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Arizona Border Wall Construction Begins, Targets Smuggling Corridor

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Arizona Border Wall Construction Begins, Targets Smuggling Corridor

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration has begun work on a project to build a stretch of border wall in southern Arizona.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on Aug. 25 that the wall project is located along “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border.”

The wall segment is part of a $46.6 billion effort by the Trump administration to fill the border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop illegal immigration.

A federal judge permitted the government to move forward with construction earlier this month.

Authorities said the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation is a hotspot for drug smuggling.

“The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in an Aug. 25 statement.

SLSCO, the Texas-based construction company building the section in Arizona, has secured over $390 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build the border wall since 2023.

The construction company is building 22 miles of primary border wall system and approximately 13 miles of detection technology. These contracts were awarded using funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The project ran into opposition from the Native American tribe, the Tohono O’odham Nation, who said the project would inflict lasting damage on its land, culture, and religious practices.

The Tohono O’odham Nation filed a motion in June to block construction of the border wall. However, a federal judge on Aug. 14 declined to do so.

In an Aug. 24 statement, the Tohono O’odham Nation said that at 4 a.m on Tuesday, border wall contractors and approximately 20 masked, armed CBP agents from the Tucson Sector entered the Tohono O’odham Nation and began “engaging in pre-construction activities.”

It said that CBP, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit SWAT Team were deployed to the Nation to protect the contractors, and that federal authorities are using a tethered balloon for enhanced monitoring.

It added that DHS coordinated with Mexican police to have them deploy personnel to protect the area from the southern side while border wall contractors were working.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said in an Aug. 26 statement that dozens of armed agents on the Nation’s land had been sent “without so much as a heads up or warning.”

A CBP spokesperson previously told The Epoch Times that the agency’s priority is to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order 14165, “Securing Our Borders,” and proclamation 10142, “Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States.”

“We are building border infrastructure faster and smarter than ever before to ensure there are no gaps and no easy pathways for illegal entry,” he said.

Shadow Wolves

The Tohono O’odham Nation covers 2.8 million acres, including a 76-mile stretch of land shared with Mexico.

Between 2010 and 2020, interdiction and investigative efforts that trained DHS officers, known as Shadow Wolves, have led or participated in have resulted in 437 drug and immigration arrests, along with the seizure of over 117,264 pounds of drugs, 45 weapons, 251 vehicles, and $847,928 in U.S. currency.

The Shadow Wolves are the DHS’s only Native American tracking unit assigned in Sells, Arizona, located on the Tohono O’odham Nation that runs along the Mexico – United States border

Shadow Wolves use modern technology and a traditional Native American tracking technique called “cutting for sign,” which means they locate and interpret any physical evidence left by smugglers and decode its meaning. Examples of physical evidence include footprints, tire tracks, thread, and clothing.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the name “Shadow Wolves” refers to the unit’s hunting style, similar to that of a wolf pack.

The team specializes in the “interdiction of human and drug smugglers who conduct their illegal operations through the rugged terrain of the Sonoran Desert.”

ICE said that all of the Shadows Wolves must have at least one-fourth Native American ancestry.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 15:45

Trump Takes A Cleaver To “Big Meat” Monopoly, Moves To Let Mom-And-Pop Ranchers Process Own Meat

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Trump Takes A Cleaver To “Big Meat” Monopoly, Moves To Let Mom-And-Pop Ranchers Process Own Meat

President Trump’s move to dismantle what Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has called the “modern-day monopoly” in U.S. beef processing reflects growing concern that industry concentration has become a food-security vulnerability.

Four corporations, JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef, dominate cattle purchasing and processing, creating single points of failure across the nation’s beef supply chain. This consolidation has reduced local processing capacity, weakened regional food supply chains and shifted pricing power away from independent ranchers and farmers.

Now, President Trump is changing the game with plans to break the meatpacking monopoly by allowing farmers and ranchers to process their own food.

“For years I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors, who many say are a nasty Monopoly. There are, essentially, 4 of them, a very non-competitive number, and they make life miserable for our wonderful Farmers and Ranchers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He continued, “So, in order to break this powerful monopoly, with much of its ownership based outside of the U.S., I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD.”

“This should move quickly,” the president added.

