Zero Rss

US B-2 Bomber Showcases Ability To Launch Stealth Anti-Ship Missile For First Time

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Air Force confirmed, for the first time, that a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber successfully launched an AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) against a target vessel during a naval exercise.

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, deploys an AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile to support a live-fire sinking exercise as part of Valiant Shield 2026 over the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. U.S. Air Force/Tech Sgt. Thomas Barley

Designed as a stealthy anti-ship cruise missile with semi-autonomous targeting capabilities, the LRASM reached early operational capability with U.S. combat aircraft in 2018. The pairing of this missile with the B-2, however, is a newly disclosed capability.

A B-2 demonstrated the LRASM launch capability during Valiant Shield 26, a multinational joint exercise that involved the sinking of the decommissioned amphibious transport dock ship USS Juneau on June 27. The sinking exercise took place in an area of the Philippine Sea north of the Marianas Islands.

"This is the first time we have publicly released the B-2's demonstrated ability to carry and deploy an AGM-138C LRASM," an Air Force spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on June 30.

The pairing of the stealthy anti-ship missile and the stealth bomber could enhance their effectiveness against adversary forces, and is particularly relevant in a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, where China has rapidly expanded its naval forces in recent years.

In 2020, China overtook the United States as the nation with the most warships, and has continued to modernize its naval forces in the years since.

"The B-2's impressive performance underscores the US military's commitment to adaptability and flexibility in the face of emerging security challenges," Gen. Kevin B. Schneider, the commander of the Pacific Air Forces, said in a June 29 statement.

"By prioritizing counter-maritime strike operations, we can maintain a decisive edge over adversaries, protect our national interests and ensure the free and open Pacific that underpins our global security."

Last year, the U.S. military demonstrated the stealth prowess of the B-2 by using the bombers to breach Iran's air defense network to deliver a set of strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

U.S. military analysts have assessed that China is gearing its military development toward what's known as an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) strategy, wherein they may quickly lay claim to a sea region and then install defensive measures that make it hard for outside forces to intervene.

The U.S. military has hoped to position the LRASM as a counter to the A2AD strategy by designing it to be less reliant on external guidance systems, which may be limited in a U.S.-China conflict.

Lockheed Martin developed the LRASM for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The missile was first integrated with the Air Force's B-1B Lancer bomber and the Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet.

Efforts are underway to integrate the LRASM with other aircraft, including the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, the F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jet, and the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Since 2020, the U.S. government has also sold LRASMs to Australia to integrate with their F/A-18 fleet.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 20:30

Xi Touts Communist Party's Global Reach, Hails PLA's Rising Strength In 105th Anniversary Address

Chinese President Xi Jinping used a major speech marking the 105th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday to both tout China's global influence and pledge a stronger armed forces build-up while staying steadfast in an ongoing crackdown on corruption within top military ranks.

Bloomberg concluded of the speech, "Xi Jinping signaled China's ambition to play a more high-profile role, a strategy that involves rallying developing nations as a counterweight to what he views as fading US influence."

via Associated Press

This is of course not a 'new' message out of Beijing, but is some renewed messaging at a moment Washington risks getting permanently bogged down in the Middle East after Trump launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran while struggling to extricate itself from the resulting Hormuz crisis. The Iran war remains deeply unpopular especially among BRICS and Global South countries and populations.

The Chinese leader in the fresh comments vowed to "uphold the party’s absolute leadership” over the People's Liberation Army (PLA) while continuing to give it all needed support and advancement in defense technology.

“We must advance the modernization of national defense and the armed forces,” Xi told party members. He described that the CCP remains on course to "resolutely wage the critical, protracted, and comprehensive battle against corruption."

Just in the past three years, no less than two defense ministers have been dismissed by Xi, and the once seven-member Central Military Commission - China’s top military body - has been drastically reduced to just Xi and one other general.

Interestingly, in the Beijing speech Xi also made direct reference to the Taiwan crisis.

"Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing the complete unification of the motherland is an unswerving historical mission of our party and the shared aspiration of all Chinese people," he said.

While not specifically naming the United States or anything country, he said that "we oppose interference by external forces."

As for the years-long military purge, a former CIA analyst who follows Chinese elite politics, Christopher K. Johnson, recently told the NY Times of the ongoing purge trend, "This move is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese military and represents the total annihilation of the high command."

"When Xi says the Party leads everything, he means it. When he says security comes before development, he means it. When he says capital must be guided and disciplined, he means it. And when he says Taiwan is central to national rejuvenation..." https://t.co/zgGEQdiEvn

— Christoph Rehage🇪🇺 (@crehage) July 1, 2026

The PLA has seen significant internal turmoil, especially since the Communist Party’s 20th Congress in late 2022. Several top military figures - including Defense Ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, and CMC Political Work Department head Miao Hua - have disappeared or been removed, and many more followed. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 20:00

Nancy Pelosi Institute To Launch At UC Berkeley After Former Speaker Leaves Congress

Authored by AG News Staff via American Greatness,

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will lend her name to a new institute at the University of California, Berkeley after retiring from Congress, with the university announcing it has already raised $35 million toward a $50 million fundraising goal.

The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy is scheduled to open in January 2027, when Pelosi is expected to leave Congress.

According to the university, the institute will serve as a center for research, teaching and civic engagement focused on representative democracy and public leadership. Pelosi also is expected to co-teach a course on Congress.

UC Berkeley said the institute will focus on four primary areas: strengthening American democracy, addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges, promoting human and civil rights, and "ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds in California and the country."

The university said the institute's location at UC Berkeley would give a diverse student body, including first-generation and low-income students, access to opportunities often associated with Ivy League institutions.

"The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling," Pelosi said in a statement. "UC Berkeley has a long, proud history of challenging the status quo and producing leaders who run toward the greatest challenges of our time. I am honored to partner with this exceptional community of scholars and students so we can equip the next generation with the tools they need to strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good."

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons said the institute would combine the university's faculty and students to advance its mission.

"We intend to do more than simply study democracy; we are building this institute to strengthen it," Lyons said.

The institute will be established at UC Berkeley, a university known for progressive activism, and will open after Pelosi concludes her congressional career.

Pelosi, 86, served two terms as House speaker and remains the only woman to hold the position. She served from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 19:30

Meet The "World's Most Dangerous" Hotel That Leaves Guests Stranded 35 Miles Offshore

A remote former Coast Guard tower off the coast of North Carolina has become one of the country's most unusual vacation destinations, with thrill-seekers paying to spend days stranded 35 miles out in the Atlantic on what's been dubbed the world's most dangerous hotel, according to the NY Post.

Interest in Frying Pan Tower recently surged after charter captain Austin Aycock posted a TikTok showing six guests being dropped off at the rusting structure before he motored away, joking, "See you in a couple days!" The video has attracted more than 2.2 million views, with viewers split between fascination and disbelief.

(Photos: NY Post)

Built in 1964, the decommissioned light station sits about 80 feet above the ocean in an area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Once guests arrive, there's no easy way back. Leaving requires either a helicopter or a 35-mile boat ride to shore.

The Post writes that rates start at about $200 per person per night with a three-night minimum stay. Aycock said one particularly adventurous group remained on the tower for two weeks.

The location isn't for the faint of heart. The surrounding waters are home to great white, bull, and tiger sharks, while the tower sits in hurricane-prone waters where storms can bring winds exceeding 100 mph. Medical emergencies also present a challenge due to the remote location.

(Photos: NY Post)

Despite its isolation, the tower can accommodate up to 12 guests across eight bedrooms and offers modern comforts including solar power, high-speed internet, hot showers, a fully equipped kitchen, and a reverse osmosis water system.

Visitors can fish, snorkel over a nearby reef, shoot biodegradable clay targets, or hit fish-food golf balls into the ocean. A professional chef is also available for private groups, while the massive helipad doubles as a scenic spot for stargazing and watching the sunrise.

