to children, as he promised the state.

Dixon's other family members truly did spend their grants on helping children, Ensrud told InForum.

Last October, Dixon took a plea deal that would have sent her to prison for only 4 to 11 months, but she backed out because she had received "bad legal advice." Now, she will serve 4 to 10 years.

In her original grant application, Dixon said her nonprofit "reimagines what after-school looks like. We provide participants in middle school, junior high school, and high school with free, comprehensive after-school programs, transformative experiences, and mentoring that support students in developing skills and habits needed to help them succeed in school."

State investigators argued that was untrue. The Department of Public Instruction visited Faith4Hope's office eight times during its operating hours, but found that the office was closed and "no children were present," according to court documents.

Summary: It's unlikely that every instance of fraud from the Covid-19 pandemic will be uncovered, but the fact that wrongdoing is still being found years later speaks to the massive mismanagement of public funds that occurred.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 22:10

BMW Puts Next-Gen Humanoid Robots To Work On Factory Floors In South Carolina

Before humanoid robots enter the modern battlefield alongside ground bots and low-cost suicide drones, these bipedal robots are first being unleashed on factory floors and inside warehouses, where the physical world of AI is beginning to take shape. 

The latest development in humanoids entering factory floors comes from BMW's Spartanburg factory, where the Figure 03 robots were deployed earlier this week. 

"Following the successful deployment of Figure 02 on the assembly line in 2025, our latest generation robot - Figure 03 - arrived in Hall 52, one of the assembly and logistics halls at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg," robot startup Figure wrote in a press release.

JPMorgan analyst Jose Asumendi attended the "Home of X" event at the Spartanburg plant on Tuesday, which showcased the German automaker's commitment to the US, where it's becoming the test bed for "physical AI." 

"At the same time, we have seen that the Plant Spartanburg is advancing the next stage of innovation through physical AI. By utilizing humanoid robots from Figure AI, Plant Spartanburg has become a pioneer of BMW's Physical AI Initiative," Asumendi wrote in a note to clients.

The analyst continued, "These humanoid robots are actively engaged in tasks such as transporting materials, handling components, and organizing parts within the facility. Their involvement supports associates by taking on physically demanding and repetitive work, allowing employees to concentrate on the precision, craftsmanship, and quality that are hallmarks of every BMW vehicle. This collaboration between humans and robots is setting a new standard for manufacturing efficiency and innovation at Plant Spartanburg." 

What the analyst saw on the manufacturing line:

Humanoids on the factory floors of BMW's Spartanburg plant are part of the car company's $1.7 billion investment in South Carolina, laying the groundwork for U.S. production of fully electric BMW vehicles. The company plans to begin assembling the fully electric iX5 in Spartanburg before the end of 2026 and at least six fully electric models in the U.S. by 2030.

Last month, Deutsche Bank's Head of APAC Automation & Industrials Research, Iris Zheng, shared with clients that the humanoid robot market is beginning to show signs of life, driven by faster ramp-ups from Chinese manufacturers and Tesla's push toward mass production.

This prompted Zheng's team to raise its 2026 to 2029 forecast for the global humanoid robot market; now expecting global shipments of humanoid robots to approach 50,000 units in 2026, up from the previous forecast of 17,500 in 2025 (more than doubling), before rising to about 700,500 units by 2030 and 70 million by 2050.

Related:

• Automakers Race Into Humanoid Robots As Timeline For Blue-Collar Job Disruption Emerges

Bernstein analyst Eunice Lee recently noted that car companies are beginning to develop humanoids themselves:

Complete overview of the auto industry by company developing humanoids:

What's important to understand right now is that this is the early stage of physical AI, and some automakers are deploying these robots on factory floors, while others, such as Tesla, are developing them. The new model for car companies to create new revenue streams will be the production of robots because they share a similar parts ecosystem with EVs.  

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 21:35

Trump Pardons 6 Prosecuted For 'Fixing Their Car' Under Biden-Era Emissions Rules

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump on Friday announced pardons for six individuals he said were persecuted by the Biden administration for repairing their own vehicles, saying that the cases were emblematic of regulatory overreach.

President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks during the Faith & Freedom Coalition's 2026 Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton in Washington on June 26, 2026. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for 'fixing their car,'" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!"

The pardoned individuals were targeted under the Clean Air Act for allegedly disabling or tampering with vehicle emissions control systems, generally on commercial diesel trucks or personal vehicles.

Individuals who had installed "defeat devices" were pursued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice under the Biden administration. Trump's action means the immediate release of those in prison or facing incarceration.

The identities of the six people were not named in Trump's post.

On June 29, the president signed a presidential memorandum titled "Lowering the Cost of Living by Promoting the Freedom to Fix," directing federal agencies to expand access to aftermarket parts and support independent repairs to lower costs for Americans.

"We have a big ruling that we're just issuing now," Trump said. "I think it's very important to lower the price of your car."

"In all fairness, this is something that's very exciting to me," Trump said. "It means a lot to people that own vehicles, cars in particular, but cars and anything else. It's going to save them a lot of money, and they're going to be able to do it themselves."

"We are not going to be going after people who are fixing their own vehicle, like past administrations have," Trump stated, referencing Biden-era enforcement.

Trump's "right to fix" memorandum specifically seeks to counter manufacturer restrictions and regulatory hurdles that undermine consumer access to parts and repair information.