The administration has already opened an antitrust investigation into the meatpacking industry. Roughly 85% of U.S. cattle are purchased by four companies: Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef Packing.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said additional measures will be announced Monday, including plans to waive processing regulations and expand ranchers’ ability to sell meat across state lines.

Meanwhile, Thomas Massie wants this to be law.

Vertical integration gives mom-and-pop ranchers something increasingly scarce in American agriculture: absolute control. By raising, processing, and packaging beef within the same operation, ranchers can retain more of the value they create, reduce transportation costs, and build a shorter, more resilient food supply chain.

That model is why the ZeroHedge Store partnered with Beck Ranch – which raises its Black Angus cattle on grass-fed pastures without grain, hormones, or antibiotics, and as of October 5th will be processed on-site rather than entering the industrial meatpacking plants. Currently they process locally outside of the big four meatpackers. 

For readers who care about knowing where their food comes from, Beck Ranch offers a direct connection to an independent American producer. Every purchase supports a family-run ranch while helping prove that a decentralized alternative.

… already operating on the ZeroHedge Store. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 15:25

Uprising In Ceuta: Locals Have Had Enough Of Migrant Invasion

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Uprising In Ceuta: Locals Have Had Enough Of Migrant Invasion

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

In the complete absence of any meaningful government action, the people of Ceuta have taken matters into their own hands.

On Wednesday night, Spanish flags filled the streets of the North African enclave. Crowds chanted for deportations. Then a column of residents pushed toward El Trampolín beach, the open-air settlement that has occupied a family shoreline for nearly a month. Tents came down. Belongings went into the sea.

Police formed a line between Spaniards and the camps – and opened fire with rubber bullets on the locals.

That is the picture now coming out of a city of roughly 84,000 people that was flooded at the end of July by a crossing Spanish officials have put above 70,000 and, in some tallies, near 80,000.

The government spent weeks talking about “coexistence,” “diversity,” and “normality.” Ceuta spent those same weeks living with feces in children’s parks, hospital wards under strain, and a rising stack of sexual-assault files. On Wednesday, the patience snapped.

The protest began in the late afternoon in O’Donnell, outside the old Military Hospital – one of the sites residents feared the central government wanted to turn into migrant housing.

El Mundo put more than 2,000 people at the Government Delegation. Other Spanish outlets described a larger march through the centre, Spanish and Ceuta flags everywhere, slogans hammered out for hours: “Ceuta no se vende, Ceuta se defiende.” “Un caballa nunca se rinde.” “Invasores expulsión.” “Ceuta no es un CETI.”

They demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and of the government delegate in the city, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano.

When night fell, a few hundred broke toward El Trampolín. El Español reported residents ripping down tents, throwing camp gear into the water, and trying to drive the remaining occupants off “our beach.”

Police blocked the main part of the beach. Deterrent rounds followed. Yes, really. They fired rubber bullets at Spaniards protesting illegal settlement; but there was no such volley when tens of thousands illegally stormed the border in July.

Spanish journalist Vito Quiles remarked on Ceutíes bursting the illegal beach settlements while the Spanish state stood still. “Honor al pueblo de Ceuta,” he wrote – honour to a city doing the job the ministries would not.

Further footage captured groups of local men moving through the dark after the official march had broken up, describing armed residents hunting those they call invaders. After four weeks of official paralysis in the city, locals took matters into their own hands.

One chant captured on the sand, reported by El Mundo, summarised the feeling among residents; “Si no se quieren ir, los echaremos nosotros.” If they will not leave, we will throw them out.

They also chanted “Aquí hay más policía que el día del salto,” there are more police than on the day of the mass jump.

Officers who had been unable or unwilling to keep the shoreline clear of shacks suddenly had the numbers to stop Spaniards from finishing the clearance themselves.

A left-wing government that spent a month insisting the situation was under control found the will to fire on its own citizens the moment those citizens tried to recover a public beach.

By Thursday morning the temperature had risen again. AFP reported that a military vehicle with four soldiers was ambushed in the early hours by a crowd of around 70 migrants throwing stones and other objects.

The soldiers fled and called for police. Twelve Moroccan men were detained. One soldier was slightly injured. Kissy Chandiramani, Ceuta’s finance councillor, stated: “The tension in the city of Ceuta is very high” because there is “no response” from the government and “we feel abandoned.”

Remaining migrant shanty camps on the beach were set alight and destroyed.

