Topline: California’s high-speed rail line has more than tripled in price from $40 billion to $128 billion, causing President Donald Trump to rescind $4 billion in federal funding and claim the project has “the worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country,” The Washington Free Beacon quoted him as saying.
It’s easy to see why. State audits reviewed by the Free Beacon found cash spent not on construction, but on graffiti removal, Politico subscriptions, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and more.
Key facts: Construction on the rail line was supposed to begin in 2015 and finish in 2020. To date, no track has been laid, and there is no estimate for when the project will be completed. The deadline for the first portion of the track is 2033, but an inspector general report says that is unlikely.
Meanwhile, the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority has spent $537 million on environmental services, according to the Free Beacon. The project’s environmental impacts statement took 14 years to write. One company, Westervelt Ecological Services, received $20 million to build new animal habitats, since many could be destroyed by the construction.
The City of Fresno received $5 million for graffiti cleanup. Kadesh & Associates received almost $2 million for lobbying and “congressional advisory services.” CPS HR Consulting received almost $51,000 to run meetings for the rail authority’s DEI task force and train employees, the Free Beacon reported.
Another $177,000 was spent on subscriptions to Politico Pro, a surprisingly common practice. The federal government spent $44 million on Politico subscriptions from 2017 to 2024, with the Pro service costing upwards of $3,000 per person.
Supporting quote: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press conference, “I think we’ve been audited a hundred times there. At a certain point, you have audit fatigue. Audits for audits’ sake service no one … what people want is problems solved.”
Had the rail line been completed in 2020 as planned, the audits probably would have ended.
Background: The high-speed rail isn’t the only transportation project facing extreme delays. The County of Santa Clara announced last year that its planned rail station was 11 years behind schedule and $8 billion over budget. Rail cars purchased by the county for $173 million will now be used at other stations for a decade on Santa Clara’s dime.
The federal government decided last year to give that project $5 billion in funding. At the time it was the second-largest federal transportation grant in history.
Summary: California’s taxpayers are likely just as “fatigued” as their governor. It takes tremendous time and effort to stay up to date with all of the state’s cost overruns.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
Watch: Trump Plays ‘Kill The Boer’ Clip In Front Of South Africa’s Ramaphosa In The Oval Office, Destroys NBC Reporter
Update (1300ET): Well, for those who were anticipating a Vance-Zelensky shitshow redux at today’s meeting between US President Trump and South African President Ramaphosa… they were not disappointed.
As the topic of white genocide cam up, Ramaphosa was quick to dispel the ‘conspiracy’; but Trump very quickly told his aides to ‘roll the tape’ at which videos of black leaders in South Africa calling for the murder of whites (Boers) along with video of burial sites for whites killed in South Africa.
Crushing. This is not only painful for the South African President but also for our mainstream media that desperately wants to cover up black-on-white violence in South Africa pic.twitter.com/e5NGJXmOb3
As the chants of ‘kill the Boer’ rang around The Oval Office, Ramaphosa grew very uncomfortable:
Donald Trump playing video footage of South Africa’s black party singing “kill the Boer (Whites), kill the White farmer” in front of the South African president in the Oval Office.
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) May 21, 2025
Ramaphosa, thoughtfully and quietly responded claiming that “this is not government policy,” adding that “our democracy allows for free expression” and reaffirmed that “our government is completely against” what President Trump was describing.
As the clip (of burial sites and 100,000 people chanting for death to whites) ended and Trump turned to the reporter pool, NBC News reporter Peter Alexander shouted a question about the Qatari jet being offered to the US DoD, at which Trump exploded…
WATCH: President Trump unloaded on NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander after a question about a Qatari jet that is expected to be given to the U.S. to be used as a new Air Force One. pic.twitter.com/Z2mSSLa8wC
Ramaphosa diplomatically urged Trump to take this discussion offline.
Developing…
* * *
Elon Musk will join President Donald Trump’s meeting with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House later today.
The Pretoria-born billionaire has been a staunch critic of Ramaphosa’s government amid the ongoing claims of genocide against the White minority in the nation of his birth.
The timing of Ramaphosa’s visit – just days after Trump accepted dozens of Afrikaner refugees – has sparked fears of an Oval Office clash reminiscent of the one Ukrainian president Zelensky faced earlier this year.
Trump will be joined by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, among others.
South Africa’s government plans to offer Musk a workaround of local Black-ownership laws for his Starlink internet service to operate in the country, aiming to ease tensions with both the billionaire and Trump, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa’s office said the White House meeting, set to begin at 11:30 a.m. ET, will offer a “platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries.”
WATCH LIVE: President Trump welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House, as tension between the two nations has ramped up since Trump returned to the Oval Office. https://t.co/epZqiTaTvM
As Brandon Smith detailed earlier via Alt-Market.us, some people might be wondering why a backwater nation like South Africa has become a flash point in the global debate over politics and culture. It’s really not that hard to understand once you recognize the core conflict, which is in part about racial division but also about the fundamental evils of the political left and socialism.
South Africa represents a perfect petri dish, a window into the minds of progressive authoritarians. The country is near the end point of the natural socialist evolution – From “hopeful humanist endeavor” to the communist slave plantation that all socialist adventures inevitably become.
A key pillar of leftist authoritarianism is an obsessive desire to prevent people from walking away. In other words, citizens are seen as property of the collective and property of the greater progressive experiment. When citizens try to leave, this is treated as a crime beyond reckoning.
It’s a concept I’ve been writing about for many years now. Walking away from from the leftist plantation brings the entire edifice into question; it is the worst thing a citizen can do.
Afrikaners that want to immigrate to the US under the refugee program put in place by the Trump Administration are being targeted by a malicious smear campaign. Recently, the SA parliament debated what should be done about these immigrants and also debated how to protect SA’s image in the world stage.