Specialty Equipment Market Association CEO Mike Spagnola said in a statement sent to The Epoch Times on June 29 that Trump's memorandum is "more bold action in support of vehicle owners and automotive aftermarket industry businesses from across the nation, and an example of federal leadership on behalf of our nation's vibrant car culture."

Spagnola highlighted aspects of the order that protect aftermarket manufacturers and expedite approval processes.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 21:00

Is Tesla About To Use Facial Recognition Before Activating Full Self-Driving

Tesla is reportedly preparing a series of updates, including one that would use a vehicle's cabin camera to verify a driver's identity before activating Full Self-Driving.

It sounds a bit dystopian, but this is likely the direction that connected smart-car brands are headed. As vehicles become more autonomous, automakers will increasingly need to verify who is behind the wheel before unlocking FSD functions.

The X account Tesla App Updates penned a new report outlining a series of changes possibly headed to the mobile app, including deeper FSD integration, more owner-facing controls, and expanded software monetization infrastructure.

Version 4.58.5 has been de-compiled and here's what we've found (https://t.co/eysAIiglnp):

• Coastal Blue paint now properly supported in 3D vehicle rendering
• In-app searchable video tutorials with pinning/bookmarking
• Deeper FSD tracking + new “streak days” gamification…

— Tesla App Updates (iOS) (@Tesla_App_iOS) July 1, 2026

What stood out to us is the possibility of a new FSD identity-verification layer tied to the cabin camera. If the system cannot verify that the driver matches an authorized profile, FSD could be blocked.

Here's the full report:

Native Support for "Coastal Blue" Paint

Tesla has added support for a new paint color called Coastal Blue, currently exclusive to the base Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive built at Giga Berlin for the European market.

The strings COASTALBLUE, getCoastalblue, setCoastalblue, clearCoastalblue, and hasCoastalblue show that the app is being updated to properly render this color in its 3D vehicle models. The app can now dynamically load the correct material and shading when a vehicle with this paint code is detected, ensuring accurate representation on the home screen, climate menu, and widgets.

In-App Searchable Video Tutorials

Tesla is building a native, searchable video tutorial library directly into the mobile app. Users will have access to a dedicated tutorial hub (VideoTutorialContent and VideoSearchPanel) with a search bar (VideoSearchBar) that returns relevant results (VideoSearchResultItem). This allows owners to quickly find how-to videos for features like FSD, wiper blade replacement, or PIN to Drive without leaving the app.

Users can also pin important tutorials (setPinnedVideo, pinnedVideo) for quick access. These pinned videos are expected to sync across devices via mergePinnedVideos. The interface uses a clean card-based design (VideoListCard) with pagination (VIDEO_SEARCH_PAGE_SIZE) for better performance.

Deep FSD Telemetry, Streaks & Identity Verification

Tesla is expanding the amount of Full Self-Driving data and controls visible in the app.

Granular Mileage Tracking: New metrics such as FsdMonthlyMileage, fsdTotalMilesThisMonth, and FsdLast7DaysUsage allow the app to track autonomous versus manually driven miles with much greater detail.

FSD Streak Days (Gamification): The app is now tracking consecutive days of FSD usage (fsdStreakDays). This introduces a gamification element designed to encourage habitual use of the system, similar to the charging badge mechanics seen in previous updates.

Automated FSD Transfer Validation: During trade-ins, the app can now automatically validate whether a vehicle has a transferable FSD license using the tasks/trade-in/fsd-validate and shouldValidateFSDTransfer endpoints. This should streamline the FSD transfer process.

FSD Identity Verification: Strings such as fsdIdentityCheckFailedTitle and showFsdIdentityCheckFailedDialog suggest that the cabin camera may now perform driver identity verification before allowing FSD to activate. If the system cannot confirm the driver matches the authorized profile, it can block FSD and show a failure message in the app.

"App Share" – Deep Linking into the Tesla UI

Tesla is introducing an App Share feature that allows external applications to deep link into the Tesla app.

Using matchesAppShareLinkPath, the app can now handle special links that trigger specific actions (most likely sending a destination to the car’s navigation). Third-party apps like Google Maps, Yelp, or AllTrails could potentially share locations directly with the Tesla app.

The feature includes a compatibility check (getSelectedVehicleSupportsAppShare) to ensure the vehicle’s hardware and software support receiving these shared links.

Autopilot Base Tiers & Dynamic Override System

This is one of the more significant architectural updates in the app. Tesla is refactoring how it manages Autopilot and FSD ownership.

AutopilotBase – Permanent Tier: The vehicle now has a permanent AutopilotBase tied to the VIN (AUTOPILOTBASE_BASIC, AUTOPILOTBASE_ENHANCED, AUTOPILOTBASE_HIGHWAY, AUTOPILOTBASE_SELF_DRIVING). This represents what the car fundamentally owns.

AutopilotOverrideState – Temporary Upgrades: Tesla has introduced an “Override” system that sits on top of the base tier. This allows temporary activations such as trials or subscriptions (AUTOPILOTOVERRIDESTATE_TRIAL, AUTOPILOTOVERRIDESTATE_SUBSCRIPTION, AUTOPILOTOVERRIDESTATE_TIMEBOUND_TRIAL, etc.).

Live Expiration Tracking: The app can now read autopilotOverrideExpireTime directly from the vehicle, enabling accurate countdowns for when a trial or subscription will end.

Service & Loaner Management: The AUTOPILOTOVERRIDESTATE_VEHICLE_MANAGED state allows Tesla to temporarily enable enhanced Autopilot or FSD on service loaners or demo vehicles without permanently altering the car’s base configuration.

