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What Is Unaffordable?

What Is Unaffordable?

Authored by Richard Lyons via American Greatness,

The new Democrat Party’s appeal to the public these days is that the failure of a free enterprise system has made America unaffordable and that all Americans need government help! This sort of emergency plea to the public has been made before.

In order to make housing more affordable in the early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie Mac, US government mortgage guarantor companies, began pressuring mortgage lenders to widen their rules for mortgage lending, even to include NINJA loans—No Income, No Job, No Problem—for purchasing real estate properties; then Fannie and Freddie married that expansion with marketing Adjustable Rate Mortgages, which would float according to Federal Reserve rates.

The outcome was the real estate and stock market crash of 2008. Since then, between 2009 and 2016, the fed rate was kept arbitrarily low at .75%, which inflated real estate prices; from 2020 to 2022, the fed rate was pushed down again to .25%, with the result of further increasing the average home price from $220,900 in 2010 to $420,000 in 2024. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has pushed up interest rates to 5.5%, so the average American has to pay more and borrow at higher rates for real estate, thanks to the government’s interventions to make housing more affordable.

During the Obama presidency, there was a grand push to make a university education more affordable; that is when the whole student loan industry was taken over by the federal government. In 2010, the total US student loan debt was $772 billion; today, the total debt is $1.750 trillion.

The average student graduating today carries $30,000.00 in debt. The average price of a university education has risen from $20,000 in 2010 to $31,000 per year today, or 59% higher since the Democrat Party took over the US university financing system. The average college education costs $120,000 these days; that does not sound affordable. It sounds like every single student needs a loan…

In the mid-1960s, the Democrat Party dominated Washington, D.C., and as part of the Great Society, decided to make healthcare (you got it!) more affordable.

With that, Medicare was created at an initial cost of $3 billion in 1967. Since 1967, the cost of Medicare has increased 370X, to an annual cost to the taxpayers of $1.12 trillion per year. Medicaid began as a $1 billion program and has since increased to $909 billion per year today. Even with this government control and expenditure, the average cost per capita is $13,432 per year, compared to the average cost per capita of other developed nations of $7,393. Aren’t costs supposed to go down or remain stable when the government creates affordability?

Even with the government’s control and expenditure, by 2010, healthcare in America was still deemed “unaffordable” to the Democrat Party. In answer to the problem, the Obama administration created the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014. In 2013, the average consumer paid $232 for their monthly premium, with an average deductible of $2,425. Today, that same consumer must pay $621/month or $7,452/year while having $6,000 in deductibles. Premiums and deductibles are expected to increase by 25% again in 2026. The Affordable Care Act is becoming more unaffordable by the day.

In 2020, the Biden administration decided the Earth could not afford the use of fossil fuels any longer, so it began an all-out effort to strangle the fossil fuel industry through regulations and executive orders that made land leases and drilling unaffordable, giving rise to a 38% inflation spike in the costs of energy products.

Inflating the costs of energy affects literally everything in an economy that is produced, warehoused, or delivered: think of the factories and machines that do the manufacturing, the warehouse heating or cooling needed to store product, and the ships, trains, and trucks needed to get product to the stores, then what about the light, heat, and refrigeration… Strangling the energy sector of an economy creates a gusher of inflation affecting every single product from fruits and vegetables to meats and dairy. During Biden’s administration, inflation rose 20%.

An inflation rate of 20% also means that every person who had put away savings of $100,000 by 2020 was worth $80,000 by 2024.

Midway through Biden’s term, the administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which pushed trillions of dollars into green energy “investments” and expansions of healthcare payouts, none of which helped to reduce inflation.

It turned out to be just another Democrat act that neither the taxpayer nor the consumer could afford.

Now we have the new mayor of New York, claiming that socialist policies will make life more “affordable” by taking over rental properties, grocery stores, transportation lines, and utility companies.

The fact is, the Democrats create our nation’s unaffordability problems by advancing (quasi-socialist) government control of energy, healthcare, education, finance, and housing sectors. And then Democrats propose to solve the problems their policies create with the solution of the government taking the same sectors over entirely through socialism.

What has proven to be unaffordable for over half a century in this country is pseudo-socialism. Apparently, the Democrat Party believes in the aspiration of advancement through failure. We, as voters, need to let the Democrats know we understand and reject their policy failures.

What is no longer affordable are Democrat policies that pervert the virtuous American free enterprise system, which has been the cornerstone of this nation’s prosperity since its founding.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 11:40

Bessent Set To Pull The Plug On Federal Benefits For Illegal Aliens

Bessent Set To Pull The Plug On Federal Benefits For Illegal Aliens

Under President Trump's direction, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is "working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens." 

"Treasury announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver’s Match Credit," Bessent wrote late afternoon on Friday. 

Bessent's move to cut federal benefits to illegal aliens comes hours after President Trump's lengthy X post that describes a national crisis driven by nation-killing open borders. Trump claims there are 53 million foreign-born residents, many of whom supposedly rely heavily on welfare and contribute to rising social dysfunction such as crime, school failures, hospital strain, housing shortages, and deficits. 

"A migrant earning $30,000 with a green card will get roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family. The real migrant population is much higher. This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.)," the president said. 

The failures of the Democratic Party are piling up, and the consequences are growing, spanning fraud, terrorism, and rising public outrage:

Don’t stop at cutting off funding to illegal aliens. It’s time for Bessent’s team to go after the dark-money billionaire-funded NGOs and leftist activist groups that helped facilitate the nation-killing migrant invasion. 

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Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 11:05

Europe's New Thought-Policing 'Chat Control' Legislation Nudges Forward

Europe's New Thought-Policing 'Chat Control' Legislation Nudges Forward

Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com,

Representatives of European Union member states reached an agreement on Wednesday in the Council of the EU to move forward with the controversial “Chat Control” child sexual abuse regulation, which paves the way for new rules targeting abusive child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on messaging apps and other online services.

“Every year, millions of files are shared that depict the sexual abuse of children… This is completely unacceptable. Therefore, I’m glad that the member states have finally agreed on a way forward that includes a number of obligations for providers of communication services,” said Danish Minister for Justice, Peter Hummelgaard.

The deal, which follows years of division and deadlock among member states and privacy groups, allows the legislative file to move into final talks with the European Parliament on when and how platforms can be required to scan user content for suspected child sexual abuse and grooming.

The existing CSAM framework is set to expire on April 3, 2026, and is on track to be replaced by the new legislation, pending detailed negotiations with European Parliament lawmakers.

EU Chat Control laws: What’s in and what’s out

The EU’s efforts to make scanning of private messages compulsory suffered a setback earlier this month, when mandated client-side scanning was removed from the latest proposal draft. Wording was also added to ensure that providers were not unduly burdened with detection obligations:

“Nothing in this Regulation should be understood as imposing any detection obligations on providers.”

In its latest draft, the EU Council keeps the core CSAM framework intact, but service providers would also have to cooperate with a newly established EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse to support the implementation of the regulation.

While the latest EU Council text removes the explicit obligation of mandatory scanning of all private messages, the legal basis for “voluntary” CSAM detection is extended indefinitely.

A compromise that satisfies neither side

To end the Chat Control stalemate, a team of Danish negotiators in the Council had worked to remove the most contentious element: the blanket mandatory scanning requirement. Under previous provisions, end-to-end encrypted services like Signal and WhatsApp would have been required to systematically search users’ messages for illegal material.

