Zero Hedge

5 GOP-Led States Discussing Plans To Build Prisons Like 'Alligator Alcatraz': Noem

5 GOP-Led States Discussing Plans To Build Prisons Like 'Alligator Alcatraz': Noem

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on July 12 that five Republican-led states were discussing plans to build detention sites within their borders similar to Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Noem hosted a press conference in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday to discuss some of the illegal immigrants the Department of Homeland Security had recently arrested and deported via the Sunshine State. She took several questions on Florida’s new Alligator Alcatraz and praised the temporary detention facility.

“We’ve had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us as well,” Noem said. “I’m having ongoing conversations with five other governors about facilities that they may have.”

Noem said she had not asked the governors if she could share their names publicly. She said the plans to build similar facilities in other states were spurred by capacity limitations.

“We need to double our capacity in detention beds because we need to facilitate getting people out of this country as fast as possible and to sustain our operations,” Noem said.

Florida opened Alligator Alcatraz earlier this month in Ochopee, which is situated within the Everglades more than 50 miles west of downtown Miami. The facility, intended to be temporary, was constructed primarily with tents and metal fencing and can accommodate up to 3,000 prisoners.

Kevin Guthrie, the head of Florida’s emergency management, said the facility can withstand high-end Category 2 hurricane winds. Critics have raised concerns about the impacts the facility and its prisoners could face if a major hurricane hit the site, particularly after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an “above normal” hurricane season this year, with at least three to five Category 3 or higher storms.

Noem said at Saturday’s press conference, and that there are protocols in place to “sustain any hurricane,” but did not mention if prisoners would need to be evacuated if a Category 3 or higher storm hit the area.

The homeland security secretary took several questions about Alligator Alcatraz and disputed some media reports that claim conditions at the detention facility have “deteriorated.”

“Alligator Alcatraz is held to the same standards that all federal facilities are. And in most states and in other jurisdictions, federal facilities are upheld to higher quality of standards than what some state and local jurisdictions have,” Noem said. “So any issues that were there have been addressed.”

Several Democratic lawmakers visited the site on Saturday after being previously blocked from arranging a tour, and alleged it is filled with bugs and has crowded and unsanitary conditions.

“There are really disturbing, vile conditions, and this place needs to be shut the [expletive] down,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told reporters after visiting Alligator Alcatraz. “This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”

She claimed the facility featured cage-style cells with 32 men sharing three combination toilet-sink units, and that she measured 83-degree temperatures in an entranceway to the housing area and 85 degrees in a medical intake area.

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said one detainee yelled out that he was an American citizen.

Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican, however, said he found the facility to be clean and suggested the air conditioning was working well.

“The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,” he said, after touring in the same group as Wasserman-Schultz.

Florida state Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican, also said there was “no squalor” at the facility, although he said the sanitation devices were basic.

“Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not, but this is a transitional holding facility,” Collins said.

Lawmakers were told not to bring any phones or cameras into the facility during the tour, and no journalists were allowed to join them.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 21:00

Military Aircraft's Mysterious Crash Sparks UFO Speculation In U.S. Airspace

Military Aircraft's Mysterious Crash Sparks UFO Speculation In U.S. Airspace

An unexplained collision between a U.S. military aircraft and an unidentified flying object, detailed in declassified documents, has sparked renewed questions about whether aliens have entered American airspace.

The incident occurred in January 2023, when an unidentified object struck the left side of an F-16 Viper fighter jet during a training exercise near Gila Bend, Arizona.

Fox News reports:

The flying object impacted the clear "canopy" at the top of the aircraft and was first seen by an instructor pilot seated in the rear of the plane, officials said. An initial investigation found no damage to the nearly $70 million jet, and officials ruled out a possible bird strike. Authorities ultimately concluded that the aircraft had been hit by a drone. However, the drone’s origin and operator remain unknown, a spokesperson said.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents obtained by The War Zone, the crash marked the first of four encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reported the following day.

The unusual incident was confirmed to Fox News by an Air Force spokesperson.

"According to military personnel I’ve personally met with, there were objects 200 miles off the East Coast that were extensively loitering and had no visible means of propulsion,” UFO expert James Fox said in an interview with Fox News. “So a report from 2023 about an actual impact with a UAP doesn’t really surprise me.”

Previously declassified documents from the Department of Defense reveal that between May 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024, there were 757 reported incidents involving unidentified flying objects. Of those, only 49 have been deemed “case closed” by the Pentagon.

While the presence of unidentified flying objects may raise alarms, James Fox says the phenomenon is far from new.

"There are reports dating back to the 1930s and 1940s,” the UFO researcher said. “Where you had mysterious, glowing, and orb-like objects that emitted very bright light that could just fly rings around the military planes from World War II."

"This has been well-documented for decades,” he added. “So either we’ve managed to track the same thing it’s been, [possibly] non-human intelligence, since the 1940s. Or someone has managed to replicate the technology, reverse engineer it and they’re flying it around.”

In 2020, President Donald Trump hinted at intriguing knowledge about the infamous Roswell incident during an interview with his son, Donald Trump Jr.

“I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting,” Trump said.

Not everyone is convinced. Elon Musk remains skeptical that aliens have ever visited Earth.

"I've not seen any evidence of aliens," Musk told the Milken Institute Global Conference last year. "And SpaceX, with the Starlink constellation, has roughly 6,000 satellites, and not once have we had to maneuver around a UFO. [...] Never. So I'm like, okay, I don't see any evidence of aliens."

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 20:25

Military Aircraft's Mysterious Crash Sparks UFO Speculation In U.S. Airspace

Military Aircraft's Mysterious Crash Sparks UFO Speculation In U.S. Airspace

An unexplained collision between a U.S. military aircraft and an unidentified flying object, detailed in declassified documents, has sparked renewed questions about whether aliens have entered American airspace.

The incident occurred in January 2023, when an unidentified object struck the left side of an F-16 Viper fighter jet during a training exercise near Gila Bend, Arizona.

Fox News reports:

The flying object impacted the clear "canopy" at the top of the aircraft and was first seen by an instructor pilot seated in the rear of the plane, officials said. An initial investigation found no damage to the nearly $70 million jet, and officials ruled out a possible bird strike. Authorities ultimately concluded that the aircraft had been hit by a drone. However, the drone’s origin and operator remain unknown, a spokesperson said.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents obtained by The War Zone, the crash marked the first of four encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) reported the following day.

The unusual incident was confirmed to Fox News by an Air Force spokesperson.

"According to military personnel I’ve personally met with, there were objects 200 miles off the East Coast that were extensively loitering and had no visible means of propulsion,” UFO expert James Fox said in an interview with Fox News. “So a report from 2023 about an actual impact with a UAP doesn’t really surprise me.”

Previously declassified documents from the Department of Defense reveal that between May 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024, there were 757 reported incidents involving unidentified flying objects. Of those, only 49 have been deemed “case closed” by the Pentagon.

While the presence of unidentified flying objects may raise alarms, James Fox says the phenomenon is far from new.

"There are reports dating back to the 1930s and 1940s,” the UFO researcher said. “Where you had mysterious, glowing, and orb-like objects that emitted very bright light that could just fly rings around the military planes from World War II."

"This has been well-documented for decades,” he added. “So either we’ve managed to track the same thing it’s been, [possibly] non-human intelligence, since the 1940s. Or someone has managed to replicate the technology, reverse engineer it and they’re flying it around.”

In 2020, President Donald Trump hinted at intriguing knowledge about the infamous Roswell incident during an interview with his son, Donald Trump Jr.

“I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting,” Trump said.

Not everyone is convinced. Elon Musk remains skeptical that aliens have ever visited Earth.

"I've not seen any evidence of aliens," Musk told the Milken Institute Global Conference last year. "And SpaceX, with the Starlink constellation, has roughly 6,000 satellites, and not once have we had to maneuver around a UFO. [...] Never. So I'm like, okay, I don't see any evidence of aliens."

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 20:25

Federal Judge Reverses Biden-Era Rule That Barred Medical Debt From Credit Reports

Federal Judge Reverses Biden-Era Rule That Barred Medical Debt From Credit Reports

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge in Texas has struck down a Biden-era rule that would have barred medical debt from appearing on credit reports.

