Nearly 100,000 Young Men Flee Ukraine In 2 Months Following Loosened Restrictions

Media reports in Europe, including in The Telegraph and Politico, are this week documenting a new massive surge in young men fleeing Ukraine in order to not be conscripted, in which case they could be sent to front lines and face certain death.

"Almost 100,000 fighting-age Ukrainian men have left the country in the past two months after Volodymyr Zelensky eased departure rules, new figures show," The Telegraph reports.

Image source: AP

The figures are primarily based on the Polish border guard, as the neighboring EU country shares a long border with Ukraine, and has been from the start of the war absorbing refugees and trying to maintain strict counts and records.

"Poland’s border guard said 99,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 22 had crossed the frontier – the primary route out of the country – since regulations to ensure that Kyiv had enough soldiers were relaxed at the end of August," The Telegraph writes, and then reminds readers: "In comparison, the entire British Army has around 70,000 personnel."

Even after well over three years of grinding war and a huge loss of men in the fighting, there is yet no mobilization of those aged 18 to 25 in Ukraine. This fact has time and again angered American politicians, who have pressed Kiev to have standards in line with most of the rest of the world's militaries. 

At the tail end of the Biden administration, Zelensky's office had the audacity to shift blame onto the West for not getting enough weapons to the front lines, arguing that more manpower would make little difference if there's not enough weapons and ammo to go around.

"It doesn’t make sense to see calls for Ukraine to lower the mobilization age, presumably in order to draft more people, when we can see that previously announced equipment is not arriving on time. Because of these delays, Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilized soldiers," a statement said at the time.

But Zelensky's martial law program had blocked Ukrainian men aged from 18 to 60 from leaving the country. But then just this past summer this restriction was loosened. 

The major change was reported at the time as follows: "Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has revised travel rules and allowed men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram on Aug. 26."

While men aged 25 to 60 can be conscripted into the military and sent to the front lines, men 24 and under still cannot. Again, this has been hugely controversial as even US members of Congress have complained that Washington is sinking billions into the war effort against Russia, and Kiev won't even tap into its most eligible fighting-age demographic.

And so the expected drain of young men from the country is happening. The Telegraph explains Kiev's rationale as: "By granting young Ukrainians more freedoms to leave, it was hoped more would return and volunteer to fight at a later date." But unless there's the unlikely scenario of Ukraine going on the offensive and pushing back Russian lines - or else a full and final peace settlement - the trend of young men fleeing Ukraine is unlikely to be reversed anytime soon.

Tyler Durden Fri, 10/31/2025 - 02:45

France: An Islam-Friendly Mayor's Attempt To Squash A Catholic Film Backfires Badly

Via Remix News,

An attempt to ban a movie seen as in breach of France’s long-cherished separation of Church and State has turned the film into a box-office success. 

“Sacre-Coeur: Son regne n’aura pas de fin” (“Sacred Heart: His reign will have no end”) tells the story of the Sacred Heart devotion through the centuries, up until modern times. A devotion in Catholicism entails prayer, receiving communion, and making acts of reparation for sins. The Sacred Heart devotion revolves around such practices in the name of the heart of Jesus Christ, which serves as a symbol of his divine love, mercy, and compassion for humanity.

At first, the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan (Socialist Party), sought to ban any promotion of the film in spaces managed by the SNCF (French National Railway Company) and the RATP (Parisian public transport operator).

He then banned a screening of the film in a local municipal cinema — all in the name of secularism. 

The issue was that Payan has always seemed far more open to anything related to Islam. In fact, the mayor has set aside land for the building of mosques, made sure Muslim celebrations have adequate venues, and even visited high schools with Muslim Brotherhood ties, reports France Catholique, citing a report out of Frontières magazine on “mayors complicit with Islamism.” 

During Ramadan this year, he even openly stated: “Many of those who lecture Muslims […] should learn what is written in the surahs, which can enlighten us about the world.” 

The movie has particular significance to the city, as the FC portal also notes that Bishop de Belsunce consecrated Marseille to the Sacred Heart during the Great Plague of 1720, which is said to have then ended right afterward. 

Luckily, there were those who decided to push back against the mayor’s ban. Last week, the senator from Marseille, Stéphane Ravier, formerly of Le Pen’s National Rally party, filed an emergency appeal to overturn the municipal decision. Martine Vassal (The Republicans), president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department and the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan area, also came out publicly in support of the film and attended its screening that same evening. 

On the morning of the 25th, the court overturned the previous decision, with a strong message for Mayor Payant: “The mayor of Marseille has committed a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of freedom of expression, freedom of creation, and freedom of artistic dissemination.”

At the end of the day, as noted by France Catholique, Payant’s attempt to squash this Christian film backfired terribly. More than 200,000 people have now seen the film directed by Steven J. and Sabrina Gunnel since its release on Oct. 1. While the film was initially in just 155 theaters across France, this was increased to nearly 350 in its third week. 

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 10/31/2025 - 02:00

The Stage Is Set For A US-Instigated Security Dilemma Between The Eurasian Rimland & Heartland

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

US-backed NATO, Pakistan, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent” of Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines are poised to respectively face off against Russia, India, and China across this century.

The US is sending mixed signals about the Sino-Russo Entente, which was strengthened by the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline deal, after Trump said in September that he’s “not concerned” about it while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed that he ordered him to “re-establish deterrence” against them. As was argued here, “Trump 2.0’s Eurasian Balancing Act Has Failed” largely as a result of this development, which importantly involved India’s tacit approval amidst its rapprochement with China.

Far from remaining divided, principally as regards China and India with all the complications that their continued rivalry would entail for Russia’s own balancing act, Eurasia’s three most powerful civilization-states are increasingly coming together to revive their dormant Russia-India-China (RIC) format. This platform is significant on its own but it’s also crucially the core of BRICS and the SCO, which play complementary roles in gradually transforming global governance as explained here.

These RIC-accelerated multipolar processes can’t be countered through direct military force, however, but the way in which the Pentagon might try to slow everything down is through provoking arms races. NATO’s, Pakistan’s, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent’s” (Japan-Taiwan-Philippines) US-backed military buildups (partial in Pakistan’s case) could help achieve this vis-à-vis Russia, India, and China as could reinforced US military presences (or a formal return in Pakistan’s case) in each.

Likewise, the “Golden Dome”, intermediate-range missile deployments in their regions, and more militarization of outer space can place additional pressure on Russia and China to this end, though these moves could also backfire by enhancing those two’s military-technical coordination too. To be clear, Russia and China aren’t allies that would go to war for one another, but their shared military-security and strategic interests raise the chances that they’ll provide support for the other during wartime.

China has thus far eschewed sending military-technical aid to Russia due to its complex interdependence with the West, but Trump’s tariff war, his accusation that President Xi Jinping is “conspiring” against the US, and the Pentagon’s plans for the “Asian/Containment Crescent” might prompt a recalculation. In a similar spirit, Russia might become comfortable sharing cutting-edge military-technical knowledge with China to counterbalance US moves in Japan, which could extend to their shared North Korean ally too.

Although the lion’s share of Pakistan’s military-technical equipment comes from China, the US might break into this market if Chinese exports decrease due to the Sino-Indo rapprochement, which could also lead to a decrease in American exports to India and the need to replace them with exports to Pakistan. Russia might even regain its traditional role as India’s top supplier by far if exports to it spike in response to more US exports to Pakistan in a de facto revival of the region’s Old Cold War-era military dynamics.

All of these strategic dynamics set the stage for a security dilemma between the Eurasian Rimland (NATO, Pakistan, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent”) and the Eurasian Heartland (RIC) instigated by the US in order to “re-establish deterrence” vis-à-vis the Sino-Russo Entente. The purpose is to pressure one of them or their shared Indian partner into capitulating to the US so as to then more effectively divide-and-rule the supercontinent. This hegemonic plot will define Eurasia’s 21st-century geopolitics.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 23:25

US Tightens Ban On Chinese Tech Gear

Authored by Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The United States has extended its ban on Chinese electronics to cover products partly made by companies blacklisted on national security grounds.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on May 21, 2025. John McDonnell/Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is already barred from authorizing the import or sale of new equipment made by Chinese companies on its “covered list,” including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua.

On Oct. 28, the commission voted 3–0 to ban devices containing modular transmitters made by companies on the list.

The new rules will allow the FCC to block the importation, marketing, or sale of certain previously authorized devices if they are deemed a national security risk.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the rules address “loopholes that bad actors could use to threaten the security of [U.S.] networks.”

“[With the new rules, the FCC] will have a targeted process it can use to address threats posed by the ongoing sale of devices manufactured by covered list entities,” he said.

“[The new rules will allow the FCC to] prohibit not only finished or completed devices produced by a covered list entity, but also otherwise compliant devices that include certain component parts produced by those bad actors.”

The FCC will seek comment on whether the ban should be extended to cover other component parts.

Entities on the covered list are those found to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of its people, according to the commission.

