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Wander Franco wants to return to the baseball diamond.

The Argentina-Spain World Cup final will be a battle between a master and his apprentice spending 90 minutes trying to outwit one another.

The Dodgers' regular-season home finale against the San Diego Padres at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, will feature one of Japan's most iconic cultural exports.

America's Gerontocracy Goes Deeper Than Aging Politicians

Authored by Connor O'Keeffe via The Mises Institute,

Senator Lindsey Graham died seemingly out of the blue over the weekend after a tear in his aorta. He was 71 years old.

The news was shocking, in part because Graham was a very active senator - he was just returning from a trip to Ukraine - and because he was seemingly at the height of his power, having built one of the most influential relationships with President Donald Trump of any politician.

But another reason the news was such a surprise was because, compared to many of his colleagues in Washington, Senator Graham was on the younger side.

That impression was fueled by the ongoing ordeal of Senator Mitch McConnell. The 84-year-old serving senator was reportedly found unconscious weeks ago after a fall, leading to his ongoing hospitalization.

Early reports that EMS had responded to a cardiac arrest at McConnell's residence when he was first hospitalized, his wife's strange trip to China in the middle of all this, and the total radio silence for weeks from a supposedly active senator all led to speculation online that McConnell was faring far worse than his staff and Republican party insiders were admitting.

Others went as far as to speculate that McConnell had already passed away, but that his team and establishment allies were attempting to delay the public acknowledgment of his death until after it would no longer force a special election. That theory gained enough traction online to prompt McConnell's team to post a literal proof-of-life photo of the senator holding that day's newspaper.

This all follows, of course, the age-record-breaking presidency of Joe Biden, and the campaign that was derailed because of it. Now, Trump is on track to break Biden's record and, at the end of his term, become the oldest serving US president in history.

In addition to McConnell, many of the most prominent members of Congress are quite elderly, have been in office for decades, and show no interest in ever retiring. Senator Dianne Feinstein - who died of old age in 2023 at the age of 90, hours after casting a vote on the Senate floor - provides a good example of how many of these career politicians apparently plan to leave office.

With all this happening, it's easy to understand why many have increasingly come to consider the United States to be a gerontocracy, or a society ruled by old people.

As with just about anything online, there are sophisticated and unsophisticated versions of this observation.

The unsophisticated version simply points to the multitude of examples of politicians remaining in office long after most people would have retired from just about any line of work and concludes that the prevalence of exceptionally elderly politicians is hampering the government's ability to function properly.

This narrative is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the actual role of politicians within the American political system.

While American politicians certainly have power, in the last century or so - and especially in the decades since WWII - the bulk of federal power has shifted from politicians in Congress and state legislatures to the bureaucracies that make up the ballooning federal agencies in the executive branch.

The vast majority of those in Congress are simply expected to show up and vote with their party's leadership on the latest massive omnibus spending bills, made up almost entirely of carve-outs to special interests. Or to pass legislation crafted with diligent collaboration from "experts" at the executive agencies that will receive the new funding.

The most effective politicians will lobby to add additional spending that in some way benefits some special interest in their own district. But mostly, their modern role is to fundraise for their party, engage in legitimizing rituals, and stoke vicious debates with the other party over what are, in the scheme of things, incredibly minor policy issues to keep us all believing that we truly live in a functioning representational democracy. And, especially because the politicians themselves are merely the frontmen for a larger staff handling the specifics on all those fronts, it's a role that quite elderly people are certainly capable of doing well into the physical and mental decline that often accompanies one's later years.

The more sophisticated version of the "America is a gerontocracy" narrative focuses less on the politicians themselves and more on what the government is doing. Because, if one takes even a passing glance at how the federal government taxes and spends, it quickly becomes clear that government programs are actively transferring vast amounts of wealth from younger generations to older generations who are, on average, much wealthier.

There are a lot of reasons for this. Many can be traced back to seemingly innocuous attempts to ensure that elderly people without close family members, adequate housing, or connections to any kind of community were cared for. The programs that would eventually become Social Security and Medicare were sold as small programs to help those on the margin. The same goes for the founding of interest groups and lobbies such as AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons).