In a July 11 order, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) overstepped its authority when in finalized the rule in January, two weeks before President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting agencies are allowed to include medical debt information in credit reports, provided the data is coded to conceal details such as the medical provider’s identity or the nature of the treatment. Creditors are permitted to consider this coded medical debt information when making lending decisions.

However, during the Biden administration, the CFPB issued a rule banning credit reporting agencies from reporting any medical debt information to creditors for credit determinations. The agency argued that medical debt is a poor indicator of a borrower’s creditworthiness and should not influence lending decisions.

Two trade associations—the Cornerstone Credit Union League and the Consumer Data Industry Association—sued the CFPB, contending that the medical debt rule exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and conflicted with the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s explicit allowance for the use of coded medical debt data.

After Trump took office, the CFPB under new leadership agreed with the plaintiffs that the medical debt rule was unlawful. Both sides proposed a consent judgment to vacate the rule entirely and send the matter back to the CFPB for further review.

Yet the proposed agreement faced opposition from several intervenors, including two individuals carrying medical debt and two advocacy groups. The individuals—a Texas truck driver with medical debt stemming from cancer treatment and a Washington, D.C., resident with debt incurred from his child’s medical care—argued that eliminating the rule would strip them of important protections. The advocacy organizations—the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and Tzedek DC—said repealing the rule would force them to divert scarce resources toward assisting clients with medical debt issues instead of other legal matters.

The judge, however, concluded that the proposed consent decree imposed no legal obligations on the intervenors and that they held no enforceable legal right to the rule itself. He ruled that the Fair Credit Reporting Act expressly allows credit reporting agencies to report coded medical debt information and that the CFBP’s rule had effectively rewritten federal law, exceeding the agency’s statutory authority.

“After full consideration of the parties’ arguments, Defendant-Intervenors’ objections, and the relevant law, the Court finds that the proposed consent judgment is fair, adequate, and reasonable,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

The Epoch Times has reached out to counsel for the intervenors for comment.

Under the Biden administration, the CFBP maintained that medical debt carries little predictive value regarding a borrower’s ability to repay other debts. The agency also cited concerns that medical debt listed on credit reports contributed to thousands of denied mortgage applications, even for borrowers otherwise capable of repayment.

“People who get sick shouldn’t have their financial future upended,” then-CFPB director Rohit Chopra said in a Jan. 7 statement. “The CFPB’s final rule will close a special carveout that has allowed debt collectors to abuse the credit reporting system to coerce people into paying medical bills they may not even owe.”

In a 2022 report, the CFPB highlighted what it described as the “complicated and burdensome nature” of the U.S. medical billing system. The agency found that medical bills frequently stem from emergencies or unexpected events, are subject to opaque pricing, and involve complex insurance rules. Patients often do not learn the full costs until after receiving treatment and, particularly those with chronic illnesses or urgent health issues, may feel compelled to accept any charges to secure necessary care.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 19:50

Federal Judge Reverses Biden-Era Rule That Barred Medical Debt From Credit Reports

Federal Judge Reverses Biden-Era Rule That Barred Medical Debt From Credit Reports

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge in Texas has struck down a Biden-era rule that would have barred medical debt from appearing on credit reports.

In a July 11 order, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) overstepped its authority when in finalized the rule in January, two weeks before President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting agencies are allowed to include medical debt information in credit reports, provided the data is coded to conceal details such as the medical provider’s identity or the nature of the treatment. Creditors are permitted to consider this coded medical debt information when making lending decisions.

However, during the Biden administration, the CFPB issued a rule banning credit reporting agencies from reporting any medical debt information to creditors for credit determinations. The agency argued that medical debt is a poor indicator of a borrower’s creditworthiness and should not influence lending decisions.

Two trade associations—the Cornerstone Credit Union League and the Consumer Data Industry Association—sued the CFPB, contending that the medical debt rule exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and conflicted with the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s explicit allowance for the use of coded medical debt data.

After Trump took office, the CFPB under new leadership agreed with the plaintiffs that the medical debt rule was unlawful. Both sides proposed a consent judgment to vacate the rule entirely and send the matter back to the CFPB for further review.

Yet the proposed agreement faced opposition from several intervenors, including two individuals carrying medical debt and two advocacy groups. The individuals—a Texas truck driver with medical debt stemming from cancer treatment and a Washington, D.C., resident with debt incurred from his child’s medical care—argued that eliminating the rule would strip them of important protections. The advocacy organizations—the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and Tzedek DC—said repealing the rule would force them to divert scarce resources toward assisting clients with medical debt issues instead of other legal matters.

The judge, however, concluded that the proposed consent decree imposed no legal obligations on the intervenors and that they held no enforceable legal right to the rule itself. He ruled that the Fair Credit Reporting Act expressly allows credit reporting agencies to report coded medical debt information and that the CFBP’s rule had effectively rewritten federal law, exceeding the agency’s statutory authority.

“After full consideration of the parties’ arguments, Defendant-Intervenors’ objections, and the relevant law, the Court finds that the proposed consent judgment is fair, adequate, and reasonable,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

The Epoch Times has reached out to counsel for the intervenors for comment.

Under the Biden administration, the CFBP maintained that medical debt carries little predictive value regarding a borrower’s ability to repay other debts. The agency also cited concerns that medical debt listed on credit reports contributed to thousands of denied mortgage applications, even for borrowers otherwise capable of repayment.

“People who get sick shouldn’t have their financial future upended,” then-CFPB director Rohit Chopra said in a Jan. 7 statement. “The CFPB’s final rule will close a special carveout that has allowed debt collectors to abuse the credit reporting system to coerce people into paying medical bills they may not even owe.”

In a 2022 report, the CFPB highlighted what it described as the “complicated and burdensome nature” of the U.S. medical billing system. The agency found that medical bills frequently stem from emergencies or unexpected events, are subject to opaque pricing, and involve complex insurance rules. Patients often do not learn the full costs until after receiving treatment and, particularly those with chronic illnesses or urgent health issues, may feel compelled to accept any charges to secure necessary care.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 19:50

China Warns of Rogue Robot Troops Unleashing Terminator-Style "Indiscriminate Killings"

China Warns of Rogue Robot Troops Unleashing Terminator-Style "Indiscriminate Killings"

Concerns are mounting in China as the Communist superpower advances humanoid robot development to replace human soldiers on the battlefield, prompting calls for “ethical and legal research” into this Terminator-like technology to “avoid moral pitfalls.”

An op-ed published by Yuan Yi, Ma Ye and Yue Shiguang in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily warned that faulty robots could lead to "indiscriminate killings and accidental death,” which would "inevitably result in legal charges and moral condemnation."

The South China Morning Post reports:

The authors cited American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, a set of principles that have influenced discussions about the ethics of real-world applications in the field.

The authors said that militarised humanoid robots “clearly violate” the first of Asimov’s laws, which states that a robot “may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”. They added that Asimov’s laws needed to be overhauled in the light of these developments.

They also highlighted legal implications, saying that humanoid robots in military scenarios should comply with the main principles of the laws of war by “obeying humans”, “respecting humans” and “protecting humans”.

The authors emphasized that robots must be designed with constraints to “suspend and limit excessive use of force in a timely manner and not indiscriminately kill people.” Additionally, the trio cautioned against hastily replacing humans with robots, noting that robots still lack essential capabilities such as speed, dexterity, and the ability to navigate complex terrains.

“Even if humanoid robots become mature and widely used in the future, they will not completely replace other unmanned systems,” the article said.

Concurrently, the U.S. Army is intensifying efforts to integrate robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, aiming to enhance human-machine collaboration between soldiers and advanced robots on the battlefield, according to Interesting Engineering.

Scientists at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) are pioneering advancements in ground and aerial autonomous systems, as well as energy solutions, to bolster the mobility and maneuverability of these technologies, the technology website reports.

“We are bridging the gap between humans and robots, making them more intuitive, responsive, and, ultimately, more useful for the Soldier,” said a lead researcher for the Artificial Intelligence for Maneuver and Mobility program. “ARL researchers have demonstrated an interactive bi-directional communication system that enables real-time exchanges between humans and robots.”