Their narrative was broad, but it basically asserts that Afrikaners that talk openly about racial discrimination and race motivated murders of whites might be investigated under treason laws. By extension, Afrikaner refugees seeking to leave SA could be designated as threats to national security. Anyone warning about the growing movement for racial genocide of Afrikaners is a potential traitor and a threat to the country (Go to 118:00 for the discussion).
Interestingly, the pursuit of investigations was announced just before South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile asked white farmers to “please stay”. Meanwhile, socialist and communist party leaders continue to call for a total land grab and reparations, swiping farms from Afrikaners and giving them to black citizens.
As is typical with leftist governments the fallback is to deny all claims and evidence, then gaslight and demonize the people that speak out. The Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni made it clear that the State Security Agency (SSA) is on the alert for any disinformation campaigns, foreign meddling and treasonous acts.
Concerns over the United States cropped up during the sitting and officials argued that US involvement in relocating refugees was a “violation of South Africa’s sovereignty”. This doesn’t make much sense, unless we keep in mind that Trump cut off foreign subsidies to South Africa because of the Afrikaner issue and this has placed their economy in a precarious position. The SA government seems to think they are entitled to American tax money. They’re not.
Those asking Ntshavheni questions during the session used words including “racist” and “right-wing” as well as “lunatics” and “civil war.” The rhetoric is designed to stifle dissent and frighten Afrikaners into apathy. We have seen this same strategy in multiple leftist plantations around the world recently.
From the UK to France to Germany and Romania, European governments have used censorship and door-to-door arrests of political opponents and people speaking out on issues like open borders and the invasion of violent third-world immigrants. White citizens are not allowed to criticize migrant polices, or they risk being punished.
In the US, conservatives are very familiar with the treason narrative after years of the Biden Administration accusing MAGA of being a “threat to Democracy”. This is nothing new.
However, South Africa’s case has escalated beyond persecution. Leftists aren’t just attacking Afrikaners as racists that “want Apartheid back”, they are also desperate to stop whites from leaving. You would think if Afrikaners were so reprehensible the leftists would WANT them to exit the country as quickly as possible. Instead, the establishment has engages in a vicious slander war to shut down their efforts to migrate to the US.
A member and candidate of the ruling party (the ANC) wrote this week in the Africa Times:
“South Africa’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has sweeping powers under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA Act 121 of 1998) to seize property deemed to be the proceeds of crime. It has been used successfully against corrupt officials, criminal syndicates, and even bogus NGOs.
But what of land obtained through historical fraud? Why has the AFU not moved decisively to investigate the origin of property titles, especially where the state was the original grantor or lessee?
Let me be blunt: white South Africans should be compelled to demonstrate the lawful origin of title—not just via deeds, but through ethical justice and the question of how the land was first acquired. If such proof fails, that land must revert to the state and be redistributed under constitutional and equitable parameters…”
He continues:
“Let us not sugar-coat this: when South Africans—whether political parties or private citizens—go to the USA to solicit intervention or publicly declare persecution, they commit an act tantamount to treason. They bring shame not only upon the Republic, but spit in the face of those who died so they could vote…”
“Where is the legal courage to prosecute this betrayal? The Intelligence Services Act, RICA, and Foreign Interference Bill must be invoked to investigate external political influence masquerading as refugee claims and foreign ‘investment pressure’…”
And this showcases the underlying hypocrisy of race communists – The political left wants revenge for Apartheid against people that had nothing to do with Apartheid. They want to steal the land that those white farmers cultivated for generations using legal chicanery. The farmers must then “prove” their ownership was not obtained through racial injustice using a government-run struggle session (guilty until proven innocent).
At the same time leftists also assert that white farmers that abandon their lands and leave for the US are traitors. The Afrikaners are trapped, and that’s just the way leftists like it.
Social media is rife with woke activists calling Afrikaners racists and cowards for wanting to go to America. Activists in America have threatened violence against white refugees, claiming that they want to “bring Apartheid to the US”. Other critics try to dissuade potential refugees by asserting that when they enter the US they will be “at the bottom” and will not survive in the American economy. I believe that this campaign is at least partially coordinated.
Keep in mind that Afrikaners know full well that they will be starting from scratch in the US, and they don’t care. Many of them are leaving behind property and a life they have built over decades. What I find refreshing about these migrants is how different they are in temperament from the millions of illegal migrants we have been dealing with from third world counties.
Afrikaners say they want to contribute, to earn their keep in America and to assimilate. This is a completely different attitude from immigrants heralding from central and south America that arrogantly demand welfare subsidies, easy labor access and cry racism when they’re asked to assimilate or learn English.
Furthermore, leftists never address the obvious question here – If there is no threat to white Afrikaners and they are actually living the high life without any fear, then why are they willing to leave everything they worked for to come to America? Listen to the deafening sound of crickets…
Another question that leftists can’t seem to answer is why they care so much? Why are they so emotionally fragile over Afrikaners leaving for another country? What are they REALLY angry about?
The reaction of South African politicians and leftists to this event tells us everything we need to know about their true motives – They hate the Afrikaners, but they also think they own the Afrikaners. They will do anything to prevent their racial equity Utopia from being exposed as a farce.
South Africa’s denial of genocide is predicated on a logical fallacy – The idea that not all white people have been attacked or killed, therefore the current situation does not qualify as a genocide. Under Gregory H Stanton’s 10 Stages Of Genocide, written as a kind of alarm meter for impending tragedy, South Africa actually meets 8 out of 10 of the requirements for a genocidal scenario.