City hall, aid groups counting food rations, and anyone with eyes on Trampolín, Benítez, the hills and the warehouse district nite that thousands of migrants remain.

We’ve seen Mother weeping on live television. One said her 16-year-old “has to go everywhere with her father or with me because the migrants devour her. I can’t take it anymore. I want them all gone,” Adding that “What’s stayed here is the worst of it; there are murderers, rapists, thieves.”

Sisters Yoli and María José pulled their daughters out of the city. “We feel humiliated, trampled,” Yoli told Cuatro. “I have had to take my daughters out of their house because the Government does nothing, because Mr. Pedro Sánchez is on vacation in La Mareta. Nobody cares about us.”

Beaches that used to hold families became camps of reed huts, plastic, rotting food, urine and human waste. Children’s parks were left smeared in shit.

Hospitals opened emergency capacity. Doctors speak of scabies, tuberculosis, impetigo and a “health catastrophe.”

A BBVA branch closed after a security guard was beaten trying to stop a robbery of an elderly woman. Women described needing escorts to their own front doors.

This was the “example of coexistence” Inclusion Minister Elma Saiz chose to praise from a distance. “Ceuta is a true example of coexistence,” she said. “A city in which different cultures, traditions, and faiths coexist. And which has demonstrated over decades that it is one of its greatest strengths.” Diversity, she added, is “our greatest strength.” The parks full of excrement did not make the speech.

Police unions have described girls and women glued to police vans near the CETI because the moment they step away they are raped. There are accounts of daily assaults, of victims too frightened to report, of attacks moving into the hills where patrols cannot easily follow.

Reports also describe “many dead cats, cut,” some missing half a body or pierced, plus half-eaten pigeons and seagulls in the areas where migrants are camping.

Theo latest footage confirms that so called progressive NGO workers are still operating in the city, even handing pepper spray to illegal migrants during Wednesday’s clashes – kit for use against the local Spaniards coming down to the beach.

Another clip shows Gaza Barbie, a leftist agitator, joining migrant groups to chant “Free Palestine”.

This woman has spent the entirety of August filming herself fleetingly appearing near migrant groups, insisting the streets are safe and dismissing frightened neighbours as xenophobes.

Meanwhile, Spanish television new captured a Moroccan invader explaining that Spanish girls being raped should surprise no one, because they walk alone, and that the fault lies with parents who do not keep them at home.

On Thursday, residents blocked a Red Cross food convoy headed for the beach camps, forcing them to eventually leave.

Locals want the illegal camps gone. They want deportations of those with no asylum claim. They want their daughters able to walk without a male escort. They want parks that are not toilets.

They want a government that treats a Spanish city as Spanish territory rather than a holding pen for rapists, murderers and other criminals.

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

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 15:11

FBI Director Blasts CBC’s Editorial Choice Not To Call 9/11 A Terrorist Attack

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FBI Director Blasts CBC’s Editorial Choice Not To Call 9/11 A Terrorist Attack

Authored by Jennifer Cowan via The Epoch Times,

The director of the FBI is criticizing a CBC News directive for its journalists to avoid using the term “terrorist attacks” during 25th anniversary coverage of the 9/11 terror plot that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

The memorandum directed to CBC News personnel instructed staff to stay away from terms like “terrorist” or “terrorism” and to instead use descriptions like “hijackings” to describe the attacks executed by Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” reads the memo penned by CBC News senior director of journalistic standards and public trust Basem Boshra. “The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed.”

FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media to comment on CBC’s policy.

“Any agency in Canada that doesn’t publicly reject this bastardization of history, and an insult to the souls lost during our largest terrorist attack in US history will no longer have [a] friend in this FBI… Not to mention our heroes that responded in the aftermath,” Patel wrote.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra shared Patel’s comment on social media and noted that the FBI has been “directly responsible” for thwarting terrorist and criminal operations in Canada.

“Failure to recognize and confront radical and terrorist ideologies significantly endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a shared national and economic security partnership,” he said.

The CBC says the memo, which was shared on social media by Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, was reiterating a long-standing policy to maintain journalistic neutrality.

“It is the practice of the CBC to exercise extreme caution before using the words terrorist and terrorism,” CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “The memo was a reminder of the longstanding practice that favours the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations.”