The viral video sparked plenty of reactions online. Some commenters said nothing could convince them to stay overnight, while others joked the tower would be the perfect place to hide from a zombie apocalypse. One viewer summed up the skepticism by asking, "What's the opposite of a bucket list?"

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 19:05

As Democrats Freak Out Over Socialist Takeover, Kamala Harris Speaks With Zohran Mamdani

In the same week Democrats began sounding alarms over radical left-wing revolutionaries gaining power and hijacking the party, there is a new report from Axios that Kamala Harris privately spoke with far-left New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and held closed-door meetings with progressives, including pro-Palestinian activists, as she appears to lay the groundwork for a potential 2028 White House run.

Axios reported, "Harris, who occasionally has texted with Mamdani in the past few months, called him two days after the mayor's handpicked candidates swept three congressional races in New York City, ousting a pair of incumbents."

"It's the latest sign the former vice president is laying the groundwork for a potential White House run in 2028 — and is looking to strengthen or repair her relationships with left-wing Democrats," the report said.

Axios did not reveal the specifics of the conversation, but the timing is telling.

Democratic Party elites are increasingly fearful that Democratic Socialists are gaining real power inside the party, and Harris' private outreach to Mamdani suggests she understands the far left may be impossible to ignore ahead of 2028.

The wake-up call for the Democratic Party came last week in New York City, where Democratic Socialists scored closely watched House primary victories over candidates backed by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The result sparked panic inside the party, as establishment Democrats went to MSM to rant:

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville/ New York (D) Congressman Tom Suozzi

'START YOUR OWN MOVEMENT': Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is calling on Socialists to start their own movement and stop using the Democratic Party to advance it.

"If it's such a powerful, sweeping movement that's got momentum everywhere, then go ahead and be at the… pic.twitter.com/et3mZzqIA8

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) June 26, 2026

New York Attorney General Letitia James

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich

🚨 DEMOCRATS IN FULL CIVIL WAR — MODERATES VS SOCIALISTS!

Even Elissa Slotkin is reading the tea leaves: “The Democratic Party is a circular shooting squad… we just don’t have people who understand the moment and what leadership means.”

James Carville straight-up telling the… pic.twitter.com/IlGBHWUNMQ

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 26, 2026

Hakeem Jeffries

Hakeem Jeffries refuses to answer if he will work with New York City Democrat Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier.

CNBC: How are you going to work with some of these folks?

JEFFRIES: “Her views are clearly not my views… in terms of what brings Democrats together…” pic.twitter.com/JdjmwxSfr2

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 25, 2026

Our take is that Harris might not just be repairing relationships with socialists but also hedging against a party base that is quickly shifting far left as the establishment scrambles to contain it.

That's because mainstream America might not be ready for a socialist takeover. The Trump team fired up their narrative machine and blasted the "communists" last week ... Trump said on Truth Social last week:

"These are not social Democrats; these are hard-core, godless Communists. This is the most serious threat to our Country since its existence 250 years ago."

Polymarket odds on Democratic Presidential Nominee 2028

Whether Harris asked Mamdani to dial back the socialist propaganda remains unknown as the party, with no guardrails, increasingly embraces socialism and Marxism - just as much of Latin America is eradicating far-left extremists from power.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 18:15

Copper Demand Surges, But Supply Deficit Is Hard To Solve, Expert Says

Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times,

The ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom underscores a harder-to-resolve supply issue for copper, according to veteran natural resource investor Rick Rule.

Speaking recently with Siyamak Khorrami, host of EpochTV’s “Market Insider,” Rule said the increasingly energy-intensive lives people around the world are living have pushed up demand for copper. With companies and countries investing heavily in AI, future demand for the red metal will be “staggering,” he said.

At the same time, the world, especially the United States, doesn’t have enough copper development projects “in the pipeline,” Rule said, making a copper shortage and higher prices inevitable.

Growing Supply Deficit

According to the International Copper Study Group, global refined copper consumption rose to 28.2 million metric tons in 2025 from 25.8 million metric tons in 2022, while production increased to 28.6 million metric tons from 25.2 million metric tons over the same period. This represents a supply surplus of 400,000 metric tons.

However, given the essential role copper plays in electrification, digitalization, and technologies such as AI, data centers, electric vehicles, and defense, a January S&P Global study predicts that demand for the metal will rise to 42 million metric tons by 2040. The study also estimates that, without “meaningful supply expansion,” there could be a copper shortfall of about 10 million metric tons by then.

Copper prices have risen significantly. Copper futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $6.20 per pound on June 28, nearly doubling from their post-pandemic low of $3.23 per pound, reached on July 11, 2022.

The situation is more challenging for the United States. The country is a net copper importer, producing less than half of the refined copper it consumes. According to the United States Geological Survey, a scientific agency under the Department of the Interior, America produced 850,000 metric tons of refined copper in 2025 while consuming 2.2 million metric tons, resulting in a deficit of more than 1 million metric tons.

The United States is expected to remain a net importer of copper through 2040, with imported refined copper projected to account for about 70 percent of consumption, according to a June 23 SEC filing citing Wood Mackenzie data.

In November 2025, the Department of the Interior added copper to the U.S. Geological Survey’s critical minerals list.

Underinvestment

“In copper, we have been systemically underinvested in exploration, in construction, in development, and we’ve been doing so for 30 years,” Rule told Khorrami.

“This is a capital-intensive, long-term business. There is nothing we can do right now—nothing, not one thing—that will prevent a supply shortage within five years.”

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025—Copper

Rule said developing a new copper mine is a very long process, taking about 10 years to explore and find a mine, three years to drill, three more years “in a good country” to secure a permit and funding, and two years to build—about 18 years in total.

“The difficulty is that people weren’t doing enough of this 18 years ago,” he said.

Wood Mackenzie estimated in a 2021 analysis that the world copper industry had committed around $120 billion in capital spending to maintain production at the time, offsetting the impact of grade decline and depletion.

“Nonetheless, without additional substantial investment, production will decline from 2024 onwards. Coupled with demand growth, this decline in output will lead to a theoretical shortfall of around [16 million metric tons] by 2040,” the analysis states. To close the copper supply shortfall, the analysis said, the industry would need about $325 billion in additional investment.

“The industry is looking right down the barrel at an incredible capital spend to merely maintain current production levels, never mind increase it to meet the demands of rural electrification in the third world, data centers, electric vehicles, the electrification of everything,” Rule said.

“If you believe the numbers that people like Google and Amazon are putting out in terms of their data center demands, we will need to produce more copper between 2026 and 2050—24 short years—than has been mined in the history of mankind,” he said.

Rule said the industry has entered a copper construction cycle.

“For a long time, when copper was languishing at $3 a pound, the industry didn’t make enough money to build new mines; $6 a pound is not a bad incentive price.”

Permitting Hurdles

However, he said there are currently few construction-ready projects due to decades of underinvestment in mineral exploration. In the United States, he added, the permitting process is a major hurdle for these projects to move forward.

For example, Rule said the Resolution Copper project, jointly owned by Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP and located in Arizona, is a high-quality copper deposit and well-located, but has been waiting more than a decade for a permit.

According to Rio Tinto’s website, if developed, the Resolution Copper project could be one of the largest copper mines in the United States, having the potential to supply up to one-quarter of the U.S. copper demand.

After decades of exploration, the Resolution deposit was officially discovered in 1995, according to the Department of Agriculture. It started the permitting process in 2013 and released its independent Final Environmental Impact Statement in 2019, entering a new phase of public consultation, according to a Rio Tinto press release. The company said in a March release that it had completed a key land exchange advancing the project toward development.

