Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

President Trump described the rioters in LA as “insurrectionists” while talking to the press, and it triggered CNN into an almighty flap.

Trump was asked whether he believes those causing the trouble are people ICE is trying to deport or if they are professional agitators.

“The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators,” he responded, adding “They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail.”

NEW: CNN panel is clearly flustered after President Trump calls the LA rioters a bunch of “insurrectionists.”

Trump: The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionist. They’re bad people.

Dana Bash: That word he used, they’re… pic.twitter.com/JyNy9GMfU1

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 9, 2025

CNN Trump hater Dana Bash immediately whined “That word he used, they’re insurrectionists. I can’t imagine that that was an accident because it seems as though that is the place White House is trying to get, and for the president it’s icing on the cake he can do it in California because on a whole host of issues he has had California, Gavin Newsom in particular in his sights.”

Panelist Stephen Collinson responded, “This is a very serious word that is being thrown around now, ‘insurrection’. That’s a rebellion of States or people in the states against federal government.”

Yes.

Collinson continued, “That is not something to be trifled with. If for example, to your point, the President were to Invoke the Insurrection Act, I think we would have yet another legal morass. It will be another instance of the way that the White House is trying to declare emergencies or insurrections in order to unlock vast powers which most presidents don’t have access to.”

So essentially, he’s saying Trump wants the insurrection.

Ok, bud. We see what you’re doing.

Webster Dictionary:
insurrection
noun
in·​sur·​rec·​tion ˌin(t)-sə-ˈrek-shən
: an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government

—

Sounds like it fits the definition to me.

— Anthony Galli (@RallyWithGalli) June 9, 2025

Foreign nationals waving around a foreign flag, burning cars, burning the American flag, assaulting law enforcement agents, looting and pillaging, and the Cartel’s lackey, I mean president of Mexico, stands up and says they will have MORE attacks until the remittances tax is…

— Isaac (@IcedViews) June 9, 2025

Funny how “insurrection” was sacred when it fit their narrative. Now that their foot soldiers are burning cities, it’s suddenly too “serious” a word. Cry harder.

— EverIntrugued (@EverIntrigued) June 9, 2025

Is “insurrectionist” a serious word to throw around? Like when you called MAGA grandmas “insurrectionists” for touring the Capitol on January 6?

You remember, that unarmed “coup” attempt where the rioters k*lled no one?

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) June 9, 2025

we are not the same pic.twitter.com/cBaUlA90VU

— Emica (@emica_forever) June 9, 2025

CNN: Insurrectionist is a very serious word.

Also CNN: *spends three years calling a shirtless Viking with face paint an existential threat to democracy.*

Suddenly the term has rules now? Sorry, you don’t get to clutch pearls mid-riot.

— Evan Flay (@Evan_Flay) June 9, 2025

Earlier during the same interaction with the press, Trump said that he would arrest California governor Gavin Newsom.

“I would do it if I were Tom (Homan). I think it’s great,” Trump said, adding “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”

“He’s done a terrible job. Look, I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent. Everybody knows. All you have to do is look at the little railroad he’s building. It’s about 100 times over budget,” Trump further urged.

🚨 President Trump says Tom Homan should arrest Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom pic.twitter.com/1MQwVwDkgN

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 9, 2025

Meanwhile, Newsom himself is suing Trump for mobilising the National Guard and is ludicrously politely asking violent thugs who have been burning cars, looting stores and attacking police for three days to “stay peaceful.”

What do you mean “stay” peaceful?

They haven’t been peaceful for 2 days?

Wake up.pic.twitter.com/NxCcp74OjI

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 9, 2025

*  *  *

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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday urged the European allies to make a “quantum leap” in military spending to deter Russia, which affirms Trump’s own longtime message, as the NATO chief called for a whopping 400% increase in the Continent’s air and missile defense budget.

“The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defense,” Rutte said before an audience of the London-based think tank Chatham House. “The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.”

The comments came days after he stated provocatively that Europe must invest heavily in defense now, or learn Russian later.

“If we don’t act now, the next three years, we are fine, but we have to start now, because otherwise, from three, four or five years from now, we are really under threat,” he had said. “I really mean this. Then you have to get your Russian language course out, or go to New Zealand.”

NBC reviews that all of this is happening just ahead of a key NATO meeting later in June:

Trump’s call for NATO allies to up their minimum defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP was once seen as outlandish; but last month Rutte too backed this idea and said he expected it to be adopted at NATO’s June 24-25 summit.