Kelly said the CBC’s job is to accurately report the facts, to quote the people affected, and to convey the views of officials and experts when atrocities occur.

“We bear witness,” she added. “But CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism.”

The Conservatives are also criticizing the CBC directive. Tory MPM Rachel Thomas, whose shadow minister portfolio of Canadian Identity and Culture includes scrutiny over the public broadcaster, said the directive is “shameful.”

She noted that 24 Canadians were among the thousands killed by al-Qaeda during the series of attacks that caused two planes to strike the World Trade Centre, one to hit the Pentagon in Virginia, and another to crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

She also accused the CBC News in a separate post of redefining terrorism “in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11.”

“Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day,” said Thomas. “Trying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks.”

Thomas is demanding CBC ” issue a clear apology” and said the person responsible for the memo should be fired.

Fellow Tory MP Andrew Lawton commented on the issue as well, calling the broadcaster’s policy “truly disgusting.”

“CBC journalists have been directed not to refer to what happened on 9/11 as terrorist attacks,” he wrote. “Taxpayers give CBC $1.4 billion every year to be gaslit.”

CBC is expected to receive $1.38-billion in federal government funding for fiscal 2026-2027, down from the $1.58-billion designated for the public broadcaster in the previous fiscal year.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has frequently described the public broadcaster as “the most important of Canadian institutions.”

He included CBC as a pillar in his election campaign last spring, saying a well-funded public broadcaster is crucial for preserving Canadian culture and national identity while serving as a reliable forum to counter foreign misinformation.

Ongoing Policy

The publicly funded broadcaster has also come under scrutiny by the Opposition for telling its journalists not to use the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israeli civilians.

The public broadcaster, in a leaked email from CBC Director of Journalistic Standards George Achi, advised journalists against saying Gaza has not been occupied by Israel since 2005, and instructed them not to refer to “militants, soldiers, or anyone else” as “terrorists.”

The instructions came after Hamas launched rocket attacks on Israel, killing 1,200 civilians and also took hostages, including children, to Gaza.

The Conservatives and some members of the public demanded an investigation into the matter. An inquiry by the broadcaster’s ombudsman later found that CBC had not breached its own journalistic standards by avoiding the use of the word “terrorist.”

“CBC’s practice of referring to Hamas as terrorists only with attribution adheres to the corporation’s journalistic standards,” CBC Ombudsman Jack Nagler said in his decision.

Kelly told The Epoch Times that CBC News editor in chief and general manager Brodie Fenlon addressed the matter in an October 2023 blog post, noting that the broadcaster’s policy hasn’t changed and also applies to content about 9/11.

The 9/11 terror plot was the most lethal series of terrorist attacks in U.S. history. The al-Qaeda -orchestrated attacks killed 2,976 people and injured thousands more.

Al-Qaeda has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1999. Public Safety Canada listed the organization as a terror group in 2002.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 15:05

Wall Street Warns “Pervert Glasses” Backlash Threatens AI-Wearables Boom

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Wall Street Warns “Pervert Glasses” Backlash Threatens AI-Wearables Boom

Bernstein analysts are out with a note on how Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica’s once-hot smart glasses business is running out of steam because of an emerging public backlash over privacy and surveillance, raising questions about whether the smart glasses industry as a whole is hitting a brick wall.

Luca Solca, Bernstein’s senior equity analyst and global luxury-goods sector head, covers companies including EssilorLuxottica, LVMH, Hermès and Richemont. He said Ray-Ban Meta glasses were initially a “commercial success,” but public opinion has since shifted against the glasses has drastically shifted, with folks online labeling them “pervert glasses” amid mounting privacy concerns.

EssilorLuxottica sold more than 7 million Meta AI glasses in 2025, compared with 2 million during 2023 and 2024 combined, Solca said. However, he warned that users are abandoning the glasses under social pressure. 

Unlike smartphones, the cameras are embedded inside ordinary-looking frames, and the blinking warning light can be covered with tape despite Meta’s efforts to prevent tampering. That has not stopped influencers and bad actors from using the glasses in ways that have angered the public.

“The court of public opinion has dubbed the Ray-Ban Metas’ pervert glasses,'” the analyst said, adding, “Public figures such as Jimmy Kimmel and singer Lorde have publicly spoken up against them over the past months, with distressing guerrilla ads by US and British advocacy groups being plastered over NYC and London to raise awareness and encourage boycotts.”