“All of this points to the fact that we’re going to have to get used to higher copper prices,” Rule said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:50

Man Who Sued Pepsi Over Fighter Jet Finally Gets His Reward 30 Years Later

Three decades after suing Pepsi for refusing to give him a fighter jet, John Leonard finally got a reward that may be even better, according to a post at Supercarblondie. 

Leonard became the center of one of advertising's most famous legal battles after taking a 1996 Pepsi commercial at face value. The ad, promoting the company's Pepsi Points loyalty program, jokingly claimed customers could redeem seven million Pepsi Points for a military Harrier jet.

Rather than laugh it off, the Seattle college student raised enough money to buy the required points and submitted a claim for the aircraft. Pepsi rejected it, insisting the jet was never a real prize.

The article says that the case went to court, where a judge ruled that no reasonable person would believe Pepsi was seriously offering a fighter jet in a soft drink promotion.

Although Leonard lost the lawsuit, the bizarre dispute became legendary and was later chronicled in the Netflix documentary Pepsi, Where's My Jet?.

Now, nearly 30 years later, Frontier Airlines gave the story a happy ending. As part of a Super Bowl campaign called "The Big Redemption," the airline converted Leonard's original seven million Pepsi Points into seven million Frontier Miles, effectively giving him free flights for life.

The airline even featured Leonard in a tongue-in-cheek commercial, handing him the keys to an Airbus A320neo as a nod to the decades-old saga.

Now in his 50s with a wife and children, Leonard joked that unlimited airline miles are far more practical than owning and maintaining a military fighter jet. After waiting three decades, he never got the Harrier, but he may have received an even better prize.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:25

20-Year Old US Citizen Charged In Israel With Spying For Iran

Via The Cradle

A 20-year-old US citizen living in Jerusalem is set to be charged with spying for Iran, according a police statement issued Tuesday, ahead of the individual’s indictment. 

The US citizen was detained by Israeli authorities on June 9, but the case is only this week being revealed. Israel's police say he maintained contact with an Iranian intelligence-linked handler. According to the police, he captured photographs and videos of "sensitive" Israeli sites.

Getty Images

The statement also claimed he received "dozens to hundreds" of dollars for each task he carried out on behalf of Iranian intelligence. The suspect’s activities were being carried out in the past few months, according to the authorities. 

A prosecutor’s declaration was filed against the US citizen on Tuesday. He will be officially charged with espionage in the near future.

Israeli police are requesting that the alleged Iran-linked spy remain imprisoned until legal proceedings conclude.

Israel has witnessed a major surge in Iranian espionage activity over the past year. Early last month, Tel Aviv indicted one Israeli citizen and three soldiers for cooperating with Iranian intelligence services and carrying out espionage work, including capturing photos of “sensitive sites.”

The intelligence activity reportedly included photographing train stations, shopping centers, security cameras, and the Israeli Air Force Technical School.

Hebrew media reports from May said some of the accused independently approached their Iranian handlers requesting additional missions.

Israeli outlets had also reported in late April that two Israeli Air Force technicians who were operating at the Tel Nof Air Base near the city of Ashdod were set to be charged with espionage for Iran.

By April, over 50 indictments had been filed against Israeli citizens accused of spying for the Islamic Republic since October 2023, according to Mondoweiss.

Security analysts and commentators in Israel have described the situation as an "espionage epidemic" fueled by public distrust of political leadership, corruption, and general discontent among Israelis.

Recent cases in 2026 alone include an Iron Dome reservist accused of passing system details for $1,000, multiple active-duty soldiers charged with espionage, and a thwarted plot to assassinate former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 17:00

Apple Negotiating To Buy Blacklisted Chinese Chips To Ease AI-Driven Shortage

After raising prices on their entire product line last week as much as 50% thanks to "unsustainable" input costs from the memory cartel (SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron and Sandisk), Apple is in active negotiations to buy memory chips from two Chinese semiconductor manufacturers on the Pentagon's blacklist, aiming to diversify supply and mitigate the impact of sharply rising component costs triggered by surging AI demand.

Adding to Friday reporting from the Financial Times, Bloomberg now reports that the iPhone maker is seeking chips from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a major DRAM producer, and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), a fast-growing NAND flash maker. The components would be used exclusively in devices sold in China, where Apple already offers market-specific models. The talks are ongoing and not yet finalized, according to people familiar with the matter.

This was the logical next step... 

*APPLE SHARES CLOSE DOWN 6.1% IN BIGGEST DROP SINCE APRIL 2025

China's memory makers are waiting by the phone

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 25, 2026

This move would expand Apple's memory supplier base from its current three - Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology - to five. It comes after Apple raised prices across its Mac, iPad, and other product lines last week to offset what it described as an unprecedented surge in memory and storage costs. A company spokesperson attributed the increases to the "rapid expansion of AI," noting the firm had "never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."

The global memory shortage stems from hyperscale data-center operators prioritizing high-end memory for AI training and inference workloads. This has pulled production capacity toward premium segments, driving up prices for the DRAM and NAND used in consumer electronics. Microsoft took similar action last week, raising Xbox console prices for the third time in 13 months, largely due to the same memory squeeze.

The Apple news was the straw that broke the memory's back: chip stocks had already gotten whacked on Wednesday amid a momentum-meltdown sparked by news that Meta would pivot to a cloud business to sell excess compute from its overpriced collection of data centers, effectively become a neocloud, while capitulating on hopes to build a leading frontier model. 

Aaaand Micron is now below its 20-day moving average for the first time since April...

It's not clear what happens next. Both CXMT and YMTC appear on the Defense Department's 1260H list of Chinese companies believed to have ties to the People's Liberation Army. YMTC has carried an additional Commerce Department Entity List designation since 2022, which generally bars it from receiving U.S. technology without special licenses.

That said, Apple does not require formal U.S. government approval to proceed with purchases - though adding the two firms to its supply chain carries significant political risk amid ongoing U.S.-China tensions over advanced technology. Apple CEO Tim Cook has appealed directly to Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to help manage potential backlash from national security hawks in Washington. Some officials within the administration have expressed objections to giving Apple leeway on the matter.

To limit exposure, Apple is structuring any deal around devices sold only in China rather than global models. The company previously explored sourcing memory from YMTC in 2022 for China-market iPhones, but that effort was abandoned after strong opposition from U.S. lawmakers and officials concerned about supply-chain security.

In short - the memory market has been reshaped by AI infrastructure spending. Major producers have shifted output toward high-margin products demanded by data centers, leaving tighter supply and higher prices for mobile and computing applications. Samsung and SK Hynix have outlined massive capacity expansions, while Micron is investing heavily in U.S. production - but meaningful relief for consumer electronics remains months away.

For Apple, securing additional sources could help stabilize costs on China sales and reduce reliance on the dominant trio of suppliers. For policymakers, the episode highlights a recurring tension: balancing efforts to secure critical technology supply chains against the immediate economic pressure of higher consumer prices driven by concentrated global demand.

Any agreement would likely draw scrutiny from Congress and administration hardliners who view partnerships with firms on the 1260H list as contrary to U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese technology. At the same time, the memory-driven component inflation has become visible enough that some officials may see limited, geographically restricted sourcing as a pragmatic pressure valve.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 16:40

Controversially, The Supreme Court Rules For Common Sense: Taibbi

Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

From Mother Jones yesterday:

The science is far from settled about whether trans girls who have received gender-affirming treatment actually have a competitive advantage or pose a greater risk of injuring other players. But the majority opinion, by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, glosses over those unknowns - reasoning that "biological sex" is a good enough proxy for athletic ability for states to categorically ban trans girls from girls' sports.

