Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

What Movie Is This?

“MAGA is developing “tech right” fatigue.”

– Cernovich on “X”

In this age of info overload, when everybody’s brain has become a memory hole, we’ll see how long anyone remembers Elon Musk’s epic tantrum. The latest news is that Mr. Trump and Wonderboy have scheduled a phone convo for today, Friday, supposedly to “make-up.”

The whole psychodrama looks like an episode out of the Batman movie that America has become. You could see the current plot twist from a thousand miles away. Even back in the summer, Elon’s spastic cavortings on the campaign trail looked suspiciously drug-edged. He’s reported to use ketamine, which induces mood changes from euphoria to anxiety and agitation, as well as slurred speech. Also, altered judgment and disinhibition that might provoke risky behavior. You just have to kind of wonder.

Meanwhile, the fabled Fourth Turning enters full churn. Western Civ, of which we are part, continues to go sideways into history. In case you are distracted by Mr. Musk’s histrionics, we are on a path toward World War, political crack-up, and global bankruptcy.

Among the strange doings, note former CIA Director Mike Pompeo showing up a week ago at a “Black Sea Security Forum” in Odessa, Ukraine, where — say, what? —he called for called for a “complete victory” over Russia, and advocated for Crimea to be recognized as part of Ukraine (which is not in the folder labeled “Reality”).

A call for “victory” implies that we’re at war with Russia, or seek to enter such a war. Granted, the US neocon-intel-blob sparked the Ukraine-Russia War, starting in 2014, when State Department Cookie Monster Victoria Nuland set off the Maidan color revolution. And “Joe Biden” kept stoking the conflict with cash and ammo — and inflammatory rhetoric. But Mr. Trump has been working this year to put out the fire, difficult as that is, with the EU and the rest of NATO beating war drums offstage.

What was Mike Pompeo up to in Odessa? You can make the case that he was violating the Logan Act: attempting to make freelance foreign policy outside government, and in a rather dangerous way, calling for war, however obliquely. And then you have Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal flying to Kiev to confab with the unelected coke-head running Ukraine’s war machine. . . and alakazam, the next day Ukraine pulls off its long-distance bombing prank deep into Russia, destroying some of its strategic nuclear force. Surely, the purpose of that was to provoke a response that could amount to a cassus belli for the EU to launch its (insane and suicidal) longed-for war against Russia.

Why were Pompeo, Lindsey Graham, and Blumenthal not arrested when they flew back to the USA? Everything they were up to in Ukraine had the odor of serious mischief. Mr. Patel of the FBI, a former US attorney who knows how to manage such things, should have personally hauled all three of them into a windowless room for depositions. Who, exactly, does Mike Pompeo purport to represent these days? Who paid for his trip to Odessa, and who went with him? And why isn’t anybody asking these questions?

Elon Musk’s bout of intemperance was supposedly provoked by his disgust over the “big beautiful bill” before Congress, not a budget, really, but a mandatory spending reconciliation package with lots of bells, whistles, and kazoos attached. Of course, you have to ask: what legislation coming out of that animal farm is not a monstrosity? Maybe it takes a monster to fight a monster.

Maybe America needs to transition out of its Batman phase into something like King Kong versus Godzilla.

The multitude of little folk underfoot are getting trampled, anyway. And the bankruptcy of America is already presenting itself as a sort of systemic sepsis driving ordinary people and small businesses to ruin, even while the stock and bond markets manage to levitate. No one can feel comfortable in the present situation.

The Democratic Party played the Joker the past ten Batman years, working overtime to throw the country into chaos. That movie’s over.

Now, strange to relate, it’s looking more and more like the USA (King Kong) against Europe (Godzilla). Russia is the lady in peril down among the ferns watching the brutes roar at each other. China is something like Ming-the-Merciless from a distant planet (and another movie), waiting off-stage to see what happens.

Europe has a death wish. Its economy is cratering. It’s sacrificing two-thousand years of culture to a new barbarian invasion. The governments of the UK, France, and Germany, have gone full Orwell against their own citizens. The unelected EU has turned into a tyrannical machine grinding up anything that looks like enterprise. And the war drums they’re beating can only bring on a hard rain of Russian hypersonic “hazelnuts,” destroying the only thing they have left: their once-charming cities. If that’s not enough to finish Europe off, wait for the banking and bond market implosion.

