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The "Zombies" star tragically died at the age of 33 on Tuesday.

The "Zombies" star tragically died at the age of 33 on Tuesday.

Is Uber Weaponizing Labor Unions To Slow Robotaxi Rivals

Ride-hailing giant Uber is reportedly aligning with drivers' unions in several cities to slow robotaxi deployments and promote regulations requiring "hybrid networks" that combine autonomous vehicles with human drivers, according to the Financial Times.

The unholy alliance is taking shape in states and cities including New Jersey and Washington, DC, where Uber and organized labor are pushing back against the rapid expansion of autonomous taxi services.

In New Jersey, Uber lobbyists proposed requiring any platform offering robotaxi services to ensure that human drivers provide at least 85% of rides during a three-year pilot program. The ride-hailing company, led by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, has also joined unions in opposing autonomous vehicle legislation in Washington, claiming that the proposed permitting regime could lock out smaller competitors and platforms such as Uber.

Uber is pitching its effort to slow the rollout of fully autonomous taxis amid mounting competitive pressure from Alphabet-owned Waymo and Tesla's emerging Cybercab. Such regulations, enacted on a city-by-city basis, could eventually create significant obstacles for competing services from Waymo, Tesla, and others that operate without human drivers.

Mandating hybrid networks could preserve Uber's existing dominance and protect its human-driver network while allowing only a limited share of autonomous vehicles. In other words, Uber's newfound concern for labor may have less to do with protecting drivers than with protecting its market share.

The FT noted that Uber remains "behind its arch-rival Waymo" in autonomous driving technology, suggesting that hybrid-network mandates may be designed to protect its market share while the company advances its own robotaxi technology. It would be a great example of weaponizing regulation to slow the competition. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 15:40

The proposal, meant to mimic a similar effort in Parton’s home state of Tennessee, would establish ‘9-25’ as Dolly Parton Day, to honor the singer’s legacy and philanthropic efforts.

The judge and the lawyers returned to sidebar after the jury returned to their room to continue deliberations.

He was a 2020 third-round pick of Harbaugh's Ravens out of Ohio State.

NY Post readers discuss antisemitic attacks on Brad Lander at a rally outside of MSG, despite his anti-Israel stances.

The ruling hands Carnegie House a rare win against the ultra-wealthy investors who own the dirt beneath it.

This Orange County city is racing against time to defend its luxurious homes and beaches from a tropical onslaught this weekend.

"Most are not qualified," a San Francisco restaurant owner claimed.

Is Geothermal Energy The Next Hidden AI Power Trade

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

Before I get into today’s idea, let me remind readers that I believe there is a very real chance that the AI boom could be coming to an end later this year and into early next year.

I detailed my thoughts on why the AI boom could end in an article called “The Real AI Crash Will Start This Year” that I published two weeks ago. I supplemented this piece with another article last week called “8 Sharp Bear Cases You Must Read Today”, which explores almost all of the possible reasons I can think of to be bearish on the stock market today.

I suggest reading both of these pieces carefully and keeping in mind that today’s article is a very first look into a sector that may or may not ever catch on in the US and will likely be highly dependent on AI’s continued expansion as a catalyst to flourish.

Having said that, if you’re still bullish on the AI build out and the market at this point, there’s an emerging theme that may be under-noticed and worth a look.

The theme is geothermal energy, and specifically the possibility that next-generation geothermal becomes part of the solution to America’s rapidly growing AI power needs. AI power needs drove my nuclear thesis last year as nuclear stocks outperformed the market in 2025 and helped my 25 Stocks I’m Watching For 2025 beat the S&P by more than +50%.

And while I am still bullish on nuclear, as I wrote about at the beginning of this year, geothermal energy is now on my radar as well…not to replace nuclear, but to supplement it potentially. And more importantly, as a potential “story” theme heading into next year.

This thesis is still very early and speculative, and there is a very real chance it never develops into anything meaningful. I’m not screaming to go out and buy anything right now. But there are enough pieces starting to come together that I think it’s worth understanding the theme now and keeping an eye on it.

First, a little background. Geothermal is essentially power generated using heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface. In a conventional geothermal plant, developers drill into naturally occurring underground reservoirs of hot water or steam and use that heat to generate electricity. The technology itself isn’t new. The U.S. has been producing geothermal electricity for decades and has several gigawatts of generating capacity today, but despite that history, geothermal still represents less than 1% of U.S. electricity generation.

The biggest problem has always been geography. Traditional geothermal works best in places where you happen to have the right combination of underground heat, water and permeable rock relatively close together. That has historically restricted development to certain parts of the western U.S. and other geologically favorable areas around the world.

