'An Epic Madness Burns In The Minds of Californians...'

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

The California Death Trip

“History records no pity for parties that choose purity over competence, vengeance over vision, pathology over pragmatism. The long night is not coming. It is here. . . . ”

- LHGrey on X

The Pacific Palisades fire ignited on January 7, 2025, in the very last days of the “Joe Biden” fake presidency.

6,837 total buildings destroyed plus about 1,000 damaged.

The Altadena fire across town in Eaton Canyon was arguably worse: 9,418 buildings destroyed.

A Year After the LA Fires

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana at the time to attend the inauguration of president John Dramani Mahama, part of a small U.S. presidential delegation sent by the “Biden” administration.

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Brian Williams, overseer of the Police and Fire Departments, was on administrative leave at the time due to an alleged bomb threat against City Hall that he reportedly made in September / October 2024. The FBI raided his house that December, and in 2025 he copped a plea deal (guilty) to making threats involving fire and explosives. So, he was out of action during the fires.

There you have the rectified essence of how the Democratic Party operates in America’s biggest state.

Is it not astonishing that Karen Bass is running for reelection? How could she possibly be forgiven?

A large number of people employed in the movie business got burned out of their homes in the fires, and then city and state regulatory nonsense prevented them from rebuilding — on top of insurance company hocus-pocus that left families financially wrecked.

Is it a surprise that the city’s flagship industry is dying now (film production down 32-percent on a five-year average)?

What is LA without Hollywood?

And yet the show-biz celebs are still coming out to pimp for Democratic Party politicians. This is the kind of thing that forces you to conclude that an epic madness burns as hotly through the minds of Californians as the fires that ripped through the canyons in 2025. I know from personal experience as a college theater major that actors can be exceptionally stupid, but that can’t wholly account for what we’re seeing.

Wednesday’s primary debates had these villains on florid display. Because LA’s ranked-choice mayoral primary race styles itself “non-partisan,” candidate Spencer Pratt (a registered Republican) was on-hand for the debate. When the subject of LA’s cataclysmic homelessness came up, drug addicts living (if you can call it that) in wretched, filthy encampments all over the public space of the city, Mayor Bass bragged that she’d significantly reduced the problem, which is obviously and mendaciously untrue. LA City Council member Nithya Raman, who labels herself “progressive,” bragged on putting the homeless into shelters (i.e., motel rooms at $100-K per person per year.)

Spencer Pratt attempted to inject a little reality into the discussion about putting the homeless into homes: “No matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl. The DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] statistic says 93-percent of this is a drug addiction problem. These people do not want a bed — they want fentanyl or super meth.”

Pratt is currently running third in the polls. In ranked-choice voting, the top two winners in the primary will face off in the November election. Currently Bass is polling in the lead and Nithya Raman is running second. If the numbers stay that way, the winner in November could finish Los Angeles off. Blade Runner, here we come.

But there’s still a chance that Spencer Pratt might place well in the June 2 primary just as Golden Tempo shot from dead last to win the Kentucky Derby last week.

The seductions of the Marxist race hustle have worn a little thin, even for Angelenos. Karen Bass looks increasingly ridiculous grinning about her abject failures, which Mr. Pratt lays out relentlessly in plain talk. His reality-testing seems to be getting some minds right, gaining real traction. Nithya Raman has the charisma of a mung bean.

The gubernatorial debate was equally edifying, especially the spectacle of Democratic Candidates Katie Porter’s and billionaire Tom Steyer’s rousing lack of self-awareness. Ms. Porter, renowned for dumping a pot of steaming mashed potatoes over her ex-husband’s head, and for her crotchety way with the (friendly) news media and her own staff, made the astounding statement that “the public servants we have are focused on doing their job, which is not cooperating with the federal immigration authorities.” That’s their job? Hmmmm. Mr. Steyer went further and said he would arrest ICE agents going about their business. You think . . .? (I would think that a Governor Steyer would find himself arrested by the feds for attempting such a stunt.)

The governor’s race is also a rank-choice contest. So, Republican Steve Hilton was on-hand to break the reality-optional spell that shrouded the stage like a poisonous miasma. After several Democrats made a show of deploring the grotesque homeless druggie encampments from Nob Hill to MacArthur Park, Mr. Hilton said “[They] talk as if we’re in some parallel universe where Democrats haven’t been running the state for the last sixteen years.” He shares the lead in the polls in the large field at 18-percent with Xavier Becerra, who was “Joe Biden’s” Secretary of Health and Human Services, meaning, he presided over the vaxx mandates and lockdowns of the Covid operation.

California is ground zero for the death dance of the Democratic Party. Symptoms are popping up all over the country, of course. Just this week, the FBI raided the headquarters of Virginia State Senator pro tempore L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) — and also raided the marijuana shop she co-owns next door to her HQ. The SCOTUS decision on Congressional redistricting has thrown many states’ Democratic Party outposts into a fugue of terror as they stand to lose as many as a dozen seats in Congress. DOJ prosecutions are underway against prominent Democrats in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Many of their heroes could go to prison. Panic has set in. The Democratic Party as we know it these days is not long for this world.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 16:20

Toyota And Honda See Sharp Declines In Profit Amidst Iran War Pressures, Spiking EV Costs

Toyota expects a sharp decline in profit as rising material and shipping costs tied to the Iran conflict pressure its business, according to Bloomberg. 

The automaker projected operating income of ¥3 trillion for the fiscal year ending March 2027, well below both analyst expectations of ¥4.6 trillion and last year’s ¥3.8 trillion.

The company said supply chain disruptions are driving up costs for aluminum, resins, and other materials, while logistics issues remain unpredictable. Toyota estimates the regional conflict could reduce earnings by about ¥670 billion.

After the forecast was released, shares dropped as much as 3.5%. Analysts noted Toyota may be giving conservative guidance, but future performance will depend heavily on how long the conflict continues.

Julie Boote, an analyst at London-based research firm Pelham Smithers Associates Ltd told Bloomberg: “Toyota did not only miss consensus estimates, but also its own forecast, as auto unit sales came in much weaker than predicted by the automaker. It is still likely that Toyota is once again lowballing its guidance, with earnings upgrades possible during the fiscal year; much depends also on the development of the Iran war.”

Toyota expects vehicle sales to dip slightly this year, though hybrid sales are projected to surpass 5 million units for the first time. The company is also focusing more on after-sales services, which it sees as a major future profit driver.

Despite record annual revenue of ¥50.7 trillion, quarterly operating profit fell 49% due to tariffs and higher shipping expenses.

Meanwhile, Honda just posted an operating loss of 400 billion yen -- its first in the company's history, according to Nikkei. The loss was primarily driven by problems tied to its electric vehicle business and marks the company’s first operating loss since going public in 1957.

This is a major decline from the 1.2 trillion yen operating profit it reported the previous fiscal year. It would also be the second-largest operating loss ever reported by a Japanese automaker, behind Toyota Motor Corporation’s 461 billion yen loss during the 2009 global financial crisis, although accounting differences make direct comparisons imperfect, Nikkei writes.

In March, Honda said it expected an operating loss between 270 billion and 570 billion yen and announced it was canceling three planned EV launches in North America.

The company also projected up to 2.5 trillion yen in EV-related costs over fiscal years 2025–2027, including asset impairment charges and supplier compensation.

Despite these losses, Honda plans to return to operating profitability in the current fiscal year, supported by strong motorcycle sales in Asia, a weaker yen, and a broader turnaround strategy for its North American and Chinese businesses.

