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NFL personalities Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson showed up to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding in style.

Cellulite, you're not invited to the pool party.

The ease of access to pyrotechnics just across the border in Nevada is fueling an interstate pipeline of illegal trade that officials warn leads to catastrophic consequences.

China-Linked Socialist NGO Derailed $23.6 Billion In Data Center Buildouts: Report

Our note on Thursday titled "World's Largest Data Center Project On Verge Of Collapse After Blackstone Unexpectedly Pulls Out" detailed Blackstone dialing back its presence from Northern Virginia's data-center alley, raising questions about whether the AI infrastructure buildout, colliding with local resistance movements, has begun to hit hard limits.

Just days after agreeing to sell stakes in three Virginia data centers to Digital Realty Trust for $3.5 billion, Blackstone's QTS Realty Trust is reportedly abandoning plans for its portion of the massive Prince William Digital Gateway project. The 2,100-acre campus was expected to include as many as 37 data-center buildings and require city-scale power supplies.

"For community organizers and residents that spent the last five years opposing the Digital Gateway, QTS's pullout will now validate a playbook that involved pressure campaigns on local politicians and legal attacks. It will also unleash even more powerful blowback nationwide against these unwanted developments," we noted.

That brings us to the composition of the local resistance. Multiple reports suggest data center opposition is not entirely organic.

In fact, one familiar player appears to be involved, a name our readers know well, and the U.S. government certainly recognizes because a China-based billionaire funds the socialist NGO network.

Y Combinator founder Garry Tan, also founder of Garry's List, a civic engagement organization, cited the Bitcoin Policy Institute's recent report on how a "coordinated foreign influence campaign against American AI — running through CCP state media, a Shanghai-based Marxist's nonprofit network, and foreign billionaire dark money that has funneled $2B+ into US advocacy infrastructure."

Garry's List noted, "AI doomerism isn't as organic as it looks."

Two reports from @SamLyman33 and @bitcoinpolicy document a coordinated foreign influence campaign against American AI — running through CCP state media, a Shanghai-based Marxist's nonprofit network, and foreign billionaire dark money that has funneled $2B+ into US advocacy… pic.twitter.com/pWEUv1xwC9

— Garry's List (@garryslist) July 1, 2026

That China-based Marxist's nonprofit network spreading across the US is supported by Neville Roy Singham, who has reportedly funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into left-wing nonprofits, media operations, and activist networks that seek to sow chaos and spread communism inside the US.

Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, authorized by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, was authorized to examine whether Singham, NGOs he funded, or their leaders committed wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, or other financial crimes.

Given that federal investigators are circling the socialists in the Singham NGO network, Garry's List noted that Singham's Party for Socialism and Liberation has "run 21 campaigns across 14 states that delayed, scaled back, or blocked $23.6 billion in AI infrastructure investment."

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), whose leadership is drawn directly from executives of Singham's nonprofits, ran 21 campaigns across 14 states that delayed, scaled back, or blocked $23.6 billion in AI infrastructure investment. pic.twitter.com/DWhT1gsLiu

— Garry's List (@garryslist) July 1, 2026

None of this should be surprising because nearly one year ago we cited a new book titled China's Total War Strategy: Next-Generation Weapons of Mass Destruction - published by the CCP BioThreats Initiative and authored by Dr. Ryan Clarke, LJ Eads, Dr. Robert McCreight, and Dr. Xiaoxu Sean Lin - that outlines how the CCP has been pursuing an aggressive, multifaceted "total war" against the U.S. that leverages next-generation weapons, including synthetic narcotics (e.g., fentanyl and cannabinoids), bioweapons (e.g., Covid-19), psychological manipulation and influence (e.g., TikTok), and a broad arsenal of irregular warfare tools.

One of the irregular warfare tools we've sounded the alarm on is the use of nonprofits to sow chaos from within. It now appears that PSL and its socialist allies have moved beyond protesting U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the Caribbean and anti-ICE riots, and have set their sights on data centers, just as the U.S. is locked in a compute race with China.