Solca continued:

Paradoxically, the characteristic that made Meta’s Ray-Bans so popular in the first place may be their downfall. 

The camera and technology blend seamlessly with the original design, making the Ray-Ban Metas a rather fashionable gadget.

However, this means that most people are unaware they are being filmed and unable to consent. 

Users can record hands-free, making it less obvious than when using a smartphone to do so. The blinking light that should alert them to this fact can be easily covered, despite Meta’s product updates to prevent this. 

There are countless videos online instructing users precisely how to bypass this feature. German nonprofit group HateAid calls for ensuring ‘safety by design,’ pointing to the fact that Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are ‘indistinguishable’ from ordinary glasses. They are requesting that authorities make sure the glasses are ‘clearly identifiable.’

Solca then makes the case that the mounting social backlash makes it more positive on EssilorLuxottica. Slower smart-glasses adoption reduces the risk that technology companies will cannibalize the traditional eyewear market, dilute industry margins and turn glasses into another low-margin consumer-electronics category

Solca explained: 

All of the above makes us, ironically, more positive on EssilorLuxottica. 

We wrote before about the impact of smart glasses on the group’s LT economics (EssilorLuxottica: Gauging Optionality) and estimated the right valuation in the current context at ~24x PE (EssilorLuxottica: The “right” valuation).

The public outcry against smart glasses makes the bearish scenario of a cannibalistic, disruptive and margin dilutive impact on the category less likely. 

However, given the optics of the problem, we wonder how much reputational damage has been done to the Ray-Ban brand. Will the Wayfarers be remembered as the ‘pervert glasses’ in the same way the Aviators are associated with Tom Cruise in Top Gun?

Solca maintained a Market-Perform rating and a 200 euro 12-month price target. Shares are currently trading around 156 euros and have more than halved since peaking around 319 euros in late 2025.

Our reporting over the past year has documented the mounting public backlash against smart glasses (see here), including the emergence of an app designed to alert users when the devices are nearby. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 14:45

Trump Stuns By Outright Dismissing Notion Putin Preparing To Attack A NATO State

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Trump Stuns By Outright Dismissing Notion Putin Preparing To Attack A NATO State

President Trump has added fuel to the fire of controversy and speculation over the question of why CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise and highly rare trip to Moscow on Tuesday.

Media accounts which seek to explain the nature of his meeting with top Kremlin intelligence officials, while apparently being snubbed by Putin in terms of a direct interaction, have shifted in days since the visit. The early ‘consensus’ was that he delivered a stern warning for Russia not to attack any NATO state. But President Trump has poured cold water on this explanation, appearing to dismiss it outright in his latest comments. 

“I’ve had good talks with him. He’s not going to be attacking a NATO territory,” Trump said of Putin on Thursday while talking to reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump didn’t answer specifically when pressed on if the president directed Ratcliffe to deliver a warning to Putin to not attack NATO. “I don’t want to comment on that but they’re not going to attack,” Trump said.

While many times over the course of the Ukraine war, European heads of state have claimed that Russia is expansionist and seeks to attack countries in Europe beyond Ukraine, this has not ever been a public allegation of Trump, who has tended to downplay it as a possibility. 

Trump did deny the reports centered on Ratcliffe in an interview with Axios Thursday, saying “Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual.”

And when asked over whether he’s concerned that Putin might attack NATO or deeper inside Europe, Trump replied, “I am not concerned … at all. There is no problem.” According to more:

The president called Ratcliffe’s trip “standard business” and expressed puzzlement over the media accounts of it.

But the reality is that no CIA director has made such a trip in well over four years. The prior time was November 2021, when then-CIA Director William Burns traveled to Moscow to meet with senior Russian officials and issued a stark warning against invading Ukraine.

It was also highly unexpected in terms of timing, given the stalemated nature of the Ukraine conflict, and the fact that zero peace negotiations are happening. There has not even so much as been any efforts at achieving a short-term ceasefire, akin to last year’s Christmas truce.

Trump in the Oval on Thursday declaring confidently that no, the Russians are not going to attack NATO:

One theory on the motive for Ratcliffe’s trip, which has gained traction among independent analysts, is that it was focused on the Iran war amid allegations from US officials that Russia has assisted Tehran with targeting information on US troop and base whereabouts in the Mideast region.