Nissan had also trimmed production due to the Iran war earlier in the year. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 15:50

Trump Gets Diplomatic Win In Ukraine War, 3-Day Ceasefire Declared For Russia's V-Day

President Trump announced Friday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and a major prisoner swap. He hailed in a Truth Social post that this could be the "beginning of the end" of the long war between them.

He specified that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday - with Saturday being Victory Day celebrations in Russia. The Kremlin has been increasingly concerned that the major national holiday which commemorates its victory over Nazi Germany 81 years ago in World War II could be marred by drone attacks from Ukraine. There's no doubt that President Putin is welcoming of such a ceasefire declaration, and backing by Washington.

"I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine," Trump wrote. "The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II."

This is to include a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country, the US president also said. While direct talks between the warring countries have not been happening, these kinds of prisoner exchanges have actually been somewhat of a constant throughout the over 4-year long war.

The timing is interesting, given that the White House is clearly consumed with the Iran war, the Hormuz Strait crisis, and the expanding economic fallout globally and at home. 

Moscow has meanwhile been threatening to attack Kiev with an unprecedented bombing campaign should V-Day events be disrupted by drone fire out of Ukraine this weekend.

Putin it seems is seeking the opportunity to soften Washington's stance toward Moscow's perspective of the Ukraine war. Also, at the moment Trump needs a diplomatic 'win' that he can tout to the world, given the Iran situation is sliding into a bit of a quagmire which could have dire consequences for Republicans going into the midterms.

Despite that Iran remains a key regional ally of Russia's, it remains that Moscow has benefited from both the easing of sanctions on its oil exports at sea, and rising global oil prices - both the result of the Iran war.

Previously, Kremlin leaders have offered a deal where Iran could keep its enriched uranium but hold it on Russian territory, to ensure the continuation of its nuclear energy. This, Moscow has reasoned, could serve as a basis for a grand deal with the US.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 15:30

Minnesota Democrats Unanimously Vote To Protect Rep. Ilhan Omar... And Dead Voters

Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com,

Minnesota Senate Democrats recently voted - unaminously - against removing deceased persons from the state’s voter rolls.

This tracks with the fact that almost 100% of dead people vote for Democrats, making them Democrats’ most loyal voting bloc, even surpassing that of serial killers.

(This may explain why, historically, Democrat gerrymandering seems designed to encompass as many cemeteries as possible. O.K., that is just an unfounded assertion, but it seems likely, does it not?)

The dead — and serial killers — are groups that vote heavily for Democrats? Talk about a symbiotic relationship! The latter provide the former! Genius! Kismet!

This after they also voted — unanimously -- against an oversight committee effort to compel Rep. Ilhan Omar to testify after she missed a deadline to provide documents to the committee investigating the Somali fraud rampant in the North Star State.

So the multi-millionaire or poverty-stricken representative (take your pick) from Somalia escapes a subpoena, at least for now.

It is obvious that Democrats in Minnesota are as wedded to fraud as Ilhan once was to her brother. And for the same reason: they will do whatever it takes to attain and retain power, so help them Allah.

They share the same goals as well, at least for now: to fleece law-abiding taxpayers out of as much money as possible, so as to line their own pockets -- and the pockets of those who help them attain and retain power.

In a sane country, at a sane moment in time, this would be considered an unethical, unacceptable, unconstitutional, illegal, and treasonous misuse of power, one that spits in the face of a representative democracy. Here today? Meh. Not good, but let’s not fly off the handle like our founders did. Tolerance and empathy, you see.

Democrats want as many illegals in the country as possible, because they vote for Democrats in droves. Why wouldn’t it be the same for dead folks? The more dead people, the more votes Democrats get. And, if the dead are erstwhile denizens of red states and rural areas, so much the better. Presto chango, a Republican has been converted into a Democrat! Remarkable!

This could explain Democrats’ love of abortion, medical assistance in dying, and violent criminals.

Our forefathers would have done whatever it took to counter this orgy of criminality.

Past mafia godfathers would be proud of it.

Today? Democrats like Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom, and J.B. Pritzker might accurately be called “fraudfathers.”

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 15:10

Another Wall Street Giant Is Plotting Its Escape From Mamdani's New York City: Report

It looks like Citadel isn’t the only Wall Street giant looking for the exits as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) continues his commie Robinhood thing on the city’s richest.

Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino reported Wednesday that the Manhattan-headquartered private equity giant Apollo is preparing to establish what insiders describe as a “second headquarters” in either Florida or Texas. A formal announcement on the location is expected within weeks.

The move would build on Apollo’s earlier internal memo to employees signaling plans for significant future growth outside its longtime New York base, amid a broader migration of financial firms toward business-friendly states in the South.

Gasparino reports:

The new outpost could eventually become home to as many as 1,000 employees over time – in line with Apollo’s current headcount in New York, the sources said. The buyout firm currently employs more than 6,000 worldwide.

Apollo paid a whopping $1.276 billion in income taxes in 2025, up from $1.062 billion the year before. While filings don’t break down how much of that went to the Big Apple, the city stands to lose a hefty revenue stream as the firm looks to expand elsewhere.

Apollo – headed by billionaire CEO Marc Rowan – is currently scouting out space in Miami and in Palm Beach, where Apollo already has a small presence, according to the sources. In Texas, office space in Austin is also under consideration, the insiders said.

News of Apollo’s plans come after billionaire Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said Mamdani’s push for higher taxes on second homes has reinforced his firm's commitment to Miami - and even led the firm to scale up its planned headquarters there.

During a Tuesday interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Griffin confirmed that Citadel decided to enlarge its Miami office project after Mamdani publicly referenced his $238 million Central Park South penthouse while promoting a new pied-à-terre tax proposal.

“We went to Miami and revised our building plan to make it a bigger office building,” the high-profile investor said. “What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners, and principally my New York partners, is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami.”

Griffin also said he watched Mamdani’s video three times, branding it “creepy and weird.”

The Citadel boss added that the situation brought back memories of his departure from Chicago, where he previously criticized local leadership before moving Citadel and Citadel Securities to Florida.

“Looking at what Mamdani did to me and more broadly is doing to the city of New York is triggering the trauma I went through in Chicago,” he explained.

Griffin’s announcement is part of “a troubling pattern taking shape” in the Big Apple, according to Steve Fulop, who leads the pro-business lobby organization. Partnership for New York City.

“The solution is that the administration needs to have a real pro-business agenda that has support of the broader business corporate community,” Fulop told Gasparino. “We haven’t seen this yet and there is a sense of urgency to getting this going. It is a competitive landscape and without a strategy companies will look to more friendly places.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 14:55

Taiwan Semiconductor April Sales Grow At Slowest Pace In 6 Months

Taiwan Semiconductor, world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, posted its slowest pace of monthly revenue expansion since October, highlighting the challenges of sustaining torrid AI-fueled pace of growth.

Sales in April rose 17.5% to NT$410.7 billion ($13.1 billion), their smallest rise in about six months. While the rise reflects just 30 days of business and its revenue can fluctuate month-to-month, the drop was notable; analysts expect the company’s June-quarter revenue to grow almost twice as fast, or at about 35% which means that May and June sales will have to be gangbusters to compensate for April's slowness. 

Taiwan’s largest company has become an essential player in the global AI industry by making cutting-edge semiconductors for the likes of Nvidia and AMD. That’s as Alphabet, Amazon.com, Meta and Microsoft said they are setting aside $725 billion for AI this year, significantly more than previously anticipated. The question of where all this money will come from will be the next big hurdle for the market (we discussed it here ""Banks Are Choking": The AI Debt Bubble Has Started To Burst".)