What has changed is the emergence of enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS. Rather than waiting for nature to provide the perfect underground reservoir, EGS attempts to engineer one. Developers drill deep into hot rock and use techniques borrowed heavily from the oil and gas industry, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic stimulation, to create pathways through which water can circulate, absorb heat and return to the surface. Think of it, very roughly, as applying some of the technologies that transformed U.S. shale production to geothermal energy.

None of this is easy. Drilling several kilometers underground is expensive, the geology can be unpredictable, and developers have to prove these reservoirs can maintain sufficient temperatures and flow rates for years. There are also questions around water loss, drilling costs, induced seismic activity and whether the economics ultimately work at commercial scale. It is entirely possible that some of these problems prove harder or more expensive to solve than proponents currently expect.

But if they can be solved, the potential is significant because enhanced geothermal could remove one of the biggest historical limitations on geothermal power: location. Instead of needing a naturally occurring geothermal reservoir, developers could potentially build plants across much larger portions of the country wherever sufficiently hot rock can be reached economically.

That is where this starts becoming particularly interesting in the context of AI. One of the biggest constraints facing the AI buildout increasingly isn’t just chips. It’s electricity. AI data centers require enormous amounts of reliable power, and developers need sources capable of operating essentially around the clock.

Geothermal has some attractive characteristics for that purpose because it’s renewable, which can appease the clean energy and climate change lot should it return after midterms in 2028, and unlike solar and wind, it doesn’t depend on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.

If AI data centers continue proliferating across the U.S., the industry is going to need huge amounts of additional electricity. Utilities and technology companies are already looking at virtually every possible source of dependable generation, and geothermal could eventually become one piece of that puzzle. 

For more on what specifically caught my attention on geothermal energy, and the pure play stocks that I think would benefit if geothermal becomes popular, you can read my full analysis here.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 15:20

Trump Rages Against 'Treasonous Scum' In Media For Iran War Coverage

President Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to rage against US media coverage of the Iran war (not for the first time), following Treasury Scott Bessent giving similar scathing remarks earlier this week.

Trump particularly singled out recent and ongoing reports of US missile and interceptor shortages, which he has slammed as false. He called out the "treasonous SCUM" in the media for issuing supposedly inaccurate reports on "our Military Operation in Iran" - claiming that the US has "virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition".

But also notably, and in a seeming implicit contradiction, he said the USA is not at the moment "selling them to others" but is producing and stockpiling at "levels never seen before." This is amid an ongoing scramble for Europe to find an avenue to transfer more Patriots to Ukraine, as Zelensky is essentially betting for more missiles.

Trump once again further blamed the prior Biden administration for handing "hundreds of Billions of Dollars" to Ukraine and NATO "free of charge" in connection with the war with Russia.

From think tanks to NY Times to Wall Street Journal to independent media, pundits, journalists and officials have been raising the alarm on the issue.

This also comes after Trump told journalists in the Oval Office on Monday that the "older stuff" can always be used, when he was pressed over whether the United States is running out of standoff munitions:

Q: Several military leaders have reportedly told Hegseth that a prolonged, large-scale operation in Iran weakens our ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the homeland. Have you heard that?

TRUMP: We're very respected. Nobody else would be crazy enough to do it... We have unlimited amounts of... older stuff.

And then on Wednesday in formal remarks Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blasted the media for its recent coverage. He went so far as to scold the media for being the best allies that the Iranians have. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has over the past months made similar remarks, invoking themes of 'treason'.

"One of the best allies that the Iranians have on this is the media because the media immediately publishes all the lies that they say," Bessent had proclaimed at the G20 meeting in Asheville. 

"Everyone in this audience and every news outlet should be ashamed for publishing that, taking a lying regime at face value," Bessent added.

Bessent on Iran:

One of the best allies Iran has is the media.

The media immediately publishes all the lies that Iran says.

There are no mines in the strait. Two ships did not hit mines. pic.twitter.com/SdhyOOye1B

— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 1, 2026

Bessent has given other statements this week advancing Bush-style "you are either with us or against us" talking points related to the Iran war.

The Iran war this week reached the six-month mark, after White House officials initially repeatedly sought to 'assure' Americans it would be a four to six week operation.

All the way back in May, Trump rebuked a well-known NY Times reporter for a line of questioning that the president framed as "treasonous" coverage of the "victory" accomplished by the United States.

"I had a total military victory. But the fake news, guys like you, write incorrectly. You're a fake guy. We had a total military victory. I actually think it's sort of treasonous what you write. You should be ashamed of yourself. I actually think it's treason," Trump had told David Sanger at the time aboard Air Force One.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 15:15

All Bubbles End In Deflation

Authored by Bill Bonner via DailyReckoning.com,

We begin this week’s perambulations with a stroll into the future.

