Via Remix News,

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has long been known to sell out every last so-called value the party is supposed to represent, but it appears that backing controversial far-left candidate Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf is now a bridge too far.

The CDU/CSU has now decided that a special session on the election of Brosius-Gersdorf should now be removed from the Bundestag agenda. The reason? Civil war in the CDU/CSU is causing serious chaos in the party over her candidacy.

However, the party is stating that the reason is not her stance on abortion, which she backs until the last moment of pregnancy, but instead allegations of plagiarism.

During an ongoing meeting, sources within parliament revealed that the parliamentary group executive and Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) informed the SPD that plagiarism allegations against the candidate compromised her professional expertise. This was allegedly problematic because her expertise was the primary justification for her election as a constitutional judge, a role that demands individuals be beyond reproach.

However, the real reason might have to do with Merz’s historic answer in the Bundestag less than 48 hours ago. Responding to a question from AfD MP Beatrix von Storch, he said he has no moral qualms about backing a candidate that supports abortion up until a minute before birth.

BREAKING: 🇩🇪🔴A historic moment unfolded in German parliament.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz blew up what his CDU party has represented for decades with a single word — all in support of late-term abortion.

When asked by AfD MP @Beatrix_vStorch if he reconcile his conscience to… pic.twitter.com/6jAIxAeri7

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 10, 2025

“Can you reconcile it with your conscience to vote for Mrs. Brosius Gersdorff, for whom the dignity of a human being does not apply if he is not yet born? Mrs. Brosius Gersdorff has said that a child that is 9 months old — 2 minutes before birth — has no human dignity. Can you reconcile it with your conscience to vote for this woman, knowing that presumably this lady will shortly be voting on the abolition of Article 218 (of the criminal code)?” asked von Storch in parliament.

“The scope and extent of Article 1, sentence 1 of our Basic Law, Mrs. von Storch, is something I would like to discuss with you on another occasion. But my very simple answer to your question is: yes,” replied Merz.

His answer was like a stick of dynamite being thrown into his parliamentary group. The CDU has historically been opposed to abortion due to its Christian roots. Not only did the AfD go on the attack following Merz’s answer, but CDU MPs came out against Merz, which has shaken the party’s foundations.

“Friedrich Merz offered me yesterday to discuss Article 1 of the Basic Law with him: “The dignity of man is inviolable.” I gladly accept this offer, Mr. Merz. I will therefore gladly await your proposed date. Deporting rejected asylum seekers and warning against Islamization does not violate human dignity. Frauke Brosius Gersdorff, on the other hand, wants to suspend Article 1 of the Basic Law for an entire category of people, namely all unborn humans. If someone like that becomes a constitutional judge, it threatens the core of the value system of the Basic Law, and you bear the responsibility for that.”

Friedrich Merz hat mir gestern angeboten, mit ihm über Artikel 1 Grundgesetz: „Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar“ zu diskutieren. Das Angebot nehme ich sehr gerne an, Herr Merz. Ich warte also gerne auf Ihren Terminvorschlag. Abgelehnte Asylbewerber abzuschieben und vor der…

— Beatrix von Storch (@Beatrix_vStorch) July 10, 2025

According to former Karlsruhe court judge Peter M. Huber, Brosius-Gersdorf’s election could damage the institution’s reputation.

“Such a polarizing personnel proposal poses a risk to the court’s reputation,” Huber told Focus magazine. “The positions that Ms. Brosius-Gersdorf has raised and are hotly debated do not command majority support, either in society or among constitutional lawyers.”

“Karlsruhe has always stood for balance and reliability – including in the selection of constitutional judges,” he said. Unlike in the United States, judicial appointments in Germany “have never been so personalized, so that the Federal Constitutional Court is generally perceived as a single entity.” He said that the debate around the candidate could radically transform Germany’s views on the courts.

The influential editor of NIUS and the former top editor of Bild newspaper, Juilan Riechelt, predicted on X that Merz’s answer would have historic implications for the CDU.