Offsetting the huge AI orderbook are plateauing smartphone and consumer electronics sales, where soaring memory chip costs are forcing brands to hike prices leading to a big drop in demand. Economic uncertainty is also dampening consumer demand in many parts of the world.

For its part, TSMC has remained bullish on global AI chip demand. In April, the company raised its full-year sales guidance and said its own capital spending should trend toward the upper end of an existing forecast range of as much as $56 billion, conveying confidence in the year’s economic outlook. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 14:40

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filings Increase 42%

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

There were 644 commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in April 2026, a 42 percent yearly increase, according to a May 6 statement from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy seeks to reorganize a company’s debts, with the aim of keeping the business operational and, eventually, becoming solvent. This is the most common type of bankruptcy filing made by businesses.

Within the 644 commercial Chapter 11 filings last month, 301 were made by small businesses, up 46 percent year over year, ABI said.

Overall commercial filings, including Chapter 11 and other types of bankruptcies, rose 21 percent during this period to 3,060 filings this April.

Chapter 12 filings, which concern family farms and fisheries, surged 130 percent to 62 in April 2026, the highest monthly total since February 2020, according to the institute.

“Rising inflation, higher borrowing costs, and geopolitical uncertainty are intensifying the financial strain on families and businesses,” ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss said.

ABI “appreciates the momentum building in Congress to permanently expand access” for distressed small businesses looking to file bankruptcies for restructuring under Chapter 11, she said, referring to the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment Act of 2026.

The Act, introduced in March, seeks to permanently raise the small-business Chapter 11 bankruptcy debt threshold to $7.5 million, according to a March 5 statement from Rep. Ben Cline’s (R-Va.) office. The threshold is the maximum debt limit a small business owner can have while applying for such bankruptcy.

The higher limit will allow more small businesses to access a “faster, more cost-effective bankruptcy process” while they negotiate with creditors.

“The Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment Act will give small businesses the certainty they need to reorganize, restructure, and keep operating when challenges arise,” Cline said.

“By permanently raising the eligibility threshold, we’re ensuring more job creators can access a streamlined and affordable bankruptcy process that helps them stay open, protect paychecks, and meet their obligations. Just as importantly, this bipartisan bill maintains the integrity of our bankruptcy system by keeping it self-supporting and fair for all who rely on it.”

Economic Indicators

While bankruptcy numbers are increasing, other economic indicators, such as employment and business sector activity, are giving mixed to positive signals.

For instance, the initial unemployment weekly claims for the week ending May 2 stood at 200,000. While this was an increase of 10,000 claims compared to the previous week, the four-week moving average of the claims fell by 4,500 during this period.

In a May 7 statement, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said that its April jobs report indicates “softening” in the employment market.

The organization’s Small Business Employment Index declined for the second straight month in April. However, “even in a month with a weaker Employment Index, over half of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire,” NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg said.

Regarding business activity in the United States, five of seven sectors tracked by S&P Global registered higher activity in April than the previous month, according to a May 5 statement from the company.

In April, the health care, consumer goods, industrials, basic materials, and consumer services sectors grew month over month, while technology and financial sectors posted declines. Health care and consumer goods were the two top-performing sectors.

“The latest increase in Consumer Goods production was the steepest since April 2022,” S&P said. “This partly reflected advanced purchasing and customer stock building in response to expected price hikes, as the rate of new order growth surged to its highest since August 2021.”

As for the country’s overall economic growth, the first quarter 2026 U.S. GDP growth was 2 percent, up from 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to an April 30 estimate by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In late April, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that U.S. growth was “really solid” across the economy.

“Some of that is that consumer spending is hanging in pretty well; the most recent data are good. And some of it is just the apparently insatiable demand for data centers all over the United States,” Powell said.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 14:20

Maryland Blames Data Centers For $1.6 Billion Power Bill Shock, Omits Green Energy Mess

Maryland's Office of People's Counsel released a new report warning that homeowners in the state could face $1.6 billion in additional power bill costs over the next decade to subsidize transmission line upgrades, largely due to data center demand outside Maryland, more specifically from data centers in Northern Virginia.

OPC filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) arguing that PJM Interconnection, the largest U.S. grid operator, is forcing Maryland power customers to shoulder costs for grid expansion projects that feed into Northern Virginia. The complaint was titled "OPC complaint challenges PJM cost rules for unfairly assigning $2 billion in data center-driven transmission costs to Marylanders."

People's Counsel David Lapp said Maryland residents neither caused the need for the transmission line projects nor will they meaningfully benefit from them:

"Without FERC action, Maryland customers face paying billions for transmission infrastructure that PJM is advancing to benefit data centers. PJM's cost allocation rules are broken. Maryland customers have neither caused the need for these billions in new transmission projects nor will they meaningfully benefit from them."

The complaint comes as the Mid-Atlantic region, specifically Maryland, is locked in a power bill crisis, with a confluence of bad "green" energy policies colliding with the AI data center boom.

Not mentioned by the OPC or the one-party-ruled state of Democratic Party kings and queens is that Maryland is structurally dependent on imported power through PJM. It does not produce enough electricity inside the state to cover its own load, which makes power customers more exposed to regional grid costs, transmission upgrades, electricity price spikes, and data-center-driven demand growth outside of Maryland.

How did Maryland get to the point where it has to import roughly 24 million megawatt-hours of electricity a year, using 2024 EIA data, or about 40% of in-state electricity demand?

It is due to poor state-level management by politicians and their 'green' energy policies, which led to the early retirements of coal power plants and to a failure to prioritize new, reliable power to increase baseload.

Local outlet Fox Baltimore recently quoted Ed Hale, the Republican candidate for governor, who blamed the state's green energy policies and the early retirement of fossil-fuel power plants for the power bil mess. 

"We have a lot of fossil fuels here that burn a lot easier and cleaner than in the old days," Hale said earlier this year. "I'm thinking that we have to do better, and we have to reopen the plants that have been not torn down, and just get them open again and reenergize them."

Beyond Maryland, but still in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, there is a hidden cost to the AI buildout: surging carbon prices are pushing up CO2 costs across the region past California levels, raising the prospect of higher energy costs for consumers, according to Bloomberg.

The price to emit a so-called short ton of CO2 into the atmosphere under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market covering 10 states, including New York, jumped 12% on Monday to $53.50, adding to a 31% gain last week. Traders are betting that Virginia's planned return to the market in July will boost demand for permits, as the state is the world's largest hub for data centers.

Whether through misguided green policies at the state level, such as charging companies for CO2 emissions, the prior 'everything green' framework has miserably failed consumers.

If the U.S. wants to win the AI race, progressive states like Maryland must build out new power generation and consider reactivating coal plants, while recognizing that becoming 'greener' could result in becoming poorer - Europe is finding that out (read here).

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 14:00

Ancient Settlement Older Than The Pyramids Discovered; Rewrites North American History

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

An ancient Indigenous settlement unearthed near Sturgeon Lake in Saskatchewan is challenging long-held views about early human presence in North America.

Dating to around 11,000 years ago and predating Egypt’s Great Pyramid by more than 6,000 years, according to the official timeline, the site provides evidence of long-term habitation rather than temporary camps.

Archaeologists working with Sturgeon Lake First Nation uncovered stone tools, fire pits, toolmaking materials, and remains of the extinct Bison antiquus. Charcoal layers point to controlled fire management, aligning with oral traditions. The findings suggest a sophisticated society with advanced hunting strategies, including buffalo jumps.

