Individual Economists

"The Whole Model Is Broken": 'Tech Mafia Wife' Admits 'We Were Klaus Schwab's Useful Idiots'

Zero Hedge -

"The Whole Model Is Broken": 'Tech Mafia Wife' Admits 'We Were Klaus Schwab's Useful Idiots'

When someone who used to be the queen of elite progressive philanthropy says the entire system failed - and may have been hijacked for something much darker - the world needs to hear it.

As 'Camus' writes in a post on X, Nicole Shanahan - ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former running mate of RFK Jr., and someone who personally signed nine-figure philanthropy checks - just went full whistleblower on the entire Silicon Valley “tech wife mafia” and how they were used.

"...the whole model is broken... the whole model makes everybody worse off..." exclaims Shanahan confirming what Desiree Fixler said, that:

"The WEF sold the “Great Reset” as “build back better” — climate action, ESG, inclusion, and PPP.

In practice, it shifted power away from voters to NGOs, corporate elites, and unelected technocrats.

Policy was relabeled “science” to silence debate.

Markets were warped by ESG scores, carbon taxes, and paper-pushing regulation.

Corporations were turned into enforcers of ideology."

As Shanahan exposes in this shocking insider account, communities weren't uplifted - wealth and power were pushed upward, and the 'tech mafia wives' were simple 'useful idiots':

"I don't think many of the tech mafia wives realize… they were used to set the groundwork for what Klaus Schwab calls The Great Reset.

Their money especially was being conscripted through a network of NGO advisors, Hollywood, Davos, and their own companies.

A really small group of people... completely blind to how their groundwork is being used to enable these Great Reset policies."

Then she reflects on these 'tech mafia wives' orienting their values around these actions but really just being 'useful idiots':

“These women find their meaning through philanthropic work. I really believed I was helping Black communities and indigenous communities rise up..."

For Shanahan, she admits:

“My version of success is those communities are actually uplifted. Not just more money pumped into them.”

But now the problems have gotten worse, she admits: 

"Crime worse. Mental health worse. The whole model is broken.

At the end of the day they always go: 'But climate change...'

Social justice + climate change - it gets progressive women 100% of the time."

Fixler agrees vehemently:

"We got higher energy bills, debased money, an affordability crisis, fewer jobs, and creeping control over how we live and speak."

This is the one of the most jaw-dropping few minutes of 'pulling back the curtain' you will watch this year...

h/t Camus (@newstart_2024)

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 16:55

Trump Pushes To Reopen California Coast To Offshore Drilling

Zero Hedge -

Trump Pushes To Reopen California Coast To Offshore Drilling

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

  • A draft federal plan proposes six offshore lease sales along the California coast, reversing decades of restrictions introduced after the 1969 Santa Barbara spill.

  • California Governor Gavin Newsom, coastal states, and environmental groups vow legal and political resistance, calling the plan dangerous and “dead on arrival.”

  • The proposal also includes new leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, likely sparking pushback from Florida Republicans and adding to nationwide opposition.

New oil and gas drilling could commence in California if President Donald Trump gets his way, as the U.S. federal government continues to support a “Drill, baby, drill” approach to fossil fuel production. 

In November, the Trump administration plans to allow new oil and gas drilling off the California coast, according to a draft plan shared with the Washington Post. This would be the first time in several decades that new exploration operations were permitted. The document outlines a plan for six offshore lease sales along the California coastline, as well as the expansion of drilling into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, between 2027 and 2030.

It is thought that the Interior Department could announce a formal proposal as early as this week. Any new drilling is expected to be centred around the Santa Barbara County region, where limited drilling is already taking place. 

A major oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969 prompted the government to bring an end to new leasing off the Pacific Coast, as well as limit existing drilling operations. Previous governments have continued to restrict drilling in the Californian waters, which extend three miles from the shoreline, due to concerns over beach pollution and the potential negative impact on tourism.