So far…the Bubble in the US is broader than any in history. It has been inflating everything it touched for the last 30 years.

All bubbles pop, of course. How they pop is the confusing whirlwind we enter today.

But don’t worry. Even in the worst crash, real wealth doesn’t disappear, it just changes hands. When the stock market goes down, those with stocks have less paper wealth…and less of a claim on real wealth. They are ‘poorer.’ That leaves those without stocks relatively richer. They have a bigger claim on the real goods and services the economy produces.

The feds and their elite cronies have a good racket going…diddling markets so as to shift more and more wealth away from the public and towards themselves. They own most of the capital assets…and they control the US budget. Pressuring interest rates lower, and backing up the stock market with bailouts and ‘put’ options…they’ve gotten richer and richer. As we saw last week, at today’s prices the stockholding class can theoretically buy twice the GDP…and have $10 trillion left over.

It wasn’t capitalism that made them so rich; it was a corrupt money system. And if the dogs of capitalism were unleashed, they’d have their fake money fortunes for dinner. Interest rates would be set by honest savers and borrowers — not by Fed policy decisions. Prices would be determined by buyers and sellers; the budget would be balanced; the debt would be cleaned up; the troops would come home; inflation would disappear; and the Baltimore O’s would win the World Series.

But of course, we’re dreaming.

Sticking to the real world…

Our high confidence guess is that the bubble will deflate. Everything will fall in price. Then, the feds will panic. They will do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop markets from doing their work — with more fake money, lower interest rates, yield curve control, quantitative easing. And probably some tricks we haven’t heard of yet.

After an initial sell-off, gold will go up. It will sniff out what is coming — more inflation. Other real asset prices too — from hot dogs to hotels — will get a whiff of the coming price hikes. Consumer prices will rise as ‘inflation expectations’ increase.

The feds really only have one tool — fake money. In a crisis, they will produce more of it…a lot more. And, in addition to the quantity of money coming into the economy, there’s another key inflation variable: the velocity of money. A dollar spent two times in a year is counted twice.

When people think the feds are going to print money, the dollar becomes a hot potato. They aim to get rid of it as soon as possible. Sales go up in the short run. In the longer run, the economy is destroyed.

And here’s an important addendum. We say ‘inflate or die.’ But those are just policy choices. In the long run, you can inflate all you want. The bubble will still die — a later, more gruesome death.

In the fight between markets on one side…and politicians, grifters, fixers and central planners on the other…markets always win, eventually. They win by deflation.

Even in an inflationary blow off — with prices soaring — real prices fall. Consumer prices rise, in nominal currency. But gold — real money — typically rises even more…so that in gold terms, real things actually become cheaper. Prices deflate in real terms.

Observers in Germany’s record-setting hyperinflation remarked that foreigners were able to use dollars — then, backed by gold — to buy things at absurdly low prices. By November, 1923, a dollar was equal to 4.2 trillion marks. This made American visitors trillionaires (in marks) allowing them to buy whole houses for the price of a magazine subscription. In real terms, prices had deflated down to almost nothing.

We witnessed it, ourselves, in Argentina. In pesos, consumer prices more than doubled every twelve months…but dollars (even with a dodgy dollar) made them cheaper than ever. We would go to a restaurant, for example, and feel guilty about paying so little for such a good meal.

The same phenomenon is already taking place in America, too. Housing has gotten much more expensive, right? And the stock market is much higher too, right? But looked at in terms of gold, stocks are less than half of what they were worth in 1999…and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, expressed in gold, shows house prices down about 80% over the last quarter century.

The Case Shiller Home Price Index, in gold terms, has fallen around 80% in the last 25 years.

In real terms, all bubbles deflate…but you need real money to see it.

Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 14:40

Trump will attend a remembrance event at the Pentagon rather than in his birth city — a decision that has drawn intrigue and speculation amid Iranian assassination threats.

An American Airlines flight was forced to abort takeoff from New York Thursday after a bird strike was reported, the Federal Aviation Administration told local outlets. Chicago-bound Flight 392 was about to leave the runway at LaGuardia Airport when the crew reported the strike at 8:20 a.m., the FAA told FOX5NY. LGA imposed a brief...

Perry and Trudeau began dating shortly after she and Bloom confirmed the end of their relationship in July 2025.

Perry and Trudeau began dating shortly after she and Bloom confirmed the end of their relationship in July 2025.

From eating green to seeing green.

Advocates say data centres will bring jobs but others worry they will suck up resources while providing little advantage.

The New York governor ignited a firestorm from conservatives after pictures emerged of her wearing a head scarf at a mosque last year, prompting Blakeman to label her “hijab Hochul” in a social media post.