Ownership Quality Assurance Flow

A new authenticated endpoint and supporting UI components have been added for what appears to be an Ownership Quality Assurance process.

Endpoint: bff/v2/mobile-app/ownership/quality-assurance (GET, requires authentication)

What This Feature Likely Does: This system introduces a dedicated Quality Assurance modal (QualityAssuranceModal / quality-assurance-modal) that displays ownership-related verification items to the user.

Key components include:

• QualityAssuranceItemRow — suggests the modal presents a list of items or checks that need to be reviewed or confirmed.
• quality_assurance_close_button — standard close functionality for the modal.
• useQualityAssurance — a hook or function likely used to fetch and manage the quality assurance data.

Likely Use Cases

Given the endpoint path and UI elements, this flow is probably used in scenarios where Tesla needs to verify or document ownership status before certain actions. Possible contexts include:

• Service drop-off or vehicle handoff — Confirming the person dropping off or picking up the vehicle is authorized.
• Lease returns or trade-ins — A structured checklist to ensure all ownership-related items are in order.
• High-security actions — Additional verification before enabling features, transferring software (like FSD), or making significant account/vehicle cha

If biometric facial-recognition systems are used to unlock Apple iPhones, then they are almost certainly coming to Tesla and other connected vehicles.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 20:25

Houthis Say Forces 'Repelled' Saudi Warplanes From Threatening Iranian Civilian Airliner

Via The Cradle

Yemen's Houthis announced Friday that they had "repelled" an attempt by Saudi warplanes to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa airport.

Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said that Saudi warplanes violating Yemeni airspace were targeted with several air-defense missiles, forcing them to withdraw.

via Reuters

Saree stressed that the Iranian civilian aircraft was carrying more than 200 Yemeni citizens who had been stranded in Iran, including many who were sick or wounded.

“We warn the criminal Saudi enemy against repeating any attempt to violate our airspace or any aggression targeting our country. Such actions will be met with a comprehensive response targeting its airports and vital interests on land and sea,” Saree said in a video statement.

The YAF spokesman further stressed that "our hand is on the trigger" to implement any directives issued by Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi "within the framework of breaking the Saudi-American siege on our people and expelling the occupiers."

Saree also praised Iran's role in "breaking the siege" on Yemen by operating flights to transport patients and stranded people and to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Yemen.

After landing in Sanaa, the Iranian plane safely returned to Tehran carrying an official delegation of the Republic of Yemen to participate in the funeral of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on Yemen's land, sea, and air ports, severely restricting vital commercial and humanitarian imports, including fuel and food.

The blockade triggered what the UN called one of the most severe humanitarian crises globally, leading millions towards famine and drastically damaging healthcare and water systems.

The Saudi siege on Yemen was partially lifted following April 2023 negotiations with the Ansarallah resistance movement, which leads the YAF and is closely allied with Iran.

Commentary @BashaReport | The possibility of war is very high. The Houthis are now signaling strength, claiming Iran ignored both Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognized Yemeni authorities by flying around 200 passengers in and out of Sanaa. They also say the aircraft… https://t.co/kVTxkuSUoO

— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) July 4, 2026

The US and Israel also fought a war with Yemen following the start of what Ansarallah condemned as genocide of Palestinians in Gaza in 2023. 

In response to the genocide, the YAF imposed a blockade on Israeli-linked ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait along the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea, eventually prompting the US and European navies to flee the Red Sea.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 19:50

The Greatest Break-Up Letter Ever Written...

Via VigilantFox.com,

Have you ever heard the Declaration of Independence read out loud?

You should. It’s the greatest break-up letter ever written.

At just 33 years old, Thomas Jefferson, with cold moral clarity, told the British government to pound sand:

Have you ever heard the Declaration of Independence read out loud?

You should. It’s the greatest break-up letter ever written.

At just 33 years old, Thomas Jefferson, with cold moral clarity, told the British government to pound sand:

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes… pic.twitter.com/IzrS5eXb5k

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 4, 2026

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to ABOLISH it.”

The power of that line isn’t just what it says. It’s how it’s said.

Jefferson wasn’t writing from a place of outrage. He was transmitting conviction—moral clarity delivered from a steady frame of mind.

It’s said Jefferson revised the Declaration of Independence with the help of Franklin and Adams dozens of times before it was finalized.

And that deliberate, cutting language, paired with emotional steadiness, is precisely why the words still land 250 years later.

Today, we’re blessed to be the inheritors of the great nation those steady hands wrote into existence.

Happy Birthday, America. 🇺🇸

Charlie Kirk never got to see America’s 250th birthday. So, in his honor, watch him shut down the typical liberal “stolen land” argument.

A college student confronts Kirk and says Americans are living on “stolen land” taken from the Mexicans.

Kirk asks who the Mexicans stole it from, then expertly turns his own words against him.

By the end, everyone is cheering for America. Watch how this one plays out.

Charlie Kirk never got to see America’s 250th birthday.

So, in his honor, watch him shut down the typical liberal “stolen land” argument.

A college student confronts Kirk and says Americans are living on “stolen land” taken from the Mexicans.

Kirk asks who the Mexicans stole… pic.twitter.com/1EXmsWUqdC

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 4, 2026

STUDENT: “I want to acknowledge the fact that we are right now on stolen land and that we are on indigenous land and that we are on original Mexican land right now.”

KIRK: “I love this stolen land argument.”

