DOJ Eyes Minnesota's 'Vouching' System For Voter Registration, Demands Records

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil rights division demanded voter registration records from Minnesota on Jan. 2, saying the state’s law that allows people to “vouch” for others’ residency for voter registration appeared inconsistent with federal voting laws.

According to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ is “particularly concerned” with votes and registrations accepted by “vouching” from other registered voters or residential facility employees, along with other same-day registration procedures.

Minnesota allows a registered voter to vouch for up to eight other individuals on Election Day.

Employees of senior care homes or other group facilities can vouch for an unlimited number of residents in their facilities.

As Jill McLaughlin reports below for The Epoch Times, Dhillon sent a letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon demanding that he turn over all records documenting same-day voter registrations, records for votes cast by voters registered under same-day voter registrations, and other records related to the registrations and votes.

The request is for records going back 22 months, including the March 5, 2024, primary election and Nov. 5, 2024, general election.

The demand was made under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and is to “ensure Minnesota’s registration and voting practices are in compliance with federal law, particularly the minimum requirement under [the Help America Vote Act],” according to the letter.

Minnesota’s “system seems facially inconsistent with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. We’ll see!” Dhillon posted on X on Friday.

The Help America Vote Act was passed by Congress in 2002 to reform the voting process by improving voting systems and voter access, following the 2000 election, when Florida’s recount exposed significant flaws in outdated punch-card voting machines that resulted in “hanging” and “dimpled” chads. Minnesota passed same-day voter registration in 1974.

Simon’s office did not return a request for comment about the demand.

Former Trump administration special government employee Elon Musk, who has been outspoken about recent developments in Minnesota, said the state’s voting system was “made for fraud” in an X post on Dec. 27, 2025.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington on Sept. 29, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Meanwhile, federal investigations into alleged widespread fraud continue in Minnesota.

In the latest move, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has suspended 6,900 of the state’s borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity in the state’s pandemic-era loan programs, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said on Jan 1.

President Donald Trump said this week his administration plans to continue targeting alleged social services fraud in the state but may also focus on other states.

California, Illinois, and New York could be committing fraud that is allegedly worse, Trump said.

The DOJ has charged nearly 100 people in Minnesota as fraud investigations continue, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 15:20

Push For Censorship On Campus Hit Record Levels In 2025

Authored by Sean Stephens via American Greatness,

This year, the fight over free expression in American higher education reached a troubling milestone. According to data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, efforts to censor speech on college campuses hit record highs and across multiple fronts—and most succeeded.

Let’s start with the raw numbers. In 2025, FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire, Students Under Fire, and Campus Deplatforming databases collectively tracked:

• 525 attempts to sanction scholars for their speech, more than one a day, with 460 of them resulting in punishment.

• 273 attempts to punish students for expression, more than five a week, with 176 of these attempts succeeding.

• 160 attempts to deplatform speakers, about three each week, with 99 of them succeeding.

That’s 958 censorship attempts in total, nearly three per day on campuses across the country. For comparison, FIRE’s next highest total was 477 two years ago.

The 525 scholar sanction attempts are the highest ever recorded in FIRE’s database, which spans from 2000 to the present. Even when a large-scale incident at the U.S. Naval Academy is treated as just a single entry, the 2025 total still breaks records.

Twenty-nine scholars were fired, including 18 who were terminated since September for social media comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Student sanction attempts also hit a new high, and deplatforming efforts—our records date back to 1998—rank third all-time, behind 2023 and 2024.

The problem is actually worse because FIRE’s data undercounts the true scale of campus censorship.

Why? The data rely on publicly available information, and an unknown number of incidents, especially those that may involve quiet administrative pressure, never make the public record.

Then there’s the chilling effect.

Scholars are self-censoring. 

Students are staying silent.

Speakers are being disinvited or shouted down.

And administrators, eager to appease the loudest voices, are launching investigations and handing out suspensions and dismissals with questionable regard for academic freedom, due process, or free speech.

Some critics argue that the total number of incidents is small compared to the roughly 4,000 colleges in the country. But this argument collapses under scrutiny. While there are technically thousands of institutions labeled as “colleges” or “universities,” roughly 600 of them educate about 80% of undergraduates enrolled at not-for-profit four-year schools. Many of the rest of these “colleges” and “universities” are highly specialized or vocational programs. This includes a number of beauty academies, truck-driving schools, and similar institutions—in other words, campuses that aren’t at the heart of the free speech debate.

These censorship campaigns aren’t coming from only one side of the political spectrum.

FIRE’s data shows, for instance, that liberal students are punished for pro-Palestinian activism, conservative faculty are targeted for controversial opinions on gender or race, and speaking events featuring all points of view are targeted for cancellation. The two most targeted student groups on campus? Students for Justice in Palestine and Turning Point USA. If that doesn’t make this point clear, nothing will.

The common denominator across these censorship campaigns is not ideology— it’s intolerance.

So where do we go from here?

We need courage: from faculty, from students, and especially from administrators. It’s easy to defend speech when it’s popular. It’s harder when the ideas are offensive or inconvenient. But that’s when it matters most.

Even more urgently, higher education needs a cultural reset. Universities must recommit to the idea that exposure to ideas and speech that one dislikes or finds offensive is not “violence.” That principle is essential for democracy, not just for universities.

This year’s record number of campus censorship attempts should be a wake-up call for campus administrators. For decades, many allowed a culture of censorship to fester, dismissing concerns as overblown, isolated, or a politically motivated myth. Now, with governors, state legislatures, members of Congress, and even the White House moving aggressively to police campus expression, some administrators are finally pushing back. But this push-back from administrators doesn’t seem principled. Instead, it seems more like an attempt to shield their institutions from outside political interference.

That’s not leadership. It’s damage control. And it’s what got higher education into this mess in the first place.

If university leaders want to reclaim their role as stewards of free inquiry, they cannot act just when governmental pressure threatens their autonomy. They also need to be steadfast when internal intolerance threatens their mission. A true commitment to academic freedom means defending expression even when it’s unpopular or offensive. That’s the price of intellectual integrity in a free society.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 15:00

Rep. Massie Blasts Trump's Iran Warning: "We Have Problems At Home"

First it was over the White House's Venezuela policy, but now conservative and contrarian libertarian-leaning firebrand Rep. Thomas Massie is lashing out at President Trump over his fresh Iran warning and ultimatum.

Amid the nearly weeklong economic and anti-government protests in Iran, Trump added fuel to the fire on Friday, stating on Truth Social that if Iran shoots and "violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue."

Massie and Trump have frequently clashed over the past year. File image

This sounded to many like threat of regime change in another Middle East capital - though Trump might be thinking of other 'options' such as more sanctions and efforts to further isolate the Islamic Republic on the world stage.

Massie on Friday in response listed three points as a counter to and critique of Trump: "We have problems at home and shouldn’t be wasting military resources on another country’s internal affairs," Massie wrote on X.

He said that second, "Military strikes on Iran require Congressional authorization." He followed with the final criticism of, "This threat isn’t about freedom of speech in Iran; it’s about the dollar, oil, and Israel" - while reposting Trump's original message.

Massie has long been a thorn in the side of Trump's latest foreign policy adventures, and the Republican from Kentucky along with Sen. Rand Paul has a significant following among Trump's MAGA base.

He indeed gives voice to the growing viewpoint that Trump should stick to his campaign promises and not allow the United States military to be the "police force of the world".

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has meanwhile also called out Trump for not being 'America First' enough, while highlighting Massie's commentary...

In case you're wondering why three fanatically pro-Israel oligarchs (Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer and John Paulson) are single-handedly funding the campaign to remove @RepThomasMassie from Congress, see below.