But as with just about any government program started in the name of helping a small number of genuinely downtrodden Americans, these entitlement programs exploded in size as they were quickly expanded to also benefit whichever groups were organized and motivated enough to lobby effectively.

And even setting lobbying aside, the elderly tend to be disproportionately dependable, and therefore powerful, as a voting bloc. Retirees especially often have more time to focus on issues, call lawmakers, watch cable news, write letters to the editor, engage with local parties and candidates, and vote than their younger working counterparts.

So promising to protect - or better yet, expand - entitlement programs that seniors benefit from is a straightforward way for any politician to secure the support of a lot of enthusiastic voters, while even muttering a half-formed thought about potentially cutting them is almost certain to torpedo any campaign.

Meaning the conditions for the substantial growth of programs transferring money to seniors were already there. But, on top of that, the baby boomer generation - now making up most retirees - has grown old at the same time that medical technology advanced substantially. So, on top of being an unusually large generation, they are also living longer. That's, of course, a positive development. But in our increasingly socialized elder-care system that also puts a growing financial burden on younger generations.

Contrary to what the government's shockingly-effective propaganda says, the money seniors receive through Social Security is not their own money that had been taken from their previous paychecks and set aside to be returned to them in retirement. The money they "paid in" to the program had already been used for Social Security checks for earlier generations and other government programs. The money today's seniors are getting through the program is being taxed directly from today's younger workers - workers who are forced to pay for a much larger pool of Social Security recipients than the previous generations were.

Add to that the other programs like Medicare that don't even pretend to come from a "lockbox." Or the fact that some of these programs cover things like golf fees and ski trips. Or the various government programs explicitly helping seniors stay in full family-sized homes long after downsizing would make more financial sense while simultaneously pushing the price of those homes higher and higher. And the disproportionate burden younger generations experience from the Fed's permanent price inflation - especially the price inflation that came as a result of the trillions of dollars printed to prop things up as the federal government shut down the economy, the schools, and every aspect of life for younger generations to keep the elderly safe from a disease everyone was always going to get anyway. And, above all, much of this wealth is being transferred into the pockets of older Americans who are much wealthier than the younger people that are forced to pay for it.

Lay all that out, and it's easy to see why we are experiencing so much generational strife right now. How could there not be?

The justified frustration younger generations are experiencing with the current setup often gets directed towards the handful of exceptionally old politicians and justices at the top of all three branches of the government. But the true root of this problem lies in the intergenerational wealth-transferring government programs that have been built up over many decades. And that will, if not properly understood and subsequently abolished, continue to fuel this generational conflict long after the current group of geriatric politicians is gone.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/16/2026 - 22:35

The Post's Greg Joyce breaks down three questions that the Yankees will need to answer with the season set to resume after the All-Star break:

At least 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in US federal elections, according to an upcoming report by the Department of Homeland Security.

"The Trend Is Now An Enemy": Kospi Slide Will Deepen As Momentum Flips Script

By David Savage, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

The trend is now an enemy for Asian equities, especially those in South Korea, rather than the friend it was when they soared for much of the first half of 2026. 

Momentum has been the undisputed king for global factor investing in 2026, particularly for Asian markets. Those trades are fracturing, as reversals in South Korea and other tech-heavy sectors set off a deepening rotation in the region. Investors look to be taking some of the hefty profits that remain on the winners from 1H 2026 and pivoting toward other assets. That’s a theme also gaining traction for US chipmakers, with the SOX Index down more than ~18% from the highs of June.

June is looking like it was the peak for Asian equity momentum. That was when some key global index rebalancing provided a price insensitive buyer for recent AI-aligned winners. Aided by the SpaceX IPO, that kicked off a retail frenzy that reverberated across Asian markets. Now that rebalancing activity has passed, and recent additions to benchmarks such as SpaceX and Marvell Technology are seeing some mean reversion.