On Monday he made a similarly ambitious call. He asked for a “400% increase in air and missile defense” and added that “militaries also need thousands more armored vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells, and we must double our enabling capabilities, such as logistics, supply, transportation, and medical support.”

Canada is already seeking to demonstrate to Washington and NATO that it is taking significant strides to meet the challenge:

Canada, under pressure to spend more on its military, vowed on Monday to boost funding for the armed forces and hit NATO’s 2% military spending target this fiscal year, five years earlier than promised.

Prime Minister Mark Carney also said Canada was likely in future to devote a greater percentage of GDP on defense, given the need to replace outdated equipment and reduce its heavy reliance on Washington.

Canada just committed $60 billion in defense spending to meet NATO’s 2% of GDP target.

That’s based on an estimated $3 trillion GDP for 2025.

New jets, vehicles, drones, and Arctic surveillance are coming — but how will we afford it with rising debt and a slowing economy? pic.twitter.com/1ee30Olw7o

— Marc Nixon (@MarcNixon24) June 9, 2025

NATO defense ministers are further expected to soon formalize the following increase in spending policies:

• They’ve agreed that 3.5% of GDP would be used for “core defence spending” – such as heavy weapons, tanks, air defence.
• 1.5% of GDP per year will be spent on defense- and security-related areas such as infrastructure, surveillance, and cyber. However, the full list of flexibility has not yet been negotiated. 
• “These targets describe exactly what capabilities Allies need to invest in over the coming years,” Rutte told journalists. 

Washington could step back from Ukraine support…

If #NATO allies fail to meet the defense spending target, the #US could scale back support for #Ukraine, says @TalaMichelIssa, Chief Business Reporter. #WNewsExtra pic.twitter.com/DBRqVwakAs

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 9, 2025

This is being collectively pushed for amid heightened Cold War-style rhetoric regarding Moscow’s intentions. 

“The threats facing NATO are growing and our adversaries are certainly not waiting for us to re-arm or be ready for them to make the first move,” Rutte has also said. “We would prefer our allies move out urgently on reaching the 5%.”

Kremlin officials grab popcorn, set for more inter-NATO turmoil over the future of the alliance…

‘NATO in a very deep crisis’ over the 5% spending hike — Lavrov

‘At the same time the US is switching focus to Asia-Pacific while leaving Europe to deal with its problems on its own’ pic.twitter.com/Sqdz8NjwcC

— RT (@RT_com) June 9, 2025

But this assumes that Moscow’s war in Ukraine is fundamentally expansionist in nature, and this has not been demonstrated – it is simply assumed. It remains that President Putin has shown no interest even in some kind of outright military occupation of Kiev.

So the idea that he’s ready to invade Poland or anywhere else on NATO’s ‘Eastern flank’ next is a huge assumption. Moscow has all along pointed out that it’s the NATO alliance which expanded itself right up to Russia’s doorstep.

Unhinged fear-mongering… engaged:

Stupendously idiotic stuff here from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. pic.twitter.com/X46yZULWNL

— Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) June 9, 2025

* * *

A note from Rabobank:

It’s unclear how much chickening out there is in geopolitics. Ukrainian drones just hit another Russian military target, destroying two fighter jets, as Germany’s outgoing spy boss and NATO chief Rutte both warned Russia could launch an attack against it within five years.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the eastern flank. There is no east or west, there is just NATO,” Mr Rutte said, and the danger “will not disappear when the war in Ukraine ends.” Rutte specifically told the UK: “Spend more or learn to speak Russian.”

To help Brits appalled at the idea of learning a foreign language, and those who believe it might be better than vast state spending when fiscal deficits and public debt are sky high: “Когда мне снизят центральную банковскую процентную ставку?” (‘When do I get my rate cut?’ – that’s all that matters, right?) Even Canada is moving its Coast Guard to national defence and PM Carney will announce defence spending will be NATO’s 2% of GDP target this fiscal year – just in time for it to rise to 5% at its upcoming summit.

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Expect much self-serving market chuckling about ‘TACO Tuesday’ again as Monday’s US-China trade talks in London extend into today and headlines are that the US may loosen its export controls on some goods if China releases its on rare earths.

Is that really a TACO though? These were unilateral US moves against China taken after the recent Geneva agreement, so dropping them this only takes us back to where we were weeks ago, and presumably for the clear deliverable of getting rare earths flowing again as the US had expected…. until the US has them flowing from elsewhere, that is. A true TACO —Truly Appalling ‘Clever’ Option’– would be the White House not doing the latter because economists tell them that “because markets” local rare earth processing is more expensive.