The list currently includes nine Chinese telecommunication and surveillance equipment companies and two Russian entities that sell cybersecurity services.

Earlier in October, Carr announced that online retailers had removed “several million listings for covered equipment” as a result of the FCC’s crackdown on banned Chinese electronics, including Huawei smartwatches and Dahua home security cameras.

Hikvision said it opposed extending restrictions to previously approved models, arguing that the FCC is overstepping its authority.

“This order is not based on any product-specific evidence,” Hikvision said, noting that it will “impose unnecessary harm on U.S. communities and small businesses that rely on safe, compliant, and already authorized security systems.”

In March, the FCC stated that it was investigating Chinese companies on its covered list because some or all of them “may still be operating in the U.S.”

On Oct. 15, the commission said it had taken the initial step to revoke the operating authority of major Hong Kong telecom carrier HKT in the United States.

It also issued a national security notice this month reminding companies of prohibited items, including video surveillance equipment.

In September, the FCC began proceedings to withdraw recognition from seven test labs owned or controlled by the Chinese regime, citing national security concerns.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 21:45

US Tightens Ban On Chinese Tech Gear

Authored by Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The United States has extended its ban on Chinese electronics to cover products partly made by companies blacklisted on national security grounds.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on May 21, 2025. John McDonnell/Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is already barred from authorizing the import or sale of new equipment made by Chinese companies on its “covered list,” including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua.

On Oct. 28, the commission voted 3–0 to ban devices containing modular transmitters made by companies on the list.

The new rules will allow the FCC to block the importation, marketing, or sale of certain previously authorized devices if they are deemed a national security risk.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the rules address “loopholes that bad actors could use to threaten the security of [U.S.] networks.”

“[With the new rules, the FCC] will have a targeted process it can use to address threats posed by the ongoing sale of devices manufactured by covered list entities,” he said.

“[The new rules will allow the FCC to] prohibit not only finished or completed devices produced by a covered list entity, but also otherwise compliant devices that include certain component parts produced by those bad actors.”

The FCC will seek comment on whether the ban should be extended to cover other component parts.

Entities on the covered list are those found to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of its people, according to the commission.

The list currently includes nine Chinese telecommunication and surveillance equipment companies and two Russian entities that sell cybersecurity services.

Earlier in October, Carr announced that online retailers had removed “several million listings for covered equipment” as a result of the FCC’s crackdown on banned Chinese electronics, including Huawei smartwatches and Dahua home security cameras.

Hikvision said it opposed extending restrictions to previously approved models, arguing that the FCC is overstepping its authority.

“This order is not based on any product-specific evidence,” Hikvision said, noting that it will “impose unnecessary harm on U.S. communities and small businesses that rely on safe, compliant, and already authorized security systems.”

In March, the FCC stated that it was investigating Chinese companies on its covered list because some or all of them “may still be operating in the U.S.”

On Oct. 15, the commission said it had taken the initial step to revoke the operating authority of major Hong Kong telecom carrier HKT in the United States.

It also issued a national security notice this month reminding companies of prohibited items, including video surveillance equipment.

In September, the FCC began proceedings to withdraw recognition from seven test labs owned or controlled by the Chinese regime, citing national security concerns.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 21:45

DOGE Team At Pentagon Is Urgently Trying To Overhaul America's Lagging Drone Program

Apparently the Pentagon has its very own DOGE unit, and it is overseeing a major US effort to greatly and rapidly bolster the US military's drone program, which by many accounts has been lagging.

The Pentagon's Department of Government Efficiency, which has only been disclosed in a fresh Reuters report Thursday, will aim to acquire at least 30,000 drones in the coming months. It follows Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth recently vowing to cut red tape after there were alarm bells in Washington over US drones' lackluster performance on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Source: Anduril

The urgency of a more cutting-edge and nimble drone program, perhaps more in line with the vision of defense tech innovationists like Palmer Luckey and his Anduril Industries, was communicated in President Trump's June executive order designating the drone program a defense priority. This includes a desire for greater numbers of AI autonomous drones.

According to Reuters, "DOGE officials have requested information on drones from across the Pentagon, including the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit, seeking information about specifications, including weight and payload size, according to two of the people."

Owen West, a Marine veteran who has had roles both at Goldman Sachs and the Department of Defense, has been identified as DOGE's drone team leader, and he is said to have co-authored of a key Hegseth July drone memo.

"The Pentagon's DOGE unit is leading efforts to overhaul the U.S. military drone program, including streamlining procurement, expand homegrown production, and acquire tens of thousands of cheap drones in the coming months, according to Pentagon officials and people with knowledge of the matter," Reuters continues.

The Ukraine war has been dominated by literally hundreds of thousands of small UAVs, sometimes hitting in waves of 'drone swarms' on either said - and China too is said to be bulking up its arsenal with AI drone swarms with an eye on potential Taiwan action.

Consider for example, the following observation from last June related to the Ukraine battlefield:

Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia >$1B in damage by <$1m of drones Critical infra is no longer safe," Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrote on X. 

Trying to think through the implications of this. Asymmetric/ irregular warfare just became way more viable. Traditional organized militaries are toast.

— nic carter (@nic__carter) June 1, 2025

This is the new face of warfare — covert, mobile, and nearly impossible to detect until it's too late. Also, the US now faces growing vulnerabilities, not only from irregular warfare but also from potential internal security lapses. And as the battlefield leaves the era of conventional 'fronts' - the Pentagon wants to catch up on holding the edge on weapons tech.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 21:20

DOGE Team At Pentagon Is Urgently Trying To Overhaul America's Lagging Drone Program

Apparently the Pentagon has its very own DOGE unit, and it is overseeing a major US effort to greatly and rapidly bolster the US military's drone program, which by many accounts has been lagging.

The Pentagon's Department of Government Efficiency, which has only been disclosed in a fresh Reuters report Thursday, will aim to acquire at least 30,000 drones in the coming months. It follows Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth recently vowing to cut red tape after there were alarm bells in Washington over US drones' lackluster performance on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Source: Anduril

The urgency of a more cutting-edge and nimble drone program, perhaps more in line with the vision of defense tech innovationists like Palmer Luckey and his Anduril Industries, was communicated in President Trump's June executive order designating the drone program a defense priority. This includes a desire for greater numbers of AI autonomous drones.

According to Reuters, "DOGE officials have requested information on drones from across the Pentagon, including the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit, seeking information about specifications, including weight and payload size, according to two of the people."

Owen West, a Marine veteran who has had roles both at Goldman Sachs and the Department of Defense, has been identified as DOGE's drone team leader, and he is said to have co-authored of a key Hegseth July drone memo.

"The Pentagon's DOGE unit is leading efforts to overhaul the U.S. military drone program, including streamlining procurement, expand homegrown production, and acquire tens of thousands of cheap drones in the coming months, according to Pentagon officials and people with knowledge of the matter," Reuters continues.

The Ukraine war has been dominated by literally hundreds of thousands of small UAVs, sometimes hitting in waves of 'drone swarms' on either said - and China too is said to be bulking up its arsenal with AI drone swarms with an eye on potential Taiwan action.

Consider for example, the following observation from last June related to the Ukraine battlefield:

Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia >$1B in damage by <$1m of drones Critical infra is no longer safe," Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrote on X. 

Trying to think through the implications of this. Asymmetric/ irregular warfare just became way more viable. Traditional organized militaries are toast.

— nic carter (@nic__carter) June 1, 2025

This is the new face of warfare — covert, mobile, and nearly impossible to detect until it's too late. Also, the US now faces growing vulnerabilities, not only from irregular warfare but also from potential internal security lapses. And as the battlefield leaves the era of conventional 'fronts' - the Pentagon wants to catch up on holding the edge on weapons tech.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 21:20

Did The CIA Discover How To Manifest Your Best Life?

Authored by Nicole James via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It’s 1983. Shoulder pads are high, hair is higher, and somewhere deep within the corridors of the CIA, a few serious-looking men in polyester suits are asking themselves: what if we could leave our bodies on purpose and go spying through the astral plane? Thus was born the Gateway Process, a top-secret attempt to weaponise meditation.

Via CIA Reading Room

The 29-page report, “Analysis and Assessment of the Gateway Process,” is a combination of science, séance, and Cold War madness. It reads like Stephen Hawking fell asleep on a yoga mat and woke up in a pyramid scheme.

Courtesy of TikTok, the Gateway Process is back, because nothing says global awakening like Gen Z explaining quantum physics between mascara tutorials.

What is the Gateway Process?

In essence, it’s the CIA’s attempt to figure out whether humans can think their way out of space and time. Yes, really. Think mind flight.

The Gateway Process was inspired by Robert Monroe, a former radio executive who discovered that specific sound frequencies could sync the brain’s left and right hemispheres—a state he called hemi-sync.

The idea was that when both halves of your brain were in harmony, your consciousness could detach from your body and go exploring.