And of course (CGI): 

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 19:15

China Warns of Rogue Robot Troops Unleashing Terminator-Style "Indiscriminate Killings"

China Warns of Rogue Robot Troops Unleashing Terminator-Style "Indiscriminate Killings"

Concerns are mounting in China as the Communist superpower advances humanoid robot development to replace human soldiers on the battlefield, prompting calls for “ethical and legal research” into this Terminator-like technology to “avoid moral pitfalls.”

An op-ed published by Yuan Yi, Ma Ye and Yue Shiguang in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily warned that faulty robots could lead to "indiscriminate killings and accidental death,” which would "inevitably result in legal charges and moral condemnation."

The South China Morning Post reports:

The authors cited American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, a set of principles that have influenced discussions about the ethics of real-world applications in the field.

The authors said that militarised humanoid robots “clearly violate” the first of Asimov’s laws, which states that a robot “may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”. They added that Asimov’s laws needed to be overhauled in the light of these developments.

They also highlighted legal implications, saying that humanoid robots in military scenarios should comply with the main principles of the laws of war by “obeying humans”, “respecting humans” and “protecting humans”.

The authors emphasized that robots must be designed with constraints to “suspend and limit excessive use of force in a timely manner and not indiscriminately kill people.” Additionally, the trio cautioned against hastily replacing humans with robots, noting that robots still lack essential capabilities such as speed, dexterity, and the ability to navigate complex terrains.

“Even if humanoid robots become mature and widely used in the future, they will not completely replace other unmanned systems,” the article said.

Concurrently, the U.S. Army is intensifying efforts to integrate robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, aiming to enhance human-machine collaboration between soldiers and advanced robots on the battlefield, according to Interesting Engineering.

Scientists at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) are pioneering advancements in ground and aerial autonomous systems, as well as energy solutions, to bolster the mobility and maneuverability of these technologies, the technology website reports.

“We are bridging the gap between humans and robots, making them more intuitive, responsive, and, ultimately, more useful for the Soldier,” said a lead researcher for the Artificial Intelligence for Maneuver and Mobility program. “ARL researchers have demonstrated an interactive bi-directional communication system that enables real-time exchanges between humans and robots.”

And of course (CGI): 

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 19:15

The Number Of Americans Dealing With Food Insecurity Has Almost Doubled Since 2021, And US Store Closings Are On Pace For New Record

The Number Of Americans Dealing With Food Insecurity Has Almost Doubled Since 2021, And US Store Closings Are On Pace For New Record

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Why has hunger in America absolutely exploded during the past 4 years?  And why are store closings in the United States on pace to set a brand new record high this year?  A lot of people out there don’t want to admit that the U.S. economy has been crumbling for a long time.  One recent survey discovered that 70 percent of Americans are the most financially stressed that they have ever been in their entire lives.  That figure alone tells us that we have a major economic crisis on our hands.  The cost of living has been rising much faster than paychecks have been, and most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month.  Anyone that attempts to deny this is simply not living in reality.

According to Axios, 15.6 percent of Americans are now dealing with food insecurity.  Sadly, that figure has nearly doubled since 2021…

In May, 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.

This is where we are at guys.

Millions upon millions of Americans are going hungry on a regular basis, and demand at food banks all over the nation has skyrocketed.

For example, demand at a food bank network in Philadelphia is up 120 percent over the past three years…

In Philadelphia, the Share Food Program, a major food bank network, has reported a 120% increase in demand over the past three years. “As soon as the government support pulled back in 2022, we started to see the numbers go up,” the outlet quoted Executive Director George Matysik as saying.

And the Atlanta Community Food Bank is reporting that demand is up 60 percent over the past three years…

New data shows food insecurity is worsening across Georgia, with the Atlanta Community Food Bank reporting a 60% increase in demand for meals over the past three years.

According to a study by Feeding America, one in five children and one in ten seniors in Georgia are facing hunger. The issue is particularly severe in the South, where nearly 90% of counties with high food insecurity rates are located.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of Georgians – over 57% — don’t meet the criteria for federal assistance like SNAP.

Those that are trying to convince us that everything is okay just need to stop.

Everything is most definitely not okay.

If things were okay, U.S. store closings would not be on pace to set a brand new all-time record high this year…

Store closures across the U.S. continue to rise, and remain on track to far significantly surpass both new openings and the figures seen in 2024.

According to a new report from research and advisory firm Coresight Research, cited by CoStar News, 5,822 store closures were recorded as of June 27, compared to 3,496 closures announced during the same period of 2024.

There is no way that you can spin those numbers.

Stores are either closing or they are not.

Meanwhile, large employers throughout the nation continue to conduct mass layoffs.

Today, we learned that Intel is giving the axe to hundreds of workers in Oregon…

Intel plans to lay off 529 Oregon employees by July 15, according to a notice newly filed with state workforce officials. These are the first of sweeping job cuts that will ultimately eliminate several thousand positions across the company.

The chipmaker will cut jobs at all its major Oregon campuses and across various business units. Engineers comprise nearly 300 of the Oregon workers losing their jobs in this round of layoffs, according to Intel’s filing.

And Levi Strauss has decided to eliminate hundreds of jobs in Kentucky…

Levi Strauss & Co. is axing hundreds of jobs by closing a distribution center in Hebron, Kentucky.

The company, known worldwide for its iconic denim, is axing 346 jobs as a result of the closure.

The layoffs are expected to begin on August 18 or during a 14-day period beginning on that date.

This reminds me so much of 2008 and 2009.

And just like 2008 and 2009, home sales have fallen to extremely depressing levels.

At this stage, condo sales are dropping particularly rapidly…

Sales are sliding just as fast. Markets like Dallas, Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie, and Orlando saw condo sales drop over 30 percent year-over-year, with Florida again dominating the list of hardest-hit areas. Condo prices are falling for a number of reasons. One major factor is that the market is flooded. There are 80 percent more condo sellers than buyers.

The condo bubble has officially burst, and prices are now absolutely plunging in markets that were once considered to be very hot…

The biggest condo price drops are hitting Florida and Texas. In May, Deltona, Florida saw prices fall over 32 percent year-over-year — the steepest decline nationwide. Crestview, Florida (down 32 percent), Houston, Texas (down 23 percent), Tampa, Florida (down 19 percent), and Oakland, California (down 20 percent) also faced sharp drops. Seven of the top ten metros with the largest price declines were in Florida, two in Texas. Sellers in parts of Florida have had to drop prices below $10,000.

Can anyone out there dispute the facts that I have just presented?

Of course not.

Economic conditions really have gotten worse than they once were.

The primary reason why the Democrats lost the last election is because the economy deteriorated substantially while Joe Biden was in the White House.

Today, most Americans can remember a time when they were doing much better than they are at this moment.

Unfortunately, decades of incredibly bad decisions really have brought us to the precipice of an economic catastrophe.

So let us hope that our leaders make much better decisions from this point forward.

And let us do what we can to support those that are working with the poor and hungry, because there are so many of our fellow Americans that are deeply suffering right now.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 18:40

The Number Of Americans Dealing With Food Insecurity Has Almost Doubled Since 2021, And US Store Closings Are On Pace For New Record

The Number Of Americans Dealing With Food Insecurity Has Almost Doubled Since 2021, And US Store Closings Are On Pace For New Record

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Why has hunger in America absolutely exploded during the past 4 years?  And why are store closings in the United States on pace to set a brand new record high this year?  A lot of people out there don’t want to admit that the U.S. economy has been crumbling for a long time.  One recent survey discovered that 70 percent of Americans are the most financially stressed that they have ever been in their entire lives.  That figure alone tells us that we have a major economic crisis on our hands.  The cost of living has been rising much faster than paychecks have been, and most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month.  Anyone that attempts to deny this is simply not living in reality.

According to Axios, 15.6 percent of Americans are now dealing with food insecurity.  Sadly, that figure has nearly doubled since 2021…

In May, 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.

This is where we are at guys.

Millions upon millions of Americans are going hungry on a regular basis, and demand at food banks all over the nation has skyrocketed.

For example, demand at a food bank network in Philadelphia is up 120 percent over the past three years…

In Philadelphia, the Share Food Program, a major food bank network, has reported a 120% increase in demand over the past three years. “As soon as the government support pulled back in 2022, we started to see the numbers go up,” the outlet quoted Executive Director George Matysik as saying.

