A Ukrainian diplomat said to the Israeli press that Tel Aviv is missing an opportunity to save the lives of its soldiers by working with Kiev on anti-drone technology.
Speaking with Ynet about Kiev’s anti-drone capabilities, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, said, “We are fighting from a different angle against the same axis of evil.“
“Unfortunately, we do not see much interest or appetite from the Israeli leadership in this field. I do not want to speculate about the reasons for that. I am very sorry to hear reports about soldiers who were hit by drones, because we suffer from exactly the same thing.”
He added, “When meeting people from different parts of Israeli society, I often hear frustration over the fact that Israel is missing an opportunity to save more of its soldiers’ lives. Most Israelis support Ukraine and do not understand why Ukrainians are able to deal with drones and Israel is not.”
Israel has faced thousands of drone attacks by Iran and Hezbollah. Over the past month, Hezbollah has released dozens of videos of its drones targeting Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon.
Ukraine has sent about 200 drone experts to the Middle East to help the US and Arab states take down Iranian drones. Russia has used a variant of an Iranian drone during the war in Ukraine.
Komiychuk lamented that while some Arab countries were willing to accept Ukraine’s assistance, Israel was not.
“As you know, President Zelensky recently made several regional visits in the Middle East, mainly to discuss security cooperation and advancing peace,” he said. “I worked hard to create direct political contact for our leadership. However, you cannot come to someone’s home without an invitation.”
While both Ukraine and Israel have been top recipients of American military aid and support, the relationship between Tel Aviv and Kyiv is strained. The most recent point of friction was a Russian grain shipment that Israel received. Kiev demanded that Tel Aviv refuse the grain, claiming it was stolen by Russia from Ukraine.
Kormiychuck said that while tension existed between Israel and Ukraine, “My duty as ambassador is to find common ground for mutual benefit and development, and I truly believe our conversations could have been much better.”
“Chicom Among Us”: Maryland GOP Lawmakers Sound Alarm Over Chinese-Born Delegate’s AI Disclosure Bill
Rooting out Chinese communist spies appears to be moving higher on the agenda at the U.S. Justice Department, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche now at the helm.
On Monday, the DoJ indicted Arcadia, California, Mayor Eileen Wang for working with the Chinese government. The larger concern is that Chinese communists have penetrated deeply into many levels of the U.S. government, as well as corporate America.
Spies are like cockroaches: if there’s one, there are likely many more.
You are not gonna believe what I just found
The California Mayor who admitted to being a Chinese spy donated to the Democrat Senate Campaign Committee
Democrat Senators are being funded by Chinese spies
That brings us to a recent podcast appearance by Mark Fisher and Brian Chisholm, Republican members of the Maryland House of Delegates, who raised alarm bells about one of their Democratic colleagues in Annapolis: Delegate Chao Wu, who was born in China and has pushed a state-level bill that would require AI companies to disclose sensitive trade data on their models.
“Welcome back to the Dumbest Bill in America. We have, of course, with us Delegate Brian Chisholm,” Fisher said.
Fisher continued, “Because we believe that we have a communist Chicom among us. Well, and let me tell you why…”
He said, “First of all, the bill is House Bill 823 from 2025. It was introduced by Delegate Wu — spelled W-U. And the bill basically says that if you’re going to engage in AI training — artificial intelligence training — you have to disclose your training models and your training data every time you change it. Well, that would of course be a trade secret, wouldn’t it?”
Chisholm chimed in, saying, “So what their goal also in China… Look, China knows they can’t take us down with tanks and bullets and all that. They have to kind of backdoor it. So they send in spies — people like Chao Wu — and try to gain intelligence, correct?”
He continued, “That’s the goal. The fight right now is who can get the intelligence faster. Why they sent us… it says something about Maryland. Maybe we’re like the JV team that they sent Chao Wu to, because he’s not the greatest of spies. I mean, his trail… and I’m sure you’re going to bring up the article. We know he was working for the CCP when he was in college. You can’t just reject it at one time…”
Chicom of the Year Award — HB 823 from 2025 requires the disclosure of AI training data. What is the purpose of this bill? Join @chisholmstrong & me for the Dumbest Bill in America! pic.twitter.com/RkWT4c7JGK
Of course, Maryland Democrats call anything optically displeasing “racist” …
Meanwhile, Dems in the state are “busy sending private letters policing podcasts and using CCP-style speech tactics.”
Maryland families are still reeling from the $1.5+ billion in new taxes & fees rammed through by @mddems.
