Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was asked Sunday if he is considering switching parties to become a Republican after he once again spoke out against Democrats’ extreme rhetoric, waring that it “will foment more extreme outcomes.”
As we have highlighted, Fetterman has spoken out against Democrat Party lines on several topics, and in particular criticised the refusal of many on the left to condemn political violence.
On Sunday Fetterman shared a screenshot of an Axios article titled “Study: Left-wing terrorism climbs to 30-year high,” which covers a recent study from the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that concluded that although right-wing violence has historically outnumbered left-wing terrorism, the pattern has now flipped.
He accompanied the post with the caption “Unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes,” adding “Political violence is always wrong — no exceptions.”
“We must all turn the temperature down,” Fetterman added.
Unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes.
Then in an appearance on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, Fetterman stated “If you want a Democrat that’s gonna call people Nazis or fascist, all these things, I’m NOT gonna be that guy!”
Asked by Bartiromo if he would consider switching parties because of the extremism on the left, Fetterman responded “No, I’m not going to switch, but I’m just going to be an independent voice in the Democratic Party. I’m not going to be afraid if people, if there are groups attacking a Democrat, you know the last one in Pennsylvania, to me that’s part of the problem in our party.”
🚨 JUST IN – SENATOR JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): “If you want a Democrat that’s gonna call people Nazis or fascist, all these things, I’m NOT gonna be that guy!”
Your Democrat colleagues have mastered the routine. Spend every day inciting violence and then spend 10 minutes calling for the temperature to be turned down after something horrible happens. Then immediately go back to inciting violence.pic.twitter.com/e5D1J1cHgu
Fetterman also repeated his call to Democrats to avoid shutting down the government, noting “I am ALWAYS going to vote against those things! I am going to condemn it. ESPECIALLY with the kind of chaos we are facing after (Charlie) Kirk.”
“I think shutting our government down is the wrong thing. It’s the wrong time,” he reiterated.
🚨 BREAKING: Senator John Fetterman BREAKS with Democrats, says the United States has been thrown into chaos after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and opposes a government shutdown.
“I am ALWAYS going to vote against those things! I am going to condemn it. ESPECIALLY with the kind… pic.twitter.com/NmX3UgVspx
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US Home Prices Drop For 5th Straight Month In July, Led By Tampa
With new home prices falling and median existing home prices rising in August (while average existing home prices rise, signaling ‘expensive’ homes are selling), this morning’s (admittedly lagged and smoothed) Case-Shiller home price data was expected to decline (for July)… and it did, but ony marginally.
Home prices across the top 20 cities in the US fell by 0.07% MoM (less than the 0.2% decline expected) – the fifth straight monthly drop in prices. This pulled the YoY price appreciation down to 1.82%, the lowest since July 2023…
Source: Bloomberg
The US is coming off its weakest spring selling season in 13 years after high prices and mortgage rates sidelined many would-be buyers.
“July’s results reinforce that the housing market has downshifted to a much slower gear,” said Nicholas Godec, Head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones
Indices.
“In other words, U.S. home values have essentially stagnated after inflation, marking the third straight month of real housing wealth decline for homeowners. This reversal is striking: during the pandemic boom, home prices were climbing far faster than inflation, rapidly boosting homeowners’ real equity. Now, the situation has flipped – over the last year, owning a home yielded a modest nominal gain, but an inflation-adjusted loss. “
The geographic hierarchy of U.S. housing continues its dramatic shake-up, with 7 cities seeing outright price declines YoY…
Denver -0.6%
San Diego -0.7%
Phoenix -0.9%
Dallas -1.3%
Miami -1.3%
San Francisco -1.9%
Tampa -2.8%
However, given the decline mortgage rates, one could argue that home prices are set to re-accelerate soon (which fits with the slowdown in the price depreciation)…
Source: Bloomberg
On the bright side, declining home prices (and the follow through into PCE/CPI calculations for Shelter costs) could more than offset any tariff-driven anxiety over the next few months.
But, home price changes do seem to track very closely with bank reserves at The Fed (6mo lag), which implies home prices could rapidly decelerate in the new year (after a brief rebound)…
Source: Bloomberg
“Looking ahead, the housing market appears to be settling into a new, more measured equilibrium,” Godec concluded.
“The era of 15-20% annual home price jumps is behind us, and in its place we’re seeing growth rates closer to overall inflation – or even a bit below it. While that means homeowners aren’t gaining wealth at the breakneck pace of the recent past, it also signals a potentially healthier trajectory for housing in the long run.
The question remains, that after slashing rates by 100bps (last year), home prices have started to decline (with significant lag)… is that what The Fed wants this year too, now that the rate-cutting cycle has restarted?
In emotionally fraught testimony Monday, Steve Federico, father of a young woman who was brutally murdered by a black career criminal in South Carolina, pleaded with Democrats to stop protecting dangerous criminals with soft-on-crime policies.
The House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, to “examine violent crime in Charlotte, North Carolina and the surrounding areas looking at repeat offenders and lenient pretrial release policies and decisions among others.”