It was once uncontroversial to observe that testosterone gives athletes advantages. Baseball's steroid scandals were only a tick of the historical clock ago, and the number of people in the continental United States willing to stand up and say Mark McGwire and Raffy Palmeiro hit their own homers would have fit in a dentist's waiting room. Every working comedian in the country made at least one joke about balloon-headed liar Barry Bonds:

This was universal, but once the trans issue with its myriad lifestyle and political considerations came along, the general public was suddenly asked to accept one factual absurdity after another about the same thing. "Far from settled!" Really, Mother Jones?

The Supreme Court Tuesday handed down a landmark 6-3 ruling in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox, upholding two state bans on the participation of transgender athletes on women's and girls' sports teams. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the majority opinion, used strong language in upholding West Virginia and Idaho statutes, saying the court disagreed that "schools must allow biological males... to compete on girls' sports teams." Kavanaugh even used a hated term, asking, "May schools determine eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes," upsetting pundits who want officials to stick to activist-approved phrases like "sex assigned at birth."

"It's a good decision for women and girls," said Kara Dansky, who wrote an amicus brief supporting the states for the U.S. chapter of the Women's Declaration International.

Dansky was once senior counsel for the ACLU Center of Justice. In this case she was on the other side of the ACLU, whose attorneys (including co-director of LGBTQ and HIV rights, Chase Strangio) argued against the state bans. The ACLU has also split with former feminist allies by arguing for the housing of biological men in women's prisons, including those with records of violent sex offenses. These efforts in trying to force society to reimagine biology are clearly failing, but the outraged reaction yesterday shows the fight isn't over. NBC described the decision as a "major blow to LGBTQ rights," and former VP contender Tim Walz claimed the "Supreme Court says schools can be cruel to my trans kids":

As the Supreme Court says states can be cruel to trans kids, my message is clear: Here in Minnesota, we stand with and value our trans neighbors and youth.

— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) June 30, 2026

Cruel is an extraordinary word to describe the act of allowing states to object to a radical social program that was implemented virtually everywhere ahead of both scientific and (especially) political consensus. The numbers aren't close. A New York Times/Ipsos poll last year found 79% of Americans, including 67% of Democrats, are opposed to "athletes who were male at birth" participating in women's sports. The same poll found 71% of all Americans, including 54% of Democrats, believe no one under 18 should have access to puberty blockers. This was after exposure to years of movement messaging.

Strangio and the ACLU don't see that they're asking for something people can't give them, even if they wanted to, namely the honest belief that people who've transitioned have literally changed sexes. The gambit failed for the same reason Spanish speakers rejected "Latinx."

Like politics, language has a democratic dynamic. If people don't use Latinx because Spanish (like 38% of all languages) is a gendered tongue with its own distinct sonic system that Spanish speakers love, they won't use it, and you can't make them. The ostensible logic behind Latinx was to "challenge the gender binary" and "remove gender from Spanish," in part because a handful of intellectuals claim gendered language causes unequal economic outcomes. A rational person finds this absurd, unless you believe the early French schemed to consign bananas to girlhood while making boys out of tuna as a weirdly subtle means of oppressing women in future centuries.

As with Latinx, activists tried to lobby "sex assigned at birth" into reality, only to have the population spit it back out as "biological sex." The court just recognized another thing that was uncontroversial until ten minutes ago. Yes, a small percentage of human beings have intersex characterstics, but most of the world's population can't be forced to unlearn what it intrinsically knows. Knowing which gametes your body cranks out is another form of "lived experience," one is irrelevant to activists, apparently, because it's "normative." People know they weren't "assigned" a sex by hospital clerks. Some people tried to think that way. It just didn't take.

Activists could have started with a proposition: given that sex is binary, what can society do to accomodate people who experience dysphoria and wish to live under a new identity? The same Americans who accepted gay marriage fairly quickly after Obergefell v. Hodges 11 years ago likely would have extended as far as they could without jumping into a factual or scientific abyss, on issues ranging from expanded insurance to easier routes to housing or identification. Instead, activists treated access for biological males to women's locker rooms, sports rosters, even prisons as settled rights matters, against which only right-wing Christian patriarchal bigots could possibly object. Unless 80% of Americans are bigots, a lot of apologies are owed: 

None are coming, of course. 

Subscribers to Racket can read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 16:20

The Elephant In The Room That Is Fraud

Authored by Jack Hellner via AmericanThinker.com,

There has clearly been trillions of fraud over the last several decades, and politicians in both parties have shown very little interest in rooting out the fraud until Trump. Somehow, most of the media and other Democrats aren’t too concerned with saving taxpayer dollars—they spend their time attacking Trump.

The media and other Democrats were outraged when Trump spent $16 million dollars fixing the reflecting pool problems, and there was endless reporting, but there is virtually no outrage and minimal reporting on the endless fraud, no matter how many billions have been legitimately stolen from the taxpayers.

The following is a small sample of what crooks have gotten away with, which is only the tip of the iceberg.

Federal data revealed this:

In 2024, 35 percent of exchange enrollees and 40 percent of fully-subsidized low-income enrollees generated no medical claims….

Tens of billions went to big insurance companies to pay for many fake people. Yet, as Democrats shuttered the government, almost all the media spewed were intentional lies about how Republicans wanted to take health care away from the poor, and premiums would rise substantially for them.

The media didn’t have much interest when an enterprising young reporter found massive fraud in daycare centers in Minnesota. They also didn’t have any concern when we learned Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about the fraud for a long time and instead of going after the criminals, sought to destroy the whistleblowers.

Here is how PBS reported on the story:

This week, the Trump administration dispatched federal officers to Minnesota amid concerns over fraud. The deployment comes after a right-wing influencer posted a video claiming, without proof, that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million.

Hospice fraud in California is massive. Where is the endless reporting by the media? Why aren’t they concerned that Governor Newsom and other officials did little to nothing about it? They also don’t seem interested in how many millions of taxpayer dollars flow to entities associated with Newsom’s wife. Instead, they attack the Justice Department for investigating the obvious.

A huge amount of fraud was found with a small sample of SNAP recipients, yet this news piece seems aggravated at the Trump administration for doing something about it:

The USDA says 700,000 were removed from SNAP. Here’s what counts as fraud.

Multiple studies have found that SNAP fraud is rare, yet the Trump administration continues to place heavy focus on the issue.

In May, Rollins told Fox News that her department had found around 700,000 people fraudulently using SNAP rolls since February 2025 and arrested 895 people in the past year for fraud. She said 244,000 fraudsters used dead people’s social security numbers and 500,000 collected benefits in multiple states.

Here is a story that got little coverage about health care fraud schemes. You would think that with all the worries about Medicare survival that an arrest of around 450 people in 45 states would get extensive coverage, but it doesn’t.

New: Record Healthcare Fraud Bust: 450 Defendants Now Charged by Trump DOJ

How often is this happening throughout the country?

What about this?

Michigan childcare provider collected $1.1M in taxpayer funds despite no visible signs of operating

Where are the administrators we pay for verifying that daycare providers do in fact qualify for the money?

The media clearly has little interest in reporting on fraud perpetrated by illegals:

Illegal Alien Gets 8 Years in Prison for $89 Million Payroll Scheme Employing Illegal Alien Construction Workers

I bet few people saw this story about all the money funneled out during COVID:

NC Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty in $13.9M COVID-19 Fraud Scheme

Seven other return preparers have already pleaded guilty to their roles in the same scheme. 

The media is working hard to avoid the story about how we chased down a Somalian fraudster after he fled the country:

$250 Million Minnesota Fraudster Finally Nabbed — in Mogadishu 

Every once in a while, the media and other Democrats claim to care about debts and deficits, but they clearly don’t when they refuse to help going after fraud and treat every cut or freeze in government spending programs as a disaster.

The only time they really care about deficits is when they falsely claim that Republican tax cuts cost the government trillions of dollars.

Here is the truth about federal income and spending:

Individual income taxes collected FY 2017 $1.5 trillion. By FY 2025, they were up to $2.66 trillion—up more than double the 35% inflation rate for that period. Corporate income taxes in FY 2017 were $297 billion and in FY 2025, they were $452 billion (or up 52%). 