Still, it’s a compromise that leaves both sides feeling shortchanged. Law enforcement officials warn that abusive content will still lurk in the corners of fully encrypted services, while digital rights groups argue that the deal still clears the way for broader monitoring of private communications and for mass surveillance, according to a Thursday Politico report.

Lead negotiator and chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament, Javier Zarzalejos, urged both the Council and the Parliament to enter negotiations immediately. He stressed the importance of establishing a legislative framework to prevent and combat child sexual abuse online, while respecting encryption.

Source: Javier Zarzalejosj

“I am committed to work with all political groups, the Commission, and member states in the Council in the coming months in order to agree on a legally sound and balanced legislative text that contributes to effectively prevent and combating child sexual abuse online,” he said.

The Council celebrated the latest efforts to protect children from sexual abuse online; however, former Dutch Member of Parliament Rob Roos lambasted the Council for acting similarly to the “East German era, stripping 450 million EU citizens of their right to privacy.” He warned that Brussels was acting “behind closed doors,” and that “Europe risks sliding into digital authoritarianism.”

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov pointed out that EU officials were exempt from having their messages monitored. He commented in a post on X, “The EU weaponizes people’s strong emotions about child protection to push mass surveillance and censorship. Their surveillance law proposals conveniently exempted EU officials from having their own messages scanned.”

Privacy on trial in broader global crackdown

The latest movement on Chat Control lands in the middle of a broader global crackdown on privacy tools. European regulators and law‑enforcement agencies have pushed high‑profile cases against crypto privacy projects like Tornado Cash, while US authorities have targeted developers linked to Samurai Wallet over alleged money‑laundering and sanctions violations, putting privacy‑preserving software into the crosshairs.

In response, Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin doubled down on the right to privacy as a core value. He donated 128 ETH each (about $760,000) to decentralized messaging projects Session and SimpleX Chat, arguing their importance in “preserving our digital privacy.”

Session president Alexander Linton told Cointelegraph that regulatory and technical developments are “threatening the future of private messaging,” while co-founder Chris McCabe said the challenge was now about raising global awareness.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 10:30

Ukraine Releases Footage Of Kamikaze Drone Boats Striking Russian Shadow-Fleet Tankers

Ukraine Releases Footage Of Kamikaze Drone Boats Striking Russian Shadow-Fleet Tankers

Two Russia-linked "shadow fleet" tankers suffered sequential strikes on Friday in Turkey's Black Sea waters.

Preliminary reporting from Turkish authorities indicates both incidents resulted from external interference, consistent with a mine, drone, missile, or unmanned surface vessel.

By Saturday morning, Visegrád 24 circulated new footage from Ukraine showing explosive-laden kamikaze drone boats striking both tankers at the stern, rendering the vessels inoperable.

"Ukraine released videos of its naval drones striking two Russian shadow-fleet oil tankers off the Turkish Black Sea coast yesterday. The tankers were supposed to pick up oil in the Russian port of Novorossiysk," Visegrád 24 wrote on X, posting accompanying footage showing both attacks.

X account OSINTtechnical posted footage of tankers Kairos and Virat engulfed in fire.

According to the OpenSanctions database, both Kairos and Virat are part of the Russian shadow fleet of tankers that were slapped with hefty Western sanctions following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western allies have spent the past several years targeting Russia's oil and gas infrastructure with kamikaze aircraft and naval drones in an effort to pressure Moscow's finances. This campaign, accompanied by sanctions, has yet to financially collapse Russia.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump moved closer to outlining a fledgling peace plan to end the nearly four-year war, which has been little more than a meat grinder on both sides.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 09:55

Brussels Bends The Knee: EU Signs Off On Deep Tariff Cuts For American Goods

Brussels Bends The Knee: EU Signs Off On Deep Tariff Cuts For American Goods

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

European Union (EU) countries have endorsed sweeping tariff cuts for American farm and manufactured products, adopting negotiating mandates that move the bloc closer to eliminating all remaining duties on U.S. industrial goods and opening new preferential access for a broad range of American agricultural exports.

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on July 16, 2025. Yves Herman /Reuters

The decision by the European Council, announced on Nov. 28, clears the way for talks with the European Parliament on two regulations that implement the tariff elements of the Aug. 21 EU–U.S. Joint Statement—an accord that aims to stabilize transatlantic trade ties, reduce tensions, and rebalance two-way commerce amid lingering disputes over metals, tariffs, and digital-sector rules.

The first regulation would zero out the EU’s remaining customs duties on U.S. industrial goods and establish new tariff-rate quotas and reduced tariffs for U.S. seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products, including a host of items identified in the joint statement—tree nuts, dairy, fruits and vegetables, processed foods, soybean oil, pork, bison meat, and planting seeds.

The second regulation would extend the bloc’s five-year duty suspension on live and frozen lobster past the July 2025 expiration date—and widen the scope to include processed lobster.

EU officials described the package as a major step toward restoring “stability and predictability” to the EU–U.S. trade relationship that accounts for 30 percent of global trade and roughly $2 trillion in goods and services annually, with mutual investment totaling $5.4 trillion in 2023.

The European Council’s Friday decision to endorse the two regulations comes in response to a late-August proposal by the European Commission to slash tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and extend preferential access for American seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products as required under the Aug. 21 trade deal.

Stronger Safeguards for Sensitive EU Sectors

While largely backing the European Commission’s proposal, EU governments added new protections for vulnerable domestic producers. The Council inserted a strengthened bilateral safeguard mechanism allowing the EU to respond quickly to import surges or evidence of injury caused by the expanded market access granted to U.S. exporters.

It also clarified rules-of-origin provisions to ease implementation and called on the commission to monitor the economic effects of the trade liberalization measures, with a report due by the end of 2028.

The lobster regulation passed without changes.

With the mandates now adopted, the EU will enter trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament, aiming for a final deal possibly early next year, reflecting Washington’s push for swift implementation of the August pact after months of friction over digital rules, metals tariffs, and a series of threatened U.S. duties on trucks, critical minerals, planes, and wind turbines.

The tariff moves are part of a broader realignment mapped out in the August agreement, a document officials on both sides have described as the most ambitious reset in EU–U.S. trade ties in two decades. Under the deal, the EU committed to eliminating all tariffs on U.S. industrial goods, expanding agricultural and seafood access, and extending the 2020 lobster agreement—while the United States set a 15 percent ceiling on most tariffs applied to EU goods.

Washington also agreed to roll back “Section 232” duties on EU autos and parts once the EU introduced its legislative proposals; reduce tariff exposure for items such as aircraft, cork, and generic pharmaceuticals; and limit Section 232 tariffs on sectors including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and lumber.

The U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum—set at 50 percent—remain unchanged, though both sides have pledged to explore joint solutions to global steel overcapacity, including possible tariff-rate quotas.

The framework also extends beyond tariffs, covering digital trade, non-tariff barriers, energy supply, critical minerals, defense procurement, and standards cooperation. The EU has committed to purchase $750 billion in U.S. natural gas, oil, and nuclear products through 2028, plus at least $40 billion in U.S.-made AI chips for European computing centers. EU companies also plan to invest another $600 billion in the United States through 2028.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 09:20

Ukrainian Prosecutors Handling More Than 300,000 Desertion Cases

Ukrainian Prosecutors Handling More Than 300,000 Desertion Cases

Authored by Andrew Corbley via AntiWar.com,

A Ukrainian MP recently made an unsubstantiated claim that there were 400,000 open and ongoing cases of desertion from the Ukrainian military since the invasion by the Russian Federation in 2022. It may have been hyperbole, or they may have had a source in the judiciary.