The man’s daughter, Logan Federico, 22, was fatally shot in the chest by Alexander Dickey, 30, during a home invasion on May 3, 2025. She had been visiting friends at a rented property in Columbia, South Carolina at the time of the execution-style murder.
“When I tell you this story, think about your kids,” her father said, his voice trembling with raw emotion.
“Think about your child coming home from a night out with their friends, laying down, going to sleep, feeling somebody come in the room and wake them and drag her out of bed, naked, forced on her knees, with her hands over her head! Begging for her life, begging for her hero, her father—ME!—that couldn’t be there,” Federico testified.
“She was five foot three, she weighed 115 pounds … BANG! … dead, gone!” he cried. “Why? Because Alexander Devante Dickey, who was arrested 39 G-d damn times—25 felonies!—was on the street. How about that?!”
Addressing the committee members, Federico asked, “how good are we doing for out families? How good are you doing for your kids?”
The father added: “He should have been in jail for over a 140 years for all the crimes he’d committed. You know how much time he spent in prison? A little over 600 days in ten years.”
Federico noted that Dickey had been “committing 2.6 crimes a year since he was 16-years-old” but nobody had figured out that he couldn’t be rehabilitated.
“Well, you’d have to put him in prison to see if he could be rehabilitated,” he pointed out.
Federico said his daughter had just decided she wanted to be a teacher “two weeks before she was executed.”
The grieving father noted that he has not heard from South Carolina’s Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Solicitor, Byron Gipson, a Democrat who was elected to the position in 2018.
“Not one word,” Federico fumed. “Four months, no communication!”
Gipson, with his 21 years as a defense attorney, quickly earned the reputation as a soft-on crime prosecutor after taking office in January 2019.
According to the National Police Association, Gipson has gained critics and detractors “among people who tend to think dangerous and violent criminals should be kept separated from docile and law-abiding citizens. Irrespective of his relatively short prosecutorial resume—and that’s being generous to the point of absurdity—Gipson has said and done things as Solicitor that warrant criticism and derision.”
Federico said Gipson’s “biggest concern” was how he’d made the prosecutor look during his Fox News interview with former House member Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).
“How pathetic is that?” he thundered. “She was literally executed while on her knees! Begging for her life!”
He added indignantly, “her name is Logan Federico!—not Irena!”
Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) had confused Federico’s daughter with 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed on August 22, 2025, while riding Charlotte’s LYNX Blue Line light rail by another black repeat offender. That suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., also has a long history of prior convictions. He was charged with first-degree murder and also faces federal charges.
Federico demanded stronger protections against these dangerous repeat offenders, emphasizing the need for accountability and justice for the victims of violent crime.
“You will not forget her! I promise you. You will be sick and tired of my face and my voice until this gets fixed. I will fight until my last breath for my daughter,” he promised.
Addressing the committee again, he added, “you need to fight for the rest of our children, the rest of the innocents, and stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us!”
“Please! You have the power. We put you in power to do what you have to do. We’re asking you, we’re begging you all, to stop this!” Federico said, adding that was no good reason why someone who had committed 25 felonies would be walking the streets.
“What you all did, you woke up a beast and you pissed off the wrong daddy!” he declared.
Oil Prices Tumble After Report OPEC+ Will Accelerate Production Hikes
OPEC+ is to discuss fast tracking its latest round of supply hikes in three monthly instalments of about 500,000 barrels a day to recoup market share.
This comes after the cartel announced earlier this month that they were adding a much smaller amount than that – about 137,000 barrels a day – leaving a question mark about how fast the rest will be returned.
So, now, Bloomberg reports that, according to a delegate, Saudi Arabia and its partners will review the expedited return of the remainder of a 1.66 million barrel-a-day supply tranche when they meet on Oct. 5.
The result is further pressure on the price of oil…
…testing the lows of its recent channel (ironically extending losses after similar rumors hit crude prices yesterday).
The IEA already forecast that the oil market is headed for a record supply-demand surplus next year.
The US Defense Department has ordered suppliers to double or “even quadruple” production rates on a “breakneck” schedule over fears about a depletion of arms stockpiles and a potential confrontation with China in the future, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
According to WSJ, “Military leaders are urging defense contractors to increase assembly of 12 critical weapons.”The list includes Patriot interceptor missiles, long-range anti-ship missiles, Standard Missile-6 missiles, Precision Strike missiles, and Joint Air-to-Surface Missiles. Patriot is a particular priority, given Lockheed Martin’s efforts to keep up with growing global demand.
Informed sources said there have been a series of recent high-level meetings between Pentagon officials and representatives of missile manufacturing companies.
US Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is taking a direct role in this effort – called the Munitions Production Acceleration Council – and is calling company executives weekly to discuss the matter, according to the sources.
The Defense Department invited major missile suppliers to a roundtable meeting at the Pentagon in June to launch this effort. The meeting was attended by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Keane, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It included executives from several weapons manufacturers.
However, the report notes that stakeholders fear Washington’s goals are “unrealistic,” and that questions are arising about the funding needed to accelerate production.