Too much America First. Can't have that: pic.twitter.com/i7NwMmkNC1

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 2, 2026

For many others, however, Trump's reviving a Monroe Doctrine concept of how foreign policy should work might sound promising and refreshing. But it does require Washington to lessen or remove its footprint from conflict theatres ranging from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, as well as perhaps a policy of much less provoking China over the hot button Taiwan issue.

* * *

And more shots fired from MGT to boot...

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:40

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Revokes Orders Issued After Adams' Indictment

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order on Jan. 1 that will undo orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, issued after being indicted on bribery and corruption charges in September 2024.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after he was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in New York City on Jan. 1, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The order, which went into effect immediately, is among a series of executive actions Mamdani signed on his first day in office after being sworn in as the city’s mayor on Jan. 1.

His office stated that the order would rescind executive actions issued by Adams on or after Sept. 26, 2024, when the outgoing mayor was indicted on bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses. It did not list the specific executive orders to be revoked.

Orders likely to be revoked include a directive Adams issued on Dec. 3, 2025, which barred agency staff and mayoral appointees from engaging in procurement practices that discriminate against Israel and Israeli citizens.

Another affected order, issued by Adams that same day, directed the New York Police Department commissioner to evaluate proposals for regulating protest activity near houses of worship to protect freedom of speech.

Mamdani told reporters on Jan. 1 that he intends to keep the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, established by Adams in May 2025. Adams issued the first mayoral report on anti-Semitism one day before Mamdani was sworn in, highlighting the need to tackle anti-Semitism in the city.

“That is an issue that we take seriously, and it’s part of the commitment that we’ve made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them, but to celebrate and cherish them,” the new mayor said.

In his inaugural address, Mamdani emphasized that his administration would not “hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.”

“The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations,” he said during his inauguration ceremony at City Hall. “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

The September 2024 indictment against Adams, the first against a sitting New York City mayor, alleged that Adams accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals during his 2021 mayoral campaign.

Adams was also accused of receiving improper benefits while serving as Brooklyn Borough president in 2014, including international travel from foreign businessmen and at least one Turkish government official.

He pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. A federal judge in April 2025 dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be brought again, after the Justice Department asked for the case to be dismissed.

The Epoch Times reached out to Adams for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Other executive orders Mamdani signed included measures to revitalize the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants and to establish two new task forces focused on leveraging city-owned land to accelerate housing development and removing bureaucratic and permitting barriers that drive up costs and delay housing construction.

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, won the Nov. 4, 2025, mayoral contest over independent candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:20

Kremlin Makes Show Of Handing Evidence To US Side 'Proving' Ukrainian Attack On Putin Residence

The Kremlin has really made a big show for the cameras of handing over to American officials what it says is evidence that Ukrainian drones had attempted to strike Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence in the Novgorod region Sunday night into Monday morning.

The international community has asked for evidence Putin's residence was targeted, and Moscow has responded. Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday shows Igor Kostykov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, meeting with the US defense attaché in Moscow and handing over what he identified as a "navigation unit" recovered from one of the drones shot down in Novgorod.

Russia has been on an information blitz, putting out images of downed drones and televised interviews of local Russian eyewitnesses to the drone waves early this week. But the 'evidence hand-over' to the US side is ultimately strong signaling aimed at President Trump.

Kostykov described that the "decryption of the content of the memory of the navigation controller of the drones carried out by specialists of Russia’s special services confirms without question that the target of the attack was the complex of buildings of the Russian president’s residence in the Novgorod region."

MOMENT MoD hands over KEY data to US representatives

'Decryption of navigation controllers… unequivocally CONFIRMED that target of attack was Russian President’s residence in Novgorod region'

Military Intelligence Chief Igor Kostyukov transfers info to America https://t.co/XTCEc08DyD pic.twitter.com/V7xKBsxldD

— RT (@RT_com) January 1, 2026

Putin had informed President Trump about the alleged incident on the day it occurred via phone call, and Trump initially appeared to accept Moscow’s version, expressing sympathy and saying he "wasn't happy about it." He followed by sharing a New York Post article which said Moscow "is the one standing in the way of peace."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would not withdraw from peace talks with Washington, but would still adjust its negotiating stance and respond militarily, adding that potential targets had already been selected. "Such reckless actions will not go unanswered," he said.

What might this response look like? Author and geopolitical pundit Glenn Diesen writes the following:

WSJ reports that Russia’s attacks on Odessa (ports, bridges, etc.) are cutting Ukraine’s economic lifeline. This was a predictable Russian response after Ukraine/NATO began using Odessa to target Russian civilian ships.

It is equally predictable that Russia will annex Odessa if there is no peace agreement that restores Ukraine’s neutrality and prevents Odessa from being used as a NATO front line. Our political-media establishment should learn about the security dilemma instead of cosplaying a the 1930s.

Diesen ends with this apt conclusion: "NATO is not 'helping' Ukraine by intensifying attacks on Russia, it is sacrificing Ukraine in the hope of bleeding Russia."

Reporting in mainstream media indicates a US intelligence consensus which casts doubt on Ukrainian drones being intentionally sent against Putin's residence; however, there does seem to be acknowledgement that a drone wave was active in the general area.

Putin's residence at Valdai. Source: navalny.com

The below is conveyed from The Wall Street Journal report:

U.S. national-security officials said Wednesday that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in an alleged drone operation, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader.

That conclusion is supported by a Central Intelligence Agency assessment that found no attempted attack against Putin had occurred, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence. The CIA declined to comment.

The U.S. found that Ukraine had been seeking to strike a military target located in the same region as Putin's country residence but not close by, the official said.

The big question remains, if drones did target the residence, was the CIA involved in assisting with targeting information?

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:00

Pretense, Staging, Expediency: The "Solutions" That Implode The Whole Shebang

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Slapdash quick fixes and policies share one characteristic: they eventually implode the whole shebang.

We all know how this works: the business is failing and the divorce papers have been filed, but the optics are ugly, so the couple waltzes in, all smiles and lovey-dovey, for who wants to explain how it all went wrong?

To paper over the inevitable reckoning, expediencies are deployed: money is borrowed but the loans are kept off the books, defaults are buried, the kids' college fund is raided, promises that can't be kept are made, and so on.

To maintain the illusion that all is well, everything is carefully staged. The failing business still churns out PR, the yard service keeps the front yard tidy, and the inability to pay the university tuition is explained away as a "gap year" as the eldest child seeks work experience to bolster their career opportunities, etc.

2026 is the year when all the "solutions" of Pretense, Staging and Expediency implode on every level: household, enterprise, local, state and national, for Pretense, Staging and Expediency are scale-invariant "solutions": cooking the books, staging and hiding debt works for the state and nation just as well as it does for the sole proprietor and bankrupt household.

The only difference is the depth of the deviousness. The larger the organization, the greater the resources available to throw into Pretense, Staging and Expediency. So banks extend a new loan to borrowers who defaulted so they can make minimal payments, an expediency that enables the bank to keep the non-performing loan on the books as an asset in good standing.

Conventional economists are paid truckloads of cash to conjure up gamed statistics and bogus projections that act as eye-catching facades hiding the rotting mansion awaiting collapse.

The problem is Pretense, Staging and Expediency are not actual solutions. Since there's no actual long-term plan to address the dire consequences of previous "solutions," Pretense and Staging are deployed along with increasingly destabilizing Expediencies to mask the unintended consequences of slapdash quick fixes.

Policies touted as "solutions" that lack any consideration of the consequences are in effect Expediencies, as the first-order effects of policies that affect the entire system are hard enough to anticipate, while the second-order effects (consequences generate their own set of consequences) only unfold over time and cannot be fully anticipated.

Semantic / narrative-control Pretense and Staging are popular but self-defeating, as calling the risk-choked Shadow Banking System "private credit" doesn't change the dominoes-falling house of cards nature of expediencies as they implode. (Thank you, correspondent Anthony A., for this example.)