Pete Stauffer, the ocean protection manager of the Surfrider Foundation, stated, “Offshore drilling is highly unpopular across the country and will increase the likelihood of yet another destructive oil spill off our coasts. Surfrider Foundation’s chapter network will fight this proposal vigorously to protect all US coastlines from the unnecessary risks involved with new offshore drilling.”

The plan would also require Trump to approve new oil and gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, a body of water that the President renamed the Gulf of America in January. This would likely lead to pushback from Republicans in Florida who have been opposed to new drilling since the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster of 2010. 

Meanwhile, in June, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in which he stated that South Carolina’s coastline was “one of the most pristine in the country, and offshore drilling is simply not in its best interest.”

Despite efforts by the Trump administration to open nearly all U.S. coastal waters to drilling earlier this year, the Interior Department ultimately decided to introduce a moratorium on drilling off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina through 2032 following pressure from Republicans in the southeast of the country.

The position of oil and gas companies on conducting drilling in California waters is not yet clear, although developing new projects in the state would require a significant investment in supporting infrastructure, compared to other already developed regions of the United States. Analysts do not expect oil and gas companies to have much interest in the area due to the lack of infrastructure, as well as the widespread regional opposition to new drilling.

During this month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, told reporters that any plan to carry out new drilling in the region would be “dead on arrival” in California. Newsom also said that the state would “absolutely” challenge the plan in court once it was finalised. This reflects his historic stance on new drilling. In June, Newsom addressed the Interior Department in a letter stressing California’s “continued opposition” to additional fossil fuel development.

Newsom, a long-time supporter of the U.S. green transition, attended the climate summit in Trump’s absence, after the Trump administration said that no high-level U.S. representatives would go to UN climate talks. During a ministerial meeting, Newsom said, "I’m very mindful that the Trump administration has abandoned any sense of duty, responsibility, or leadership as it relates to the issues that bring us all here together… It’s an abomination. It’s a disgrace."

In response to news of the anticipated drilling proposal, Newsom said that it was “remarkable” that Trump did not call for drilling near his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.

“He didn’t promote it off the coast of Florida,” stated Newsom. “That says everything about Donald Trump.”

In California, Texas-based oil company Sable Offshore has shown interest in reactivating three drilling rigs in federal waters off Santa Barbara that have sat unused since an oil spill in 2015. In May, Sable began producing oil at one of the rigs under an existing lease. However, following the move, California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, sued Sable Offshore, accusing the firm of illegally discharging waste into local waterways.

Although there has been no formal proposal for drilling in California, reports of plans for new exploration have prompted widespread pushback from state officials. The state governments of California, Florida and South Carolina have all shown opposition to new offshore oil exploration, meaning the federal government can expect a fight to get any new projects off the ground in those regions. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 16:20

The Santa Rally Recipe: Fed Put In Full Force

Zero Hedge -

The Santa Rally Recipe: Fed Put In Full Force

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

The market figured out a holiday recipe that works well:

  • A Healthy Dose of Fed Puts.

  • A Dash of Trade Hopes.

  • A Smidge more Fed Puts because you can never have enough Fed Puts.

In the past 5 trading days (including Friday November 21st):

  • The Nasdaq 100 is up 5.7% (outpacing the “rotation” trade of the S&P 500 Equal Weight which is up 3% in those same trading days).

  • The probability of a Fed cut at the December meeting spiked to 83% from 35% (well within the range where the Fed would be unlikely to disappoint). 10s rallied as well, though “only” from 4.07% to 4.02%.

  • Bitcoin, which traded below $82,000 on the 21st, has reclaimed the $90k threshold.

  • Credit spreads joined in the party as CDX went from 56 to 51. That was matched by the Bloomberg Corporate Bond OAS, which tightened from 85 to 80.

There were a couple of other “events” during the week that created some interesting movements (at least briefly). First, and possibly most interesting longer-term, was the sudden need to understand a TPU versus a GPU.

We were able to talk about this, the Fed, and risks to the economy in the first segment of last week’s Bloomberg TV interview. The second segment focuses more on geopolitical issues.