Some suppliers have struggled to meet the new demands and are wary of overbuying orders that have not yet been funded by the government.
The WSJ report comes a few days after the Washington Postsaid an “unusual” meeting of hundreds of top US military leaders has been ordered by Hegseth. “The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide,” the newspaper wrote, citing more than a dozen people familiar with the matter.
The announcement comes months after Hegseth revealed plans to carry out a major consolidation of top military commands. Hegseth’s abrupt call for such an emergency meeting has led to concerns of a coming conflict.
A senior Pentagon official said, “In my 30 years in the US military, I have never seen anything like this. We might be on the brink of war.” Monday’s report is not the first to note official concerns over low stockpiles.
China reportedly conducted a successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, with videos showing a depressed trajectory launch possibly using hypersonic boost-glide tech for maneuverability and speed. pic.twitter.com/mD3E8DDxfG
During this year’s US campaign against Yemen, which ended in May, Washington burned through at least $1 billion in munitions. This raised concerns in the defense community that the US military would be left unprepared and would face “real operational problems” if a conflict with China were to erupt, according to the New York Times (NYT).
Analysts have also recently suggested the possibility of a new war between Israel and Iran, which Tel Aviv is likely to involve Washington in.
Israel was close to running out of interceptors during the 12-day war with Iran in June, which was mentioned in several reports. According to a WSJ report from June, Washington feared it would burn through its own interceptors while replenishing Israel’s stockpiles.
Australia’s Soaring Home Prices Force Record Numbers Of Retirees To Rent
While US home prices remain elevated and despite some price drops in recent months, affordability remains near all time lows, the housing picture is far worse in various other countries.
One such place is Australia where more retirees are renting than ever, as soaring housing costs and longer working lives expose the limits of the nation’s much-hailed pension system.
The portion of retirees living in private rentals has doubled over the past two decades to 12%, according to a a recent government-funded survey. Over the same period, those who (can afford to) own their home outright slipped from 75% to 66%.
“Retirees who rent are far more exposed to housing stress,” said Kyle Peyton, co-author of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, which tracks the same 16,000 people annually. “This group of renting retirees is only likely to grow.”
As Bloomberg notes, the findings highlight how housing policy has long prioritized demand while neglecting supply, pushing prices to record highs and widening the wealth gap between owners and renters. In Sydney, the median house price has more than tripled in two decades to above A$1.5 million ($990,000).
Australia’s ongoing housing crisis means that the country’s A$4.3 trillion pensions system, projected to be the world’s second largest by the early 2030s, will fall short for many retirees.
“Superannuation alone will not be enough to support the growing number of younger Australians locked out of homeownership,” Peyton said.
The survey also showed more Australians are working longer. In 2003, 70% of women and 49% of men aged 60 and 64 were retired; by 2023, that had fallen to 41% and 27%. Higher pension eligibility ages, cost pressures and better health have all pushed retirement further back.
To retire comfortably at 67, couples need about A$690,000 in savings and singles A$595,000, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. That’s assuming they own a home and receive a part government pension on top of their superannuation, and as the data shows, that has become an extremely generous assumption.
Today, GLP-1 receptor agonists are edging out sun damage as the driver factor for facial exercises, which she calls “facercise.” She’s seeing more patients taking these weight-loss drugs in her spa with the telltale signs of “Ozempic face,” such as sagging skin, sunken cheeks and eyes, and deeper wrinkles.
She recounted how many people have said they just wanted to lose 10 pounds, but they lost 30.
“They get on this roll and in their mind’s eye, they think more is better. They end up looking so much older,” Maggio told The Epoch Times.
“Ozempic face” can be prevented with a slower approach to weight loss, experts say.
There are also non-invasive tools—holistic approaches like Maggio’s and fillers of many kinds—that can prevent and reverse saggy skin.
What Causes ‘Ozempic Face’?
Patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists lose an average of 7 percent of their facial volume for every 22 pounds lost, mostly from fat pads in the midface—cheeks and areas around the nose, mouth, and temples, according to a study published in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery quantifying the “Ozempic face” phenomenon. Fat volume helps make a face look youthful.
A mixture of factors influences facial changes, including the potential rapid loss of nutrients, vitamins, and fatty acids that make up the building blocks of collagen and elastin, which act as a scaffolding of sorts for facial firmness. GLP-1 drugs can also disrupt the skin barrier and cause dry, dull skin.
The authors noted that clinical trials analyzing GLP-1 receptor agonist use for weight loss rarely report facial fat loss as an adverse effect.
“Because of this, providers prescribing these medications are unlikely to counsel patients pretreatment about the potential for undesirable changes in facial appearance.”
How to Recognize ‘Ozempic Face’
Ozempic face can have a global effect on the face, according to plastic surgeon Dr. John Burns. He provided a more detailed explanation of some changes that could take place:
Increased lines and wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, and mouth
Sunken or hollowed eyes
Hollow cheeks or temples
Sagging, loose skin along the jawline and jowls
Exaggerated nasolabial folds and marionette lines
Thinner lips, elongated upper lip
More visible facial bones, loss of fullness or plumpness
Unmasking of the platysma muscle in the lower face and neck
New Name–Persistent Issue
Hollowed-out faces accentuated by wrinkles and sagging isn’t new—the condition only has a new name due to its rising prevalence in tandem with GLP-1 drug use, said dermatologist Brooke Jeffy.