Mr. Trump knows that Godzilla is fixing to fall off a cliff. He’s more inclined to take up with that lady down in the ferns and march back into the humid, welcoming jungle. If you really want to rescue what’s left of Western Civ, Russia in its current form, would be your natural ally, not your opponent. Nobody knows how we will get through this movie, but time does not stand still and some day we will be back in a world of nations that have given up acting like monsters. . . and maybe the next movie is something light-hearted like Carey Grant and Kate Hepburn with a pet leopard.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported El Salvadoran man—also known as the “Maryland Father” by leftist corporate media —whom Democrats rushed to defend, is now headed back to the U.S. to face federal charges for allegedly running a human trafficking operation. He was previously accused of gang affiliation in a 2018 sworn affidavit and suspected of human trafficker in 2022.

ABC News cites multiple sources that say the El Salvadoran man has left the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador via law enforcement after a federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly transporting illegal aliens from Texas into the Heartland. 

.@AGPamBondi announces Kilmar Abrego Garcia “has landed in the United States to face justice” on charges of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.

“Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador.” pic.twitter.com/hMRo7UqOGf

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 6, 2025

Here’s more from the report:

A two-count indictment, which was filed under seal in federal court in Tennessee last month, alleges Abrego Garcia, 29, participated in a years-long conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country, according to sources briefed on the indictment.

The alleged conspiracy spanned nearly a decade and involved the domestic transport of thousands of non-citizens, including some children, from Mexico and Central America.

Among those allegedly transported were members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, sources familiar with the investigation said.

Latest on the El Salvadoran man:

• NPR: Abrego Garcia Was “Living Quietly” In Maryland Before He Was Deported

• Abrego Garcia Moved To Lower Security Detention Facility, Given Own Room: State Department

• Deported ‘Maryland Father’, Kilmar’s Van Full Of Migrants Owned By Convicted Human-Trafficker

• Judge Halts Order Demanding Details On Efforts To Return Abrego Garcia To US

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia Accused Of Being “Gang Member” In 2018 Sworn Affidavit

• Human Trafficking Too? Biden Admin Flagged Deported El Salvadoran As ‘Suspect Alien’

We can’t help but wonder at the optics…

…another TACO move or does the Trump administration now have the kind of evidence that makes clear to all Americans exactly who the Democrats supported.

Abrego Garcia is reportedly on his way back to the United States. Some of us argued from the outset that this was the best course. The basis for his removal is overwhelming and, once this process is completed, he is likely to find himself on another flight back to El Salvador…

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 6, 2025

Five leaders of the Proud Boys are suing the Department of Justice after the Biden administration found them guilty of engaging in a seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

The lawsuit, filed by Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, seeks $100 million, and claims that federal authorities violated the Constitution in an effort “to punish and oppress political allies of President Donald Trump, by any and all means necessary, legal, or illegal,” WaPo reports. 

It comes on the heels of Trump’s January pardon of virtually all Jan. 6 defendants – which could saddle the Trump administration with the ironic task of defending the prosecutions, which many on the right view as political weaponization of government. 

Leftist academics (at least one) are freaking out over the suit, suggesting that it would vindicate Jan. 6 rioters in the court of public opinion.

“A settlement would suggest that the violence of January 6 was entirely justified,” Matthew Dallek, a George Washington University political historian told WaPo. “It would say to the country that these Proud Boys who were convicted in a court of law, in a fair trial, were wrongfully prosecuted and victims. It just turns the entire day on its head.”

Or, asshole, it would prove that the Biden administration weaponized the DOJ like everyone with a functional brain witnessed. 

Tarrio, who wasn’t even at the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to 22 years for ‘plotting’ to attack – while Nordean, Biggs and Rehl allegedly stepped into their leadership roles and led what prosecutors claimed was the first breach of the Capitol’s west enterence. 

Nordean, Biggs and Rehl received sentences of 18, 17, and 15-years respectively for seditious conspiracy, while Pezzola was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to obstruct Congress.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a May agreement to settle the wrongful death case brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol policeman (who got off scot-free) while she was involved in the demonstration. 

Via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

The graph below provides a clearer understanding of the US fiscal deficit.

First, focus on the red line below, graphing the ratio of federal debt to GDP.

Note that it is at the same level today as it was in 2021. Similarly, before the pandemic, it had been relatively flat for seven years. This highlights that the deficit problem we have today was exacerbated by recession-prompted fiscal stimulus and the temporary decline in GDP.

To illustrate this more clearly, we created the green line.

This version of the debt-to-GDP ratio assumes zero change in the ratio during recessions. Moreover, it uses the same growth rates as the all-inclusive debt-to-GDP ratio to calculate the growth for periods outside of recession.

As the green line indicates, the ratio today is the same as it was over 10 years ago. Furthermore, it is close to levels seen in the mid-1990s. The takeaway from comparing the two lines is that the ratio of debt to GDP follows a stairstep pattern.