STUDENT: “…I really make it a point to notice that I’m on stolen land at all times, especially when we think about things like Manifest Destiny.”

KIRK: “Who did the Mexicans steal the land from?”

STUDENT: “Actually, the Mexicans were there originally in Texas…”

KIRK: “Wrong. They stole it from lots of Indian tribes… Texas was not indigenously Mexican… there was the Cherokee. There were many different Native American tribes there. So Mexico was participating in Manifest Destiny at the behest of the Spanish crown.”

[Student acknowledges Kirk is right]

KIRK: “At some point, you have to believe in self-determination. If you can win the land, it’s yours. That is what built the West.”

STUDENT: “I can agree with that.”

KIRK: “So instead of a land acknowledgement… you should have a gratitude acknowledgement. ‘Praise God, I live in America! I’m glad!’ A gratitude acknowledgement would be nice.”

[Crowd erupts]

Charlie would have loved to experience America’s 250th birthday more than anyone.

He defended America on campuses exactly like this one until the day he died. The least we can do is carry his message forward.

Rest in Peace, Legend.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 18:40

Six California Cities Ranked Among Top 10 Least Educated In US

Six California cities ranked among the top 10 least educated metropolitan areas in the United States, according to a report by WalletHub published on June 29.

Looking at the 150 most populated metro areas, the city of Visalia ranked as the second least educated, while Bakersfield was fourth, and Modesto, Fresno, Stockton, and Salinas followed.

All six are in central California.

The other four metros that rounded out the top ten were all in Texas - McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Brownsville-Harlingen, Beaumont-Port Arthur, and El Paso, at first, third, ninth, and tenth least educated, respectively.

“Higher education doesn’t guarantee better financial opportunities in the future, but it certainly correlates with it,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report.

“The most educated cities provide good learning opportunities from childhood all the way through the graduate level.”

As Dylan Morgan reports for The Epoch Times, to determine the ranking, WalletHub equally factored in the share of adults at least 25 years old who have a high school diploma or higher, who have at least some college experience, who have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and who have a graduate or professional degree.

Visalia ranked last among the 150 metros in percent of bachelor’s degree holders and percent of graduate or professional degree holders.

It ranked 107th highest in median annual household income, and there appeared to be a general correlation between income and education rates across the nation.

However, Visalia still had a lower poverty rate than the state average—11.3 percent compared to 11.8 percent, according to U.S. Census data—and Stockton ranked as having the 31st highest median household income while Salinas ranked as 26th highest, though those two cities were near the bottom in education.

Education and income rate correlations may not reflect California’s higher cost of living and regional economic structures, such as the Central Valley’s reliance on agriculture, an industry that has not historically required higher education the same way other California hubs have, such as Silicon Valley.

The San Jose metro, home to Silicon Valley, ranked as the fourth most educated in the United States.

WalletHub said that more than 55 percent of the San Jose metro’s population over the age of 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree, while nearly 28 percent have an advanced degree. .

It also ranked third for university quality. San Jose is near Stanford University and has Santa Clara University and San Jose State University in the center of the metro.

The nearby San Francisco metro area, which is home to the University of California—Berkeley, ranked as the eighth most educated.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 18:05

Canada Seizes 7 Tons Of Drugs, Fentanyl Chemicals, And Signal Jammers In China-Linked Narco Bust

Authored by The Bureau's Sam Cooper (emphasis our own), 

A Burnaby RCMP investigation that began with a routine traffic stop last summer has ended in one of the largest drug-chemical seizures in British Columbia’s history — 6,765 kilograms of finished narcotics and fentanyl-production chemicals pulled from three homes and two shipping containers in Richmond, alongside tactical shotguns, cash, contraband cigarettes — and a multi-antenna device consistent with the signal jammers used to defeat electronic surveillance.

The Bureau assesses that a seizure of this magnitude, staged in residential properties and sea can containers in Richmond — the city that court records and Canada’s largest money-laundering investigation have established as a central node of Chinese transnational organized crime — is consistent with the industrial-scale flow of precursor chemicals from China through the Vancouver gateway that senior American law enforcement and intelligence sources have described to this publication, moving in coordination with Mexican cartel logistics.

Chemicals in these volumes are not assembled from Canadian production sources. They arrive by shipping container. Burnaby RCMP has stated no such link, named no suspects, and identified no network; what follows on sourcing and supply lines is The Bureau’s analysis, built on years of documented seizures in this corridor and on the stated concerns of the American government itself.

The case began on July 30, 2025, when Burnaby officers stopped a vehicle and seized approximately four kilograms of precursor chemicals commonly used in fentanyl production. The Burnaby Gang Enforcement Team continued investigating the driver, work that police say produced three more suspects and several crime scenes. On April 1, 2026, the gang unit — supported by Burnaby RCMP’s Strike Force, Prolific Offender Suppression Teams, and Ottawa’s Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement unit — executed five search warrants simultaneously. Investigators recovered 6,765 kilograms of finished narcotics and precursor chemicals. Some of the finished product is suspected methamphetamine, fentanyl, and oxycodone.

All five sites were in Richmond.

The geography matters, and Washington has said so at the highest levels. Richmond was the home of Silver International, the underground bank at the center of the RCMP’s E-Pirate casino money laundering investigation.

In January 2019, David Eby — then British Columbia’s attorney general, now its premier — publicly cited a Financial Action Task Force report, containing information provided by the government of Canada, estimating that the single Richmond entity laundered over one billion Canadian dollars per year for global syndicates before the prosecution collapsed with no convictions.