Instead of fixing our broken budget, skyrocketing costs, or crime — the Speaker is busy sending private letters policing podcasts and using CCP-style speech tactics against… pic.twitter.com/2RMaquCqhu
— Maryland Freedom Caucus (@MDFreedomCaucus) May 11, 2026
To sum up, HB 823 could compel AI developers in the state to publicly disclose commercially sensitive details about their training model pipelines, creating an opportunity for foreign competitors, such as China, to collect open-source data.
Now, why would a Chinese-born Maryland lawmaker, right down the street from Data Center Alley, want to push such a bill?
Market analysts said Bitcoin’s (BTC) upside remained intact despite the 2.5% correction from its multi-month high of $82,800 reached on May 6.
Key takeaways:
Bitcoin has successfully re-entered expansion territory as the Bull Market Support Band turned to support.
Bitcoin’s Stablecoin Supply Ratio has recovered from historic lows, indicating fresh liquidity is returning.
Bitcoin’s spot taker CVD flips positive, suggesting real spot demand is back
Bitcoin’s price momentum is expanding
Private wealth manager Swissblock stated that Bitcoin is “still at full momentum,” despite the slight correction from recent highs.
Swissblock said that the latest rally saw the Bitcoin price momentum “successfully reignited and pushed back into full expansion territory.”
Bitcoin is now consolidating inside the cost-basis battlefield, with the true market mean and the short-term holder cost basis around $80,000 acting as support and the active realized price at $85,000 as resistance.
Meanwhile, “momentum remains structurally strong,” the wealth manager said, adding:
“As long as momentum stays above the transition area, bulls retain control.”
Bitcoin price momentum. Swissblock
Echoing this observation, analyst The Great Mattsby pointed out that Bitcoin’s Bull Market Support Band has now turned into support, while the 21-week exponential moving average has crossed back above the 20-week simple moving average.
“The trend has officially flipped back to bullish.”
BTC/USD weekly chart. Source: X/The Great Mattsby
Bitcoin liquidity signals “strong recovery”
The Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR) has recovered from its lower historical range below 10, the same zone that marked market bottoms in mid-2021, 2022 and mid-2023.
Each time the SSR recovered from these lows, Bitcoin broke out of range and staged a strong rebound, as shown in the chart below.
The recovering SSR suggests that stablecoin liquidity is returning to exchanges again, potentially setting the stage for another bull run for BTC price.
The Binance Stablecoin Supply Ratio Oscillator tells the same story. The chart below shows that Bitcoin’s 90D Stablecoin Supply Ratio Oscillator has moved back into positive territory, reaching 12-month highs at 2.8.
“This reflects a strong recovery from the negative zone, with stablecoin purchasing demand becoming more active during the current rebound,” CryptoQuant analyst Zizcrypto said in a Tuesday QuickTake note, adding:
“For context, the oscillator previously reached 2.43 in May 2025 and 4.00 in November 2024 — both during stronger market phases.”
Stablecoin supply ratio oscillator. Source: CryptoQuant
Bitcoin’s transaction activity is at 20-month highs
The strength in BTC price is reflected in Bitcoin’s network activity, with daily transaction count rising by 116% in May to 831,450 on May 9.
This metric was last at similar levels in September 2024, before Bitcoin later rallied above $100,000 during the broader market surge following the US presidential election.
Bitcoin’s network activity is “more active than when it was at $100K,” analyst CW8900 said in an X post on Saturday, adding:
“The network is already showing signals of a bull market.”
Bitcoin’s daily active address count has also climbed, increasing by 7.1% over the last week to 707,719, while total fee volume surged 37% to $279,300 over the same period, according to Glassnode’s latest Market Pulse report.
Bitcoin daily active address count. Source: Glassnode
Increasing transaction count, daily active addresses and fees means more users are interacting with the network. It suggests high network activity, often correlating with increased interest and market confidence.
Bitcoin’s “real demand” is back
Bitcoin’s 90-day spot taker cumulative volume delta (CVD), a measure of the difference between buy and sell volume over three months, shows a “significant shift in capital flow structure,” according to CryptoQuant analyst Rei Researcher.
The metric flipped positive (green bars in the chart below) in early May as the price broke above the $78,000 resistance and has remained positive since.