It’s generally flat during periods of growth, while it accelerates during recessions.

The point in playing with the data is not to belittle the deficit problem. Instead, we think it’s essential to acknowledge that the deficit problem is primarily associated with recessionary stimulus. Thus, maybe we should consider how we spend stimulus funds during recessions. In particular, might a focus toward productive stimulus during recessions provide a greater long term economic boost?

Still, if there is no recession in the near future, we might find that today’s deficits are not significantly worsening as some pundits lead us to believe.

Might they be too focused on the deficit amount stated in dollars, rather than as a ratio to our ability to pay for it, i.e., economic growth?

India’s central bank shocked markets this morning when it slashing interest rates (in a 5:1 vote) by a deeper-than-expected half a percent – the third cut in a row – and the largest rate cut since the covid crash, amid falling inflation and lower growth in Asia’s third largest economy. It also spiked the amount of liquidity available in the system to kickstart moribund lending. 

The repo rate – the level at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks, influencing borrowing costs for home and car loans – now stands at 5.5%, the lowest in three years, following two previous 25bps reductions in April and February.

Explaining the rationale for the cut, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said growth is “lower than our aspirations” and the bank felt it was “imperative to stimulate domestic consumption and investment” amid rising global uncertainties.

Data released last week showed that India’s economy grew by 6.5% in the previous financial year ending March. The world’s (newly) most populous country remains the world’s fastest expanding major economy, although growth has sharply dropped from the 9.2% high recorded in financial year 2023-24. Meanwhile, retail prices in India have slowed faster than expected to 3.16% in April – the lowest in six years – and below the RBI’s 4% target, driven down by falling food prices.

RBI has now forecast lower inflation than earlier projected for the year ahead. Inflation for Fiscal Year 2026 has been revised down to 3.7% from 4%, with Q1 (April- June) projected at just 2.9%. Growth forecast remains unchanged at 6.5%. This growth is well below the 8% growth the RBI aspires for.

There was another big surprise in today’s announcement: alongside the greater than expected cut, the central bank changed its monetary policy stance from “accommodative” to “neutral”, indicating that further rate cuts will depend on how India’s growth-inflation dynamic evolves, a move which was viewed as hawkish, and sparking a sharp curve steepening. 

The change in stance suggests the bar for further rate cuts is now higher. As the RBI noted, after 100bps of cuts since February, policy space is now limited.

However, fuller granaries due to a better-than-expected monsoon, weaker prices of commodities like oil – of which India is a net importer – as well as a strong currency are likely to help keep India’s inflation in check in the months ahead, allowing the RBI to keep rates low.

The RBI also unexpectedly cut the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) rate starting September 2025 , which is set to release INR2.5tn into the banking system. With liquidity already in surplus, overnight rates may now move closer to the SDF, 25bps below the repo rate.

Credit growth remains weak at 9.8% YoY (vs 19.5% a year ago). The CRR cut, to be implemented in four 25bps tranches starting September, aims to improve credit transmission. The Governor noted that announcing the schedule in advance is meant to reassure banks of the RBI’s commitment to supporting liquidity

Some more details from Goldman Sachs:

• Policy rate – lowered by 50bp with a 5:1 vote: The RBI MPC voted 5:1 to lower the policy repo rate by 50bp to 5.50% at the June meeting, vs. an expectation of a 25bp repo rate cut. External Member Bhattacharya voted for a 25bp repo rate cut. Consequently, both the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate were lowered by 50bp each to 5.75% and 5.25%, respectively.
• Policy stance changed to ‘neutral’: The MPC changed its policy stance back to ‘neutral’ from ‘accommodative’. The Governor clarified that “after having reduced the policy repo rate by 100 bps in quick succession since February 2025, under the current circumstances, monetary policy is left with very limited space to support growth”. We interpret this as the end of the current rate easing cycle with repo rate at 5.50% — implying ~1% real policy rate on a one-year forward inflation forecast. The RBI may not want the ex-ante real rate below 1%, in our view, especially when the growth outlook is balanced. We had been forecasting a 5.50% repo rate marking the end of the cycle, with 25bp rate cuts each in June and August meetings, but the RBI got there a meeting faster than we expected.
• Growth forecast retained at 6.5% yoy for FY26: The RBI retained their growth forecast at 6.5% yoy for FY26 (GSe: 6.2% yoy), noting strong agricultural sector growth and rural demand, and a resilient services sector underpinning a recovery in urban demand. However, the Governor highlighted downside risks to growth from US “reciprocal” tariff-related uncertainty and prolonged geopolitical tensions.
• Inflation forecast lowered by 30bp to 3.7% yoy for FY26: The RBI lowered its inflation forecast by 30bp to 3.7% yoy (GSe: 3.6% yoy) (Exhibit 1). The Governor highlighted that there is “greater confidence of headline inflation remaining below the target of 4% over the course of the year”. Food inflation is likely to remain benign given higher wheat and pulses (legumes) production. Additionally, Indian Meteorological Department’s expectations of an above-normal monsoon bode well for the production of summer crops. However, the Governor also highlighted upside risks to the inflation outlook from weather and US “reciprocal” tariff-related uncertainty.

