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Assistant U.S. Attorney Found Dead Inside Federal Building

A high-ranking federal prosecutor was found dead inside a Southern California federal building on Wednesday, just hours after he was reported missing.

Andrew Haden, Illustration via Wonderwall

Andrew Haden, 48, the No. 2 official in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, was discovered in a vacant office at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, officials said.

The county Medical Examiner's Office will determine the official cause and manner of death, but a source told the San Diego Union-Tribune that investigators believe Haden died by suicide.

Haden was a 16-year veteran of the office who climbed the ranks after joining in 2010 through the Attorney General's Honors Program. Haden served as first assistant U.S. attorney and previously ran both the Violent Crimes & Human Trafficking Section and the Criminal Division. The federal prosecutor was also a U.S. Navy veteran and a father of two school-aged children.

U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon broke the news to staffers in an email Thursday.

"This is one of the darkest days in our office's history, but there was nothing dark about Andrew Haden's life," Gordon wrote. "He was a beacon of light — full of laughter, friendship, integrity and unwavering commitment to serving our community.

"We will honor his life and legacy by carrying his light forward, today and always," he added.

Even the defense attorneys who squared off against him were rattled. Jeremy Warren, who faced Haden in court time and again, told the newspaper "the fact that we remained friends throughout is a testament to the type of guy he was," calling the death "a huge blow to the entire federal community in San Diego."

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 21:20

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Wealth Exodus: Australians Flock To Property Investment Over Business

Authored by Rex Widerstrom via The Epoch Times,

Fewer Australians are putting their capital into businesses, with the drop most acute among the wealthy, new data from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) shows. Instead, more wealth is flowing into property.

A food delivery worker waits to collect an order at a shop in the Sydney CBD in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 15, 2026. George Chan/Getty Images

The proportion of working-age Australians who run a business which employs people fell from 13.8 percent in 2002 to just 9.8 percent in 2022, according to the report called "Bricks, not Businesses."

Over the same period, the numbers of people who own at least one investment property went up by 8.1 percentage points.

That trend is even more pronounced among the wealthiest 20 percent of households, where the share of wealth tied to business fell from 11 percent in 2002 to 4.4 percent in 2022.

Meanwhile, the share of wealth tied to investment properties rose from 10.2 percent to 14.2 percent.

Challenging Business Conditions

The economic climate has long been tough for businesses. In the 2025-26 financial year, 375,331 businesses exited the market, a number broadly similar to the previous three years. Some, such as Sydney's Lamia Super Deli, were forced to close after decades of serving customers.

In 2024, business closures reached COVID-era levels, with hospitality the worst hit, and that trend has worsened since.

And more businesses are being forced to shut their doors after running into financial difficulties.

In 2024, there were 11,053 instances of companies entering administration or voluntary liquidation. That number rose to 14,722 in 2025 before dipping only marginally to 14,011 in the 2025-26 financial year.

CEDA Economist Daniel Beadle said property investment remained a better option than owning a business in an increasingly uncertain economy.

"That's not a coincidence. It's the predictable result of a tax and policy system that rewards passive investment in existing property over the kind of productive risk-taking that creates new businesses, new jobs and a more dynamic economy," he said.

According to the analysis, policies like negative gearing and the capital gains discount have consistently favoured real estate over business investment, while assistance for start-ups and small enterprises has lagged behind.

Despite a 64 percent increase in prices since 2007, small business capital gains concessions have remained at the same asset and turnover thresholds.

And the flight of capital from business to property is particularly the case among high-net-worth individuals and families, CEDA has found.

"The Australians most financially equipped to take a risk on a new business are doing so less, with more of their wealth concentrated in property," Beadle said.

Policies Have Favoured Property

The drivers of declining entrepreneurship are complex and layered, but addressing distortions that favour property investment over businesses can help correct this trend, the report said.

It also found that the federal budget for 2026-27 and subsequent policies, such as new assistance for small and young businesses and changes to negative gearing and the capital gains discount have made "meaningful progress" in rebalancing these incentives.

"These changes are a genuine step in the right direction," Beadle said. "Removing some of the long-standing advantages enjoyed by property investors, while improving conditions for people starting a business, is exactly the kind of rebalancing we need."

The economist cautioned, however, that tax settings alone would not be sufficient to revitalise the nation's entrepreneurial base, emphasising that CEDA would closely monitor measures announced in the federal budget to reduce the regulatory burden.

"Businesses consistently tell us that regulation is one of the biggest handbrakes on getting started and growing. In some cities, opening something as simple as a café can mean working through more than 30 separate council steps before you've sold a single coffee," he said.

Although there are concerns that falling home prices could have a greater impact on household wealth as more people invest their capital in housing rather than productive assets, Beadle said these concerns were exaggerated.

Even after recent falls, national dwelling prices remain more than double their 2010 level.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 20:55

Just days after winning the club championship at his own Bedminster golf course, the prez was back at the top of the score sheet at his Westchester track.