“You see the exact same changes in someone who loses weight rapidly from other things, like bariatric surgery, for example,” she told The Epoch Times.
Ozempic face tracks with a universal phenomenon—aging.
“As we age, we lose collagen and elastin in our skin, and then when you add on top of that a loss of facial fat and a loss of muscle tone, the combination is profound,” Burns said. “The amount of weight loss is important. If somebody’s lost 20 pounds, that’s one thing, but if they’ve lost a hundred pounds, that’s a whole other thing.”
‘Ozempic Face’ Treatments
There is a wide variety of approaches from non-invasive to plastic surgery that address “Ozempic face.” Here are a few:
Facial Workouts
Maggio coaches clients in 13 exercises that amount to a daily commitment of 14 minutes.
The workout is designed to combat the seven signs of aging—also common in those experiencing ‘Ozempic face’— including low eyebrows, drooping eyelids, nose faults, sagging jaw, double chin, thin lips, and low, flat cheeks. By using your fingers as counterweights and working facial muscles until you feel a lactic acid burn, the routine she teaches aims to lift and tone facial features.
Some exercises include:
Cheek lift: Exercises the buccinator muscle, lifting it and helping add dimension to the face
Eye opening: Contracts the orbicularis oculi and levator palpebrae superiors, muscles that create sleepy eyes when they’re relaxed and loose
Lip toner: Involves all mouth muscles to smooth lip lines and plump the lips
Lip corners up: Lifts the corners of the mouth
Facial exercises won’t help with fat loss, but they may prevent muscle wasting. Burns said toning your face could also help build muscle volume.
“I do think animating your face, using those muscles more vigorously, would help.”
Fillers
For those looking for a more rapid transformation, a wide variety of injectable procedures can restore facial volume in a number of ways.
Synthetic fillers can be either short-lived, lasting six to 18 months, or bio-stimulating, which causes your body to create collagen and scar tissue, and last two to three years, or even longer, according to plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Bonillas.
Common fillers include:
Hyaluronic acid: a substance found in the skin that keeps it plump and hydrated. It can be injected as a gel for results that last six to 12 months.
Calcium hydroxylapatite: found primarily in the bones, it is thicker than hyaluronic acid and lasts up to 12 months.
Polymethylmethacrylate: a synthetic, biocompatible substance like poly-L-lactic acid, but takes the form of a tiny ball beneath the skin. It provides support indefinitely and also contains collagen.
Poly-L-lactic Acid
A biodegradable synthetic substance, poly-L-lactic acid, is biocompatible, which means it’s safe to use in the body. One of its main mechanisms is that it stimulates your body to rebuild natural collagen, and the gel itself is absorbed after a few days, much like absorbable stitches. It’s sold under the brand name Sculptra® Aesthetic.
Unlike fillers that tend to dissipate quickly, biostimulating products recruit your own body to make more collagen, which leads to a longer-lasting effect. The poly-L-lactic acid itself is often undetectable in six to eight weeks, replaced by tissue your body has made.
Autologous Fat Injections
On the more invasive end of the spectrum, autologous fat injections require surgery but have longer-lasting results of many years. Liposuction is used to collect fat from another area of your body—it’s then purified and injected into the temples, cheeks, lower eyelids, and other areas.
“These work pretty well unless patients undergo a significant or a severe amount of weight loss, where they have significant wasting, and then because fat behaves like fat, it will eventually resorb with further weight loss,” Bonillas told The Epoch Times.
Fillers can be more advantageous for those who are still losing weight or whose weight isn’t stabilized, he added.
Most facelifts involve fat injections or fillers because facelifts alone don’t address the loss of volume, they simply tighten loose skin. It can be helpful for your weight to be stabilized before opting for a more invasive surgery.
Facelifts can also be a wake-up call for patients to make healthier choices to protect their investment, Jeffy said.
“If you want to keep it, you have to take care of it,” she said. “Living a healthy life is not necessarily easy. We have to make harder choices sometimes.”
Healthy Life, Healthy Face
Since “Ozempic face” can result from the rapid depletion of nutrients, vitamins, and fatty acids that help maintain collagen and elastin, an alert in Facial Plastic Surgery recommends reducing the risk by prioritizing a nutrient-rich diet with ample protein, vitamin C, antioxidants, and mineral-rich foods.
To prevent premature aging, experts advised avoiding excessive sun exposure and cigarette smoking, while drinking plenty of water, exercising, and eating whole, nutrient-dense foods.
Avoiding packaged food with preservatives should become a lifestyle, Burns said. “Diet sodas are not good for you. Sugary drinks are not good for you. The healthier you are, the better your skin is going to look, and the better it will hold up to weight loss.”