• Banking system liquidity:  The RBI announced a cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of 100bp to 3.0% of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) in four tranches from September to November to ease banking system liquidity further. As per the RBI’s estimate, this measure is expected to release durable liquidity of INR 2.5tn (0.7% of GDP) into the banking system.
• The Governor said that the RBI “remains committed to provide sufficient liquidity to the banking system”. With durable liquidity already in surplus in recent months, overnight rates have traded on an average ~20bp below the repo rate from April to June (Exhibit 2), resulting in a significant easing in financial conditions. As a result, overnight rates have come off by more than 150bp from mid-January to now.

India’s lower borrowing costs will have a positive growth impact due to improved purchasing power for households, lower input costs for companies and lower debt servicing costs for the government. They will also help homebuyers and a struggling real estate sector.

“This effectively lowers the cost of borrowing, making home loan EMIs [mortgage payments] easier on the pocket and thereby directly improving affordability for buyers. This can potentially boost demand in the Indian real estate sector, especially in affordable and mid-income segments. Affordable housing faced the sharpest pandemic fallout, with sales and new launches shrinking in the top 7 cities,” Anuj Puri, chairman of ANAROCK Group, said.

Predictably, Indian markets rallied sharply post the rate cut announcement. 

Looking ahead, Goldman expects the RBI to stay on hold for the rest of the year unless growth slows sharply. The front end of the IGB curve should remain supported by strong liquidity and favorable demand-supply dynamics. The bank favors 2Y IGB and expect the IGB curve to steepen.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

It would seem evident that most investors would understand that consumer spending drives economic growth, ultimately creating corporate earnings growth. Yet, despite this somewhat tautological statement, Wall Street appears to ignore this simple reality when forecasting forward earnings. As discussed recently, S&P Global’s current estimates show earnings are growing far above the long-term exponential growth trend from 1936. Unfortunately, with regularity, earnings tend to repeatedly revert to the long-term trend due to economic recessions, financial crises, or other events that crimp economic activity. In the chart below, earnings haven’t stayed at the top of the long-term growth trend channel for long. The current exponential growth trend for earnings is $195/share.

The obvious question is, what would cause earnings to revert so drastically from current levels? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer as the cause of every previous reversion was somewhat unique from a historical perspective. For example, since the turn of the century, there has only been one “Dot.com crash”, one “Financial crisis,” and thankfully, just one “COVID pandemic.” While unique and unexpected, each event led to similar earnings growth reversals.

For investors, the market’s price is highly correlated to the expectation of forward earnings. As such, each of those events, as shown below, led to a rather sharp price reversal to adjust forward valuations for expected earnings.

Therefore, if forward earnings are so important to market outcomes, investors need to understand where future earnings growth will come from.

Where Do Earnings Come From?

As noted above, earnings come from consumer spending. If you look at an income statement, revenue is the top line, and “earnings” or “net income” is the bottom line. The income statement is broken down into three primary sections: revenue, operating expenses, and other expenses (interest and taxes). One term you may hear often is EBITDA. That is an acronym for “Earnings Before Income Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization,” which gives you a better understanding of the company’s operational profitability and potential for generating cash flow from its core business activities. However, once we include those items, we get to the net income or earnings for the company. The final step is to divide those earnings by the number of shares outstanding to get to “earnings per share.”

With that understanding, we must return our focus to the first line item—net sales (aka revenue, sales, gross sales, etc.). A company must sell a product or service to customers to generate revenue. The basic diagram below shows a company’s revenue cycle. Therefore, to understand what to expect in terms of future, or forward, earnings with some degree of accuracy, we must understand the direction of consumer spending.

One of the better measures for developing a framework for future earnings growth is personal consumption expenditures (PCE), since they comprise nearly 70% of the economic equation. The annual percentage change in forward earnings tracks the yearly percentage change in PCE fairly closely.

For you “data geeks,” the correlation between the two measures is slightly more than 51%, so the correlation is not insignificant. You will notice that the outliers have mostly been recent anomalies caused by the COVID lockdown and subsequent fiscal and monetary interventions.