As evidence of a distinct lack of poultry, which coincidentally came up in a conversation yesterday, in WW1, the British found they were reliant on Germany for optical glass needed for binoculars, while Germany was short of the rubber it had sourced from the British Empire. Both decided to swap these strategic goods with each other via Switzerland (though this is disputed by some).

Interestingly, the Chinese press report of these talks state “The US…trade deficit in goods with China is not only the inevitable result of the structural problems of the US economy but also determined by the comparative advantages of the two countries.” Who knew neo-mercantilist Chinese economists were the same Ricardian neoliberals as at western universities and institutions? Of course, they aren’t – but they know writing it wins over those who dine on TACOs.

And chew on May’s Chinese trade data: exports to the US -34.5%; to the EU +12%; to Germany +21.5%; to France +24.1%; and to Netherlands +7.1%. This isn’t a US-China problem and those that taco that approach will deindustrialise.

Meanwhile, it’s unclear how much chickening out there is in geopolitics. Ukrainian drones just hit another Russian military target, destroying two fighter jets, as Germany’s outgoing spy boss and NATO chief Rutte both warned Russia could launch an attack against it within five years. “Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the eastern flank. There is no east or west, there is just NATO,” Mr Rutte said, and the danger “will not disappear when the war in Ukraine ends.”

Rutte specifically told the UK: “Spend more or learn to speak Russian.” To help Brits appalled at the idea of learning a foreign language, and those who believe it might be better than vast state spending when fiscal deficits and public debt are sky high: “Когда мне снизят центральную банковскую процентную ставку?” (‘When do I get my rate cut?’ – that’s all that matters, right?)

Even Canada is moving its Coast Guard to national defence and PM Carney will announce defence spending will be NATO’s 2% of GDP target this fiscal year – just in time for it to rise to 5% at its upcoming summit.

Of course, Europe is just one front. Iran will reportedly reject the proposed US nuclear deal and offer its own that allows it nuclear enrichment and demands the “forced” destruction of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, according to the New York Times. Israeli PM Netanyahu rushed from a court appearance to speak to Trump about it, where he was told the US sees Iran and Gaza as linked and wants deals “so there’s no destruction and death.” Expect more US-Iran talks this weekend. However, that’s as Iran’s top security body says the intel it just obtained about Israel’s nuclear facilities mean it could launch counterattacks should Israel strike its.

And if that isn’t enough, India is ready to strike ‘deep into Pakistan’ if provoked, New Delhi just warned.

Meanwhile, President Trump sent 700 marines to LA on top of the National Guard to try to restore order following riots at the enforcement of the deportation of illegal immigrants, upping the political ante, as Governor Newsom sued to have this reversed. As the New York Times claims ‘The US is no longer a stable country’, recall this is the same US that has seen past presidential assassinations, with two attempts against Trump in 2024; this long list of riots; that past White Houses have sent in federal forces to restore order at the state level; and, for ‘doomers’, that the refusal of states to accede to federal authority was related to the US Civil War.

This matters for markets, and not just because the US is already hardly looking the safe-haven it once did. Logically, if Trump’s LA action fails, a template may be set that while the US border is now closed, mass deportations de facto cannot happen, implying the current default for labor markets. However, if Trump succeeds, it suggests he may be able to press ahead like past presidents (Reagan removed 8 million people, and Clinton and George W. Bush 10 million each), with very different labor market implications. Moreover, success would boost Trump’s standing; and failure would both weaken it and imply a de facto one-way turnstile border with longer-term socio-economic implications and politically polarizing effects. Similar issues are of course being seen in many western democracies at the moment.

On which note, French President Macron refused to rule out new legislative elections as soon as next month, though his last try at that backfired on him, seeing gains for the far right and left vs. his centrists.

Very much in the 2025 spirit, a report also claims the Pentagon has been faking UFO sightings to keep people unaware of their own breakthroughs. I have a friend who would immediately respond: “That’s what they want you to think.” Yet at the same time, Axios says the ‘scariest reality’ is that the firms eagerly building AI don’t know how or why it works but are sitting back and watching it let rip. I would say that as new graduates already find entry-level jobs are being replaced by AI that potential mass unemployment ahead is a pretty scary thought too.