Meanwhile, spending went up from $3.98 trillion to $7.20 trillion—up 77%, which is more than double the rate of inflation. Uncontrolled spending including massive fraud is clearly the problem.

Is our media on it? Hardly.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:45

TikTok Settles Lawsuit Accusing Social Media Giants Of Harming Florida Boy

TikTok has reached a settlement with a Florida teenager who blamed the platform and other social media companies for fueling his addiction, leading to depression, anxiety, and sleep loss, just ahead of a trial to determine the industry’s part in the youth mental health crisis.

The settlement, made public Tuesday, lays to rest claims against ByteDance’s TikTok related to the lawsuit filed by the boy.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Trials against Meta’s Instagram and Snap’s Snapchat remain scheduled for July in California.

According to court filings, the plaintiff argues he began using social media at approximately age 8 and became addicted.

As Kimberley Hayek reports for The Epoch Times, the case is one of many taking aim at social media companies, accusing them of designing the platforms to addict young users.

Earlier this month, YouTube settled with the same plaintiff.

“YouTube’s decision to resolve this case before having to face a jury speaks for itself,” the plaintiff’s attorneys from Morgan & Morgan stated in that settlement.

“We will continue fighting on behalf of all those affected by social media addiction to bring these companies to justice and compel them to prioritize the safety of their young users over their bottom lines.”

In March, a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and Google liable for harms to a young woman, awarding damages after findings of negligence tied to addictive design features.

Jurors found the platforms contributed to addiction and mental health issues, leading to millions in compensatory and punitive damages. A judge upheld the verdict this month.

More than 3,300 addiction-related lawsuits remain pending in California state court, with thousands more pending in federal court. School districts and states have also pursued claims, with some settlements reached, such as a Kentucky district’s agreement with several platforms.

The TikTok settlement allows the company to avoid what would have been only the second individual trial of its kind in California over social media’s impact on minors.

Plaintiffs in these cases argue that features, such as endless scrolling, personalized algorithms, and notifications create a “vicious cycle” of engagement that does harm to young brains.

Tech companies argue they have implemented parental controls, age-appropriate tools, and other safeguards for young users. Google, for instance, has underscored its safety efforts in statements regarding the YouTube settlement.

“Our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise,” Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement. 

Prolonged social media use has increased risks of depression and self-harm among young people, according to a recent study by the Medical Journal of Australia.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:25

"Utterly False": Musk Denies WSJ Report On SpaceX Handset-Like AI Device Musk Blasts WSJ's Reporting

Elon Musk has called The Wall Street Journal’s story about a new SpaceX smartphone-like device "utterly false."

"There is no SpaceX handset-like AI device, as claimed in the article. Shame on WSJ for publishing fake news just for clicks," the X account DogeDesigner wrote.

BREAKING: Elon Musk has called the Wall Street Journal’s report “utterly false.”

There is no SpaceX handset-like AI device as claimed in the article.

Shame on WSJ for publishing fake news just for clicks. pic.twitter.com/EbBxw51W4Z

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 1, 2026 WSJ's Reporting 

The story around Elon Musk's SpaceX positioning Starlink as a potential mobile carrier to challenge legacy telcos and cable dinosaurs continues to gain momentum. 

A new Wall Street Journal report says the AI and rocket company has shown investors a prototype of a handset-like device, suggesting SpaceX may be looking beyond satellites and broadband toward vertically integrated consumer devices to take on smartphone giants like Apple and Samsung. 

SpaceX has developed a prototype for a handset-like device designed to reshape how humans interact with artificial intelligence: WSJ

The prototype features a sleek design that is slimmer than an iPhone; it was shown to some investors and other stakeholders ahead of the company’s…

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 1, 2026

The device, described by people familiar with the matter as slimmer than an iPhone with a "sleek design," is still said to be in the prototype stage. It is expected to run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, suggesting SpaceX may be testing a consumer hardware layer that could eventually tie together Starlink connectivity, xAI software, and a proprietary operating system.

Last week, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams told clients that if SpaceX/Starlink fails to secure an MVNO/retail mobile deal, then the next logical move would be to acquire T-Mobile.

SpaceX told some investors that the project was at an early stage. The design could change and it is unclear whether such a device will be made.

...

The project is a sign of Musk’s sprawling ambitions as he builds a leading global satellite connectivity network, grows his rocket company and creates new AI tools. AI companies are placing a variety of bets on the future form and functionality of AI-powered devices.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk has in the past weighed building a smartphone due to frustration over how Apple controls distribution of third-party apps such as X. It isn’t easy, however, for a newcomer to break into the hardware business. -WSJ

We asked the question: "Is The SpaceX Asteroid About To Impact The TelCo & Cable Dinosaurs?"

Related:

• SpaceX Builds A Regulatory Moat Around Its Starlink Empire

The read here is that Musk appears to be eyeing the entire consumer connectivity stack in one swoop. Starlink is the network layer, xAI provides the intelligence layer, a proprietary operating system would control the software experience, and a handset-like device would serve as the consumer endpoint. 

In other words, Musk is not just challenging telcos and big cable. It is also a shot across the bow for smartphone makers, app stores, and the AI assistant layer now being embedded across consumer devices.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:15

A Surveillance State On Wheels

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

Renting a car used to come with an element of fun. For a day or two you could be the pretend owner of a new car. It could be the sports car you have always secretly wanted, maybe in bright red. It could be a mighty utility vehicle you need instead of your 4-door sedan.

In any case, it’s just interesting to experience a new and different car over a limited period, if only to mix things up a bit.

I’ve always enjoyed this, until now.

I innocently rented a new model SUV and hopped in not thinking much more about it. It had a control panel on two big screens with very few physical knobs, which means essentially learning to operate software. Should have pulled over and examined the thing carefully, maybe even read the user manual but traditionally cars explained themselves. Everything was obvious.

Not any more.

The radio was stuck on a guy yammering about sports scores so I thought I would change the station. I’m trying to drive at the same time and looking at the screen with peripheral vision. That’s when the car caught me: it sensed distraction.

Up popped a notification alongside 5 extremely annoying alarm beeps, with a blaring warning: “Consider taking a break” with a coffee cup emoji. That’s strange. I’m not tired. I just started. Why should I take a break?

My car was correcting me. Not only that, it was diagnosing my biology. I was drifting and so clearly did not have enough caffeine in my system and needed more. So said my car.

Thus was my introduction to the new smart car, more monitor than helper, more surveillance than service, more sensate than safe.

I grabbed a tissue while searching for the off switch to the radio and up popped the same warning again. This was only a few minutes later. I wondered how long this would go on. I had two and a half hours to drive. This could be miserable.

It was in fact. My car monitored, hectored, and lectured me for my entire trip. It more closely tracked my venial sins than a Puritan preacher in 17th-century Plymouth Colony. At least in that world, privacy was possible. It is not possible in this new car. You are under the gun, tasked with impossible feats of digital management at which you are destined to fail.

The ever-pious, self satisfied, and immaculately conceived robo-scold seems gleeful to call out every infraction, even when a gust of wind causes a two-inch draft. FAIL!

This car is rooting against its driver, like a horse not entirely broken in and trying to buck you off. But it’s more threatening than that. It’s watching you constantly but you don’t know where its eyes are or why precisely it is making the judgments it is making.

While still fussing with the radio, a big message appeared on the screen, which I tried to read while driving. Another sin. As best I could make out, it said not to attempt this while driving because it is unsafe. And if I have read this message and understand the risk, and accept the terms of the software app, I should click approve, which I did, while driving.

Like clockwork, up appeared the demand that I stop and drink another cup of coffee. If I had complied with the doctor/car physician’s demands, I would have had a gallon of coffee and been taken to the hospital for a caffeine overdose.

