Zero Hedge

Two US Soldiers & A Civilian Killed, Several More Wounded, In Central Syria Ambush

Two US Soldiers & A Civilian Killed, Several More Wounded, In Central Syria Ambush

Washington's Syria intervention is the mess that keeps on giving. And now more tragedy has struck after years of a Pentagon quagmire and endless occupation in the northeast of the country.

Two US Army soldiers and an American civilian who was serving as an interpreter were killed after shots were fired at US and allied Syrian forces during a security meeting near the ancient central Syrian town of Palmyra.

Image source: AFP

An additional three other American servicemembers were wounded in the attack, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X.

The attack occurred as troops were conducting "key leader engagement." This marks the single biggest casualty event among US forces inside Syria in years - given at least six total US personnel were apparently shot.

A CENTCOM statement said it was the result of an an "ambush by a lone ISIS gunman in Syria," and that the "gunman was engaged and killed."

"Their mission was in support of on-going counter-ISIS/counter-terrorism operations in the region," Parnell had described further. He said that identifying information about their units will be withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin notification. "This attack is currently under active investigation."

Reports that gunman was actually part of Jolani/Sharaa regime forces:

Syrian state SANA indicate that two members of a Syrian security detail were also wounded - but these seem to have been fighters from the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The shooting took place on the outskirts of Palmyra.

The city of ruins, which also includes a modern town which grew up around tourism, is a UNESCO world heritage site an has long been frequented by visitors. 

Reports of US and Syrian forces imposing blockade on parts of Palmyra, long feared a hotbed of 'ISIS cells':

In 2015 the Syrian Army was pushed out by advancing ISIS terrorists, and troops serving under President Assad were executed. Assad forces and the Russian military eventually liberated it:

ISIS began by executing Khaled Al-Ass’ad, the former Director of Antiquities at Palmyra, a devoted and outstanding archeologist who loved Palmyra like no one else. Following this horrific execution, ISIS began to destroy many of the most famous ruins—the Bel and Baalshamin temples, the tower tombs, the monumental arch and standing columns in addition to plundering the Palmyra Museum and destroying a large number of sculptures and artifacts left there.

In March 2016, the Assad forces (backed by the Russian military) recaptured Palmyra and immediately started building a Russian military base within the World Heritage Site. ISIS recaptured Palmyra in early December 2016 and destroyed the tetrapylon and damaged the theater. The Assad regime forces managed to take Palmyra back in March 2017.

Washington at the time didn't seem to mind that ISIS was taking over key Syrian sites and cities at the time, given admissions from top US officials that they could 'manage' ISIS by using terrorism to keep pressure on Assad (see below) in order to overthrow him.

* * *

An important trip down memory lane and recent history...

*  *  * CHRISTMAS CUTOFF IS MONDAY!

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 13:25

What Kind Of Caesar Will Trump Be?

What Kind Of Caesar Will Trump Be?

Authored by Vince Coyner via American Thinker,

It’s not often that life gives nations real second chances when it comes to the big things, but in America’s case, it did.  My only hope is that we don’t squander it...or to be more precise, I hope Donald Trump doesn’t squander it.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

The 2026 midterms are less than a year away.  That makes what Trump does in the next six to eight months monumentally important.  The bottom line is, does he want to be consequential or just well known?

Julius Caesar is easily one of the best known men in history, but was he really that consequential?  The truth is, no.  We know more about Caesar than any other Roman not because he changed the world, but because he was a genius of propaganda and wrote prodigiously — and well — about his exploits.  The reality is, Caesar was just another Roman general, albeit a great one, caught up in a century of internecine wars among men seeking to control the Republic.

Augustus, his adopted son, who is far less well known in history, was far more consequential, having transformed the Republic into an empire that would arguably last another 1,500 years.

Is Donald Trump going to be Caesar or Augustus?  Is he going to be a president who rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic and simply slows down her eventual collision with the iceberg?  Or is he going to steer her through the treacherous waters and bring her out safely on the other side?

When Trump won re-election last November, I was certain that after enduring eight years of what is easily the most vitriolic abuse any American politician had ever endured, he was going to return to Washington, and metaphorical heads were going to roll.  Indeed, he ran on the idea of destroying the Deep State.

Now, a year after the election, I’m not so sure.  Though I applaud most of his moves on immigration, particularly his recent move to cease all immigration from third-world countries, there are two elements that cause concern.

One is his support for the H1B visa program.  If there are jobs that can’t be filled by Americans, then bringing in foreign workers who have the necessary skills makes sense for keeping American industry productive.  But that’s not what’s happening.  Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, primarily Indians, are being brought in to supplant American workers whom companies would generally have to pay more to keep or hire.  There is no shortage of American STEM workers; there are merely trillion-dollar tech, consulting, and other companies who simply want to bolster the bottom line by paying foreign workers lower wages.  Sadly, Trump defends the program virtually every chance he gets.  Add to that his allowing half a million students (or spies) from Communist China to remain at American universities, and one begins to wonder whose payrolls Trump’s advisers are on. 

Another area where Trump has not met expectations is taking on the leftist cabal that brought the nation to the brink of disaster over the last decade.  From Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton and the army of anti-American traitors who worked against Trump, his allies, and the American people, Trump should establish a task force with the specific purpose of investigating every single member of the government or NGO and every financier who had anything to do with Russiagate as well as the coup-cover-up of 2020 and the resulting J6 persecutions.

Americans know what happened.  We watched it in real time.  Molly Ball crowed about it in TIME magazine, we read about it in Mollie Hemingway’s Rigged, and later we followed as Emerald Robinson pulled string after string...but what we don’t have, and need, is the entire case of the treachery laid out in black and white, and then to see the guilty tried and punished.

As we all learned in the OJ trial, juries can’t always be trusted, but at a minimum, the information should be laid out for the American people to see so that they can vote accordingly.  The recent arrest of the D.C. pipe bomb suspect and Kash Patel’s announcement that it was based on information the FBI sat on for four years tells us that the information is there; it just takes an administration with sufficient courage to expose it. 

Hand in hand with allowing that treachery to go unpunished is the fact that Trump has not put his shoulder into ensuring the passage of the SAVE Act.  Indeed, New England, which is about 40% Republican, has 21 House seats, and 100% of them are Democrat.  That’s not good.  Democrats win by cheating.  Period.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would require voter ID and proof of U.S. citizenship and outlaw most mail-in voting.  Strong-arming Congress, which the GOP theoretically controls, into passing SAVE would do more for saving the Republic than almost any other thing Trump could do.  If Trump wants to maintain GOP control over Congress and have any chance of fixing the country, he needs to fix the voting system now, because we know that the second the SAVE act is passed, there’s an army of treacherous federal judges who will seek to derail it.

This brings us to the last critical issue: the Judiciary.  Since 2015, federal judges across the country have acted as the rear guard for the Obama plan of “Fundamentally transforming the United States of America” into a leftist nirvana.  From nationwide injunctions to throwing out cases to seeking to exercise executive power, the federal judiciary has become untethered to the Constitution.  The traditional way such overreach is addressed is that cases make their way through the appellate process, and SCOTUS may or may not eventually rectify the problem.  But that system breaks down as a viable solution when fast approaching elections that decide the direction of the government are concerned.  Congress must act to address this judicial overreach. 

As such, Trump should work with Congress to utilize their Article III powers to fix this.  I’d suggest two possible avenues: 

1. Congress abolishes the entire Judiciary below SCOTUS and remakes it as a far more limited and constitutional Judiciary.

2. Congress sets up a separate parallel federal court channel that would deal exclusively with election- and executive power–related issues so they can be argued in a timely fashion and be resolved long before they become moot.

Decades from now, Donald Trump is going to be remembered.   The question is, will he be remembered as a celebrity president — who attracted a great deal of attention and simply slowed the collapse as the nation calcified into a failed dystopia driven by big government and big spending — or is he going to be remembered as an heroic, mythic figure who fought back the leftist tide and put America back on firm, limited-government, constitutional footing, giving her a real opportunity to survive another 250 years?

I guess we’ll see.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 12:50

Europol Pinpoints When Skynet-Like Human Resistance To AI Could Emerge

Europol Pinpoints When Skynet-Like Human Resistance To AI Could Emerge

If Goldman's estimates of a partial or full displacement of up to 300 million jobs across the Western world due to the proliferation of artificial intelligence and automation are even remotely correct, a new report suggests that by 2035, society could face widespread public resentment, protests, and even acts of sabotage directed at robotic systems.

A new report by Europol, the EU's central intelligence and coordination hub for serious crime and terrorism, identifies around 2035 as a potential inflection point at which a human resistance movement against AI could begin to take shape, in a scenario that echoes the resistance to Skynet in the Terminator film franchise.

Europol warned of "bot-bashing" incidents and acts of sabotage against robotic systems in the middle of the next decade, as the spread of AI and robotics could fuel a populist backlash against technologies that have hollowed out parts of the Western economy and left millions unemployed.

Here's a section of the report:

By 2035, service robots have become a fixture of daily life across Europe, gliding silently through shopping centres, delivering parcels to fifth-floor flats, and cleaning public transit platforms by night. While many citizens have grown used to their presence, nodding politely to automated crossing guards or receiving prescriptions from pharmacist bots, frustration simmers beneath the surface. In economically strained regions, displaced workers protest outside automated warehouses, chanting slogans at tireless machines behind reinforced glass. A spate of "bot-bashing" incidents in city centres, ranging from graffiti to targeted arson, has prompted debates about "robot rights" and the psychological toll of widespread automation. In this uneasy climate, even minor malfunctions, such as a hospital care robot administering the wrong medication, are magnified into national scandals, fuelling populist calls to "put people first."