Lastly, in markets, China is to deepen its use of a $1.5 trillion state housing fund to offer cheaper mortgages than its state-owned banks can. That’s certainly a new wrinkle on ‘what is GDP for?’ and does suggest some fine-tuning of the economy.

You put all this together and it’s really hard to make a convincing case that we are seeing any real ‘chickening out’. Chicken Littles or headless chickens, possibly. Truly Appalling ‘Clever’ Options, certainly.

One would think that with Microsoft pumping billions of equity capital into OpenAI, Sam Altman’s company would only use the Seattle tech giant for its growing compute needs. One would be wrong.

According to Reuters, in a strange snub of Microsoft, OpenAI plans to add Alphabet’s Google cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity, marking a surprising collaboration between two prominent competitors in the artificial intelligence sector.

The deal, which has been under discussion for a few months, was finalized in May, one of the sources added. It underscores how massive computing demands to train and deploy AI models are reshaping the competitive dynamics in AI, and marks OpenAI’s latest move to diversify its compute sources beyond its major supporter Microsoft including its high-profile Stargate data center project.

The Microsoft loss is a win for Google’s cloud unit, which will supply additional computing capacity to OpenAI’s existing infrastructure for training and running its AI models, sources said, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. The move also comes as OpenAI’s ChatGPT poses the biggest threat to Google’s dominant search business in years, with Google executives recently saying that the AI race may not be winner-take-all.

The Reuters report sent GOOGL stock to session highs, up 2% in early trading; MSFT was down0.7%. 

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, OpenAI has been faced with increasing demand for compute to train large language models, as well as for running inference, which involves processing information so people can use these models.

On Monday, OpenAI said its annualized revenue run rate surged to $10 billion as of June, positioning the company to hit its full-year target amid booming adoption of AI.

Earlier this year, OpenAI partnered with SoftBank and Oracle on the $500 billion Stargate infrastructure program, and signed deals worth billions with CoreWeave for more compute. It is on track this year to finalize the design of its first in-house chip that could reduce its dependency on external hardware providers, Reuters reported in February.

The partnership with Google is the latest of several maneuvers made by OpenAI to reduce its dependency on Microsoft whose Azure cloud service had served as the ChatGPT maker’s exclusive data center infrastructure provider until January. Google and OpenAI discussed an arrangement for months but were previously blocked from signing a deal due to OpenAI’s lock-in with Microsoft, a source told Reuters. Microsoft and OpenAI are also in negotiations to revise the terms of their multibillion-dollar investment, including the future equity stake Microsoft will hold in OpenAI.

For Google, the deal comes as the tech giant is expanding of its in-house chip known as tensor processing units, or TPUs, which were historically reserved for internal use. That helped Google win customers including Big Tech player Apple as well as startups like Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence, two OpenAI competitors launched by former OpenAI leaders.

Google’s addition of OpenAI to its customer list shows how the tech giant has capitalized on its in-house AI technology from hardware to software to accelerate the growth of its cloud business.

Google Cloud, whose $43 billion of sales comprised 12% of Alphabet’s 2024 revenue, has positioned itself as a neutral arbiter of computing resources in an effort to outflank Amazon and Microsoft as the cloud provider of choice for a rising legion of AI startups whose heavy infrastructure demands generate costly bills.

Meanwhile, just like Apple, Alphabet is facing market pressure to demonstrate financial returns on its AI-related capital expenditures, which are expected to hit $75 billion this year, while maintaining its bottom line against the threat of competing AI offerings, as well as antitrust enforcement. Come to think of it, the ROI on AI has so far been pretty abysmal, and even though ChatGPT has managed to grow revenue to $10BN, it is still hemorrhaging cash. 

Google’s DeepMind AI unit also competes directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in a race to develop the best models and integrate those advances into consumer applications.

Selling computing power reduces Google’s own supply of chips while bolstering capacity-constrained rivals. The OpenAI deal will further complicate how Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai allocates the capacity between the competing interests of Google’s enterprise and consumer business segments.

Google already lacked sufficient capacity to meet its cloud customers’ demands as of the last quarter, CFO Anat Ashkenazi told analysts in April.

Submitted by Thomas Brooke of Remix News

Austria is in mourning after the worst school shooting in the country’s modern history unfolded on Tuesday morning in Graz.

A 22-year-old former student of the BORG Dreierschützengasse opened fire shortly before 10 a.m., killing at least nine people and injuring at least 28 others before taking his own life in a school restroom.