The Bureau’s expert sources say that Silver International operated as an entity within the Sam Gor syndicate, the Chinese transnational narcotics network that American and allied agencies rank among the largest drug trafficking organizations in the world.

The collapse of that case, and what it revealed about the financial architecture available to Chinese networks in British Columbia, became a matter of direct diplomatic concern. In a prior interview with The Bureau, Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West disclosed that then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a 2023 meeting, described Canada as a worrisome weak link in the global fentanyl supply chain — and identified the convergence of Chinese state-linked actors, triads, and Mexican cartels operating from Canadian soil.

“He was incredibly candid and very serious about the threat fentanyl poses to North America,” West told The Bureau. “He confirmed the connection between the Chinese Communist Party, the triads, and the Mexican cartels, telling me these groups are working together — and it’s Canada where they’re finding a safe operating base.”

“This is no longer just a Canadian domestic issue,” West said. “Secretary Blinken made it clear that the Biden administration sees fentanyl as an existential threat. They’re building a global coalition and need Canada fully on board. If we don’t show real progress, the U.S. will protect itself by any means—tariffs or otherwise.”

Blinken’s dismay, West said, centered on E-Pirate itself. “He expressed genuine dismay that we haven’t secured meaningful convictions,” West said, paraphrasing the secretary. “When our most prominent laundering case ends with zero prison time, you can see why the Americans are alarmed.”

Against that backdrop, the Richmond seizure reads as one explosive scene in a feature length film.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 17:30

These Are The World's Top Destinations For Wealth Migration

Countries are increasingly competing to attract wealthy individuals alongside businesses and skilled workers. For many governments, internationally mobile wealth represents a source of investment, entrepreneurship, and long-term economic growth.

This graphic, via Visual Cspitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, ranks the world’s most competitive destinations for wealth migration using data from The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2026, which evaluates countries across 12 factors including tax policy, investor pathways, regulatory quality, and overall business environment.

The Most Competitive Countries for Wealth Migration

Below, countries are measured by their competitiveness for attracting internationally mobile wealth.

Singapore leads globally, ahead of New Zealand and the Cayman Islands. Europe also performs strongly, with the Netherlands, Cyprus, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece all appearing in the top 15.

Singapore’s position reflects its combination of low taxes, political stability, and business-friendly policies. Together, these strengths have made it one of the safest countries for investors, and a magnet for wealth across Asia.

Small Countries Stand Out

One of the clearest patterns is the strength of smaller economies. Overall, 11 of the 16 most competitive countries have populations under 10 million.

Many of these countries have spent decades building investor-friendly ecosystems. Singapore offers a globally connected financial hub, Cyprus provides attractive residency pathways, and Switzerland combines political stability with an established private banking industry.

Rather than relying on domestic market size, many of these countries compete by offering predictable regulation, efficient tax systems, strong legal institutions, and straightforward pathways for investors to establish residency or relocate wealth.

The U.S. Falls Behind

Despite having the world’s largest economy, the U.S. faces several structural challenges in attracting wealth.

Citizenship-based taxation, fiscal complexity, longer investor processing times, and political polarization are among the factors weighing on its score. By contrast, many higher-ranked countries offer simpler tax regimes, making them more attractive to internationally mobile wealth.

Unlike most countries, the U.S. taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live, a feature that can increase tax burdens for internationally mobile individuals.

Why Countries Are Competing for Wealth

Countries are increasingly competing for more than businesses and skilled workers. They are also competing for private capital.

In 2025 alone, nearly 1 million people globally became millionaires, highlighting the growing pool of internationally mobile wealth.

High-net-worth individuals often relocate with businesses, investment capital, and philanthropic spending. As global wealth continues to grow, attracting even a relatively small number of affluent residents can have an outsized economic impact, particularly for smaller countries.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s most powerful passports.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 16:55

Historians Set Record Straight On 5 Events That Shaped America

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times,

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, it’s prime time for historians such as Jeff Bloodworth to set the record straight.

Bloodworth, a professor at Pennsylvania’s Gannon University, noted that it had become trendy among historians to “demythologize” the Founding Fathers.

“But it has gone too far,” he told The Epoch Times. “The achievements of the Founders and the founding are obscured by the lists of sins.”

Now, he thinks “the pendulum is swinging back” toward a more balanced, nuanced, and accurate view of the Founders—and about other aspects of American history.

Through his role with Heterodox Academy—a bipartisan group advocating for open inquiry on college campuses—Bloodworth said he sees “there’s a real pushback against this stuff.”

Any fair appraisal of the Founders requires “lauding their achievements but also recognizing their omissions and their flaws and their hypocrisies,” he said.

Bloodworth and two other historians who spoke to The Epoch Times shed light on myths, misrepresentations, and misunderstandings about the nation’s foundational period; The Epoch Times also reviewed dozens of historic references for this story.

Without historical knowledge, it’s easy to “get sucked into believing things have never been worse, that there’s never been a time like this—and that just isn’t true,” Bloodworth said.

Jeff Bloodworth, professor of history, holds up a copy of his book

Stanley Schwartz, a professor at Cedarville University in Ohio, echoed many of Bloodworth’s observations.

Stanley Schwartz, assistant professor of history at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. Courtesy of Cedarville University

When students question how early American history relates to them, he responds that issues the Founders faced remain relevant. Those include “how to govern well,” he said, along with “how to relate to foreign powers.”

Many students who expected to be bored in class end up realizing that history “speaks to a person, helps you find your roots, find your place in the world,” Schwartz said.