And the Atlanta Community Food Bank is reporting that demand is up 60 percent over the past three years…

New data shows food insecurity is worsening across Georgia, with the Atlanta Community Food Bank reporting a 60% increase in demand for meals over the past three years.

According to a study by Feeding America, one in five children and one in ten seniors in Georgia are facing hunger. The issue is particularly severe in the South, where nearly 90% of counties with high food insecurity rates are located.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of Georgians – over 57% — don’t meet the criteria for federal assistance like SNAP.

Those that are trying to convince us that everything is okay just need to stop.

Everything is most definitely not okay.

If things were okay, U.S. store closings would not be on pace to set a brand new all-time record high this year…

Store closures across the U.S. continue to rise, and remain on track to far significantly surpass both new openings and the figures seen in 2024.

According to a new report from research and advisory firm Coresight Research, cited by CoStar News, 5,822 store closures were recorded as of June 27, compared to 3,496 closures announced during the same period of 2024.

There is no way that you can spin those numbers.

Stores are either closing or they are not.

Meanwhile, large employers throughout the nation continue to conduct mass layoffs.

Today, we learned that Intel is giving the axe to hundreds of workers in Oregon…

Intel plans to lay off 529 Oregon employees by July 15, according to a notice newly filed with state workforce officials. These are the first of sweeping job cuts that will ultimately eliminate several thousand positions across the company.

The chipmaker will cut jobs at all its major Oregon campuses and across various business units. Engineers comprise nearly 300 of the Oregon workers losing their jobs in this round of layoffs, according to Intel’s filing.

And Levi Strauss has decided to eliminate hundreds of jobs in Kentucky…

Levi Strauss & Co. is axing hundreds of jobs by closing a distribution center in Hebron, Kentucky.

The company, known worldwide for its iconic denim, is axing 346 jobs as a result of the closure.

The layoffs are expected to begin on August 18 or during a 14-day period beginning on that date.

This reminds me so much of 2008 and 2009.

And just like 2008 and 2009, home sales have fallen to extremely depressing levels.

At this stage, condo sales are dropping particularly rapidly…

Sales are sliding just as fast. Markets like Dallas, Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie, and Orlando saw condo sales drop over 30 percent year-over-year, with Florida again dominating the list of hardest-hit areas. Condo prices are falling for a number of reasons. One major factor is that the market is flooded. There are 80 percent more condo sellers than buyers.

The condo bubble has officially burst, and prices are now absolutely plunging in markets that were once considered to be very hot…

The biggest condo price drops are hitting Florida and Texas. In May, Deltona, Florida saw prices fall over 32 percent year-over-year — the steepest decline nationwide. Crestview, Florida (down 32 percent), Houston, Texas (down 23 percent), Tampa, Florida (down 19 percent), and Oakland, California (down 20 percent) also faced sharp drops. Seven of the top ten metros with the largest price declines were in Florida, two in Texas. Sellers in parts of Florida have had to drop prices below $10,000.

Can anyone out there dispute the facts that I have just presented?

Of course not.

Economic conditions really have gotten worse than they once were.

The primary reason why the Democrats lost the last election is because the economy deteriorated substantially while Joe Biden was in the White House.

Today, most Americans can remember a time when they were doing much better than they are at this moment.

Unfortunately, decades of incredibly bad decisions really have brought us to the precipice of an economic catastrophe.

So let us hope that our leaders make much better decisions from this point forward.

And let us do what we can to support those that are working with the poor and hungry, because there are so many of our fellow Americans that are deeply suffering right now.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 18:40

One Year Later: DEI Law Enforcement Initiatives Questioned After Assassination Attempt

One Year Later: DEI Law Enforcement Initiatives Questioned After Assassination Attempt

Authored by Caroline Boda via The Center Square,

In the year that has passed since the assassination attempt of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., efforts to increase female presence in law enforcement have waned.

The fallout from the Secret Service’s handling of the assassination attempt has led Republican lawmakers to question the nationwide effort to increase the female recruitment rate to 30% by 2030.

By 2022, the “30×30 pledge” had the signatures of 150 law enforcement agencies. Signees included the Secret Service, FBI and U.S. Marshalls.

Since taking office in January, Trump has signed several executive orders repealing DEI initiatives and has subsequently revoked funding from institutions who have not complied with these orders. This led some law enforcement agencies, like the Des Moines Police Department, to abandon their 30×30 pledges.

At the center of the Secret Service’s malfeasance in Butler, Pa. last summer was the agency’s former director, Kimberly Cheatle, the second woman to hold the agency’s top position.

Cheatle was called to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee one week after the assassination attempt last year. She was grilled with questions about how an armed man was able to scale a roof about 130 yards from a former president, and after calls to resign came from both sides of the aisle, Cheatle resigned.

Republicans took the opportunity to link the events of July 13, 2024, to the Secret Service’s recent DEI initiatives.

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., called Cheatle a “DEI horror story.” Others, like U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., questioned Cheatle about her support of the 30×30 pledge and asked if standards for new agents had relaxed as a result.

Others questioned the height of female Secret Service agents who were part of the detail and were not tall enough to shield the 6-foot-3 Trump from a bullet.

After returning to the Oval Office for a second time, Trump appointed Sean Curran, one of the Secret Service agents on stage with him on July 13, to Cheatle’s job.

The Secret Service announced this week that it has implemented broad reforms to “ensure clear lines of accountability and improved information sharing” as a response to last year’s assassination attempt. The agency also announced Wednesday that six agents were issued suspensions related to the events in Butler last year.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 17:30

Australia Rebuffs Trump As US Demands To Know What Allies Would Do In Taiwan War

Australia Rebuffs Trump As US Demands To Know What Allies Would Do In Taiwan War

The United States has already long been engaged heavily into two war zones it can't control - namely Ukraine and Gaza - and still looks to pivot to a third. A fresh report in Financial Times says the Trump administration is demanding to know what is Pacific allies will do in the event of a war with China over Taiwan.

Specifically the US government has been pressing Japan and Australia to clarify their roles in the event that China moves militarily on Taiwan. Elbridge Colby, US under-secretary of defense for policy, has held meetings with Australian and Japanese officials in recent months with this end in mind.

Royal Australian Navy image

Colby has made clear in a Sunday statement that he's working on implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda of "restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength." He outlined that this includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense."

And separately, a US defense official described that the "animating theme" of these recent discussions with allies was "to intensify and accelerate efforts to strengthen deterrence in a balanced, equitable way."

The official was quoted in FT as saying "We do not seek war. Nor do we seek to dominate China itself. What we are doing is ensuring the United States and its allies have the military strength to underwrite diplomacy and guarantee peace."

But Beijing might understandably disagree, given that in recent months it has been confirmed that the US maintains hundreds of Marines in Taiwan, including on its small outlying islands near China's coast, ostensibly for "training" purposes.

We can imagine what Washington's reaction would be if China had PLA troops all over Cuba or even US territory Puerto Rico, in support of a Puerto Rican 'independence movement'.

Japan, which has never had an actual military to speak of after its WW2 defeat, would likely be expected to play host to American troop build-ups and naval fleets.

As for Australia, it has clarified it will not commit troops in advance to any conflict. As laid out by the defense minister:

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Recent trade conflicts with China have threatened to devastate whole Australian export industries, and so Australia is not in any mood to poke the panda over theoretical future US war plans.

One regional analyst was quoted in FT as pointing out the obvious, from allies' perspectives: "President Trump has not committed to defend Taiwan, so it is unrealistic for the US to insist on clear commitments from others." 

And given that America's recent entangling conflicts have not gone well for Washington, and remain unpopular even among the American public (Iraq and Afghanistan being the foremost examples), why would allied countries want to sign on to such military adventurism at all, much less in advance?

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 16:55

Former Obama Speechwriter Admits Shunning MAGA Didn't Work

Former Obama Speechwriter Admits Shunning MAGA Didn't Work

One of Barack Obama's former millennial speechwriters penned a New York Times opinion piece about his strained relationship with his brother-in-law during the COVID pandemic. Despite their deep cultural differences — the author being a "trust the science" liberal elitist who bowed to the government-corporate machine, fully vaxxed and obedient, while his brother-in-law remained unvaccinated and a free thinker — the two eventually reconnected through surfing. 