Maggio added that a good skin care routine with gentle cleansing and products that exfoliate and contain retinol, which can stimulate collagen production, can be helpful, too. She also advises that her clients address stress and sleep deprivation—both of which can age the face.
Experts said the only way you might prevent Ozempic face is to slow down the rate and amount of weight loss. However, there’s no good way to predict how your face might react to weight loss.
“I’ve always believed personally that there’s a healthy way to lose weight,” Burns said. “The GLP-1 medications help people get past barriers, but in general, you want to get to a point where you can maintain your healthy weight with a good diet and exercise program.”
Moldova’s Pro-EU Party Wins Key Vote After Govt Ban On Several ‘Pro-Russian’ Parties
In a somewhat predictable outcome, the pro-European party of Moldovan President Maia Sandu (Party of Action and Solidarity, PAS)has claimed victory and a new majority in parliament in Sunday’s elections, paving a continued path toward EU membership. We say ‘predictable’ given that this was one recent international headline: Moldova bans pro-Russian parties ahead of Sunday’s election. Anyone seen as Moscow-sympathetic has had the looming threat of a crackdown by the state hanging over them. But the government has claimed instances of bribery and corruption, and interference by Russian state actors.
Overall, the Moldovan government has in the last months has very openly engaged in a campaign to persecute, intimate, and silence the opposition on charges of “massive Russian interference”. It has also leveraged relations with the Western allies to seek to cleanse society of Russian sympathies. It was only on Friday that the nation’s electoral commission issued a blanket ban on the ‘pro-Russian’ Heart of Moldova and Moldova Mare parties. This barred several candidates from seeking office.
Opposition leader Igor Dodon is a former President of Moldova and is seen as the main ‘pro-Russian’ figure, leading the Party of Socialists (PSRM) which is the main component of the Patriotic Bloc. He has urged people to “peacefully protest” the election’s outcome outside parliament in the capital Chisinau on Monday. The turnout for the demonstration has not appeared substantial. Western mainstream media has cited this as an example of Russian ‘meddling’.
BBC records of the results, “With 99.9% of the 1.6 million votes counted, PAS had 50.17% of the vote – far ahead of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc on 24.18%, Moldova’s central electoral commission said.”
Turnout was higher than in recent years, reportedly at 52% – but Moscow officials have complained that many could not participate. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, “From what we see and know, we can conclude that hundreds of thousands of Moldovans were deprived of the opportunity to vote in Russia because there were only two polling stations open to them, which was of course insufficient.”
The tiny Eastern European nation bordering Ukraine has experienced the same kind of internal political pro-EU vs. pro-Russia tug of war historically on display in other countries such as Ukraine or Georgia. One thing which has long alarmed the West is the presence of Russian ‘peacekeeping’ troops in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region.
We earlier reported the bombshell revelation by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who alleged that French intelligence services attempted to strong-arm him into censoring conservative Moldovan channels ahead of the critical 2024 presidential election.
As expected, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the result. “You made your choice clear: Europe. Democracy. Freedom,” she wrote on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also celebrated: “These elections showed that Russia’s destabilizing activity loses, while Moldova in Europe wins,” he stated.
And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised Sandu, declaring that she has “saved democracy” and “stopped Russia in its attempts to take control over the whole region. A good lesson for us all”.
1. The West Has Perfected Its “Regime Reinforcement” Model
Last fall’s EU referendum and Sandu’s re-election were achieved via the means above, which preceded the first round of Romania’s presidential election whose results were then annulled on false pretexts of foreign meddling after the result disappointed the EU. The re-run then predictably led to their preferred candidate winning upon his rival’s disqualification. The West’s “regime reinforcement” model has now been perfected after the latest Moldovan elections and will thus likely be applied elsewhere in Europe.
2. NATO Will Complete Its De Facto Capture Of Moldova
Moldova is a constitutionally neutral state but that could soon change if PAS holds another referendum modeled off of its flawed EU one. Even without amending the constitution, NATO is still expected to complete its de facto capture of Moldova, likely by building upon Moldova’s special ties with Romania and last year’s defense pact with France. As was assessed here, France envisages using Romania-Moldova as a launchpad for openly intervening in Ukraine, whether before or after the war ends.
3. Moldova Will Be Drawn Even Deeper Into Mission Creep
Expanding upon the second consequence of these elections, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned in mid-July that “NATO Is Turning Moldova Into A New Military Ram Against Russia”, adding that its citizens might even be used as cannon fodder in Ukraine. Whether Moldova ultimately gets directly involved in the conflict or only facilitates the flow of arms and maybe one day Western/French troops there too, it’s still being drawn even deeper into mission creep, which entails very serious security risks.
4. A Joint Moldovan-Ukrainian Attack On Transnistria Is Possible
The preceding two consequences segue into the penultimate one of NATO backing a joint Moldovan-Ukrainian attack on Transnistria, something that SVR warned about last winter, on the assumption that it would be a low-cost but highly symbolic victory over Russia whose peacekeepers are still deployed there. This dangerous scenario could provoke Russian retaliation against Moldova, thus directly dragging it into the conflict, and possibly even NATO-member Romania too if its troops clash with Russia’s peacekeepers.