Anna Vincenzi, a professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan, said learning about America’s history fulfills “a deeply human need ... to know the truth about where we came from.” That knowledge helps people understand “the good things about the history that has brought us here, and also the origin of the problems.”

The Boston Tea Party and Why It Happened

On Dec. 16, 1773, hundreds of angry colonists—many disguised as Native Americans—dumped 92,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor.

The Boston Tea Party thus became one of the most iconic acts of defiance in U.S. history. Yet modern Americans often misconstrue the reasons for the protest and overestimate its aftereffects, historians say.

Yes, the British Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act of 1773 sparked the protest. But contrary to popular modern belief, the act resulted in lower tea prices.

So why did the act anger the colonists so much?

Part of the reason: It reinforced an existing import tax on tea.

Another factor: Drinking tea is so quintessentially British that “taxing tea is ... like making them feel like they’re not quite British,” Vincenzi said. “It was perceived as a statement on their status as British citizens.”

A work of art by Nathaniel Currier depicts the 1773 Boston Tea Party, entitled “The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor,” created in 1846. Colonists known as the “Sons of Liberty” dressed as Mohawk American Indians and smashed 342 chests of tea and emptied the contents—valued at nearly $2 million today—on Dec. 16, 1773. Public Domain

The larger issue, however, was that colonists had no representation in the British Parliament. Yet Parliament repeatedly imposed policies “without the consent of the people through their representatives, in a way that they say is violating the rights and liberties of a British citizen,” Vincenzi said.

Those actions conflicted with the British constitution’s traditional limits on the king’s power, dating to the 13th century, she said.

At the time of the tea party, American colonists were drinking about 1.2 million pounds of tea each year. Much of it came from England and was subject to taxes imposed by the Townshend Revenue Act, according to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.

American colonists started smuggling lower-priced tea from the Dutch and other European markets.

In response, Parliament imposed the Tea Act, which helped a private British company, the East India Tea Company, undercut prices of the smuggled tea. If colonists bought that cheaper, British-subsidized tea, they still would be forced to pay the Townshend Act’s import duty.

Thus, many colonists feared that acquiescing would embolden the British government to impose even more taxes.

The Sons of Liberty—some of whom were tea smugglers—began organizing meetings to address “the tea crisis.”

Up to 6,000 people met on Nov. 29, 1773, after the first shipload of unwanted tea docked in Boston Harbor. Attendees reached a consensus: The tea would be sent back to England and no tax would be paid.

An engraving made by John Karst in 1865 depicts John Lamb, a Sons of Liberty leader, reading the British Parliament’s Tea Act of of 1773 at New York City Hall on Dec. 17, 1773. Colonists took issue with the Act as they had no representation in the British Parliament. John Karst/Public Domain

After exhausting all legal remedies to achieve those goals, leaders executed their last-ditch secret plan: trashing the tea.

Protesters donned wool blankets, grabbed tomahawks, and smeared coal dust on their faces—called “Indian dress” then. The disguises weren’t meant to be convincing; they mostly served to conceal identities so protesters could avoid punishment.

Tea partiers smashed 342 chests of tea and emptied the contents—valued at nearly $2 million today.

The protest had an impact—but not in the way many people might think.

“While the Tea Party itself didn’t mobilize Americans en masse, it was Parliament’s reaction to it that did,” according to a History.com article.

In 1774, the British enacted “punitive measures meant to teach the rebellious colonists who was boss,” the article said. The British closed Boston Harbor, replaced Boston’s elected officials with the king’s appointees, and forced private citizens to quarter British troops in their homes.

Those actions inspired colonists to hold the first Continental Congress meeting.

“Revolution was officially in the air,” the article said.

Colonial fife and drum corps play in front of the Old South Meeting House during the Boston Tea Party 250th Anniversary celebration, in Boston in 2023. The Boston Tea Party has became one of the most iconic acts of defiance in American history. Courtesy of Caroline Talbot/December 16.org

Patriot Paul Revere and ‘The British Are Coming!’

Revere was among “many messengers spreading the alarm” across the Massachusetts countryside on April 18 and 19, 1775, according to the National Park Service.

The Revere-as-lone-rider myth arose partly from the celebrated poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It omits any mention that other horsemen helped alert townspeople about British soldiers heading toward Concord.

There, the soldiers intended “to arrest patriots and seize colonial militia stockpiles,” the CIA said in an April 2026 article.

Notably, before his famous ride, Revere and others formed “the first Patriot intelligence group on record,” the CIA said in a report about the role intelligence played in the American Revolution.

Called “The Mechanics” or “The Liberty Boys,” the secret group of about 30 men grew out of the old Sons of Liberty organization that opposed British taxes on colonists, the CIA said.

A statue of Paul Revere near Old North Church in Boston on April 8, 2026. Historical records from that era suggest that Revere did not shout “The British are coming!” Instead he warned, “The regulars are coming!” The term, “regulars,” referred to the British professional soldiers. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Starting in late 1774, the group gathered information to oppose British authority. In 1775, operatives exposed “the cover story the British had devised to mask their march on Lexington and Concord,” the CIA said.

That information laid the foundation for Revere’s ride.

As he rode, Revere never shouted, “The British are coming!”

That phrase “would not have made sense at the time,” because many of Revere’s fellow colonists considered themselves to be British, according to the Paul Revere House website.

Historical records from that era suggest that Revere instead warned, “The regulars are coming!” The term “regulars” referred to the British professional soldiers.