Thirty-eight-year-old David Litt, a liberal elitist who attended Yale University and later served as a speechwriter for President Obama, felt inspired to write a New York Times op-ed titled "Is It Time to Stop Snubbing Your Right-Wing Family?"

"Then the pandemic hit, and our preferences began to feel like more than differences in taste. We were on opposite sides of a cultural civil war. The deepest divide was vaccination. I wasn't shocked when Matt didn't get the Covid shot. But I was baffled. Turning down a vaccine during a pandemic seemed like a rejection of science and self-preservation. It felt like he was tearing up the social contract that, until that point, I'd imagined we shared," the liberal elite millennial opined. 

Litt continued, "Had Matt been a friend rather than a family member, I probably would have cut off contact completely." 

But only recently — and through shared surf sessions — did Litt's liberal mind experience a revelation: "These days, ostracism might just hurt the ostracizer more than the ostracizee." 

Litt's renewed bond with Matt didn't erase political disagreements, but it revealed common ground in unexpected places, showing that personal connection can transcend ideological divides and arguing that shunning people in today's highly polarized America is often ineffective and counterproductive, urging people to keep doors open rather than slam them shut over politics. 

Perhaps Litt's maturity is finally kicking in — after all, with time, people tend to become more conservative (by the mid/late 30s). Remember, it wasn't conservatives rushing to become the "Karens of Science" during Covid, pushing to ban the unvaccinated, with some Democrats even threatening them with jail or quarantine camps…

Never forget! 

As Laura Ingraham put it, "The NYT admits that shunning MAGA didn't work." 

Cutting people off and nuking relationships over politics is inherently immature — yet it's a hallmark of immature liberal elite behavior. We would've thought Ivy League education would've taught them better. 

Perhaps the real lesson here is that maturity takes more time for liberals — something Litt had to discover the hard way, out in the surf off the New Jersey coast.

*  *  *

Psst...

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 13:25

Former Obama Speechwriter Admits Shunning MAGA Didn't Work

Former Obama Speechwriter Admits Shunning MAGA Didn't Work

One of Barack Obama's former millennial speechwriters penned a New York Times opinion piece about his strained relationship with his brother-in-law during the COVID pandemic. Despite their deep cultural differences — the author being a "trust the science" liberal elitist who bowed to the government-corporate machine, fully vaxxed and obedient, while his brother-in-law remained unvaccinated and a free thinker — the two eventually reconnected through surfing. 

Thirty-eight-year-old David Litt, a liberal elitist who attended Yale University and later served as a speechwriter for President Obama, felt inspired to write a New York Times op-ed titled "Is It Time to Stop Snubbing Your Right-Wing Family?"

"Then the pandemic hit, and our preferences began to feel like more than differences in taste. We were on opposite sides of a cultural civil war. The deepest divide was vaccination. I wasn't shocked when Matt didn't get the Covid shot. But I was baffled. Turning down a vaccine during a pandemic seemed like a rejection of science and self-preservation. It felt like he was tearing up the social contract that, until that point, I'd imagined we shared," the liberal elite millennial opined. 

Litt continued, "Had Matt been a friend rather than a family member, I probably would have cut off contact completely." 

But only recently — and through shared surf sessions — did Litt's liberal mind experience a revelation: "These days, ostracism might just hurt the ostracizer more than the ostracizee." 

Litt's renewed bond with Matt didn't erase political disagreements, but it revealed common ground in unexpected places, showing that personal connection can transcend ideological divides and arguing that shunning people in today's highly polarized America is often ineffective and counterproductive, urging people to keep doors open rather than slam them shut over politics. 

Perhaps Litt's maturity is finally kicking in — after all, with time, people tend to become more conservative (by the mid/late 30s). Remember, it wasn't conservatives rushing to become the "Karens of Science" during Covid, pushing to ban the unvaccinated, with some Democrats even threatening them with jail or quarantine camps…

Never forget! 

As Laura Ingraham put it, "The NYT admits that shunning MAGA didn't work." 

Cutting people off and nuking relationships over politics is inherently immature — yet it's a hallmark of immature liberal elite behavior. We would've thought Ivy League education would've taught them better. 

Perhaps the real lesson here is that maturity takes more time for liberals — something Litt had to discover the hard way, out in the surf off the New Jersey coast.

*  *  *

Psst...

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 13:25

Sectarian Purge Masked As 'Wildfire' Under Syria's New Government

Sectarian Purge Masked As 'Wildfire' Under Syria's New Government

Via The Cradle

Less than four months into its rule, Syria’s interim government is under mounting pressure, as each crisis—natural or security-related—casts doubt on its ability to govern and maintain control.

The recent wildfires that tore through northern Latakia were no seasonal accident. They broke out as sectarian killings escalated and suspicions of state complicity grew.

The blaze behind the purge

Never before in Syria had an armed group claimed responsibility for a natural disaster. That changed when Saraya Ansar al-Sunna announced it was behind fires that spread through the Qastal Ma'af region, explicitly stating that the arson attack “led to the fires spreading to other areas, forcing the Nusayris [Alawites] to flee their homes, and causing a number of them to suffocate.”

The statement came just three days into the blazes and only weeks after the same group had claimed responsibility for the June 22 bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus’ Douweila neighborhood.

That attack had sparked a rare public dispute between the Interior Ministry and Saraya Ansar al-Sunna. While the ministry blamed ISIS and paraded an arrested cell, the group named a different perpetrator, Muhammad Zain al-Abidin Abu Uthman. Despite vowing to release confessions to back its version, the ministry has remained silent.

Anas Khattab—former Al-Qaeda commander and Nusra Front co-founder, now serving as interior minister—only deepened the contradictions during his visit to the fire zone. He insisted there was "no evidence" of arson, even as his own ministry investigated suspects. 

Khattab’s refusal to acknowledge Saraya Ansar al-Sunna suggests that Damascus still considers it a phantom—a position reinforced when ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba publicly dismissed it as “imaginary” during a press conference after the church bombing.

At the same time, some Alawites believe that Interior Minister Khattab is using Saraya Ansar al-Sunna to carry out attacks against Alawites, Christians, and other minorities, while maintaining plausible deniability. 

Coordinated chaos and forced displacement 

In Latakia’s coastal hinterlands, fear was already running high. Many villages had yet to recover from the violence of March, when security raids and sectarian killings devastated entire communities, leaving behind charred homes and mass graves that remain under-reported by official channels. 

Only months ago, bloody confrontations claimed 2,000 lives across the region. Locals, mainly from the Alawite community, saw these events as the culmination of a systematic purge under the new regime. A wave of targeted killings, kidnappings, and violence had left communities deeply scarred.

Just days before the fires erupted, the murder of two brothers working as grape leaf pickers, along with the kidnapping of a girl, sparked widespread protests in the Al-Burjan and Beit Yashout areas in the Jableh countryside. 

These demonstrations, amplified by diaspora voices, coincided almost to the hour with the first outbreaks of fire, feeding widespread suspicion that the flames were a diversion or smokescreen. On the same day this call was issued, the spread of fires in the Latakia countryside forests began to attract media attention.

The Qastal Ma'af fire—the most intense and destructive—was explicitly claimed by Saraya Ansar al-Sunna. Although the group declared it aimed to displace Alawites, some affected villages housed significant Sunni Turkmen populations. Later, the group issued a cryptic clarification: “The burning of Sunni villages is attributed to Nusayri groups, and this is in the context of the ongoing, raging conflict.”

Local sources tell The Cradle that the fire consumed large swaths of forest and farmland, displacing entire communities. Despite the government’s dismissals, few believe this was a coincidence.

Denial and deception by Damascus

Rather than confront the threat, the Interior Ministry downplayed the human hand in the fires. Observers suggest this was a deliberate choice to avoid validating Saraya Ansar al-Sunna’s claim—and to prevent inflaming sectarian tensions.

But some in the Alawite community accuse Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government of weaponizing fire as a tool of demographic engineering. They point to circulating videos of security forces, Sunni Bedouin groups, and even Turkish-plate vehicles setting fires to Alawite lands.