Briefly (only briefly) did the TPU vs GPU story seem to help answer the questions posed last weekend: Is the pAIn Over? Are we at the end of “Free” Money?

Any questions on spending and risks to growth were overwhelmed by the Fed Put (and some signs that the administration would let/even encourage chip sales not just to the Middle East, but also to China).

In addition, please see the link to our November ATW that we released this week. We are focused on the U.S. pressure being put on the Maduro regime.

The Fed Put is In Full Force

You may not believe in Santa, or the Santa rally, but the Fed Put might be the strongest it has been in some time.

  • The recognition that the Fed Put is in full effect started last Friday, with Williams coming across more dovish than most supposed.

  • It continued over the weekend as more Fed speakers seemed to shift to the dovish side of the ledger.

  • Then, finally, it was reported that Kevin Hassett would get the nod to be the next Fed chair.

    • The market, correctly, interpreted this as a signal that the Treasury, the Fed, and the admin would work more closely together – helping pave the way for lower yields and easier monetary conditions.

    • There is “chatter” that Hassett will act as a “shadow” chair at the December meeting ensuring a cut.

  • The most material change in the week leading up to this barrage of dovishness wasn’t in the data, but in equity prices.

    • If you could point to some serious change in the data, we could argue that the Fed Put isn’t real, and that they are just “data dependent.” But that wasn’t the case at all. What seemed to drive the rush to get easy money back on track was the performance of equities, and the risk that they were breaking through some serious support levels, causing concern of further downside. Not something that the admin or the Fed wants – especially in an illiquid holiday season.

  • The Nasdaq 100 had not broken below its 50-Day Moving Average since the rally that started with the admin retracting the Liberation Day tariffs. It crossed that technical threshold, and almost immediately fell to the 100-Day Moving Average, which it also breached (almost like a hot knife through butter). For many technicians, that put the 200-Day Moving Average in play, which would have been a further 7% decline. It is impossible, at least for me, to look at this chart and think anything other than that the Fed Put is not just alive and well, but it will also flourish under this admin. The admin did go from talking about “Main Street over Wall Street” at the time of the Liberation Day tariffs, to changing track and cheering the stock surge. The admin has continued to point to stocks as a benchmark (not truly unique to this admin, but this admin seems to have a better understanding of markets, and the machinations that can help markets, than prior administrations).

There are a few things that I find surprising about the market reaction (and the Fed hitting the “panic” button):

  • I did believe the market pullback had more to do with concerns about the AI spend, than it did about the Fed not cutting in December (obviously, given the market reaction, that assessment was wrong).

  • We have not wavered in our assessment that we will likely see Fed Funds effective at 2.875% (100 bps lower than today) by next summer. We did not think that whether we get a December cut or not would matter much (yes, it clearly did). The market is “only” pricing in three cuts between now and September 2026 – that seems too few/too slow. More potential for the markets to get surprised to the upside by easy money and looser financial conditions.

  • There is a sense of “irony” or “paradox” or “Catch 22” (or some other word) that fears about the stock market seemed to trigger the shift to the dovish side, and now we will potentially get a cut while stocks may be at all-time highs.

Is the Fed Enough?

I do believe that the risks to spending are greater than the benefits of a 25 bps rate cut, BUT:

  • December, with low liquidity and strong seasonals, tends to support strength.

  • A market that was already set up for a nice end of year rally is likely to reset itself to that mindset (it is an “easy” and comfortable way to finish the year).

  • The government shutdown did end, so with backpay, we could see some boosts to the economy.

  • While questions are mounting about domestic AI spend and valuations, the potential for selling chips to other countries has grown in scale and scope of late.

Chips for Everyone

While the questions surrounding TPUs vs GPUs were interesting, they did little for markets. Just like DeepSeek was quickly brushed off as some “one-off” type of thing, the market continues to see demand for high-end chips as “virtually” insatiable.

While some questions remain about the longer-term risk of selling chips to competitors (like China) or even some countries that we don’t fully align with (parts of the Middle East), we seem to be set to sell those high-quality chips to those countries.