Law enforcement now finds itself caught at the intersection of technological adaptation and social tension. Police officers investigate crimes by robots—such as drones used as tools in theft or automated vehicles causing pedestrian injuries—and against them, including sabotage, tampering, or hate-driven destruction. As AI and robotics replace routine policing tasks like patrolling or traffic management, some departments face internal pushback from officers who fear obsolescence or diminished purpose. At the same time, the rise in economic dislocation caused by automation has contributed to an uptick in cybercrime, vandalism, and organised theft, often targeted at robotic infrastructure. Agencies are under pressure to both modernise and humanise—balancing the efficiency of unmanned systems with public trust, and equipping officers not just with new tools, but with new roles in a society where “protect and serve" increasingly applies to both humans and machines.

Today, the growing adoption of robotics by various industries and sectors means that more and more members of society will be exposed to, and interact with, this technology. While an increased frequency of encountering different types of robots in everyday life may lead to greater familiarity and acceptance, there is a risk of societal alienation, frustration, and resistance towards robots. These reactions can be the result of robotic malfunctions leading to unintended harm (i.e., crashing autonomous taxis or service robots in hospitals), or simply disapproval of their very existence (i.e., nuisances caused by drone flights or surveillance concerns linked to police patrol robots).

Our view is that Europol's 2035 prediction of "bot-bashing" has already been pulled forward. One could argue that an early incident appeared on X in 2023, when groups in San Francisco attacked driverless cars. And why stop at bashing automated systems? Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has already warned about the risks of data center sabotage.

For the sake of humanity, let's hope Goldman's 2023 report forecasting 300 million layoffs across the Western world never materializes. Otherwise, human resistance movements against robots will emerge. To mitigate such a populist revolt, we suspect central banks and governments would respond by unleashing universal basic income. It is likely inevitable.

The 2030s do not sound fun.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 12:15

Justice Jackson's History Of Shilling For The Deep State

Justice Jackson's History Of Shilling For The Deep State

Via The Brownstone Institute,

President Joe Biden’s decision to limit his Supreme Court nominees to black women was widely criticized as a product of DEI-mania, but the ensuing racial controversy was a red herring, a political sleight of hand, designed to distract Americans from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s true purpose on the bench: to protect, preserve, and defend the deep state from the constraints of the Constitution. 

The fallout from the nomination was familiar; CNN’s opinion pages called Republican Senators, including Tom Cotton (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Ted Cruz (R-TX), “racist and sexist” for opposing Jackson; Georgetown Law Professor Ilya Shapiro was suspended for stating that the most qualified candidate was an Indian man, not a black woman; Al Sharpton threw his support behind President Biden.

But Justice Jackson’s position was never intended to be a statement of racial representation or judicial excellence; it was the Biden administration’s anointment of a praetorian guard for the unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy that seeks to prevent President Trump from gaining control of the nation. 

On Monday, the Supreme Court considered whether the President of the United States has the power to remove members of the Executive Branch.

The Constitution’s Vesting Clause, which states that the “executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America,” offers an unequivocal answer.  

But Jackson, assuming her role as a corporatist advocate on a government salary, acted as the mouthpiece for those opposed to accountability for the bureaucracy that lives off the taxpayers’ wages.

She warned of “the danger of allowing…the President to actually control the transportation board and potentially the Federal Reserve and all these other independent agencies.” 

Jackson, never known for speaking concisely or deliberately (in oral arguments, she speaks 50 percent more than any of her fellow colleagues and more than Justices Amy Coney Barrett, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas combined) waxed longingly for a nation with no presidential control over the executive branch:

My understanding was that independent agencies exist because Congress has decided that some issues, some matters, some areas should be handled in this way by nonpartisan experts, that Congress is saying that expertise matters with respect to aspects of the economy and transportation and the various independent agencies that we have. So having a President come in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the Ph.D.s and replacing them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything is actually not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States. This is what I think Congress’s policy decision is when it says that these certain agencies we’re not going to make directly accountable to the President.

This is not a mere coincidence; when nominated, the Biden administration knew that she was devoted to bureaucratic supremacy. 

In the first Trump administration, Jackson, then a District Court Judge, overturned four executive orders (numbers 13837, 13836, 13839, and 13957) that sought to rein in the power of the nearly three million federal employees who effectively inhabit permanent jobs. Most notably, in 2020, she invalidated President Trump’s order “Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service.”

In March 2024, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri, which considered the Biden administration’s collusion with Big Tech to censor Americans during the Covid response. There, Justice Jackson stated that her “biggest concern” was that an injunction would result in “the First Amendment hamstringing the Government.”  

Earlier this year, Justice Barrett chastised Justice Jackson as “embracing an imperial Judiciary” after Justice Jackson voted to increase federal courts’ power to issue nationwide injunctions.  

Jackson’s defense of the unelected cabal that dominates American life is not a mere issue of legalese; it animates the chief question of the second Trump administration: does the commander-in-chief control the Executive Branch? The Constitution tells us that he should, but in practice, entrenched interests threaten that governmental structure.

Those who believe that this gives the president too much power might consider an alternate path to shredding the Constitution, e.g. abolishing all these rogue agencies to reduce and contain executive power itself. 

Jackson’s verbose monologues, often disguised as questions, reveal that she understands the importance of this struggle despite her cognitive limitations. She may not be able to define a woman, but she knows that her benefactors depend on her denying the President from obtaining “actual control” over the agencies that the Constitution designates to his realm. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 11:40

The Gulf Of America Is Back

The Gulf Of America Is Back

Authored by Erik Milito via RealClearEnergy,

After years of market swings, regulatory uncertainty, and deep staffing cuts, America’s energy workforce is overdue for a stabilizing signal. December 10th provides exactly that: the first federal Gulf of America lease sale in nearly two years, offering long-awaited certainty for the companies and workers that power America’s offshore energy engine.

In 2024, Gulf of America oil and gas activity supported approximately 428,000 jobs across all 50 states, contributed $35.9 billion in spending, and generated $7 billion in federal revenues. Few industries deliver that scale of widespread economic impact.

Mandated by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, this sale is the first of 30 over the next 15 years, with additional sales offshore Alaska. After an unprecedented 24-month leasing gap, the door to America’s offshore future, anchored by Texan expertise, is reopening.

Regular leasing is not a bureaucratic detail; it’s the foundation of long-term offshore development. Offshore oil and gas projects are multi-billion-dollar endeavors with 20–30-year timelines, and many high-skill engineering, fabrication, marine, and logistics jobs supporting are found across the Gulf coast. More than 200 job types, from subsea engineers to welders to data scientists, pay on average 29% above the national average. When leasing stalls, workers feels it first.

*  *  * CHRISTMAS CUTOFF IS MONDAY!

Production coming online today is the result of lease sales, policy choices, and investment decisions made years ago. Wood Mackenzie projects that long-planned deepwater projects will add 300,000 barrels per day in 2025 and another 250,000 in 2026, essential to replenish offshore production volumes, offset onshore declines, and strengthen long-term U.S. energy security. None of this happens overnight: consistent leasing is the lifeline for the offshore economy.

The 24-month pause forced operators, service companies, and supply-chain firms to delay projects, scale back planning, and freeze capital, contributing directly to staffing reductions across the region. Predictable leasing restores confidence, giving companies a horizon for investment and workers the stability they deserve.

The offshore ecosystem spans subsea engineering, advanced manufacturing, offshore construction, vessel operations, robotics, data analytics, and safety training, among other innovative energy fields. Regular lease sales mean steadier workloads, predictable capital cycles, and real stability for employers and workers alike.

The benefits ripple far beyond individual operating companies. Steady offshore activity supports local suppliers, fabrication yards, and service providers, sustaining thousands of additional jobs across the nation. When companies along the Gulf coast can count on long-term projects, they are better able to invest in technology, training, and infrastructure that strengthens the city’s energy cluster and keeps it globally competitive. This ripple effect ensures that the Gulf of America remains an anchor of America’s offshore energy industry, benefiting communities, families, and the local economy for decades.

Offshore development also delivers massive amounts of public revenue. In 2024, U.S. offshore activity generated $7 billion in direct federal revenue. Through updates to the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), a growing share of that revenue flows back to Gulf states funding coastal restoration, hurricane protection, community infrastructure, and other critical investments.

The Gulf of America is one of the world’s most prolific and lowest-carbon intensity offshore basins, with Gulf barrels having 46% lower carbon intensity than the global average. Every barrel produced here displaces higher-emission imports while strengthening energy security for America and its allies.

With global threats rising and energy markets volatile, predictable investment opportunities are essential to our economic future, both locally and nationally. It signals to investors that the U.S. is committed to long-term energy development. It gives companies confidence. It gives workers stability. And it gives the Gulf of America, after years of uncertainty, a clear horizon it can finally plan around.

With the December 10th lease sale, and the 29 that follow, the Gulf of America is once again positioned to anchor America’s energy future, and our workforce has a reason to look forward with confidence.

Erik Milito is President of the National Ocean Industries Association. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 10:30

Seized Tanker Reveals Cuba's Secret Oil Lifeline As Trump Turns To Gunboat Diplomacy

Seized Tanker Reveals Cuba's Secret Oil Lifeline As Trump Turns To Gunboat Diplomacy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has realized that it is all about following the money. If the U.S. military posture in the Caribbean is one of "gunboat diplomacy" aimed at ushering in regime change in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, against the country's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, then one way to accelerate regime instability is to weaken Cuba materially.