Experts found a Native American settlement older than the pyramids…

North America’s earliest inhabitants formed stable communities far earlier than previously believed.

Archaeologists working near Sturgeon Lake in Saskatchewan have unearthed evidence of a sophisticated… pic.twitter.com/8kh38Cklrf

— Shining Science (@ShiningScience) May 7, 2026

The site, known as Âsowanânihk (“a place to cross” in Cree), lies about five kilometres north of Prince Albert along the North Saskatchewan River. It was first spotted by avocational archaeologist Dave Rondeau through riverbank erosion exposing artifacts.

Rondeau said: “The moment I saw the layers of history peeking through the soil, I felt the weight of generations staring back at me. Now that the evidence has proven my first instincts, this site is shaking up everything we thought we knew and could change the narrative of early Indigenous civilizations in North America.”

Dr. Glenn Stuart of the University of Saskatchewan added: “This discovery challenges the outdated idea that early Indigenous peoples were solely nomadic. The evidence of long-term settlement and land stewardship suggests a deep-rooted presence. It also raises questions about the Bering Strait Theory, supporting oral histories that Indigenous communities have lived here for countless generations.”

Prehistoric settlement discovery in North America older than Egypt's Great Pyramid rewrites human history https://t.co/PVQjzCRF63

— Daily Mail US (@Daily_MailUS) May 7, 2026

Excavations indicate the location served as a hub for organized activity shortly after the last Ice Age. Researchers compare its importance to iconic global sites like the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge, and Göbekli Tepe.

The discovery includes evidence of bison pounds and kill sites, with hunters targeting massive Bison antiquus weighing up to 4,400 pounds. This points to coordinated community efforts and deep environmental knowledge.

Chief Christine Longjohn of Sturgeon Lake First Nation stated: “This discovery is a powerful reminder that our ancestors were here, building, thriving and shaping the land long before history books acknowledged us. For too long, our voices have been silenced, but this site speaks for us, proving that our roots run deep and unbroken. It carries the footsteps of our ancestors, their struggles, their triumphs, and their wisdom. Every stone, every artifact is a testament to their strength. We are not just reclaiming history, we are reclaiming our rightful place in it.”

The site, on Treaty 6 territory home to the Plains Cree, faces potential threats from logging and industrial activity. The Âsowanânihk Council, involving Elders, youth, educators, and archaeologists from the University of Saskatchewan and University of Calgary, is leading protection and further study efforts. Plans include a cultural interpretive centre.

Carbon dating of charcoal from a hearth places activity at about 10,700 years ago, roughly 1,000 years earlier than prior estimates for organized settlement in the region.

This find adds physical evidence to oral histories describing the area as a cultural and trade center, highlighting sophisticated land stewardship in post-glacial North America.

The discovery underscores ongoing collaboration between Indigenous communities and researchers to preserve and understand this chapter of human history. Further excavations and funding could yield more insights into early societal organization on the continent.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 13:45

Intel Jumps To Record High On Deal To Make Chips For Apple, Following White House Pressure

Already looking like something right out of the dot com bubble, Intel stock soared even more moments ago, surging almost 20% and hitting a new all time high over $130 (it was trading at $80 a few days ago), after the WSJ reported that the White House-backed chipmaker has reached a preliminary agreement to manufacture some of the chips that power Apple devices. Which is ironic as just 6 short years ago Apple surprised the market when it announced it was parting ways with Intel, replacing the company's chips with its own, a move which was dubbed a huge success. Now, following intense White House pressure, it has decided to reverse this decision. 

While it is well known that talks between the two companies have been ongoing for more than a year - which has been one of the reasons for Intel's recent meteoric advance - they hammered out a formal deal in recent months. 

It’s still unclear which Apple products Intel would make chips for, if any, or if today's PR was just to plant the seeds for the US to sell its Intel stake after Trump was boasting recently how much money he made for US taxpayers since getting a big stake in the company last summer when it was trading below $20. 

Intel has two main business lines: designing chips and manufacturing them - both its own designs and external customers’ - in its Intel Foundry unit. Both businesses had been underperforming for years before Lip-Bu Tan took over as chief executive last spring vowing to revitalize them.  

Following our advice from August 7, 2025...

The Pentagon took a stake in US rare earth miner MP Materials... when will it do the same with Intel

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 7, 2025

... one week later, on August 14, the Trump administration struck a deal to convert nearly $9 billion in federal grants into Intel stock, giving the U.S. government a 10% stake in the chip-maker.

And the key bit from the WSJ report: the White House "played a key role in bringing Apple to the table."

According to the report, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has met repeatedly over the last year with high-ranking Apple officials, including CEO Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX chief Elon Musk and Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, to try to convince them to get into business with Intel, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

And with the Apple deal, Intel has now signed partnerships with all three. Now it remains to be seen if any of the three will actually use Intel's chips for more than just press release bullet points. 

Over the last decade, Intel fell badly behind rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics after a series of technical missteps, leadership changes and failed attempts at consolidation led outside foundry customers to pull or curb their business.

When Intel hired Tan in March 2025 to replace ousted CEO Pat Gelsinger, Trump raised concerns that Tan’s close ties with China would compromise him and called for his ouster.  But Tan won Trump over with a charm offensive, and the government announced its 10% investment in Intel shortly after. Following the investment, Intel’s share price rose sharply. On Friday morning it rose 7.5% to an all-time high of nearly $118 per share. 

Tan has been reshaping Intel’s top leadership ranks in recent months as well, including hiring former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing executive Wei-Jen Lo, a move that prompted a lawsuit from TSMC. 

The Intel CEO also ousted his head of product and hired new executives to lead the company’s data center processor and client computing units, as well as a newly formed custom silicon business. He has also invested heavily in Intel’s most-advanced manufacturing process, known as 14A.  

President Trump personally advocated for Intel to Cook in a meeting at the White House, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I like Intel,” President Trump said in January. He said the government had made “tens of billions of dollars” from the Intel deal, and that the government’s backing of the company had attracted important partners to Intel. 

“As soon as we went in, Apple went in, Nvidia went in, a lot of smart people went in,” President Trump said. 

Nvidia invested $5 billion in Intel in September and the two companies announced a partnership under which Intel would build custom data center CPUs for Nvidia. And last month, Elon Musk and Intel announced an ambitious plan to build a chip manufacturing plant in Texas as part of Musk’s  Terafab project to produce chips for Tesla, xAI and SpaceX. 

Apple relies on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to make the chips it designs for iPhones, iPads, Macs and other devices, and is under pressure to find additional chip suppliers. On Apple’s last two earnings conference calls, Cook has blamed a lack of availability of advanced chips for Apple’s inability to meet customer demand for iPhones.

The constraints are expected to continue into the current quarter, affecting several Mac models, Cook said. “We think, looking forward, that the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio may take several months to reach supply-demand balance,” Cook said. Last Friday, the day after the earnings call, Apple raised the Mac Mini’s starting price.

TSMC’s manufacturing capabilities far surpass those of Samsung and Intel. Makers of other kinds of chips, for memory and storage for example, are more competitive with one another, giving Apple multiple sources of supply.

Apple has long been TSMC’s top customer, but skyrocketing demand for its manufacturing capacity from Nvidia and other designers of AI chips means Apple no longer has as much leverage to secure the supplies it needs. Starting in 2006, Apple used Intel-designed CPUs as the main processors for its personal computers, but switched to its own custom CPUs, based on a design architecture from Arm Holding, in 2020.