Nearly all of the pieces are in place, including official group classification, discrimination, dehumanization, preparation and persecution. There’s the open calls to “kill the Boers” (Kill the white farmers) by leftist political parties, government complicity in property theft and redistribution, as well as thousands of racially motivated murders which the SA government has tried to hide, categorizing them as basic crimes rather than racial crimes.
The African National Congress has implemented at least 142 race-based laws (similar to DEI policies in the US) designed to redistribute wealth, property and jobs away from the white population into the hands of the black population.
And, the progressive authoritarians believe they have the perfect justification for the continuing oppression of whites – Because Apartheid existed 35 years ago in South Africa, this means that any brutality that happens to Afrikaners today is fair game.
It’s the same argument that leftists use in Europe and the US: “White westerners were colonizers and colonization is evil, therefore, as repentance for their sins against the multicultural gods, whites must allow their societies to be deconstructed and submit to generations of abuse.”
My question is, why would we do that? We can simply organize and tribalize if that’s the intention of the progressive movement. We can easily drop the hammer on them if necessary. The only reason progressives and socialists think they can railroad white citizens in South Africa is because they assume we will sit back and let them.
Just so there’s no misunderstanding, everything happening in South Africa is a consequence of progressive governance. The race targeting of whites, the crumbling infrastructure, the 32% unemployment rate, the ongoing civil instability, etc. They’ve had 30 years to make things better and instead they made things worse.
Conservatives have no political power and white citizens have no political power (their representation in government is next to nil).
One might wonder why the government hasn’t swiped all the farm land from the Afrikaners already? The conundrum for progressive authoritarians is that they want to, but the vast majority of their domestic food production relies on the expertise of white farmers. They remember the starvation crisis that happened when Zimbabwe ethnically cleansed white farmers. They have to get rid of the Afrikaners slowly and replace them with black farmers over a period of years.
Utility and political optics require that the SA government keep Afrikaner farmers trapped within the country so they can continue to produce until the government sees fit to eliminate them completely.
I believe the “treason” narrative is part of this agenda, along with the general smear campaign. If even a handful of Afrikaners are able to come to the US and succeed this will encourage thousands more to leave SA. The country will then lose a large portion of its most productive citizens. The last vestiges of civil stability will disappear. South Africa will collapse.
This is why some officials are begging Afrikaners to stay. This why the government is talking about national security concerns over a mere 59 immigrants leaving for America. Secretly, they know that an eventual mass exodus of white farmers is coming and it will crush their fraudulent system.
The US private military contracting firm set to oversee Gaza aid distribution on Israel’s behalf is actively hiring for positions on LinkedIn, according to job postings shared with Middle East Eye by current and former US officials.
The firm, Safe Reach Solutions, or SRS, says it is actively looking for “Humanitarian Liaison Officers” who will “serve as vital connectors between our operational teams and the broader humanitarian community,” according to one job description.
Another position on offer a week ago but has since closed is for a “Team Deputy/Manager” to support “day-to-day management, planning, and mission execution”.
A liaison officer position appears to be analytically focused. It says that hires will “advise on best practices for engaging with affected populations, local authorities, and community-based organizations” while monitoring developments that could impact “operational posture”.
The team deputy position is geared towards recruits with a background in operations. One of the requirements is “field experience in the Middle East, especially in conflict-affected or post-crisis settings”.
The positions want applicants with at least seven years of experience. They require applicants to be US citizens and say fluency in Arabic is preferred.
Ironically, SRS is seeking people with UN experience, but the plan to take over aid distribution seeks to supplant the United Nations, which is already capable of delivering aid in Gaza. “These mid- to senior-career professionals will help bridge communication, coordination, and trust with NGOs, international agencies, and UN bodies operating in complex environments.”
Demand for the positions appears to be high. According to LinkedIn, more than 100 people applied for the humanitarian liaison officer position within two weeks.
The team deputy position also drew comments from interested users directed to “Ali Ali,” SRS’s recruiting consultant. “Hi Ali I worked in Gaza last summer with the US army. I was in charge of the humanitarian aid delivery through the trident pier. Please reach out to me at your best convenience to talk more,” a LinkedIn user wrote.
The former Biden administration floated a costly pier project to bring aid into the Gaza Strip last year, but it was widely considered a failure.
American private military contractors have already started arriving in Israel, according to photos shared on social media of khaki-clad and bearded men at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. MEE couldn’t independently verify the photos.
Who is Phil Reilly and his firm SRS?
MEE couldn’t identify the recruiter, Ali Ali, who has 13 LinkedIn connections and no profile photo. However, SRS is headed by former CIA paramilitary officer Phil Reilly, who has served in Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Two former US officials told MEE that Reilly had won the trust of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Israeli businessmen close to him. His firm has long been the favourit to secure humanitarian aid into Gaza in a project that one Israeli businessman briefed on the plans said could amount to a contract worth “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
SRS was one of the private military contractors responsible for securing Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor during a short-lived truce. Fighting in Gaza briefly stopped in January but resumed in March when Israel unilaterally resumed attacking the enclave.
According to a January Reuters report, US contractors were paid $1,100 a day to work in Gaza, with a $10,000 advance for veterans.
SRS’s work during the first ceasefire was paid for mainly by the US and Gulf states, one US official told MEE. The private military contractors’ weapons and supplies are likely to be supplied by the US. One US official told MEE that the salary range exceeds what the former US security firm Blackwater once paid veterans.
SRS makes no secret of its connection to Gaza on LinkedIn. It posted a glowing article from ABC News in April, titled, “How a team of ‘suburban dads’ secured a key checkpoint in Gaza’s ‘death corridor'”.
UN says no aid distributed in Gaza
SRS stepped up recruitment on LinkedIn just as the US was lobbying the UN and European states earlier in May to approve the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to oversee aid distribution. The foundation would largely supplant the UN’s role in distributing Gaza aid. It says it plans to be active by the end of May.