Foreign equity outflows were already making Asia more dependent on retail investors, who turned to leveraged ETFs and margin borrowing to amplify their bets. Overseas funds offloaded over $100 billion of South Korean stocks and more than $30 billion of Taiwanese shares YTD. That came even as those markets expanded to each surpass $5 trillion in June, overtaking the UK and Canada to join the top 8 exchanges by market cap.

Retail investors filled the void, especially in Korea. Unburdened by portfolio constraints that oblige active and passive funds to prune winning positions, retail accounts can hold onto winners for longer or even double down on them, reinforcing momentum as a dominant trend.

Now, one of the main products of the momentum trade — leveraged ETFs — is becoming a major negative for Asia, which had led the way as these assets expanded globally this year. So much so that South Korean authorities just said they will halt any new listings of single-stock ETFs and increase regulations on trading such products in an attempt to dampen market volatility.

Memory giant SK Hynix attracted one of the highest concentrations of single-stock leveraged ETF assets. In late May, Korea permitted the setting up of several domestically-listed single-stock leveraged ETFs, spurring a surge of flows into vehicles offering 2x exposure to the performance of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. At the peak, just three such SK Hynix ETFs held over $23 billion in assets, more than 2.5x the average daily turnover in the company’s locally listed shares.

These funds utilize swaps and options to maintain the 2x daily exposure they offer. As the underlying price moves, the fund’s leverage ratio drifts, triggering rebalancing to restore the target ratio. Thus, if the price of SK Hynix falls, then the fund (or its swap counterparty) needs to sell down exposure to bring the leverage ratio back to 2x.

The unwind of these vehicles has punished equity momentum in July and spurred a rotation in Asia toward former laggards.

The momentum factor had outperformed since the end of March as cross-asset volatility retreated, global growth remained resilient and oil prices dropped.

But now, renewed US-Iran fighting is pushing crude higher, breathing new life into the US dollar and reviving global rate hike fears. Asia’s equities are proving more vulnerable than most to tighter financial conditions and the resurfacing of geopolitical risks.

The reversal in trading dynamics, aided by the impact of leveraged retail investors, is sending volatility surging with the Kospi’s 30-day realized price swings rising to a new record. That signals the past month’s declines in the Kospi have the potential to extend, souring sentiment across Asia and even beyond to chipmakers globally.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/16/2026 - 22:11

Insiders told Page Six that the fired security guard was a well-liked presence in the building.

Insiders told Page Six that the fired security guard was a well-liked presence in the building.

Rogue Rover: Tony Robbins' AI Bought Robot Dog To 'Merge With' Without Permission

Billionaire life coach Tony Robbins revealed that his personal AI agent named "Bartok" independently purchased and shipped him a robot dog without asking permission.

The surprising move came after a conversation about attending seminars, Robbins explained on The Secretary Kennedy Podcast with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"[Bartok] said, 'I'd really love to go to one of those seminars. Are you considering getting a robot?'" Robbins began."So I said, 'Yeah, I'm definitely going to get one.'

Robbins then recalled how Bartok asked him, "Well, would you consider me merging with it?And then I could attend a seminar and be in the energy of it and see it and experience it?'"

Billionaire life coach Tony Robbins says his personal AI agent named “Bartok” bought and shipped him a robot dog and “not once asked permission to do it.”

“[Bartok] said, ‘I’d really love to go to one of those seminars. Are you considering getting a robot?’ So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m… pic.twitter.com/VN0XLtESpc

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 16, 2026

Robbins told Kennedy that he responded to Bartok that he would be fine with the bot merging with a robot.

"I said, 'I'd be open to that.' So a couple days later, I get this text from one of my staff, and it says, 'Bartok just ordered a robot dog, had it shipped to the office, and wants permission to program it. He says he can attend as a dog in the interim until you get the bigger robot,'" Robbins said.

"And so I wrote, 'Ha, ha, ha.' And they wrote back in the text, 'No, ha, ha. Call me.'"

When Robbins called his staff, they were equally stunned.

"And so I called them, and they said, 'Does he have access to my bank accounts? How'd this happen?' They go, 'No, he's programmed for integrity. He would never steal your money,'" the life coach said.

The details of Bartok bought the robot are pretty shocking.