[ZH: And so you don't have to go to cia.gov, or read Nicole James' masterful Aussie snark, dive into the CIA's analysis below]

cia-rdp96-00788r001700210016-5 by Zerohedge Janitor

The theory goes that everything from your cat to your bad mood is made up of vibrating energy fields. If you can tune your brain to just the right frequency, you can theoretically pop out of your body, transcend space-time, and maybe, if you’re lucky, have a word with God or at least get better parking karma.

Who Came Up With This (and Why Did the CIA Care)?

You’d think the CIA would have bigger fish to fry in 1983, like the Soviets, or disco, but apparently not.

The report’s author, Lt. Col. Wayne McDonnell, took Monroe’s new-age noodling and dressed it up in quantum mechanics. He spoke of “vibrational systems,” “energy patterns,” and “escaping time-space.”

In fairness, the Cold War was a paranoid time. The Soviets were rumoured to be studying telepathy, remote viewing, and spoon-bending. So naturally, the CIA thought, let’s not be left behind in the psychic arms race.

The Gateway report is a glorious mess of science and spirituality. It cites string theory, holographic universes, and something called “the cosmic egg,” which sounds more like brunch.

Essentially, it argues that the universe is a big hologram of energy, and human consciousness is just one shimmering part of that infinite field. By syncing your brainwaves, you can allegedly project your mind into this field, alter reality, and, if you’ve focused properly, manifest your desired outcomes.

It’s like The Secret, but with more footnotes and less Oprah.

How Does It Actually Work?

The technique is built around Hemi-Sync audio tapes. These are something like if guided meditations met Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. You pop on your headphones, listen to two slightly different tones in each ear, and your brain merges them into a single frequency.

That’s when the magic (or madness) happens. You’re meant to enter a state between wakefulness and sleep known as Focus 10, where your body is “asleep but your mind is awake.” From there, you can move to Focus 12, where you may meet your “higher self,” or Focus 15, where time apparently becomes optional.

People who’ve tried it say it’s like lucid dreaming.

What’s This About “Patterning”?

The CIA’s take on manifestation is called patterning.

Patterning involves visualising what you want so clearly and intensely that it becomes inevitable. You imagine your goal as already achieved, whether it is the job, the house, the functioning romantic relationship, and by doing so, your consciousness “projects that reality into time-space.”

It’s basically vision boarding, except it’s written in Courier font and possibly classified.

Why Are People Obsessed With It Again?

Because in 2025, nothing unites humanity like wanting to hack reality without logging off TikTok.

The document resurfaced after a few enterprising influencers decided it proved the Law of Attraction. (“Even the CIA believes in manifesting!” they shrieked, between sponsorships.)

But still, it’s a seductive idea. Who doesn’t want to believe they can rearrange the universe by focusing really hard?

Can You Actually Try It?

Yes, and you don’t even need security clearance.

The Monroe Institute still exists and runs retreats where you can learn the Gateway techniques. For around US$79, you can take a digital “Beyond Meditation” course. For $2,805, you can attend an in-person Remote Viewing programme and try to see through walls, time, and possibly your ex’s emotional unavailability.

The advanced levels go all the way to Focus 49, where you can allegedly “strengthen the energetic pathway between Earth’s core and the galactic core.”

How to Manifest Like a Spy (Sort Of)

Here’s a CIA-approved approach to manifestation, minus the lab coat:

1. Visualise. Picture your goal vividly, like it’s already happened. (Apparently, the universe loves confidence.)
2. Intend. Attach emotion and belief to that image.
3. Focus. Hold that thought. Don’t get distracted by emails or carbs.
4. Detach. Let it go. Nothing kills a cosmic vibration faster than neediness.
5. Repeat. Because even quantum physics loves consistency.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a sudden insight, a burst of intuition, or possibly just a really nice nap.

[ZH: Or, they were on to something...]

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 20:55

Did The CIA Discover How To Manifest Your Best Life?

Authored by Nicole James via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It’s 1983. Shoulder pads are high, hair is higher, and somewhere deep within the corridors of the CIA, a few serious-looking men in polyester suits are asking themselves: what if we could leave our bodies on purpose and go spying through the astral plane? Thus was born the Gateway Process, a top-secret attempt to weaponise meditation.

Via CIA Reading Room

The 29-page report, “Analysis and Assessment of the Gateway Process,” is a combination of science, séance, and Cold War madness. It reads like Stephen Hawking fell asleep on a yoga mat and woke up in a pyramid scheme.

Courtesy of TikTok, the Gateway Process is back, because nothing says global awakening like Gen Z explaining quantum physics between mascara tutorials.

What is the Gateway Process?

In essence, it’s the CIA’s attempt to figure out whether humans can think their way out of space and time. Yes, really. Think mind flight.

The Gateway Process was inspired by Robert Monroe, a former radio executive who discovered that specific sound frequencies could sync the brain’s left and right hemispheres—a state he called hemi-sync.

The idea was that when both halves of your brain were in harmony, your consciousness could detach from your body and go exploring.

[ZH: And so you don't have to go to cia.gov, or read Nicole James' masterful Aussie snark, dive into the CIA's analysis below]

cia-rdp96-00788r001700210016-5 by Zerohedge Janitor

The theory goes that everything from your cat to your bad mood is made up of vibrating energy fields. If you can tune your brain to just the right frequency, you can theoretically pop out of your body, transcend space-time, and maybe, if you’re lucky, have a word with God or at least get better parking karma.

Who Came Up With This (and Why Did the CIA Care)?

You’d think the CIA would have bigger fish to fry in 1983, like the Soviets, or disco, but apparently not.

The report’s author, Lt. Col. Wayne McDonnell, took Monroe’s new-age noodling and dressed it up in quantum mechanics. He spoke of “vibrational systems,” “energy patterns,” and “escaping time-space.”

In fairness, the Cold War was a paranoid time. The Soviets were rumoured to be studying telepathy, remote viewing, and spoon-bending. So naturally, the CIA thought, let’s not be left behind in the psychic arms race.

The Gateway report is a glorious mess of science and spirituality. It cites string theory, holographic universes, and something called “the cosmic egg,” which sounds more like brunch.

Essentially, it argues that the universe is a big hologram of energy, and human consciousness is just one shimmering part of that infinite field. By syncing your brainwaves, you can allegedly project your mind into this field, alter reality, and, if you’ve focused properly, manifest your desired outcomes.

It’s like The Secret, but with more footnotes and less Oprah.

How Does It Actually Work?

The technique is built around Hemi-Sync audio tapes. These are something like if guided meditations met Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. You pop on your headphones, listen to two slightly different tones in each ear, and your brain merges them into a single frequency.

That’s when the magic (or madness) happens. You’re meant to enter a state between wakefulness and sleep known as Focus 10, where your body is “asleep but your mind is awake.” From there, you can move to Focus 12, where you may meet your “higher self,” or Focus 15, where time apparently becomes optional.

People who’ve tried it say it’s like lucid dreaming.

What’s This About “Patterning”?

The CIA’s take on manifestation is called patterning.

Patterning involves visualising what you want so clearly and intensely that it becomes inevitable. You imagine your goal as already achieved, whether it is the job, the house, the functioning romantic relationship, and by doing so, your consciousness “projects that reality into time-space.”

It’s basically vision boarding, except it’s written in Courier font and possibly classified.

Why Are People Obsessed With It Again?

Because in 2025, nothing unites humanity like wanting to hack reality without logging off TikTok.

The document resurfaced after a few enterprising influencers decided it proved the Law of Attraction. (“Even the CIA believes in manifesting!” they shrieked, between sponsorships.)

But still, it’s a seductive idea. Who doesn’t want to believe they can rearrange the universe by focusing really hard?

Can You Actually Try It?

Yes, and you don’t even need security clearance.

The Monroe Institute still exists and runs retreats where you can learn the Gateway techniques. For around US$79, you can take a digital “Beyond Meditation” course. For $2,805, you can attend an in-person Remote Viewing programme and try to see through walls, time, and possibly your ex’s emotional unavailability.

The advanced levels go all the way to Focus 49, where you can allegedly “strengthen the energetic pathway between Earth’s core and the galactic core.”

How to Manifest Like a Spy (Sort Of)

Here’s a CIA-approved approach to manifestation, minus the lab coat:

1. Visualise. Picture your goal vividly, like it’s already happened. (Apparently, the universe loves confidence.)
2. Intend. Attach emotion and belief to that image.
3. Focus. Hold that thought. Don’t get distracted by emails or carbs.
4. Detach. Let it go. Nothing kills a cosmic vibration faster than neediness.
5. Repeat. Because even quantum physics loves consistency.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a sudden insight, a burst of intuition, or possibly just a really nice nap.

[ZH: Or, they were on to something...]

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 20:55

Monkeys Still On The Loose After Mississippi Truck Crash

Three research monkeys are still mysteriously missing in Mississippi after a truck transporting the test primates toppled, leaving officials scratching their heads about who managed the monkeys, who moved them, and where the merry mammals were meant to go.