During President Trump's first term, there was a brief moment in which the Maduro regime appeared close to being overthrown, but it was countered by support from Cuba. According to The New York Times reporters Michael Crowley and Edward Wong, that failure frustrated Trump, his advisers, and then Senator Rubio, who had backed regime change.

"Their theory of change involves cutting off all support to Cuba," said Juan S. Gonzalez, who was President Joe Biden's top White House aide for Western Hemisphere affairs. "Under this approach, once Venezuela goes, Cuba will follow."

In a separate NYT report, journalists Anatoly Kurmanaev, Nicholas Nehamas, and Farnaz Fassihi explained that the seized tanker Skipper, which was carrying crude contracted by Cubametales, Cuba's state-run oil trading firm, is a critical part of how Cuba benefits from its oil trade with Venezuela.

The reporters cited internal data from Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, showing that Skipper's destination was listed as the Cuban port of Matanzas.

They continued:

Two days after its departure, Skipper offloaded a small fraction of its oil, an estimated 50,000 barrels, to another ship, called Neptune 6, which then headed north toward Cuba, according to the shipping data firm Kpler. After the transfer, Skipper headed east, toward Asia, with the vast majority of its oil on board, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter.

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have for decades sent oil to Cuba at highly subsidized prices, providing a crucial resource at low cost to the impoverished island.

In return, the Cuban government over the years has sent tens of thousands of medics, sports instructors, and, increasingly, security professionals on assignments to Venezuela. That exchange has assumed special importance as Mr. Maduro has leaned on Cuban bodyguards and counterintelligence officers to protect himself against the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean.

In recent years, however, only a fraction of Venezuelan oil set aside for Cuba has actually reached the island, according to PDVSA documents and tanker tracking data. Most of the oil allocated for Cuba has instead been resold to China, with the money providing badly needed hard currency for the Cuban government, according to multiple people close to the Venezuelan government.

And noted Panamanian businessman Ramón Carretero is at the center of the Venezuela-Cuba oil flow:

The main person managing the flow of oil between Cuba and Venezuela is a Panamanian businessman named Ramón Carretero, who in the past few years has become one of the largest traders of Venezuelan oil, according to PDVSA data and people close to Venezuela's government.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mr. Carretero on Thursday for "facilitating shipments of petroleum products on behalf of the Venezuelan government." Mr. Carretero, through a legal representative, declined to comment on the government's decision. He did not respond to detailed questions for this article.

Mr. Carretero's role as an economic intermediary between Cuba and Venezuela was first reported by Armando.info, a Venezuelan investigative news outlet.

Skipper was also part of Iran's dark tanker fleet:

Before shipping Venezuelan oil, Skipper spent four years as part of Iran's covert fleet, transporting Iranian oil to Syria and China, according to data from Kpler, the shipping data firm, and a senior Iranian oil ministry official, who discussed sensitive issues on condition of anonymity.

What's likely happening is that the Trump administration is in the early innings of disrupting large volumes of crude that flow from Venezuela to Cuba to China. That strategy could trigger falling dominoes across the region, pushing Cuba's economy deeper into collapse while also meaningfully weakening Venezuela and tipping the balance of power away from Maduro.

So far, Beijing has yet to lash out over the Skipper seizure and the resulting disruptions to crude flows to Asia. One has to wonder whether Bessent worked out a secret deal with Beijing; otherwise, this type of maneuvering by the Trump administration risks triggering turmoil that could derail any upcoming Trump-Xi talks.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 09:55

Trump Team Denies Leaked 'Secret Plan' To Break EU Nations Away From Brussels' Grip

Trump Team Denies Leaked 'Secret Plan' To Break EU Nations Away From Brussels' Grip

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

The Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy was published last week, setting out the U.S.’s broad foreign policy direction for the remainder of his term. It focused on ending what it calls a “perpetually expanding NATO,” establishing “conditions of stability within Europe,” and encouraging European allies to “stand on [their] own feet” in security matters.

The document also warned that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” citing migration, censorship of speech, declining birthrates, and what it described as a loss of national identity and self-confidence.

Days after the official release, however, the Defense One website reported that a longer, unreleased version of the NSS had circulated in Washington. According to the site, the unpublished version contained far more explicit political goals for reshaping Europe’s future and reducing the influence of the European Union. Defense One wrote that the extended draft urged the United States to “Make Europe Great Again,” proposing that Washington realign its attention toward a select group of governments ideologically closer to the Trump administration.

The unpublished version, Defense One reported, stated that Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland were countries the United States should “work more with… with the goal of pulling them away from the [European Union].” It also said the United States should support “parties, movements, and intellectual and cultural figures who seek sovereignty and preservation/restoration of traditional European ways of life… while remaining pro-American.”

None of this language appears in the officially released NSS, which focuses instead on broader themes of strategic stability with Russia, the need for Europe to regain its self-confidence, and continued American support for democracy and free expression. The official document argues that Europe’s loss of confidence is particularly visible in its approach to Russia. It states, “Managing European relations with Russia will require significant U.S. diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.” It adds that stabilizing the continent will require “an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine” to prevent escalation, restore stability, and support Ukraine’s survival as a viable state.

The text also warns that the war has increased Europe’s exposure to external dependencies, particularly Germany’s, and criticizes what it describes as unrealistic expectations held by some European officials. It concludes that despite Europe’s internal crises, the continent remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States. America, it says, “encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit,” asserting that the growing influence of patriotic European parties “gives cause for great optimism.”

After the Defense One report appeared, the White House moved quickly to deny the existence of any longer or alternative NSS. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, “No alternative, private, or classified version exists. President Trump is transparent and put his signature on one NSS that clearly instructs the U.S. government to execute on his defined principles and priorities.” She added that “any other so-called ‘versions’ are leaked by people distant from the President who, like this ‘reporter,’ have no idea what they are talking about.” Her reference to leaks suggests that other versions of the report may have been discussed, albeit not endorsed or included in the final publication.

Speaking to the American Conservative website about the strategy report, Krzysztof Bosak, a Polish MP, leader of the right-wing Confederation, and deputy speaker of the Sejm — Poland’s lower parliamentary chamber — said, “I can’t say that I disagree with anything there. It’s a continuation of Vice President J.D. Vance’s Munich [Security Conference] speech, which I agreed with completely.

“Maybe Europe needs a shock from our good old friend America to start a true debate, because there was no debate in the European mainstream. In America, you have both sides of the political spectrum. In Western Europe, there’s only one side. If you have politically incorrect views, you can find yourself in prison, because you said too much, for example, in England or sometimes in Germany,” he added.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica also reported on the Defense One findings, highlighting the claim that the United States planned to use Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Poland “as tools to dismantle the European Union” by drawing them into a broader, ideologically aligned group. It noted Defense One’s summary that the unpublished draft viewed Europe’s immigration policies as driving an “erasure of its civilization,” and that Washington should engage with European actors seeking “sovereignty” and the restoration of traditional ways of life.

La Repubblica separately noted that Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), recently expressed interest in holding a major CPAC event in Italy to promote a sovereignist agenda. While government sources suggested a lack of enthusiasm, Schlapp told the newspaper, “We will get it done.”

CPAC has grown in stature among European conservatives in recent years, most notably in Hungary, where its annual event in Budapest now attracts major players, both from Europe and across the Atlantic.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 09:20

Ukraine War Comes To... The Caspian Sea

Ukraine War Comes To... The Caspian Sea

Ukraine has extended the war to a far flung body of water and unexpected place. Ukraine's military has newly revealed that its special forces conducted successful operations against Russian oil, military, logistics assets in the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Sea is some 700 miles from the front lines in Ukraine, and is the world's largest inland body of water, which is bordered by Russia and Kazakhstan to the north and Iran to the South, among other small countries.

Ukraine revealed Thursday its long-range drones targeted and hit major offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea. The offshore oil field run by Lukoil had to effectively halt production, according to Oil Price. It is said to be the single biggest oil field in the Russian sector of the Caspian.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said its forces targeted the Vladimir Filanovsky field which lies in the northern sector of the sea. Four drones reportedly struck the offshore platform, causing a stoppage over over 20 wells.

"This is Ukraine’s first strike on Russian infrastructure related to oil production in the Caspian Sea," a Ukrainian official told CNN. The person described "another reminder to Russia that all its enterprises working for the war are legitimate targets."

In parallel, Ukraine's special forces are touting that an additional operation has taken place: it says it struck two Russian military-linked ships in the Caspian Sea near Kalmykia - a republic in southern Russia, north of the North Caucasus.

The vessels have since been identified as the Composer Rakhmaninoff and the Askar-Sarydzha, which are both sanctioned by the Washington for transporting military cargoes between Iran and Russia.

Apparently in this case, Ukraine had help from a local proxy militia group, per Ukrainian media:

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) said they carried out a joint operation with the insurgent group Chornaya Iskra ("Black Spark”), targeting two Russian vessels close to Russia's Kalmykia coast. The ships were identified as the Kompozitor Rakhmaninov and Askar Sarydzha. Both had been sanctioned by the US...

International monitors have indicated that between August and the end of November of this year, Ukraine has struck nearly 80 Russian energy facilities in total.

Kiev is desperately trying to play the only card it has - choking off energy revenue and funding for Russia's war machine. But so far the Kremlin has weathered the storm, but still may feel the squeeze down the line - especially amid slowed repair efforts given the sheer volume of incidents.