“Taker Buy Dominance in the spot market indicates buying pressure from ‘major players’ (Whales/Institutions) looking to hold $BTC rather than just speculating via derivatives,” the Rei Researcher said in a recent Quicktake note, adding:
“Real demand has prevailed. When bulls are willing to pay higher prices to own $BTC, a sustainable uptrend usually follows.”
Bitcoin spot taker CVD. Source: CryptoQuant
If the CVD remains green, it could set the stage for another rally as seen in the past. A similar occurrence in May 2025 accompanied 65% BTC price gains.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s spot demand is also accelerating, with spot CVD rising 47% to $62 million from $42 million a week ago, additional data from Glassnode shows.
“This increase indicates a significant uptick in buying aggression among market participants,” the onchain data provider said, adding:
“This behavior implies heightened conviction, with aggressive traders actively setting higher market prices, potentially signaling continued bullish momentum.”
Bitcoin: Spot CVD. Source: Glassnode
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio suggests BTC’s market structure is strengthening, which may be an early sign of a new bull market.
Appearing on MSNBC to talk to Lawfare ally Nicole Wallace, wife of New York Times narrative engineer Michael Schmidt – the guy who received leaks from FBI Director James Comey via Daniel Richman, former CIA Director John Brennan notes there are “legions” of operatives still embedded within the DOJ, FBI and CIA who are working against President Donald Trump.
This is not a surprise as we have noted the Trump administration continues to take apart the tentacles of Lawfare and Intelligence operatives in Main Justice, various U.S. Attorney offices, FBI Headquarters, FBI field offices and various Intelligence Community silos.
Marco Rubio has been working to clean up the National Security Council as well as the State Department operations, including USAID. Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe have been working on the NSA and CIA collaboratively, and Todd Blanche has been working through the Dept of Justice. FBI Director Kash Patel has removed about ten percent of the problem in his agency.
Unbelievable. Former CIA Director John Brennan just said the quiet part out LOUD, that there are still a “legion” of bureaucrats within the intel and justice communities who are actively sabotaging the executive authority of President Trump:
The core problem goes back to what we outlined on these pages {GO DEEP} and is not limited to those operatives who remain from the Obama/Biden era. Some of the problems surface as a result of ‘republican’ voices recommending “sleeper cell” staff and sketchy personnel for positions in the administration. [I’ll put an example below]
One way to tell if the agency head or leader understands the challenge is by paying attention to how they talk about the agency’s mission objective.
Leaders like Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard have openly acknowledged the problem and are actively tackling corruption within their ranks. Even John Ratcliffe has admitted his agency was politically weaponized and has taken steps to address it. There’s still a lot of work ahead, but their actions show visible progress.
People like Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have praised the institutional embeds without drawing attention to the corruption beneath them. Thankfully, Acting AG Todd Blanche seems to be taking a more confrontational approach internally, so maybe Kash Patel will follow suit. This isn’t about style—it’s about results, and there’s an urgent need for action.
To give an example of “sketchy” recommendations and predictable outcomes, I would draw attention to the lesser visible appointment of Morgan Ortagus. Do you remember this very weirdly worded announcement, two weeks prior to the inauguration?
I have no idea who “them” is referencing in the announcement.
[…] “I’m not doing this for me, I doing it for them”
There were always three options for “them”: (1) the strong republican support people; or (2) people in the Middle East who would be dealing with her; or (3) Stephen Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Regardless, of who “them” was, it was obvious President Trump was not thrilled by “their” request.
Mrs. Morgan Ortagus is a long time Deep State operative with roots in the U.S. intelligence community and USAID {citation}. It was very predictable that she would undermine the goals of President Trump and she only lasted six months in the job. Ortagus was quietly dispatched from her position in June 2025.
CTH predicted {SEE HERE} Mrs. Ortagus would be a big mistake because she was, quite frankly, one of the “legion” insiders referenced by former CIA Director John Brennan. Ortagus’s entire career profile was/is textbook intelligence operative, likely legacy CIA.
Not coincidentally, former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was removed from his position only a month before Ortagus lost hers.
On the day he was announced CTH said National Security Advisor Mike Waltz would be the first administration member to get the boot, because in the non-pretending world Waltz was a horrible choice just like Ortagus. Mike Waltz was removed as National Security Advisor in May 2025, {citation} Ortagus was removed as Middle East envoy in June {citation}.
If the goal was to eliminate the Deep State, President Trump couldn’t take on a deeply corrupt Intelligence Community while also appointing its allies. Their close ties to the Intelligence Community made the failures of both Waltz and Ortagus predictable.