The SRS’s job applications page reveals how Israel and the US are rapidly moving towards privatising and militarizing aid distribution in Gaza.
Another position SRS is actively hiring for is an imagery systems technician, who can analyze full-motion video. Israel says it plans to create “hubs” to distribute aid.
In the past, it has used checkpoints to separate Palestinian men and women. Earlier this month, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan that would require facial recognition technology to be applied to Palestinians before they receive any aid. It is seeking foreign funding for the plan.
This is what the coastal Rashida street in Gaza looked like before and after the ongoing war. pic.twitter.com/yc2lZYa1n7
The operation has been slammed by aid groups across the aisle, and the UN says it will not take part in the foundation’s work. Israel announced on Monday that it would allow some humanitarian aid into the enclave.
The UN said on Tuesday that Israel had allowed four trucks with baby food to enter the enclave, and a few dozen other trucks with flour, medicine, and nutrition supplies. However, the UN has not been able to distribute the supplies.
“Israeli authorities are requiring us to offload supplies on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing and reload them separately once they secure our team’s access from inside the Gaza Strip,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. “Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kerem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” he said.
Humanitarian experts say Gaza is on the brink of mass starvation. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time.
A challenging amendment pricess awaits as the Senate bill, if passed, would need to be reconciled with a version approved by the House Financial Services Committee, and then both chambers of Congress must agree on a single bill before sending a final version to President Donald Trump for his signature.
“There are still a lot of moving pieces,” said Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s key backers, said on May 15 that she thinks it’s a “fair target” to have the GENIUS Act passed by May 26 – Memorial Day in the US.
After failing to gain support from key Democrats on May 8, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act passed the US Senate in a 66–32 procedural vote on May 20 and is now heading to a debate on the Senate floor.
The bill seeks to set clear rules for stablecoin collateralization and mandate compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws.
“This act doesn’t just regulate stablecoins, it legitimizes them,” said Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs and Falcon Finance.
“It sets clear rules, and with clarity comes confidence. That’s what institutions have been waiting for,” Grachev told Cointelegraph during the Chain Reaction daily X spaces show on May 20, adding:
“Stablecoins aren’t a crypto experiment anymore. They’re a better form of money. Faster, simpler, and more transparent than fiat. It’s only a matter of time before they become the default.”
Senate bill seen as path to unified digital system
The GENIUS Act may be the “first step” toward establishing a “unified digital financial system which is borderless, programmable and efficient,” Grachev said, adding:
“When the US moves on stablecoin policy, the world watches.”
Grachev said regulatory clarity alone will not drive institutional adoption. Products offering stable and predictable yield will also be necessary. Falcon Finance is currently developing a synthetic yield-bearing dollar product designed for this market, he noted.
Yield-bearing stablecoins now represent 4.5% of the total stablecoin market after rising to $11 billion in total circulation, Cointelegraph reported on May 21.
Despite broad support for the GENIUS Act, some critics say the legislation does not go far enough.
Vugar Usi Zade, the chief operating officer at Bitget exchange, told Cointelegraph that “the bill doesn’t fully address offshore stablecoin issuers like Tether, which continue to play an outsized role in global liquidity.”
He added that US-based issuers will now face “steeper costs,” likely accelerating consolidation across the market and favoring well-resourced players that can meet the new thresholds.
Still, Zade acknowledged that the legislation could bring greater “stability” to regulated offerings, depending on how it is ultimately worded and enforced.
UnitedHealth Shares Drop After Report Alleges Secret Bonus Payments To Nursing Homes For Cutting Hospital Transfers
UnitedHealth Group shares dropped as much as 7.5% in premarket trading Wednesday in New York, following a Guardian investigation that revealed the health insurer shelled out “Premium Dividend” and “Shared Savings” bonuses to nursing homes that reduced hospital transfers for sick residents.
The Guardian’s investigation is based on thousands of confidential corporate and patient records obtained through sources, public records requests, and court filings, along with interviews with nearly two dozen current and former UnitedHealth and nursing home employees, as well as two whistleblower declarations submitted to Congress.
The report offers a new snapshot into UnitedHealth’s daily operations at nearly 2,000 nursing homes across the country, where it manages Medicare Advantage coverage for more than 55,000 long-term residents.
Here are some of the key findings from the report:
UnitedHealth stationed in-house medical teams at nearly 2,000 nursing homes, incentivizing them to lower hospitalizations through financial rewards like “Premium Dividend” and “Shared Savings” payments tied to hospitalization rates.
Internal records show UnitedHealth monitored nursing homes using “admits per thousand (APK)” metrics and set “budgets” for hospitalizations. Facilities with high APKs were denied bonuses.
In multiple documented cases, patients were denied urgent hospital care, leading to serious harm, including permanent brain damage. Whistleblowers say these incidents were hidden or minimized.
Nurse practitioners were pressured to push “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) orders, even when patients had previously expressed the desire for life-saving treatments.
UnitedHealth also incentivized increased enrollment in its Institutional Special Needs Plans by offering large payments to nursing homes, which in some cases leaked confidential patient data to help sales teams directly solicit families—often bypassing consent rules.
The Guardian noted:
In several cases identified by the Guardian, nursing home residents who needed immediate hospital care under the program failed to receive it, after interventions from UnitedHealth staffers. At least one lived with permanent brain damage following his delayed transfer, according to a confidential nursing home incident log, recordings and photo evidence.
A current UnitedHealth nurse practitioner, who recently submitted a congressional complaint regarding the nursing home program, stated:
“No one is truly investigating when a patient suffers harm. Absolutely no one.
“These incidents are hidden, downplayed and minimized. The sense is: ‘Well, they’re medically frail, and no one lives for ever.'”