The roadside signs all say not to text and drive or otherwise look at your smartphone. But this entire car is far more distracting than my phone would otherwise be. I’m only mentioning a few of these notifications so far.

Once I got into traffic, on very fast Texas highways, there were cars following close behind and to the right and left. Tricky navigation and it requires full attention. Mr. Car did not like this scene and began screaming at me as if I’m entirely unaware of what was happening around me. Of course I was aware but now with this squawking car, it was hard to focus.

The blaring, buzzing, and screeching of this disapproving digital schoolmarm—if the car had a name it would be Karen—is more of a danger than the drivers around me in all directions.

You think a backseat driver is annoying? Try a dashboard with biometric monitoring skills and the ability to speak in bleeps, dings, and buzzes. It’s miserable and absolutely makes driving less safe and more scary all around.

The new car is a devouring mother, a helicopter parent, a digital warden, and a spying parole agent all in one. I’m getting Munchausen by Proxy just by driving: this car keeps telling me I’m a terrible driver so I’m becoming one.

It’s all quite amazing because it was only a few decades ago that driving on the open highway, listening to rock and roll, was the essence of the ideal of American freedom. In fact, in the postwar years, there was an explicit shift away from passenger trains to family and individual cars because they better embodied this American spirit.

Think about all the great American driving songs. “Born to Run.” “Take It Easy.” “Born to Be Wild.” “Route 66.” “Fast Car.” “On the Road Again.” “Mustang Sally.” “Little Red Corvette.”

All these songs celebrated the unity of freedom and driving.

Not so with these new models. They are the opposite. They have turned the freedom to drive into a panopticon of behavioral monitoring and correction. You are rats in this mobile laboratory, the pigeon in a Pavlovian cage variously poked, prodded, fed, and starved.

The experience creates in the driver the irrepressible dream of pulling over, grabbing your things, and hoofing it down the highway so at least you can be free.

Hard to know who could have invented these systems and why. Cars have been mainstream for a century and somehow people have gotten by without these supposedly smart systems before. Indeed, people learned how to drive via experience and heightened human consciousness and intelligence.

These new systems disable all intelligence and experience and feed into the most paranoid suspicion that these machines are trying not to help us but replace us. Instead of flattering your mastery and volitional prowess, they condescend with the presumption that you are reckless and sinful and very likely a danger to yourself and others, desperately in need of being adulted by digital pedagogy.

There was another layer of despair that set in as I drove. My own car is 10 years old. I’m holding onto it for dear life, prolonging its health as long as possible, swearing never to give into this new world of deep-state passengerism. But we all know that this pose cannot last forever. At some point, I will have to give in.

Every old eventually gets too old and most things that are new will become the norm. Maybe a mass consumer revolt will stop this trajectory but one wonders. The control grid makes advances by the day. We are surrounded by surveillance. I cannot even have a private conversation with my mother on a topic without its prompting email spam on the same subject.

Obviously our phones are listening. Our cars are listening. Everything is listening. Not only that, we are being tracked and judged. For all I know, the next time I rent a car, my profile will pop up revealing that I triggered 17 needs-coffee alerts.

As I dropped off the car, I complained bitterly and the nice man who welcomed me back felt bad. I felt bad. The manager offered me a discount on my next rental, which I refused because none of this was their fault. They are victims of this nonsense as much as I am. We all are.

Still, maybe my complaint was logged somewhere. If nothing else, my iPhone heard it. Which, now that I think about it, might not be good. In the future, this could get us debanked.

Under these conditions, we could end up like Cuba where all cars are old cars because socialism doesn’t know how to make new ones. With the U.S. control grid, we will have to keep the old cars functional if we want to maintain our freedom and our sanity.

I might have to go searching for my 1963 VW Beetle and rebuild it yet again.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 15:05

Northrop Grumman's Cryptic Online Post Has D.C. Looking Skyward On July 4

President Trump's July 4 Freedom 250 celebration on the National Mall is being described by the president as the "most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen."

Focusing on the air show, called the "Salute to America 250 Aviation Spectacle," the event will feature military flyovers, first-time aerobatic demonstrations over D.C., music, ceremonies, and a fireworks show to top off the festivities.

Expected aerial participants include the Navy Blue Angels, Air Force Thunderbirds, F-22 Raptor Demo Team, F-35B Lightning II Demo Team, F/A-18 Super Hornet Demo Team, MV-22 Osprey Demo Team, and Navy F-35C Demo Team.

Some of the "signature formation flyovers" listed on the Salute to America 250 Aviation Spectacle website include the new Air Force One jet, Air Force Tri-Bomber, and "US Stealth Power."

There is growing online speculation that the new B-21 stealth bomber could make an appearance after a cryptic post from Northrop Grumman on X.

👀🎂🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/wyQ7DNPHlH

— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) July 1, 2026

X users respond:

Pretty obvious this bird will be at DC this weekend

— LH (@LH78__) July 1, 2026

The B-21 is the evolution of the B-2 stealth bomber and is currently undergoing aerial trials, recently completing aerial refueling test flights.

Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider continues to demonstrate outstanding performance as the program moves into more advanced phases flight test, including aerial refueling. (Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force)

The B-21 is the world's first sixth-generation bomber, and the "most advanced aircraft to take to the sky now has global reach," according to Northrop.

The B-21 Raider conducts aerial refueling with a KC-135 Stratotanker, which is a key part to the Raider’s role in projecting power globally. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)

The D.C. airshow would certainly be the venue for the Trump administration to showcase "U.S. stealth power" to the world, especially with an interim peace deal with Iran and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. A B-21 appearance, even if only symbolic, would send a clear message overseas: America's next-generation long-range strike capability will be secured in the 2030s.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 14:45

House Dems Launch Effort To Impeach Secretary Linda McMahon For Downsizing Education Department

Authored by Jennifer Kabanny via The College Fix,

A Democratic representative from Oregon, backed by numerous fellow lawmakers in the House, has filed articles of impeachment against Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon, alleging she is illegally dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici introduced the resolution last Thursday, arguing “I introduced an impeachment resolution because Secretary McMahon has made it her mission to close down the Department of Education, something she does not have the right to do.”

The legislation is cosponsored by 16 fellow Democrats, according to a news release from Bonamici’s office.

“Since taking office McMahon has unlawfully ordered the transfer of at least five offices and their multiple programs to other agencies – all without the consent of Congress,” it states.

“Congress created the Department of Education and only Congress can dismantle it. These transfers essentially gut the Department of Education and obstruct the Department’s ability to conduct statutory oversight and disburse Federal funds appropriated by Congress through its authority under Article I of the United States Constitution.”

The resolution came shortly after it was announced the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights duties will shift to the Justice Department and its special education office to the Department of Health and Human Services.

McMahon clapped back at the impeachment effort in a post on X.

It speaks volumes that House Democrats think an impeachable offense is working to improve student outcomes and reduce the federal bureaucracy. They must not be bothered by chronic failures of our education system that result in historic low test scores, a failed FAFSA form… https://t.co/OMkrpvdqoz

— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) June 17, 2026

“It speaks volumes that House Democrats think an impeachable offense is working to improve student outcomes and reduce the federal bureaucracy,” she posted.

“They must not be bothered by chronic failures of our education system that result in historic low test scores, a failed FAFSA form rollout, classrooms shuttered during COVID, designating parents as terrorists, and males in female locker rooms.”

“Washington spends billions of taxpayer dollars annually—having spent more than $3 trillion since the Department of Education was established in 1980—yet just one-third of children can read proficiently.”