However, the General Prosecutor’s office wrote to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November that 310,000 criminal cases related to unauthorized absence from a military unit or place of service (AWOL) and desertion are currently registered, 162,000 of which came just this year. There have been over 21,000 desertions in October 2025 alone, claims journalist and former lawmaker Ihor Lutsenko – now commander of a Ukrainian drone unit.

"This is a record. A very bad record. Every two minutes, someone runs away from our army. By the time you finish reading this post, another soldier will have put on skis. Ukraine will be weaker by one defender, and the enemy will become stronger by one," he wrote, according to the New Voice. He stressed that these are just official figures, and that the real number is only likely to be higher.

File image, via War on the Rocks

Suddenly, the widely dismissed total of 400,000 doesn’t seem impossible, and if a Ukrainian soldier downs his tools every 2 minutes, it leaves quite a lot of time for 400,000 to be reached by the end of the year.

The news comes as a 28-point plan for a lasting peace (later condensed to 19 points) in Ukraine was recently proposed by the Trump Administration in an effort to capitalize on talks with Vladimir Putin held during a summit in Alaska, and to bring the Ukrainians back to the table. Both Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have admitted that within the proposed plan points lies the framework discussed between the leaders in Anchorage without actually endorsing it. Both also acknowledged the "long pause" between the summit and the completion of this new document.

On the other hand, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Axios, that published a full version of the agreement last Thursday, that he was "optimistic" and that "we feel the Russian position is really being heard".

Military analysts skeptical of the Ukrainian army’s ability to withstand Russia for much longer have said that Russia will never agree to the US plan; they apparently include existing deal-breakers, and new demands including that Russia and Ukraine must implement tolerance and anti-racism education programs towards other nations and ethnic groups. The plan would give Ukraine a security guarantee akin to NATO membership, while also barring through constitutional amendment an attempt by Ukraine to join NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could visit Trump at the White House in the next few days "to complete final steps and make a deal," according to Ukraine’s national security chief. Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was recently in talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi.

One of the initial 28 points states that the Ukrainian armed forces must be limited to 600,000 soldiers, and Axios claimed the current strength to be 800,000, citing official sources. Ukrainian war correspondent Yuri Butusov put the number of Ukrainian war dead at 70,000 at the end of 2024 based on public notifications to next of kin. Conflicts of a similar nature to this have produced a 1-3 wounded-killed ratio, so it’s reasonable to assume some 300,000 killed and wounded since the start of the war.

If a number greater than 310,000 and lower than 400,000 have already fled, and 300,000 have become casualties, the idea that Ukraine maintains an 800,000-man army beggar's belief.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 08:10

France Launches New Military Service Plan To Counter Supposed Russian Menace

France Launches New Military Service Plan To Counter Supposed Russian Menace

Amid persistent confrontationalist rhetoric and determination to prolong the West's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced a new avenue of voluntary military service for 18- and 19-year olds with the goal of gradually bolstering both active duty and reserve strength. In a critical sweetener for would-be recruits who are wary of dying in Ukraine, those who enlist under the new program will only serve in the French mainland and French territories abroad.   

Macron announced the new voluntary service plan for 18- and 19-year-olds at the the Varces military base in the French Alps (Thomas Padilla, Pool Photo)

“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” said Macron in a speech delivered at the Varces military base in the French Alps. Under the program, the 18- and 19-year-old volunteers will receive a month of training, followed by nine months of service in a unit. After that, they'll be assigned to a reserve unit with the idea that they'd start a civilian career or take the next step in their education. The scheme will go live next summer with an initial round of 3,000 young volunteers, ramping up to 10,000 by 2030 and 50,000 a year by 2035.  France hasn't drafted soldiers since 1996, and Macron says there's no intention to restart conscription. 

When discussing the new service scheme, Macron has also stressed that he isn't creating a conveyor belt that will carry French troops into Russia's Ukraine meat grinder. “We must, in any case, immediately dispel any confusion that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,” Macron said earlier this week. “That’s not at all what this is about.”

Recruits into the new program will be assured they'll serve only in mainland France and overseas territories, unlike these French troops in Afghanistan in 2008 

The move comes as French and other European leaders are claiming Russia may be on course to attack NATO countries in the not-too-distant future. “Unfortunately, Russia today, based on the information I have access to, is preparing for a confrontation with our countries by 2030," said French army Chief of Staff Fabien Mandon last week. "It is organizing itself for this, it is preparing for this, and it is convinced that its existential enemy is NATO.” Similarly, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Tuesday wrote, "Putin eyes the EU and NATO. Our intelligence services are issuing urgent warnings: at the very least, Russia is creating the option for itself to wage war against NATO by 2029." 

“It’s good, it’s a difficult path,” Retired Gen. Jean-Paul Paloméros, a former head of the French Air Force, told AP, referring to the fact that training and equipping the new troops would require higher spending and create new demands on existing resources. “But nevertheless I think it was needed somewhere to make sure that the young generations understand that freedom and peace are not taken for granted and it doesn’t come as a free lunch.”

President Macron, pictured here in a 2018 visit to the French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, says the new troops won't be sent to Ukraine (Reuters via BBC)

The French move is part of rising militarism across NATO's European member states. Poland has started its own voluntary service program, with a goal of training 100,000 service members a year starting in 2027. Earlier this month, we covered Germany's moves toward potentially reinstating military conscription, which the country abandoned in 2011. The initial steps center on mandatory questionnaires and medical exams that will feed a database detailing each young man's fitness, aptitude and willingness to serve. 

Promoting the new French avenue of military service, Macron stoked fears that Russia is keen on marching into Paris. “The day that you send a signal of weakness to Russia — which for 10 years has made a strategic choice to become an imperial power again, that’s to say advance wherever we are weak — well, it will continue to advance,” Macron told RTL last week. As is the standard for leaders of NATO countries, Macron's rhetoric is pure gaslighting, as NATO's own empire-building set the stage for the ongoing war in Ukraine.  

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 07:50

Katy Perry Gets $2 Million After Suing Dying 85-Year-Old Veteran Over Real Estate Dispute

Katy Perry Gets $2 Million After Suing Dying 85-Year-Old Veteran Over Real Estate Dispute

Pop superstar Katy Perry has won $2 million in a protracted property battle by filing a lawsuit against 85-year-old Army veteran Carl Westcott, who is now bedridden with Huntington's disease and receiving hospice care.

Perry's legal action, detailed in court filings reviewed by the New York Post, sought more than $8 million in damages from Westcott, including $3.25 million for lost rental income during the litigation, $2.2 million for property renovations and $3 million in attorney fees. The dispute centers on an eight-bedroom estate in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where Perry and her then-boyfriend, actor Orlando Bloom, acquired the property in July 2020 for $15 million.

Perry and Bloom penned a personal note to Westcott imploring him to accept their bid.

"We're expecting a baby next month and think this home is the perfect place to welcome her," the couple wrote, according to court documents. Days after signing, Westcott, then 81 and recovering from back surgery on pain medication, attempted to rescind the deal, claiming diminished mental capacity. Westcott's condition has deteriorated sharply since, with the neurodegenerative Huntington's disease eroding his cognitive functions and confining him to bed.

His son, Court Westcott, blamed the stress of the litigation for accelerating his father's decline, saying the case has "devastated his health and spirit.” However, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge rejected that argument in 2023, ruling that Westcott failed to substantiate his incapacity.