At times throughout Operation Epic Fury, Tehran appears to have even targeted CIA stations. The bulk of American military assets and bases in the Gulf countries have suffered severe damage earlier in the conflict, resulting in a Pentagon troop drawback to safer areas. This is indeed a big deal if it is the case that Russia or China (or both) have handed the Iranians intel to help push back American bases and forces.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 12:10

Judge Again Rules Texas Drag Performance Law Unconstitutional

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Judge Again Rules Texas Drag Performance Law Unconstitutional

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Tuesday again barred a Texas law that restricts public drag performances, ruling for a second time that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution’s free-speech protections.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston declared Texas Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech. He permanently enjoined Attorney General Ken Paxton from enforcing it.

“For those who find such activities as described in this case offensive, the solution is relatively simple … just don’t go,” Hittner wrote in his opinion.

The ruling marks the second time Hittner has found the law in violation of the First Amendment. He granted a restraining order against the legislation in 2023. A Fifth Circuit panel later vacated the injunction in 2025 and remanded the case, allowing the law to take effect while the appeal moved through the courts.

Hittner reconsidered the First Amendment challenges under the Supreme Court’s Moody framework – which provided criteria for determining whether performers’ rights were violated – and the vagueness claims in the context of court precedent. He again found the statute overbroad and unconstitutionally vague.

The amended final judgment, entered Aug. 25, finds Senate Bill 12 violates the First Amendment as incorporated by the 14th Amendment, and immediately and permanently blocks the attorney general from enforcing it.

Senate Bill 12, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June 2023, targets “sexually oriented performances,” imposes civil penalties on businesses hosting them when minors are present, authorizes local governments to regulate such shows, and creates Class A misdemeanor criminal penalties for performers of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

The law bans “the exhibition of sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” in public or in venues where people under 18 might see them. It defines a sexually oriented performance as a visual performance featuring a nude performer or one engaging in sexual conduct that appeals to the prurient interest in sex.

Hittner found that performers ranging from Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley to Miley Cyrus could have faced penalties if their acts were viewed as erotic. Accessories and prosthetics that exaggerate sexual characteristics, hip gyrations, or certain clothing and gestures risked triggering the law even in non-obscene contexts such as theater, dance, or impersonation acts, he said.

Paxton, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, on Wednesday said he plans to appeal the decision.

“This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,” he wrote in a post on X. “I will appeal this decision immediately and continue to fight to protect our kids.”

Paxton’s office defended the legislation as a measure to protect children, pledging to exhaust the court system in pursuit of implementing the law.

Opponents said the law was too broad and aimed at LGBT performers.

“Today’s decision confirms that the Legislature’s attempt to ban drag performances was unconstitutional from start to finish,” Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, which represented the plaintiffs, said in an Aug. 25 statement. “Drag has a rich history as a refuge of joy and liberation for countless Texans, and it’s not going anywhere.”

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 11:55

US Job Growth Revised Lower By 79,000 In Annual Benchmark Estimate

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US Job Growth Revised Lower By 79,000 In Annual Benchmark Estimate

In our preview of today’s preliminary benchmark revision of US jobs – published by the BLS ‘conveniently’ just as Kevin Warsh started to speak – we said that according to Goldman calculations, for the first time in 3 years and just the second time since 2018, the BLS was going to revisedpayrolls modestly higher “based on the nine months of data released since the last benchmarked period, March 2025.”

Specifically, Goldman’s economists expected “a preliminary upward revision on the order of 50-450k which would translate to a 5-40k upward revision to monthly payroll growth over April 2025-March 2026. A final revision of this magnitude would result in the average pace of payroll growth over April 2025-March 2026 being revised up from about 25k/month currently to 30-65k/month.”

Alas, for one more year, it was not meant to be, and this morning the BLS announced that according to the preliminary estimate of the Current Employment Statistics (CES), the 2026 benchmark revision to total nonfarm employment for March 2026 was -79,000.  While just why of a positive revision, it was a far cry from last year’s record 911K negative job revision. For context, annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have had absolute average of 0.2% of total nonfarm employment.

Additionally, the revision for total private employment was -178,000, which means that government jobs were revised higher by 99K.