According to Higher Ed Dive, “Bonamici’s legislation isn’t likely to go far in a Republican-controlled Congress. So far, Rep. Tim Walberg, the Republican chair of the House’s education committee, called the move ‘political theater’ in a statement shared with media.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 13:05

Goldman Sachs Warns Oil Inventory Rebuild Won’t Prevent 2027 Supply Glut

The global race to rebuild depleted oil inventories will not be enough to offset a massive glut that’s coming to the market next year, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appears to be headed toward normalization, according to Goldman Sachs commodity strategists.  

First, arguing the bullish side, stockpiles of crude and refined petroleum products in many parts of the world have been depleted to multi-decade lows after governments raced to release strategic stockpiles in March after the Middle East crisis trapped millions of barrels of daily crude and product flows in the Persian Gulf. These inventories will now have to be rebuilt - a process that’s likely to put a floor under oil prices, Oilprice reports..

In the United States alone, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has been depleted to a 1983 low, while stocks at Cushing, the delivery point of WTI, have crumbled to operational-stress levels.

In addition, many countries, especially in Asia Pacific, are looking to build new reserve capacity to boost their energy security and never again be caught off-guard by a massive supply disruption like the one triggered by the closure of the most important oil and LNG chokepoint.

But Goldman Sachs takes the bearish side, and says that all these demand-supportive factors cannot erase the major glut coming next year. 

The investment bank expects the global oil surplus to be about 3 million barrels per day (bpd) next year, Samantha Dart, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman, told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Wednesday.

“We do expect a little over 1 million barrels a day just of SPR rebuilding globally, but still, that would leave us close to 2 million barrels a day of a surplus,” Dart added.

Other Wall Street banks have also started to predict a glut next year after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June to negotiate a peace deal.

Morgan Stanley, for example, has slashed its oil price forecasts for the next 18 months as it expects the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to accelerate a new supply glut.

More in Dart's latest note available to pro subscribers.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 12:45

Elon's Next Move: Your Money

Authored by Adam Sharp via DailyReckoning.com,

For years, Elon Musk has dreamed of turning X (formerly Twitter) into the “everything app”.

Now that X is part of SpaceX (SPCX), and the combined company just raised $112 billion, the time looks ripe.

Elon envisions X as a single place where you can bank, chat, earn, advertise, use AI, shop, and more.

X Money is a key part of that vision. And we just got the first idea of what it will look like.

The program just launched to a small group of users. To attract deposits, X is offering some pretty crazy (and likely temporary) perks:

• 6% APY on cash, no deposit limit

• 3% cash back on purchases (with exceptions)

• $10 million FDIC insurance (by splitting deposits up between banks)

A 6% yield is not sustainable long-term (at current interest rates). It’s a teaser rate to get people to switch to X Money. Same goes for 3% cash back. That’s 3x higher than the industry average, and will almost certainly not last long.

These teasers may get a lot of people to switch. But it’s unclear how long the perks will last, and it’s currently only available to a small group.

X is not a bank. At least not yet. It’s more like a “neobank”, which manages the marketing and customer relationship, while licensed banks handle the deposits.

But for the user, it feels like a bank account and debit card. Deposits, yield, wire transfers, autopay, P2P payments, etc.

The WeChat Model

Musk’s desire to build the “everything app” may have been inspired by China’s WeChat.

WeChat is owned by Chinese tech firm Tencent. It started out as a simple messaging app. But Tencent rapidly expanded its utility, and today it is basically a digital operating system for the country.

In China, WeChat is used for payment, invoices, government interactions, making appointments, videos, shopping, games, chatting on social media, and much more.

WeChat Pay holds a massive 38% share of payments in China. More than a billion people use the app. It’s so ubiquitous that many Chinese people essentially run their lives through the app.

Largely as a result of WeChat’s success, Tencent has become a $488 billion tech giant.

This is what Musk is aiming for. If X Money succeeds, it could help justify SpaceX’s lofty valuation of $2.2 trillion.

SpaceX’s Huge Ambitions

X (formerly Twitter) has been the least-discussed part of SpaceX.

All the attention has been on rockets and AI. For good reason. Those are both very exciting areas.

But X deserves attention as well. Musk aims to turn the social network into a super-app, much like WeChat. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion. If he succeeds, it could be worth much more over the long term.

But running what is essentially a combination bank and social network is no easy matter. For one thing, it makes security far more important (and challenging). It’s going to require a massive customer support team. And that’s one area where Elon’s X has struggled.

X Money is going to be a critical part of building the “everything app”. And the team is going big on the launch.

Think about the 6% APYs X is offering on deposits. Let’s say that X Money attracts $10 billion in deposits over the first year.

Paying a 6% yield on that much cash could cost SpaceX $240 million a year in losses. That’s assuming their own internal return on cash is around 3.5%, plus bank fees and other transaction costs. This is why I assume the 6% APY is temporary.

And the 3% cash back? That appears to be on a debit card, which doesn’t have the same fee support as a credit card. So that could be another very expensive tool to attract users.

But the losses could be worth it. The market they’re targeting is massive. Payments, banking, and eventually – everything.

So will X succeed in becoming a “super app”? Honestly? I think it’s a long shot.

X Money would probably need to be wildly successful and run away with the market.

One problem is that Meta/Facebook (META) will copy anything that looks to be working. The company is notorious for it. And they have a much larger user base. Meta also already has WhatsApp pay and several payment integrations with Facebook.

Another problem is that American banks are extremely profitable, and in some ways act like a cartel. They won’t appreciate X stepping onto their turf, and may fight back. With lawfare, lobbying, or other means.

A Beautiful But Difficult Model

The “everything app”, or the WeChat model has been the dream of every social media company in the world for a while. But it’s going to be very difficult to pull off at this stage of the game.

Then again, we should never count Elon out. If he’s going to go hard after this market, SpaceX certainly has a shot at winning it.

SpaceX just raised $87 billion in its IPO, then another $25 billion in bond sales. That is a massive war chest.

SPCX has big aspirations. And with a $2.2 trillion market cap, it has a lot of growing to do in order to justify that lofty price.

X Money is a calculated risk by SpaceX. One that could pay off big.

I don’t have a position in SpaceX, but it’s going to be fascinating to watch.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 12:25

Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Ousts 15-Term Rep. Diana DeGette In Colorado Primary

As we've been noting of late, the Democrats have a problem: socialists are on the move. The latest - in a striking upset, democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated 15-term U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in Tuesday's Democratic primary for Colorado's 1st Congressional District. The victory extends a recent winning streak for the party's left wing and hands Republicans fresh ammunition heading into the fall campaign.

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros (L) ousted 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in Tuesday's Democratic primary

Kiros, a 29-year-old former attorney, defeated the 68-year-old incumbent who has represented the Denver-based seat since 1997. DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had long been viewed as secure in the solidly Democratic district. Kiros's win, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Socialists of America, came just one week after the DSA notched several high-profile primary victories in New York City.

The result is likely to intensify internal Democratic tensions. While party leaders sought to minimize last week's New York outcomes, Kiros's success in a Western swing state makes it harder to dismiss the pattern as a purely local phenomenon confined to deep-blue urban strongholds.

According to Axios, Dems are freaking out. 

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) was a staunch progressive, not a moderate, these members are privately fuming. So why did she become a target of the left?

•     "One more case in the growing dynamic of performative politics," one House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share candid analysis on the results, told Axios.
•     "Diana was an excellent representative with seniority — but the style of someone younger and more outspoken has become more attractive to that cohort of motivated urban left voters."
•     A senior House Democrat called the result a "wake-up call" for members of Congress

Kiros drew scrutiny during the campaign for a letter she wrote criticizing the view that calls for the elimination of Israel constitute antisemitism. Despite those comments, she built a strong coalition among younger, college-educated voters who have moved into the district in recent years. With most votes counted, she held a roughly four-point lead when major outlets called the race.