This will:

  • Substantially change the trade balance with many countries. This is one of the administration’s top goals (though I’m not sure how making something in Taiwan and shipping it across the Strait to China exactly works, but it does for now – and makes, at least to me, the imperative to manufacture more and better chips in this country even more obvious – thinking ProSec™).

  • Allow for growth.

  • Highlight the competitive advantage other countries have in electron production. The production of electricity is increasingly recognized as a potential roadblock to the planned growth of AI and Data Centers. Countries like Saudi Arabia are better prepared for this need for electricity than we are (once again, highlighting the need for ProSec™). China too has been growing its electricity production through any and all means possible, including, but not limited to, coal, solar, nuclear, and aggressive development work on fusion.

  • It is clear that the Middle East will want to buy and use the U.S. chips (designed in the U.S. even if not fully produced in the U.S.). It is less clear that China will go down that path aggressively or not. This could be a test to see if China is truly committed to developing their own industry, even at the risk of working with inferior equipment in the near-term, or whether the need is so great, that they will delay the progress of their own chip industry. The latter would be nice and a big win in the trade wars – but I’m not sure how likely it is, or whether or not we will regret the decision down the road.

Bottom Line

We can all sleep more comfortably and enjoy the holidays a little more with the Fed Put on full display. Who needs to see the tree at Rockefeller Center when the Fed Put is obvious every time we glance at our screens.

I think there are issues regarding valuations, spending, and the state of the consumer/economy, but with earnings season behind us, little “new” or useful data, strong seasonality, and a Fed that seems determined to cut, we should be in for a “normal” December – rather than what we seemed to be facing as markets started to trade on November 21st!

What a difference a week can make!

Things could change – the fears expressed recently are real, but it seems we will be given the opportunity to get our portfolio ready for the new year to capture the opportunities that are unfolding as we speak (especially making things domestically that we need for “security”).

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 14:00

NYT Torches Tim Walz After Somalians Scam Woke Minnesota For $1 Billion 'On His Watch'

Zero Hedge -

NYT Torches Tim Walz After Somalians Scam Woke Minnesota For $1 Billion 'On His Watch'

The NY Times has thrown Minnesota governor Tim Walz under the bus over a massive and sprawling fraud scandal that federal prosecutors say siphoned over $1 billion from the state's social safety net programs - more than the entire state spends annually to run its Department of Corrections.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

The fraud involved a series of schemes that federal authorities say took root over the past five years, many centered within Minnesota’s Somali diaspora, where individuals established companies that billed state agencies for services that were never performed. Prosecutors say 59 people have been convicted across various cases so far, in three separate plots.

Minnesota’s fraud scandal stood out even in the context of rampant theft during the pandemic, when Americans stole tens of billions through unemployment benefits, business loans and other forms of aid, according to federal auditors. - NYT

Federal prosecutors have emphasized the seriousness of the cases being prosecuted by career federal attorney Joseph H. Thompson - who warned that the scale of fraud threatens public confidence. “No one will support these programs if they continue to be riddled with fraud,” Mr. Thompson said. “We’re losing our way of life in Minnesota in a very real way.

Feeding Programs and Expanding Fraud

The first public indication of a systemic problem emerged in 2022, when attorneys began prosecuting fraud related to pandemic-era child nutrition programs. 

Prosecutors charged that Feeding Our Future, a Minneapolis nonprofit, partnered with dozens of local businesses to claim reimbursements for tens of thousands of nonexistent meals. The funds were allegedly used for luxury spending, including homes, vehicles, and international real-estate investments.

Investigators later determined that the problem extended beyond the food-assistance program. Two additional fraud schemes came to light last year, including inflated reimbursement claims for services to people at risk of homelessness and fraudulent autism-therapy certifications involving children recruited from Somali communities in Minneapolis.

One provider in the autism program, Asha Farhan Hassan, is accused of facilitating $14 million in fraud. Her attorney, Ryan Pacyga, said she entered the field with good intentions but eventually engaged in falsifying invoices and intends to plead guilty. Pacyga added that some defendants believed state agencies were enabling the fraud. “No one was doing anything about the red flags,” he said. “It was like someone was stealing money from the cookie jar and they kept refilling it.”