Therefore, while unsurprising, the strength of consumer spending has much to do with the expectation for forward earnings.

Earnings Manipulation

However, I would be remiss not to address the other impact on bottom-line earnings that income statement manipulation has. We addressed this point more deeply in “Beating Estimates.” To wit:

While Wall Street hopes for an improvement in earnings, there may be more to the story. Many companies have offset earnings growth with cost-cutting measures. The problem with cost cutting, wage suppression, labor hoarding, and stock buybacks, along with a myriad of accounting gimmicks, is that there is a finite limit to their effectiveness.

More importantly, Wall Street knows this already, and it should not be surprising that companies manipulate bottom-line earnings. By utilizing “cookie-jar” reserves, heavy use of accruals, and other accounting instruments, they can either flatter or depress, earnings.

While none of this should be surprising, a previous WSJ survey of CFOs was the most revealing regarding the depth of the manipulation.

“The tricks are well-known: A difficult quarter can be made easier by releasing reserves set aside for a rainy day or recognizing revenues before sales are made, while a good quarter is often the time to hide a big “restructuring charge” that would otherwise stand out like a sore thumb.

What is more surprising though is CFOs’ belief that these practices leave a significant mark on companies’ reported profits and losses. When asked about the magnitude of the earnings misrepresentation, the study’s respondents said it was around 10% of earnings per share.“

Of course, I would be remiss in dismissing the “elephant in the room” of stock buybacks.

Today, more than ever, many corporate executives have a large percentage of their compensation tied to company stock performance. A “miss” of Wall Street expectations can lead to a significant penalty in the company’s stock price. Unsurprisingly, 93% of the respondents pointed to “influence on stock price” and “outside pressure” as reasons for manipulating figures through accounting gimmicks and buybacks.

Note: For fundamental investors this manipulation of earnings skews valuation analysis particularly with respect to P/E’s, EV/EBITDA, PEG, etc. Revenues, which are harder to adjust, may provide truer measures of valuation such as P/SALES and EV/SALES.

(Read “Why EBITDA Is BS.)

However, even with the accounting gimmicks and buybacks, understanding the impact of consumer spending on forward earnings is crucial.

Consumer Sentiment And Spending

As shown above, if personal consumption expenditures correlate with forward earnings growth, and expected earnings growth drives market pricing, understanding where PCE is likely heading can be crucial for investors. So, what drives PCE? As discussed in “Employment Data,” consumers can NOT consume without producing something first. Production must come first to generate the income needed for that consumption. The cycle is displayed below.

Therefore, if consumers become more concerned about their financial situation, whether due to potential job loss, lack of access to credit, or the increase in the cost of living, this will be reflected in consumer sentiment. Unsurprisingly, the composite consumer confidence index has declined over concerns about tariffs, rising recession risk, and slowing employment in recent months. (Notably, with recent tariff negotiations reducing that risk, confidence will likely improve in the next reading.) However, even if that is the case, it suggests that we should see some weakness in future PCE reports.

Furthermore, given the correlation between PCE and forward earnings, and PCE and consumer sentiment, it should be unsurprising that there is a decent correlation between consumer sentiment and forward earnings.

Conclusion

While forward earnings projections defy historical norms, investors must remain grounded in the fundamentals that ultimately drive those earnings—consumer spending. Despite Wall Street’s frequent detachment from economic realities, the evidence is clear: corporate revenues, and ultimately earnings, are inextricably tied to the financial health and confidence of consumers.

Though earnings can be flattered in the short term through accounting gimmicks and buybacks, such tactics are unsustainable and often obscure underlying weaknesses. With personal consumption expenditures comprising the majority of economic activity and showing a strong correlation to forward earnings, monitoring shifts in consumer sentiment becomes crucial.

To offset the potential risk of downward earnings revisions, investors should consider several strategic actions:

• Manage investment risk by regularly rebalancing, controlling over-concentration, and reducing laggards.

• Focus on companies with strong, transparent revenue growth rather than those reliant on financial engineering or aggressive cost-cutting.

• Incorporate valuation metrics based on revenue (P/S, EV/Sales) rather than easily manipulated earnings figures like P/E or EBITDA.

• Maintain a flexible portfolio allocation that can adjust to economic shifts, emphasizing defensive sectors when consumer confidence wanes.

• Use hedging strategies or increase cash levels to protect capital during earnings-driven market downturns.

Ultimately, long-term investment success will depend not on hopeful forecasts but on a clear-eyed understanding of what fuels corporate profitability, and that fuel remains the consumer.