“Prognosis: This thoughtless, unequivocally revealing answer is a turning point in the history of the CDU. No CDU member should ever answer such a question so decisively with ‘Yes!’ Merz could have talked his way out, he could have said he understood or interpreted the left-wing activist Brosius-Gersdorf differently. But he goes All-In AGAINST the core brand of his party,” he wrote.

BREAKING NIUS: Der historische Moment im Video! Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz stellt mit einem einzigen Wort das komplette Selbstverständnis der CDU infrage. Auf die Frage, ob er es mit seinem Gewissen vereinbaren kann, eine Frau zu wählen, die einem Baby im neunten Monat der… https://t.co/KnBXnauoPe pic.twitter.com/2mIpz1W7ou

— Julian Reichelt (@jreichelt) July 9, 2025

As Remix News previously reported, the election of Brosius-Gersdorf represents a serious threat to democracy in Germany, as the activist lawyer has called for a ban on the AfD.

🇩🇪🔴Is she the German Right’s worst nightmare?

Germany’s next likely top court justice for the Constitutional Court has pushed for a ban on the AfD.

Lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf had also speculated that it was a “constitutional duty” for mandatory vaccination during the… pic.twitter.com/SUiKwRMLpZ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 3, 2025

Read more here…

Authored by Julie Kelly via ‘Declassified’,

As I reported on X on Sunday, it appears Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino have agreed to a truce. Bongino was prepared to imminently resign over Bondi’s botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter; President Trump told reporters on Sunday he had spoken with Bongino and indicated his longtime friend was “in good shape” without any plans to depart soon.

If true, the development represents good news since the clash of wills pitted the White House against some of the president’s most loyal influencers, prompting one of the biggest political crises in the administration to date. Trump appears to have successfully calmed the waters both behind the scenes and online.

Unfortunately, not only did the Epstein matter create deep division in MAGAland, fixation on the topic sucked the oxygen out of the media sphere related to significant achievements within the Department of Justice. Bondi and her team continue to clean house at the systemically corrupt department as longtime employees are either fired or leave voluntarily amid “differences” with the president’s policies. The most recent purge includes members of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, J6 prosecutors, and the spokeswoman at the most powerful U.S. Attorney’s office in the country.

But rather than take their well-deserved firings on the chin like grown ups, self-proclaimed “victims” of the personnel wrecking ball emote on social media or to slavish reporters proving that DOJ employees are a partisan, sanctimonious, and downright annoying bunch of humans.

Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Part 1,306

For example, Bondi last week fired Joseph Tirrell, head of the DOJ’s ethics office. (LOL).

Tirrell, according to Bloomberg News, is “a career attorney who’d spent nearly 20 years at the department,” meaning Bondi was stuck with him until the DOJ could find a reason to terminate. No details are available as to why Tirrell finally got the boot but he reportedly did, among other things, oversee Special Counsel Jack Smith’s operation.

Last February, Tirrell reviewed Smith’s last disclosure report, which revealed the special counsel had received $140,000 in pro bono legal advice after the 2024 election. (The president promised to investigate Smith, who handed down two criminal federal indictments against Trump in 2023.)

It’s unclear whether Tirrell approved that free legal work, flagged any excessive expenditures—the special counsel’s office spent roughly $50 million in a little over a year—or identified any conflict of interests within the office. But instead of simply updating his resume, Tirrell followed in the light-in-the-loafers footsteps of his former colleagues by penning a tale of woe on social media.

Patricia Hartman, the longtime spokeswoman at the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office, went straight to CBS News last week to bitch about her invitation to the unemployment line.

Hartman, no doubt at the direction of Biden appointee Matthew Graves, spent four years churning out daily press releases to boast about the Biden DOJ’s success in the politically-motivated January 6 investigation. Hartman even issued press releases on the misdemeanor cases against Trump confidants Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro; U.S attorney’s offices rarely pursue federal misdemeanors and certainly never brag about it in press releases if they do.