According to initial reports from Kronen Zeitung, the attacker used both a shotgun and a handgun during the rampage, which targeted two classrooms. Authorities confirmed that the gunman, a former pupil of the school, had recently acquired the weapons and may have been motivated by a long-standing grievance over bullying.

Governor Mario Kunasek of Styria (FPÖ) expressed deep shock in a public statement, “It is unbelievable what happened today in Graz. As governor and as a father, I am deeply saddened by this act of madness, which has brought so much disaster and incredible suffering. My thoughts are with the innocent victims, families, and teachers.”

BREAKING: 🇦🇹‼️ At least 9 people are dead after a shooting rampage at a school in Graz, Austria.

Eyewitnesses said they heard between 30 and 40 shots.

The suspected shooter is believed to have locked himself in the toilet and then killed himself. pic.twitter.com/ElCJfRLUdv

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

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and members of the federal government traveled to Graz to address the nation. A press conference was scheduled for the afternoon to provide further details about the tragedy.

The scene was rapidly secured by emergency responders, including the elite Cobra police unit. Authorities have since declared the situation safe, although the area around the school remained cordoned off for much of the day. Two care centers were set up to provide support for victims, families, and witnesses.

🇦🇹 Footage from the school during the mass shooting in Graz, Austria.

Relentless gunfire can be heard throughout as students hid in classrooms. pic.twitter.com/hONHB64IMf

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

The Styrian hospital association KAGes confirmed that at least 28 people, including students and staff, were injured in the attack and are receiving treatment. Victims were distributed across multiple hospitals in Graz, with psychological care being extended to both families and medical personnel.

Video footage circulated online shows the moment gunfire erupted inside a classroom, and additional clips depict emergency teams sweeping through the school with weapons drawn.

Schrecklicher Anblick:🕯Tote Schüler auf Rettungstragen aufgereiht

Ein weiteres an AUF1 zugespieltes Video zeigt die erschütternden Szenen des Amoklaufs. Schüler filmten aufgereihte Rettungstragen, auf denen sich laut ihren Angaben teilweise auch Todesopfer des Schulmassakers… pic.twitter.com/WDrtGFppeM

— AUF1 (@AUF1TV) June 10, 2025

Terrified students can be seen fleeing the building or waiting in shock as medics carry away the wounded.

Continue reading at Remix news

US-China trade talks are again in the spotlight, with a second day of negotiations taking place in London aimed at beefing up the fraying truce between the world’s two biggest economies. 

As he arrived, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the talks were “going well” and he expected another full day of discussions. Meanwhile, markets remain on edge as the world’s largest economies try to agree to allow exports of key tech and industrial goods and avoid escalating their trade war. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which has fallen sharply this year as trade tensions undermine confidence in US assets, is around its lowest levels since 2023.

As delegations from the US and China begin a second day of trade talks, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said things are “going well” and expects discussions to go “all day today” https://t.co/ySdcfiszQI pic.twitter.com/tuU6HFiFWI

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) June 10, 2025

The teams led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng reconvened Tuesday just after 10:40 am at Lancaster House. The Georgian-era mansion near Buckingham Palace has hosted major addresses by UK prime ministers, speeches by central bank governors and parties for Britain’s royal family.

Export controls are at the top of the agenda. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Monday that the talks were likely to result in Beijing quickly releasing rare earths for export, and Washington easing China’s access to semiconductors. A subsequent rally in chip stocks helped lift major indexes.

According to Bloomberg, the key issue this week is re-establishing terms of an agreement reached in Geneva last month, in which the US understood that China would allow more rare earth shipments to reach American customers. The Trump administration accused Beijing of moving too slowly, which threatened shortages in domestic manufacturing sectors.

In return, the Trump administration is prepared to remove a recent spate of measures targeting chip design software, jet engine parts, chemicals and nuclear materials, people familiar with the matter said. Many of those actions were taken in the past few weeks as tensions flared between the US and China (however, as discussed here, “China’s Need For US Chemicals Greater Than US Need For Rare Earths“).

A month ago Beijing and Washington agreed to a 90-day truce through mid-August in their crippling tariffs to allow time to resolve many of their trade disagreements — from tariffs to export controls.

At the same time, Trump’s trade team is scrambling to secure bilateral deals with India, Japan, South Korea and several other countries that are racing to do so before July 9, when the US president’s so-called reciprocal tariffs rise from the current 10% baseline to much higher levels customized for each trading partner.