Perry's legal team further alleged that Westcott had entertained a competing offer from Maria Shriver, the former wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Ruling in her favor, LA County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner awarded Perry $2.8 million for lost rental value and $260,000 for repair of water damage and fallen trees - but deducted $1 million from the total award because he said Perry could have invested her money elsewhere, while Westcott lost interest on the same amount. 

“The optics of a millionaire pop star demanding hefty damages from a very ill man are terrible,” PR strategist Abesi Manyando told The Telegraph. “This isn’t just a lawsuit, it’s now a David and Goliath narrative – a global superstar with wealth, legal resources and leverage versus an elderly, declining veteran who already lost his home. And that dynamic carries emotional weight.”

It is not the first time Perry has been embroiled in a high-profile legal fight involving real estate. In 2018, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, an 89-year-old nun, collapsed and died in a Los Angeles courtroom during a hearing tied to Perry’s attempted purchase of a former convent from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The nuns had opposed the sale to the singer, arguing the property belonged to their order; Holzman’s last public words before her fatal collapse were directed at Perry were, “To Katy Perry, please stop.”

Perry, a prominent Democrat supporter who performed at President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration and campaigned for Vice President and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024, has recently been linked romantically to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 21:30

Israeli Forces Accused Of Executing Unarmed Palestinians After They Surrendered

Israeli Forces Accused Of Executing Unarmed Palestinians After They Surrendered

Members of the Israeli border police have been accused of executing two unarmed Palestinian men after they surrendered in the West Bank town of Jenin.

In the incident from Thursday caught on camera, two men can be seen emerging from a doorway of what appears to be a warehouse, lifting their shirts, before they were shot dead by the Israelis. 

The IDF says that the incident is under "review" - but claims that the two men were terrorists who had attacked them earlier. After gathering their bodies, the IDF says that the men were identified as Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah, 26, and Youssef Asasa, 37, and were "wanted individuals who had carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces." 

Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

"The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours," an IDF spokesman told the Telegraph. "Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited.

"Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects. The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies."

Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

IDF chief of staff Gen Eyal Zamier has ordered an investigation into the incident, while a joint IDF and police statement claims that the pair were holed up in the building in an hours-long "surrender procedure." 

Meanwhile, IDF-operated Israeli Army Radio reported that the men were shot dead after disobeying instructions.

"When the terrorists came out, we began to carry out security checks on them," the officers allegedly said. "We did not know if they were carrying weapons or explosives.

"We began instructing them what to do for their own safety but the terrorists acted contrary to the instructions they received. At a certain point, one of the terrorists decided to enter the building contrary to the instructions, and the second terrorist followed him, so both were shot."

The Palestinian Authority has described the killings as a "deliberate Israeli war crime."

"Israeli occupation forces executed two young Palestinians in Jenin in cold blood, even after they had turned themselves in," a spokesman said. "An outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law."

Israel soldiers at the scene after the shooting. Credit...Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

Members of Israel's own media have criticized the incident - with Haaretz correspondent Nir Hasson saying "There is no universe in which this is not murder."

Haaretz itself cited an insider who said the officers opened fire after one of the Palestinians made an unexpected movement, which is clearly bullshit.

"One of them, while on the ground, tried to get up and made a suspicious movement and therefore the fighters decided to fire at him," the source said. 

Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir supported the police, saying "Lending full backing to the border police and IDF troops who shot at wanted terrorists who were coming out of a building in Jenin," adding "The troops acted precisely as is expected of them – terrorists have to die."

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 20:20

Starbucks Workers' Strike Expands To 83 Cities On Black Friday

Starbucks Workers' Strike Expands To 83 Cities On Black Friday

Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Black Friday shoppers looking forward to a pumpkin spice latte or caramel frappuccino break may be out of luck depending on where they live. A Nov. 28 Starbucks Workers United statement revealed that 2,500 Starbucks union baristas at 120 Starbucks in 85 U.S. cities joined the picket lines against the coffee superstar.

Starbucks workers walk a picket line as they go on strike outside a Starbucks store in the Brooklyn borough in New York City on Nov. 13, 2025. According to the Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the union representing the workers, more than 1,000 Starbucks workers have gone on strike at about 65 stores across the country. Union members state that Starbucks failed to make new proposals on issues like staffing and pay since the labor group rejected a company offer in April. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Known as the Red Cup Rebellion, the strike began on Nov. 13 and expanded on Nov. 20 to 65 cities.

Baristas are protesting more than 700 unresolved “unfair labor practice” (ULP) charges and are demanding a “fair first union contract.” This includes more than 200 ULP charges protesting the retaliatory firing of union baristas. In addition, the group claims Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is involved in “pervasive union busting.”

“It’s time for Brian Niccol and Starbucks executives to stop stalling and cut the excuses,” Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and barista of 15 years, said in the statement. “We need real solutions that address our basic demands and the hundreds of labor law violations that remain outstanding. The ball is in their court.”

Cities where union stores have joined the ongoing and open-ended ULP strike include Los Angeles; New York City; Seattle; Memphis, Tennessee; Ann Arbor, Michigan; St. Louis; South Salt Lake, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; Dallas; Madison, Wisconsin; and many others.

The union’s three top demands are higher take-home pay, better hours, and a resolution of hundreds of outstanding ULP charges for alleged union busting, as stated in the union’s interested parties memo earlier this month.

The memo reports that the starting wage for an average barista is $15.25 in 33 states and that many are not receiving the full hours they request.

“The average barista doesn’t make a livable wage,” the memo states. “Between low wages and insufficient hours, too many baristas are barely getting by.”

The memo also notes that many Starbucks employees are forced to rely on the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid to make ends meet.

In addition, the memo claims that the average barista works less than 20 hours per week, which is below the cut-off for health benefits. As a result, the union contends, stores are often understaffed, leading to longer customer wait times.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Starbucks for comment.

Meanwhile, Eisen shared that the 11,000 Starbucks Workers United baristas across the country are prepared to continue to push for a contract and that they are backed by thousands of allies and supporters.

As of Nov. 28, the union reported that more than 125,000 people have signed the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge to avoid buying Starbucks while baristas strike.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 19:45

"We Are Everywhere" - Fort Bragg Psychological Warfare Group Posts Chilling Video

"We Are Everywhere" - Fort Bragg Psychological Warfare Group Posts Chilling Video

Authored by Mark Price via Military.com,

A secretive Fort Bragg operation that specializes in influencing people’s thoughts has released a hypnotic recruitment video that is laced with hidden meanings and strange images.

Known as the 4th Psychological Operations-Airborne, or 4th PSYOP, the group specializes in “using the power of the mind to persuade opinion and discourse” among the nation’s enemies.

The 1:17-second clip, posted Nov. 19 on social media, is a string of baffling clips, including old cartoons, masked figures hiding in plain sight and a group of people staring blankly at the viewer over the phrase: “We are everywhere.”

“There is another force applied in combat that we generally don’t think of as a weapon of war. That weapon is words,” the video says.

“Words are weapons... This is psychological warfare.”

The video then beckons: “Join PSYOP.”

As of Nov. 26, the video has racked up more than 15,000 views on Facebook and hundreds of comments and reactions, many noting it “goes hard” with subliminal messages.

Among the surprises found, references to conspiracy theories, the “Ghost Army” that deceived the Nazi generals in WWII and the popular Pepe the Frog GIF shows up in a clown suit. At one point, the phrase “anything we touch is a weapon” flashes and fades.

“Watch it over and over again. Great little nuggets of information for us,” Nidia Law posted on Facebook.

