Orange Juice Futures Squeeze On Trump’s Brazil Tariff Threat
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.
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.”
Trump Wants Gaza Deal ‘Straightened Out’ Within The Next Week
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
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.
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.
Zuckerberg “Focused” On Building Mega Gigawatt-Size Data Centers
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.
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.
White House Unveils Sweeping MAHA Changes In Nation’s Food Supply Chain
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.
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.
Leaked Messages Reveal Andreessen’s Fury: ‘Universities Declared War On 70% Of The Country’
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen warned that universities engaging in discriminatory practices against students and faculty will face significant consequences, according to leaked screenshots obtained by the Washington Post.
In the private group chat with AI scientists and Trump administration officials, Andreessen stated that universities “declared war on 70% of the country and now they’re going to pay the price.” He criticized DEI and immigration policies, describing them as “two forms of discrimination” that are “politically lethal.”
Andreessen further claimed that Stanford University and MIT are operating as “mainly political lobbying operations fighting American innovation.”
The billionaire tech investor also addressed Stanford’s decision to remove his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, as chair of its Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, noting it was done “without a second thought, a decision that will cost them something like $5 billion in future donations.”
This isn’t the first time Andreessen has called out what he perceives as a broken university system.
In a recent interview with billionaire venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Andreessen raised concerns about access to elite education.
“If you’re the parents of a smart kid where I grew up [rural Wisconsin] and you think you’re going to get them into a top university in this country, you’re fooling yourself,” Andreessen said. “What level of untapped talent exists in this country that a combination of DEI and immigration have basically cut out of the loop for the last 50 years?”
Marc Andreessen: if you’re the parents of a smart kid where I grew up [rural Wisconsin] and you think you’re going to get them into a top university in this country, you’re fooling yourself…
What level of untapped talent exists in this country that a combination of DEI and… pic.twitter.com/qEqtUR0SwS
Andreessen argued that the intersection of DEI policies and high-skilled immigration has “warped” perceptions of who gets access to elite education. “Nobody wants to talk about, but I’ve started to talk about the intersection of DEI and immigration that has really warped our perceptions on high-skilled immigration over the last 50 years,” he said.
Andreessen also pointed to the sharp rise in foreign enrollment at top universities, noting, “You look at the foreign enrollment rates at the top universities, which went from 2 or 3 or 4 percent 50 years ago or whatever to 27% or 30% or 50%.”
“There’s been this massive transformation of who gets admitted through affirmative action, as we now know it, DEI,” the tech billionaire continued. “This goes straight to the political divide in the country. If you’re parents of a kid where I grew up [rural Wisconsin] and you’ve got a smart kid and you think you’re going to get them into, you know, a top university in this country, like you’re fooling yourself.”
Andreessen drove the point home, adding, “There is this really fundamental question which is, what level of untapped talent exists in this country that a combination of DEI and immigration have basically cut out of the loop for the last 50 years? And how long can we have this story to everybody in the Midwest and in the South that says, sorry, because of historical oppression, your kids are shit out of luck.”
Andreessen made headlines last year when he and his business partner, Ben Horowitz, endorsed President Donald Trump’s third campaign for the White House.
There’s a new political trend sweeping New York City, and it’s as cynical as it is surreal. For over a decade, we’ve seen a parade of political campaigns proudly brandishing their tokenized Jewish support: “Jews for Jamaal,”“Jews for Rashida,”“Jews for Shahana.”
Now, we’re treated to the latest iteration: “Jews for Zohran.”
The irony? None of these candidates are Jewish. All of them, however, are staunchly anti-Israel. And the newest addition to this cast of characters has a direct tie to one of the world’s most prolific spreaders of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda.
A New York Post investigation revealed this week that the “Jews for Zohran” campaign is spearheaded by Alicia Singham Goodwin, a prominent Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organizer and, notably, the niece of Neville Roy Singham. Yes, that Neville Roy Singham—the shadowy billionaire with deep ties to the CCP who has spent hundreds of millions bankrolling anti-American, anti-Israel, and pro-CCP activism across the globe.
So let me get this straight. The head of “Jews for Zohran” is the niece of Chinese govt allied billionaire Neville Roy Singham. Her mother is not Jewish but rather Sri Lankan/Chinese. The gaslighting they’re doing to whitewash Zohran Mamdani’s antisemitism is really next level. https://t.co/YslZIIaj0m
For those who need a refresher: 2017 was a pivotal year for Neville Roy Singham. First, the U.S.-born tech mogul sold his company ThoughtWorks to Apax Partners, a sovereign wealth fund entangled with nearly $1 billion in Chinese government money via the China Investment Corporation. Next, he married CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans, cementing a personal and political alliance that would bankroll global leftist activism. Finally, Singham relocated to Shanghai, where he began operating hand-in-glove with CCP’s propaganda apparatus.
The New York Times profiled Singham in August 2023, exposing how his vast web of nonprofits and media outlets has since been weaponized to funnel CCP talking points into American political discourse. From their Shanghai base, Singham and Evans became the Bonnie and Clyde of the progressive activist world—directing over $160 million into Evans’ “People’s Support Foundation” and another $98.8 million into a constellation of anti-Israel, anti-ICE, and anti-American protest groups.
They are the same groups that led Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and the House Oversight Committee into launching an investigation into Singham after learning that his organizations played a leading role in anti-ICE riots across California—riots that left over $20 million in damages, torched police vehicles, and racked up more than 650 arrests.
Singham, unsurprisingly, has not responded.
Neville Singham— the billionaire communist with ties to the CCP, who funded the LA riots and used immigration & Mexicans as a Trojan horse for communism— is hiding from our letter requesting testimony. This poses an issue for delivering subpoena.
In India, his media arm Newsclick was raided by authorities after investigations revealed a coordinated effort to destabilize Prime Minister Modi’s government. The Indian government accused Newsclick of terror financing, election interference, and money laundering—all bankrolled by Singham. Internal emails unearthed during legal discovery detailed plans to emulate Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood by establishing “partisan popular media centres” and offering community services to radicalize Indian Muslims.
Witnesses testified that Newsclick staff were ordered to incite violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), distribute Chinese-funded cash to demonstrators, and even supply weapons for riots and arson.The result? The 2020 Delhi riots, which left 53 dead, over 200 injured, and entire neighborhoods reduced to ash.
Singham also never responded to India’s legal summons.
Now, Singham’s niece is helping to run Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
Singham’s network operates like a political virus, infecting vulnerable democracies, seeding chaos, and eroding support for America and its allies from within. It has successfully embedded itself in grassroots movements, NGOs, and now electoral campaigns.
The nexus of Neville Roy Singham’s global operation and New York’s Democratic machine is no laughing matter. The same tactics that fueled violence in Delhi and sowed unrest in California are now knocking on Gracie Mansion’s door.