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US Treasury Classifies Hezbollah As Arm Of The IRGC, Not A 'Stand-Alone' Group

The new US Treasury sanctions on Hezbollah unveiled Thursday do more than ever before in 'legally' classifying the Lebanese militant group as essentially an arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Treasury action - which is certainly not the first designation against the group - underscored that it operated in "service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."

A State Department official characterized the re-designation as specifying that Hezbollah is an "Iranian proxy, not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation."

"This action builds on years of US designations that have repeatedly documented the operational, financial, and logistical integration between Hizballah and the IRGC-QF," the official also stated, calling Hezbollah "an extension" of the IRGC's Quds Force.

"This underscores that Hezbollah operates with little to no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese state," the US official added, which reflects longstanding Washington policy toward Lebanon.

The Treasury action had additionally targeted ten individuals accused of being part of a network that transfers cash to the Shia group.

Hezbollah has responded Friday by stating that this action "will not deter" its fighting against Israel.

"All these unjust sanctions and classifications will not deter us from adhering to the path of resistance and the right of Lebanon and the Lebanese to defend their land, sovereignty and resources," the fresh Hezbollah statement said.

The statement also asserted that the paramilitary group "does not need anyone to vouch for its Lebanese identity and patriotism." However, it boasted that "Our close and fraternal relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran is a relationship we cherish and are proud of."

While long-running cooperation between Iran and Hezbollah is obvious, including in the context of the Syrian proxy war - wherein the two defended Assad - most scholars of Lebanese history tend to see the group as springing out of a legitimately local or regional movement tied to Shia grievances and lack of representation in Lebanon's impoverished south.

It was largely a latecomer in the Lebanese Civil War, but has grown to be the most powerful and well-armed faction among all the different players in Lebanon. 

The group is even more powerful than the small Mediterranean country's national army, and has been in a decades long war with Israel for control of contested border regions, and standing against Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.

But Washington's new action is ultimately tied to the broader economic war towards completely isolating Iran and its proxies - something likely to prove easier said than done, given Russia and China are not going to play along, as well as perhaps much of the Global South and BRICS nations.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 20:30

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Let Americans Keep The Savings They Find

Authored by Wendy Barnes via RealClearPolitics,

As candidates spend the coming months telling voters how they would transform American health care, they should not overlook reforms that could make care more accessible and affordable without requiring complex new government programs.

Millions of Americans are already trying to make their health care dollars go further. They compare prices, explore alternatives to insurance, and choose lower-cost ways to obtain prescriptions and routine care. Yet federal policies often penalize them for doing exactly what policymakers say they want consumers to do: shop carefully and choose the best value option.

A practical health care affordability agenda should begin with a simple principle: When Americans use their own money to pay for legitimate health care, government rules should help that money go further.

Policymakers can put that principle into practice in two ways.

First, consumers should receive credit for the money they actually spend on prescriptions.

Consider a consumer whose insurance requires an $80 out-of-pocket payment for a prescription. That same drug may be available for $30 through a cash-pay option. Choosing the $30 price should be an easy decision.

But under many health plans, that spending may not count toward the consumer's deductible or annual out-of-pocket maximum because the prescription was purchased outside of traditional insurance. The consumer saves $50 at the pharmacy counter but forfeits credit for the $30 spent.

That is not how a system designed to encourage cost-conscious choices should work.

The Every Dollar Counts Act, introduced this year by Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D., offers a straightforward solution that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should support. It would require out-of-pocket spending on covered prescription drugs to count toward a consumer's deductible and out-of-pocket maximum regardless of where the medication is purchased.

Americans should not have to choose between finding the lowest available price and receiving the full value of their insurance. If enacted, this legislation would help remove that tradeoff.

Second, Congress should modernize flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) to reflect how people receive health care today. These accounts allow consumers to use pre-tax dollars for qualified medical expenses, but health care delivery is evolving more quickly than the rules governing which expenses qualify.

Consumers increasingly use low-cost memberships that provide access to discounted prescriptions, virtual visits, or other health care services. In many cases, a consumer can use FSA or HSA funds for the prescription or appointment itself, but not for the membership that unlocks the lower price.

Congress has already begun to recognize that health care memberships can be legitimate medical expenses. As of this year, certain direct primary care memberships can be paid tax-free from an HSA under a change implemented through IRS guidance. But that change is narrowly limited, leaving out broader memberships that may combine prescription savings, virtual care, and other services.

Lawmakers should extend the same principle to other health care memberships and to HSAs and FSAs. Clear eligibility standards and reasonable monthly limits could prevent abuse while allowing consumers to use their own health care dollars for services specifically designed to reduce the cost of care.

Neither of these proposals would replace insurance or require Washington to construct a new health care system. They would simply update existing policies to reflect how Americans already seek and pay for care.

Candidates will continue debating ambitious plans throughout the election season. But affordability is also shaped by technical rules with very real consequences: whether a consumer's spending counts, whether personal health care funds can be used, and whether someone can confidently choose a lower price.

Washington should give people credit for making responsible health care decisions. When Americans find a legitimate way to pay less for the care they need, public policy should reward that choice.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Wendy Barnes is president and CEO of GoodRx, the leading platform for prescription access and affordability.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2026 - 20:05