As for Intel stock, while we have enjoyed the recent meltup, the reversal - when it comes - will be painful.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 13:26

Vaccine Trade Returns? Moderna Working On Hantavirus Shot Sends Shares Higher

Moderna is out with timely news that it is working on early-stage research on vaccines targeting hantaviruses. The news comes as a Spanish woman has been hospitalized for a suspected infection, while a hantavirus cluster has ravaged a Dutch-flagged cruise ship, with five confirmed and three suspected cases of hantavirus. Three deaths have been reported so far.

Bloomberg reports that Moderna is collaborating with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases on hantavirus vaccine research and is also working with Korea University College of Medicine's Vaccine Innovation Center on a potential vaccine.

"These efforts are early-stage and ongoing and reflect Moderna's broader responsibility to develop countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases," Moderna said.

Moderna said its work on hantavirus vaccines began before the cruise ship Hondius reported an outbreak while anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, on the west coast of Africa, last week.

Anais Legand, a technical officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), provided an update earlier today stating that all remaining passengers on the Hondius have left the ship without symptoms.

"They will be asked to take their temperature every single day for 42 days. They will be asked to check every day for other symptoms like feeling unwell or a headache," Legand said, adding, "They will be provided with someone to contact. If they're not feeling well, it's up to the national authorities where people will go next."

WHO Emergencies Communications Lead Nyka Alexander stated in a livestreamed update earlier that "the risk to the public remains low."

Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses that naturally infect rodents and can occasionally spread to people.

Here’s what you need to know about #hantavirus: What they are, how they spread, the symptoms, and how to prevent infection pic.twitter.com/pduUjlwl2j

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 8, 2026

Nevertheless, the news sent Moderna shares higher around noon. Shares had already been rising after the company reported that its mRNA flu vaccine outperformed in a late-stage study, likely driving early market activity. Shares are up 18%.

President Trump told an ABC News reporter on Thursday that "It's very much, we hope, under control." 

HANTAVIRUS UPDATE: President Trump is monitoring the hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship that has already resulted in three deaths.

Spain is preparing for the vessel’s arrival as officials track about 40 people, including Americans, who left the ship before the… pic.twitter.com/pPoppLn8N8

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 8, 2026

Polymarket:

//--> //--> Hantavirus pandemic in 2026?
Yes 9% · No 91%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

It is only a matter of time before other struggling biotech companies announce that they, too, are developing vaccines to prevent the next potential pandemic. This follows the Covid playbook.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 13:05

OnlyFans Lures Outside Capital As Architect Capital And Billionaire Tag Team Deal

Nearly seven weeks after OnlyFans owner and billionaire Leonid Radvinsky died, and after months of reports that the sex-worker streaming platform was exploring a stake sale, the Financial Times reported Friday morning that San Francisco-based Architect Capital is preparing to buy a minority stake in the company.

Australian billionaire James Packer, best known as the former head of the Packer family's media and casino empire, is expected to be among a group of investors lined up to support Architect Capital's deal to acquire a 15% stake in OnlyFans at a $3.1 billion valuation, according to FT's sources.

The deal would leave control of OnlyFans with the family trust headed by Katie Chudnovsky, widow of late owner Leonid, who acquired OnlyFans in 2018 via Fenix International.

Leonid died in March at 43. He was apparently battling cancer for several years. 

Top OnlyFans creator pornstar Sophie Rain mourned the death of Leonid, saying back in March how he "built something that changed my entire life. Like, I grew up on food stamps and now I can take care of my whole family because of a platform he created. I will never forget that." 

Radvinsky studied economics at Northwestern University and by 2018 had bought a majority stake in OnlyFans and helped transform the video content platform into an adult-content subscription business powerhouse that reshaped how sex workers monetize their bodies. 

OnlyFans was founded in 2016 and exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic. Some of the latest data from 2024 showed the website had 4.6 million creators, 377 million fans, and $1.4 billion in revenue.

As we've previously noted, Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on OnlyFans subscriptions in 2025.

OnlyFans is bringing in outside capital without giving up control while leaving Radvinsky's wife in charge. This may suggest the family trust is cashing out some value while simultaneously creating a pathway for broader monetization.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 12:50

Closer Look Reveals April Jobs Report Was A Disaster, And AI Is Now Here To Take Your Job

On the surface today's jobs report was very strong: headline payrolls came in nearly double the expected (115K vs 65K), with unemployment flat just so Trump's chief economist Kevin Hassett could push bullish taking points in today's TV circuit such as this one.

• *HASSETT: 'RIP-ROARING' JOBS MARKET

Unfortunately, below the surface this was the ugliest jobs report in years, and one could say even more cooked than last month's laughable surge in jobs (which was revised from 178K to 185K).

Here's why.

First, while the Establishment survey showed an impressive 115K jump in jobs when virtually everyone was expecting a big drop, looking at the composition reveals two things: the biggest contributor was semi-government jobs from the Education and Health services category which added 46K, and has been the biggest, and only consistent source of jobs growth this decade.

But even more remarkable was the surge in courier and messenger jobs, which soared by 38K in April, reversing the 52K drop last month. Was there a Doordash or Uber hiring binge that we missed last month? We thought they were mostly laying off their thousands of illegal alien workers... 

In other words, just two job categories accounted for almost all the job gains in April. As for the beating heart of the US economy, manufacturing jobs, they tumbled to -2,000 after surging 15,000 in March, the first negative print of 2026. Manufacturing jobs are now down 73K over the past year. Chemicals, Wood, and Machinery manufacturing are the biggest losers, but few subsectors are doing well

But what is even more concerning, is that the entire base of the monthly print was put in doubt after the BLS reported that in April, the Birth/Death adjustment "added" 391K jobs, which as we have explained repeatedly are not actual jobs but a baseline for model assumptions what the number of jobs in a given month "should" be. One would think after all the huge negative revisions to jobs under Biden as a result of flawed BIrth/Death assumptions the BLS would have learned its lesson. One would be wrong. 

But stepping away from the Establishment survey, things are even uglier in the much more accurate Household Survey. It is here that we find that contrary to the abovementioned payrolls increase, the number of employed workers actually declined by 226K in April. Worse, this wasn't a one off: as shown below, the number of employed workers has been declining every month this year, and is now down an average of 343K jobs every month of 2026 after hitting a record high in Dec 2025!

Unfortunately, this means that we are once again witnessing the infamous divergence between the Household And Establishment surveys, as the number of employed workers has been declining and is now the lowest since December 2024 ot 162.622 million, the number of payrolls (tracked by the Establishment survey) is now at an all time high of 158.735 million, a number which is clearly not supported by the data.

This divergence is also why the unemployment rate remained at 4.3%: even though employment shrank by 226K to 162.622 million, the unemployment rate did not rise because people left the labor force.

There was more rot under the surface, as the number of full-time jobs in April plunged by 424K, while part-time jobs surged by 123K.

The drop in full-time jobs dragged the total number of full-time workers to levels last seen in December 2024. In other words both total employment and full-time jobs are back to where they were when Trump was elected.

But while all of the above is just the usual statistical gimmicks we have exposed every year for nearly two decades, there was something much more ominous in today's report: AI is finally coming for your job... if you are a programmer that is. 

While the total number of jobs in April rose, on the abovementioned low quality Health and education and courrier (?) jobs, information jobs dropped again, sliding by 13K, having slid again... and again... and again. In fact, as shown in the next chart, Information jobs have now been negative every month since 2024!