Nonetheless, Hartman portrayed herself as the victim of a political operation rather than the devoted mouthpiece of one:

Hartman is the only J6 propagandist to hit the streets. Following an immediate expulsion of J6 and Jack Smith prosecutors back in late January, the DOJ is back to the chopping block in both matters. Bondi just fired at least 20 lawyers and staffers assigned to Smith’s team bringing the total number of scalps to 37. (Smith resigned on January 10.) At least three prosecutors who handled high-profile J6 cases also got the ax this month with more to come, according to my own sources.

Voluntary Self Deportation

Many DOJ employees are leaving voluntarily rather than anxiously refresh their email inbox for a message with the subject line, “Notice of Removal From Federal Service.” Dozens of employees working at the DOJ unit responsible for defending the administration against a nonstop deluge of lawsuits have resigned, according to a Reuters analysis this month. Prosecutors complained of a heavy workload–boo hoo!–and ideological differences with the new boss.

“Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system. How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?” one lawyer who recently quit told Reuters.

A similar exodus is underway at the DOJ’s civil rights division where nearly 70 percent of the division’s attorneys have headed for the exits rather than work for Harmeet Dhillon, the president’s pick to run the office. Apparently the totally nonpolitical lawyers object to doing things like keeping boys out of girls’ sports, protecting children from surgical mutilation, and combating religious bias—just a few of Dhillon’s stated objectives.

All of this comes on top of months of success in identifying and firing known partisans at both the DOJ and FBI, an historic purge with no signs of stopping. The moves are “creating rampant speculation and fear within the workforce over who might be terminated next,” former staffers told the Washington Post.

Which should be sweet music to the collective ears of Trump supporters. Unfortunately, this good news is being silenced by a cacophony of discord and demands in the Epstein case—something the enemies of MAGA are enjoying all too much.

President Trump fired off a flurry of trade warning letters last week to countries including South Korea, Brazil, Europe, Mexico, and Canada. In one letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, Trump announced the potential for a new 50% tariff on imports from Brazil. The move has since sparked fears of supply disruptions and sent orange juice futures in New York soaring to a four-month high. 

The most active contract jumped 8.655% to $3.1385 a pound on Monday, the highest since early March. Orange juice futures have been rallying since Trump’s trade warning letter to the South American country last week, stoking fears of renewed supply disruptions. Prices previously surged as high as $5 a pound in late 2024, as U.S. orange juice production fell to decade lows. Prices then crashed earlier this year.

OJ is on track for the largest monthly gain since January 1981. 

The threat of disrupted OJ supplies comes as the U.S. has ramped up imports from Brazil in recent years, with Florida production in disarray due to greening disease and hurricanes that have devastated large swaths of groves, according to Craig Elliott, a market analyst at Expana, as cited by Bloomberg. He noted that while the full impact of the proposed tariff remains uncertain, the volume of trade at risk is substantial and could further undermine Brazil’s competitiveness.

Tariffs risk upending Brazil–U.S. ag trade across a wide range of goods (much more than just OJ) — from coffee and red meat to poultry, pork, and more. 

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A poll by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies published on July 10 found that a majority of Californians believe special interest groups wield too much influence over policymaking in Sacramento.

More than 6,000 respondents were asked whether or not “special interest money has too much influence in Sacramento politics and decisionmaking.”

Fifty-five percent of respondents strongly agreed, and 20 percent somewhat agreed. Only 2 percent disagreed.

Republicans and Democrats were largely united on the issue.

The poll found that 73 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement. Among those with no party preference, 75 percent agreed.

The sentiment was shared across regional, gender, age, education, income, and racial groups, with at least 59 percent of respondents in each group agreeing with the statement. The poll also found that 87 percent of regular voters strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement.

“The numbers don’t lie. Californians overwhelmingly recognize that big money wields far too much power over our elected officials,” said Russia Chavis Cardenas, deputy director of nonprofit organization California Common Cause.