Political and Cultural Fault Lines

The cases have fueled debate about whether state officials hesitated to intervene due to concerns over accusations of racism or political backlash. A report by Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor found that threats of discrimination lawsuits influenced regulatory decisions, including early warnings issued by Feeding Our Future that challenging claims from minority-owned businesses would trigger litigation and public accusations.

Kayseh Magan, a former fraud investigator at the Minnesota attorney general’s office, said that pushback contributed to reluctance among Democratic officials. “There is a perception that forcefully tackling this issue might cause political backlash among the Somali community, which is a core voting bloc,” Mr. Magan said.

Amid the prosecutions, allegations even spilled into courtroom misconduct: defendants attempted to bribe a juror with $120,000 and a note asking, “Why, why, why is it always people of color and immigrants prosecuted for the fault of other people?

Mr. Thompson argued that heightened racial sensitivities following the death of George Floyd in 2020 affected oversight and enforcement. “This was a huge part of the problem,” he said. “Allegations of racism can be a reputation or career killer.”

Walz’s Response

Walz (D), now in his second term and seeking a third, acknowledged that pandemic policies prioritized speed and accessibility of assistance. “The programs are set up to move the money to people,” Mr. Walz said. “The programs are set up to improve people’s lives, and in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes.”

And of course since Walz is seeking a third term next year and fraud has become a central theme in the upcoming governor’s race, he's introduced stricter measures, including:

  • a task force to pursue fraud cases

  • enhanced inter-agency data-sharing

  • new technology — including AI — to detect suspicious billing

Community Impact and Racial Tensions

The fallout has reverberated sharply within Minnesota’s Somali community of roughly 80,000 residents. Many say the scandals have cast suspicion on innocent families and entrepreneurs. Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose district includes Minneapolis, urged Minnesotans not to generalize wrongdoing. “We do not blame the lawlessness of an individual on a whole community,” she said.

Except - as Somali-American professor Ahmed Samatar of Macalester College argues, the scandal demands honest reflection

Dr. Samatar said that Somali refugees who came to the United States after their country’s civil war were raised in a culture in which stealing from the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt government was widespread.

Minnesota, he said, proved susceptible to rampant fraud because it is “so tolerant, so open and so geared toward keeping an eye on the weak.” -NYT

Some Somali social-service providers have criticized the increased scrutiny, with the Minnesota Somali Community Center asserting that heightened enforcement has left legitimate organizations feeling “criminalized and intentionally targeted.”

 

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 13:25

Watch: Chevy Proves Woke Is Dead With New Ad

Zero Hedge -

Watch: Chevy Proves Woke Is Dead With New Ad

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Chevrolet’s new Christmas commercial “Memory Lane” has taken the internet by storm, racking up millions of views and an avalanche of praise for its simple, heartfelt storytelling that celebrates a traditional American family.

There are no lectures, no forced diversity, just a mom and dad driving their 1987 Suburban to a snowy cabin reunion with their grown kids and grandkids.

The three-minute spot shows the empty-nester couple retracing decades of family memories as “Merry Christmas Baby” plays, ending with the whole clan gathered around the tree in a tear-jerking return to the kind of ads that once defined the season before woke corporate activism poisoned the well.

In the ad, the mom’s hand rests on the dash as flashbacks roll of babies in car seats, teenagers bickering, college drop-offs, and now grandchildren piling in.

“This old Suburban’s been with us through it all… from the first kick of a baby’s foot against the seat to the last kick of a teenager out the door,” she reflects.

The final scene – the tailgate down, pie passed around, family silhouetted against the lit cabin – struck a chord with viewers, with one X respondent even stating “Forgot it was a car commercial sitting over here weeping lmao.”

Chevy has quite deliberately pivoted to authentic, emotional storytelling following years of corporate virtue-signaling disasters from other companies. GM’s VP of marketing has said that the spot was built from real customer stories to “honor the moms who hold it all together.”