Separately, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday held his first phone conversation with South Korea’s newly elected President Lee Jae-myung and called for cooperation to safeguard multilateralism and free trade.

“We should strengthen bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination, jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and ensure the stability and smoothness of global and regional industrial chains and supply chains,” Xi said, according to the CCTV report.

In a historic shift in UK-Israel relations, Britain is imposing formal sanctions on hardline Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich (Finance) and Itamar Ben Gvir (National Security) after months of inflammatory statements about Gaza have caught the world’s attention. 

The sanctions, unveiled Tuesday, are to include asset freezes and travel bans, following similar measures from the governments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others. These countries have previously sanctioned various radical Zionist settler groups and individuals, something the US also did under Biden.

Ben Gvir has several times called for the “voluntary emigration” of Gazans, and he along with Smotrich have frequently made statements overtly backing an ethnic cleansing program.

“My right, my wife’s, my children’s, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs,” Ben Gvir said for example in 2023 of occupied West Bank areas.

Both Israeli ministers have actively supported the most extreme settler groups operating in the West Bank, made up of individuals who call for the removal of Palestinians by force or even death. They’ve long been involved in movements and political parties who also advocate for the expulsion of all Arabs from Israeli society.

According to an Al Jazeera backgrounder:

The 47-year-old lawyer and politician has led the far-right party Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) since 2019, and was sworn into the cabinet after last year’s elections.

He was later appointed the national security minister and handed control of Israel’s Border Police division in the occupied West Bank.

A settler in Kiryat Arba, one of the most radical settlements in the occupied West Bank (all of which are illegal under international law), Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing a “terror” organisation’s propaganda material and supporting a “terror” organization – Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach group, which he joined when he was 16.

Ben Gvir responded to the UK’s sanctions move later on Tuesday. He expressed “contempt for the White Paper” – characterizing it as akin to the 1939 UK policy paper limiting Jewish immigration to British-administered ‘Mandatory Palestine’.

“We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer,” he said. “I will continue to work for Israel and the people of Israel without fear or intimidation!”

At a dedication ceremony for a new settlement near Hebron, Smotrich, Ben Gvir said that “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland and we will not allow it to do so again.” He emphasized in front of settler groups, “We are determined to continue building.”

But ironically many of the same Western governments now sanctioning the two Israeli officials have long supplied heavy weapons to the Israeli military. These governments still remain a party to one side of this war which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, and utter decimation of the Gaza Strip in the wake of the Oct.7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks, but there appears no peaceful solution on the horizon.

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Tmes,

A coalition of 27 states and the District of Columbia has taken legal action to prevent 23andMe from selling personal genetic data in its possession without customer consent.

The California-based biotechnology company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 23 to facilitate the sale of its assets, sparking concerns over the handling of the sensitive genetic data it holds.

In a June 9 statement, the states said that customers should have the right to control the personal information they provided to the company and that 23andMe cannot sell the data like “ordinary property.”

“This isn’t just data – it’s your DNA. It’s personal, permanent, and deeply private,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in the statement. “People did not submit their personal data to 23andMe thinking their genetic blueprint would later be sold off to the highest bidder.”

The lawsuit states that 23andMe holds biological samples and genetic data from more than 15 million customers, which were collected through the sale of at-home genetic tests, and uses this data to determine customers’ ancestry information, lineal descent, and potential risk factors for certain diseases.

Last month, 23andMe announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for the sale of the company and its assets. The deal still requires court approval. The company later requested the court to reopen bidding on its assets after receiving a $305 million offer from its co-founder Anne Wojcicki.

In their lawsuit, the states contended that 23andMe should obtain expressed consent from its customers before transferring or selling their data to another company.

“Virtually all of this ‘customer data’ is immutable. If stolen or misused, it cannot be changed or replaced,” they stated in the suit. “In other words, the magnitude of the data in this proposed sale stretches far beyond the 23andMe consumers, impacting those who have no awareness of the sale as well as human beings who do not even exist yet.”

Customers have also been advised to delete their accounts and personal information from the company’s website to prevent their data from being sold.

Joining Rayfield in the suit are attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

23andMe did not return a request for comment by publication time.

According to the company’s privacy policy page, if 23andMe goes bankrupt and changes ownership, its user data “may be accessed, sold, or transferred as part of that transaction” but the privacy provisions will still apply under the new entity.

In 2023, hackers leaked the personal data of nearly 7 million 23andMe customers on an online forum.