Russia has taken desperate measures, even draping refineries and oil depots with giant netting - or else ramping up ground anti-drone forces. But throughout the war, small long-range drones have proven devastating and able to oftentimes penetrate even the most sophisticated defensive measures.

Source: CNN

"What used to be occasional strikes meant to cause damage has become a sustained effort to keep refineries from ever fully stabilizing," said Nikhil Dubey, senior refining analyst at data and analytics firm Kpler.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 08:45

France's Fiscal Death Spiral: A Nation Incapable Of Reform

France's Fiscal Death Spiral: A Nation Incapable Of Reform

Submitted By Thomas Kolbe

What is now unfolding in France may soon drag the entire Eurozone into deep turmoil. The country is staggering through a fiscal crisis while locked in a political stalemate that seems impossible to break. In the bond market, the clock is ticking loudly as France’s public debt spirals out of control.

This week, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu celebrated a textbook Pyrrhic victory. On Tuesday, the National Assembly narrowly approved his draft for next year’s social budget. But the win came at a steep price: sweeping concessions that will only worsen an already explosive fiscal situation.

Strange coalitions

With 247 votes in favor, 234 against, and 93 abstentions, the Assembly passed a plan projecting a €20 billion deficit in the social budget – significantly worse than the originally planned €17 billion. Marine Le Pen’s party and the far-left bloc around Jean-Luc Mélenchon both rejected the proposal.

It is surreal: political gridlock has driven France into a place where the far-left and the right vote together – and collectively push the government toward collapse. For President Emmanuel Macron, this could soon mean assembling yet another fragile government, as there is no indication France can lift itself out of its catastrophic stalemate.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where the governing coalition holds a majority. It will likely pass without major obstruction. On December 23rd, the Senate begins negotiations for the 2026 budget. It may provide drama, but no one seriously expects the political blockade to change.

Pension reform on ice – permanent reform paralysis

Lecornu was forced to freeze the planned pension reform, which would have raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. Instead, France will raise it only to 62 years and nine months. The country maintains the largest social budget in the EU while keeping one of the lowest retirement ages. Once again, France sidesteps its growing pension crisis, following Germany down the same dangerous path of a collapsing pay-as-you-go system. Paris also refuses to address the fiscal consequences of illegal migration – a social time bomb whose fuse is already burning.

This decision exposes the deep political denial embedded in France’s leadership: they continue living at the expense of future generations, consuming economic substance that no longer exists. France has become fundamentally incapable of reform and is drifting straight into a severe fiscal crisis.

This year’s budget deficit is roughly 5.6% of GDP. The government’s wildly optimistic projection for next year is 5%. With huge gaps in the social accounts, no one can explain how this number could be reached. It is pure fantasy. A far more realistic expectation is a deficit between 6% and 7%.

France’s political crisis mirrors its economic paralysis. Economic productivity has been shrinking for years. With a state share of 57% of GDP, the government blocks the free allocation of capital and absorbs the very resources required to revive the economy. France has never been comfortable with market economics and now, like a Siamese twin of Berlin’s disastrous policies, pushes central planning deeper into the economy.

Economic ossification

With 68,000 corporate insolvencies over the past twelve months and an industrial sector stuck in contraction, the country is heading directly into a severe social crisis – already reflected in an inescapable fiscal trap.

France is experiencing a bankruptcy wave of biblical proportions, likely costing 400,000 jobs this year. The economy is on its knees, and the French retreat into the illusion that endless debt can somehow restore their welfare system.

We have seen what this means for Eurozone stability: fifteen years ago, tiny Greece lost access to markets and triggered a debt crisis that spread like wildfire across Europe.

Back then, the credibility of Eurozone monetary policy was sacrificed to keep the highly interconnected credit markets liquid through massive ECB intervention and years of bailouts.

If the Eurozone’s second-largest economy experiences an “air pocket” on its bond market – a sudden collapse in demand for its swelling debt issuance – the traditional toolkit of the European Central Bank will not be enough to contain the fallout.

A secular shift in global bonds

In an acute crisis, the ECB would be ready to intervene. Its main tool would be sovereign bond purchases under the PSPP (Public Sector Purchase Programme). Additional liquidity could be injected through targeted long-term refinancing operations or via support for banks holding large volumes of French sovereign debt.

The Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program could also be activated, allowing direct purchases of crisis-country bonds – though only under strict fiscal-conditionality rules. But in the next crisis, those conditions will almost certainly be ignored to prevent the Eurozone from disintegrating. The ECB already provided the playbook when Mario Draghi uttered his famous “whatever it takes.”

Yet the ECB’s actual influence has limits: the long end of the bond market – maturities beyond ten years – is the deepest and most liquid segment. No single central bank can truly control it.

For months, long-term yields have been rising – first in Japan, now increasingly across parts of the Eurozone. The market is signaling a fundamental loss of confidence in the debt sustainability of fiscally undisciplined states.

A secular turning point in global bond markets has already occurred. At its climax, it will mark the final full stop on every pending fiscal crisis. Think Argentina. The age of the chainsaw is approaching.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 08:10

Dust Off The Shovels: Quick Burst Of Snow Targets Mid-Atlantic, I-95 Corridor

Dust Off The Shovels: Quick Burst Of Snow Targets Mid-Atlantic, I-95 Corridor

Update (Saturday morning): 

Dust off your snow shovels and fill up those snowblowers with gasoline, or if you've splurged this year on a fancy robot snowblower, plug it in and charge the batteries today.

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are preparing for the season's first significant snowfall event, with accumulating snow expected in metro areas near I-95. It is a fast-moving clipper storm expected to arrive overnight.

"An area of low pressure will redevelop off the coast Saturday night into Sunday morning with snow developing by 12 a.m. The snow will mix with rain at times in Zones 4 and 5. All snow is expected to continue through 8 a.m. Sunday and then taper off from northwest to southeast through 1 p.m. Sunday," a meteorologist at NY NJ PA Weather wrote in a report.

NY NJ PA Weather noted that the heaviest snowfall favors interior areas, while coastal zones may see periods of rain before transitioning to snow. Accumulating snow is possible near the I-95 corridor, including areas around Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City.

Impacts by zone (courtesy of NY NJ PA Weather):

  • Zone 1: Snow showers, trace to 1 inch

  • Zone 2: Light snow, 1 to 3 inches

  • Zone 3: Moderate snow, 3 to 6 inches

  • Zone 4: Rain changing to snow, 1 to 3 inches

  • Zone 5: Rain changing to snow, trace to 1 inch

What other meteorologists and weather observers are saying:

Related:

* * * 

Ahead of next week's return to global warming, thank you, Al Gore, for listening to our prayers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast after weeks of below-average temperatures that felt like the Arctic. A weekend snowstorm is set to blanket the region with accumulating snow.

The NWS Weather Prediction Center published a new snowfall forecast for a weekend winter storm that stretches from the northern High Plains of Montana through the Ohio Valley, the central Appalachians, and the Northeast, including major cities from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

Private weather forecaster Weather Madness noted on X, "I expect an Arctic low to develop along the Arctic front, which could produce extra snow along the I-95 corridor from NYC to DCA."

Weather Madness expects parts of the Mid-Atlantic to receive 4 to 8 inches.

Meteorologist Steven DiMartino at NY NJ PA Weather published a short video earlier that details the incoming snow threat for the Mid-Atlantic area.

More from meteorologist Rayn Maue... 

On Thursday, we noted in "After Polar Vortex US Freeze, Global Warming Returns Before Christmas" that a warm-up for the eastern half of the US is expected to begin on Tuesday-Wednesday of next week.

Related:

Meteorologist Ben Noll said, "A whopping 235 million people across the United States have experienced well below-average temperatures so far this December."

We'll take the warmth. Thanks, Al Gore. However, January is right around the corner.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 07:48

Cry The Beloved Europe?

Cry The Beloved Europe?

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Nothing bothers the European elite as much as American conservatives praising the European foundations of their shared, but threatened, Western civilization.

Europeans especially resent having their social-welfare state system critiqued by upstart, crass Americans.

Their pique only increases as they push back against the condescending American idea that the U.S. could possibly offer any constructive advice, much less help a more civilized Europe follow the “American model.”

Americans, in turn, are worried that Europe is not just stagnating but is on a trajectory of permanent decline—with dire consequences for the entire Western world.

As for symptoms, the U.S. cites a steadily declining European share of world GDP. It points to Europe’s unsustainable 1.39 fertility rate, which ensures a steadily smaller, older, and costlier native population.

More than ten percent of Europe’s resident population is now foreign-born—some 45 million people. However, the European host, unlike a classless America, does not have a long tradition of melting-pot assimilation, integration, and acculturation.

Unlike America’s mostly Christian-nation immigration patterns, European immigrants are predominantly from the Middle East and North Africa, Islamic, and increasingly anti-Western.

Far too many of Europe’s immigrants profess too little desire to assimilate into what they consider a culturally decadent place—one that, ironically, they have no desire to leave.

The Christian Church, the linchpin of Western civilization, was born in Europe. Yet nowhere do atheism, agnosticism, and open hostility to Christendom grow stronger.

Europe, the birthplace of a dynamic Western military tradition, has been, by contemporary standards and at least until recently, virtually disarmed and unable to protect its own borders or interests.

Europe’s overregulation and war on fossil fuels, combined with a generous social welfare state, have resulted in too little revenue and too many costly dependents.

Americans dare to lecture Europe because the same Western pathologies—open borders, unassimilated immigrants, tribalism, declining fertility, green fanaticism, unsustainable budget deficits, and massive national debt—are likewise beginning to threaten America.