The ad’s runaway success stands in brutal contrast to the graveyard of brands that went full woke and paid the price.

Jaguar’s disastrous ‘non-binary’ rebrand, complete with alphabet people and zero cars, tanked sales so hard the CEO abruptly “retired” weeks later.

Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney partnership still bleeds two years on, with sales down 30% on previous highs.

Even Google caught heat last Christmas for a holiday ad starring a nonbinary influencer that felt more like a lecture than celebration.

Nike and American Eagle also confirmed the Overton window shift with recent ads.

Chevy’s “Memory Lane” zero politics, 100% heart ad is the clearest proof yet that the pendulum has swung. As one viral reply put it: “This is what happens when you make ads for normal people instead of HR departments.”

With Christmas shopping season in full swing, Chevy dealers report Suburban inquiries spiking and the ad already closing in on 20 million views across platforms. In an era where corporate America spent half a decade alienating its core customers, Chevrolet just reminded everyone how powerful it is to simply make something beautiful again.

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 Sun, 11/30/2025 - 12:50

Kazakhstan Angrily Calls On Ukraine To Stop Black Sea Oil Terminal Attacks

Zero Hedge -

Kazakhstan Angrily Calls On Ukraine To Stop Black Sea Oil Terminal Attacks

Kazakhstan is angrily denouncing and protesting the "deliberate attack" on critical energy transport infrastructure of the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the waters of Russia's port city of Novorossiysk, after on Saturday a naval drone sent by Ukraine severely damaged one of its three loading points.

Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, "We emphasize that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium plays an important role in supporting the stability of the global energy system."

It added: "We view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future."

Via Reuters

This marks a rare moment that the former Soviet satellite state in central Asia is directly calling out the Ukrainian government and military.

A key section of Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk has as a result of the attack been taken offline until repair and restoration works are completed.

The consortium's over 930-mile pipeline connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan and Russian offshore fields in the Caspian Sea to a marine terminal in Novorossiysk, which means the location serves as the main export route for Kazakh oil, and is one of the world’s largest oil conduits by volume.

Regional sources note that the pipeline transports about 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports. According to the consortium's confirmation of the weekend attack:

CPC said on Saturday that a November 29 naval drone attack on its terminal had “significantly damaged” Single-Point Mooring (SPM) 2 – essentially a floating buoy which connects to tankers to load oil.

“Further operation of Single Point Mooring 2 is not possible,” CPC said. “Loading operations and other operations were stopped [and] tankers were withdrawn from the CPC water area.”

“We believe that the attack on the CPC is an attack on the interests of the CPC member countries,” CPC said.

Moscow for its part decried the Ukrainian attacks as amounting to terrorism and further alleged that European powers are currently engaged in an intense hybrid war against Russia.

However, Ukraine can in turn point to constant and devastating Russian aerial attacks against its energy grid, ahead of what is likely to be a harsh winter - at a moment much of the country is under a rolling power blackout regimen.

Over in Europe, Hungary has also long complained of these Ukrainian attacks on pipelines and energy infrastructure. This summer crude oil flows from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline suffered forced disruptions after Ukrainian drone strike crippled transformer stations and other elements.

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 12:25

Watch: TikToker Hands Out Vodka, Machetes To Mentally Ill And Homeless

Zero Hedge -

Watch: TikToker Hands Out Vodka, Machetes To Mentally Ill And Homeless

TikTok influencers push boundaries to stay visible and relevant in feeds. Some of the stunts have become so outrageous that these clout-chasing fools will do anything for views - even if it means jeopardizing public safety.

The latest absurdity comes from TikToker PovWolfy, who in recent weeks has been handing out machetes and vodka bottles to the homeless population.

The metros where PovWolfy handed out machetes and vodka to the homeless and mentally unstable were not mentioned, but X user Unlimited L’s claimed the 18-inch blades and alcohol were distributed to people experiencing homelessness in Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, adding that the creator is now headed to New York.

PovWolfy made countless videos ...