The monkey muddle has left a mess of unanswered questions for authorities.

Officials initially said Tuesday that all but one of the escaped rhesus monkeys had been killed. But the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department later clarified that Tulane University’s team of primate professionals entered the trailer that evening and determined three monkeys had made their getaway.

Sheriff Randy Johnson said Tulane officials assured investigators that the monkeys were not infectious - despite early warnings from the truck’s occupants suggesting the animals were dangerous. Still, Johnson said the monkeys needed to be “neutralized” because of their aggressive nature.

The overturned truck had been carrying 21 rhesus monkeys, each weighing about 16 pounds. Tulane confirmed Wednesday that the monkeys had recently passed pathogen-free checkups. The university insisted it didn’t own or transport them but had sent monkey management experts to help with the situation.

The monkeys had been housed at the Tulane University National Primate Research Center, which routinely supplies animals for scientific studies. The facility lies about 40 miles north of New Orleans in Covington, Louisiana. Video from Tuesday showed monkeys scrambling around Interstate 59 near Heidelberg, Mississippi, among shattered crates marked “Live Animals.”

By Wednesday, the truck was gone, but people in masks and monkey-minding gear - white coats, gloves, and hairnets - joined law officers combing the area.

University officials will remain nearby as the search for the missing monkeys continues, the sheriff said. The remaining rhesus residents were being returned to Louisiana.

Mississippi state veterinarian Dr. James Watson verified the animals had the correct documentation and “certificate of veterinary inspection” for interstate transport. The Board of Animal Health wasn’t part of the emergency response, he said, and any further information should come from Tulane’s primate center.

Authorities urged anyone who spots the marauding monkeys not to approach them but to contact law enforcement immediately.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol said it was still investigating the crash, which occurred roughly 100 miles from Jackson, the state capital.

We're rooting for the monkeys...

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 19:40

Monkeys Still On The Loose After Mississippi Truck Crash

Three research monkeys are still mysteriously missing in Mississippi after a truck transporting the test primates toppled, leaving officials scratching their heads about who managed the monkeys, who moved them, and where the merry mammals were meant to go.

The monkey muddle has left a mess of unanswered questions for authorities.

Officials initially said Tuesday that all but one of the escaped rhesus monkeys had been killed. But the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department later clarified that Tulane University’s team of primate professionals entered the trailer that evening and determined three monkeys had made their getaway.

Sheriff Randy Johnson said Tulane officials assured investigators that the monkeys were not infectious - despite early warnings from the truck’s occupants suggesting the animals were dangerous. Still, Johnson said the monkeys needed to be “neutralized” because of their aggressive nature.

The overturned truck had been carrying 21 rhesus monkeys, each weighing about 16 pounds. Tulane confirmed Wednesday that the monkeys had recently passed pathogen-free checkups. The university insisted it didn’t own or transport them but had sent monkey management experts to help with the situation.

The monkeys had been housed at the Tulane University National Primate Research Center, which routinely supplies animals for scientific studies. The facility lies about 40 miles north of New Orleans in Covington, Louisiana. Video from Tuesday showed monkeys scrambling around Interstate 59 near Heidelberg, Mississippi, among shattered crates marked “Live Animals.”

By Wednesday, the truck was gone, but people in masks and monkey-minding gear - white coats, gloves, and hairnets - joined law officers combing the area.

University officials will remain nearby as the search for the missing monkeys continues, the sheriff said. The remaining rhesus residents were being returned to Louisiana.

Mississippi state veterinarian Dr. James Watson verified the animals had the correct documentation and “certificate of veterinary inspection” for interstate transport. The Board of Animal Health wasn’t part of the emergency response, he said, and any further information should come from Tulane’s primate center.

Authorities urged anyone who spots the marauding monkeys not to approach them but to contact law enforcement immediately.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol said it was still investigating the crash, which occurred roughly 100 miles from Jackson, the state capital.

We're rooting for the monkeys...

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 19:40

Japan Gets First Missiles For F-35s After Trump Proclaimed "New Golden Age" In Ties

Via The Libertarian Institute 

President Donald Trump announced that he had approved missiles for Japan's fleet of F-35s, and the first delivery of the munitions would occur this week. 

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington in Japan, Trump said, "I'm delighted to report that I’ve just approved the first batch of missiles. They’ll arrive this week, so they’re ahead of schedule."

AIM-9X Sidewinder, via US Navy/

The sale is for AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder. President Joe Biden approved a $3.6 billion sale of AMRAAMs to Tokyo in January. Trump authorized Japan to buy $100 million in Sidewinder missiles last month. 

Trump made the declaration as he toured Asia. During a meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Takaichi Sanae, Trump signed an agreement to create a "new golden age" of the Washington-Tokyo alliance.  

"The Agreement will help both countries to strengthen economic security, promote economic growth, and thereby continuously lead to global prosperity," a statement from the White House explained.

"The two leaders instructed relevant ministers and secretaries to take further steps for a NEW GOLDEN AGE of the ever-growing US-Japan Alliance," it added.

The Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-9X Sidewinder is the latest of the Sidewinder family of short-range air-to-air missiles. It features a high off-boresight focal-plane array seeker mounted on a highly maneuverable airframe with a greatly improved infrared counter-countermeasures feature. The AIM-9X incorporates many AIM-9M legacy components (rocket motor, warhead and active optical target detector), but its performance far exceeds the legacy Sidewinder. Unlike previous AIM-9 models, the AIM-9X can even be used against targets on the ground. —NAVAIR

After leaving Japan, Trump traveled to South Korea, where he met with Chinese President Xi on Thursday. "We’re going to have something that’s going to be very, very satisfactory to China and to us. I think we’re gonna have a - I think it’s going to be a very good meeting," Trump had said just ahead of the summit.

On multiple occasions during his trip to Asia, Trump has mentioned he would like to meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Pyongyang has not responded to Trump’s offer.

North Korean officials have explained that Kim will only sit down with Trump if the US drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 19:15

Japan Gets First Missiles For F-35s After Trump Proclaimed "New Golden Age" In Ties

Via The Libertarian Institute 

President Donald Trump announced that he had approved missiles for Japan's fleet of F-35s, and the first delivery of the munitions would occur this week. 

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington in Japan, Trump said, "I'm delighted to report that I’ve just approved the first batch of missiles. They’ll arrive this week, so they’re ahead of schedule."

AIM-9X Sidewinder, via US Navy/

The sale is for AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder. President Joe Biden approved a $3.6 billion sale of AMRAAMs to Tokyo in January. Trump authorized Japan to buy $100 million in Sidewinder missiles last month. 

Trump made the declaration as he toured Asia. During a meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Takaichi Sanae, Trump signed an agreement to create a "new golden age" of the Washington-Tokyo alliance.  

"The Agreement will help both countries to strengthen economic security, promote economic growth, and thereby continuously lead to global prosperity," a statement from the White House explained.

"The two leaders instructed relevant ministers and secretaries to take further steps for a NEW GOLDEN AGE of the ever-growing US-Japan Alliance," it added.

The Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-9X Sidewinder is the latest of the Sidewinder family of short-range air-to-air missiles. It features a high off-boresight focal-plane array seeker mounted on a highly maneuverable airframe with a greatly improved infrared counter-countermeasures feature. The AIM-9X incorporates many AIM-9M legacy components (rocket motor, warhead and active optical target detector), but its performance far exceeds the legacy Sidewinder. Unlike previous AIM-9 models, the AIM-9X can even be used against targets on the ground. —NAVAIR

After leaving Japan, Trump traveled to South Korea, where he met with Chinese President Xi on Thursday. "We’re going to have something that’s going to be very, very satisfactory to China and to us. I think we’re gonna have a - I think it’s going to be a very good meeting," Trump had said just ahead of the summit.

On multiple occasions during his trip to Asia, Trump has mentioned he would like to meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Pyongyang has not responded to Trump’s offer.

North Korean officials have explained that Kim will only sit down with Trump if the US drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 19:15

ExxonMobil Takes California To Court Over "Compelled" Climate Speech

ExxonMobil Corp. has filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping California from enforcing two new climate-reporting laws, according to Yahoo/Bloomberg. 

The company argues the state isn’t just demanding data — it’s trying to conscript corporations into a particular climate narrative. According to the complaint, the laws force the company to “publicly endorse opinions about climate change that it does not agree with,” which ExxonMobil says crosses a clear First Amendment line.

Yahoo/Bloomberg writes that the first law requires companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to calculate and disclose their greenhouse-gas emissions every year. The second targets firms with over $500 million in revenue, requiring a report every two years describing how climate change could affect financial performance and what the company is doing to address those risks.

ExxonMobil says California’s approach singles out large corporations because the state believes they are “most responsible” for climate change — a premise the company rejects. The suit claims the real strategy is to “embarrass” companies into changing operations and to regulate corporate behavior and speech far beyond California’s borders.