“A lot of crumb drops in this one,” TheJason wrote on Instagram.

“I think y’all have so much fun at work! Would love to be on the other side of this ‘fog show’,” Leigh Eschew said on Instagram.

The U.S. Army noted in a 2024 article that the ideal candidate for psychological operations is “very cerebral and analytical,” which means different types of recruitment methods are required. The group’s recruitment videos are infrequent and tend to cause a stir due to the unusual content.

“The art of PSYOP relies on persuasion rather than physical force. The tools of the trade are logic, fear, desire and other mental factors used to evoke specific emotions, attitudes and behaviors,” according to a U.S. Army report. “The ultimate objective is to persuade enemy, neutral and friendly nations and forces to take favorable actions toward the U.S. and its allies.”

The 4th PSYOP is often referred to as “the ghost in the machine,” because its operations are seldom publicized.

It is based out of Fort Bragg – one of the largest military complexes in the world – and home of the 82nd Airborne and U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The fort covers about 251-square miles is about a 65-mile drive south from downtown Raleigh.

“PSYOP soldiers help ensure decision-makers, partners, and populations receive the right message at the right time. Quiet professionals. Global impact,” the 1st Special Forces Command-Airborne wrote in a post that shared the recruitment video.

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Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 18:35

Trump Moves To "Terminate" All Of Biden's Autopen'd Orders

Trump Moves To "Terminate" All Of Biden's Autopen'd Orders

Discussions about the topic of former President Biden's increasing use of autopen during his demantia-ridden term have grown louder in recent months amid whistleblowers, reports, and legal challenges.

May - Biden Autopen Use Increased As Cognitive Decline Deepened, Analysis Finds

Sep - Top Biden Aide Releases Kraken On Autopen, Hunter's Role In Pardongate, And Joe's Malfunctioning Brain

Oct - House Oversight Committee Says Biden Autopen Pardons Are Null And Void

and most recently:

Nov - Timeline: The Autopen Debate

And it appears that all of this has finally triggered President Trump into action, writing on TruthSocial that:

"Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect."

Trump went on to explain his reasoning:

"The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.

The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him.

I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.

Trump had one more threat:

"Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Finally, of course, we have absolutely no idea how any of what President Trump just wrote is legal (or constitutional), or will we just be stuck circling seven levels of appeal court hell in the American 'so-called' justice system? ...until it's all moot anyway (and Fauci is long gone).

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 15:30

Wall Street Warns Of A Deepening Oil Glut In 2026

Wall Street Warns Of A Deepening Oil Glut In 2026

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

  • Reuters’ monthly poll shows analysts expect WTI to average $59 in 2026 and Brent $62.23 amid persistent oversupply.

  • Executives warn U.S. shale will stagnate or decline if WTI stays in the $50–$60 range.

  • Goldman Sachs forecasts even lower prices and says the oil market won’t rebalance until 2027 after a final major supply wave.

Oversupplied markets will keep oil prices under pressure next year, and the U.S. benchmark will average below $60 per barrel, the monthly Reuters poll of analysts and economists showed on Friday.

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, is expected to average $59 per barrel in 2026, according to the poll of 35 analysts and economists. That’s lower compared to the $60.23 per barrel forecast in last month’s survey.

The analysts expect Brent Crude, the international benchmark, to average $62.23 per barrel next year, down from $63.15 forecast in the Reuters poll in October.

Most experts cited rising supply from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ as the key bearish factor for oil prices next year. But lingering geopolitical risks could put a floor under prices, the analysts reckon. 

At the current price of WTI oil, shale will stagnate or start to decline, industry executives say, while shale producers look to do more with less by raising efficiency in production and capital allocation.

Ryan Lance, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, said that “At $60-$65 a barrel WTI oil prices, the US is probably plateau-ish.”

“But if prices stay at $60 or go into the $50s, you probably are plateauing or slightly declining,” the executive added.  

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said that oil prices are set to further drop into next year from current levels amid a large surplus on the market, with WTI Crude expected to average $53 per barrel in 2026.  

The oil market is set to rebalance in 2027 as 2026 will see “the last big oil supply wave the market has to work through,” Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC last week. 

In the long term, supply growth will mostly come from OPEC, which has spare capacity and is investing in capacity expansion, according to Struyven.

Some modest growth could come from the U.S. shale patch, but this would require Brent at around $80 per barrel or so toward the end of the decade, according to Goldman Sachs.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 14:30

Coup-Coup Birds: The DC Blob Is Cornered

Coup-Coup Birds: The DC Blob Is Cornered

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“Literally everything the left did, every line they crossed and rule they broke, all came back to slap them in the face.”

- Insurrection Barbie on “X”

Indeed, you have a lot to be thankful for this week of humble national gratitude — for instance, the explosive new revelations as to just exactly how US elections have been rigged, and how, it now appears, Mr. Trump and his people, are prepared to go mad-dog on the sinister forces behind it.

It all unspooled this Thanksgiving week, which is always a kind of a time-out from the urgent realities of the moment. And yet, while you basted your turkey (not a good practice by the way, but that’s another matter), rumors of a mysterious coup (as in coup d’é·tat) were flying all over alt media and social media.

Something or someone (a bunch of someones) have got a very dark op underway, the rumor goes. . . fault lines are opening in the US government. . . we’re in a danger zone.

This supposedly was behind last week’s “Seditionist Six” prank, the slickly produced video arranged by Senator (former CIA official) Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and sidekick Sen. Mark (“the Astronaut”) Kelly (D-AZ) advising US military personnel about the option to disobey “illegal orders” from the command structure (that is, from President Trump on down). What illegal orders? They did not specify. . . suggesting, perhaps, orders that had not yet been issued, for an emergency as yet also unspecified.

Accept, for now, the uncomfortable fact that our country has entered a miasma of uncertainty.

That is, you don’t know what’s going on. . . but something surely is going on, and it seems sort of, I dunno, momentous. . . something with the odor and flavor of a. . .“color revolution.”

By the way, everybody’s attention got focused instantly the night before Thanksgiving when one Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan brought to to the US with the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation under Operation Allies Welcome, ambushed two National Guard troops a few blocks from the White House. Specialist Sarah M. Beckstrom, age 24, died from a head wound and Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Wolfe, age 31, remains hospitalized. There was nothing else on the TV news that night except the shooting.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, turns out, had worked for nine years as a GPS tracker specialist in Unit 03 of the Kandahar Strike Force (aka “Scorpion Forces”), initially under CIA oversight via its Special Activities Division, with some JSOC training, before transitioning to Afghan intelligence. In other words, he was not just some mook with a donkey. He had lately been taken in by a sympathetic American family in Bellingham, WA — a roughly three-thousand-mile journey to Washington DC — where he did his deed. If he flew on an airplane to get there, just how did he manage to smuggle a handgun through airport security? Or did someone, maybe, give him one on arrival in DC? Was he still, one way or another, in the employ of the CIA? I guess we’ll find out.

Now, with the nation’s attention split this week between the DC ambush story and the culinary difficulties of Thanksgiving, the election fraud story unspooled in alt media.

Surprise, surprise! Turns out to be our auld acquaintance, the Kraken? Remember that monster? Eminent DC attorney Sidney Powell, had conniptions over the Kraken in the months after the 2020 election that ushered senile (let’s just say it) “Joe Biden” into the Oval Office for four disastrous years. (After which, Sidney Powell was methodically defamed and prosecuted by mysterious forces.)