Slapdash fixes / policies share one characteristic: they eventually implode the whole shebang when the failure of Pretense, Staging and Expediency to actually resolve structural problems becomes unavoidably obvious. Hope clings tenaciously to Pretense, Staging and Expediency, but when this faith in falsehoods and fakery finally expires, there's no outrunning the consequences.

We'll know things are serious when those in charge are reduced to relying on lies as their last-ditch cover story.

Alternatively, we'll know things are serious when the AI chatbot declares all this is a fringe conspiracy theory and then three questions later, it's recommending survivalist strategies of the fringe conspiracy theory variety.

*  *  *

My new book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free)

Check out my updated Books and Films. Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 13:40

Minnesota To Mandate K–12 Ethnic Studies Instruction In 2026

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times,

In the coming weeks, school boards across the Land of 10,000 Lakes state will decide on curricula to meet ethnic studies mandates for the 2026–2027 academic year.

There appear to be limited alternatives to the free instructional materials developed with taxpayer dollars and endorsed by the state teachers’ union.

That curriculum instructs 6th graders to learn the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement; 7th graders on how protesters have breached federal buildings; and higher schoolers to “identify plans of action that people have used to resist, refuse, and create alternatives to oppressive systems,” according to the materials developed by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender and Sexuality Studies (RIDGS).

“Students will be able to explain how race is socially constructed and how that social construction has been used to oppress people of color, specifically in relation to Jim Crow, segregation, and racial covenants,” reads the description for the 11th and 12th-grade Jim Crow of the North course.

The Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based education policy organization that opposes partisan and race-based curricula, is helping districts find politically neutral alternatives that it says are more like traditional social studies and history electives and less like social justice advocacy guidance.

“The words ethnic studies have been hijacked,” Catrin Wigfall, a policy fellow with the center, told The Epoch Times.

“But boards [of education] have more power in this than they might think.”

Additionally, state laws allow parents to review a curriculum and opt their child out of any instruction they find objectionable, in which case the school is required to provide alternative materials, Wigfall said.

The Minnesota Department of Education defines ethnic studies as an interdisciplinary area of instruction that “analyzes how race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces, and the connection of race to the stratification of other groups.”

The state law requires public schools to incorporate ethnic studies lessons in mandatory social studies courses across all grade levels, in addition to offering a stand-alone ethnic studies elective course for high school juniors and seniors.

In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Education stipulated that the ethnic studies context is expected to be embedded in other subject areas, including math, physical education, and health, as courses are periodically revised.

The Center of the American Experiment argues that those standards habituate angry, inaccurate, and “identity-first” ideological and political perspectives.

By definition, ethnic studies should focus on global histories, cultures, and religions, but the instruction pushed in Minnesota schools forces a polarizing and narrow political worldview, Wigfall said.

“It’s been a bait and switch campaign,” she said.

The center endorses the American Experience curriculum by the Foundation Against Tolerance and Racism, which Johns Hopkins has approved as a model for ethnic studies instruction, as a suitable alternative to the University of Minnesota’s instructional materials.

In addition, the 1776 Unites free curriculum focuses on historical stories that “celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals,” according to its website.

Wigfall said her organization will work with school districts to navigate curriculum choices and the timetable for meeting state requirements across various subject areas.

The center isn’t advocating litigation over the mandate, but local education leaders, under federal Title VI provisions, have legal recourse if they are forced to foster a hostile learning environment under state requirements.

“It will be interesting to see what the rollout looks like,” she said. “When you emphasize tribalism, what does that do to knowledge development?”

Minnesota isn’t the only place grappling with debates surrounding ethnic studies mandates.

The California Department of Education strongly recommends the curricula, but has yet to require them.

The Defending Education parents’ organization recently reported that K–12 districts in 22 states spent more than $17.5 million since 2017 on “liberated” ethnic studies instruction.

Mitch Siegler, founder of the THINC Foundation, which promotes K–12 curriculum transparency and is closely monitoring California’s moves, said his situation is similar to Minnesota’s in that consultants and content creators focusing on such ethnic studies collaborate with districts and teacher unions to “promote the only game in town.”

THINC is developing alternative materials that emphasize civics and American history.

“Warts and all,” Siegler said in an email response to The Epoch Times. “And which teaches students to debate complex issues and disagree in an agreeable fashion. That’s a far cry from the ideological approach which the ‘liberated’ consultants advocate for.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 13:00

UBS Says Soaring Memory Chip Prices To "Turbo-Charge" Samsung Earnings

For several months, we have tracked a sharp increase in DDR5 DRAM pricing, as evidenced by DRAMeXchange data, driven primarily by surging AI-related cloud computing demand and hyperscalers accelerating data center buildouts.

On day one of the new year, Samsung co-CEO Jun Young Hyun told employees in an internal memo that customers have praised the differentiated competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4, saying, "It's even earning an assessment from customers that 'Samsung is back'." He noted that Samsung will also benefit from favorable memory market conditions this year, as demand for artificial intelligence chips has materialized much quicker than initially anticipated.

The other week, Goldman analyst Maho Kamiya told clients that mounting concerns about soaring memory prices posed new risks for Nintendo, which manufactures consumer electronics such as the popular Switch 2.

"Some investors think that Nintendo will be selling Switch 2 at a loss and gross profit falling into the red. While rising memory prices are a risk factor that could depress hardware margins, we think concerns are somewhat excessive," Kamiya told clients last week.

While end-use consumer electronics companies such as Nintendo may be pressured by higher memory costs, the same pricing surge is expected to "turbo-charge earnings" for Samsung's memory business, according to UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois.

Gaudois explains why:

DDR and NAND contract pricing coming out higher than expected

With 4Q25 memory contract pricing negotiations now completed, we lift our forecast for DDR contract pricing to +35% QoQ (was +21%), and for NAND +20% (was +15%). We believe customers are trying to secure 1Q26 contract pricing in earnest, with further potential for upside. We now forecast blended DDR contract pricing to increase 29% QoQ (was +15%) and NAND +20% (was +10%) in 1Q26. From there on, we continue to forecast DRAM to remain undersupplied until 1Q27, and NAND 3Q26. We see the ongoing upside in conventional memory pricing as the main stock driver for Samsung. At 1.43x NTM book, we believe the stock is not yet discounting the strength and length of the upcycle ahead.

HBM shipments to catch up in 2026E

While we maintain our 2026 DRAM bit growth forecast of 15% YoY, we could see up to 2 pct pts upside depending on production yields / efficiency / mix. We continue to forecast HBM shipments to reach 7.5bn Gb in 2026, up 77% YoY. We continue to expect Samsung to provide HBM4 samples to Nvidia by February, which could lead to qualification by 2Q26 (with production starting earlier in 1Q). We believe Samsung remains first source for HBM for AMD and Open AI. Regarding Google, we believe Samsung is second source for TPU 7p, while Micron may be second source for TPU 7e (first source in both cases being SK Hynix).

Increasing forecasts well ahead of consensus on DDR/NAND ASP estimates

We increase our 4Q25 OP forecast to Won18.1tn from Won15.0tn (VA consensus: Won15.3tn) on the back of increased DRAM and NAND ASPs. We raise 2026E/27E OP to Won135.3tn/Won143.6tn (from Won101.2tn/Won109.5tn respectively), well ahead of consensus Won86.9tn/Won109.6tn respectively, and lift our 2026/27 EPS forecasts by 31%/29%. These changes are due to raised DDR/NAND ASPs as well as DRAM bit growth forecasts, which more than offset us lowering smartphone margins due to rising memory prices.

Valuation: lift price target to Won154,000 from Won128,000 – Buy

We value Samsung ordinary shares at 1.97x NTM book (was 1.79x) considering our 2026-30 average ROE estimate of 16.3% (was 14.6%) and CoE of 8.3% (was 8.2%). We also raise our Samsung GDR PT to US$2,610, from US$2,230, with the latest FX.