Handing out vodka and weapons to vulnerable people is nothing more than reckless behavior. There is a possibility that this influencer could face charges such as reckless endangerment, contributing to a dangerous situation (akin to the movie Purge), or even aiding and abetting if harm occurs.

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY IS STILL HAPPENING

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 11:05

Rubio, Witkoff Meet With Ukraine Negotiators In Miami To Discuss Plans To End War

Zero Hedge -

Rubio, Witkoff Meet With Ukraine Negotiators In Miami To Discuss Plans To End War

Three key Trump administration officials are meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami, Florida this weekend in a push to broker an end to the war Russia began with its 2022 invasion, while setting the stage for talks between Washington and Moscow planned later this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner plan to meet with the Ukrainian delegation to discuss portions of a proposed peace deal.

During talks in Geneva last Sunday, the sides reached agreements in principle on all but two issues: territory and security guarantees.

A senior U.S. official said the White House wants to close the gaps on those last two issues on Sunday, saying: "The Ukrainians know what we expect from them."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation lost its lead negotiator between Kyiv and Washington, according to an announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

Zelenskyy said his chief of staff Andrii Yermak has resigned following a home search by anti-corruption investigators.

Government investigators had uncovered that $100 million was embezzled from Ukraine’s energy sector via kickbacks that contractors had paid.

While neither Zelenskyy nor Yermak has been accused of wrongdoing by those leading the investigation, the Ukrainian president’s political opponents have pushed for more accountability of senior leaders in Kyiv’s government.

As Jacob Burg reports for The Epoch Times, the meeting in Florida is occurring just a week after Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva, with both sides expressing positivity over a revised peace plan from Washington.

Prior to his resignation, Yermak told Axios that territorial concessions could only be negotiated at the presidential level.

But Trump said last week that he would only meet Zelensky and Putin once the parties were close to an agreement to end the war.

"The dialogue based on the Geneva points will continue. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end. The Ukrainian delegation has the necessary directives, and I expect the guys to work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities," Zelensky said on Saturday.

Following Yermak's resignation on Friday, responsibility for negotiations was passed to Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council.

He has been implicated in the corruption probe but is not a suspect, according to authorities.

He was joined by first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, an experienced diplomat and negotiator who sat at the table with the Russians in peace talks this spring that made no progress.

Umerov said on Sunday morning that talks had begun to find a “dignified peace”.

As The FT reports, Russian forces this week continued their large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital and critical infrastructure as troops on the ground in the eastern Donetsk region pressed ahead with assaults on key strongholds.

Ukraine, meanwhile, continued its drone attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities and vessels belonging to its shadow fleet in the Black Sea, including the Russian oil terminal near the southern port of Novorossiysk that is owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

That attack on Saturday prompted a stern response on Sunday from Kazakhstan, which called on Kyiv to halt strikes on the facility that handles about 1 per cent of global oil supplies, including from Kazakhstan, where the pipeline begins.

The biggest question hanging over the US-Ukraine talks is how any proposal agreed between them might be agreed by the Russians, who have maintained a maximalist position and have expressed confidence that they currently hold the battlefield initiative in the war. Putin has shown openness to a deal only if it is done on his timeline and terms.

Earlier this week, Russia blamed the Europeans and Kyiv for spoiling the initial proposal, or what the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as the “only substantive thing” on the table. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that if the revised plan “erased . . . key understandings” reached earlier between Putin and Trump, the situation would be “fundamentally different”.

Nevertheless, Zelenskyy appeared optimistic, telling Ukrainians in his evening address on Saturday that the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach” to the talks that were set to continue on Sunday.

He added: “In the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end.”
 

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 10:30

Race To The Bottom: White House Launches 'Media Offenders' Leaderboard

Zero Hedge -

Race To The Bottom: White House Launches 'Media Offenders' Leaderboard

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Trump White House unveiled a scathing new website Friday, “Media Offenders,” complete with a “race to the bottom” leaderboard ranking outlets like The Washington Post as the worst for “false and misleading stories”—flagging everything from exaggerated Trump “sedition” claims to immigrant horror tales as “heinous” manipulations.