At the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the State of Israel is arming an ISIS-aligned Jihadist gang in Gaza, unnamed Israeli defense officials confirmed to the Times of Israel on Thursday. While refraining from validating that particular characterization of the weapon recipients, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel is “activating clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas.” Significantly, the prime minister is accused of green-lighting the weapon handovers without securing his cabinet’s permission.  

News of Netanyahu’s latest provision of aid to Sunni extremists in the Middle East first came via remarks made by opposition Knesset member and former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman in a Thursday morning interview with Kan Bet public radio. “The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister…Ultimately, these weapons will be turned against us.” 

It wouldn’t be the first time Netanyahu has opportunistically bolstered Gaza extremists only to have them murderously lash out at Israelis. Indeed, following in the steps of his predecessors, Netanyahu boosted Hamas itself in a calculated effort to ensure Israel had no united, moderate counterparties available to negotiate a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” Netanyahu told a meeting of Likud Party members of parliament in 2019. “This is part of our strategy — to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

In 2016, an earlier Netanyahu government provided medical treatment to a Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda. At the time, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy brushed aside an interviewer’s astonishment that Israel would aid an enemy of the United States: “We have a different account with Hezbollah. A totally different account. Al Qaeda, to the best of my recollection, has not attacked Israel.”

Netanyahu’s latest favorite band of rogues is the Abu Shabab clan, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, who has reportedly been twice-imprisoned in Hamas-run jails for criminal offenses. “[They] are in essence lawless criminals who in recent years wanted to give themselves an ideological angle or spin, so they became Salafi [jihadists] and began identifying with ISIS,” Lieberman said. 

Varying described as a militia or a criminal gang, the Abu Shabab clan has been widely accused of looting humanitarian aid to the devastated Gaza population. In 2024, Abu Shabab didn’t deny the allegations, instead lamely claiming his group tried not to steal supplies meant for children. That entry on Shabab’s rap sheet makes Netanyahu’s support for the clan rather hypocritical, as he’s often condemned Hamas for allegedly stealing aid. “Hamas is coming at gunpoint and stealing the food,” he said. “Humanitarian deaths and starvation is, for us, it’s a tragedy. For them, it’s a strategy.” On the other hand, the Shabab clan meets the only qualification that seems to matter to Netanyahu: An interest in seeing Hamas dislodged from power in Gaza. 

In late May, Hamas posted a video showing an operation in which its militant blew up a group of armed men that observers concluded to be members of the Shabab clan. Hamas said the targeted group was collaborating directly with the IDF by inspecting buildings in Gaza before Israeli soldiers took them over: 

Following Lieberman’s comments, the prime minister’s office issued a statement saying “Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment.” On Thursday afternoon, defense officials confirmed to the Times of Israel that Netanyahu’s government is shipping Kalashnikov rifles to the jihadists. Compounding the controversy, the sources say Netanyahu initiated the weapon transfers without receiving approval from his cabinet. 

Shabab’s gang has been documented in recent days operating in an area near the Kerem Shalom border crossing under Israeli military control. In the footage, which was published online by Abu Shabab, members of the group can be seen wearing military-style uniforms with the Palestinian flag and the words “Counter-Terrorism Mechanism” emblazoned on them. — Times of Israel

Yair Golan, who leads the opposition Democrats party, condemned Netanyahu’s decision to arm yet another dangerous set of militants: “Netanyahu, who transferred billions to Hamas in suitcases of cash out of the mistaken concept that Hamas is an ‘asset,’ is now promoting a new dangerous concept: arming a Gazan militia with ties to ISIS.” 

According to the ancient proverb, “The friend of your enemy is your enemy.” If you’re an American citizen, what does that make Netanyahu? 

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A Connecticut lawmaker was admonished for reading aloud from a pornographic book that is available to children in school libraries in the state.

During a hearing, Republican Rep. Anne Dauphinais of Danielson read graphic sexual references from the book, titled Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

“Are you going to eat her pussy?,” Dauphinais read from the book. “Yeah, Earl, I am going to eat her pussy,” she continued before being interrupted by Rep. Juan Candelaria, a New Haven Democrat and deputy House Speaker who started manically banging his gavel.

🚨WATCH: Connecticut GOP lawmaker quotes book found in public schools: “Are you gonna eat her p*ssy?”

She is then SCOLDED for her use of the phrase.

She replies: “You’re telling me that this language is inappropriate in this chamber, this is in elementary school libraries.” pic.twitter.com/xYJErag0pe

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 3, 2025

“Madam, I would ask that we not try to use that type of language in the chamber and try to keep some decorum,” said Candelaria, not recognising the irony.