We've shown readers DDR5 DRAM pricing via DRAMeXchange...

Update: two months later https://t.co/Q4TPIrpzxV pic.twitter.com/O3KTKxZOVE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 22, 2025

But now, take a look at DDR5 DRAM pricing on Amazon!

As a reminder, AI workloads are built around memory.

ZeroHedge Pro Subs can view the full note in the usual place, which includes a thesis map of the memory cycle.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 12:40

10 Very Important Trends To Watch As We Enter 2026

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Are we on the brink of a worldwide nightmare? Many have described what we are currently experiencing as a “perfect storm”. We have been getting hit with one crisis after another as global events have greatly accelerated in recent months. But now it feels like the next chapter that we are entering is going to take things to an entirely different level.

On New Year’s Eve, something very unexpected happened at our most important landmark in the middle of the country.  You will want to read all the way to the end of this article to see what I am talking about.  This year is already off to a very unusual start, and I fully expect a lot more craziness in the months ahead.  

The following are 10 very important trends to watch as we enter 2026…

#1 The Price Of Silver

The price of silver is telling us that there is big trouble under the surface of the global financial system.  Even though there was a dramatic attempt to suppress the price of silver this week, it was still up about 140 percent in 2025.

And the difference between the price of paper silver and the prices that physical silver is going for around the world has become extremely alarming…

Silver at $130 in Japan, $106 in Kuwait, $97 in Korea, and “$71” on Western screens is not a market; it is a confession. The numbers read like a crime scene diagram: in the real world where bars change hands and coins disappear into safes, silver has quietly migrated into triple‑digit pricing, while the supposed “global benchmark” in New York and London is still stuck in a fantasyland of leveraged promises.​

In Tokyo shops and Japanese bullion counters, you are not buying silver in the 70s; you are paying the equivalent of $120–130 an ounce because that is what it costs to replace inventory once you factor in tight wholesale supply, shipping, insurance, currency chaos, and the growing sense that the next shipment might not show up on time, or at all. Kuwait tells the same story in a different language: retail bars priced around $100+ an ounce are not a fat merchant’s greed; they are the market’s answer to a simple question—what will it really take to pry physical metal out of the pipeline in a world where everyone suddenly wants the same scarce asset at the same time.​

#2 The Affordability Crisis

In 2025, I wrote about the affordability crisis in the United States a lot.

Sadly, at this stage approximately two-thirds of the entire U.S. population is struggling to even pay for the basics…

About 7 in 10 Americans polled by CBS News in December said they were struggling to pay for food, housing and health care, underscoring the affordability issues affecting millions of households.

#3 Israel And Iran

This is a big one.

Once Israel and Iran start fighting again, global events will go into overdrive.

Apparently a new round of airstrikes on Iran was discussed during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Trump on Monday, and I am convinced that it won’t be too long before those airstrikes actually begin…

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, during which the two leaders discussed efforts by Iran to reconstitute its nuclear program following the Israeli and American airstrikes in June, and to expand its ballistic missile arsenal.

During the meeting, Netanyahu shared with Trump details regarding Israel’s planning for a possible follow-up air campaign against Iran, should Tehran continue to refuse to halt its efforts to enrich uranium.

According to a US official and two other American sources, Israel is considering airstrikes in 2026.

#4 The War In Ukraine

Russian forces are steadily moving forward on the eastern and southern fronts in Ukraine, and so the Russians will not be inclined to give the Ukrainians and our European allies what they are demanding…

• Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected a command post of the Russian Armed Forces
• Putin received reports from Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the commanders of Russia’s Center and East groupings of forces.
• Russian commanders told Putin that their army has captured the cities of Mirnohrad, Rodynske, and Artemivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as well as Huliaipole and Steponohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region.

#5 Europe Preparing For War

Russia has made it very clear that it does not intend to attack any other European countries.

But for some reason, the Europeans are feverishly preparing for war anyway.

In fact, Germany is now requiring all 18-year-old males to complete a compulsory survey about military service…

Germany is stepping up preparations for war – starting with its teenage boys.

From this week, every German male will be legally required to answer questions from the army the moment he turns 18, as part of a sweeping new military service scheme approved amid mounting fears of a major conflict in Europe.

Tens of thousands of teenagers will be sent a compulsory 14-question survey by the Bundeswehr, asking not only how interested they are in joining the military, but how fit they are to fight and how quickly they could be ready for service.

Ignoring the form is not an option. Young men who refuse to complete the questionnaire – or repeatedly ignore follow-up demands from the army – face fines of up to €1,000 (£800), even though ministers insist the scheme falls short of full conscription.

#6 Venezuela

The Trump administration has been bombing drug boats, seizing oil tankers and threatening the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This could put the U.S. on a collision course with China.

China does not intend to stop buying oil from Venezuela.  If the U.S. starts seizing Chinese oil tankers that approach Venezuela, that could cause a major international incident.  According to Newsweek, there are two Chinese oil tankers that are expected to arrive in Venezuela very soon…

Chinese oil tankers are pressing ahead with Venezuela-linked voyages despite a U.S. blockade and an escalating campaign of tanker seizures.

Two Chinese-flagged VLCCs are operating near Venezuelan waters, with the Thousand Sunny due to arrive in mid-January and the Xing Ye waiting off French Guiana, according to a new report by Lloyd’s List.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

#7 Taiwan

The Chinese just concluded military exercises that practiced what a full-blown blockade of Taiwan would look like.

At this stage, tensions between China and Taiwan are higher “than at any point in recent years”…

As 2025 ends, tensions between China and Taiwan are higher — and more overt — than at any point in recent years, fueled by expanded U.S. military support for Taipei, increasingly bold warnings from regional allies, and Chinese military drills that look less like symbolism and more like rehearsal.

Beijing has spent the year steadily increasing pressure on Taiwan through large-scale military exercises, air and naval incursions, and pointed political messaging, while Washington and its allies have responded with sharper deterrence signals that China now openly labels as interference.

#8 Pestilences

The bird flu continues to kill millions of birds all over the globe, various strains of mpox continue to circulate, and the pestilence that erupted in 2020 is still making people sick throughout the world.  Meanwhile, some U.S. states are seeing a historic spike in flu cases…

The ‘super flu’ is exploding across the US, with some states seeing more cases than ever before.

The latest CDC data for the week ending December 20 shows positive flu tests are up 53 percent compared to the week prior. Positive tests are up nearly 75 percent from this time last year.

During the week ending December 20, the number of people hospitalized surged 51 percent, and the number already in hospital has nearly doubled compared to the same period last year.

It is just a matter of time before the next great global pandemic arrives, and scientists are warning us that it could come from a multitude of potential directions…

Scientists continue to discover viruses with worrisome characteristics (Chen et al. 2025). Some experts worry about the potential for a leak from pathogen research labs (Palacios, Garcia-Sastre, and Relman 2025), or AI’s ability, in the wrong hands, to help with the creation of a bioweapon (Tjandra 2025). Out in the open, H5N1 avian influenza continues to spread and infect a wide range of animal species—the virus perhaps just a mutation away from becoming a human threat (Lin et al. 2024). Another pathogen, most likely an influenza or another coronavirus is waiting to break out.

#9 Seismic Activity Along The Pacific Ring Of Fire

Seismic activity along the Pacific Ring of Fire increased dramatically in 2025.

And as we enter 2026, the state of California is being shaken by significant earthquakes on an almost daily basis.

In fact, we just witnessed a magnitude 4.9 quake that really shook a lot of people up…

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake was recorded near the town of Susanville in Lassen County on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was centered around nine miles northwest of Susanville at 9:49 p.m. It was downgraded from an initial magnitude of 5.3.

#10 The Greatest Global Food Crisis In Modern History

We are in the midst of the greatest global food crisis in modern history.

But don’t just take my word for it.