Don't expect that to change any time soon as the impact of AI "jobs outsourcing" is now here: as Goldman Delta One head Rich Privorotsky noted, we are seeing a flood of tech layoffs among which Cloudflare laying off 20%, Paypall firing 20%, Upwork 25%, Bill Holdings 30%, Coinbase 14%, Meta 10%, Microsoft 7%... and Google saying 75% of new code is now AI-generated (and about to layoff double digits too). This excludes the bloodbath across the crypto sector where the crypto winter coupled with AI has led to especially brutal mass layoffs.

Tech companies announced 33,361 job cuts in April, according to data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. So far this year, the industry has planned 85,411 cuts, up 33% from the same period in 2025.

“Technology companies continue to announce large-scale cuts and are leading all industries in layoff announcements,” said Andy Challenger, the company’s chief revenue officer. “Regardless of whether individual jobs are being replaced by AI, the money for those roles is.”

According to Layoffs.FYI, Q1 has seen the most tech related layoffs since the tech recession of 2022.

As Goldman's Privorotsky puts it, "this phase has been the capex boom to enable what eventually becomes a far more radical labor adjustment cycle." Which means workers are laid off to make space for capex spending and the occasional stock buyback. 

As he concludes, that may ultimately be what the market believes a future Fed reaction function will revolve around…AI-driven productivity disinflation eventually allowing a much deeper cutting cycle. In short, the Universal Basic Income that we predicted over two years ago is coming to pay for welfare for the tens of millions soon to be laid off due to AI, is now on its way.

Market pricing so much AI success, it will need to leave about 100 million people without a job.

Bring on the UBI

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 24, 2024

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 12:22

"Damage Done Already" - Oil May Take Year To Normalize: Adam Parker

Last night’s ZeroHedge debate featured the cautiously bullish Adam Parker, former Morgan Stanley chief equity strategist who now runs Trivariate, and bearish money manager Michael Pento, hosted by Adam Taggart of Thoughtful Money.

While Parker is largely optimistic about equities, he put forth a gloomy prediction on gas prices, based on what he is hearing as a consensus on Wall Street. Namely that prices will remain high for at least a year even if Hormuz were to open today.

His full comments below and highlights from last night's debate. Check out the full discussion to hear how both Pento and Parker are positioned going into year-end:

Best case: More pain at the pump

Parker warned that oil markets may remain structurally elevated even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens immediately, arguing that current pricing still underestimates how long normalization could take.

“The consensus view is it takes much longer to normalize than what’s in the 12-month forward Brent,” Parker said, noting that forward oil pricing in the high-$70 range likely needs to be revised upward.

“Even if we’ve really truly reached some agreement now, it’ll take several months to get back toward where we were already, maybe a year.”

Parker added that economic damage from the energy spike has likely already occurred, particularly for consumer-facing sectors.

“There’s damage done already to consumer discretionary and staples earnings.”

He argued the bigger debate now is whether equity markets continue looking through the near-term pressure on the assumption conditions eventually improve.

pic.twitter.com/U7l6fCDG9h

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) May 8, 2026

If Hormuz doesn’t open…

Renewed hot Middle East conflict and continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz would quickly mean severe inflation and a likely recession, according to Pento. In other words: stagflation.

“Prolonged conflagration in the Middle East? Well, first of all, that would send CPI up even higher. And that would send interest rates up even higher,” Pento said, warning that much of recent GDP growth has been debt-funded rather than organic cash flow.

“Interest rates are going to go much higher as they follow inflation higher. That could put the kibosh on all this borrowing.”

Pento argued that if oil prices hit $150 per barrel, things go South quickly.

“If oil goes to 150 and stays there or thereabouts, you’ll see stocks drop and you’ll see home prices drop. And that really torpedoes the top 20% purchasing power.”

He added that recession odds rise significantly if oil remains above $100 to $120 “for any kind of duration, a couple of months,” calling it “a big problem for the stock market.”

Meanwhile trading the day-to-day is impossible because “you can get a tweet from Trump telling everybody that things are going great now and we’re about to sign a deal. And then the next thing you know, you turn around, you go to the bathroom, you come back and bombs are being lobbed at ships. It’s that stochastic.”

pic.twitter.com/NvCvBoiYuJ

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) May 8, 2026

Watch the full debate below or listen on Spotify.

Watch Now: the ZeroHedge Big Picture Market debate: Adam Parker vs Michael Pento, moderated by Adam Taggarthttps://t.co/rGqcyox7Jy

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 7, 2026

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 12:20

US Jobs Jump 115K, Smashing Estimates; Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 4.3%

In his preview of today's NFP report, Goldman's Delta One head wrote that "NFP almost feels like a sideshow at this point. You can argue weak labor data gives a Warsh led Fed enough cover to cut, but with oil and input inflation still elevated there’s also an argument that a weakening labor market alongside a constrained Fed is actually the more difficult combination for risk assets." With that in mind, moments ago the BLS reported that in April the US added a red hot 115K, above the median consensus of 65K (and near the upper end of the forecast range which peaked at 133K), down from an upward revised (for once) 185K (originally 178K). This was the first back to back gain in jobs in a year.

The change in February jobs was revised down by 23,000, from -133,000 to -156,000, and the change for March was revised up by 7,000, from +178,000 to +185,000. With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 16,000 lower than previously reported

A look below the surface reveals a less impressive picture: while payrolls rose to a new record high, actual employment has dropped to the lowest since January 2025...

... as the monthly change in payrolls has disconnected dramatically from actual jobs, which dropped by 226K in April and are now down 4 months in a row!

Also worth noting: while it's seasonal, in April the US saw 391K jobs added only in speadsheets thanks to a surge in Birth/Death model adjustments, the highest since October, and clearly a revision of the previous trend of revising birth death adjustments lower.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%, in line with expectations, which is odd since all major ethnic groups saw their unemployment rate increase...

... while the Labor Force Participation Rate dipped to 61.8% from 61.9%. The employment-population ratio, at 59.1 percent, changed little in April. These measures edged down over the year after accounting for annual population control adjustments. 

Wage growth came in cooler than expected, rising 0.2% MoM, below the 0.3% expected, and translating into a 3.6% annual increase, also below the 3.8% expected.

Some more details from the April report:

• The number of people jobless less than 5 weeks increased by 358,000 to 2.5 million in April. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.8 million and accounted for 25.3 percent of all unemployed people. 
• The number of people employed part time for economic reasons increased by 445,000 to 4.9 million in April. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
• The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little at 6.1 million in April. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
• Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.8 million in April. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, was also little changed in April at 475,000. 

Looking at the composition of the report, employment edged up by 115,000 in April, after showing little net change over the prior 12 months. In April, job gains occurred in health care, transportation and warehousing, and retail trade. Federal government employment continued to decline. 

• Health care added 37,000 jobs, in line with the average monthly gain of 32,000 over the prior 12 months. Over the month, job gains occurred in nursing and residential care facilities (+15,000) and home health care services (+11,000).
• Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 30,000 in April, reflecting a gain in couriers and messengers (+38,000). However, employment in transportation and warehousing is down by 105,000 since reaching a peak in February 2025.
• Retail trade added 22,000 jobs in April. Employment increased in warehouse clubs, supercenters, and other general merchandise retailers (+18,000) and in building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (+13,000). These gains were partially offset by job losses in department stores (-7,000) and in electronics and appliance retailers (-2,000). Retail trade employment had shown little net change over the prior 12 months. 
• Social assistance continued to trend up in April (+17,000), reflecting a gain of 24,000 jobs in individual and family services.
• Federal government employment continued to decline in April (-9,000). Since reaching a peak in October 2024, federal government employment is down by 348,000, or 11.5 percent. Federal employees on furlough during the partial government shutdown were counted as employed in the establishment survey because they worked or received (or will receive) pay for the pay period that included the 12th of the month.
• Employment in information continued to trend down in April (-13,000). Telecommunications lost 3,000 jobs, while employment continued to trend down in motion picture and sound recording industries (-6,000) and in computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services (-4,000). Information employment is down by 342,000, or 11.0 percent, since its most recent peak in November 2022.
• Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; financial activities; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

Visually:

A few things stood out here: the monthly increase in courriers and messengers (i.e. DoorDash delivery(, +38K, was the highest since covid!