Even The New York Times has linked Singham to CCP-aligned propaganda networks.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/03/2026 - 18:40

Heaps of trash mixed with kids’ toys were spotted from outside the house while a wood deck and backyard had old tires, a high chair and other garbage strewn around.

By now, basketball fans know that LeBron James has informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he will not be re-signing with them in free agency this offseason, and will instead find a new team to end his legendary NBA career with.

The Knicks have a Mitchell Robinson replacement.

Discovered in 2013, the vibrantly colored planet is one of the coldest known celestial objects ever directly imaged, and until recently has been too faint to examine from Earth’s light. 

The musician and his wife coordinated in show-stopping looks.

The musician and his wife coordinated in show-stopping looks.

San Francisco renters face record-high costs, with apartment prices soaring over 20% year-over-year.

The Celtics continued reshaping their future Friday by locking up 2025-26 starting center Neemias Queta on a long-term extension.

In a tortured internal debate, the leftist do-gooders also bent over backward to be inclusive, arguing the word “slave” shouldn’t be used and that black people should be mentioned. 

America's crown jewel of national parks has lost its sparkle.

The Department of Transportation intends to replace the ban on overland supersonic flight with a noise limit, allowing aircraft to fly faster than Mach 1 over land as long as the resulting noise stays below a set level, according to a notice published Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the Federal Register.

The model wore a $14,500 Wiederhoeft gown on her way to MSG.

The model wore a $14,500 Wiederhoeft gown on her way to MSG.

The Los Angeles Lakers have launched a new era for the franchise this summer.

Backlash After Columbus, Ohio Announces It Will Raise Flag Of Somalia At City Hall

Via American Greatness,

The city of Columbus faced criticism from conservatives after a now-deleted social media post stated that City Hall would raise the Somali flag in recognition of Somali Independence Day.

The post, published Wednesday by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department on X, read:

“Happy Somali Independence Day! As we celebrate the unification of the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the State of Somaliland into the Somali Republic in 1960, City Hall will be raising the flag of Somalia.”

The message quickly drew criticism from conservative commentators and elected officials, many of whom questioned why a government building would display the flag of another nation just days before the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller wrote on X, “Columbus, Ohio raising the flag of Somalia for America 250.”

Journalist Mark Hemingway added, “No American government building should ever be raising another country’s flag. Ugh.”

Ohio attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke also criticized the announcement.

“City Hall is not a foreign embassy,” Cooke wrote. “As an Ohioan, I am repulsed by the anti-Americanism here. Our leaders treat foreign nationalism as sacred while treating American patriotism as controversial. America’s public buildings should honor America.”

Ohio state Rep. Brian Stewart, a Republican, argued the celebration sent the wrong message.

“If Somalia is such a failed state that we need to take in tens of thousands of its citizens as ‘refugees,’ then we really don’t need to be celebrating its supposed ‘independence’ with patronizing posts on social media,” Stewart wrote.

“One more way in which we encourage the refusal to assimilate.”

If Somalia is such a failed state that we need to take in tens of thousands of its citizens as “refugees,” then we really don’t need to be celebrating its supposed “independence” with patronizing posts on social media. One more way in which we encourage the refusal to assimilate. https://t.co/V2l46urZ2G

— Brian Stewart (@BrianStewartOH) July 1, 2026

The Recreation and Parks Department deleted the post shortly after Fox News Digital sought comment.

After the story was published, a city spokesperson said the original post was inaccurate.

“A social media post created by a city department falsely stated that City Hall would raise the Somalian flag in recognition of Somali Independence Day,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “While the City recognizes and respects the aspirations of people around the world to live in freedom, this post was inaccurate and has been deleted.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/03/2026 - 18:00

Independence Week

By Bas van Geffen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank

It was a reassuring week for those who are concerned about central bank independence. At the ECB’s annual conference in Sintra, moderator Sarah Eisen channeled a bit of her inner Beyoncé, asking a panel of central bank heads “To all you [bankers], who are independent, throw your hands up at me.” All four policymakers, including Fed Chairman Warsh, confirmed the importance of central bank independence: “The Fed acted independently before the Supreme Court ruling, and the Fed will continue to do so after the ruling.”