5. The Root Cause Of NATO-Russian Tensions Remains Intact
And finally, what all of this shows is that NATO continues expanding eastward at the expense of Russia’s security interests, thus confirming that the root cause of their tensions remains intact. These latest moves raise the odds that NATO will intensify its de facto expansion into Ukraine too, whether during or after the war, which in turn raises the odds of NATO-Russian tensions further worsening. The new normal that’s therefore emerging between them is one of heightened tensions for the foreseeable future.
Will Moldova be a future Ukraine? First comes EU accession talks, then the inevitable ‘path to NATO’ – a scenario which Moscow is likely to seek to prevent and fight against.
An unlikely answer has been found for who should lead the process of running Gaza after Israel’s genocidal war: Tony Blair. It was revealed last week that the former British prime minister – a controversial figure in the Middle East, to say the least – was being considered to lead a transitional authority in the enclave.
Haaretz has now published a leaked draft plan of what Gaza would look like under Blair’s initiative. The plan reveals a hierarchy in which an international board of billionaires and businesspeople sit at the top, while highly vetted “neutral” Palestinian administrators are at the bottom.
It sets out a three-year plan, budgeted at $90m in the first year, $134m in the second and $164m in the third (these are solely management expenses, and don’t include reconstruction or aid).
The administration would work closely with Israel, Egypt and the US, and, according to Israeli sources cited by Haartez, has the backing of the White House. Middle East Eye breaks down key highlights from the 21-page leaked document.
Board of billionaires
Gaza International Transitional Authority, or Gita, is the name given to the new institution which will administer the Palestinian enclave. According to the draft, Gita will be run by an international board which has “supreme political and legal authority for Gaza during the transitional period”.
The board will be in charge of all appointments, and supervise every component of the authority. It will be made up of between seven and 10 members, including a chair.
The board will include a senior UN official, with Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, cited as an example. It would also include “leading international figures with executive and financial expertise”.
Three names are cited as potential candidates: Marc Rowan, a billionaire who owns one of America’s largest private equity firms, Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire in the telecommunications and technology sector, and Aryeh Lightstone, chief executive of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute.
Lightstone was a senior adviser to David Friedman, a staunch defender of Israel’s illegal settlement movement, when he was US ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021 under Donald Trump’s first administration. According to Haaretz, he was also deeply involved in the creation of the highly controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Not every single board member will be a billionaire or have links to Israel or America. There will be “at least one qualified Palestinian representative”, potentially coming from the “business or security sector”. It wasn’t made clear what “qualified” means.
And finally, the document said that the board would have “a strong representation of Muslim members to ensure regional legitimacy and cultural credibility”. These Muslim figures would ideally have the political support of their countries, but also “long standing business credibility”.
Members of the board would be “nominated by contributing states and confirmed through a process coordinated by the UN”. The board would report to the UN Security Council, which would ultimately grant it authority to carry out its functions.
The Security Council currently includes non-permanent members that have been highly critical of Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza, such as Algeria, Pakistan and Slovenia, in addition to permanent members Russia and China. It would be interesting to see if these countries would approve a transitional government in Gaza run mostly by non-Palestinian billionaires and business figures.
The chairman (probably Blair)
Various media outlets have reported that Blair is being touted to be the chair of the transitional authority, though his name is not mentioned in the draft. Public-private partnerships to run government projects, one of Blair’s hallmark policies as prime minister of the UK, is mentioned in the document.
According to the draft plan, the chairman will serve as the “senior political executive, principal spokesperson, and strategic coordinator for the entire transitional authority”. They would be appointed through “international consensus” and endorsement by the UN Security Council. There is no mention of Palestinian consensus in choosing them.
If Blair is indeed the proposed chairman, he may have his work cut out gaining “international consensus” for his appointment. His handling of the Iraq war as premier of the UK, as well as his dealings with a string of autocrats, has left him deeply unpopular across the globe.
The chair will represent Gita “in all diplomatic, donor and intergovernmental forums”. They will also lead “strategic security diplomacy” with other actors, “including Israel, Egypt and the United States”.
The document notes that initially, Gita’s senior officials won’t be in Gaza. In the first year, they’ll be based in “coordination cells” such as El-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai and “remote policy hubs” such as Cairo and Amman.
There would be partial deployment into Gaza by the second year, before “full operatationalization” into the enclave in the third year.
Hierarchical structure
An organizational chart at the end of the document lays out the hierarchical structure of Gita, with the board and chairman at the top. A security body, the “International Security Force”, is on the same row as the board and chairman and appears to be outside of the hierarchy.
This body will man crossings into Gaza, naval approaches and “perimeter zones” in coordination with Israel and Egypt.
Directly underneath the board and the chairman will be a number of bodies and structures – none of which appear to be directly Palestinian-run – including an investment and economic development authority and an “executive secretariat”.