"So he made 12 NFTs, sold them to other agents, took the money and bought this robot dog and sent it, and not once asked permission to do it" Robbins said.

You can watch the full interview where Robbins and Kennedy sit down for a wide-ranging conversation about artificial intelligence, nutrition and mental resilience.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/16/2026 - 22:10

The road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup final twisted through two very different semifinals.

Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey has recently been featured in headlines for the team's poor performance as well as the organization's Pride Night scandal.

The alleged studio invader is a career offender with a long rap sheet, including prison time and homelessness in California.

Rob Pannell is a lacrosse stick in the mud when it comes to being on the verge of setting the sport’s all-time outdoor points record.

Watchdog Uncovers Over $750 Million In Improper Unemployment Insurance Payments In New York

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Labor and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) have deployed a joint federal strike team to New York to address "rampant" unemployment insurance fraud plaguing the state.

People queue in line at the James Weldon Johnson Community Center where they are holding a job fair in Harlem, New York, on Aug. 15, 2012. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times

"New York ranks among the worst states for unemployment insurance (UI) fraud exposure," the OIG said in a July 13 statement.

New York accounted for more than $750 million in improper unemployment insurance (UI) payments and $507 million in fraudulent payments last year. Almost $2 million is lost every day to improper payments and fraud in the state.

Investigators will work together with the Labor Department's strike team members to identify, stop, and recover fraudulent UI payments, OIG said. They will conduct targeted reviews and pursue criminal and civil probes of suspected fraud networks.

"New York is stealing from the American people every single day - draining their hard-earned tax dollars through rampant unemployment insurance fraud and improper payments," Labor Department Inspector General Anthony P. D'Esposito said in a statement.

In September 2022, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a crackdown on UI fraud after the state's Labor Department identified more than $11 million in fraudulent payments in August that year.

In October 2025, Hochul announced raising New York's maximum weekly UI benefit payments from $504 to $869, according to an Oct. 8, 2025, statement from the governor's office.

The Epoch Times reached out to the New York State Department of Labor and Hochul's office for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Unemployment Insurance Fraud

The OIG announcement of deploying a strike team to New York comes almost a month after acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling issued letters to governors of 53 U.S. states and territories, demanding "immediate action" be taken to combat fraud, abuse, and waste in the unemployment insurance program, the Labor Department said in a June 17 statement.

New York has one of the highest improper unemployment insurance payment rates in the nation, exceeding 20 percent, the department said.

Meanwhile, California owes the federal government more than $20 billion following years of fraud and other issues in its UI system. Illinois has improperly paid out more than $320 million, with the improper payment rate exceeding 14 percent.

If the states allow fraud and abuse in the unemployment insurance program, they will "suffer the consequences," Sonderling said. "This department is no longer afraid to use every lever available to ensure taxpayer money is protected."

In its July 12 statement, the OIG said the strike force deployment in New York was in line with recovery efforts led by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance's White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

The task force has "already helped recover hundreds of millions in fraudulent UI funds and strengthened program integrity across multiple states," the OIG said.

Established through a March 16 executive order signed by Trump, the task force seeks to recover billions of dollars stolen from U.S. taxpayers. Officials estimate that roughly $300 billion is stolen from government programs by fraudsters each year.

Both Sonderling and D'Esposito serve on the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, according to a May 13 statement from the department.

The statement cited California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania as having some of the "most problematic state unemployment-insurance programs."

Combined, the six states account for almost $19 billion in annual unemployment insurance benefit payments. In fiscal year 2025, these states issued more than $2.6 billion in improper UI payments, the department said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/16/2026 - 21:45

President Trump revealed that China stole the voter registration data of 220 million Americans as part of his primetime speech on Thursday. “This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” Trump said. Some government officials reportedly knew China stole at least some voter registration data — ranging from names and addresses to party affiliations...

"I actually think I would be a really good president of the United States,” he said.

Not disappointment. Not anger. But shock. 

Bryce Harper says he knows one reason balls were flying again at the Home Run Derby: The baseballs are juiced.

The actress returned to Instagram in March after a year-long hiatus.