Ms. Powell threatened to “release the Kraken,” meaning: a malign combine out of Venezuela had managed to foist Dominion vote tabulation machines all over the USA, but especially in swing vote states, along with Smartmatic software. And all this janky machinery was connected by the Internet through Serbia to the CCP, or something like that. And that this machinery, plus massive voter fraud operations run by Lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, and Mary McCord, with help from Mark Zuckerberg’s $400-million Center for Tech and Civic Life org, prestidigitated millions of extra votes needed to push “Joe Biden” into the winner’s circle.

Those of you who stayed up late the November night in 2020 also probably witnessed some impressive magic tricks in the election returns — for instance, the mom-and-daughter team of Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss pulling a switcheroo in the Fulton County (Atlanta) election HQ, captured on closed-circuit TV, while vote-counting was shut down for several hours due to a “broken toilet”...

Fulton County, GA, Election HQ, Nov 3, 2020 — the Night of the Broken Toilet.

...and the wondrous vote flipperooski in Michigan...

Michigan Vote Flipperooski, Election Night, 2020

...and the panel trucks delivering bales of extra ballots in the wee hours of morning to the main Philadelphia election HQ...

...and presto-change-o, you got a senile president.

This voter fraud business is evidently a global operation, involving elections in many other countries over several election cycles, carried out by a broad network of NGOs and government agencies, such as the now dismantled USAID, which acted as a money-laundering service for all these ops. A good place to start your own research is independent reporter Emerald Robinson’s “X” account.

Mr. Trump, for one, has always been adamant that the 2020 election was a fraud, but it has taken all year, apparently, to convince White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that this is so, and now, we’re told, Mr. Trump is about to go after the perps. The hard evidence is there, rumor has it, the receipts, and that is why the Democratic Party is freaking out...

...including that “Seditionist Six” message about refusing orders from the Commander-in-Chief.

The kernel of all this (maybe paranoid, maybe not) is that the DC blob is cornered and that its only hope to escape prosecution, punishment, loss of power and perqs, and possible extinction, is to pull off a coup to bum-rush Mr. Trump out of office by main force.

Meaning, our country might be at war with itself right now. Are perp walks in the offing?

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Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 13:30

Zelensky's Closest, Most-Powerful Aide Resigns After Office Raided By Anti-Corruption Agents

Zelensky's Closest, Most-Powerful Aide Resigns After Office Raided By Anti-Corruption Agents

Zelensky's chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, has submitted his resignation - the highest level official to fall amid the massive graft probe which has brought rare international embarrassment on the Zelensky government.

As a reminder, Andrew Korybko recently opined that Yermak's removal could prompt some progress in peace talks:

He’s Zelensky’s powerbroker so his downfall could undo the already shaky alliance between the armed forces, the oligarchs, the secret police, and parliament that keeps Zelensky in power, thus pressuring him into peace, especially if his warmongering grey cardinal is no longer pushing him to keep fighting.

Earlier The Associated Post reported Friday: "Anti-corruption units have raided the home, and reportedly also the office, of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak." Zelensky now says he will hold consultations on replacing Yermak.

This is a huge and very high level development in the country's ongoing graft investigation scandal as Yermak is essentially the closest one can get to Zelensky, given the top presidential aide was made by Zelensky chief negotiator in talks with the United States. Some speculate this appointment was made precisely to protect Yermak from criminal charges.

AFP/Getty Images

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, NABU and SAP, confirmed they had officially sanctioned searches at the office of President Zelensky's top aide, again emphasizing the probe has extended all the way to the top. Could this be the beginning of the end for Zelensky himself?

The $100 million energy sector corruption scandal has already embroiled and resulted in the dismissals of several top ministers and officials.

Yermak had earlier deneid wrongdoing, and is vowing personal transparency as the investigation unfolds. "The investigators are facing no obstacles," Yermak wrote on Telegram. He said his lawyers were present for the searches, and that he's cooperating fully.

Zelensky makes the televised, 'shocking' announcement of Yermak being ousted dismissed:

It's as yet unknown and unclear precisely what Yermak is being accused of in terms a potential role in the energy kickback and graft scandal, but the growing pressure which has entered the heart of the presidential office has huge political repercussions:

Although Yermak has not been accused of any wrongdoing, several senior lawmakers in Zelenskyy's party said Yermak should take responsibility for the energy sector scandal in order to restore public trust. Some said that if Zelenskyy didn't fire him, the party could split, threatening the president's parliamentary majority. But Zelenskyy defied them.

But local critics of the anti-corruption action say this is an attempt to bring unprecedented pressure on Zelensky. Reports say that 10 NABU and SAPO officers were on premise to search Yermak's office, which is just a few dozen meters from the president’s office.

One Ukrainian lawmaker, Yaroslav Zheleznyak of the Holos party, wrote that segments of parliament stand ready to defend the anti-corruption agencies should they find anything at this highest level of government. "NABU and SAPO are conducting searches at [the home of] Andriy Yermak this morning. If anything, get ready to defend NABU/SAPO if necessary," Zheleznyak wrote.

What hard evidence involves Yermak? If there's not enough, political retaliation could follow...

As chief negotiator, Yermak has presented Zelensky's hard line on the Trump-proposed peace plan to end the war. Yermak was for example just cited in The Atlantic as saying, "No sane person would sign away territory." He has argued that the national constitution forbids it and thus Zelensky "will not" agree to territorial concessions.

And, if the Zelensky administration keeps losing public and international trust amid the massive corruption probe, which has already proven highly embarrassing, Kiev's 'firm line' on the negotiations could indeed quickly soften.

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Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 12:45

What Is Going On With The Economy?

What Is Going On With The Economy?

Authored by Ben Shapiro via The Epoch Times,

The fate of the Trump administration - and perhaps Republicans in Congress - is tethered to how Americans feel about the economy.

And right now, it’s hard to find anyone who can say with confidence what the hell is going on.

Nov. 20 offered a fresh reminder of the chaos. As The Wall Street Journal noted, “Stocks surrendered gains and closed sharply lower after a whirlwind day of trading that began after Nvidia posted strong results. The Nasdaq composite led indexes lower after being up on the day more than 2 percent. It closed 2.2 percent lower. Nvidia gave up an even bigger gain and finished the day down 3.2 percent.”

Why the reversal? Because investors suspect there is, in fact, an artificial intelligence bubble.

It’s not an unreasonable fear.

History shows that every transformative technology—from automobiles to the internet—inspires waves of speculation. The presence of a bubble doesn’t mean the technology isn’t revolutionary; it simply means that early hype tends to sweep up both the winners and the doomed. For every Henry Ford, there were dozens of forgotten carmakers. The same was true of the dot-com era: Pets.com vanished, but the internet went on to reorganize modern life.

Artificial intelligence is inspiring the same mix of excitement and dread.

Some companies may never produce the margins to justify today’s investment frenzy. OpenAI, though not publicly traded, sits at the center of countless partnerships with massive firms like Oracle and Nvidia. If it stumbles, the shock could reverberate across the market.

The numbers fueling today’s optimism are staggering. As The New York Times reported, “It would not be a stretch to describe this period of hyperactive growth in the tech industry as a historic moment. Nvidia, which makes computer chips that are essential to building artificial intelligence, said on Wednesday that its quarterly profit had jumped to nearly $32 billion, up 65 percent from a year earlier and 245 percent from the year before that. Just three weeks ago, Nvidia became the first publicly traded company to be worth $5 trillion.” That’s more than Germany’s entire economy.