“I know you were talking of specific books, but if we could refrain from those type of words because there are also people and children watching this debate.”

That’s the whole point, dude.

Dauphinais had already warned parents to remove any children present from the room before she began reading.

“I would ask kindly if we could just use either a different word or something different just out of respect for others that might get offended. Thank you,” Candelaria added.

Dauphinais responded, “Mr. Speaker, I stand here to share with the chamber the books that are available in our public school libraries to the very children you’re telling me that this language isn’t appropriate in this chamber.”

“This is in elementary school libraries, approved by the very individuals that are supposed to be the experts,” she further urged.

Another Democrat, House Speaker Matt Ritter, then argued that the Republicans just want to make this a “cultural issue,” that “they want the response, like children,” and that “it really hurts their brand.”

Or maybe they have actual concerns about the porn in kids’ libraries?

‘Don’t say that word, children might be listening!’

Yeah, that’s kinda her entire point, nimrod. https://t.co/RqwV2Isg5G

— Conor Coutts (@_CCoutts_) June 3, 2025

Hypocrisy at its finest! Schools allow it, but lawmakers can’t say it? What’s wrong with this picture?

— rowdyamerican (@rowdyamerican45) June 4, 2025

If it’s good enough to be in a school library, it’s good enough to spoken in the chamber. Now, if you have an issue with that, maybe you should take a look at the books in the library.

— Michael Butler 🇺🇸 (@MDButler81) June 3, 2025

“Keep decorum” in the chamber, but not in your kids school. https://t.co/WcsEEseJZG

— Sam Romain (@Sam_Romain) June 3, 2025

Grown adults demanding her to stop with the “inappropriate” language in the chamber, and yet they are ok with it in the schools and being read to children? These people are insane. https://t.co/Q3LaFZl5QG

— Faith1nHim (@CHRISTDSOKC) June 4, 2025

This issue has been ongoing for years at this point.

As we highlighted earlier this week, leftists are now suggesting that if overt sexualised  and pornographic LGBTQ material is being ‘banished’ in school libraries then they should just make classic kids book “queer friendly,” and encourage queer readings of them.

Why are they so obsessed with pushing this on children?

*  *  *

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With the jobs whisper number of 110K flirting dangerously close with a sub 100K print, one which both JPM and Goldman said could spark a waterfall selloff in stocks, moments ago the BLS reported that in May the worst case scenario was averted, with the US adding a modest 139K, which while below last month’s print, was above the median consensus of 126K, and well inside the estimated range of 75K to 190K.

That was the good news; the bad news is virtually all historical data points during the Trump admin were revised lower, with April revised 30K lower from 177K to 147K, and March revised 65K lower from 185K to 120K. Worse, every single month under the Trump admin has been revised lower. 

Turning to the unemployment rate, there were no surprises here: consensus expected an unchanged 4.2% print from April, and got just that. The unemployment rate has so far held at 4.2 percent in May and has remained in a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024. The number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little over the month.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.9 percent), adult women (3.9 percent), teenagers (13.4 percent), Whites (3.8 percent), Blacks (6.0 percent), Asians (3.6 percent), and Hispanics (5.1 percent) showed little or no change over the month. 

The unemployment rate was the result of a modest increase in the number of unemployed people (from 7.166 million to 7.237 million) while the labor force declined by ~600K, from 171.135 million to 170.510 million. More importantly, the disconnect between the Household survey and Establishment survey is back, as the number of employed workers plunged tumbled by 696K, even as payrolls reportedly rose.

Some more qualitative details from the report:

• The number of people jobless less than 5 weeks increased by 264,000 to 2.5 million in May. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased over the month by 218,000 to 1.5 million. Both measures were little changed over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 20.4 percent of all unemployed people in May. 
• In May, the employment-population ratio declined by 0.3 percentage point to 59.7 percent. The labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 62.4 percent. 
• The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.6 million, changed little in May. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. 
• In May, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 6.0 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. 
• Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.6 million, changed little in May. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were

Next, turning to earnings, we find that May average hourly earnings actually printed stronger than expected, rising 0.4% MoM, double the 0.2% expected, and up from the 0.2% in April. On an annual basis, earnings rose 3.9%, also above the 3.7% consensus, and unchanged from the upward revised April print of 3.9%. 

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 15 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $36.24 in May. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.9 percent. In May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 12 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $31.18. 

There were also no surprises in the number of hours worked: In May, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 34.3 hours for the third month in a row. In manufacturing, the average workweek was little changed at 40.1 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 2.9 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.7 hours in May. 