These data encompassed users’ origin estimation, phenotype, health information, photos, and identification data. The company said at the time that it believed “threat actors” gained access to accounts where users recycled login credentials.

Apple’s annual developer conference on Monday underwhelmed on the artificial intelligence front, and new survey data from UBS showed softening demand for iPhones. On a broader note, UBS highlighted a cooling period has arrived in overall interest in purchasing smartphones, with the U.S. market seeing the sharpest pullback.

According to UBS Evidence Lab’s 2Q25 survey of 7,500 consumers across five countries (US/UK/Germany/Japan/China), the 12-month forward smartphone purchase intent fell from 36% in 2Q25 from 39% in 4Q24, flat YoY. The U.S. experienced the sharpest decline, sliding to 37% from 50% in 4Q24 and 44% in 2Q24. 

“Of particular note was a sharp decline in 12M forward purchasing intents in the US to 37% (from 50%/44% in 4Q24/2Q24),” UBS analyst David Vogt wrote in the note, attributing the drop to front-loaded demand ahead of potential new U.S. tariffs.

The 12-month forward purchase intent share for iPhones fell to 14% from 18% in 4Q24, with the U.S. showing a significant drop to 17% from 24%. Samsung’s purchase intent remained stable at around 9%. 

The aspirational replacement cycle, or the expected or intended time that consumers plan to wait before replacing their current smartphone with a new one, lengthened to 31.1 months (2.59 years), up from 29.7 months in 4Q24, indicating slower replacement rates, particularly in the U.S. 

“Among the respondents that indicated they are likely to purchase a device within the next 12M, 82% of indicated they would be willing to accommodate some sort of price hike should smartphone OEMs decide to raise ASPs to offset pressures to BoM cost from tariffs,” Vogt noted. 

On the Generative AI front, the much-hyped upgrade supercycle that Wall Street analysts forecasted last fall with the launch of AI-enabled iPhones has largely failed to materialize.

Interest in Generative AI-enabled smartphones rose to 19% from 16% in 4Q24), with China showing the most enthusiasm at 78%. Japan was the only region with negative net interest, while the U.S. had only 8%. 

Only 34% of respondents would pull forward purchases or pay extra for AI features… 

Overall, UBS forecasts modest year-over-year growth in smartphone unit sales of around 1% in 2025, followed by flat growth in 2026. 

“We believe investors expect little growth, if any, in smartphone units over the next few years,” Vogt emphasized. 

Not the great news for Apple…

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Recently, Gov. Newsom weighed in on the Trump administration’s efforts to undo the last four years of border destruction, when an estimated 10-12 million illegal aliens entered the U.S. unlawfully—among them thousands with criminal records.

Of the recent Los Angeles efforts of ICE to detain those who entered and reside here illegally, the governor proclaimed:

“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”

Dissect that statement, and almost everything Newsom said was either not factual or misleading.

“Chaotic?” What is chaotic is allowing 12 million unaudited migrants into the U.S. ahead of those waiting years for background checks and legal permission.

The current antidote to a truly chaotic, nonexistent border was to bring some legality and order back to immigration—and not to perpetuate a wild-west border, drug smuggling, cartel profiteering, and child trafficking and abandonment, which were the Biden-era norms.

Chaotic is 1,000 rioters in southern California swarming ICE officers, endangering their safety and lives—and then being contextualized, excused, or even supported by the governor of the state, who supposedly is an upholder of our laws and their enforcement.

Each time Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom side with violent protests and the intimidation of ICE officers, the greater the chance that an officer will be seriously injured or killed—and the violence will spike. Apparently, both think they are riding a wave of public support, when in fact the latest CBS poll found 54 percent of Americans support such deportations.

California’s elected officials seem clueless that the optics of illegal immigrants torching autos, attacking law enforcement, or pelting bystanders, while waving Mexican flags, are terrible. What is the logic of waving the flag of the country to which one is violently opposed to returning, while assaulting the officers and infrastructure of the very nation in which one is demanding to remain?

“Arbitrary arrest quota?” Consider the math. In just four years, Biden allowed between 10–12 million illegal entries, or 2.5–3 million a year, or somewhere between 200,000–300,000 per month, or between 7,000–8,300 a day.

Trying to find, audit, and deport even 10–20 percent of that daily figure, or 800–2000 a day over four years, is not an “arbitrary arrest quota.”

It is instead a formidable but often vain effort to return illegal immigration numbers to where they were before Biden’s systemic lawlessness.