A former national UnitedHealth executive said:
“APK drove everything. You gain profitability by denying care, and when profitability suffers for the shareholders, that’s when people get crazy and do things that are not appropriate.”
Two current and three former UnitedHealth nurse practitioners said that UnitedHealth managers pressured them to persuade Medicare Advantage members to change their “code status” to DNR, even when patients had clearly expressed a desire to receive all available life-saving treatments.
UnitedHealth responded to the Guardian’s report, rejecting claims that its employees have prevented hospital transfers.
The Guardian’s report comes at a time of crisis for UnitedHealth. Last week, shares logged the worst weekly crash since 1998 after a Wall Street Journal report said the Department of Justice has been conducting a criminal investigation into the company’s Medicare practices. In addition, UnitedHealth suspended its 2025 outlook, and its CEO abruptly exited.
In the premarket session, shares fell as much as 7.5% after the Guardian’s report.
Only one Wall Street analyst—CFRA’s Paige Meyer—had a “Sell” rating on UnitedHealth earlier this year, out of roughly 30 tracked by Bloomberg. Wall Street, it seems, was overly bullish on the insurer—now shares have imploded.
Russian Strike On Ukrainian Training Ground Results In Mass Casualties
Despite ongoing US-backed efforts to get Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table again, days after last week’s Istanbul talks, both warring sides have on Wednesday ramped up tit-for-tat assaults on each other’s territory.
Ukrainian drones have once again threatened the Moscow region, leading to the capital’s four airports temporarily suspending nearly all flights for a period on Wednesday.
Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports halted inbound and outbound flights, and Sheremetyevo suspended arrivals, the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed, after air defense missile systems downed three inbound drones on Moscow.
“Emergency services are working at the crash sites,” an official Moscow city statement said. The Defense Ministry had earlier in the day said it destroyed 159 Ukrainian inbound drones overnight. Drones threatened several regions across southern Russia, as well as at least 40 UAVs spotted over Crimea.
Ukraine on Wednesday announced that six of its servicemen were killed, and at least ten more were wounded when a missile attack struck a training camp in northeast Ukraine’s Sumy region the day prior.
However, Russia’s defense ministry said the death toll was much higher, according to its intelligence estimates. It indicated the missile attack “killed up to 70 Ukrainian service members, including 20 instructors.”
Like many other such mass casualty events of late, it will likely be impossible to confirm which said has the accurate casualty numbers, given ‘fog of war’ and lack of journalistic access on the ground to many of these sites.
The location was reportedly a shooting range, according to Ukraine’s national guard, which further said the commander of the unit had been suspended. The strike happened during the light of day.
Ukraine’s military leadership has in some regions had a ban in place of large gatherings of troops or training which takes place out in the open, given the ever-present danger of missile and drone attacks from Russia. Reuters notes that “During more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow’s forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings.
This large-scale attack on the training ground comes at a time of increased domestic division and infighting within Ukraine, including apparently within the military command.
For example, one high-ranking commander has within the past week reportedly resigned in disgust:
Oleksandr Shyrshyn, battalion commander of the 47 Separate Mechanized Brigade, has submitted his resignation, sharply criticizing Ukraine’s military leadership for what he described as senseless orders and unnecessary casualties.
“I have never received more stupid objectives than in the current direction,” Shyrshyn wrote in a blunt Facebook post announcing his decision on May 16. “Someday I will tell you the details, but the stupid loss of people, trembling in front of a stupid generals, leads to nothing but failures.”
“I hope your children will also serve in the infantry and carry out your orders,” he added.
Russia’s MoD released a grim video which strongly suggests true casualty numbers are actually very high after the attack:
Media disseminate a video of an alleged Iskander missile strike on a Ukrainian military training ground in the Sumy region. They report the deaths of approximately 70 soldiers.
This incident once again undermines trust in Ukraine’s military command, which not only organized… pic.twitter.com/9NllPV79Wi
This is probably why Kiev authorities are taking such pains to investigate the Sumy training ground attack. The Zelensky government is trying to assure the population that it’s war policy is not “senseless” – also at a time recruiters continue brutally rounding up fresh recruits, in some instances from off the streets or from inside cafes and restaurants.
This war of attrition is becoming increasingly unpopular among Ukrainians, and is certainly being met with ‘war weariness’ among Western populations, whose tax dollars have been propping up the Ukrainian war machine. This is also why President Trump has been urging both sides to end the “bloodbath” and senseless killing.
Is Japan About To Hike Rates AND Restart Yield Curve Control?
By Elwin de Groot and Michael Every of Rabobank
Iran’s Khamenei said nuclear talks with US are unlikely to “lead to any outcome”… as US intel says Israel is preparing for a strike on Iran, seeing oil prices move higher. The Israeli press also says Iranian efforts to recruit Israeli agents have skyrocketed, Tehran trying to arrange high-profile assassinations inside Israel to mirror what Israel can do inside Iran, increasing the pressure further. That’s as President Trump is reportedly frustrated by Gaza war and wants PM Netanyahu to “wrap it up”; and the EU will review its association agreement with Israel, as their officials say diplomatic efforts stopped the EU from already halting the agreement; and the UK suspended trade talks with Jerusalem and attacked its ‘repellent’ extremism. Moreover, US Secretary of State Rubio said of Syria: “It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks —not many months— away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up,” which is justification for the US and EU removing sanctions on it. In short, the entire energy-rich region is in flux. And so is much else.
The IMF just asked the US to reduce its fiscal deficit as the Big Beautiful Bill will cut taxes and boost spending much further; and that’s as Reuters says the US ‘is preparing for a long war with China that could hit its bases and homeland’ and Trump is set to launch a “Golden Dome” missile defence system that will cost $175bn and almost certainly won’t be ready within his term of office, as promised. Trump reportedly also wants the UK to boost defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2029, so within the current parliament, increasing its fiscal deficit too.