The filing insists the company isn’t denying reality, stating: “ExxonMobil understands the very real risks associated with climate change and supports continued efforts to address those risks.” However, it continues: “California may believe that companies that meet the statutes’ revenue thresholds are uniquely responsible for climate change; but the First Amendment categorically bars it from forcing ExxonMobil to speak in service of that misguided viewpoint.”

On top of the free-speech argument, ExxonMobil says at least one of the new rules, SB 261, conflicts with federal securities regulations that already dictate what publicly traded companies must disclose about environmental and financial risk. Because those issues fall under the jurisdiction of federal law, the company contends California can’t pile on additional — or inconsistent — mandates.

The lawsuit asks a judge to declare both laws unconstitutional and preempted by federal authority, setting up a clash over how far states can go in forcing companies to talk about climate change.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:50

ExxonMobil Takes California To Court Over "Compelled" Climate Speech

ExxonMobil Corp. has filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping California from enforcing two new climate-reporting laws, according to Yahoo/Bloomberg. 

The company argues the state isn’t just demanding data — it’s trying to conscript corporations into a particular climate narrative. According to the complaint, the laws force the company to “publicly endorse opinions about climate change that it does not agree with,” which ExxonMobil says crosses a clear First Amendment line.

Yahoo/Bloomberg writes that the first law requires companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to calculate and disclose their greenhouse-gas emissions every year. The second targets firms with over $500 million in revenue, requiring a report every two years describing how climate change could affect financial performance and what the company is doing to address those risks.

ExxonMobil says California’s approach singles out large corporations because the state believes they are “most responsible” for climate change — a premise the company rejects. The suit claims the real strategy is to “embarrass” companies into changing operations and to regulate corporate behavior and speech far beyond California’s borders.

The filing insists the company isn’t denying reality, stating: “ExxonMobil understands the very real risks associated with climate change and supports continued efforts to address those risks.” However, it continues: “California may believe that companies that meet the statutes’ revenue thresholds are uniquely responsible for climate change; but the First Amendment categorically bars it from forcing ExxonMobil to speak in service of that misguided viewpoint.”

On top of the free-speech argument, ExxonMobil says at least one of the new rules, SB 261, conflicts with federal securities regulations that already dictate what publicly traded companies must disclose about environmental and financial risk. Because those issues fall under the jurisdiction of federal law, the company contends California can’t pile on additional — or inconsistent — mandates.

The lawsuit asks a judge to declare both laws unconstitutional and preempted by federal authority, setting up a clash over how far states can go in forcing companies to talk about climate change.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:50

Why Is New York's AG Targeting A Castle In West Virginia?

Authored by James Varney via RealClearInvestigations,

For more than 30 years, the author and public intellectual Peter Brimelow has argued for and published the writings of like-minded “immigration patriots” who support strong restrictions on immigration.

Standing at the right edge of the policy debate, he has drawn the ire of pro-immigration advocates who ascribe racism to his positions. Left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League label him a “white nationalist.” They put him and VDARE, the nonprofit he established in 1999, on their well-publicized “hate” lists.

Brimelow claims those long-running battles over protected speech are the reason he has been targeted by New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged financial improprieties connected to a West Virginia real estate deal – an effort that has so far cost more than $1 million in legal fees and forced him to pull the plug on VDARE last year.

Its website now states the nonprofit organization, established in New York, was “battered into suspension on July 23, 2024, by lawfare from New York State Attorney General Letitia James.” 

Although the state of New York began investigating Brimelow and VDARE in 2022, it only brought civil charges last month for a complex series of transactions tied to a castle in West Virginia.

“The Brimelows used VDARE like their personal piggy bank, draining millions in charitable assets to enrich themselves,” James alleged in announcing her lawsuit. The suit says Brimelow and his wife, Lydia, “have looted or wasted the corporate assets, have perpetuated the corporation solely for their personal benefit, or have otherwise acted in an illegal, oppressive or fraudulent manner.”

The Brimelows contend the allegations are baseless and that James confected a case to mask her true purpose, which was silencing political voices with which she disagrees. The couple says James has taken a page from the same playbook she used to fulfill a campaign promise by prosecuting and convicting then-citizen Donald Trump last year. That, too, involved a sophisticated real estate deal in which there were no injured parties. The years of subpoenas and legal harassment that drained VDARE months before the suit was filed, along with tactics publicly outlined in 2022 by the lead prosecutor on the case, are further proof that James is engaged in a political witch hunt, according to the defendants.

“Here’s our response to all that: we are completely innocent,” Peter Brimelow told RealClearInvestigations. “We are an example of lawfare. The immigration issue has become increasingly crucial to Democrats who are really upset by Trump’s re-election, and they are clearly trying to bankrupt us with an overly broad and cumbersome investigation.”

The case brought by James comes at a time when concerns are high about the partisan use of the legal system to quash political enemies, and James herself is under federal indictment brought by the Trump administration over alleged mortgage fraud connected to homes she bought outside New York.

Cancel Culture Castle

At the center of James’ allegations against the Brimelows is the Berkeley Springs Castle in West Virginia, which VDARE bought for $1.4 million in February 2020. The castle was intended to serve as a location for VDARE events. Lydia Brimelow told RCI that it was a purchase necessitated by a concerted political campaign against the charity. More than a dozen venues in several states buckled to pressure from leftist groups and canceled contracts to host VDARE conferences. She said the nonprofit hoped to generate revenue by renting out the castle, a landmark completed in 1891 and included in the National Register of Historic Places, for weddings or other events.

In its suit, the New York AG’s office alleges the Brimelows got VDARE to buy the castle as a home for themselves, and then had the nonprofit pay them rent while they lived there. In another improper move, according to the lawsuit, ownership of the castle was transferred to the Berkeley Springs Castle Foundation, which prosecutors portray as shifting $1.7 million to “a corporation created by Lydia Brimelow.” 

None of that is true, Lydia Brimelow said. The family lived in the Castle after the purchase was made, but never gave up their home or official residence in Connecticut. They stayed in the Castle for about a year, but mostly in 2020, when COVID-19 shutdowns complicated travel back to  Connecticut. A felled tree that smashed through a roof also required oversight of a restoration project.  

“Nor of course does the Complaint acknowledge that [while staying there] I was running a [the VDARE] website … and that Lydia was now also locked into a constant battle to stop the Castle from falling down,” Peter Brimelow posted on VDARE Sept. 5 when the lawsuit was filed. “Instead, it insinuates we were just sitting around drinking tea.” 

The Brimelows say the ownership transfer cited in the AG’s complaint – in which the building became the property of the Berkeley Springs Castle Foundation, a new nonprofit formed for that purpose – was a routine move meant to protect VDARE from personal injury and other lawsuits that might be brought by people using the property. And while James raised concerns over the overlap of the Castle Foundation and VDARE boards, the Brimelows said that it is required to comply with Internal Revenue Service rules for “supporting organizations.”

Without citing this case or naming specific nonprofits because of the political nature of the case, RCI asked CharityWatch, a prominent nonprofit watchdog, whether these sorts of transactions raise red flags. A CharityWatch representative said they are common.

Frederick Kelly, a New York attorney who represents VDARE, says two other allegations against the Brimelows are also unfounded. The lawsuit claims that the $230,000 “paid to Lydia Brimelow’s father for ‘consulting services’ is an unapproved related-party transaction.” Kelly said that figure actually represents years of payments made for work at fair market value.

The fourth charge in the lawsuit relates to Happy Penguins, a now-defunct Connecticut company controlled by the Brimelows that received some $1.2 million in VDARE funds. Kelly said that it, too, was a response to cancel culture. Because many VDARE contributors wrote under pen names and were concerned about blowback for their opinions, the Brimelows set up Happy Penguins to handle payroll and other financial issues for years, according to Kelly.

A Fig Leaf

The castle kerfuffle is just a thin pretext for the true attention of the New York attorney general’s office, Kelly said. If it was the castle James’ office was concerned about – and neither West Virginia nor the IRS has raised questions – that could have been easily resolved if the New York AG had simply asked about it in 2022.

“The very first thing we heard about this was a blizzard of subpoenas – 70 of them,” he said. “If it had been a smaller universe of information, okay, but their approach only makes sense if the goal isn’t regulatory but is crushing of speech.

“There was no informal inquiry, no effort to sort it out,” Kelly added. “If this was really about the castle, we made it clear we were happy to meet and lay that to rest. But right away they took the most aggressive stance they could take, asking for some 40 gigabytes of emails and more.”

It isn’t clear what triggered the AG’s investigation of  VDARE three years ago. Neither the New York Attorney General, the ADL, nor the SPLC responded to multiple requests for comment. After a week, the NYAG sent an email, pointing RCI to its complaint and press release.

There is no evidence that the actions were promoted by VDARE donors. RCI spoke with two VDARE donors, both of whom said they have no issue with the organization or the way the Brimelows managed it.