The latter will coordinate daily operations, including digital creating systems to identify Palestinians in Gaza and “digital platforms for licensing and permits”. It will also run “targeted operations to prevent the resurgence of armed groups”. There is no mention of Hamas in the entire document.
Below that layer are several officials overseeing humanitarian work, reconstruction, legislative and legal issues, and security, as well as a coordinator with the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is below this, at the very bottom of the chart, where we see named Palestinian involvement: the “Palestinian Executive Authority”.
Palestinian Executive Authority, with little authority
Despite the name, the Palestinian Executive Authority, at the bottom of the hierarchy, has little to no independent authority. It is separate from the PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank.
It would be made up of technocratic ministries that administer health, education, water supply and energy, labour market policies, housing, local criminal justice and welfare, among a few other policy areas. It would be headed up by a “Palestinian Chief Executive Officer”, appointed by the international board.
It’s notable that the language used for all roles throughout the document, like board, chairman and CEO, reflects a business structure rather than a country or territory.
The Palestinian CEO will lead the process of identifying “directors” (not ministers) to head up the various departments like health, education, infrastructure and planning. The directors will need to “meet standards of technical competence, integrity, and neutrality”.
The international board of billionaires and businesspeople will have the final say on appointments “to safeguard institutional legitimacy and independence”.
“All department heads are subject to performance review and can be dismissed or replaced in accordance with transitional governance procedures,” the document notes.
An Israeli source told Haaretz that the Palestinian Executive Authority would be completely subordinate to the board and have no independent authority. As such, it would be far weaker than the technocratic administration set out in a joint Arab plan led by Egypt earlier this year.
Below the Palestinian Executive Authority are a number of municipal roles related to the running of local public services and utilities. “All mayors and senior municipal administrators are nominated by the Palestinian Executive Authority and formally appointed by the GITA International Board,” the plan states.
Once again, it is also spelled out that any Palestinian appointees to such roles “must meet strict standards of political neutrality”.
It is not spelled out whether the likes of Aryeh Lightstone, the pro-Israel former adviser named in the document as a potential board member, is considered “politically neutral”.
International law
There are various judicial and legal arms to the authority, too. That includes a legislative and legal supervisor who, among other things, would ensure that the transitional authority was operating in a manner “consistent with international law”.
Given how closely this authority states that it will work with Israel, which has been breaching international law in the West Bank and Gaza for over seven decades, it will have its work cut out.
War criminals are proposing a war criminal as head of…. Gaza. It would be precious comedy if it were not so tragic https://t.co/Z3MLszXTrp
There will also be a “judicial board” to oversee due process, legal compliance and justice sector reforms. The board will be “chaired by a reputable Arab jurist, preferably Palestinian”. Interestingly, one of its roles will include legally protecting the “right to return” for any Palestinian in Gaza who decides to voluntarily leave their home.
“GITA does not facilitate or endorse population relocation but ensures that all voluntary movement is conducted in accordance with international law and rights protections,” the plan states. Palestinians will likely be skeptical of any such promises, particularly from an authority that will have Israeli backing.
During the Nakba in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes in what is now Israel, many thought they would be gone for just days. Over 77 years later, they still have not been allowed to return.
The draft plan mentions that Gita will work “in close consultation” with the PA, with a view to eventually handing management over to it. It doesn’t set out a timetable for when this will happen.
America loves to tally its billionaires and track the S&P’s every tick, but the millions struggling to cover rent or stock the fridge rarely make the headline scroll.
Poverty is the country’s most persistent invisibility cloak, present in every zip code, yet ignored in a culture that equates success with worth.
It averages three years of Current Population Survey results (2021-2023) to estimate how many residents in each state live below the federal poverty line.
Read the last section for more information on their methodology.
Ranked: U.S. States by Residents in Poverty
Four populous states—California, Texas, Florida, and New York—account for 13.5 million low-income residents, or more than one-third of all Americans in poverty.
California alone has 4.5 million people struggling to make ends meet, roughly the population of metropolitan Phoenix.