Against that backdrop, the downgrade of the US by Moody’s last Friday may have not come as a huge surprise and its debt was already trading “as if” it no longer belonged to the AAA bucket. Still, the re-rating of US debt is having potential effects in corners of the market. Managers of Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund system are flagging they may be forced to sell their Treasury holdings, since the pension fund only allows them to invest more than 10% of their assets in Treasuries if the US has a AAA or equivalent rating from an approved rating agency. Japan’s Rating & Investment Information is the only approved agency left out there having the US at the highest rating level. The rating agency keeps the US’ rating on stable outlook and has indicated that the situation “hasn’t significantly changed” since it made its assessment in February.
But other scenarios could obviously play out. The US Congress is moving closer to endorsing Trump tax-cuts, leading to a significant increase in deficits and debt: with the IMF publicly calling for the US to reduce its deficit, such a scenario could lead to a gradual reduction in the share of Treasuries in various investment portfolios. Potentially, so could Trump considering an executive order to open US retirement plans to private equity, which would allow savers to access funds focused on “corporate buyouts and other high-octane deals” – so fewer US Treasuries(?)
Meanwhile, whereas European/German long-term yields are trading at levels that are still some 30-40bp lower than in early March –when the EU’s and Germany’s defence and infrastructure spending plans startled markets– those in the US and Japan are trading close to or even higher than the levels seen in early March. A 20y bond auction in Japan saw the lowest demand since 2012 and this pushed the 30y Japanese yield to its highest level since its 1999 debut. It certainly doesn’t help when your own prime minister acknowledges the country’s fiscal situation is “extremely poor, and worse than Greece’s” – even if their intent is to signal opposition to fresh tax cuts financed by additional debt issuance.
Japan’s core inflation rate has come down from its peak levels of nearly 3% y/y in late-2023 to sit at just over 1.5%. That level, however, was only surpassed twice in the past thirty years: in 2014 and 1997. But in both instances the inflation spike was due to significant changes to the VAT system. If Japan has now entered (?) an episode of more ‘normal’ inflation, it could lead to more persistent upward pressures on (real) bond yields, which would raise interest costs.
And, like in the US and Europe, the central bank has been dialling down its bond purchases, which, next to weaker demand for bonds, could also be contributing to higher liquidity-risk premiums. Japan’s public debt ratio (214% in 2024) is the highest among developed economies. The BOJ still holds a staggering share (around 50%) of public debt on its balance sheet, but even if the central bank does not slow down its purchases, the ‘net’ amount of debt would still be in the 100%+ range and comparable to that of – indeed – Greece’s, back in 2007.
We want to avoid burning our fingers on the Japanese bond market – betting against it is commonly known as the widow-maker trade. But we ponder whether Japan could serve as an example for Europe or even, perhaps, the US – Japan, after all, has been the test case for many unconventional policies in recent (monetary) history.
First off, the country may be better placed than both of these peers to tackle bond market turbulence, and the impact of higher yields on governments’ financing costs. Only 12% of JGBs is owned by foreign parties. So, arguably, the government could introduce some form of wealth tax to claw back part of interest payments on its bonds. Note the similarities with the suggestions for a so-called Mar-a-Lago accord, in which the US could try to lessen its debt servicing costs by forcing its allies to term out their debt holdings at a below-market return, or by imposing some form of tax on foreign holders of Treasuries. The major difference is that Japan’s solutions could be less controversial, since domestic tax policies would suffice to achieve the desired outcome.
However, such a clawback only gets Japan so far. A wealth tax that offsets the higher debt servicing costs helps to contain the fiscal deficit and debt, but that does not provide the government with additional fiscal space to pursue its strategic goals, such as defence spending or reducing dependence on foreign inputs (note the similarities with the European situation here). Barring monetary support, more substantial tax increases or spending cuts in other areas would be required – and that could quickly erode support for the ruling party.
Alternatively, the BOJ could resume its government bond purchases. But this would arguably lead to higher inflation and would probably weaken the currency – at a time when the JPY is already under increased scrutiny of the US administration. Japanese finance minister Kato yesterday said that “[…] exchange rates should be set by markets, and that excessive volatility in currency moves has an adverse economic and financial impact.” Weakness in the yen could undermine any trade agreement between the US and Japan. So, to mitigate this impact of quantitative easing, could the BOJ simultaneously raise its policy rates in an attempt to achieve a currency-neutral policy mix of higher rates and de facto yield curve control?
Meanwhile, in trade: China’s Xi stepped up calls for industrial self-sufficiency –so, no rebalancing then?– and China said it will respond to US chip curbs; Malaysia is to press ahead with Huawei AI, testing the US position on that issue, as Nvidia’s CEO says US chip curbs on China are ‘a failure’; G7 countries are discussing tariffs on oversupplied, low-value Chinese products; the EU is considering a €2 de minimis charge on incoming Chinese packages; the EU is also expected to propose a quota for Russian gas, potentially offering companies a legal way to end their contracts; the US believes new sanctions on Russia may harm peace talks; India imposed restrictions targeting nearly 42% of inbound goods from Bangladesh; and Japan is taking a hardline position ahead of trade talks, demanding the US remove all reciprocal and sectoral tariffs on it.
Republicans Race to Finalize ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ As Johnson Seeks Memorial Day Deadline
After weeks of turmoil and negotiations, House Republicans are inching closer to passing their sweeping domestic-policy package, anchored by a multi-trillion-dollar suite of tax cuts, as Speaker Mike Johnson races to finalize the legislation ahead of the Memorial Day recess.