“People from every political party, every race, and every walk of life are united behind one urgent demand. They want Sacramento to break the grip of big money on our democracy.”

When asked whether they trust various representatives to “act in the best interests of the California public,” 14 percent of voters said they have “a lot” of trust in Gov. Gavin Newsom. Another 28 percent said they trust him “somewhat.”

Voters trust the state Legislature about as much: 11 percent said they trust it a lot, and 33 percent said they trust it somewhat.

Voters have even less trust in “tech companies and their leaders,” with just 4 percent saying they have a lot of trust that those leaders will act in the best interests of California residents. The poll found 58 percent have no trust “at all” in tech leaders. Trust in business leaders in general was only slightly higher: 4 percent said they trust them, while 46 percent said they do not trust them “at all.”

“It’s no surprise that Californians have little trust in tech companies and their leadership,” said Leora Gershenzon, policy director of the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy.

“All too often, they have made decisions that further screentime addiction, mental health challenges in children and teens, and political deepfakes that undermine elections, all to maximize profit.”

Voters trust labor unions more, with 19 percent saying they trust them a lot and 32 percent saying they trust them somewhat.

Community-based nonprofit organizations score higher: 27 percent trust them a lot, and another 35 percent trust them somewhat.

“With so much special interest money in California elections, everyday Californians question the motives of our elected leaders. But they know community-based organizations will always have their back,” said Camila Chavez, executive director of nonprofit organization Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Regarding the justice system, 20 percent of California voters said they have a lot of trust in the courts, and 37 percent said they trust them somewhat.

Eleven percent of voters said they trust public officials a lot, and 39 percent said they trust them somewhat.

‘Democracy Under Attack’

A majority of Californians, 64 percent, across gender, age, education, regional, income, and racial groups, view American democracy as “under attack.”

Fewer than 15 percent of respondents from each group said American democracy is in “no danger.”

Seventy percent of respondents aged 65 and older believe American democracy is under attack, along with 69 percent of white people, and 74 percent of black respondents. Only 1 percent of black respondents view American democracy as being in no danger.

Democrats and Republicans are split on the issue, with 81 percent of Democrats seeing American democracy as under attack, while only 38 percent of Republicans agree. A total of 39 percent of Republicans view American democracy as being tested, and 24 percent of Republicans view American democracy as in no danger.

Sixty-one percent of those with “No Party Preference” believe that American democracy is under attack. An estimated 32 percent view it as being tested. Just 8 percent of those with no party preference, and 3 percent of Democrats, see American democracy as being in no danger.

“It is hard to imagine that a majority of voters would have seen U.S. democracy as under severe threat,” said Eric Schickler, co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. “It is now something of a new ‘normal,’ itself a worrisome sign about how things have shifted.”

President Trump on Sunday said he hopes a ceasefire deal in Gaza can be finalized within this week, in comments made to reporters before boarding a flight to attend yesterday’s FIFA Club World Cup Final.

When asked about the ongoing crisis in Gaza, he responded, “We’re talking, and hopefully we’ll get that straightened out over the next week. Let’s see what happens.”

While there had been anticipation in Israel for a deal announcement during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington DC last week, recent days have seen the typical non-committal, ambiguous statements out of both Washington and Tel Aviv. The war looks to have no solutions, given the stated goals of Israel and the United States.

Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism Sunday, saying he was “hopeful” an agreement could be reached. 

But as it stands the Netanyahu government is still insisting on the full disarming of Hamas, while Hamas for its part wants full withdrawal of the Israeli military.

Neither is expected to happen, and at this point it looks to be a fight to the death – with Israeli hostages still in limbo (and many feared dead) – and thousands of Palestinian civilians getting slaughtered each week.

Currently, a plan floated by some Israeli officials for a designated ‘humanitarian city’ inside a sector of Gaza has continued to be met with immense pushback. Critics call it in effect a “concentration camp” – while many within Israel say it is logistically impossible.