The following comes from the official website of the UN’s World Food program…

Yes. Right now, there is a global food crisis – the largest one in modern history. Since the United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) creation in 1963, never has hunger reached such devastating highs. From the eruption of new conflicts and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis to soaring food and fuel costs, millions of people are being driven closer to starvation each day.

Nearly 350 million people around the world are experiencing the most extreme forms of hunger right now. Of those, nearly 49 million people are on the brink of famine. Behind these massive statistics are individual children, women and men suffering from the dire effects of such severe hunger. Malnourished mothers give birth to malnourished babies, passing hunger from one generation to the next. Children’s physical and cognitive growth is stunted. Farmers are unable to grow enough food to provide for their families and communities. Entire towns are forced to leave their homes in search of food.

We really are living in apocalyptic times.

Sadly, many in the western world don’t seem to understand this since we don’t have war or famine on our own soil.

But for those that are watching carefully, it is exceedingly clear that we have arrived at a truly unique chapter in human history.

So many incredibly strange things are occurring all around us.

On New Year’s Eve, a green meteor dramatically flew past the most important landmark in the center of the United States…

A shimmering meteor was spotted cutting across the sky over the famed Gateway Arch in Missouri hours before revelers rushed to a New Year’s Eve celebration at the monument’s base.

“HEY LOOK, it’s… A meteor saying hi to the Gateway Arch on New Year’s Eve!” The St. Louis Gateway Arch’s X account wrote in a post shared with the breathtaking video.

In the six-second clip, a small white speck appears over one end of the arch. It grows into a green blaze that pulses once before disappearing back into the dark obscurity provided by the predawn sky — right as it reaches the arch’s peak.

The viral video was captured on an Earth Cam situated at Malcolm Martin Memorial Park in east St. Louis. The camera is angled directly towards the city’s skyline all day, every day.

That is something that you don’t see every day.

Of course so many weird things have been happening in the heavens over the last couple of years, and most of the population simply doesn’t care.

Most of us have an unbreakable addiction to entertainment at this point, and getting people to focus on anything other than entertainment is becoming exceedingly difficult.

Most people are just going to continue to stare at their screens as the world falls apart all around them, and that is extremely unfortunate.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 12:20

3 Key Supreme Court Cases To Watch In Early 2026

Authored by Sam Dorman and Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

The Supreme Court will resume oral arguments the week of Jan. 12, taking on cases dealing with girls’ athletics, gun laws, and the president’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve.

Here are the top cases to watch.

1. Girls’ Sports

The Supreme Court on Jan. 13 will hear arguments in two cases—West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox—that focus on West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws barring males from competing in female sports. The eventual ruling is expected to tackle key questions about how federal law and the Constitution treat sex and gender.

Both states faced hurdles in federal appeals courts, which held that their laws classified individuals based on their sex and “transgender status.” They also indicated that those types of classifications violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which generally directs states to apply the law equally to everyone regardless of particular characteristics.

While courts have sometimes allowed states to treat certain groups of people differently, legal classifications based on sex and other characteristics have also been rejected. That’s because when courts determine whether to uphold a state law, they weigh certain factors, such as whether the state has an important enough interest in using certain characteristics to classify individuals.

In both West Virginia’s and Idaho’s cases, the states have acknowledged that they classify people based on sex but that doing so is justified—specifically because they further important government interests in protecting equality in sports.

“On average, men are faster, stronger, bigger, more muscular, and have more explosive power than women,” Idaho told the Supreme Court. “For female athletes to compete safely and excel, they deserve sex-specific teams.”

West Virginia’s case has also led the Supreme Court to wrestle with a similar issue: whether athletics laws violate Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. That law, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational institutions, was cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit when it ruled against West Virginia in 2024.

That decision was wrong, West Virginia told the Supreme Court, because Title IX was focused on unequal treatment between the sexes rather than eliminating all sex-based distinctions.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) speaks following the passage of the “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” outside the U.S. Capitol on April 20, 2023. The Supreme Court on Jan. 13 will hear arguments in two cases that focus on West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws barring males from competing in female sports. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Heather Jackson, whose male child was barred from participating in girls’ cross country and track teams, argued that West Virginia’s law was unreasonable. Part of Jackson’s argument is that puberty-delaying drugs have prevented her child from developing physiological, athletic advantages over girls.

Meanwhile, the student challenging Idaho’s law has attempted to withdraw from the dispute while pledging not to participate in women’s sports. The Supreme Court has deferred deciding on this attempt until after oral argument.

Beyond sex-based distinctions, the appeals courts raised a separate question about whether Idaho’s and West Virginia’s laws classify individuals based on “transgender status.” In other words, do the states target individuals based on that purported status rather than solely based on their sex?

So far, the Supreme Court hasn’t offered a definitive ruling on this issue, but multiple justices suggested in June that someone’s “transgender status” shouldn’t receive extra protection under the Constitution. Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett both said, among other things, that “transgender status” lacked the type of immutable characteristic held by other protected classes, such as race.

2. Hawaii’s Gun Law

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 20 in Wolford v. Lopez, which challenges Hawaii’s restrictions on concealed carry but also invites the court to clarify the role of American history in upholding gun laws.

In a landmark ruling in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas said that state laws should be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Since then, lower courts have tried applying the decision in that case, known as New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, to state laws such as Hawaii’s. The Hawaii law prohibited concealed-carry permit holders from carrying weapons in privately owned public spaces unless given “express authorization of the owner, lessee, operator, or manager of the private property.”

When the Ninth Circuit reviewed the law, it said those restrictions fell “well within the historical tradition.” The appeals court pointed to a New Jersey law from 1771 and a Louisiana law from 1865 that it said were “dead ringers” for Hawaii’s restrictions.

A man carries a gun before a hearing where four gun control bills passed the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Virginia state Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 13, 2020. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 20 in a case challenging Hawaii’s concealed-carry restrictions that also asks the justices to clarify how history should factor into gun laws. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Those two were relevant because one was enacted just before the Second Amendment’s ratification, while the other came just before ratification of the 14th Amendment, which extends the Second Amendment to states.

Jason Wolford, a Hawaii resident who sued with other plaintiffs, is asking the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the basis that it erred in analyzing the older laws. More specifically, his attorneys argued that historic laws couldn’t merely be similar to the one passed by Hawaii.

Instead, the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen required that the laws needed to serve similar purposes, the petition says.

Louisiana’s law was too different from Hawaii’s, Wolford said, because it not only focused on land that was barred to the public but also came as part of the state’s “black codes” intended to deprive former slaves of civil rights. He also argued that the New Jersey law was intended to control poaching on enclosed lands and was therefore different from Hawaii’s law.

Hawaii, meanwhile, described its law as following numerous founding-era and Reconstruction-era laws in vindicating the rights of property owners to exclude certain people from their property.

3. Trump’s Fed Firing

On Jan. 21, the Supreme Court will examine the president’s authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve. The case, Trump v. Cook, follows another case heard in December over the president’s ability to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission.

Both cases focus on laws Congress passed restricting the president’s ability to fire officials. Trump v. Cook is a bit different, however, in that it focuses more on the purported cause Trump cited in firing Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook.

Lisa Cook, member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve, departs the Federal Reserve Board headquarters in Washington on Oct. 9, 2025. On Jan. 21, the Supreme Court will examine the president’s authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The issue arose after Trump sent a letter in August accusing Cook of mortgage fraud.

Cook and Trump have differed over whether alleged fraud was the type of “cause” that Congress allowed the president to use as a basis for firing board members. While the Federal Reserve Act allows presidents to fire members “for cause,” it doesn’t offer much indication as to what that means. Trump, meanwhile, has argued that courts shouldn’t be able to second-guess his determination that a sufficient cause existed for firing someone such as Cook.