Government was also notable: total government jobs have now declined every month since October, and arr down 9 of the past 10 months.

But that is nothing compared to the depression in the Information sector, where jobs are now down every months since 2024!

Finally, looking at the quality composition of the jobs report, we find that in April, the US added 123K part-time jobs, while 424K full-time jobs were lost.

The drop in full-time jobs dragged the total number of full-time workers to levels last seen in December 2024!

The only silver lining: after plunging at the end of 2025 and start of 2026, and after a big drop in March, native-born workers rose by 341K in April, while foreign-born dropped by 326K.

In short, this was a much uglier jobs report than the clearly "nudged" headline indicates, although we doubt that anyone in the market will notice when all that matters if whether memory stocks today have momentum or not.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 09:25

Ukrainian Drone Strike Paralyzes Airports Across All Southern Russia

Russian cities and communities are busy preparing Victory Day WW2 memorial events all across the country ahead of Saturday, and so security is already on edge and on high alert, especially in the Moscow area, given that Ukraine's devastating cross-border drone attacks have persisted and expanded of late.

On Friday air traffic at 13 airports across southern Russia was suspended after drones struck a building at a regional air navigation center in Rostov-on-Don, Russia's transport ministry confirmed. This was the crucial air traffic control center for the whole region, and so its being taken offline has had significant impact.

Airspace empty over southern Russia

Regional media has listed that it halted flights to and from airports in Astrakhan, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Gelendzhik, Grozny, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Magas, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Sochi, Stavropol and Elista.

"The regional air traffic control center in Rostov-on-Don, which manages air traffic in southern Russia, has been temporarily adjusted due to the Ukrainian drone strike ... personnel are safe, and equipment is being assessed" to determine whether operations can be restored, the ministry said on Telegram.

According to the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times, "Aeroflot, Pobeda, Nordwind and Rossiya Airlines said they were adjusting their flight schedules for Friday and would need to cancel some flights. At least 14,000 passengers were stuck due to delays and cancellations, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said."

"Russia’s Transportation Minister Andrey Nikitin asked major airlines to coordinate with the state-owned Russian Railways and the Unified Transportation Directorate to arrange for trains and buses to transfer passengers from canceled flights," the report noted.

On the same day, over 260 drones were intercepted across various sectors of the country - which suggests that in total at least several hundreds were sent. Once again, some of them reached as far away as the Perm region in the Ural Mountains.

The drone waves have continued despite that Russia unilaterally announced a ceasefire corresponding with V-Day events commemorating victory over Germany in WW2. The ceasefire runs May 8-10; however, Ukraine has not acknowledged this.

Still, the Defense Ministry is acting as if it is on and it is official, having announced in a statement Friday morning that it has observed 1,365 violations by Ukraine since midnight.

✈️ A couple of drones paralyzed Russian aviation — airports are collapsing again

UAVs struck the building of the “Air Navigation of Southern Russia” branch in Rostov-on-Don. Operations at 13 airports have now been suspended.

Aeroflot is massively cancelling and delaying… pic.twitter.com/9A3B8XowAX

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 8, 2026

The Kremlin is putting the Ukrainian capital on notice, telling foreign diplomats to evacuate in the instance that Ukraine's military tries to disrupt Saturday celebrations in Moscow and Red Square.

Russian leaders have wared Kiev will get pummeled in an unprecedented bombing if President Zelensky orders any drone attacks on Moscow. He had actually appeared to threaten precisely these events during remarks earlier in the week.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 09:20

OpenAI Valuation Doubts Loom As Softbank Scales Back Margin Loan

SoftBank Group's abrupt scaling back of a planned $10 billion margin loan backed by its roughly 13% stake in OpenAI - now targeting as little as $6 billion - reveals deepening lender unease over the AI giant’s $852 billion post-money valuation set in March 2026.

The move follows earlier $40 billion bridge financing and comes amid reports that OpenAI missed internal revenue and weekly-active-user targets earlier this year.

While the loan itself is SoftBank’s problem, the episode carries real risks for OpenAI.

The clearest danger is a loss of valuation momentum (a down-round!).

Reuters reports that lenders, including banks and private-credit funds, balked at assigning reliable collateral value to unlisted shares in a company whose secondary-market demand has already cooled.

With sellers reportedly outnumbering buyers and rival Anthropic drawing stronger interest, the episode reinforces perceptions that OpenAI’s headline valuation may be frothy.

This could make future capital raises more expensive or dilutive, especially if OpenAI needs additional funding to service its enormous compute commitments - estimated in the hundreds of billions over the next few years.

An anticipated IPO, once seen as straightforward at premium multiples, might now face haircuts or heavier scrutiny from public-market investors wary of missing-growth signals.

SoftBank’s own leverage adds indirect pressure.

The Japanese conglomerate is one of OpenAI’s largest backers and has layered significant debt atop its AI bets.

Should credit markets tighten further or OpenAI’s performance lag, SoftBank could face margin calls or be forced to sell secondary shares - flooding an already thin market and driving down perceived value.

That, in turn, might erode employee and partner confidence, complicate talent retention in a hyper-competitive sector, and chill the broader AI investment narrative that has sustained OpenAI’s sky-high spending.

While none of this is immediately existential - OpenAI retains strong revenue growth, marquee partnerships, and Sam Altman’s (circular) deal-making clout - the SoftBank loan retreat is a tangible warning: private-market exuberance can evaporate quickly when lenders demand proof that eye-popping valuations match real cash flows.

If sentiment sours further, OpenAI could find itself navigating a far narrower runway than its $852 billion price tag once implied... and as OpenAI goes, so goes the hyperscalers' budgets as the circular financing of all this spend breaks down with any chinks in the armor of of OpenAI's exponential growth expectations.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 09:04

 

 

The paperback of “How NOT to Invest” drops this week; to celebrate, this whole week I am running various stories and excerpts about the book. 

This short, Beatles-related excerpt from the book was one of my favorite chapters to write… Enjoy!

 

Is there any greater gap between “Expert Opinion” and subsequent history than The Beatles?

AllMusic sums up the Fab Four as “The most popular and influential rock act of all time, a band that blazed several new trails for popular music.”1 That’s obvious today, but it was not the consensus early in their career.

Many amusing details were recounted by Bob Seawright is his “Better Letter.” Nobody skewers humanity’s cognitive failings with more amusing flair than Seawright. He giddily recounted the early reviews of the Beatles when they first came to America. At the time, they had five singles in Britain’s Top 20, three of which hit #1 – all in 1963. Their debut album, “Please Please Me,” held the top spot on Britain’s charts for 30 weeks, displaced only by the band’s next album, “With the Beatles.“

Despite the sensation they were causing in Great Britain, The Beatles’ record label (EMI) could not persuade its American counterpart (Capitol) to release any of the band’s singles in the States. Dave Dexter was the man in charge of international A&R for Capitol, and ostensibly an industry expert on the public’s musical tastes. He repeatedly rejected The Beatles’ singles, calling them “generally amateurish and unappealing.” One after another, Dexter vetoed those singles tearing up the charts in the UK, starting with “Please Please Me” and “She Loves You.”