The plan was announced by Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz last week:

Israeli affairs analyst, Dan Perry, says the plan to build a “humanitarian city” would involve “by all indications a very long process” to build and maintain, while the country does not have the “funds or the energy or the desire” to do so.

“I think this has to be viewed in the context of the current negotiations where the very reporting of such a plan might be an effort to put pressure on Hamas to show more flexibility,” Perry told Al Jazeera.

“I agree with [opposition leader Yair] Lapid that it is a security, political and logistical nightmare. I would add that it’s ethically inadmissible,” he added.

And so it is unlikely to get off the ground. In the meantime aid delivery continues to also be mired in controversy and scandal, as American military contractors have reportedly fired on hungry Palestinians.

Reports say the IDF troops have shot dead scores of Palestinians seeking the aid, and UN and international rights groups have slammed the unsafe aid station set-ups.

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high | World News | Sky News https://t.co/PmBpgdMd0V

— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) July 12, 2025

Al Jazeera provides some Monday updates on the situation as follows:

• At least 47 people killed across Gaza today, including Palestinians gathered near aid centre.
• Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza a day after killing 95 Palestinians across the Strip.
• Criticisms of Israel’s plan to set up an internment camp in Gaza are growing, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid saying it would amount to a “concentration camp” if Palestinians there are not allowed to leave.
• Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,026 people and wounded 138,520, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.

And below are more regional and global headlines via Newsquawk.

* * *

Geopolitics: Middle East

• Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson says Tehran will respond to the return of UN sanctions after snapback mechanism. No date or location for US/Iran nuclear talks. Will not restart US talks unless we are certain they will work.
• Israeli official said talks in Doha are ongoing with Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage deal but noted Hamas is sticking to positions that do not allow mediators to advance an agreement.
• US envoy to the Middle East Witkoff said he is hopeful on Gaza ceasefire negotiations and was said to meet senior Qataris in New Jersey on Sunday.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said they are carefully assessing options for talks with the US.

Ukraine

• US President Trump is considering greenlighting new funding for Ukraine to send a message to Russia, according to CBS. It was separately reported that President Trump is to announce an “aggressive” Ukraine weapons plan on Monday to arm Ukraine which is expected to include offensive weapons, according to Axios.
• EU envoys are nearing an agreement on lower Russian oil price cap, according to Reuters.
• Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency accused Russia’s FSB of being behind the murder of an SBU Colonel in Kyiv last week and said agents responsible for the murder were killed during an operation to apprehend them.
• IAEA team at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reported hearing hundreds of rounds of small arms fire on Saturday night.
• Russia’s Defence Ministry said Russian forces took control of Myrne and Mykolaivka in eastern Ukraine.
• North Korean leader Kim reaffirmed unconditional support for Moscow’s actions in the Ukraine war during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, while North Korea and Russia pledged cooperation to safeguard each other’s territorial integrity. Furthermore, Russia expressed firm opposition to any attempt to undermine North Korea’s national security and sovereignty, while it was also stated that Moscow wants to further strengthen the strategic partnership.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky’s Chief of staff says US Special Envoy Kellogg has arrived in Kyiv to discuss security and sanctions against Russia.
• Russian President Putin’s envoy Dmitriyev says Russia-US dialogue will continue.
• Russia’s Kremlin says it is obvious Ukraine is not in a hurry on peace negotiations, “we await timing of third round of talks”.

Other

• North Korea warned it stands ready to take military action against threats from the US, Japan and South Korea following recent joint air drills involving a strategic US bomber, according to KCNA.

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Administration officials on July 13 defended President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations, including one on a California marijuana farm last week that a worker advocacy group alleges led to a man’s death.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on July 13 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained 361 illegal immigrants and encountered 14 unaccompanied minors during a July 10 operation on two marijuana farms in Southern California.

“At the California marijuana facilities, ICE and CBP law enforcement rescued at least 14 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Among those arrested were “criminals with convictions for rape, serial burglary, hit and run and DUIs,” she added.