Many of the arguments surround how much protection Cook deserves under the Fifth Amendment, which says people can’t “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

A federal judge in Washington reinstated Cook on the basis that she had a property interest in her position but wasn’t given due process before losing her job. That due process, the judge said, should include some kind of meaningful notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, telling the justices that tenure-protected officers didn’t have a property right to their positions and that reinstatement was outside of judges’ authority.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 11:40

Fighting Breaks Out On Saudi Border In Oil-Rich Yemen Region

Yemen continues to be a major headache and security risk for the Saudis, and rare fighting has emerged just on the kingdom's border. Looming over the crisis is the deepening rift between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes on sites near the Saudi-Yemeni border in Yemen's Hadramout province on Friday, as clashes erupted between forces loyal to the Saudi-backed provincial governor and fighters affiliated with the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatist forces, via Reuters.

The STC has for years called the secession of a proposed federal "State of South Arabia" from the rest of the country, and is backed in this current conflict by the UAE.

At lease seven air raids along the border occurred Friday, according to local officials. The STC's leader in Wadi Hadramout, Mohammed Abdulmalik, has said that the strikes killed seven people and injured more than 20 others.

Saudi-backed authorities have this week moved to reassert control over military installations in the province. Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia and thus whichever group controls the area gains great influence and strategic importance, also given it is an area rich with crude.

Earlier on Friday, Yemen's Saudi-backed government formally announced the launch of a military operation targeting the STC in Hadramout. Speaking in a televised address from Riyadh, the province's governor said the campaign was intended to reassert state authority and secure key institutions in the oil-producing region.

In response, STC forces said they were fully prepared to confront any military escalation following the governor's announcement.

Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem has explained of the geopolitical pressures which led to the new escalation:

The opportunity here for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) is to go towards separation, to have a southern state, which has been its dream for decades.

It’s a different moment and it’s instrumental in recalibrating the region. Israel’s war on Gaza war has changed everything – it changed the perception of national security within major states in the region. It changed also the way small players are regarding the possibilities and potential they can build on.

The UAE-backed STC has long rivaled Yemen’s internationally recognized government for influence in the south. However, both sides have at times coordinated against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" kind of way.

Map source: American Foreign Service Association

While media cameras have for years focused on the dominant Houthis in Yemen, friction between Saudi-supported and Emirati-aligned forces has increasingly flared into armed confrontations.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 11:20

RFK Jr. Stops Requiring Doctors To Report Patient Vaccine Status

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stopped mandating health care providers report the immunization status of patients.

Kennedy decided to stop requiring doctors to list vaccinations children have received, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a Dec. 30, 2025, letter to state health officials.

Doctors participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program were previously required to report how many children received specific vaccines by their second birthday, and other shots by the time they turn 14 years old.

Kennedy also eliminated a requirement that doctors report the immunization status of pregnant women, according to the notice.

“Government bureaucracies should never coerce doctors or families into accepting vaccines or penalize physicians for respecting patient choice. That practice ends now,” Kennedy, head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), of which CMS is a part, said in a post on X. “Under the Trump administration, HHS will protect informed consent, respect religious liberty, and uphold medical freedom.”

Federal law requires that doctors report certain measures while caring for the approximately 78 million people on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and that states convey that data to CMS. The reporting was voluntary when first implemented. It began being mandated in fiscal year 2024.

CMS did not respond to a request for comment. In the letter, the agency noted that Kennedy has authority under the law to make changes to the required measures “to improve and strengthen” the reporting requirements, and that pursuant to that authority, CMS was removing the immunization reporting requirements.

The agency said that providers can choose to voluntarily provide the information moving forward “to allow CMS to maintain a longitudinal dataset while exploring alternative immunization measures.”

It also said that starting in 2026, officials would be exploring the development of new measures that would “capture information about whether parents and families were informed about vaccine choices, vaccine safety and side effects, and alternative vaccine schedules.”

Officials plan to talk with states, providers, and other stakeholders about those measures.

“CMS will also explore how religious exemptions for vaccinations can be accounted for in the data and the subsequent measures,” the letter states.

“CMS does not tie payment to performance on immunization quality measures in Medicaid and CHIP at the federal level. While states have flexibility and discretion to use quality measures in state developed value-based purchasing and payment incentive fee for service or managed care programs, CMS strongly discourages states from using immunization measures in payment arrangements.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 11:00

NPR's CEO Refused Internal Demands To Resign "For The Good Of Public Media" Before Loss Of Funding

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

The New York Times reports that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) called on National Public Radio (NPR) CEO Katherine Maher to resign before all federal funding for both the CPB and NPR was cut off. As in the past, Maher and the NPR board chose their own agendas over the interests of their institution and public radio.

I have long been a critic of Maher since her inexplicable selection by the NPR board to lead the media organization. Despite years of objections to NPR’s overt bias, many critics genuinely wanted NPR to reverse course and adopt more balanced coverage. That is why, when NPR was searching for a new CEO, I encouraged the board to hire a moderate figure without a history of political advocacy or controversy.

Instead, the board selected Katherine Maher, a former Wikipedia CEO widely criticized for her highly partisan and controversial public statements.

She was the personification of advocacy journalism, even declaring that the First Amendment is the “number one challenge” that makes it “tricky” to censor or “modify” content as she would like.

Maher has supported “deplatforming” anyone she deems to be “fascists” and even suggested that she might support “punching Nazis.”

She also declared that “our reverence for the truth might be a distraction [in] getting things done.”

As expected, the bias at NPR only got worse. The leadership even changed a longstanding rule barring journalists from joining political protests.

One editor had had enough. Uri Berliner had watched NPR become an echo chamber for the far left with a virtual purging of all conservatives and Republicans from the newsroom. Berliner noted that NPR’s Washington headquarters has 87 registered Democrats among its editors and zero Republicans.

Maher and NPR remained dismissive of such complaints. Maher attacked the award-winning Berliner for causing an “affront to the individual journalists who work incredibly hard.”  She called his criticism “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.”

Berliner resigned, after noting how Maher’s “divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR” that he had been pointing out.

In her disastrous appearance before Congress, Maher sat next to PBS CEO Paula A. Kerger and dismissed criticism. What was not disclosed is that PBS agreed with some of us that, if Maher truly wanted to save federal funding and protect NPR, she would resign.

According to the Times, our calls for her resignation were being repeated internally. Instead, the board that made the foolish choice of hiring Maher chose their ideological and personal agendas over the interests of their institution . . . again.

In the meantime, Maher and others were going public, bewailing the threat to journalism and calling on citizens to do everything that they could to protect NPR. The only thing that they were not willing to do was admit their own failure.

We have seen the same pattern in academia.

The fact is that this academic echo chamber may be killing educational institutions, but the intolerance still works to the advantage of faculty who can control publications, speaking opportunities, and advancement with like-minded ideologues.

We have watched the same perverse incentive in the media where outlets are seeing plummeting readers and revenue. Journalism schools and editors now maintain that reporters should reject objectivity and neutrality as touchstones of journalism.

It does not matter that this advocacy journalism is killing the profession. Reporters and editors continue to saw at the limb upon which they sit due to the same advantage for academics. For reporters, converting newsrooms into echo chambers gives them more security, advancement, and opportunities.

Recently, the new Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis was brought into the paper to right the ship. He told the staff “let’s not sugarcoat it…We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”

The response from reporters was to call for owner Jeff Bezos to fire Lewis and others seeking to change the culture. The Post has been eliminating positions and just implemented another round of layoffs to address the budget shortfalls.

In the meantime, trust in the media is at record lows — paralleling the polling on higher education. The result is the rise of new media as people turn to blogs and other sources for their news.

At NPR, the board and Maher have led the organization into a complete and utter meltdown, resulting in the loss of millions in funding and a shrinking audience. However, it does not matter. CPB called on Maher to resign “for the good of public media.” It was not, however, good for her or her board.

Socially and personally, these individuals are praised and promoted as ideological champions on the left. They were even willing to see the death of CPB to remain faithful to the agenda.