But even this explosion of wealth comes with a caveat. Much of the demand for Nvidia’s chips doesn’t mean consumers want AI right now—it means companies are racing to build massive AI systems in the hope that demand will materialize later. To some insiders, it looks less like a revolution and more like a house of cards.

This is the central question: At what point will AI’s promised productivity gains begin to match the scale of the investment poured into it? Until there’s clarity, markets will continue to swing wildly—and so will public confidence.

Workers, meanwhile, face their own concerns. Even if AI succeeds, technological progress has always brought job dislocation. Old roles disappear, new industries emerge, and the economy ultimately becomes more productive. People enjoy better goods at lower costs and work fewer hours than their grandparents did. But the transition is rarely painless.

Both truths can coexist: The United States may be on the cusp of a remarkable economic transformation, and the anxiety surrounding it may be entirely justified.

For now, Americans are left watching markets fluctuate, industries reorganize, and fortunes rise and fall... all while wondering what exactly the future will bring.

And no government policy can fully soothe that uncertainty.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 12:40

Holiday Spending To Hit Record High Despite Economic Doubts In The US

Holiday Spending To Hit Record High Despite Economic Doubts In The US

While the holiday season just started with Thanksgiving this Thursday, American consumer spending for the end of the year is set to reach a record high.

As Statista's Tristan Gaudiat reports, according to data from the National Retail Federation, the average per capita budget for the 2025 winter holidays (Nov. 1 - Dec. 31) is expected to exceed $1,000, a 4 percent increase from 2024 ($976).

As the infographic shows, consumer spending during other major seasonal events was also on the rise this year, from a 2 percent increase (Mother's Day, Valentine's Day) to a 10 percent increase (Halloween), according to estimates.

Holiday Spending to Hit Record High Amid Economic Doubts in the U.S. | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Yet, those eye-catching averages hide national disparities: while affluent households are expected to splurge even more than in previous years, many lower-income families face stagnant (or even shrinking) holiday budgets, amid economic uncertainty and persistent inflation.

In its outlook published last September, the Federal Reserve maintained its forecast of a 3 percent inflation rate in the United States in 2025, signaling "ongoing caution about price pressures and labor market stability".

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 12:20

AI Gospel Ghost Tops Charts: 'Solomon Ray' Unmasked As Another Fake

AI Gospel Ghost Tops Charts: 'Solomon Ray' Unmasked As Another Fake

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A “Mississippi-made soul singer” named Solomon Ray has stormed to No. 1 on gospel charts—only to be quickly exposed as a fully AI-generated phantom, sparking outrage from Christian artists who decry the “spiritless” impostor as a crutch robbing music of divine inspiration. 

Ray’s ascent—hitting No. 1 on iTunes and Billboard gospel charts—prompted swift backlash from flesh-and-blood artists. 

Christian music artist Forrest Frank lamented, “At minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it. So I think that’s really weird to be opening up your spirit to something that has no spirit.” 

Singer-songwriter Phil Wickham echoed the peril, “It’s difficult to envision a future where we look back and think creating AI was a net positive for our world. At most it should be a tool for humans, not a replacement for them.” 

Singer Colton Dixon urged “I’m honestly still wrestling with the whole AI music thing. Can it be a tool to speed up a rather long tedious process – yes. But can it also be used as a crutch instead of finding inspiration and direction from Holy Spirit – also yes. I’m believing God will be magnified regardless.”

As we’ve previously detailed, this gospel ghost isn’t isolated, rather it is a symptom of AI’s broader sonic siege. 

Streaming service Deezer conducted a recent poll where respondents heard two AI tracks and one human made song, with a whopping 97% failing to spot the fakes.

The findings underscore how machine-made melodies are infiltrating genres like gospel, threatening to relegate authentic expression to an algorithmic afterthought.

The vast majority of respondents to the survey also said they want to see AI music clearly labelled or even prevented from appearing on streaming platforms.

CEO Alexis Lanternier noted “The survey results clearly show that people care about music and want to know if they’re listening to AI or human made tracks or not.” 

Deezer’s data reveals the AI creep. In January, one in ten daily streams was fully AI; by October, one in three—about 40,000 tracks daily. 

Ray’s phantom hit mirrors the AI country anthem “Walk My Walk” by fabricated Breaking Rust, topping Billboard’s Country Digital Sales, credited to enigmatic ‘artist’ Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, amassing 1.6 million streams.

These incursions span genres, often cloaked in anonymity, their origins as opaque as the algorithms birthing them. If unchecked, we risk a future where most music isn’t human-made.

Music, once a direct expression of human experience and skill built over years of practice, risks relegation to a series of droll Clichéd prompts.

Veterans like Randy Travis and Martina McBride have decried unauthorized AI voices, and hundreds of musicians from Billie Eilish to Stevie Wonder have urged tech curbs on human-replacing tools.

Ray’s soulful facade, AI crooning gospel hymns, strikes at a sacred core. Creative work thrives on authenticity, emotion, the slow, often messy process, rather than AI’s speed and convenience.

Replacing years of practice honing a creative skill with AI doesn’t merely threaten livelihoods; it risks diminishing what makes art matter.

We’re outsourcing culture to machines and without transparency, we are surely soon to be trapped in a world where everything seems real, but very little actually is.

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

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Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 12:00

Trump And House GOP Are Headed For A Clash Over Obamacare Subsidies

Trump And House GOP Are Headed For A Clash Over Obamacare Subsidies

Obamacare subsidies expire at the end of December, and it now looks like the big battle over their future won’t be between Democrats and the GOP, but between the White House and House Republicans.

Trump has said that while he doesn’t want to make the subsidies permanent, that "some kind of an extension may be necessary to get something else done because the unaffordable care act has been a disaster. It's a disaster."

The White House proposal caps eligibility at 700% of the federal poverty line and kills off zero-premium plans that have become a magnet for fraud. But House Speaker Mike Johnson has made it clear this idea hits a wall with the GOP. Even with these anti-fraud provisions attached, Trump's plan still pours billions into the same broken system, and does nothing to address the key problem created by Obamacare: the skyrocketing costs of subsidies.

The obvious problem here going into midterms is optics... with millions of Americans - including a ton of lower income red state residents, forced to suddenly come up with potentially thousands of dollars more per month after already adjusting to the inflationary 'new normal' thanks to the egregious overreaction to the economy-killing pandemic shutdown that never should have happened in the first place.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Johnson “cautioned the White House that most House Republicans don’t have an appetite for extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, according to people familiar with the matter, showing how hard it will be politically to stave off sharp increases in healthcare costs next year for many Americans.”

The message from Johnson, in a phone call with administration officials, came as President Trump’s advisers were drafting a healthcare plan that extended the subsidies for two years.

The warning underscores the hurdles facing any deal in coming weeks. Lawmakers have a mid-December deadline for healthcare votes promised as a condition for Democrats voting to end the government shutdown earlier this month. The enhanced subsidies expire at the end of the year, affecting more than 20 million people who benefit from the tax credits. 

While the White House and GOP leadership circle each other, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has worked out a separate solution. However, their proposal still relies on extending the subsidies.

The Bipartisan Healthcare Optimization Protection Extension (HOPE) Act extends the enhanced premium tax credit for two years. It includes a lower income cap for enrollees, about $200,000 for a family of four, and phases out for those making above that (currently the subsidy is capped based on what percent of a family’s income it spends on health care). The bill would also try to crack down on fraud.

“We don't want to see premiums skyrocket, but we probably need a deeper plan for the longer term to deal with the high cost of healthcare,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebr.). “What we're proposing is a bridge. Let's help keep people's premiums down — that's important — and it’ll give us time to work on it, maybe something better over the next year or two.”