According to the Paul Revere House, the enduring but inaccurate “British are coming” phrase appears to have originated during a dinner party in 1822—nearly a half-century after Revere galloped into history.

(Top) The Marrett and Nathan Munroe House in Lexington, Mass., on March 26, 2025. (Bottom) The Buckman Tavern on the Lexington Battle Green. The Battle of Lexington, which began the American Revolution, took place in this area. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

‘The Shot Heard ’Round the World’ and Its Origin

Historians still disagree over who fired the first shot in the initial clash between British troops and Patriots.

They do agree that the first volleys were fired at Lexington, but the next ones fired at Concord reverberated more loudly in history.

Weeks before those pivotal confrontations, Revere’s secret group had forewarned Patriots about British Gen. Thomas Gage’s plans to send troops to Lexington and Concord.

Late on April 18, 1775, about 800 British regulars started their 20-mile march toward Concord, according to the American Battlefield Trust.

After covering about 12 miles, the soldiers reached Lexington as the sun rose the next morning and confronted about 70 armed colonists on the town green.

Although the rebels began dispersing under their commander’s order, “at some point a shot rang out,” the trust said.

“The nervous British soldiers fired a volley, killing seven and mortally wounding one of the retreating militiamen. The British column moved on towards Concord, leaving the dead, wounded, and dying in their wake.”

An oil painting by William Barnes Wollen created in 1910 depicts the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. About 800 British soldiers reached Lexington as the sun rose on April 19, 1775, and confronted about 70 armed colonists on the town green. Public Domain

In Concord, because of warnings from Revere’s secret group, colonists had hidden or relocated most of their stockpile before the redcoats arrived, the park service notes.

As a result, “the mission to destroy military goods in Concord turned out to be a miserable failure for the British,” the park service said.

The British soldiers also encountered a much larger contingent in Concord.

Within 24 hours, “more than 70 of the King’s finest troops lay dead and many more wounded,” along with 49 militiamen, the park service said. “Following a horrific day of bloodshed, the war General Gage hoped to avoid arrived at his doorstep.”

Many years later, a poem immortalized Concord as the site where a ragtag bunch of farmers, merchants, and blacksmiths stunned the world by overcoming the sophisticated redcoats.

“Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson debuted July 4, 1837, during the dedication of a Battle of Concord monument. The poem’s second line reads, “Here once the embattled farmers stood/ And fired the shot heard ‘round the world.”

Decades later, the 1970s educational cartoon series “Schoolhouse Rock” inspired children across the United States to sing “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” a song that retraces early U.S. history. Today, it still sparks nostalgia among Americans who grew up at that time—and amusement among younger generations.

(Top and Bottom) The Lexington Battle Green, where the Battles of Lexington and Concord started, in Lexington, Mass., on March 26, 2025. In Concord, because of warnings from Revere’s secret group, colonists had hidden or relocated most of their stockpile before the redcoats arrived. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times

Why the Revolution Started and How It Evolved

Although the colonists’ war would later be called “the Revolution” and “the war for American independence from Britain,” it was neither revolutionary nor independence-focused at the outset, historians say.

Schwartz said his Cedarville students will sometimes say that the Revolution centered on “destroying things to make everyone equal.”

That’s not so. Harvard University historian Bernard Bailyn pointed out that “things were already a lot more equal in the colonies than they were in Great Britain,” Schwartz said.

“In America, it was a lot easier to have the right to vote, a lot easier to own land ... to participate in society,” Schwartz said.

Colonists saw the British Crown trying to take away those advances.

“So the American Revolution wasn’t about tearing down old structures to get to equality,” he said. “It was about preserving healthy traditions of equality in the community that already existed.”

Vincenzi said her research challenges popular impressions of the nation’s early history.

“I do think Americans think of the American Revolution as more revolutionary ... more of a break from the British political tradition than it actually was,” said the Italian-born professor.

A still taken from video of Bernard Bailyn, Harvard University professor and historian, as he delivers a lecture at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on June 7, 2012. Bailyn pointed out that “things were already a lot more equal in the colonies than they were in Great Britain.” Screenshot via Brown University/CC BY 3.0

“That’s not a bad thing. There is a richness of tradition to be rediscovered there. ... It speaks to the wisdom of the Founders; they knew that starting something on a blank slate is more dangerous than building on a very rich tradition of thought.”

And the “revolutionists” weren’t initially focused on breaking free from England, either.

When the first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord, militiamen still considered themselves “loyal subjects to England’s King George the III,” the park service said. “Independence was the furthest thing from their minds.”

Rather, they “assembled to defend their rights, as they perceived them under English law.”

Vincenzi said she often reminds her Hillsdale students that Revolutionary-era Americans “wanted to be British, and to look British.”

They bought porcelain tea sets that looked “as aristocratic and as British as possible,” Vincenzi said. They also admired and emulated British fashion, portrait styles, and architectural designs.

Calls for independence finally surfaced in 1776.

Until then, “Americans felt British,” Vincenzi said. Yet the British treated the colonists as second-class citizens.

“And that is what eventually ... pushes them to consider independence,” she said.

Had that not been the case, “Americans could still be carrying a British passport,” Vincenzi said, echoing a statement she heard from noted historian Jack Greene.