So, CPB died, NPR lost all funding, but Maher kept her job… and her agenda.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 10:20

"Then It Is War": Elon Musk Responds After Somali TikToker Threatens His Life

A Somali TikToker (account now defunct), first highlighted by Libs of TikTok, mocked Americans about alleged Somali-linked fraud in Minnesota and pushed dangerous rhetoric suggesting Elon Musk was "about to die." Such statements fit a broader alarming pattern surrounding the Democratic Party's normalization of assassination culture against Musk and President Trump supporters.

"I wouldn't worry too much about him. He [Musk] about to die," TikToker "dowza.z" stated in a short 30-second clip. The account has since been taken down, and it remains unclear whether the TikToker deleted the account or whether the dangerous rhetoric directed at Musk violated the platform's terms of service.

The somali tiktoker who mocked Americans had a meltdown over Elon Musk and appeared to threaten his life:

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He about to die.”

. @FBI should definitely look into this https://t.co/37Ok26xstv pic.twitter.com/Ow8NmwFhut

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 1, 2026

Musk responded on X to DogeDesigner's reposting of the video, saying, "Then it is war."

Then it is war https://t.co/KdlKDW6f61

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2026

Musk's comment comes as the current political climate, characterized by increasingly hostile rhetoric from the Democratic Party, has significantly amplified threats and the spillover of inflammatory left-wing propaganda into real-world security risks. Historical precedent supports this assessment, including the role of dark-money-funded NGOs backing anti-American activist networks, what Peter Schweizer has described as the "protest industrial complex," which coordinated protest activity and other pressure campaigns targeting Musk, Tesla, President Trump, and anything 'America First'. These efforts coincided with radical left groups, including firebombing terror incidents at Tesla showrooms. Taken together, this pattern of threats from the left and their supporters has translated into real-world consequences. Just look at what happened to Charlie Kirk, which reinforces the urgency for Musk to ramp up his political activity this year.

"America is toast if the radical left wins. They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud. Won't be America anymore," Musk wrote on X.

Musk was quoting a report that he is reportedly going all-in on funding Republicans for the midterm election cycle.

America is toast if the radical left wins.

They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud.

Won’t be America anymore. https://t.co/9lppGuSyAV

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2026

This is just day two of the new year.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 10:00

US Manfacturing Survey Signals "Wile E Coyote" Scenario

With 'hard' data showing resilience into year-end, 'soft' survey data has cratered (not helped by the government shutdown)...

Source: Bloomberg

...and this morning brings more weakness as S&P Global's US Manufacturing PMI (final print for December) dipped to 51.8 - its lowest since July (the only contractionary - sub-50- month of 2025)...

Source: Bloomberg

The latest survey showed a weaker gain in production, amid a renewed contraction in new order books – the first in exactly a year. International sales continued to fall, in part linked to tariffs, which also continued to push up operating expenses at an elevated pace. That said, although remaining historically elevated, both input and output prices rose at their slowest rates for 11 months.

 

“Although manufacturers continued to ramp up production in December, suggesting the goods producing sector will have contributed to further robust economic growth in the fourth quarter, prospects for the start of 2026 are looking less rosy," according to Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“Something of a Wiley E Coyote scenario has developed, whereby – just like the cartoon character continues to run despite chasing the roadrunner off a cliff– factories are continuing to produce goods despite suffering a drop in orders."

The gap between growth of production and the drop in orders is in fact the widest seen since the height of the global financial crisis back in 2008-9:

"Unless demand improves, current factory production levels are clearly unsustainable."

Payroll numbers will also be adversely impacted if production capacity has to be scaled back.

“A key factor causing concern over sales is the extent to which producers are having to pass higher costs on to customers in the form of raised prices, with higher costs continuing to be overwhelmingly blamed on tariffs," says Williamson.

There is some good news:

“Some encouragement comes from input cost inflation moderating in December to the lowest recorded since last January.

But...

However, while this cost trend suggests the tariff impact on inflation peaked back in the summer, costs are still rising month-on-month at an elevated rate to suggest that US firms continue to face higher cost growth than competitors in most other major economies.”

So, choose your own adventure: Hard or Soft data?

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 09:54

Tesla Q4 Deliveries Fall 16% As Investors Pivot Toward Robotaxi, Optimus

Tesla delivered 418,227 vehicles in Q4 2025, below Wall Street’s expectation of roughly 426,000 deliveries, according to CNBC and the company. Production totaled 434,358 vehicles. For the full year, Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9% from 2024 and marking the second consecutive annual decline in deliveries.

Shares are now down about 10% from recent highs, despite the stock holding relatively firm given the disappointing numbers so far today.

On December 29, the company publicly released its own analyst delivery consensus for the quarter via a press release on its investor relations website — a significant departure from its normal practice. Tesla typically compiles these estimates but only shares them privately with a select group of analysts and major investors.

The decision to publish the consensus suggested the automaker was trying to manage expectations ahead of what it appeared to anticipate would be a disappointing report.

That internal survey of 20 analysts projected 422,850 deliveries for the quarter, far below the broader public consensus at the time, which ranged from roughly 440,000 to 450,000 vehicles. Even Tesla’s lowered benchmark proved too high.

Fourth-quarter deliveries declined 16% from a year earlier, when Tesla delivered 495,570 vehicles. Production fell 5.5% from the 459,445 vehicles the company built in the same period last year.

EV blog electrek wrote in response to the numbers:

"This is pretty much exactly what we expected: a 15% drop year-over-year and a quarter-over-quarter as Tesla loses incentives in the US and its decline in Europe and China continues. Tesla did report of 14.2 GWh of energy storage deployment, a new record. It’s a silverlining, but it won’t be enough to compensate for the significant drop in electric vehicle deliveries.

Tesla will end 2025 with a second consecutive year of decline in revenue and earnings despite being a “leader” in the globally booming EV market. There’s room for concern: unless you 100% believe in Musk’s pivot to AI. Then, you have nothing to worry about."

The company’s deliveries peaked at 1.81 million vehicles in 2023 before its growth began to stall amid intensifying global competition and an aging vehicle lineup.

Tesla’s fourth-quarter breakdown showed 406,585 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles delivered, along with 11,642 deliveries from its other models, for a total of 418,227.

The pressure on Tesla’s core auto business has become especially visible in Europe. While the company does not provide geographic delivery data, figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association show Tesla’s registrations in the region fell 39% in the first 11 months of 2025, even as overall battery-electric vehicle adoption increased. During the same period, Chinese rival BYD’s European registrations surged 240%.

Tesla now faces fierce competition from a growing list of global automakers, including BYD, Xiaomi and Geely in China, Hyundai and Kia in South Korea, and Volkswagen in Europe. At the same time, political controversies surrounding CEO Elon Musk have contributed to consumer backlash in both Europe and the United States, further weighing on the brand.

The company’s energy business offered a bright spot. Tesla said it deployed 14.2 gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage products in the fourth quarter, up from a record 12.5 GWh in the prior period. The division supplies large-scale systems to utilities and data centers as well as backup batteries for homes.

Some analysts believe Tesla’s newly introduced lower-priced Model Y standard, launched in October, could help stabilize sales in coming quarters, particularly in emerging markets such as Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam. Still, Tesla enters 2026 facing its most uncertain growth outlook in more than a decade, as investors increasingly weigh Elon Musk’s ambitious long-term vision for robotaxis and humanoid robots against the near-term realities of slowing vehicle demand.

Tesla is scheduled to report its full fourth-quarter financial results on Jan. 28.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 09:45

Could Electricity Prices Become A Structural Inflation Problem

Via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Most Americans are paying higher electricity prices, and the pressure is unlikely to ease anytime soon.

According to the Wall Street Journal, electricity prices have risen meaningfully across much of the country since 2022, and the drivers extend well beyond the frequently cited surge in data-center demand.