One Alawite source explains to The Cradle:

“The Alawites rely on their land and employment, while Sharaa seeks to bring about a demographic shift in the coastal region. His aim is to strangle the Alawites and kill them, forcing them either to flee the country or remain amid ongoing cases of murder, abduction, and arson. The objective is clear: displacement and the destruction of every source of livelihood.”

The source adds that on July 9, in the town of Al-Haffa in Latakia, a small fire broke out. Thirty young men rushed to extinguish it—all around 21 years old—including nine Alawites. After the fire was put out, the nine Alawite young men were arrested and mysteriously disappeared.

When their families asked the local authorities regarding their whereabouts, the only response they received was: “We transferred them to Latakia.”

Demographic warfare under the cover of fire

Many Alawites believe Turkey seeks to effectively annex parts of the Syrian coast to seize maritime gas reserves, and that attacks by Turkmen and Uighur militants loyal to Damascus are designed to provoke pleas for Turkish protection.

Historically, arson has not been random in Syria. In 2020, the former government arrested 39 individuals for setting coordinated fires across Latakia, Tartous, Homs, and Hama—allegedly financed by a “foreign party.”

Last year, vast fires scorched Wadi al-Nasara in Homs and later spread to Kasab near the Turkish border. Then-Governor Khaled Abaza admitted, "The multiplicity of fire outbreaks strongly suggests that they were intentional, as between 30 and 40 fires broke out in a single day in various areas of the governorate, especially those rugged areas that are inaccessible to vehicles." He continued, “A search was launched for two vehicles believed to belong to the arsonists.”

The pattern of politically timed arson is now impossible to ignore. Every major fire in the past five years has coincided with key political milestones such as regime transitions and outbreaks of sectarian unrest, pointing to a deliberate strategy masked as environmental catastrophe.

While poverty and illegal logging are the usual explanations for Syria’s seasonal fires, deeper motives have taken shape. Intelligence services are reportedly scouring Latakia’s forests for buried weapons stockpiles. 

Foreign militaries are surveying the terrain for future base sites. Coastal land developers are eyeing scorched villages for luxury tourism projects. And behind it all, Israel remains a constant agitator, stoking sectarian flames for its own expansionist agenda and to further undermine the Resistance Axis. 

If anything, the ministry’s insistence on ruling out human involvement in this year’s fires has further eroded public trust. In a country exposed to endless covert operations, the official version of events cannot withstand scrutiny. 

In Latakia, what’s burning isn’t just land—it’s the last hope that post-Assad Syria might survive this transition intact.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 12:50

Sectarian Purge Masked As 'Wildfire' Under Syria's New Government

Sectarian Purge Masked As 'Wildfire' Under Syria's New Government

Via The Cradle

Less than four months into its rule, Syria’s interim government is under mounting pressure, as each crisis—natural or security-related—casts doubt on its ability to govern and maintain control.

The recent wildfires that tore through northern Latakia were no seasonal accident. They broke out as sectarian killings escalated and suspicions of state complicity grew.

The blaze behind the purge

Never before in Syria had an armed group claimed responsibility for a natural disaster. That changed when Saraya Ansar al-Sunna announced it was behind fires that spread through the Qastal Ma'af region, explicitly stating that the arson attack “led to the fires spreading to other areas, forcing the Nusayris [Alawites] to flee their homes, and causing a number of them to suffocate.”

The statement came just three days into the blazes and only weeks after the same group had claimed responsibility for the June 22 bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus’ Douweila neighborhood.

That attack had sparked a rare public dispute between the Interior Ministry and Saraya Ansar al-Sunna. While the ministry blamed ISIS and paraded an arrested cell, the group named a different perpetrator, Muhammad Zain al-Abidin Abu Uthman. Despite vowing to release confessions to back its version, the ministry has remained silent.

Anas Khattab—former Al-Qaeda commander and Nusra Front co-founder, now serving as interior minister—only deepened the contradictions during his visit to the fire zone. He insisted there was "no evidence" of arson, even as his own ministry investigated suspects. 

Khattab’s refusal to acknowledge Saraya Ansar al-Sunna suggests that Damascus still considers it a phantom—a position reinforced when ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba publicly dismissed it as “imaginary” during a press conference after the church bombing.

At the same time, some Alawites believe that Interior Minister Khattab is using Saraya Ansar al-Sunna to carry out attacks against Alawites, Christians, and other minorities, while maintaining plausible deniability. 

Coordinated chaos and forced displacement 

In Latakia’s coastal hinterlands, fear was already running high. Many villages had yet to recover from the violence of March, when security raids and sectarian killings devastated entire communities, leaving behind charred homes and mass graves that remain under-reported by official channels. 

Only months ago, bloody confrontations claimed 2,000 lives across the region. Locals, mainly from the Alawite community, saw these events as the culmination of a systematic purge under the new regime. A wave of targeted killings, kidnappings, and violence had left communities deeply scarred.

Just days before the fires erupted, the murder of two brothers working as grape leaf pickers, along with the kidnapping of a girl, sparked widespread protests in the Al-Burjan and Beit Yashout areas in the Jableh countryside. 

These demonstrations, amplified by diaspora voices, coincided almost to the hour with the first outbreaks of fire, feeding widespread suspicion that the flames were a diversion or smokescreen. On the same day this call was issued, the spread of fires in the Latakia countryside forests began to attract media attention.

The Qastal Ma'af fire—the most intense and destructive—was explicitly claimed by Saraya Ansar al-Sunna. Although the group declared it aimed to displace Alawites, some affected villages housed significant Sunni Turkmen populations. Later, the group issued a cryptic clarification: “The burning of Sunni villages is attributed to Nusayri groups, and this is in the context of the ongoing, raging conflict.”

Local sources tell The Cradle that the fire consumed large swaths of forest and farmland, displacing entire communities. Despite the government’s dismissals, few believe this was a coincidence.

Denial and deception by Damascus

Rather than confront the threat, the Interior Ministry downplayed the human hand in the fires. Observers suggest this was a deliberate choice to avoid validating Saraya Ansar al-Sunna’s claim—and to prevent inflaming sectarian tensions.

But some in the Alawite community accuse Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government of weaponizing fire as a tool of demographic engineering. They point to circulating videos of security forces, Sunni Bedouin groups, and even Turkish-plate vehicles setting fires to Alawite lands.

One Alawite source explains to The Cradle:

“The Alawites rely on their land and employment, while Sharaa seeks to bring about a demographic shift in the coastal region. His aim is to strangle the Alawites and kill them, forcing them either to flee the country or remain amid ongoing cases of murder, abduction, and arson. The objective is clear: displacement and the destruction of every source of livelihood.”

The source adds that on July 9, in the town of Al-Haffa in Latakia, a small fire broke out. Thirty young men rushed to extinguish it—all around 21 years old—including nine Alawites. After the fire was put out, the nine Alawite young men were arrested and mysteriously disappeared.

When their families asked the local authorities regarding their whereabouts, the only response they received was: “We transferred them to Latakia.”

Demographic warfare under the cover of fire

Many Alawites believe Turkey seeks to effectively annex parts of the Syrian coast to seize maritime gas reserves, and that attacks by Turkmen and Uighur militants loyal to Damascus are designed to provoke pleas for Turkish protection.

Historically, arson has not been random in Syria. In 2020, the former government arrested 39 individuals for setting coordinated fires across Latakia, Tartous, Homs, and Hama—allegedly financed by a “foreign party.”

Last year, vast fires scorched Wadi al-Nasara in Homs and later spread to Kasab near the Turkish border. Then-Governor Khaled Abaza admitted, "The multiplicity of fire outbreaks strongly suggests that they were intentional, as between 30 and 40 fires broke out in a single day in various areas of the governorate, especially those rugged areas that are inaccessible to vehicles." He continued, “A search was launched for two vehicles believed to belong to the arsonists.”

The pattern of politically timed arson is now impossible to ignore. Every major fire in the past five years has coincided with key political milestones such as regime transitions and outbreaks of sectarian unrest, pointing to a deliberate strategy masked as environmental catastrophe.