But unlike Europe, millions of Americans at the eleventh hour are galvanizing to stop their own insidious downward spiral.

So Americans claim to know firsthand the causes for these shared, but even more distressing, European symptoms of decay.

And their answers are the threats of several dangerous ideologies.

One pathology is green fanaticism, which has led Europeans to not only ignore their fossil fuel resources but also to dismantle existing coal, nuclear, and natural gas plants.

That suicidal folly ensured that transportation fuels and electrical power became so exorbitant that once sought-after European exports are now uncompetitive, while Europe’s strapped middle classes slip into poverty.

Meanwhile, China funds green causes in the West, exports below-cost cheap wind and solar systems, and then builds three coal or nuclear plants a month to ensure that it has much cheaper energy than the green West.

Other existential threats are diversity/equity/inclusion mandates—a precivilizational emphasis on tribal affinities of race and religion rather than shared national values and unity. The results are legions of drone DEI commissars who sow disunity, spike racial tensions, wage war on meritocracy, and increase overhead.

America further warns Europe that only cutbacks in unsustainable entitlements can allow it to reboot its militaries enough to prevent Russian bullying and threats of attack, protect supply lines of imported fuels and natural resources, and deter terrorists.

And what happens if a petulant and snarky Europe utterly rejects the American diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis?

America will decide that it can no longer afford, as NATO’s leader, to protect European borders when it struggles at home to ensure its own.

Nor can the U.S. understand an increasingly two-faced Europe.

One of its faces is the self-righteous 27-member European Union that is becoming increasingly anti-American.

The EU attacks the U.S. nonstop on matters of culture, energy, trade, censorship, and foreign policy.

Yet nearly the same nations of a 32-member NATO alliance—Europe’s other face—praise America for its military leadership and call for closer U.S.-European strategic relations.

This one-eyed Jack policy of censoring and fining American companies, blasting American allies at the United Nations, and belittling conservative, Christian, and traditional American culture, while praising the U.S. military and courting its armed assistance, is simply not sustainable.

Is there a solution? Perhaps, given that both civilizations are offering diametrically opposed correctives to their shared morbidities.

Europe is only growing more socialist, censorious, globalist, pacifist, multicultural, atheistic, and green.

In contrast, the U.S. is undergoing a counter-revolution toward smaller government, fewer regulations, more fossil fuels, an expanding military, less DEI and woke, more secure borders, legal-only immigration, and renewed faith.

Only one of these competing solutions will solve the shared crisis of Western civilization.

And let us hope the one remedy that works will be fully adopted by both.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 07:00

What's In Your Coffee? Unexpected Facts Behind Your Morning Cup

What's In Your Coffee? Unexpected Facts Behind Your Morning Cup

Authored by Kimberly Drake via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Coffee is beloved for its caffeine kick and flavor, but it also helps reduce risks from chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease thanks to high levels of antioxidants and other bioactive compounds.

FoodVideoPhoto/Shutterstock

However, along with its nutty flavor and comforting aroma, researchers have found traces of potentially cancer-causing roasting byproducts, mycotoxins from mold, cholesterol-raising compounds, and even pesticide residues that can linger from farm to mug.

The good news is that the choices you make, from the type of coffee you buy to how you store, prepare, and drink it, can reduce these and other unwanted compounds swirling around in your favorite morning brew.

Before you pour out your cup, though, here’s what you need to know.

What Scientists Have Found in Coffee

Coffee contains high levels of antioxidants and bioactive compounds, such as phenolic acids, which studies suggest may be responsible for its health-boosting effects. However, other lesser-known compounds lurking in coffee aren’t as beneficial, and some may actually be harmful to your health.

While scientists have identified trace amounts of various compounds in coffee, the levels detected in research are generally low and do not pose significant health risks to most people. That said, the choices you make about the type of coffee you buy and how you store, prepare, and drink it can further reduce these trace substances.

Mycotoxins From Mold

Improper storage of coffee can lead to mold growth and the formation of mycotoxins, which, in high amounts, may affect kidney function and increase cancer risk, Julia Kopczyńska, microbiologist and doctoral candidate at the Polish Academy of Sciences, told The Epoch Times.

In one study, researchers found 29 different mycotoxins in 48 coffee and chicory samples they tested.

Overall, most research has shown that coffee contains low levels of mycotoxins, and scientists have found that roasting can further reduce these levels, so the overall risk for most coffee drinkers is low.

However, among potential contaminants, Brian Clark, a nurse anesthetist and founder and CEO of United Medical Education, a platform for educating medical professionals, is most concerned about mold-related toxic compounds in coffee.

He noted that people with compromised immune systems may be more sensitive to environmental toxins, such as mycotoxins, making this the compound category that warrants the most attention for vulnerable populations.

Roasting Byproducts

While roasting coffee can reduce mycotoxins, it can also lead to the formation of acrylamide, a compound that has potentially cancer-causing and nerve-damaging properties and may harm a person’s genes, one research review suggests. Acrylamide forms when processing temperatures rise above 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit).

However, most healthy adults can process small amounts of acrylamide without adverse health effects. So, it would be difficult for a person who regularly drinks coffee to exceed laboratory exposure limits and experience any neurologic and carcinogenic issues, said Clark.

How people store and brew their coffee can also impact acrylamide levels. Storing beans or ground coffee for at least a year at an average room temperature, then brewing it longer and at a lower temperature, can further reduce acrylamide levels.

The type of bean also makes a difference, as Arabica beans generate less acrylamide than other types.

Natural Coffee Oils (Diterpenes)

Natural oils in coffee, such as the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, can raise cholesterol levels, particularly in people who drink unfiltered coffee, Kopczyńska noted.

A September review of 11 studies with more than one million participants found that moderate coffee intake (three to five cups per day) may be associated with higher high-density lipoprotein or HDL (good cholesterol) levels, while excessive intake may be associated with elevated low-density lipoprotein or LDL (bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol. Research suggests that diterpenes may influence lipid metabolism and how the body synthesizes and transports cholesterol.

However, diterpenes also have several health-promoting effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties, Kopczyńska said.

“Reducing diterpenes is therefore most [important] for people who need to manage their LDL cholesterol levels,” she noted.

Pesticide Residues

In a September study, scientists analyzed nearly 900 coffee samples sold in Egypt for 126 pesticides and found that 21 percent of the roasted samples contained pesticide residues.

Espresso and traditional Turkish coffee brewing methods reduced pesticide residues, the scientists noted, with espresso methods generally being more effective. Despite the findings, the researchers’ risk assessments revealed that the health risks from pesticide exposure through coffee consumption are low.

The Clean Label Project, a nonprofit organization that tests products for contaminants, tested 57 coffee brands for chemicals, including pesticides and glyphosate, a widely used herbicide classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization in 2015. Its report found that only two of 57 coffee samples tested had traces of glyphosate.

However, 41 of the samples, including 100 percent of the organic samples, contained aminomethylphosphonic acid, a byproduct of glyphosate that breaks down more slowly and stays in the coffee beans for longer.

Children exposed to this byproduct may have an increased risk of liver and cardiometabolic disorders by the time they reach adulthood, a 2023 study suggests.

Pesticides and herbicides used on coffee plantations may have harmful effects on the endocrine and nervous systems, but residues in coffee are generally within safe limits, Kopczyńska said. However, she added that they can contribute to a person’s overall exposure from other food or environmental sources.

Your Choice of Coffee Matters

Everything from the type of coffee purchased to the package it comes in, and even what’s stirred into it, can change what ends up in a cup of joe.

Skip the Pods

While convenient, pod-type coffee, or K-cups, which come in plastic containers, can leach chemicals like phthalates (synthetic industrial chemicals) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” into a person’s coffee.

PFAS are linked to a host of health concerns. For example, people exposed to high levels of PFAS in their drinking water may be at higher risk for several types of cancer, a January study found.

Research published in February found that machine-brewed pod coffee had about 2.5 times more fluorotelomer sulfonates, a type of PFAS, than the same coffee brewed through a paper filter without the pod. When the scientists brewed plastic pods made from polypropylene, perfluorooctanoic acid, a type of PFAS, increased by 39 percent to 623 percent when machine-brewed compared to manual brewing.

Heat, combined with the pressure created during the brewing process, is how PFAS leaches from plastic pods into a person’s cup, the researchers noted.

Rethink Flavored Coffee

While they may be a delicious change from plain java, artificially flavored brews like French vanilla, hazelnut, or caramel can reduce coffee’s health benefits.

These flavorings can decrease beneficial chlorogenic acids—a group of polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties—and increase the levels of harmful compounds like acrylamide, compared to coffee flavored naturally, according to one study.

Reconsider Decaffeinated Coffee

Pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions, or those who are sensitive to caffeine’s effects might choose decaffeinated coffee as an alternative. However, concerns have emerged over the health effects of methylene chloride, an industrial chemical used in the decaffeination process to extract caffeine.

In July, researchers found that decaffeinated coffee may increase the risk of bladder cancer. In the study, the scientists followed more than 121,000 men and women for 36 years and found that drinking decaffeinated coffee was not associated with total cancer risk. However, men who drank the beverage had a significantly higher risk of bladder cancer than those who did not.

Think Twice About Instant Coffee

That cup of ready-to-drink coffee, which is brewed coffee that’s been dehydrated into powder or granules, is convenient on a busy morning. However, drinking instant coffee may increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration in people genetically prone to the disease, a June study found.