Following a personal visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday by President Donald Trump and a flurry of behind-the-scenes bargaining, House GOP leaders believe they are nearing a deal with key factions. The House Rules Committee convened late into the night and early morning hours Wednesday, preparing the reconciliation bill for floor action. The committee had only just concluded its first panel – which included the chairs and ranking members of the Oversight, Budget, Armed Services, and Financial Services Committees – shortly before 4:30 a.m. (and then returning to their coffins for a nap?).
The second panel will include top lawmakers from House Homeland Security, Judiciary, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, while a third panel will include the chairs and ranking members from Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce & Ways and Means.
In total, 537 amendmentshave been submitted to Rules – none yet from Democrats. Notably, GOP leadership has still not released its long-awaited manager’s amendment, which will incorporate many of the compromises Johnson negotiated to appease internal party divisions, including revisions to SALT, Medicaid work requirements, and clean-energy tax credits, Punchbowl News reports.
Despite the complexity, Johnson is moving aggressively. He hopes to pass a rule and hold a full floor vote as soon as today – a schedule driven by his desire to meet the Memorial Day deadline, avoid attendance issues later in the week, and capitalize on rare momentum.
The legislative sprint follows a dramatic shift in tone after Trump met Tuesday morning with warring GOP factions and urged unity. Several Republican holdouts publicly maintained opposition afterward, but six senior Republicans involved in the talks said many were privately seeking off-ramps – policy concessions that would let them support the bill while still claiming political victories.
As Just the News notes, a final push will require some conservatives to make a leap of faith, like Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, is taking.
“Look as a conservative, I want to save as much money as I can, and we have pushed for that in the Republican Study Committee,” he told the outlet on Tuesday. “But the President was pretty clear that we’ve worked five or six months straight on this, and it is time to get it done.
“That doesn’t mean that a guy like me doesn’t want more. Yes, of course I do. But I also want to govern, which means you don’t get 100% of everything you want every single time. You have to come back and do it again, and we will,” he said during the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Currently included in the Bill…
Trump tax cuts; the largest in history with an average $5,000 decrease per household, and includes ‘No Tax on Tips, Overtime or Social Security.’
Immigration and Border Security:
“Big, Beautiful Deportations”: funding for 1 million deportations per year
Completion of the border wall
Expansion of border personnel – including 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 customs officers & 3,000 Border Patrol agents – and $10,000 bonuses for front-line border workers
Medicaid Reform:
Remove 1.4 million illegal migrants from Medicaid
Requires work for benefits starting January 2029
Spending Cuts and Fiscal Reform:
$1.6 trillion in mandatory spending cuts – the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years – though the Penn Wharton Budget Model predictsdeficits of nearly $3.3 trillion, even when accounting for “positive economic dynamics,” while the Joint Committee on Taxation sees the House reconciliation bill increasing deficits by $3.8 trillion through 2034.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers projected that the bill would boost GDP by 4.2% to 5.2% in the short run — a staggering level of growth that goes far beyond the mainstream consensus, via Axios.
Repeals all of Biden’s “Green New Scam” subsidies & ends electric vehicle mandates
Social and Cultural Measures:
Ends taxpayer-funded sex reassignment procedures for minors
Infrastructure and Modernization:
Major overhaul of air traffic control systems
Support for Families and Workers:
Launch of “MAGA Accounts” for newborns (tax-advantaged savings)
Increased child tax credit, strengthened paid family leave, and repeals IRS gig worker reporting rule (>$600 for Venmo/PayPal)
Support for Farmers:
$10 billion+ in tax cuts & eliminates death tax to aid generational farm transfers
SALT
One of the most contentious sticking points has been the state and local tax deduction, or SALT. Republicans from high-tax states have demanded relief from the $10,000 cap implemented in 2017. After intense pressure, Johnson offered a revised framework: a $40,000 cap for households earning up to $500,000 (down from a Tuesday proposal for income up to $751,000), with the cap and income threshold escalating 1% annually for ten years. While it falls short of SALT advocates’ hopes – particularly in addressing the so-called marriage penalty – it’s more than many conservatives are comfortable with.
“This is purely a House play and designed to deal with the political challenge they have to get to 218,” Senator John Thune (R-SD), a longtime opponent of expanding SALT, said in an interview Tuesday. “But, I mean, that seems like an incredibly generous offer.”
Thune alluded to possible markups in Senate committees once the legislation arrives from the House. But that’ll be dictated by the House’s timing and what senators think of the proposal.
“I’m a regular order guy. I think you can improve the product,” Thune said. “But obviously, depending on what happens in the House and the timeline we have to work with, getting committees up and going and doing their thing takes a while – and how ready the product is for prime time… There are certain things the Senate wants to have its imprint on.” -Punchbowl
Meanwhile, to placate the House Freedom Caucus, Johnson has proposed accelerating the phase-out of clean-energy tax credits enacted under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Initially scheduled to begin after 2028, the new plan would start the phase-out in 2028, with a carveout for nuclear credits. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) signaled progress Tuesday evening, backing off prior demands to slash Medicaid funding and saying talks were “moving in the right direction.”
Still, not all conservatives are satisfied. Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) are expected to vote no. Others are calling for the party to return to a two-bill strategy – a position rejected months ago by both House and Senate GOP leadership.
ROY just came out of confab with Johnson super sad. Says “we will see” if he still a “no” https://t.co/Xh3NuZULr5
Despite those tensions, GOP leaders are betting on Trump’s endorsement and the pressure of a looming deadline to push the bill through. “Things don’t get better when you hold it out there,” one senior Republican said. Another added bluntly: “It’s easier to break up with someone from a basement over email. Harder to do it in person, face-to-face.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are preparing their messaging campaign. A memo from the House Majority Fund – a group aligned with Democratic leadership — advised lawmakers to focus on how the GOP legislation would raise prices for everyday Americans while benefiting the wealthy, rather than lean on technical deficit arguments or hyperbolic language.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) added fuel to the fire Tuesday night, estimating that the Republican bill would increase the deficit by $2.3 trillion over the next decade. The CBO projected automatic spending cuts to Medicare and other safety-net programs without congressional action and warned that the bill would boost the incomes of the wealthiest 10% of Americans while reducing incomes for the bottom 10%.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), ranking member on the Budget Committee, called the legislation “absolutely devastating” for working Americans. Protesters gathered outside the Capitol on Wednesday morning, denouncing proposed cuts to Medicaid.