The AG’s office has not brought similar cases against any other nonprofit in 2025, according to its press releases. VDARE, which draws its name from Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, doesn’t raise the kind of money that typically attracts regulatory scrutiny, according to its tax returns. 

In 2021, the year before James launched her probe, VDARE reported $721,161 in contributions and grants, a figure that dropped to $582,929 in 2022. In 2023, VDARE reported $664,477 in contributions, according to IRS filings.

When investment income and other sources are added, VDARE reported gross receipts of $1.7 million in 2021, a total that dropped to $763,754 in 2023, tax returns show.

IRS records also show VDARE’s legal bill skyrocketing. After spending just $49,152 in 2021, legal fees jumped to $178,658 the following year and in 2023 hit $566,700, according to tax records. But if possible financial chicanery wasn’t the motive here, what was? 

‘Securing Our Democracy’

One obvious clue is contained in the filing of the original civil complaint. Letitia James and James Sheehan, chief of the state’s charities bureau, are listed first, but right below them is Meghan Faux, a longtime progressive lawyer whose title is “chief deputy attorney general for social justice.”

Another attorney listed in the filing in the case against the Brimelows was Rick Sawyer, who in 2022 headed the New York attorney general’s Hate Crimes and Bias Prevention branch and is now director of its Civil Rights Division. In November 2022, at an Anti-Defamation League conference called “Securing Our Democracy: Taking Hate and Extremism to Court,” Sawyer laid out his prosecutorial strategy.

Sawyer acknowledged that “hate is protected in the U.S. Constitution; the First Amendment protects hate,” but said that should be no deterrent to aggressive tactics against those alleged to engage in it.

“Attorney generals offices have massive amounts of power,” he said. “In New York, we have subpoena authority for any kind of hate crime, subpoena power against charities – and this is before we even file a lawsuit, by the way. We can get massive amounts of discovery without even having to go to court.”

“We have the authority to do massive investigations that look into an organization, or sham charities that are advocating hate speech,” Sawyer continued. “We can look into groups that are making money off of hate, and we can look into individuals who committed acts of hate crimes without even going to court. It’s an untapped power.”

Kelly said politically charged prosecutors have followed that path.

“VDARE and the Brimelows were forced into exactly the outline Sawyer gave there,” he said.

The Brimelows have sought to admit Sawyer’s speech as evidence in a federal motion they filed on First Amendment grounds, but thus far the court has not accepted it. Kelly insisted that no federal judge has yet issued a ruling “on substantive grounds,” instead using procedural steps to punt the matter back to state court.

“But we knew that if Donald Trump didn’t have First Amendment protections in New York courts, then the Brimelows certainly wouldn’t,” Kelly told RCI.

Outside the Mainstream

Brimelow, 78 and an immigrant himself who was reared in England, is no newcomer to the immigration debate. In 1995, he published “Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster,” which became a bestseller and is still available on Amazon. 

His position on immigration remains largely unchanged. Brimelow argues that the 1965 Immigration Act opened a spigot that went far beyond what Congress or the American people expected. 

“The country is being transformed against its will,” Brimelow said in a C-Span interview on Alien Nation. He believes the U.S. should stop illegal immigration, deport illegals in the country, and institute an “immigration moratorium” for between five and 15 years. During that time, “there should be a national debate” that would establish immigration policy in “a rational way.”

Even then, Brimelow said he expected pushback to his controversial contention that the immigrants coming to America were disconnected from the Western tradition and were more concerned with welfare than assimilation.

“They didn’t expect (immigration) would be dominated by just 15 countries, which is what happened,” he said of the 1965 measure. “They had no idea any of this was going to happen, but once it did it became a sacrosanct subject and people are afraid to discuss it. If it wasn’t for electronic media I would probably be in quite serious trouble.”

In addition to Brimelow’s views, VDARE published writers who seemed intent on pushing the boundaries of debate.  Posts there included, along with long-standing objections to open borders and lax enforcement of immigration court rulings, things like a claim that the “Central Park Five” were never exonerated, or that James herself is a “black supremacist.”

Some of the writers at VDARE were pseudonymous, as the Brimelows said they feared cancel culture, and many of them are unfamiliar to a wide audience. Most of the complaints lodged against VDARE by the Southern Poverty Law Center are from many years ago, when they highlighted the organization for publishing what they categorize as white nationalist or racist writers, like the late John Tanton and Sam Francis. The VDARE website also posted items by John Derbyshire, who was banned by National Review in 2012 for a piece he wrote for Taki’s Magazine that discussed IQ and race and crime and said it was best to “avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally … Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.”

VDARE also has published pieces by Kevin MacDonald, a psychology professor and editor of a publication called The Occidental Observer, who has been characterized as racist and anti-Semitic by critics, and it is this work Peter Brimelow believes leftist groups found particularly objectionable.

VDARE writers and the Brimelows have criticized other groups opposed to unrestricted immigration for failing to come to its defense in recent weeks, but some of them told RCI they are concerned about what’s happened, especially in light of James’ track record.

“Some of the stuff they posted there was interesting; some of it some people might find repellent,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “But you are supposed to be able to say what you want, and the idea you should be punished for that by organs of the state is outrageous. And immigration has become a kind of litmus test for the left.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:25

Why Is New York's AG Targeting A Castle In West Virginia?

Authored by James Varney via RealClearInvestigations,

For more than 30 years, the author and public intellectual Peter Brimelow has argued for and published the writings of like-minded “immigration patriots” who support strong restrictions on immigration.

Standing at the right edge of the policy debate, he has drawn the ire of pro-immigration advocates who ascribe racism to his positions. Left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League label him a “white nationalist.” They put him and VDARE, the nonprofit he established in 1999, on their well-publicized “hate” lists.

Brimelow claims those long-running battles over protected speech are the reason he has been targeted by New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged financial improprieties connected to a West Virginia real estate deal – an effort that has so far cost more than $1 million in legal fees and forced him to pull the plug on VDARE last year.

Its website now states the nonprofit organization, established in New York, was “battered into suspension on July 23, 2024, by lawfare from New York State Attorney General Letitia James.” 

Although the state of New York began investigating Brimelow and VDARE in 2022, it only brought civil charges last month for a complex series of transactions tied to a castle in West Virginia.

“The Brimelows used VDARE like their personal piggy bank, draining millions in charitable assets to enrich themselves,” James alleged in announcing her lawsuit. The suit says Brimelow and his wife, Lydia, “have looted or wasted the corporate assets, have perpetuated the corporation solely for their personal benefit, or have otherwise acted in an illegal, oppressive or fraudulent manner.”

The Brimelows contend the allegations are baseless and that James confected a case to mask her true purpose, which was silencing political voices with which she disagrees. The couple says James has taken a page from the same playbook she used to fulfill a campaign promise by prosecuting and convicting then-citizen Donald Trump last year. That, too, involved a sophisticated real estate deal in which there were no injured parties. The years of subpoenas and legal harassment that drained VDARE months before the suit was filed, along with tactics publicly outlined in 2022 by the lead prosecutor on the case, are further proof that James is engaged in a political witch hunt, according to the defendants.

“Here’s our response to all that: we are completely innocent,” Peter Brimelow told RealClearInvestigations. “We are an example of lawfare. The immigration issue has become increasingly crucial to Democrats who are really upset by Trump’s re-election, and they are clearly trying to bankrupt us with an overly broad and cumbersome investigation.”

The case brought by James comes at a time when concerns are high about the partisan use of the legal system to quash political enemies, and James herself is under federal indictment brought by the Trump administration over alleged mortgage fraud connected to homes she bought outside New York.

Cancel Culture Castle

At the center of James’ allegations against the Brimelows is the Berkeley Springs Castle in West Virginia, which VDARE bought for $1.4 million in February 2020. The castle was intended to serve as a location for VDARE events. Lydia Brimelow told RCI that it was a purchase necessitated by a concerted political campaign against the charity. More than a dozen venues in several states buckled to pressure from leftist groups and canceled contracts to host VDARE conferences. She said the nonprofit hoped to generate revenue by renting out the castle, a landmark completed in 1891 and included in the National Register of Historic Places, for weddings or other events.

In its suit, the New York AG’s office alleges the Brimelows got VDARE to buy the castle as a home for themselves, and then had the nonprofit pay them rent while they lived there. In another improper move, according to the lawsuit, ownership of the castle was transferred to the Berkeley Springs Castle Foundation, which prosecutors portray as shifting $1.7 million to “a corporation created by Lydia Brimelow.” 

None of that is true, Lydia Brimelow said. The family lived in the Castle after the purchase was made, but never gave up their home or official residence in Connecticut. They stayed in the Castle for about a year, but mostly in 2020, when COVID-19 shutdowns complicated travel back to  Connecticut. A felled tree that smashed through a roof also required oversight of a restoration project.  