The interactive page features an “Offender Hall of Shame” logging repeat offenders and a weekly spotlight, like the current “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where Democrats and “Fake News” implied Trump issued “illegal orders” to the military—contrasted with “THE TRUTH”: “Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful.”

The site pits outlets like The Washington Post (worst for bias), MSNBC, CNN, CBS News, The New York Times, and Politico in a humiliating tally of “false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.”

Users can sign up for “Offender Alerts” delivered weekly, promising “Scroll for the Truth” on each entry.

The “Offender Hall of Shame” catalogs hits like “L.A. mother says she was taken to U.S. border, being held until she self-deports” and “Trump’s new wall: His push to oust immigrants legally in the U.S.,” debunking them with White House counters.

The spotlight today falls on “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where outlets like the Boston Globe and The Independent twisted Trump’s push for accountability on Democrats’ military mutiny calls into “execution” threats.

From the site:

“THE OFFENSE”: “The media misrepresented President Trump’s call for Members of Congress to be held accountable for inciting sedition by saying that he called for their ‘execution.'”

“THE TRUTH”: “Democrats released a video calling for service members to disobey their chain of command, and in turn, implied President Trump had issued illegal orders. Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful. It is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.”

This counteroffensive directly exposes MSM’s scripted “talking point” directives amid the info war, where CNN, MSNBC, and NYT puppets cordinate “balanced” spins on Trump’s policies. The leaderboard’s “false and misleading stories” section catalogs such distortions, from immigrant “horror” tales to “Trump wall” exaggerations, proving the “enemies of the people” script is real.

The White House takedown also resonates with FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s November probe into BBC corruption for “rigging the news,” where he slammed “heinous” manipulation as a “threat to democracy” that erodes trust.

As Carr vowed to “expose and prosecute” such tactics, the leaderboard’s “repeat offenders” section—flagging outlets that “don’t just get it wrong – they do it over and over again”—mirrors his call for structural reforms, tying scripted bias to broader info war threats.

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 Sun, 11/30/2025 - 09:20

VW Aims To Cut Development Costs In Half With New "Made In China" Car

Zero Hedge -

VW Aims To Cut Development Costs In Half With New "Made In China" Car

Volkswagen says it can build an electric car entirely in China at roughly half the cost of producing one in Germany, helped by quicker development, lower labor expenses, easier battery sourcing and a more efficient supply chain, according to FT.

After heavy investment in its new R&D base in Hefei, which includes more than 100 labs for software, hardware and powertrain testing, the company says it can now validate software, hardware and full vehicles at the same time.

According to VW’s China technology chief Thomas Ulbrich, the facility gives engineering teams “an entirely new level of integration,” allowing them to shorten decision cycles and speed up innovation. VW says the development timeline for new Chinese EVs is about 30 per cent shorter than the traditional 50-month process.

FT writes that the carmaker intends to introduce around 30 EV models in China over the next five years as it tries to regain momentum in the world’s largest auto market, where competition from domestic EV makers has eroded its earlier dominance.

Although the strategy began as “in China, for China,” executives say the company is now considering exporting Chinese-built models and applying Chinese-led advances to its global operations.

Other European manufacturers, such as Renault, are also trying to match China’s rapid development pace by simplifying components and relying more on local engineering talent.

Still, VW stands out for the scale of its investment, committing almost €4bn in China since 2022 through efforts including its partnership with Xpeng and its funding of Horizon Robotics, with which it is developing an AI chip for autonomous-driving features.

These moves come as VW continues to cut costs in Germany, where high production expenses and weak European demand have led to a plan to reduce its domestic workforce by 35,000 by 2030.

Tyler Durden Sun, 11/30/2025 - 08:45

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus

Financial Armageddon -


Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.






Dump the Dollar before Bank Runs start in America -- Economic Collapse 2020

Financial Armageddon -












We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more













The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

Hillary Clinton's Top Secret Files Revealed Here

Financial Armageddon -

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.





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