While electricity prices had historically tracked inflation, that relationship broke down after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent natural gas prices sharply higher.

Since then, utilities have faced rising fuel costs, storm damage from hurricanes and wildfires, and the need to replace aging grid infrastructure.

State-level renewable energy mandates have also driven up costs in regions where wind and solar resources are less efficient, particularly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Looking ahead, the pressure is set to intensify.

The Energy Department expects average residential electricity prices to rise another 4% in 2026, following a nearly 5% increase this year. Investor-owned utilities are projected to spend roughly $1.1 trillion between 2025 and 2029 on transmission, distribution, and generation. That’s double what they spent in the prior decade, and those costs are typically passed through to customers over time.

For consumers, electricity is already the second-largest energy expense after gasoline.

For investors, persistently rising power costs risk becoming a more durable source of inflation than policymakers anticipate.

Even if headline inflation cools, higher utility bills could continue to pressure household budgets, complicate the Fed’s disinflation narrative, and weigh on consumer-driven growth.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 09:35

Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Strikes Near Mexico City

A powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake was just detected 13 miles northwest of Ayutla de los Libres, Mexico, or about 220 miles from Mexico City.

"Not sure what the damage is yet, but a pretty big earthquake just hit Acapulco. My building shook for a good 10 seconds here in Mexico City, about 190 miles away," one X user said.

Not sure what the damage is yet, but a pretty big earthquake just hit Acapulco.

My building shook for a good 10 seconds here in Mexico City, about 190 miles away. pic.twitter.com/l9GQAAOCrx

— BowTiedPassport (@BowTiedPassport) January 2, 2026

Footage:

❗️ 6.5 Earthquake in Guerrero, Mexico causes entire building to SWAY

HUNDREDS evacuated from apartment buildings — ITVNews https://t.co/Ga3J8WVqJ3 pic.twitter.com/Yh3KNpTDXW

— RT (@RT_com) January 2, 2026

VIDEO: Moment earthquake hits Mexico https://t.co/jlK0zh27za pic.twitter.com/rHctOn79Jr

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 2, 2026

Mexico

Earthquake

Mexico city
Temnlor#earthquake #mexicoxity pic.twitter.com/2TSj1Fy9Gi

— Shikha Panchhi (@ShikhaPanchhi) January 2, 2026

Strong earthquake shakes Mexico- 6.5 in San Marcos, Guerrero - video from center of Mexico City pic.twitter.com/fuHIIAWQqK

— Andalalucha (@Andalalucha) January 2, 2026

A happy new year earthquake in Mexico City.

Just got woken up by the earthquake alarm and a short sharp skake… pic.twitter.com/JeKmy5hVwj

— Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) January 2, 2026

Mexican President Sheinbaum's presser was disrupted. 

WATCH: Moment earthquake triggers alarm during Mexican President Sheinbaum’s conference, reporters rushed out pic.twitter.com/3CNd8jweTW

— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) January 2, 2026

*Developing…

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 09:21

SBA Suspends 7,000 Minnesota Borrowers Over "Suspected Fraudulent Activity"

Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced late Thursday that nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers have been suspended over suspected fraud. The move follows a bombshell report last week by citizen journalist Nick Shirley, who detailed alleged large-scale fraud tied to daycare centers operated by Somali-linked networks. The revelations sparked national outrage, with many Americans angered that their taxes are funding what appears to be industrial-scale migrant welfare fraud.

"Over the last week, SBA has reviewed thousands of potentially fraudulent pandemic-era PPP and EIDL loans approved in Minnesota," Loeffler said Thursday on X.

She continued:

Today, our agency took action to suspend 6,900 Minnesota borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity. In total, these borrowers were approved for 7,900 PPP and EIDL loans worth approximately $400M. These individuals will be banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans, going forward.

We will also refer every case, where appropriate, to federal law enforcement for prosecution and repayment.

After years, the American people will finally begin to see the criminals who stole from law-abiding taxpayers held accountable, and this is just the first state.

Over the last week, SBA has reviewed thousands of potentially fraudulent pandemic-era PPP and EIDL loans approved in Minnesota.

Today, our agency took action to suspend 6,900 Minnesota borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity. In total, these borrowers were approved for…

— Kelly Loeffler (@SBA_Kelly) January 2, 2026

Early in December, Loeffler announced a full investigation into "the network of Somali organizations and executives" implicated in Covid-era fraud schemes in the corrupt Democratic-run state.

Tim Walz's state has been in the spotlight over allegations of industrial-scale fraud, with US Attorney Joe Thompson recently warning that the total could top $9 billion across 14 Medicaid programs.

The scandal began at nonprofit Feeding Our Future, based in Minnesota, which was accused of stealing from the Federal Child Nutrition Program by falsely claiming to distribute meals during the Covid pandemic.

A Christopher F. Rufo report alleged that some of the welfare fraud was funneled into an overseas terrorist organization...

Shirley's bombshell report of what appeared to be "empty" day care and autism centers run by Somali operators only suggests possible front companies to maximize extraction from taxpayer programs while minimizing detection.

In response, as we coined "The Shirley Effect," citizen journalists have flooded Democratic-run states and cities to search for fraud, and what they have found in just one week is deeply alarming (read here).

The Somali "daycare manager" appears to be wearing $2,500 glasses. https://t.co/MeIx3wDQPu pic.twitter.com/1nFylQJNkL

— Nathan Hansen (@nathanmhansen) December 31, 2025

By late week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it had frozen federal child care payments nationwide, citing mounting reports of suspected fraud.

"MN mom" panics after seeing "fraud is bad" in her script pic.twitter.com/EaV2Ptjssh

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 31, 2025

The nation has been shocked this week, not just because corporate media tried to downplay and discredit Shirley's report, which led to CBS panicking by late week, but also because average folks, swamped by taxes, overregulation, and elevated costs of living, all leftovers from disastrous "Bidenomics," now see their tax dollars funding the lives of migrants milking the welfare system in what could be one of the largest welfare schemes in years.

Americans are reaching a breaking point.

Fraud fatigue is now a very real thing.

People are not only questioning the system, but are completely done with the system and considering not even paying taxes.

Why should we? It only gets sent to Somali Pirates, and fraudsters and… pic.twitter.com/9kAumrr7Cx

— AmericanPapaBear™ (@AmericaPapaBear) December 31, 2025

Americans are reaching a breaking point. Fraud fatigue is real. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 09:15

Ørsted Sues Trump Administration Over Project Suspension

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

A joint venture of Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, has challenged in court the Trump Administration’s lease suspension order to halt work on the Revolution Wind offshore wind project off the U.S. East Coast. 

Revolution Wind LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables and Ørsted, filed a supplemental complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the lease suspension order issued on December 22, 2025 by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), to be followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction. 

On December 22, the U.S. Department of the Interior paused leases for five offshore wind projects, due to national security concerns, said Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum. 

The projects Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, CVOW – Commercial, Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind 1 were paused by the U.S. Administration, which threw another curveball to developers of offshore wind projects, many of which are in advanced stage of development. 

Revolution Wind, which secured all required federal and state permits in 2023, following extensive reviews, is currently about 87% complete and has already installed all offshore foundations and 58 of 65 wind turbines. 

Sunrise Wind LLC, a separate project and wholly-owned subsidiary of Ørsted that also received a lease suspension order on December 22, continues to evaluate all options to resolve the matter, including engagement with relevant agencies and stakeholders and considering legal proceedings, the Denmark-based offshore wind giant said on Friday.

Last week, Norway’s Equinor suspended work on the Empire Wind 1 project following the stop-work order issued by the U.S. Administration. 

The Trump Administration has made no secret of its attitude to wind energy, and especially offshore wind. Since President Trump took office, the federal government has clamped down on wind energy projects through stop-work orders and subsidy removals.      

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 08:55