The Supreme Court kept the FOMC’s Cook in her seat for now, pending “due process.” However, that does not bar Trump from continuing to try to fire her. In the same ruling, the court overturned a nine-decades-old precedent to allow the US president more freedom to fire the heads of federal agencies at will.

The justices did acknowledge that the Fed is a special case, and that the president’s power to fire a governor “for cause” was deliberately enacted by Congress to prevent that governors only serve at the president’s pleasure. And, the justices concluded, the burden of proof is not a low bar; since independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design, they argue that “for cause” should be a substantial threshold.

So, the legal disputes will continue over what constitutes “for cause.” Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration is “doubling down” on their efforts to reshape the central bank, as Trump seeks to place more allies in the FOMC.

But the next line of the chorus was a bit more difficult for some of the panellists to sing along with. “All the [govvies], making money, throw your hands up at me” seems to have struck a nerve with the ECB’s Governing Council.

From the sidelines of the Sintra conference, Reuters reported that the central bank is considering increasing the minimum reserve requirement for banks from 1% to 2%. Tweaking the policy stance does not appear to be the reason. From a monetary policy perspective, the minimum reserve requirement is not a very potent instrument. Instead, it appears to be a cost consideration.

It wouldn’t be the first time that this is discussed. In 2023, policymakers changed the remuneration of banks’ minimum reserves – also motivated by some quick cost savings. Today, the ECB still pays more interest on the excess reserves that banks have deposited with the ECB than the central bank earns on the assets in its QE portfolios.

The result is negative net interest income, and various national central banks have thus been lossmaking in the past couple of years. That’s not an immediate problem for the central bank, but the ECB is certainly mindful of the optics and the political sensitivity. Last month’s decision to hike the policy rate by 25 basis points adds new impetus to that discussion.

At Sintra, Warsh also reiterated his aversion against forward guidance. The Fed chair refused to comment on the implications of economic data releases, or even which data series he prefers. But that doesn’t stop the market from drawing their own conclusions. On that note, US non-farm payroll growth disappointed. Companies added only 57,000 new jobs in June, and the 172,000 print for May was revised down to a much more moderate 129,000.

The employment statistics weren’t any better. The unemployment rate declined to 4.2% from 4.3%, but that was due to a large decline in the labor force. The fall in participation even outpaced the large decline in household employment. So, both the establishment survey and the household survey painted a picture of a weak labour market in June.

As a result, US money markets pared back their pricing of Fed rate hikes somewhat. That may also have given some new support to equities. Renewed AI-optimism also helps. The South-Korean Kospi index leads the charge, which appears to be led by Samsung Electronics. The company is up 8% after reportedly securing an order from Anthropic for customized AI chips.

Turning to geopolitics, negotiations between the US and Iran in Qatar have concluded, without much hiccups. The Washington Post reports that US officials feared that Israel might try to assassinate Iran’s negotiating team during the talks. So much so, that they even sent warning to Tehran. Similar risks may resurface as Iran holds the funeral ceremony for Khamenei. Iran warned both the US and Israel to refrain from attacks during the days of mourning.

Following the talks, President Trump told CNBC that Iran “agreed to just about everything we need.” Yet, reality still seems to be different. The US maintains that Iran will not get any frozen assets until it fulfills its part of the memorandum of understanding. Iran, meanwhile, is still demanding the reverse order of these events. And then there’s the issue of Hormuz tolls – or fees. The US insists that Iran does not impose any control or toll, but several European leaders have reportedly accepted the reality that some fees are unavoidable now.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/03/2026 - 17:55