Here is the breakdown of jobs by industry: 

• Health care added 62,000 jobs in May, higher than the average monthly gain of 44,000 over the prior 12 months. In May, job gains occurred in hospitals (+30,000), ambulatory health care services (+29,000), and skilled nursing care facilities (+6,000).
• Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up in May (+48,000), largely in food services and drinking places (+30,000). Over the prior 12 months, leisure and hospitality had added an average of 20,000 jobs per month.
• In May, social assistance employment continued to trend up (+16,000), reflecting continued growth in individual and family services (+16,000).
• Federal government employment continued to decline in May (-22,000) and is down by 59,000 since January. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)

Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; information; financial activities; professional and business services; and other services.

Last but not least, there was acute softness in both the breakdown between full and part-time workers, where the former tumbled by 623K and the latter increased by 33K

Finally, the number of native-born workers tumbled by 444K, while foreign-born workers also dropped by 224K, and easing back from the record set two months ago.

Overall, this was a poor jobs report if one ignores the headline which will surely be revised to a sub-100K print in the next month or two.

After Thursday’s grand meltdown between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump over the Big Beautiful Bill, it looked like things were set to simmer down – with Musk posting several things on X that suggested he was open to a path forward, while the Trump White House had scheduled a call with Musk, Politico reported. 

On Friday morning, however, it was clear that Trump isn’t ready to mend fences – he doesn’t want to talk to Musk, and is looking to sell his Tesla – while Musk spent the morning (so far) making clear that Congress needs to fix government spending or America is going to be in a world of hurt. 

To recap:

• Earlier in the week, Musk came out against the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – which raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, and either raises the deficit by $2.4 trillion, or lowers it by $1.4 trillion – depending on who you believe, and fails to address any of the waste, fraud and abuse found by DOGE. 

• Thursday morning, Trump was asked about Musk’s opposition to the bill, telling reporters on Thursday that he’s ‘very disappointed in Elon,’ and that Musk only opposes the bill because they eliminated electric vehicle tax credits from it.

• Trump then suggested he might pull government funding from Musk’s companies such as SpaceX, which owns the only operational US spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station. 

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” -President Donald Trump via Truth Social

• Musk went ballistic – announcing he would ‘immediately‘ decommission the Dragon program (which he later walked back Thursday night), proposed a new political party (that’s still his pinned post on X), endorsed another Trump impeachment, and said Trump is ‘in the Epstein files,’ which is why they haven’t been released. 

Peacemakers emerged – such as former State Department official Mike Benz, who defended Musk and called for the two to patch things up…

Elon Was Always The Secret Weapon Behind Trump 2.0 pic.twitter.com/ii1HBqTKza

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) June 6, 2025

While two attorneys associated with the Epstein case(s) flatly denied Trump had anything to do with Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.  

Just confirming what we already knew. pic.twitter.com/ooZNVwHsjn

— C3 (@C_3C_3) June 6, 2025

“The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who, in 2009… is the only person who picked up the phone and said, let’s just talk.”

“[Trump] was very helpful… and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward… pic.twitter.com/u0FKJrWKej

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) June 6, 2025

On Friday, Musk re-posted the following posts and clips making his case; 

“The Federal Government today pays more in interest on the debt than we do in budget for the Department of Defense. We pay $1.2B a year in JUST interest on debt. Total government spending is about $7T. Interest payments are $1.2T. DOD is $800B a year. Total debt is $35T and it… pic.twitter.com/fPg3Xo5dkZ

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 6, 2025

Jesse Watters: “The media said that Musk was the co-president… The media said Trump was doing favors for Elon Musk. Well, if you look at this big, beautiful bill, there’s no favors for Elon Musk in it at all”

pic.twitter.com/9Py3TM5Zkl

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 5, 2025

It’s a borrowing limit. It’s not a function / it’s a rule violated by a weak Congress regularly… https://t.co/4KEkl8aIKz

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 5, 2025

This is why Republicans will likely lose the House in 2026 and then Democrats will spend two years investigating and impeaching President Trump.

Trump and the Republicans in Congress need to deliver. We want budget cuts. We want agencies shut down. We don’t want big govt. https://t.co/3T3uheQEyf

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) June 5, 2025

While Trump (as noted above) isn’t ready to have a phone call with Musk to hash things out.

Meanwhile, DOGE chief architect Joel Fishback slammed Musk and said he’s stepping away from the effort following Musk’s comments, Politico reports.

“The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the president, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling. That’s disappointing, but okay,” said Fishback. “What’s not okay is his baseless personal attacks against President Trump.”

To be continued…