While poverty and illegal logging are the usual explanations for Syria’s seasonal fires, deeper motives have taken shape. Intelligence services are reportedly scouring Latakia’s forests for buried weapons stockpiles. 

Foreign militaries are surveying the terrain for future base sites. Coastal land developers are eyeing scorched villages for luxury tourism projects. And behind it all, Israel remains a constant agitator, stoking sectarian flames for its own expansionist agenda and to further undermine the Resistance Axis. 

If anything, the ministry’s insistence on ruling out human involvement in this year’s fires has further eroded public trust. In a country exposed to endless covert operations, the official version of events cannot withstand scrutiny. 

In Latakia, what’s burning isn’t just land—it’s the last hope that post-Assad Syria might survive this transition intact.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 12:50

What The World Is Asking ChatGPT In 2025

What The World Is Asking ChatGPT In 2025

What are people really asking ChatGPT?

With adoption growing, ChatGPT prompts are shifting as consumer behavior evolves. While software development prompts continue to dominate, their share has fallen meaningfully over the past year, reflecting how developers were among the earliest users of ChatGPT for code and other applications.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most popular ChatGPT prompt categories, based on data from Sensor Tower.

Top Categories for ChatGPT Prompts in 2025

Below, we show the leading prompt categories on ChatGPT between March and April 2025:

Covering 29% of all prompts, software development is the top category for ChatGPT users.

Along with simplifying coding tasks across multiple programming languages, ChatGPT can help debug and automate tasks. A separate study found that early coders (those with under a year of coding experience) were most likely to be AI optimists among coders.

History and society prompts were the second-most common type of prompt, at 15% of the total share. Meanwhile, AI and machine learning prompts followed closely behind.

Interestingly, the fastest-growing category was economics, finance and tax—with its share jumping more than threefold in a year as users increasingly look for insights on stocks, financial markets, and macroeconomic trends.

To learn more about this topic from a user perspective, check out this graphic on the most popular AI tools in 2025.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 12:15

What The World Is Asking ChatGPT In 2025

What The World Is Asking ChatGPT In 2025

What are people really asking ChatGPT?

With adoption growing, ChatGPT prompts are shifting as consumer behavior evolves. While software development prompts continue to dominate, their share has fallen meaningfully over the past year, reflecting how developers were among the earliest users of ChatGPT for code and other applications.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most popular ChatGPT prompt categories, based on data from Sensor Tower.

Top Categories for ChatGPT Prompts in 2025

Below, we show the leading prompt categories on ChatGPT between March and April 2025:

Covering 29% of all prompts, software development is the top category for ChatGPT users.

Along with simplifying coding tasks across multiple programming languages, ChatGPT can help debug and automate tasks. A separate study found that early coders (those with under a year of coding experience) were most likely to be AI optimists among coders.

History and society prompts were the second-most common type of prompt, at 15% of the total share. Meanwhile, AI and machine learning prompts followed closely behind.

Interestingly, the fastest-growing category was economics, finance and tax—with its share jumping more than threefold in a year as users increasingly look for insights on stocks, financial markets, and macroeconomic trends.

To learn more about this topic from a user perspective, check out this graphic on the most popular AI tools in 2025.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 12:15

'Crypto Week' Looms: Will These Three Pro-Crypto Bills Pass?

'Crypto Week' Looms: Will These Three Pro-Crypto Bills Pass?

Authored by Aaron Wood via CoinTelegraph.com,

Lawmakers in Washington are gearing up to pass three bills for the blockchain industry in an event they have dubbed “crypto week.”

The US Congress has been working on legislation that the crypto industry lobby says will help bring clarity to the industry and help it grow, primarily through two laws governing stablecoins and creating a crypto market structure. Congress is also considering a law preventing the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Crypto has found support on both sides of the aisle, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers each making a number of amendments to the bills under consideration. Major crypto exchanges operating in the United States, like Coinbase, have stepped up their campaigning for the legislation as well.

With Congress set to take action on three critical bills during Crypto Week, here’s a look at what they’re considering and what it means for the crypto industry.

The three bills expected during Crypto Week. Source: House Financial Services Committee

Crypto week aims to pass three bills into law

The US House Financial Services Committee announced Crypto Week would start on July 14. It will consider three bills, namely:

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act)

Republican Representative French Hill introduced the CLARITY Act only at the end of June. The bill aims to provide a framework for the digital assets industry, including defining the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

The crypto industry has long thought that the Howey test, as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is out of date and that the SEC should not apply it nor exercise jurisdiction over digital assets. 

The CLARITY Act would “provide an exemption from the Securities Act of 1933’s registration requirement for offers of investment contracts involving digital commodities on mature blockchains that meet certain conditions.”

It also defines “mature” blockchains as networks that have a digital commodity “substantially derived from the use and functioning of the blockchain.” It can’t have user restrictions and must limit certain holders to less than 20% of ownership.

Under the bill, the CFTC would gain “exclusive regulatory jurisdiction” over crypto transactions. Crypto exchanges and brokers would be required to register with the commission and would be subject to record keeping, reporting, antitrust considerations and other regulatory considerations.

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act)

Perhaps the most well-known of the three bills being considered during crypto week is the GENIUS Act, the long-awaited regulatory framework for stablecoins. 

The bill was introduced in February, just over a week after President Donald Trump took his oath of office, by a bipartisan group of legislators. It is now in the House after passing the Senate in a bipartisan vote on June 17.

The bill defines what type of entities may issue stablecoins and states that “issuers must maintain reserves backing the stablecoin on a one-to-one basis using U.S. currency or other similarly liquid assets, as specified.”

It also subjects issuers to the Bank Secrecy Act and sets provisions for the event of a stablecoin issuer going insolvent. 

Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

Republican Representative Tom Emmer introduced the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act on March 6, which seeks to prevent the Federal Reserve, the US’s central bank, from issuing a CBDC.

Under the pretense of concern over citizens’ privacy, the act would forbid the Fed from issuing a CBDC either by itself or through a third party, prevent the Fed from using a CBDC to influence monetary policy and give Congress the sole authority to issue a digital dollar. 

According to an announcement from the House Committee on Financial Services, supporting organizations include the Blockchain Association, the Digital Chamber of Commerce and a number of banking lobbies. 

Can the crypto bills actually pass?

Given the glacial pace of lawmaking in Washington, one week is a short time to pass three laws, especially considering the size and economic implications of these three bills.

Major crypto companies like Coinbase have been lobbying hard. On July 7, Stand With Crypto, the “grassroots” crypto lobbying organization started by Coinbase, sent a letter to lawmakers signed by 65 executives from various crypto firms, urging Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. 

On July 9, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote a message supporting the same, saying that “America is ready for crypto.” 

Polymarket doesn’t reflect this readiness. Participants in the “Clarity Act signed into law in 2025?” market give the bill a 52% chance at publishing time. 

The CLARITY Act’s success has divided punters. Source: Polymarket

The CLARITY Act has been panned by lawmakers and consumer protection organizations alike as being a “crypto crash grab” and a means for companies to avoid SEC regulation.

Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) called the bill “a massive deregulatory bill backed by a gusher of campaign cash and lobbying muscle from ultra-wealthy venture capital firms and crypto billionaires. The bill will enrich them at the expense of consumers, communities, and financial stability.”

The AFR also raised concerns about Trump’s personal crypto dealings and noted that the bill contains no provisions regarding corruption and ethical concerns. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a noted crypto critic, has also opposed the bill, stating that it allows major firms to skirt SEC regulation. 

“Under the House bill, a publicly traded company like Meta or Tesla could simply decide to put its stock on the blockchain and — poof! — it would escape all SEC regulation,” said Warren. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren at a July 9 Senate hearing. Source: Senate Banking Committee

The GENIUS Act, by comparison, has experienced more debate and revision in both halls of Congress. According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s sponsors, the Senate has done significant work to include provisions addressing Democratic concerns over terrorism financing and money laundering. 

When the bill passed the Senate in mid-June, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said it “targets illicit finance, places limitations on Big Tech, puts in place ethical guardrails, and strengthens national security.”

Concerns remain, like the potential effect the act could have on dollar dominance and treasury markets. Even so, betting markets are optimistic. Participants on Polymarket give the bill a 92% chance of passing this year. 