The 178,000 negative revision for private payrolls in the year through March reflected weakness in retail trade, education and health services, manufacturing and business services. Employment increased in transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities and construction. 

It is likely that the final final revision will actually tip into the positive. In accordance with usual practice, the final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2027 with the publication of the January 2027 Employment Situation news release. As we noted earlier, preliminary estimates for the benchmark revision tend to understate the final revision: the nextx chart shows that the preliminary estimate has been below the final revision in each of the last six years, by roughly 100k on average, which suggests that today’s -79K print will end up being in the +20K ballpark. This reflects that the QCEW itself has been revised up in every quarter since 2019 with the exception of 2020 H1, potentially reflecting ongoing issues with initial submissions to the administrative records that inform the QCEW

Before today’s revision, government payrolls data indicated employers added 211,000 jobs in the year through March on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, or an average of 17,600 per month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The preliminary benchmark revision suggests average job growth was likely closer to 11,000 a month.

Preliminary benchmark revisions have now lowered employment estimates in seven of the past eight years. Even so, the latest adjustment suggests that the labor market is roughly balanced – with employers slow to hire new workers but also slow to fire existing staff.

The BLS each year benchmarks the March payrolls level to a more accurate but less timely data source called the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages that’s based on state unemployment insurance tax records and covers nearly all US jobs. While the new information improves the accuracy of its data, the process has gained additional attention in recent years.

Last year’s preliminary adjustment slashed employment estimates by the most on record, reigniting White House criticism of the BLS. About one month prior to the 2025 preliminary benchmark release, President Donald Trump fired the agency’s leader after a separate monthly report showed weak job growth. The Senate confirmed Trump’s pick to lead the BLS – Brett Matsumoto – on Aug. 7. Matsumoto, a PhD economist and BLS veteran, now helms an agency responsible for publishing some of the most market-moving statistics in the world.

What is behind the chronic negative revisions? First, there is the chronically wrong birth-death model, discussed extensively here in recent years. Yet just 14% of last year’s very large revision can be attributed to miscalibration of the birth-death model; the bulk instead falls into the residual category which would capture the reporting error arising from a systematic undercount of unauthorized workers.

As we discussed first a few years ago when we correctly previewed the massive negative revisions to 2023 and 2024 data, since the QCEW is based on unemployment insurance records, it likely excludes most unauthorized workers, who contributed to employment growth in the periods covered by those benchmark revisions. In most cases unauthorized workers do not qualify for unemployment insurance, so employers might see little reason to pay unemployment insurance tax on their behalf and might even see it as a needless risk in the cases of any immigrants they are employing who do not yet have work permits.

As such, the Trump admin’s aggressive purging of illegal aliens – and workers – has led to significant real-time overestimates of the labor market in the monthly series, which are then revised away every year once it becomes clear that there were far fewer illegal aliens in the workforce. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 11:40

“Dark” Tanker Fleet Shatters Iran’s Hormuz Stranglehold As Gulf Oil Exports Top Two-Thirds Of Pre-War Level

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“Dark” Tanker Fleet Shatters Iran’s Hormuz Stranglehold As Gulf Oil Exports Top Two-Thirds Of Pre-War Level

Brent crude futures initially jumped overnight after The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump has no interest in reviving the memorandum of understanding (interim peace deal) reached with Iran in June. The war-risk premium in Brent has since faded in New York premarket trading amid mounting developments this week that major Gulf producers, including Kuwait and Qatar, are increasing tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Emerging diplomatic traction between Oman and Iran has also further reduced the perceived risk of a prolonged disruption.

Reinforcing this week’s developments, new data from Daan Struyven, Goldman’s co-head of Global Commodities Research and head of oil research, show that Persian Gulf oil exports have recovered to more than two-thirds of prewar levels.

Struyven wrote in a note late Thursday that Gulf-area exports of crude and petroleum products have rebounded sharply to between 15 million and 16 million barrels per day, up from a March low of 5 million to 6 million barrels per day.

He said crude flows remain 7 million to 8 million barrels per day below prewar levels, but the recovery has been strong enough to ease fears of a prolonged disruption at the world’s most important maritime chokepoint.

Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are estimated at 8 million to 10 million barrels per day. Traders surveyed by Bloomberg place that range much lower, at between 6 million and 8 million barrels per day.