In other words, with the current level of deportations, ICE cannot possibly reduce the population of illegal aliens back to the pre-Biden range of 10–12 million resident illegal aliens before the additional and contrived 10–12 million four-year influx.

In Newsom’s world, how many million breaking the laws and swarming the border are acceptable? Ten, twelve, or twenty million?

“Reckless?” What is reckless is destroying the southern border. Reckless is also allowing an unchecked amount of cartel fentanyl, disguised as prescription or less toxic illicit drugs, to kill 70,000–100,000 Americans per year.

Reckless is empowering the cartels with lucrative trafficking fees for facilitating illegal immigration across a destroyed border.

Reckless is drumming out of the military 8,500 American soldiers who balked at the experimental mRNA vaccine while allowing more than 10 million illegal aliens to flood the border without any medical or inoculation scrutiny.

Reckless is demanding 2–3 forms of independent IDs from U.S. citizens to qualify for the required “real ID” to fly, while allowing tens of thousands of illegal aliens to be exempt from even rudimentary identification.

Reckless is a governor leveling the highest income tax rates in the U.S., the highest gas taxes, among the highest aggregate sales taxes, and still ending up with annual multibillion-dollar deficits.

Reckless is driving 200,000–300,000 middle-class taxpayers out of the state every year, who cannot afford sky-high California prices and receive so few services in return for such high state taxes.

“Cruel?” Cruel is overtaxing state social service facilities with hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, whose sheer numbers imperil the health care of California’s own beleaguered citizen population.

As far as ‘cruel’ governance, perhaps it is defined as the highest gas prices in the nation while sitting atop some of the largest gas and oil reserves in the country. Cruel is watching poor people in Fresno or Tulare County buy gas in increments of $30 in cash rather than filling up their pickups at a prohibitive cost of $130.

Cruel is the California high-speed rail boondoggle that has wasted nearly $30 billion without a single foot of track rail installed and may well be abandoned—its concrete overpasses now testaments to our modern Stonehenge monoliths.

Cruel are the state’s ossified “freeways”—especially the 101, the 99, and I-5—that have remained unchanged for the last half century and record some of the deadliest traffic statistics per mile driven in the U.S.

Cruel is what the state and city of Los Angeles did to their own residents during the recent fires.

Cruel is a derelict mayor—shamelessly attacking those who are trying to enforce federal law—junketing in Ghana of all places at the height of the fire season. Mayor Bass has about as much concern over violent protestors burning cars in Los Angeles as she did for neighborhoods burning while she junketed in Ghana.

Cruel was the Los Angeles deputy mayor (tasked with public safety, no less), who was arrested and convicted for reporting fake anti-Israel bomb threats.

Cruel was the Los Angeles water and power director who allowed a life-saving reservoir to remain abandoned and empty.

Cruel was the fire chief who obsessed over DEI hiring while leaving scores of fire hydrants across the city inoperative.

Cruel were state directives that prevented sane clearing of brush kindling that guaranteed plentiful fuel to ensure an inferno among Pacific Palisades homes.

Cruel were the Coastal Commission and the city of Los Angeles that make it almost impossible to rebuild burned-out homes promptly.

Cruel are destructive regulatory policies that have driven out of the state everything from Tesla to refineries to insurance companies, ensuring that the struggling and vanishing middle classes cannot afford the staples of life.

Cruel are the roughly 40,000 annual traffic accidents in Los Angeles County, after which the culpable drivers often flee the scene of the accident. Does the governor or mayor ever ask why that is so, or worry over the some 8,000 victims who are killed or injured?

Cruel are the state’s “renewable energy” mandates that have skyrocketed the cost of electricity and impoverished state residents—one in four of whom now default on their monthly power bills.

Cruel is the boutique leftism of a generation of elite multimillionaire Bay Area politicians—from Jerry Brown to Nancy Pelosi to Gavin Newsom—whose wealth, office-holding, influence, and zip codes ensured that they were never subject to the baleful consequences of their virtue-signaling ideologies that fell only on distant and vulnerable others.

Trust? Who could trust the state of California, which has become a bifurcated medieval society of the very rich and the subsidized poor, with a complete disdain for the struggling middle class who cannot afford houses, power, fuel, or insurance?

“Undermining?” Undermining is better defined as a governor and mayor deliberately ignoring or nullifying federal law in neo-Confederate fashion and siding with violent protestors, while offering the offenders implicit assurances of impunity.