The anti-CBDC bill is still under deliberation. On July 9, the House Committee on Ways and Means and Oversight Subcommittee announced a July 16 hearing on “affirmative steps needed to place a tax policy framework on digital assets.”

The hearing is reportedly set to address aspects related to Emmer’s anti-CBDC bill. 

Whether pro-crypto lawmakers can pass three laws in a week seems a high bar to clear, but even if they don’t, their focus in the near future is definitely crypto. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 11:40

'Crypto Week' Looms: Will These Three Pro-Crypto Bills Pass?

'Crypto Week' Looms: Will These Three Pro-Crypto Bills Pass?

Authored by Aaron Wood via CoinTelegraph.com,

Lawmakers in Washington are gearing up to pass three bills for the blockchain industry in an event they have dubbed “crypto week.”

The US Congress has been working on legislation that the crypto industry lobby says will help bring clarity to the industry and help it grow, primarily through two laws governing stablecoins and creating a crypto market structure. Congress is also considering a law preventing the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Crypto has found support on both sides of the aisle, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers each making a number of amendments to the bills under consideration. Major crypto exchanges operating in the United States, like Coinbase, have stepped up their campaigning for the legislation as well.

With Congress set to take action on three critical bills during Crypto Week, here’s a look at what they’re considering and what it means for the crypto industry.

The three bills expected during Crypto Week. Source: House Financial Services Committee

Crypto week aims to pass three bills into law

The US House Financial Services Committee announced Crypto Week would start on July 14. It will consider three bills, namely:

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act)

Republican Representative French Hill introduced the CLARITY Act only at the end of June. The bill aims to provide a framework for the digital assets industry, including defining the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

The crypto industry has long thought that the Howey test, as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is out of date and that the SEC should not apply it nor exercise jurisdiction over digital assets. 

The CLARITY Act would “provide an exemption from the Securities Act of 1933’s registration requirement for offers of investment contracts involving digital commodities on mature blockchains that meet certain conditions.”

It also defines “mature” blockchains as networks that have a digital commodity “substantially derived from the use and functioning of the blockchain.” It can’t have user restrictions and must limit certain holders to less than 20% of ownership.

Under the bill, the CFTC would gain “exclusive regulatory jurisdiction” over crypto transactions. Crypto exchanges and brokers would be required to register with the commission and would be subject to record keeping, reporting, antitrust considerations and other regulatory considerations.

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act)

Perhaps the most well-known of the three bills being considered during crypto week is the GENIUS Act, the long-awaited regulatory framework for stablecoins. 

The bill was introduced in February, just over a week after President Donald Trump took his oath of office, by a bipartisan group of legislators. It is now in the House after passing the Senate in a bipartisan vote on June 17.

The bill defines what type of entities may issue stablecoins and states that “issuers must maintain reserves backing the stablecoin on a one-to-one basis using U.S. currency or other similarly liquid assets, as specified.”

It also subjects issuers to the Bank Secrecy Act and sets provisions for the event of a stablecoin issuer going insolvent. 

Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

Republican Representative Tom Emmer introduced the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act on March 6, which seeks to prevent the Federal Reserve, the US’s central bank, from issuing a CBDC.

Under the pretense of concern over citizens’ privacy, the act would forbid the Fed from issuing a CBDC either by itself or through a third party, prevent the Fed from using a CBDC to influence monetary policy and give Congress the sole authority to issue a digital dollar. 

According to an announcement from the House Committee on Financial Services, supporting organizations include the Blockchain Association, the Digital Chamber of Commerce and a number of banking lobbies. 

Can the crypto bills actually pass?

Given the glacial pace of lawmaking in Washington, one week is a short time to pass three laws, especially considering the size and economic implications of these three bills.

Major crypto companies like Coinbase have been lobbying hard. On July 7, Stand With Crypto, the “grassroots” crypto lobbying organization started by Coinbase, sent a letter to lawmakers signed by 65 executives from various crypto firms, urging Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. 

On July 9, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote a message supporting the same, saying that “America is ready for crypto.” 

Polymarket doesn’t reflect this readiness. Participants in the “Clarity Act signed into law in 2025?” market give the bill a 52% chance at publishing time. 

The CLARITY Act’s success has divided punters. Source: Polymarket

The CLARITY Act has been panned by lawmakers and consumer protection organizations alike as being a “crypto crash grab” and a means for companies to avoid SEC regulation.

Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) called the bill “a massive deregulatory bill backed by a gusher of campaign cash and lobbying muscle from ultra-wealthy venture capital firms and crypto billionaires. The bill will enrich them at the expense of consumers, communities, and financial stability.”

The AFR also raised concerns about Trump’s personal crypto dealings and noted that the bill contains no provisions regarding corruption and ethical concerns. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a noted crypto critic, has also opposed the bill, stating that it allows major firms to skirt SEC regulation. 

“Under the House bill, a publicly traded company like Meta or Tesla could simply decide to put its stock on the blockchain and — poof! — it would escape all SEC regulation,” said Warren. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren at a July 9 Senate hearing. Source: Senate Banking Committee

The GENIUS Act, by comparison, has experienced more debate and revision in both halls of Congress. According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s sponsors, the Senate has done significant work to include provisions addressing Democratic concerns over terrorism financing and money laundering. 

When the bill passed the Senate in mid-June, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said it “targets illicit finance, places limitations on Big Tech, puts in place ethical guardrails, and strengthens national security.”

Concerns remain, like the potential effect the act could have on dollar dominance and treasury markets. Even so, betting markets are optimistic. Participants on Polymarket give the bill a 92% chance of passing this year. 

The anti-CBDC bill is still under deliberation. On July 9, the House Committee on Ways and Means and Oversight Subcommittee announced a July 16 hearing on “affirmative steps needed to place a tax policy framework on digital assets.”

The hearing is reportedly set to address aspects related to Emmer’s anti-CBDC bill. 

Whether pro-crypto lawmakers can pass three laws in a week seems a high bar to clear, but even if they don’t, their focus in the near future is definitely crypto. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 11:40

Study Reveals How Many Cups Of Coffee Needed To Shield Against Liver Disease

Study Reveals How Many Cups Of Coffee Needed To Shield Against Liver Disease

Waking up for the London Stock Exchange isn't complete without the daily ritual: fire up the espresso machine, grind those dark roasted Robusta beans, and 30 seconds later—boom—a jolt of caffeine strong enough to skim a dozen Goldman, UBS, and Bank of America notes. But here's the kicker: the morning rocket fuel might be doing a lot more than energizing you for the trading session. 

According to a massive UK Biobank study, coffee—yes, even the decaf, instant, and ground stuff—appears to protect against chronic liver disease (CLD).

"Coffee consumption has been linked with lower rates of CLD, but little is known about the effects of different coffee types, which vary in chemical composition," researchers from the University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation Research wrote in the report. 

Here are the key takeaways from the study, which found that compared to non-coffee drinkers, regular coffee drinkers had a: 

  • 21% lower risk of incident CLD
  • 20% lower risk of CLD or steatosis
  • 49% lower risk of death from CLD

Dose-Response: "The maximal protective effect was seen at around 3–4 cups each day. The findings were robust to excluding events in the first 5 years. Drinkers of decaffeinated, instant, and ground coffee (including espresso) also had lower risks of incident CLD, incident CLD or steatosis, death from CLD, and, to a lesser extent, HCC, with ground coffee (including espresso) having the largest effect," the researchers found. 

Researchers noted, "This study agrees with previous cohort studies that generally report inverse associations between coffee consumption and CLD outcomes, including deranged liver enzymes, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma."

Biologically, coffee's protective effect is plausible. Caffeine inhibits the A2aA receptor, which otherwise promotes liver fibrosis. Yet decaffeinated coffee was also protective, pointing to other active compounds like chlorogenic acid, kahweol, and cafestol—especially concentrated in ground coffee. These compounds have shown anti-fibrotic effects in animal studies, suggesting a multifactorial mechanism behind coffee's liver-protective properties.

What better way to armor your liver and support your favorite forward-looking financial news site than by grabbing a bag of our ZeroHedge-approved coffee beans?

Top pick? The dark roast. Bold, unapologetic—just like our headlines.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/13/2025 - 11:05

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