Lexington Minute Men gather for a battle reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord as part of Patriot's Day celebrations in Lexington, Mass., on April 18, 2026. The following day marks the 251st anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first major military actions between the British Army and the Colonial American militias during the American Revolutionary War. Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images

The Founding Documents and Whom to Credit for Them

Some people mistakenly believe that Thomas Jefferson penned the entire Declaration of Independence by himself in a single night before Congress ratified the document unanimously on July 4, 1776.

The truth: Jefferson worked with four other committee members. They chose him to write the first draft—a process that took three weeks, followed by 86 edits from committee members and the Continental Congress, the National Park Service said.

“He was especially sorry they removed the part blaming King George III for the slave trade, although he knew the time wasn’t right to deal with the issue,” a National Archives article said.

The Declaration listed grievances against the British government and outlined core principles of the fledgling nation.

Years after defeating the British, America’s leaders met to establish the Constitution, which remains the supreme law of the land today.

Jefferson, however, never signed the document.

“This is the most popular myth at the National Constitution Center, especially when visitors enter our Signers’ Hall, [comprising] statues of the Constitution’s different signers—and ask where the Jefferson statue is,” the center’s website said.

Life-sized statues of the signers of the Constitution in Signers' Hall at the National Constitution Center, in Philadelphia, on July 18, 2012. Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution–he was in Paris as the U.S. envoy to France at the time. Ziko van Dijk/CC BY-SA 3.0

Jefferson, the U.S. envoy to France, was in Paris when the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787.

When people think about crafting the Constitution, “we emphasize the two bright young men, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton,” Schwartz said. Both deserve credit for major roles in shaping the document. But in doing so, “we overlook a lot of the compromisers, the deal-makers, the older statesmen” whose influence was less obvious but essential, he said.

Those delegates “took Madison and Hamilton’s ideas, made them workable, built compromises out of them, and often changed them completely or went a completely new direction,” Schwartz said.

Those lesser-known contributors include Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth. The two Connecticut delegates helped bridge an impasse over the rights of small states versus large states. The Great Compromise provided equal representation for each state in the Senate and population-based seats in the House of Representatives.

Sherman is among six Founders who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The other five were George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, and James Wilson.

John Trumbull's painting, “Declaration of Independence,” depicts the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress. The painting can be found on the back of the $2 bill. The original hangs in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. It does not represent a real ceremony; the characters portrayed were never in the same room at the same time. Another Believer/CC BY-SA 3.0

Schwartz emphasized that the Founders weren’t “just this collection of really intelligent people.” Many members of the Constitutional Convention had business experience, had traveled the world, and were “middle-aged or a little bit older.”

Thus, “they had wisdom, a lot of practical experience,” Schwartz said, which strengthened the Constitution.

Many people don’t realize that beyond the “young firebrands” known for their constitutional contributions, quiet leadership came from delegates such as George Washington, an elder statesman and war hero who became the first president.

“Just by being there and overseeing the proceedings, he’s adding a lot to it,” Schwartz said.

Without Washington and lesser-known delegates such as Ellsworth and Sherman, America would have ended up with a very different Constitution, he said.

“That’s a lesson that’s relevant for us today. We have a lot of people in our current politics who say, ‘Hey, I’m young. I want to charge to the front of this scene,’” Schwartz said.

“I think the Founders show us a different path. ... It’s good to have big ideas, but you also need people who are going to work hard behind the scenes and get things done.”

A sculpture by Adolph Alexander Weinman depicts the Committee of Five, on the pediment of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington. The committee was composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. They drafted and presented to the full Congress in Pennsylvania State House what would become the U.S. Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. Another Believer/CC BY-SA 3.0

Slavery and How the Founders Saw It

In recent years, young Americans have been taught that the Founding Fathers “were all pro-slavery, they all owned slaves, they all thought slavery was a good thing—and that’s just not true,” Schwartz said. “That’s a big myth and a big mistake that we have to deal with in today’s society.”

Actually, the Founders were divided over slavery; some were very much against it. However, they didn’t insist on action in the Constitution, Schwartz said, because they believed people could see it was dehumanizing—which would lead to its abolishment.

He and Bloodworth concurred on that point.

While it is “appalling” that people could “own other human beings,” Bloodworth said, it’s essential to remember that “slavery was the norm” at the time.

“The past is ‘another country,’ and we have to understand it on its own terms,” he said. “Too often, contextualizing is seen as ‘excuse-making,’ which it’s not the same thing.”

He credits the Founders for embedding “the logic of racial equality” into America’s foundational documents, even though many weren’t yet ready to fully embrace it.

The opening words of the U.S. Constitution are displayed on the exterior of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, on Sept. 15, 2003. Roger Sherman is among six Founders who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution. Jeffrey M. Vinocur/CC BY 2.5

“Many of the Founders’ documents indicate that they most certainly believed that slavery was going to ... die a slow death,” Bloodworth said.

Significantly, Washington freed his slaves upon his death.

“It doesn’t erase the fact that he owned slaves,” Bloodworth said, but that “momentous” act set the tone for others to follow suit.

Vincenzi warns against “over-simplified” views of the debate over slavery during the age of the nation’s founding.

“It’s complicated,” she said.

A significant number of delegates to the Constitutional Convention were determined to defend slavery. Many others wanted slavery to be abolished, yet they worried that “the sudden abolition of slavery could create a lot of problems,” Vincenzi said.

They asked questions such as “If you treat people as non-people for decades, how are they going to live once they’re emancipated?”

The slavery issue was a pivotal one that perhaps made a big compromise at the Constitutional Convention inevitable “for the sake of establishing a union that otherwise would have probably not been born,” she said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 16:20