Both marijuana sites are operated by and licensed to Glass House Farms, which confirmed the operation and said it was fully complying with the search warrants.

United Farm Workers, a worker advocacy group, alleges that several workers were injured during the operation and reported prematurely Friday that one man died a day after he fell off a 30-foot building that he climbed. The family of Jaime Alanis, 57, later confirmed that he died Saturday.

The worker’s family created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his family and a burial in Mexico, identifying him as Jaime Alanís.

Elizabeth Strater, national vice president of the United Farm Workers, claimed that there were U.S. citizens arrested during the operations. DHS said Monday that four U.S. citizens “are being criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers.”

The Department of Homeland Security said its agents weren’t responsible for Alanís’s death. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,” the agency stated.

Agents immediately ordered a medical evacuation, according to the department.

When asked about the death during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on July 13, border czar Tom Homan said: “It’s sad. It’s unfortunate.

“He wasn’t in ICE custody, and ICE did not have hands on this person.

“But it’s always unfortunate when there’s deaths. No one wants to see people die.”

Homan said the agents were doing their job serving criminal search warrants.

“I see the media saying it was an ICE raid,” he said. “No, they were serving criminal search warrants as part of a criminal investigation involved with child trafficking, child labor. I think it was a total of 11 children that were found on that farm, and now they’re being interviewed.”

Response to Judge Ruling

On July 11, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out immigration enforcement operations and arrests in the Central District of California without probable cause.

The judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop detaining people based on their race, spoken language or accent, occupation, or presence in specific locations such as bus stops.

Noem told NBC Sunday that the administration would “absolutely” comply with the court order, but denied that the Trump administration is using racial profiling when carrying out immigration enforcement search warrants.

“What we have always done is built a case and done investigative work, and who we go after and who we target. And so this judge is ridiculous in the fact that he put forward a decision like this,” Noem said.

She said the administration will appeal the ruling and that “we will win it.”

“Because over and over again, when our ICE officers are out there getting the worst of the worst off of our streets, they’re using the investigative backgrounds and information that they have from either criminal records or what they have for charges or individuals who are breaking our federal laws that need to be brought to justice,” Noem said.

On July 13, Homan told CNN that physical characteristics are one of many factors that agents could use to establish reasonable suspicion that a potential target lacks legal immigration status, and thus give probable cause to stop and detain them.

He emphasized that it can’t be the sole reason, and suggested that features such as having a visible MS-13 tattoo would be one example.

“I want to be clear about that again, because my words are taken out of context. Physical description cannot be the sole reason to detain and question somebody. That can’t be the sole reason to raise reasonable suspicion,” Homan said.

“It’s a myriad of factors, and I could stay here for the next half hour and give you all the factors.”

Aldgra Fredly, T.J. Muscaro, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Meta shares rose during the U.S. morning cash session after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Threads that the company is building several massive data centers to support its superintelligence ambitions. 

“For our superintelligence effort, I’m focused on building the most elite and talent-dense team in the industry. We’re also going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into compute to build superintelligence. We have the capital from our business to do this,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

He continued, “We’re actually building several multi-GW clusters. We’re calling the first one Prometheus and it’s coming online in ’26. We’re also building Hyperion, which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years. We’re building multiple more titan clusters as well. Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.” 

Zuckerberg cited a recent report from tech blog SemiAnalysis that noted Meta was aggressively advancing toward superintelligence amid a series of setbacks in model performance, such as losing its lead in open-weight models to competitors like China’s DeepSeek.

Here’s more from SemiAnalysis…

Meta’s shocking purchase of 49% of Scale AI at a ~$30B valuation shows that money is of no concern for the $100B annual cashflow ad machine. Despite seemingly unlimited resources, Meta has been falling behind foundation labs in model performance.