GOP strategists quickly framed the outcome as evidence that the party's left flank is expanding its influence beyond traditional strongholds, according to The Hill. A spokesperson for the House Republican campaign arm said the result showed "the socialist takeover of the Democrat Party is no longer confined to deep-blue strongholds," arguing it would complicate Democratic efforts to flip the House.

Other Anti-Incumbent Signals In Colorado

Voters delivered additional rebukes to establishment figures on Tuesday. In the Democratic primary for governor, state Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who had been considered the early frontrunner. Weiser, while a mainstream Democrat, ran an insurgent-style campaign that emphasized his record of suing the Trump administration 66 times and criticized Bennet for confirming some of President Trump's Cabinet nominees. He also portrayed the senator as too aligned with wealthy donors.

Bennet will keep his Senate seat and faces re-election in 2028.

In the U.S. Senate primary, Sen. John Hickenlooper successfully turned back a challenge from progressive state Sen. Julie Gonzales.

General Election Landscape Takes Shape

Tuesday's results also clarified several November matchups that could affect control of the House.

• Colorado's 1st District: Kiros is now the heavy favorite to hold the safely Democratic seat for her party.
• Colorado's 8th District: The contest remains one of the most competitive in the country. Vulnerable Republican Rep. Gabe Evans will face state Rep. Manny Rutinel, who won the Democratic primary. Cook Political Report rates the suburban Denver seat a toss-up.
• Colorado's 5th District: Army veteran Jessica Killin won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Jeff Crank. The seat has trended left in recent presidential cycles, though it remains in Republican hands.

Democrats currently need a net gain of three seats to retake the House majority.

The Colorado results add to a growing body of evidence that primary voters in 2026 are rewarding candidates who position themselves as outsiders - whether on the left flank of the Democratic Party or as critics of Washington incumbents more broadly.

Colorado's results come on the heels of last week's Democratic primaries in New York City - which turned into a referendum on the Democratic Party itself. 

Three socialist-backed candidates, backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won their races. The Democratic establishment got slaughtered, and the man left holding the wreckage is House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Every candidate Jeffries backed went down. That alone would be a bad night. What made it worse was the scene at the victory party for socialist-backed winner Claire Valdez, where the crowd erupted in boos when Jeffries's image appeared on screen, then broke into a chant: "You're next," a clear sign that his leadership position won't protect him from being a target of the Democratic Socialists of America Party.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 12:05

Did META Just Expose The First Crack In The AI CapEx Boom?

If you're wondering why the Nasdaq is suddenly tumbling this morning, wonder no more...

Nasdaq moves lower after Meta announces it has capitulated in the race to build a leading frontier LLM it is to build a cloud business to sell its excess AI compute, weighing on cloud peers like AMZN, ORCL, MSFT, neoclouds like Coreweave and Nebius (who will now be racing to the bottom for customers) and chip and memory names like NVDA, MU, INTO, as demand for their products is now likely to be much less thanks to the excess META capacity on offer.

As Bloomberg reports:

Meta, which has been rushing to secure expensive data centers and other infrastructure to fuel its own artificial intelligence ambitions, is forming a business to generate revenue from excess computing power sold to outside customers, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the details aren’t public.

One potential plan includes selling access to various AI models that are hosted on Meta’s existing AI infrastructure, an approach similar to AWS’s Bedrock offering, the people said.

Meta would run the data centers and chips that power the models, including its own Muse Spark models, and charge developers to access them.

The report also notes that the company is considering selling access to “raw” computing capacity, taking a chunk out of the business of neoclouds like CoreWeave. Ironically, META just signed multi-billion deals with CoreWeave and Nebius, and now it is turning around to compete with the very suppliers it is paying. 

Development of these new business lines is part of Meta Compute, an internal initiative to build and manage the company’s AI infrastructure efforts, according to a person familiar with the plans. Meta Compute is led by Santosh Janardhan, Meta’s head of infrastructure; Daniel Gross, a leader inside the Meta Superintelligence Labs AI unit; and Meta President Dina Powell McCormick.

Despite the complexities, Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has signaled to investors that he’s open to selling excess computing infrastructure, or even a so-called API service where customers would pay for AI usage — a business that’s usually measured in “tokens,” or the amount of data used and generated for a customer query.

“It’s definitely on the table,” Zuckerberg said during a call with shareholders in May.

“Almost every week there are different companies that come to us from the outside asking us to both stand up an API service or asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we’ve bought it at.”

This move comes after SpaceX started leasing its 'excess compute' (which is struggling now that it has competition in selling 'compute'):

...raising questions about the potential for cutting CapEx which has perhaps overshot token demand...

...did META just shatter the market’s central premise has been that compute is scarce...

As Goldman Sachs 1-Delta desk-head, Rich Privorotsky, has been warning:

“The market’s central premise has been that compute is scarce.

If scarcity persists, prices should remain firm and justify continued capex.

If supply rises and rental prices continue to drift lower, that is a direct challenge to the shortage narrative.

The first place that pain shows up is hardware. 

ORNN H100 index rolling over last couple days worth watching.

The beneficiaries are the companies selling the complete platform and monetizing usage rather than simply selling picks and shovels. My working conclusion remains that hyperscalers are the structural winners through this phase.

The first moment they demonstrate they can deliver equivalent output with lower spend, the market will reward them.

The bigger risk sits further upstream in the hardware and infrastructure stack where expectations remain built around persistent scarcity."

Simply put, confessions of 'excess capacity' will crush the hyperbolic dreams of the CapEx cycle that underpins so much of the market's recent incredible performance.

And the pivot to rewarding CapEx cutters begins...

"Lots of underperformance in hyperscalers. Everyone still appears convinced they must keep spending simply to remain competitive, while token cost compression/advent of neoclouds puts pricing pressure on core business. If token prices continue to compress alongside falling compute costs, the benefits may accrue to users faster than providers.

Ironically, the first hyperscaler to signal that it can slow the pace of spending will likely see its share price rewarded.

If that happens, others will take notice.

That is the reflexivity that ultimately stalls the capex cycle… not a lack of demand, but investors deciding that incremental returns on the next dollar of spend are no longer attractive.

Watch hyperscalers share price as leading indicator."

Don't say you weren't warned.

UBS traders see it a similar way, noting that reports that META may build out a cloud business to monetize excess compute capacity is shifting the narrative...

...being interpreted as a sign that capex expectations are no longer skewed to the upside, allowing focus to shift toward free cash flow stabilization and a potential incremental revenue stream at what are seen as near-trough valuation multiples.

The reference to excess capacity is creating some unease around underlying AI demand and has negative read-throughs for neocloud players, while also raising questions around the durability of compute and memory bottlenecks.

Into earnings, the key question is whether in-line 2Q and 3Q guidance alongside reiterated full-year capex would be sufficient to sustain the current re-rating.

In semis, price action suggests investors are linking the announcement to a potential moderation in future capex growth and a shortening in the duration of above-trend demand, even if some argue hyperscalers could absorb incremental capacity.

Neoclouds are seen as clear losers on the development.

For hyperscalers, the read-through is more mixed, with a new potential competitor emerging but also some expectation of cost relief if supply constraints ease. Early conversations suggest concerns around overbuild remain more company-specific rather than indicative of a broader industry shift, particularly given relative positioning in AI investment cycles.

META shares are notably higher on the news...

Chipmakers are hurting...

The writing had been on the wall...

...and Premium Subscribers can read the full notes we have published over the past month here: 

• Memory, Monetization, & Multiples: Goldman 1-Delta Desk Breaks Down The Key AI Debates (& The Most Important Chart To Watch)

• 'How Far Can The Rubber Band Stretch?': Goldman 1-Delta Desk Says 'This Is The Breaking Point'

• Will 'Rampart' Wreck The Hyperscaler 'To The Moon' Narrative? Goldman 1-Delta Desk Deep-Dives

Buckle Up!

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 11:52