While many factors may play a role, the scientists noted that instant coffee’s impact on the macula may be due to inflammation and oxidative stress induced by the harmful chemicals produced during its production. They suggest that people at high risk for age-related macular degeneration should avoid instant coffee.

Be Mindful of What You Add

Although cream and sugar may make a tasty cup of coffee, adding these could undermine coffee’s health benefits.

In one study, researchers found that drinking black coffee lowered the risk of death from all causes and heart disease. However, these health benefits diminished significantly when coffee contained added sugar and cream, as these additions can contribute to a higher calorie and saturated fat intake.

Nondairy coffee creamers might not be the best choice for people who want to replace traditional cream and sugar in their coffee, either. Typically, nondairy creamers contain partially hydrogenated oils, which are high in trans fatty acids. Trans fat can raise LDL cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.

Nondairy creamers can also contain emulsifiers such as carrageenan and mono- and diglycerides, which may alter the gut microbiome, potentially leading to intestinal inflammation and immune system dysfunction.

Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and erythritol may be more problematic. Aspartame has been linked to gut biome disruption and increased cancer risks, and erythritol may increase the risk of blood clots, a March study suggests.

Steps to Optimize Your Coffee

If a person is concerned about what’s in their coffee, Clark suggests purchasing whole beans from suppliers who control drying and storage, and storing them in airtight containers in a cool, dry location to slow the breakdown of the beans and inhibit mold growth.

“Although the acrylamide levels in coffee have not been shown to increase cancer risk, it is best to avoid instant coffee and coffee substitutes, which contain up to 300 percent more acrylamide,” Kopczyńska said. “Darker roasts also contain less acrylamide than lighter ones.”

To reduce diterpene intake, Kopczyńska suggests switching to filtered coffee, which contains roughly 30 times less diterpenes than French press or other unfiltered methods.

She also advises people to buy organic coffee, if possible, to minimize cumulative pesticide exposure.

Though organic coffee is grown without synthetic pesticides or herbicides, which can significantly reduce exposure to these chemicals, even organic beans may have traces of pesticide residues due to environmental contamination.

By carefully choosing the type of coffee and being mindful of storage and brewing practices, a person can significantly reduce the presence of unwanted chemicals in their coffee, long before it reaches their morning cup.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/13/2025 - 05:00

Land Along Southern Border Is Transferred to Navy To Become Part Of 'National Defense Area'

Land Along Southern Border Is Transferred to Navy To Become Part Of 'National Defense Area'

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Trump administration said on Dec. 10 that it would transfer roughly 760 acres of public land along the U.S.-Mexico border in California to the Navy for three years to support border security operations.

The U.S. border with Mexico near San Diego on Jan. 31, 2025. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

While announcing the decision Wednesday, the Interior Department said the land would become part of a “National Defense Area,” or militarized zone, to bolster immigration enforcement.

The land stretches from roughly a mile west of the California-Arizona state line to the western edge of the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area in San Diego and Imperial counties, according to the Interior Department.

“This corridor is one of the highest-traffic regions for unlawful crossings along the southern border, creating significant national security challenges and contributing to environmental degradation,” the department said.

The Interior Department said the land was originally set aside in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt for “border protection purposes,” and the Navy will use it to “strengthen operational capabilities while reducing ecological harm associated with sustained illegal activity.”

Since April, the federal government has transferred large portions of land along the southern border to the military, allowing troops to detain migrants attempting to cross the border or arrest people accused of trespassing on military bases.

The process began with a 170-mile swath of land along the border in New Mexico before the government expanded into Texas and Arizona.

While the Interior Department referred to the Southern California lands as a high-traffic area for illegal border crossings, arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to the lowest level since the 1960s as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigration.

“President Trump has made it clear that securing our border and restoring American sovereignty are top national priorities,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.

“This action delivers on that commitment. By working with the Navy to close longstanding security gaps, we are strengthening national defense, protecting our public lands from unlawful use, and advancing the president’s agenda to put the safety and security of the American people first.”

The department said it coordinated closely with the Navy to make sure that the transfer is targeted and legal and that it reinforces the “historic role public lands have played in safeguarding national sovereignty.”

The announcement came shortly after a federal judge ordered the federal government to cease deploying California’s National Guard in Los Angeles and restore control of the troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 23:25

Alaskans Carry The Highest Average Credit-Card Debt In The US

Alaskans Carry The Highest Average Credit-Card Debt In The US

U.S. credit card balances have climbed to $1.21 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s 2025 report.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, visualizes how average credit card debt varies widely across the United States in 2025. The data for this visualization comes from the TransUnion Credit Industry Snapshot published in September 2025.

States with the Highest Balances

Washington, D.C. leads the nation with an average balance of $7,684, reflecting high living costs and larger credit lines.

State Value Alaska $7.7K Alabama $6.0K Arkansas $5.8K Arizona $6.7K California $7.0K Colorado $6.9K Connecticut $7.0K District of Columbia $7.7K Delaware $6.6K Florida $7.0K Georgia $7.1K Hawaii $7.3K Iowa $5.3K Idaho $6.1K Illinois $6.4K Indiana $5.5K Kansas $5.9K Kentucky $5.5K Louisiana $6.3K Massachusetts $6.4K Maryland $7.2K Maine $5.8K Michigan $5.8K Minnesota $5.8K Missouri $5.9K Mississippi $5.7K Montana $6.1K North Carolina $6.3K North Dakota $5.8K Nebraska $5.7K New Hampshire $6.4K New Jersey $7.1K New Mexico $6.0K Nevada $7.2K New York $6.7K Ohio $5.7K Oklahoma $6.2K Oregon $6.3K Pennsylvania $6.0K Rhode Island $6.4K South Carolina $6.4K South Dakota $5.7K Tennessee $6.2K Texas $7.0K Utah $6.3K Virginia $7.0K Vermont $5.8K Washington $6.8K Wisconsin $5.2K West Virginia $5.5K Wyoming $6.3K National Average $6.5K

Alaska is in second place at $7,683, a trend often linked to higher prices and fewer local retail banking options. Hawaii ranks third at $7,330. Coastal states like California, New Jersey, and Maryland also show above-average balances, consistent with higher incomes but also higher spending.

States with the Lowest Balances

Wisconsin posts the lowest average balance at $5,206, well below the U.S. average. Iowa and West Virginia follow with balances under $5,500, reflecting more conservative credit usage in these regions.

Many low-debt states also report strong payment behavior, with higher percentages of consumers maintaining positive standing on revolving accounts.

Credit Lines and Consumer Activity

Higher-balance states generally have higher credit lines, such as D.C. at over $34,000 per consumer. Conversely, states with lower average balances often have tighter credit availability, such as Mississippi at just over $19,000.

Despite the variation, more than 80% of consumers in nearly all states have active revolving accounts, showing how widespread credit card use remains.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: The Cities Americans Are Moving To on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 23:00

U.S. Military Readiness Is Under Threat By Doctor Shortages

U.S. Military Readiness Is Under Threat By Doctor Shortages

Authored by Jeff Morris via RealClearDefense,

According to the Association of the U.S. Army, the crisis of doctor shortages has been increasing for years, which negatively affects military readiness. Their own report cited the inability of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to recruit and retain enough doctors. As the number of military physicians has consistently decreased, the armed services have been forced to close some hospitals, to lower other hospitals to clinic status, and to use nurses and technicians as "physician extenders.”

More recently, leading U.S. physicians have spoken out about the largest healthcare monopoly in the country that we have ever seen, which also involves our medical residency programs. This too affects military readiness.

A renowned doctor recently wrote an OpEd in the Wall Street Journal scratching the surface on this crisis. He described how the private American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) acts like a regulator, hamstringing physicians with endless fees, paperwork, and testing.

Not only doctors are sounding the alarm. Adam Candeub, leading antitrust attorney and current General Counsel to the FCC, stated in his white paper titled The American Board of Medical Specialties: Certification and The Need for Antitrust Enforcement, that “board certification serves as medicine’s gatekeeper.” He went on to say that “competition among organizations providing these certification services drives innovation and lowers healthcare costs. The domination of the American Board of Medical Specialists (ABMS) over certification is dramatically raising certification costs and indirectly accreditation costs throughout medicine, decreasing access to physicians, increasing already exploding medical budgets, and reducing healthcare innovation.”

The urgent issue is this self proclaimed “Gold Standard and Gatekeeper” has created the largest monopoly in physician care that we’ve ever seen. All the while contributing to our current and growing physician shortages. It is important to note that testing is a key component that ensures physicians meet the very standards needed for higher quality care for all Americans. 

The ABMS has long been working with the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to corner the market on physician board certification. Their collusive relationship, which began when ABMS co-founded the ACGME, can be considered one of the root causes of physician shortages throughout the country, the military, and within key specialties. The impact can be seen in every aspect of our health care system, greatly contributing to shortages in specialties within primary care, especially access to much-needed specialties for 21st-century medicine throughout rural America. These include emergency and integrative medicine as well as family medicine obstetrics.

In March, the Republican leadership of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel launched a probe into the nation’s medical residency system. The ACGME was one of the organizations asked to provide documents to the Committee along with the AMA and major universities. U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), said “for years, resident wages have remained stagnant while doctor shortages have increased, which harms medical students and hospital patients, and forces us to rely on foreign talent to fill the gap.”

With the Trump Administration’s mandate to end bureaucracies and monopolies within our healthcare system, Congress and HHS need to act now. The collusive activities of the ABMS and the ACGME have suppressed innovation and restricted access across the country. In addition, their bureaucratic control has gone beyond that of federal agencies such as HHS, as they now hold the Defense Health Agency under regulatory capture. This resulted in limiting our military’s ability to access much needed physician care. This drastically impacts not just military personnel, but global readiness. 