Rank
State
# in Poverty
(Thousands, Sortable)
# in Poverty
(Readable)
Share of All
Americans in Poverty
1
California
4,521
4.5M
12.0
2
Texas
3,910
3.9M
10.4
3
Florida
2,782
2.8M
7.4
4
New York
2,349
2.3M
6.2
5
North Carolina
1,416
1.4M
3.8
6
Georgia
1,400
1.4M
3.7
7
Pennsylvania
1,351
1.4M
3.6
8
Ohio
1,272
1.3M
3.4
9
Illinois
1,245
1.2M
3.3
10
Michigan
1,186
1.2M
3.2
11
Arizona
903
903K
2.4
12
Louisiana
853
853K
2.3
13
Virginia
783
783K
2.1
14
New Jersey
776
776K
2.1
15
Tennessee
744
744K
2.0
16
Alabama
727
727K
1.9
17
Kentucky
699
699K
1.9
18
Missouri
675
675K
1.8
19
South Carolina
673
673K
1.8
20
Indiana
659
659K
1.8
21
Washington
658
658K
1.7
22
Massachusetts
604
604K
1.6
23
Oklahoma
589
589K
1.6
24
Maryland
524
524K
1.4
25
Mississippi
501
501K
1.3
26
Wisconsin
490
490K
1.3
27
Arkansas
473
473K
1.3
28
Colorado
473
473K
1.3
29
Oregon
415
415K
1.1
30
Minnesota
409
409K
1.1
31
Nevada
409
409K
1.1
32
New Mexico
388
388K
1.0
33
Connecticut
318
318K
0.8
34
Iowa
287
287K
0.8
35
West Virginia
268
268K
0.7
36
Kansas
255
255K
0.7
37
Utah
226
226K
0.6
38
Idaho
172
172K
0.5
39
Nebraska
165
165K
0.4
40
Hawaii
133
133K
0.4
41
Maine
120
120K
0.3
42
Montana
109
109K
0.3
43
Delaware
98
98K
0.3
44
New Hampshire
98
98K
0.3
45
Rhode Island
96
96K
0.3
46
District of Columbia
88
88K
0.2
47
Alaska
74
74K
0.2
48
South Dakota
74
74K
0.2
49
North Dakota
72
72K
0.2
50
Vermont
49
49K
0.1
51
Wyoming
49
49K
0.1
N/A
🇺🇸 U.S.
37,610
37.6M
N/A
While the Golden State’s higher cost of living may impact this figure, it also underscores how expensive housing can compound economic hardship, even in high-income states.
A fair criticism of this visualization is that it doesn’t account for population.
We previously mapped out poverty rates by state in the country to help cover this angle. The table below has the relevant figures.
Rank
State
State Code
Share of Population
in Poverty
# in Poverty
1
Louisiana
LA
18.9%
853K
2
New Mexico
NM
18.5%
388K
3
Mississippi
MS
17.3%
501K
4
Arkansas
AR
15.8%
473K
5
Kentucky
KY
15.7%
699K
6
West Virginia
WV
15.3%
268K
7
Oklahoma
OK
14.9%
589K
8
Alabama
AL
14.6%
727K
9
District of Columbia
DC
13.4%
88K
10
North Carolina
NC
13.2%
1.4M
11
Texas
TX
13.1%
3.9M
12
Georgia
GA
12.9%
1.4M
13
Nevada
NV
12.9%
409K
14
South Carolina
SC
12.7%
673K
15
Florida
FL
12.5%
2.8M
16
Arizona
AZ
12.4%
903K
17
New York
NY
12.1%
2.3M
18
Michigan
MI
11.9%
1.2M
19
California
CA
11.7%
4.5M
20
Missouri
MO
11.1%
675K
21
Ohio
OH
10.9%
1.3M
22
Pennsylvania
PA
10.7%
1.4M
23
Tennessee
TN
10.6%
744K
24
Alaska
AK
10.4%
74K
25
Illinois
IL
10%
1.2M
26
Oregon
OR
9.8%
415K
27
Indiana
IN
9.7%
659K
28
Montana
MT
9.7%
109K
29
Delaware
DE
9.6%
98K
30
Hawaii
HI
9.3%
133K
31
North Dakota
ND
9.3%
72K
32
Virginia
VA
9.2%
783K
33
Iowa
IA
9%
287K
34
Idaho
ID
8.9%
172K
35
Kansas
KS
8.9%
255K
36
Rhode Island
RI
8.9%
96K
37
Connecticut
CT
8.8%
318K
38
Massachusetts
MA
8.8%
604K
39
Maine
ME
8.7%
120K
40
Wyoming
WY
8.6%
49K
41
Maryland
MD
8.5%
524K
42
Washington
WA
8.5%
658K
43
Nebraska
NE
8.4%
165K
44
New Jersey
NJ
8.4%
776K
45
Wisconsin
WI
8.4%
490K
46
South Dakota
SD
8.3%
74K
47
Colorado
CO
8.2%
473K
48
Vermont
VT
7.7%
49K
49
Minnesota
MN
7.2%
409K
50
New Hampshire
NH
7.1%
98K
51
Utah
UT
6.7%
226K
N/A
U.S.
US
11.4%
37.6M
In fact, California’s poverty rate is 12%, solidly middle of the pack.
But its 4.6 million poor residents are larger than the entire state of Oklahoma.
By contrast, Mississippi’s headline-grabbing 17% rate represents about 500,000 people.
Thus, a national food-assistance program needs almost nine times the meal budget for California, even though Mississippi is poorer than California.
Even within similar rate bands, scale varies wildly: Louisiana (18.9%) has 853,000 million people in poverty, compared with 388,000 in New Mexico (18.5%).
Thus, absolute numbers are also necessary to flag where to park mobile clinics, expand SNAP distribution sites, and hire caseworkers.
Fact:New Mexico also has the highest share of households on income or food support.
How Poverty is Measured in America
The way the Census Bureau calculates this line is important and can impact the data.
They use pretax household income against a threshold at three times the cost of a minimum food diet from 1963, adjusted for family size and inflation.
For reference, this is a quick guide on how much a household needs to be earning to be considered below the poverty line in 2023.