“Nor of course does the Complaint acknowledge that [while staying there] I was running a [the VDARE] website … and that Lydia was now also locked into a constant battle to stop the Castle from falling down,” Peter Brimelow posted on VDARE Sept. 5 when the lawsuit was filed. “Instead, it insinuates we were just sitting around drinking tea.” 

The Brimelows say the ownership transfer cited in the AG’s complaint – in which the building became the property of the Berkeley Springs Castle Foundation, a new nonprofit formed for that purpose – was a routine move meant to protect VDARE from personal injury and other lawsuits that might be brought by people using the property. And while James raised concerns over the overlap of the Castle Foundation and VDARE boards, the Brimelows said that it is required to comply with Internal Revenue Service rules for “supporting organizations.”

Without citing this case or naming specific nonprofits because of the political nature of the case, RCI asked CharityWatch, a prominent nonprofit watchdog, whether these sorts of transactions raise red flags. A CharityWatch representative said they are common.

Frederick Kelly, a New York attorney who represents VDARE, says two other allegations against the Brimelows are also unfounded. The lawsuit claims that the $230,000 “paid to Lydia Brimelow’s father for ‘consulting services’ is an unapproved related-party transaction.” Kelly said that figure actually represents years of payments made for work at fair market value.

The fourth charge in the lawsuit relates to Happy Penguins, a now-defunct Connecticut company controlled by the Brimelows that received some $1.2 million in VDARE funds. Kelly said that it, too, was a response to cancel culture. Because many VDARE contributors wrote under pen names and were concerned about blowback for their opinions, the Brimelows set up Happy Penguins to handle payroll and other financial issues for years, according to Kelly.

A Fig Leaf

The castle kerfuffle is just a thin pretext for the true attention of the New York attorney general’s office, Kelly said. If it was the castle James’ office was concerned about – and neither West Virginia nor the IRS has raised questions – that could have been easily resolved if the New York AG had simply asked about it in 2022.

“The very first thing we heard about this was a blizzard of subpoenas – 70 of them,” he said. “If it had been a smaller universe of information, okay, but their approach only makes sense if the goal isn’t regulatory but is crushing of speech.

“There was no informal inquiry, no effort to sort it out,” Kelly added. “If this was really about the castle, we made it clear we were happy to meet and lay that to rest. But right away they took the most aggressive stance they could take, asking for some 40 gigabytes of emails and more.”

It isn’t clear what triggered the AG’s investigation of  VDARE three years ago. Neither the New York Attorney General, the ADL, nor the SPLC responded to multiple requests for comment. After a week, the NYAG sent an email, pointing RCI to its complaint and press release.

There is no evidence that the actions were promoted by VDARE donors. RCI spoke with two VDARE donors, both of whom said they have no issue with the organization or the way the Brimelows managed it.

The AG’s office has not brought similar cases against any other nonprofit in 2025, according to its press releases. VDARE, which draws its name from Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, doesn’t raise the kind of money that typically attracts regulatory scrutiny, according to its tax returns. 

In 2021, the year before James launched her probe, VDARE reported $721,161 in contributions and grants, a figure that dropped to $582,929 in 2022. In 2023, VDARE reported $664,477 in contributions, according to IRS filings.

When investment income and other sources are added, VDARE reported gross receipts of $1.7 million in 2021, a total that dropped to $763,754 in 2023, tax returns show.

IRS records also show VDARE’s legal bill skyrocketing. After spending just $49,152 in 2021, legal fees jumped to $178,658 the following year and in 2023 hit $566,700, according to tax records. But if possible financial chicanery wasn’t the motive here, what was? 

‘Securing Our Democracy’

One obvious clue is contained in the filing of the original civil complaint. Letitia James and James Sheehan, chief of the state’s charities bureau, are listed first, but right below them is Meghan Faux, a longtime progressive lawyer whose title is “chief deputy attorney general for social justice.”

Another attorney listed in the filing in the case against the Brimelows was Rick Sawyer, who in 2022 headed the New York attorney general’s Hate Crimes and Bias Prevention branch and is now director of its Civil Rights Division. In November 2022, at an Anti-Defamation League conference called “Securing Our Democracy: Taking Hate and Extremism to Court,” Sawyer laid out his prosecutorial strategy.

Sawyer acknowledged that “hate is protected in the U.S. Constitution; the First Amendment protects hate,” but said that should be no deterrent to aggressive tactics against those alleged to engage in it.

“Attorney generals offices have massive amounts of power,” he said. “In New York, we have subpoena authority for any kind of hate crime, subpoena power against charities – and this is before we even file a lawsuit, by the way. We can get massive amounts of discovery without even having to go to court.”

“We have the authority to do massive investigations that look into an organization, or sham charities that are advocating hate speech,” Sawyer continued. “We can look into groups that are making money off of hate, and we can look into individuals who committed acts of hate crimes without even going to court. It’s an untapped power.”

Kelly said politically charged prosecutors have followed that path.

“VDARE and the Brimelows were forced into exactly the outline Sawyer gave there,” he said.

The Brimelows have sought to admit Sawyer’s speech as evidence in a federal motion they filed on First Amendment grounds, but thus far the court has not accepted it. Kelly insisted that no federal judge has yet issued a ruling “on substantive grounds,” instead using procedural steps to punt the matter back to state court.

“But we knew that if Donald Trump didn’t have First Amendment protections in New York courts, then the Brimelows certainly wouldn’t,” Kelly told RCI.

Outside the Mainstream

Brimelow, 78 and an immigrant himself who was reared in England, is no newcomer to the immigration debate. In 1995, he published “Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster,” which became a bestseller and is still available on Amazon. 

His position on immigration remains largely unchanged. Brimelow argues that the 1965 Immigration Act opened a spigot that went far beyond what Congress or the American people expected. 

“The country is being transformed against its will,” Brimelow said in a C-Span interview on Alien Nation. He believes the U.S. should stop illegal immigration, deport illegals in the country, and institute an “immigration moratorium” for between five and 15 years. During that time, “there should be a national debate” that would establish immigration policy in “a rational way.”

Even then, Brimelow said he expected pushback to his controversial contention that the immigrants coming to America were disconnected from the Western tradition and were more concerned with welfare than assimilation.

“They didn’t expect (immigration) would be dominated by just 15 countries, which is what happened,” he said of the 1965 measure. “They had no idea any of this was going to happen, but once it did it became a sacrosanct subject and people are afraid to discuss it. If it wasn’t for electronic media I would probably be in quite serious trouble.”

In addition to Brimelow’s views, VDARE published writers who seemed intent on pushing the boundaries of debate.  Posts there included, along with long-standing objections to open borders and lax enforcement of immigration court rulings, things like a claim that the “Central Park Five” were never exonerated, or that James herself is a “black supremacist.”

Some of the writers at VDARE were pseudonymous, as the Brimelows said they feared cancel culture, and many of them are unfamiliar to a wide audience. Most of the complaints lodged against VDARE by the Southern Poverty Law Center are from many years ago, when they highlighted the organization for publishing what they categorize as white nationalist or racist writers, like the late John Tanton and Sam Francis. The VDARE website also posted items by John Derbyshire, who was banned by National Review in 2012 for a piece he wrote for Taki’s Magazine that discussed IQ and race and crime and said it was best to “avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally … Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.”

VDARE also has published pieces by Kevin MacDonald, a psychology professor and editor of a publication called The Occidental Observer, who has been characterized as racist and anti-Semitic by critics, and it is this work Peter Brimelow believes leftist groups found particularly objectionable.

VDARE writers and the Brimelows have criticized other groups opposed to unrestricted immigration for failing to come to its defense in recent weeks, but some of them told RCI they are concerned about what’s happened, especially in light of James’ track record.

“Some of the stuff they posted there was interesting; some of it some people might find repellent,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “But you are supposed to be able to say what you want, and the idea you should be punished for that by organs of the state is outrageous. And immigration has become a kind of litmus test for the left.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:25

Las Vegas Slowdown Deepens As Gamblers Reject Unaffordable Sin City

A Las Vegas downturn first emerged on our radar early this past summer and has only deepened into fall. We previously noted that the days of cheap room rates and discounted buffets to lure gamblers are long gone, replaced by steep markups on even the smallest of items. For many working-class Americans, Vegas has become unaffordable, and the latest data from Goldman analysts show the Strip slowdown persisted through September. 

This is why Vegas tourism is down

American shows prices for food and drinks by a Vegas pool

- Bucket of 24 Coors Light $290.99
- 24 High Noon Seltzers $309.99
- Basic cocktails like a Bloody Mary $39.99
- 12 shots $190

Just look at this good and drink menu, the prices are… pic.twitter.com/ZAh3XKRCzb

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) August 14, 2025

"Las Vegas trends remain lackluster," Goldman analyst Lizzie Dove wrote in a note citing a series of data points, including visitation and gambling metrics, that marked the ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year visitation declines and continued softness across the Strip in September.