Many have spoken on the impact on maternal care, as pregnant servicewomen and military spouses often have to travel hours away or even back to mainland U.S. for months at a time to have their baby alone.

Now more than ever we need Congress and HHS to investigate the root causes of doctor shortages which in turn helps strengthen our military. 

Jeff Morris, JD is CEO of American Board of Physician Specialties.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 22:35

Joe Kent Sounds Alarm: Biden's Border Invasion Flooded Nation With 18,000 Known And Suspected Terrorists

Joe Kent Sounds Alarm: Biden's Border Invasion Flooded Nation With 18,000 Known And Suspected Terrorists

In the wake of last month's shooting of two National Guard service members just blocks from the White House by a radicalized Afghan national who entered the U.S. under the Biden-Harris regime, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent warned the House Homeland Security Committee that the Homeland faces an elevated terrorism risk tied to years of nation-killing open border policies.

On Thursday, Kent testified that the NCTC has identified 18,000 "known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country."

He continued, "These are individuals who, under normal circumstances, would never be allowed to enter our country because of their ties to jihadi groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. Yet, the Biden administration not only let them into the country, but in many cases facilitated their entry into the country."

Kent's testimony and exchanges with members of Congress provided a glimpse into what some of the deepest national security circles in Washington are clearly thinking, informed by their intelligence sources both overseas and domestically.

Kent called Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 under Biden and shot the soldiers in D.C., killing one, "the Afghan terrorist."

"The individual terrorist who committed the attack in D.C. was vetted to serve as a soldier in Afghanistan. The Biden administration essentially used his tactical-level vetting, and we are seeing the tragic results of that now," he said, adding, "That Afghan attacker is just one of 88,000. We've identified 2,000 who have ties to terrorist organizations."

One of the few other individuals in the public domain who has warned repeatedly, sometimes in a sensational way, is former CIA targeting officer Sarah Adams. She has warned about al-Qaeda sleeper cells.

More recently, Adams warned, "It's past time @DHSgov stops playing pretend and finally raises the terrorism threat level in this country. We have more than 10,000 Islamist terrorists on our soil, and they cannot keep looking the other way. They don't get to pad their stats by slapping the terrorist label on everyday criminals while ignoring the actual extremists already here. This is dereliction, full stop."

That may be the real reason the Trump administration has deployed National Guard troops in several major cities. There is clearly much the public is not being told, and the threat cannot be dismissed, given that the previous administration intentionally collapsed the nation's border and allowed for an invasion. Kent's comments reinforce the urgency in national security circles to address incoming threats to the Homeland. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 22:10

Gaza Tent Cities Under Water Amid Deadly 'Catastrophic' Storm

Gaza Tent Cities Under Water Amid Deadly 'Catastrophic' Storm

Via Middle East Eye

At least 11 Palestinians have died in storm-hit Gaza from cold and collapsing buildings within the last 24 hours. Two children - nine-year-old Hadeel Hamdan and an infant, Taim Khawaja - died from cold in Gaza City on Friday, according to medical sources.

Another child, eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar, died in Khan Younis on Thursday after rainwater leaked into her family’s tent during overnight storms. Five people were killed when a damaged house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, collapsed under floods and strong winds. Several others were injured.

Via AP/Al Jazeera

Two more deaths occurred when a wall collapsed on tents of displaced Palestinians in the al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City. One further death from a crumbling wall was reported in al-Shati refugee camp, north Gaza.

Overall, at least 13 buildings - already partly damaged from Israeli bombing - collapsed due to heavy rain and strong winds, according to the Gaza-based Government Media Office. Some people remain trapped under the rubble, with others wounded.

Meanwhile, over 27,000 tents of displaced families have been destroyed or swept away by floods and strong winds. More than 250,000 displaced people have been affected by rain, floods, and collapsing shelters.

Over 4,300 distress calls have been made across the Gaza Strip since the storm began earlier this week, the Ministry of Interior and National Security said. Despite limited resources, the ministry said search-and-rescue civil defense teams, along with police, are doing their best to help people.

Storm Byron hit Palestine and Israel earlier this week and is expected to continue into Friday. Its impact has been devastating in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 1.5 million people live in tents, while most of the remaining 700,000 reside in partially destroyed buildings.

After two years of relentless bombing that damaged or destroyed around 92 percent of all residential buildings, Israel has blocked the entry of tents and mobile homes into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

The move violates the terms of the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which stipulated that Israel must allow 300,000 tents and mobile homes into Gaza.

Ahead of the storm, humanitarian workers and health officials warned of "catastrophic consequences" for displaced people if shelters are not allowed into Gaza.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 20:55

UBS Outlines Three Reasons For Sober Revolution Crushing Spirits Market

UBS Outlines Three Reasons For Sober Revolution Crushing Spirits Market

There are just thirteen days until Christmas. Friends and family are gathering; eggnog, spiked with bourbon, dark or spiced rum, or cognac, is flowing, and Christmas music fills homes, restaurants, and bars, blaring from speakers tuned to holiday playlists.

But this Christmas season, like the last few, the spirits market in North America is extraordinarily weak and, according to UBS analysts led by Zuzanna Pusz, unlikely to rebound in 2026.

Pusz outlined three main drivers behind these structural headwinds: generational shifts as Gen Z drinks less and adopts healthy habits; substitution from GLP-1 drugs and legalized cannabis, including Delta-9 THC beverages; and severe wholesaler overstocking that has left the industry flooded with inventory, the worst seen in years.

As the analyst explained:

Three key reasons for continued weakness of US Spirits
The expert discussed several factors behind the continued US Spirits challenges, which in his view are: (1) a generational shift, with Gen Z moving away from alcohol and adopting different drinking habits compared to previous generations (e.g., the "1:1 rule," i.e. alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks all night); (2) the impact of GLP-1 usage and cannabis legalisation, including the rise of Delta-9 THC drinks; and (3) the persistent issue of overstocking, driven by wholesale commitments, which prevents normalisation even as consumer demand softens (e.g., the holiday season so far is said to have been disappointing, with current inventory levels among the worst seen in years).

Apparently, there's no bottom in sight for the spirits market:

US Spirits market unlikely to see a material improvement
As part of last week's 4th US Luxury Field Trip (see more), we held our regular meeting with an experienced industry consultant to gain insights into the dynamics of the US Spirits market, which is relevant for LVMH (Buy, W&S ~7% of EBIT and the US ~34% of divisional sales). Similarly to the past three years, during which the expert was rightly significantly more cautious on a potential rebound in the market, the meeting reiterated the uncertain growth outlook for 2026. Looking beyond, the expert stressed increasing evidence that in the mid to long term the US Spirits market may not return to historical levels of +MSD growth and instead stabilize at +LSD. That said, he sounded more positive on the cognac category, which in his view seems to have bottomed out, with trends expected to improve from here and the category likely being flattish in the US next year, which we believe would be positive for LVMH's Hennessy.

However, the outlook for cognac shows stabilization:

Cognac likely to hit bottom in 2025
Despite the overall cautious outlook for the US spirits market in 2026, the expert's tone on cognac sounded the most positive in years. In his view, the category is finally bottoming out as cognac begins to attract new customers, thus addressing one of the industry's biggest challenges, i.e., its inability to "speak" to younger generations. This is why he expects performance to be broadly flat in 2026, compared to the wider spirits market still trending down low single digits. For LVMH specifically, the speaker highlighted an interesting collaboration with Bad Bunny aimed at recruiting new consumers and expressed admiration for the strong performance of LVMH's champagne despite challenging category conditions (UBS +1.5% organic sales growth for W&S in 2026).

As we have outlined this year, a sober revolution has swept the country:

The industry is roiled:

From boozing during the pandemic to today’s sober revolution, the pendulum has swung sharply in the opposite direction in the era of MAHA.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 20:30

This Elderly Man Gave Away His Gold After Fake US Marshal Called. He Isn't The Only One.

This Elderly Man Gave Away His Gold After Fake US Marshal Called. He Isn't The Only One.

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

SHOW LOW, Ariz.—The coin shop owner had seen his share of hefty deals, but this call caught him off guard. An elderly man from nearby Snowflake, Arizona, wanted to purchase gold coins valued in the tens of thousands.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

The next day, when the man walked into the shop in Show Low, his nervousness was obvious. The man was clutching his phone, hanging onto every word from a woman’s voice that seemed to be directing him.

“Before we sat down and talked about price or product or anything, he had a $180,000 cashier’s check already made out,” the shop owner, who requested to remain anonymous, told The Epoch Times. “I thought it was kind of strange.”

The man stumbled over basic questions, anxious to speed through the sale.

The shop owner’s unease grew—was this elderly customer being manipulated by a scammer?

Taking care not to alert the woman on the line, he discreetly slipped the man a note asking if he needed help. Certain now that something was amiss, he reached out to the police.

The FBI and other agencies quickly took on the case. Two weeks later, they arrested a suspect and uncovered a complex scheme that had already stolen $100,000 in gold coins from the 79-year-old man.

This was far from an isolated case. Since May 2023, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center has reported a surge in these scams. In September, an FBI warning estimated that losses from the scams now total more than $186 million.

Known as the “Gold Bar” government impersonation scam, the scheme draws in unsuspecting elderly, retirement age, and vulnerable people.

The scam often begins with people pretending to be U.S. government workers or law enforcement officers, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. In January, local media said an 89-year-old woman from Sylvania, Ohio, lost more than $1 million in a similar scheme.