Despite the fierce opposition, House Republican leaders believe they are close. And if the manager’s amendment is released in time, Johnson may force the issue by calling a floor vote before lawmakers – including members of his own party – have had a full opportunity to digest the final terms.
For Johnson, the choice is strategic: act quickly or risk watching weeks of work fall apart under the weight of delay.
Buried deep in Congress’s 1,116-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is a provision so sweeping, so dystopian, and so underreported that it’s hard to believe it was passed at all.
Section 43201 of the bill, blandly titled the “Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Modernization Initiative,” doesn’t just fund the federal government’s full-scale AI expansion—it removes every state’s right to regulate artificial intelligence for the next decade.
Let that sink in: For the next ten years, no state in America—not even your state—will be allowed to create its own safeguards, protections, or liability standards for how AI is developed or deployed.
“No State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models… during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.”
– Sec. 43201(c)(1) of the bill
This is not a theoretical threat.
It’s a federal ban on local AI regulation—handing the reins to the very bureaucrats and corporate tech giants already embedding AI into military systems, healthcare, financial markets, education, and law enforcement.
This section of the bill is a preemptive strike against state sovereignty.
It neuters legislatures and governors from protecting their own citizens—just as powerful corporations and federal agencies rush to install AI systems into every layer of society.
It’s not just overreach.
It’s a federal power grab dressed as “modernization.”
And President Trump is now marching on Capitol Hill to personally demand the bill’s passage—pushing the very legislation that would shield his $500 billion Stargate AI surveillance grid from any state-level resistance.
The bill—developed by the House Budget Committee, which passed the legislation yesterday—still needs to be voted on in the House and Senate before it hits Trump’s desk, so if you want your senators and representatives to vote no on it, you can contact them here and tell them why.
The House is expected to vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill by the end of this week.
GLAAD Claims Free Speech Surge On Social Media Undermines LGBT Safety
One of the most detrimental self-sabotage efforts of the woke movement was their rabid push to control public speech online. In the case of gay and trans issues, any criticism no matter how factual or logical was met with Orwellian oversight. For most major social media apps, simply engaging in debate with LGBT activists could mean your account would be flagged and silenced for days or weeks at a time. Refusing to use a trans person’s preferred pronouns could result in a permanent ban.
Such policies were established hand-in-hand with federal government efforts to codify LGBT language and make gay and trans people a privileged class protected from any and all scrutiny. Governments and social media platforms partnered up to institute speech controls that might not be possible otherwise. Under the guise of “protecting LGBT people” from discrimination, the door to arbitrary censorship was opened.
This is why in the US there is no such thing as a legal definition for “hate speech”. Classifying any speech as “hate speech” would represent a clear violation of the 1st Amendment. Yes, you can “yell fire” in a crowded theater, and yes you can call people whatever pejoratives you want to call them. Hurt feelings are irrelevant to the law, and this is a good thing.
GLAAD, the gay and trans lobby group, thinks otherwise.
The organization issued an “alarming” Social Media Safety Index report this month, which found that, after significant rollbacks in protected speech, social media platforms are overwhelmingly “failing to protect” LGBTQ people.
The only major app that did not receive an “F” grade on LGBT safety was TikTok, which got a D+. GLAAD has now changed it’s grading system due to the lack of platforms meeting their standards. For 2025, the platforms were rated numerically, with TikTok at 56/100; Facebook: 45/100; Instagram: 45/100; YouTube: 41/100; Threads: 40/100; and X the lowest at 30/100.
“At a time when real-world violence and harassment against LGBTQ people is on the rise, social media companies are profiting from the flames of anti-LGBTQ hate instead of ensuring the basic safety of LGBTQ users,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement shared with TheWrap. “These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces,” she added.
Taking into account the fact that woke activists consider mean words to be the same as an act of violence, it’s difficult to take any warnings from GLAAD seriously.
The report lists 14 indicators which address a range of issues affecting LGBTQ people online, including data privacy, moderation transparency, training of content moderators, and workforce diversity. The factor that most interests GLAAD, however, is online censorship.
Jenni Olson, senior director of social media at GLAAD, argues that “The terrible rollbacks from Meta and YouTube are the most important news this year,” referring to both company’s recent decisions to allow previously prohibited hate speech, such as references to LGBTQ people being “abnormal” and “mentally ill” as well as the use of pejorative terms such as “tranny” and “transgenderism.”
“It is especially horrible that YouTube removed gender identity from its list of protected characteristics – and yet is continuing to state that the policy hasn’t changed, when it very clearly has …This is just unprecedented for a major platform. It is extremely concerning for a company to remove a protected characteristic group from a hate speech policy,” Olson said.
In other words, online speech policies are going back to normal and GLAAD doesn’t like it. Frankly the amount of social division and strife caused over protecting the fragile feelings of a tiny percentage of the total population isn’t worth it. LGBT groups are nothing more than a convenient minority vehicle which the establishment tried to use to inject thought control into the public consciousness. The societal damage done has been immense and will take years to reverse.
The popular anger over LGBT issues was created by the very activists crying about safety. If they had left people alone instead of trying to force their ideological language on the masses, there would be no animosity today. They earned public suspicion by trying to silence public discussion.