“Although our estimates focus on total Gulf flows, the upward revisions suggest Strait of Hormuz oil transits are likely close to US officials’ 8-10mb/d estimates. The rise in dark crossings by specialized shippers and in ship-to-ship transfers shows that producers and shippers are adapting to the Middle East conflict,” Struyven told clients.

Related:

He noted, “Shipping markets now price in disruptions likely continuing well into 2027 (Exhibit 7). Still, potential additional dark flows and price-sensitive China net crude imports may moderate the upside to crude oil prices even if Mideast disruptions last longer. We continue to see greater price upside to European natural gas prices and deferred oil product prices in persistent disruption scenarios than for crude.”

Readers by now understand that the energy crisis is not necessarily in crude oil but, in fact, in refined products, with the U.S. diesel crack spread trading at $93 per barrel Friday morning. The spread blew out last week, reaching a record above $100.

The takeaway from Goldman’s Struyven is that, even though the critical waterway has not fully reopened, a growing fleet of dark tankers is transiting the strait and defying Iran’s blockade. That raises the question we have asked in recent weeks: Is Iran’s geopolitical leverage over the Strait of Hormuz eroding?

Overnight, Trump posted an image on Truth Social depicting the Strait of Hormuz as “New U.S. Territory.”

In late March, we cited a note from Zoltan Pozsar’s advisory firm, Ex Uno Plures, pointing out that Trump was “methodically building a portfolio of assets” to pressure China, including adding the Strait of Hormuz (read here).

The question is whether Trump will stop at Hormuz or embark on another crusade in the Gulf and take Iran’s Kharg Island. This newly minted portfolio also includes Venezuela, where the U.S. is nearing a deal to secure long-term energy-producing assets in the country.

Professional subscribers can read the full GS note here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 11:25

US Sanctions 3 Groups Accused Of Supporting Far-Left Terrorism

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US Sanctions 3 Groups Accused Of Supporting Far-Left Terrorism

Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on three organizations it accuses of supporting far-left terrorism.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces a new set of sanctions against Iran, describing them as “an economic D-Day,” in the Cash Room at the Treasury Department in Washington, on Aug. 24, 2026. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 26 sanctioned Italy-based Autistici/Inventati, the UK-based Palestine Action, and the transnational organization Masar Badil under executive order 13224, the government’s principal counterterrorism sanctions authority.

“Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

Among the services the Treasury Department described Autistici/Inventati as providing to violent left-wing groups were website hosting, encrypted email, online chat, and video conferencing.

Autistici/Inventati restricts its services to people and organizations it has vetted who are aligned with its “anti-fascist,” “anti-militarist,” and anticapitalist ideology, according to the Treasury Department.

Austistici/Inventati was accused by the U.S. government of providing services to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the UK, and the European Union.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned Palestine Action, accusing the organization of committing break-ins at defense facilities and British military installations, injuring UK law enforcement officers, and causing millions of dollars in damage to military equipment. The British government designated Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in July 2025.

The organization Masar Badil was sanctioned for allegedly operating on behalf of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the United States and Canada sanctioned in 2024. The Treasury Department described Samidoun as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.

Autistici/Inventati denied the allegations in a statement posted on its blog, Cavallette. It described itself as a small, volunteer-run technology collective providing “digital self-defense” tools and communications services to activists, individuals, and organizations.

“We will not back down,” the collective said, calling the allegations false and politically motivated. “Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism.”

Huda Ammori, cofounder of Palestine Action, responded to the terrorist designation on X.

“As a Palestinian and Iraqi, the fact the country which destroyed both my homelands is calling me a terrorist, is beyond hypocritical,” Ammori said in a post on X on Aug. 26.

He said President Donald Trump “is the antithesis to everything Palestine Action stands for.”

Masar Badil also took to X to respond.

“Washington will not criminalize the struggle of our people nor will it strip them of their right to resistance and return,” the organization posted on X on Aug. 27.

The U.S. sanctions block property and financial interests belonging to the designated parties that are in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons. They also generally prohibit Americans from conducting transactions involving the sanctioned organizations.

Foreign financial institutions may also face penalties for knowingly facilitating significant transactions on their behalf. The Treasury said sanctions may be lifted if designated parties successfully petition for removal or change the conduct that prompted the action.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/28/2026 – 11:05

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