Ed Sullivan had also turned down the Fab Four (twice) for his television show. He was by coincidence at London (now Heathrow) Airport when he witnessed “Beatlemania” firsthand. The band was returning home from a tour in Sweden, greeted by a raucous, screaming mob of teenage girls. That convinced Sullivan to book the lads.2

The Ed Sullivan Show was a huge platform for breaking new acts, and Capitol decided to release “I Want to Hold Your Hand” a few weeks before The Beatles’ appearance. This was not some insightful exec reversing Dexter’s misguided rejections or a change of musical heart but rather, simply good corporate opportunism. How could you not capitalize on the demand one of the country’s most popular TV shows might create?

And how did the Sullivan Show go? 3

The Beatles played five songs on two broadcast segments, ending with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”  Ray Bloch, Ed Sullivan’s musical director, was unimpressed: “The only thing different is the hair, as far as I can see. I give them a year.” 4

He was not alone in panning the appearance. Seawright collected a string of headlines and reviews that have not aged particularly well:

The New York Herald Tribune: “BEATLES BOMB ON TV.”

The Boston Globe: “Don’t let the Beatles bother you. If you don’t think about them they will go away and in a few more years they will probably be bald.”

The New York Times: “The Beatles’ vocal quality can be described as hoarsely incoherent, with the minimal enunciation necessary to communicate the schematic texts.”

The Los Angeles Times: “Not even their mothers would claim that they sing well.”

The New York Herald Tribune: “75 percent publicity, 20 percent haircut and 5 percent lilting lament.”

Talk about “Nobody Knows Anything.”

It wasn’t just that the reviews missed the mark. What is noteworthy is all of biases evident in those critiques. This is also evident in the prior section on Media (later on, we explore what causes this).

Consider Newsweek:

“Visually they are a nightmare, tight, dandified Edwardian-Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically they are a near disaster, guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony and melody.” (emphasis added)

Whether you like their songs or not, The Beatles’ harmonies and melodies are simply not debatable. The musicality and beauty of their songs is simply beyond reproach.

And this was The Washington Post revealing their inside-the-beltway angle:

“They are, apparently, part of some kind of malicious, bi-lateral entertainment trade agreement. The British have to sit through dozens of dreadful American television programs. In return, we get The Beatles. As usual, we got gypped. Nothing we have exported in recent years quite justifies imported hillbillies who look like sheep dogs and sound like alley cats in agony.”

What was the 1960s equivalent of “Okay, Boomer”…? 5

You probably know what happened next: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” went to number one in the U.S., quickly selling a million copies.5 American tastes were not so different than Britain’s after all, and Beatlemania became a cultural phenomenon here too.6

***

Ironically, these music “experts” missed the biggest cultural shift in generations, and it was happening right before their eyes and ears. How did they blow it? In his book “Hit Makers,” 7 Derek Thompson explains Raymond Loewy’s concept of MAYA: New products that are “most advanced yet acceptable.”8

Loewy “believed that consumers are torn between two opposing forces: neophilia, a curiosity about new things; and neophobia, a fear of anything too new. As a result, they gravitate to products that are bold, but instantly comprehensible.” Any innovation too far ahead of the curve gets rejected by much of the public.

But with music, I suspect that MAYA line varies with age. The receptiveness to new music is different for a critic in their 40s or 50s than for teenagers. One group is still in its formative age, embracing new things (while rejecting most of what their parents liked); the others’ formative years were decades earlier. Once your musical taste hardens, you may be less receptive to the latest sounds.

This might explain the bad reviews from Beatles’ critics throughout their career. Many of their albums, including some of the best music ever recorded, were initially panned. Musicologist and Historian Ted Gioia observed that critics “literally were handed the greatest recordings of their era to review, and blew them off. Every classic song on these albums was not only attacked, but actually mocked.” 9

MAYA helps explain why.

Gioia notes that The Beatles were “punished for how quickly they were pushing rock music ahead . . . the critics misunderstood the lads from Liverpool for the worst possible reason – namely, that they were constantly learning, growing more ambitious, and willing to take risks.”

Or as UK rocker Elvis Costello said, “Every [Beatles] record was a shock.” 10

The Ed Sullivan appearance was merely a single episode in an explosive career. Throughout the 1960s, bad reviews of Beatles’ albums such as Sgt. Peppers, The White Album, and Abbey Road would come back to haunt the critics who penned them…

 

 

 

Previously:
HNTI: Never Take Candy from Strangers (May 7, 2026)

How NOT to Invest’s 10 Most Important Ideas (May 6, 2026)

Adventures in Recording an Audio Book (May 5, 2026)

How NOT to Invest Paperback Arrives! (May 4, 2026)

Nobody Knows Anything (Full archive)

 

 

The paperback of “How NOT to Invest” is out this week at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop, Hudson, or wherever you buy your favorite books!

If you want to learn more about how the book was made, any related media appearances or background, get unique bonus material, or just ask a question, you can sign up here: HNTI at RitholtzWealth dot com.

 

 

The post HNTI: Nobody Knows Anything, The Beatles edition appeared first on The Big Picture.

The post The Trump Corruption Tax on the Oil Industry appeared first on CEPR.

Pandemic? Trump Remains Confident Hantavirus Situation Under Control

Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump said on May 7 that he had been briefed on a hantavirus cluster tied to a cruise ship and that he was hopeful that the situation was still contained, as federal health authorities track the American passengers who returned home. The president also said he expected more information on Friday.

Trump offered his assessment to reporters regarding the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, which had passengers from multiple countries, including the United States. The vessel was traveling from Ushuaia, Argentina, through Antarctic waters and made various stops before reports of severe respiratory illnesses began to emerge.

“It’s very much, we hope, under control,” Trump told a reporter from ABC News.

“It was the ship. And I think we’re going to make a full report about it tomorrow. We have a lot of great people studying it. It should be fine, we hope.”

Trump was then further pressed by the reporter on whether Americans should be concerned.

“I hope not,” he said. “We’ll do the best we can.”

The president noted that officials planned further announcements on the matter. Public documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirmed the U.S. government is following the situation closely with U.S. travelers aboard the ship. The State Department is leading a coordinated response, including contact with passengers and engagement with domestic and international partners.

“We have a lot of people—a lot of great people are studying it,” Trump said.

According to CDC statements, the risk to the American public is described as extremely low. Health officials in at least several states are monitoring individuals who disembarked from the affected vessel. No widespread transmission among the general population has been seen, according to available public health updates.

Hantavirus infections, generally tied to rodent exposure, can cause serious respiratory issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported cases related to the ship, such as confirmed infections and fatalities among passengers of various nationalities.

The CDC notes on its website ongoing technical cooperation with international partners on the outbreak.

The CDC has gathered experts on the specific hantavirus strain in question, revealed by the South African Ministry of Health on May 5 to be the Andes variant, which is understood to be capable of person-to-person transmission under limited circumstances.

Hantavirus has a history in the Americas.

The CDC has noted hundreds of cases in the United States over decades, particularly linked to rural rodent contact, not travel clusters.

This ship-associated outbreak stands out for its scale and setting, leading to rodent control reviews and sanitation assessments per international ship health guidelines.

The WHO said on May 7 that there are eight cases linked to the cruise ship, including the three individuals who died amid the outbreak. Five of the cases have been confirmed to be Hantavirus.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 08:40