Here are the key Vegas trends to focus on:

• Visitation: Down -8.8% y/y in September, following -7% in August and -12% in July. Convention attendance was especially weak (-19% y/y) due to the calendar shift of Oracle CloudWorld to October. Overall visitation fell -10% y/y.

• Hotel Metrics: Las Vegas Strip RevPAR fell -7.9% y/y, driven by ADR -1.5% and occupancy down 570 bps to 81.3%. Weakness was sharper mid-week.

• Gaming Revenue (GGR): Strip GGR declined -5.5% y/y to $688mn, largely due to a very low baccarat hold (8.5%) versus the two-year average of 16.3%. Adjusting for hold, GGR would have actually grown +2.2% y/y.

Despite falling visitation, gambling trends increased 11% y/y, suggesting operators are attracting higher-spending, gaming-focused visitors over general leisure tourists

Las Vegas Gaming Stats

Las Vegas Tracker

Vegas trends have been lagging in 2025, with the most pressure to RevPAR

Vegas casino stocks have been sideways since the pandemic. 

Related:

• August: Las Vegas Tourism Falters As Prices Explode And Amenities Disappear

• July: Another Canary: The Las Vegas Economy Is Tanking Just Like It Did In 2008 And 2009

Perhaps the Wall Street Journal report this week about the GOP's midterm political convention potentially being held in Sin City next year could bring some tailwinds. However, casino operators still need to address the growing affordability issue in the city.

Zerohedge Pro subs can find the Vegas trends note in the usual place - there are more charts. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:05

Las Vegas Slowdown Deepens As Gamblers Reject Unaffordable Sin City

A Las Vegas downturn first emerged on our radar early this past summer and has only deepened into fall. We previously noted that the days of cheap room rates and discounted buffets to lure gamblers are long gone, replaced by steep markups on even the smallest of items. For many working-class Americans, Vegas has become unaffordable, and the latest data from Goldman analysts show the Strip slowdown persisted through September. 

This is why Vegas tourism is down

American shows prices for food and drinks by a Vegas pool

- Bucket of 24 Coors Light $290.99
- 24 High Noon Seltzers $309.99
- Basic cocktails like a Bloody Mary $39.99
- 12 shots $190

Just look at this good and drink menu, the prices are… pic.twitter.com/ZAh3XKRCzb

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) August 14, 2025

"Las Vegas trends remain lackluster," Goldman analyst Lizzie Dove wrote in a note citing a series of data points, including visitation and gambling metrics, that marked the ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year visitation declines and continued softness across the Strip in September.

Here are the key Vegas trends to focus on:

• Visitation: Down -8.8% y/y in September, following -7% in August and -12% in July. Convention attendance was especially weak (-19% y/y) due to the calendar shift of Oracle CloudWorld to October. Overall visitation fell -10% y/y.

• Hotel Metrics: Las Vegas Strip RevPAR fell -7.9% y/y, driven by ADR -1.5% and occupancy down 570 bps to 81.3%. Weakness was sharper mid-week.

• Gaming Revenue (GGR): Strip GGR declined -5.5% y/y to $688mn, largely due to a very low baccarat hold (8.5%) versus the two-year average of 16.3%. Adjusting for hold, GGR would have actually grown +2.2% y/y.

Despite falling visitation, gambling trends increased 11% y/y, suggesting operators are attracting higher-spending, gaming-focused visitors over general leisure tourists

Las Vegas Gaming Stats

Las Vegas Tracker

Vegas trends have been lagging in 2025, with the most pressure to RevPAR

Vegas casino stocks have been sideways since the pandemic. 

Related:

• August: Las Vegas Tourism Falters As Prices Explode And Amenities Disappear

• July: Another Canary: The Las Vegas Economy Is Tanking Just Like It Did In 2008 And 2009

Perhaps the Wall Street Journal report this week about the GOP's midterm political convention potentially being held in Sin City next year could bring some tailwinds. However, casino operators still need to address the growing affordability issue in the city.

Zerohedge Pro subs can find the Vegas trends note in the usual place - there are more charts. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 18:05

These 2 Supreme Court Cases May Affect Future Elections

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

The country is gearing up for the 2026 midterms, and the stakes are especially high for both allies and opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration.

In October, the Supreme Court heard two cases that may impact upcoming elections: one dealing with race-based congressional maps, and the other addressing whether federal candidates can challenge state laws that allow ballot counting after election day.

Race-Based Redistricting

Following a lawsuit by minority voters, a federal court in Louisiana ordered the state to redraw its congressional map to add a second majority-black district, since that demographic made up one-third of the state’s population. After it did so, a group of non-minority voters sued, arguing that the new maps discriminated against them racially.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court heard arguments for both cases in a combined case called Louisiana v. Callais.

They asked whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was being unconstitutionally interpreted to force states to draw congressional maps with extra mostly-minority districts.

That section of the law prohibits voter restriction based on “race or color.”

However, the court did not issue a ruling at that time. Instead, it rescheduled the case for October, asking both sides to be ready to argue whether using race as a factor to decide district lines violated the 14th and 15th Amendments.

Those Amendments guarantee equal protection under the law, and the right to vote despite considerations of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

At the time, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should decide those cases immediately, and not wait until October.

“Congress requires this Court to exercise jurisdiction over constitutional challenges to congressional redistricting, and we accordingly have an obligation to resolve such challenges promptly,” he wrote.

Thomas wrote that previous Supreme Court decisions had created “tension” between the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments: Lower courts had interpreted those decisions to mean that if a state could create an extra mostly-African-American district, then it must do so, he wrote.

During the October hearing, the court seemed likely to narrow the Voting Rights Act.

Counting Late Ballots

Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and two presidential electors filed suit in 2022, challenging Illinois regulations that allow counting of mail-in ballots up to two weeks after an election. In addition to violating federal election law, they said, those rules require Bost to pay campaign staff for an extra two weeks of work as they monitor the late ballot-counting.

The lower courts ruled that Bost did not have standing, i.e., the right to sue, because the decision to pay staff to monitor the ballots was a “self-inflicted” injury. The Fifth Circuit Appeals Court also said Bost could not show the law injured him because the 2024 election was still two months away at the time of their ruling.

So, in the case Bost v. Illinois Board of Elections, the question before the Supreme Court is not yet about counting late ballots, but whether a federal candidate has the right to challenge the practice.

Paul Clement, arguing for Bost, told the court that counting the late ballots was illegal, could cost Bost the election or reduce his margin of victory, and meant he had to shell out extra money to pay his staff.

“All of that means that Congressman Bost has standing three times over,” he said.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said those harms seemed “speculative.”

Jane Notz, attorney for Illinois, said that allowing anyone who called themselves a ‘candidate’ to challenge election rules in court would result in “chaos.”

“It is very easy to be a candidate,” she said.

“Any self-declared candidate could challenge any election rule that they happen to have a policy disagreement with, even if that rule were entirely harmless.”

Louisiana Congressional District Map; Districts 2 and 6 are mostly-black districts. Illustration by The Epoch Times, Public Domain, Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

She also argued that Bost has no standing because he is unlikely to lose the race: He won the last two elections by 49 points and 50 points, respectively.

But when the justices asked how close the race would need to be for a candidate to have standing, Notz was unable give an answer.

Some of the justices were concerned that denying a candidate standing until after the election was underway would produce its own basket of problems.

“What you’re sketching out for us is a potential disaster,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.

“If the candidate hopes to win by a dozen votes—and there are places in the country where that happens over and over again—then he has standing. But we’re not going to know that until we get very close to the election, right? And so it’s going to be in the middle, the most fraught time for the Court to get involved in electoral politics.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch also asked if there was something “unseemly” about courts interfering with an election by making public statements about which candidate was most likely to win, and by how much.

The Outcome

The court has not yet issued a ruling in either of these cases, and timing is key.

Because of a rule called the Purcell doctrine, courts avoid issuing relevant decisions just before elections, in order to avoid voter confusion.

But if the Supreme Court issues a ruling on the Louisiana case before states begin their primary elections, some may choose to remake districts that were drawn with race-based considerations. Historically, mostly-minority districts tend to vote Democrat, so redrawing those maps would likely favor the GOP.

Arkansas’s primary election is in March.

Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi are among the likely candidates. All three states were previously forced by courts to redraw their congressional district lines.

Republicans currently have a narrow majority in both chambers of Congress and control of the White House.

Democrats seek to break that grip by eliminating the GOP majority in the House; Trump has forestalled that plan by urging red states to redraw their congressional district lines, creating new majority-Republican districts.

Trump’s plan may receive a boost, depending on how the Supreme Court rules.

The Bost case may take longer to have an effect. Since the case before the court addresses standing, the actual issue of late ballot-counting would likely be kicked back to lower courts, which would take time to issue decisions.

If Bost prevails, it would allow candidates the opportunity to challenge election laws ahead of time, with unpredictable consequences.

Tyler Durden Thu, 10/30/2025 - 17:45