The real wake-up call came when Meta lost its lead in open-weight models to DeepSeek. That stirred the sleeping giant. Now in full Founder Mode, Mark Zuckerberg is personally leading Meta’s charge, identifying Meta’s two core shortcomings: Talent and Compute. As one of the last founders still running a tech behemoth, Mark doesn’t need SemiAnalysis to tell him to slow down stock buybacks to fund the future!

Meta’s race for compute:

• Prometheus cluster in Ohio: Features an “all-of-the-above” approach (self-build and leasing) with on-site natural gas plants (e.g., 200MW units from Solar Turbines, Siemens Energy, and CAT).

• Hyperion cluster in Louisiana: Planned as the world’s largest campus by 2027, with over 1.5GW of IT power in phase 1.

And the race for talent and strategy 

• Recruiting Executives: Meta has aggressively onboarded leaders such as Nat Friedman (ex‑GitHub), Alexandr Wang (Scale AI CEO), and Daniel Gross. The pitch: unmatched compute budgets, open-source impact, and access to >2 billion users. Comp packages can reach $200–300 million for four years.

• Scale AI Tie‑in: Meta’s $15–30 billion investment in—and 49% stake acquired from—Scale AI brings in essential data-labeling and evaluation expertise (SEAL lab) to strengthen LLM data pipelines

• M&A Activities: While Meta reportedly approached startups like Thinking Machines and SSI, only Scale AI joined the fold—focused on closing data quality gaps exposed by Llama 4’s struggles

In markets, Meta’s shares rose just over $1 to $725.50 on the news. The stock is up 24% year-to-date, trading in record-high territory amid the broader trend of the race for AI compute and talent.

All of this capital expenditure (capex) by Big Tech firms…

…has many on Wall Street increasingly asking whether this unprecedented AI spending surge will translate into sustainable new revenue streams. 

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The Supreme Court on July 14 allowed President Donald Trump to move forward with dismantling the Department of Education by firing almost 1,400 employees.

 In a brief unsigned ruling, the justices blocked the order issued in May by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, who had concluded that the Trump administration’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department” even though in his view it lacked the power to do so.

The court did not explain its decision.

Three justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – dissented from the ruling.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, in a 19-page opinion that was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Sotomayor called the court’s decision “indefensible,” writing that it “hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”

“The majority,” she said, “is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave.”

In her dissent, Sotomayor emphasized that, until this year, “Presidents have recognized they lack the unilateral authority to eradicate a Department that Congress has tasked with fulfilling statutory duties.”

But President Donald Trump, she said, “has made clear that he intends to close the Department without Congress’s involvement.”

In its briefs at the Supreme Court, Sotomayor continued, “the Government does not defend the lawfulness of its actions” but instead “presents a grab bag of jurisdictional and remedial arguments to support its bid for emergency relief” – none of which, she said, “justifies this Court’s intervention.”

A federal district court had issued an injunction blocking the process, directing the government to rehire some of the departmental employees who had been laid off.

Trump campaigned on shuttering the department.

On March 20, he signed Executive Order 14242, pledging to close the agency, which he said “has entrenched the education bureaucracy and sought to convince America that Federal control over education is beneficial.”

The department “does not educate anyone” and “maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year,” the executive order states.

Months after President Trump released a report titled “The MAHA Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again,” outlining America’s childhood chronic disease crisis and its potential contributing causes, the White House has now released a detailed list of changes within the processed food industrial complex — just ahead of a promised September revelation by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to identify the root cause of the autism epidemic.

“President Donald J. Trump took office promising to confront the chronic health crisis plaguing Americans — and six months later, he is delivering on that promise by removing harmful chemicals from our food supply,” the White House wrote in a statement.

The White House noted that “dozens of ice cream companies — representing more than 90% of the ice cream volume sold in the U.S. — have pledged to eliminate the use of certified artificial colors in their ice cream and frozen dairy products.” 

What’s becoming undeniable is that this nation’s food supply was hijacked by globalist mega-corporations pumping it full of toxic ingredients. If that wasn’t the case, why are they now scrambling to remove synthetic dyes and other harmful chemicals?