A letter in the mail, an email, or a phone call informs the victim their identity has been stolen and their bank or investment accounts are in danger.

Then, the victim may be told the agency can protect their money for a short time if they act fast.

The scammers then convince the person to buy gold, silver, or other valuable metals and arrange for a courier to pick them up, claiming it will keep them safe from theft.

Scammers warn victims not to talk to their bank or anyone else about what is happening and are threatened with legal trouble if they do.

A single scheme might utilize several scammers to manipulate a victim; each playing a different role, such as an employee at a tech company,a bank representative, or a government worker.

In some cases, such as that involving the man from Snowflake, victims may be asked for funds to avoid criminal charges or prove good faith.

“Basically, this is a very common scam,” as cunning as it is cruel, Snowflake-Taylor Police Detective Amity Toth, a lead investigator in the case, told The Epoch Times.

Toth said victims often go along with the scam out of fear of arrest on a false accusation or because they lack knowledge of the law.

Detective Amity Toth, the Snowflake–Taylor Police Department’s lead investigator in a nearly $300,000 gold-bar scam, in Snowflake, Ariz., on Dec. 1, 2025. Toth believes the best way to stop such scams is to give people the information they need to recognize them. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times ‘Significant National Problem’

In this case, the man from Snowflake told investigators a woman with a foreign accent called him in October, identifying herself as Holly O’Brien, a U.S. Marshal.

She told him that someone had stolen his identity and used it to rent a car, which was later left in El Paso, Texas.

The caller then claimed police had found illegal drugs and blood in the driver’s seat of the car. She warned the man that he would be charged with a crime unless he could prove his identity by sharing details about his possessions.

He did as she asked. He then agreed to hand over $100,000 in gold coins from his private collection to a courier on Oct. 27.

But the scammer wasn’t yet satisfied, Toth said.

The man was instructed to withdraw $180,000 from his bank and buy more gold coins, all to be picked up by a courier on Nov. 14.

“I think that they would have stopped at nothing. They would have ruined him,“ Toth said. ”They would have found some other way to continue” to extort money from the victim.

The scams are “a significant national problem,” said Toth, who has been investigating fraud cases for more than a decade.

Cash-for-gold scammers often choose their victims at random, she said.

“They cast a wide net. Basically, this is just a cold call situation,” Toth said. “They create a sense of urgency.”

“Most people hang up or don’t answer, but one out of a thousand people believes them,” she said.

Just as in the Show Low case, victims are told to turn their assets into cash or buy gold, silver, or other valuable metals for safe keeping.

“Unfortunately, victims never hear from the scammers again and end up losing all their money,” the Ohio Department of Commerce said.

An older man speaks on the phone at home, in this file photo. Since May 2023, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has reported a surge in “gold bar government-impersonation Brought to Justice

At least four people have been convicted for similar crimes this year.

In June, an Indian national living in the United States on a student visa pleaded guilty in a case in which elderly victims lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

Dhruv Rajeshbhai Mangukiya, 21, was sentenced in a federal court in Austin to more than eight years in prison, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was ordered to pay more than $2.5 million in restitution.

Kishan Rajeshkumar Patel, 20, conspired with Mangukiya and others in the multi-million dollar 2024 scheme, according to the Department of Justice. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

The group sent fake online messages and impersonated U.S. government officials, while Patel collected cash and gold from victims, passed some to others in the group, and kept some for himself.

In November, two Southern California men pleaded guilty to scamming a Carlsbad, California, woman out of almost $1.5 million over a period of months.

The men, Xilin Sun, 35, and Alexander Charles James, 21, posed as government, bank, and tech support personnel, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

The scheme started with a pop-up message warning the victim her computer had been hacked.

The men then convinced the victim that she could safeguard funds by sending them to a supposed U.S. Treasury locker. A sting operation cut short the final payment of $100,000 in gold bars, and led to the arrest of the fraudsters.

In their plea agreements, Sun and James admitted to participating in an organization that operated technical support, bank impersonation, and government impersonation scams targeting victims across the United States, according to the release. They will be sentenced in February 2026.

In this photo illustration, gold coins are displayed at Witter Coins in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Capitalizing on Fear

Toth said that in the Show Low case, the scam caller, who identified herself as a U.S. Marshal, used an official tone and made the victim fearful and anxious.

She persuaded him to give her important details, including his name, date of birth, Social Security number, and a list of his financial assets.

“I sat with the victim multiple times when he was on the phone with her,” Toth said. “She would talk to him, and it was pretty noisy in the background. So, my assumption is that she works at a call center. The likelihood of the call center being in the United States is slim to none.”

Toth said the owner of the Show Low coin shop was able to delay the second installment of gold coins for two weeks. This gave authorities extra time to gather evidence and prepare to catch the courier who was expected to pick up the gold coins.

On Nov. 14, authorities in Navajo County arrested Ankit Sahoo, 27, of New Jersey, near the victim’s home in Snowflake, as he tried to leave in an SUV. Sahoo tried to flee the scene and was arrested before the victim could deliver the payment in 43 Australian one ounce gold coins.

Investigators found that Sahoo was in the country on an expired student visa from India and had been flown from St. Louis to Phoenix to collect the money.

“He flew in that night. He rented the car just after midnight that day and was supposed to return the vehicle that night. I’m sure he was going to be flying back to wherever it was” he was from, Toth said.

Sahoo is being held on $400,000 bond; he pleaded not guilty on Dec. 4. The Epoch Times contacted Sahoo’s attorney for comment but did not receive a response.

But the victim’s $100,000 in gold coins is gone for good, Toth said.

“They’re extorting people in different ways. They don’t use receipt numbers. These are hand-to-hand transactions, so it’s almost impossible to trace,” she said.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 20:05

What The Top 1% Richest Americans Pay In Taxes Across The US

What The Top 1% Richest Americans Pay In Taxes Across The US

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, uses IRS data from 2022 analyzed by SmartAsset to show how much the richest people contribute to income tax revenue.

Where the Top 1% Pay the Largest Share of Taxes

The table below includes each state’s share of income taxes paid by the top 1% and the total amount of income tax they paid.

Wyoming leads the nation, with the top 1% paying 54.67% of all state income taxes.

Florida and Nevada follow closely, both surpassing the 50% threshold.

These states attract high-income individuals in part due to tax-friendly policies and large concentrations of wealthy households.

Rank State Income taxes paid by top 1% Total income tax paid by 1% (thousands of dollars) 1 Wyoming 54.67% $2,460,940 2 Florida 53.62% $96,264,565 3 Nevada 51.12% $11,010,104 4 New York 46.26% $79,488,609 5 Texas 44.52% $81,990,700 6 Connecticut 43.85% $16,284,881 7 Montana 42.92% $2,690,156 8 Arkansas 42.22% $4,814,153 9 Utah 41.16% $7,477,634 10 Tennessee 41.04% $14,547,566 11 South Dakota 40.46% $2,020,508 12 Louisiana 38.72% $6,806,423 13 California 38.60% $122,452,981 14 Illinois 38.39% $32,677,874 15 Georgia 38.31% $21,001,340 16 Mississippi 38.29% $3,297,109 17 Idaho 38.20% $3,392,957 18 Massachusetts 38.19% $26,646,912 19 Arizona 38.00% $14,438,918 20 Oklahoma 37.80% $5,622,529 21 Missouri 37.16% $10,481,163 22 South Carolina 37.05% $8,867,845 23 Nebraska 37.03% $3,704,671 24 Alabama 36.15% $6,778,809 25 Kansas 35.79% $5,066,051 26 Wisconsin 35.54% $11,024,109 27 Indiana 35.52% $10,518,818 28 New Hampshire 35.41% $3,946,877 29 North Carolina 35.28% $19,037,365 30 Pennsylvania 35.09% $26,128,752 31 Michigan 35.01% $16,650,121 32 Ohio 34.60% $18,842,538 33 Colorado 34.51% $14,894,687 34 North Dakota 34.41% $1,521,767 35 Kentucky 34.26% $5,451,182 36 New Jersey 33.78% $26,899,308 37 Rhode Island 33.58% $2,150,700 38 Hawaii 33.57% $2,455,554 39 Iowa 33.16% $4,813,252 40 Virginia 32.94% $19,239,261 41 Minnesota 32.64% $11,524,941 42 New Mexico 32.30% $2,380,544 43 Washington 32.06% $20,012,467 44 Vermont 32.04% $1,078,255 45 Maine 30.48% $1,976,671 46 Maryland 30.45% $12,675,749 47 Delaware 30.38% $1,647,326 48 Oregon 30.37% $6,773,041 49 West Virginia 30.28% $1,647,747 50 Alaska 26.37% $1,016,945 High-Population States with High-Dollar Contributions

In states like California, Texas, and New York, the share of taxes paid by the top 1% ranges from 39% to 46%, but the dollar amounts are higher due to population scale.

California’s top earners alone account for more than $122 billion in income taxes, the largest total contribution of any state.

High adjusted gross incomes—often above $2 million—mean that even moderate tax-share percentages translate into substantial revenue.

States with More Evenly Distributed Tax Burdens

States further down the ranking, such as Oklahoma, Arizona, and Idaho, still see the top 1% paying about 38% of income taxes.

Alaska sits at the bottom, with top earners paying 26%.

Across nearly every state, the top 1% shoulder between one-third and one-half of total income taxes.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Mean vs. Median: Visualizing Net Worth in the U.S. by Age Group on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/12/2025 - 19:40

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