“People are freaking out. I mean, I get phone calls from people about seeing their premiums go up by a thousand dollars a month,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat, said. “That's why we felt it was very important for us to get together as a bipartisan team to say, let's work together and let's force something to happen here that we can try and build consensus on.”

These solutions don’t solve the problem for millions who never qualified for subsidies, who will see their premiums soar regardless. Extending subsidies deepens the distortion and accelerates the problem. 

The subsidy fight puts Republicans in a tough spot. Johnson has already shown he will not bless another round of Obamacare cash, and most of the conference stands with him. Trump’s team is floating the idea of a temporary extension, and that puts the party on a collision course as January approaches. The CR runs out at the end of January, and nothing suggests the White House and House Republicans will bridge this gap before then.

Meanwhile, Democrats see an easy opening. They are unified, they want this fight, and they know the GOP’s internal split hands them the leverage they lacked during the last shutdown. Washington is drifting toward another stalemate, and the setup looks far worse for Republicans this time around. The stage is set for a January showdown that could break wide open once the subsidies expire.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 11:45

"Oh!...K"

"Oh!...K"

By Michael Every of Rabobank

As Bloomberg puts it, the latest Fed Beige Book underlined a ‘deepening K-shaped split’. The very wealthy are still spending; everyone else is struggling. That split is now evident all over. AI firms are booming; most aren’t. Moreover, a day after the Financial Times spoke of people looking for “crumbs” in parts of the US, it happily reports ‘Megadeals hit new record as Wall Street’s animal spirits roar back.’ That will please the crumb-seekers.

It’s there in budgets too. Brussels just rebuked Finland for breaching EU budget rules: if even the Scandies are naughty, as they rearm aggressively, then who isn’t? The UK saw what the Telegraph calls ‘A Budget of chaos, contradiction and falsehoods’, as the Guardian noted “Rachel Reeves targets UK’s wealthiest in £26bn tax-raising budget”, and the FT said it ”raises the UK tax take to an all-time high.” Our Stefan Koopman argues it has little aimed at boosting growth, encouraging investment, restoring confidence, or reforming the tax system, and is instead “a Survival Budget instead of a Growth Budget, crafted to appease both backbench MPs and financial markets.” Yet fiddling with CPI may be enough for a divided BOE to cut a little more.

A K-shape is evident in the Fed as well. Miran makes clear he wants to do things very differently. So does Bessent. Cook’s fate is in the balance. Powell’s Miran-esque replacement may be named in weeks. This goes beyond Fed Funds. Potentially, it’s also about US (geo)political economy.

Even the FT just had to admit global trade is also now a ‘K’. Its op-ed , ‘China is making trade impossible’, argues, “There is nothing that China wants to import, nothing it does not believe it can make better and cheaper, nothing for which it wants to rely on foreigners a single day longer than it has to.” It adds what China imports, because it must, it also intends to make soon and dominate global supply of. In short, Ricardian comparative advantage is gone; China makes ‘port’ and ‘cloth’, and China will eventually dominate all key global industries. Those who read Ricardo, Chinese history, Marxism-Leninism, and neomercantilism warned about this years ago, and how it would lead to the collapse of the (neo)liberal world order - as a US commission warns China seeks an "alternative world order.” Yet ‘because markets’ types were all ‘O’-shaped: mouths agape, intellectually in a closed loop. So, here we are.

The FT op-ed concludes the EU must embrace protectionism if it wants to retain any industry as, “Europe has nothing to offer and difficult decisions to make”. It’s already heading in that direction slowly, grudgingly, blaming Trump, and still thinking it will be able to remain a net exporter as it happens, which it likely won’t. It goes without saying that Europe is K-shaped on that key front, within lobby groups in each member state, and between them - and Brussels.

In other geoeconomics, Nikkei Asia reports ‘Japan Inc.’ is trying to reduce reliance on China; the US is negotiating a trade deal with Taiwan that could help train US workers; pro-‘free-trade’ Canada announced further limits on steel imports and promised more money for its lumber mills; the Israeli army is moving away from Chinese cars to avoid tech spying; and Trump won’t invite South Africa to the Miami G-20 - maybe that global institution is at a fork in the road too.

The ECB also has a plan ‘to boost Europe’s global influence’ - making the Euro available for those worried about access to dollars. Yet the Euro’s global role is small, commodities are priced in dollars, Russia’s pushing for barter, China for CNY-invoicing, and US stablecoins about to be unleashed: so, some worry about the ECB’s access to dollars more than others’ access to Euros.

In the political realm things are always K-shaped – but now it’s a huge capital letter. The Georgia election interference case against Trump was just dropped, as was the court case against its instigator, Letitia James, on a legal technicality; but Axios notes, ‘Supreme Court poised to reshape next 3 election cycles.’ That may matter more than what it says on tariffs ahead.

It’s not just courts: every US institution is K-shaped, even the army. The White House is floating sedition charges against six Democratic politicians, including Senator Kelly, for calling for the armed forces not to obey illegal orders --without stating which ones are-- as social media shows billboards encouraging troops to do so. It’s also floated on MSNBC that anyone helping that legal process would face Nuremberg-style charges if Republicans lose the 2028 election. That’s the backdrop to two US national guard soldiers being shot near the White House, following two assassination attempts against President Trump and the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Naturally, international relations are not OK, just ‘K’. China is demanding clarity from Japan on its one-China principle as the Wall Street Journal’s Ling Ling Wei reports following the Trump-Xi call, the White House told Japan to “lower the volume” on Taiwan, which Tokyo “found worrying.” Yet media are always K-shaped, so in no (Ling Ling) way does that mean this is gospel, just a view. Meanwhile, Taiwan pledged to boost defence spending by $40bn to “defend democracy” – and whom will it buying those arms from?

Regarding Russia-Ukraine, on one hand Moscow is pursuing a deal on its terms and called the leak of a Witkoff call with its team “hybrid warfare”: true, but it takes one to know one. Moreover, the US is reportedly demanding Kyiv signs a peace deal before it underlines the details of its security guarantees for it – talk about caveat emptor! On the other hand, Europe is trying to find a plan B for Kyiv if they can’t agree on using Moscow’s frozen state assets - which could blow up any peace deal; France and the UK are LARPing the 1950s, forgetting in 1956 the US was already showing them who did and didn’t have ‘strategic autonomy’ in the Suez Crisis; and the EU’s top diplomat, Kallas, is saying a peace deal should insist the Russian military’s size is capped – worryingly, there seems a K-shaped divergence between that idea and a nuclear-armed reality.

In the Middle East, ‘Scions of Iran’s revolution call for reset with the world’, claims the FT, as a “New generation of political elites seek overhaul of ties with west and Arab states.” Then again, there also intel reports that Iran is considering a major strike against Israel, which runs the other way.

And in Africa, Nigeria’s President has declared a security emergency and ordered the mass recruitment of police and army, having been warned by Trump about the need to protect the country’s Christian communities. So, over to a US military focus on Venezuela then? Newsweek has it that ‘Defiant Maduro rallies Venezuela for US war.’

The important point here is that the average of any K-shape looks like Ͱ rather than a letter of the alphabet: it has no meaning. In the same way, there is no useful mean to the conflating developments above, just uncomfortable up- or -down-legs. Nor is there a comfortable median to assume some kind of return to.

"Oh!...K" indeed.

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY IS HERE

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 11:20

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