Here’s the growing list of companies that have taken steps to improve their food supply chain:

• Steak & Shake moved to 100% all-natural beef tallow and replaced its “buttery blend,” which contained seed oils, with 100% Grade A Wisconsin butter.

• McCormick announced it will drop certain food dyes from its products.

• PepsiCo announced it will remove artificial ingredients from popular food items — including Lay’s and Tostitos chips — by the end of the year.

• In-N-Out announced it will remove synthetic food dyes and artificial flavors from its menu items, and also transitioned to 100% beef tallow.

• Tyson Foods eliminated synthetic dyes in its food products.

• Mars removed titanium dioxide from its Skittles product.

• Sam’s Club committed to removing 40 harmful ingredients — including artificial colors, additives, dyes, and high-fructose corn syrup — from its private-label products.

• Kraft-Heinz announced it will remove artificial dyes from its U.S. products.

• General Mills announced it will remove artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals and all foods served in K-12 schools.

• Nestlé announced it will remove all petroleum-based food dyes from its food and beverage products.

• Conagra Foods announced it will remove certain color additives from its frozen products, no longer offer products with artificial dyes in K-12 schools, and stop using artificial dyes in the manufacturing of its products.

• JM Smucker announced it will remove synthetic colors from its consumer food products.

• Hershey announced it will remove synthetic dyes from its snacks.

• Consumer Brands announced it will urge its members to remove artificial colors in food and beverage products served in schools.

Americans must demand more from these mega food companies — say no to seed oils and other toxic chemicals in the food supply chain. The best way to break free from the industrial food complex is to go local: find a farmer or rancher, plant a garden, raise chickens. Yes, it takes work — but it not only secures your own food supply, it also helps you understand exactly where your food comes from.

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

Former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on July 14 that he will remain in the New York City mayor’s race, weeks after losing the Democratic primary.

“To the 440,000 New Yorkers who voted for me, a sincere thank you,” Cuomo said in a video statement posted on social media platform X.

“Thank you for believing in me and my agenda and in my experience. And I am truly sorry that I let you down.”

Cuomo lost the Democratic nomination last month to Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman. Mamdani officially became the Democratic nominee on July 1, winning 56 percent of the vote after three rounds of ranked-choice tabulation, according to certified results published by the city’s Board of Elections. Cuomo received 44 percent.

The former governor had conceded on election night, but not until the video announcement did he confirm that he would remain in the race.

“The fight to save our city isn’t over,” Cuomo added. “Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November, and I am in it to win it.”

In the video, Cuomo presented his campaign as a contrast to Mamdani, accusing him of offering “slick slogans, but no real solutions.” Cuomo promised to campaign in person across the five boroughs. “For the next few months it’s my responsibility to earn your vote,” he told New Yorkers.

“Every day, I’m gonna be hitting the streets, meeting you where you are—to hear the good and the bad, problems and solutions,” he said.

Cuomo will face both Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in the general election. Adams, who won the 2021 race as the Democratic nominee, opted to skip the primary and is running for reelection as an independent.

Cuomo’s decision sets up a rare three-way contest and highlights a broader split within the Democratic Party between more moderate Democrats and the left wing of the party. Mamdani’s surprise win tested calls for moderation from national Democratic leaders following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 loss to Donald Trump.

Cuomo, who resigned from the governorship in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, entered the mayoral race with support from prominent Democratic figures including former President Bill Clinton, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, ran on a platform focused on cost-of-living issues, including rent freezes and fare-free public transit.

Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Shortly after Cuomo’s video was posted, Mamdani replied to the post on X with a link to donate to his own campaign.

Also running as an independent is Jim Walden, a lawyer and first-time political candidate.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee for mayor who lost to Adams in 2021, has called Mamdani “too extreme for a city already on edge” in a post on X. Sliwa has an uphill battle fighting for votes in the heavily Democratic leaning city, where he received 302,680 votes to Adams’s 753,801 in the last election.

The general election will be held on Nov. 4.