That said, behind the veneer of John Brennan’s statement on MSNBC is a guy who realizes the Trump administration has changed the dynamic and the agency systems Brennan is talking about no longer exist; at least they no longer have the same capabilities.
The need for control is a reaction to fear, and Brennan’s fear is both visible and very well founded.
The DOJ and FBI operate under the influence of the Intelligence Community, which ultimately holds the reins. The key figures leading the IC have made changes to the institutions that have significantly reduced the impact of bad actors within the DOJ and FBI.
The key positions are the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe are the people to watch, and we can tell by the counsel(s) they have put into place that each of them has clear eyes and a steady hand on those critical institutions.
Since mid-year 2025, around the same time Waltz and Ortagus were dispatched, you will note significant changes began surfacing in the National Security Council, the State Dept, the DNI and importantly the CIA. Some of the changes make headlines, many do not; however, each is important and builds on a larger goal of dismantling a highly weaponized and political intelligence apparatus.
Internationally, what we see in the reaction of allied -or oppositional- governments and their intelligence agencies, is in large part a geopolitical reaction to the consequential changes being made by Rubio, Gabbard and Ratcliffe. Each building upon a system that fundamentally changes U.S. policy to be in alignment with President Trump. Each of them should be commended.
Domestically, the accountability developments involving James Comey, John Brennan, John Bolton, Michael Atkinson, Eric Ciaramella and others yet to emerge, stem from the transparency brought by the same trio working upstream from Main Justice and the FBI. The combined intelligence apparatus of the U.S. can cut through the chaff and countermeasures of Lawfare operatives, and I feel optimistic watching them in action.
Again, it’s not just the silo heads that are making a positive impact, it is the personnel decisions they are surrounding themselves with. The amount of sunlight now coming over the horizon is toxic to the interests of those who organized shadow operations.
As long as Rubio, Ratcliffe and especially Gabbard, keep pushing the truth to the surface; as long as they keep exposing all the corruption that was used to manipulate and weaponize our government; as long as they keep strategizing on ways to declassify evidence former officials buried under false pretenses; then the DOJ, FBI and more importantly We The People, will have information we can use to make decisions.
Ultimately, it is the truth which makes evil enterprise retreat.
China’s Teapot Refiners Slash Output As Hormuz Crisis Crushes Margins
Confirming our report from last Friday, Reuters reports that some independent refiners in China (also known as “teapots”) are slashing their production rates as margins plummet to unprecedented negative levels, and demand weakens amid the continued paralysis of tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
China refiner margins (when Beijing tells you you can’t raise prices, you don’t raise prices). pic.twitter.com/DzZQoXqs5a
Citing unnamed trade and industry sources, Reuters reported today that the average operating rates at so-called teapots in Shandong had fallen to 50%, from 55% in April. What’s more, the operating rates of independent refiners are likely to fall further as the war drags on, and refiners swing into losses that the Reuters sources estimate at between $74 and $88 per ton of processed crude oil.
As a reminder, on Friday we reported that Chinese authorities ordered private refiners to maintain high levels of gasoline and diesel supply, even at a loss, or risk their crude import quotas being slashed if they reduce run rates. If the private refiners move to cut processing rates to preserve margins amid soaring crude prices, they would see their import quotas – handed out by the government in quarterly or semi-annual installments – reduced in the coming years, the officials warned. Instead, they appear to have aggressively reduced their import demands, leading to a big drop in Chinese oil imports.
Reuters confirms that it now appears teapots have run out of options and are risking lower quotas to manage their losses. “Without cutting output, the losses are unbearable,” one of the Reuters sources said.
Asia, the biggest oil demand center globally, is facing the greatest pain from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Overall, the war could force up to 6 million bpd cuts to crude runs across Asia in April, as refineries face severe supply disruption with 65% dependency on Middle East crude.
China is better insulated than its neighbous thanks to a stockpile of an estimated 1.4 billion barrels that has been accumulated over the past couple of years. Yet as OilPrice notes, this supply cushion is limited, so China is doing a fine balancing act of keeping the domestic market well supplied to avoid sharp price spikes, especially since China’s economy is increasingly dependent on the well-being of its Pacific rim neighbors (and trading partners) who are far less insulated from surging oil prices.
Saudi Arabia Secretly Launched Attacks On Iran At Height Of Epic Fury
First it was revealed this week that UAE had directly attacked Iran in retaliatory strikes earlier in Operation Epic Fury, and now it has come to light that the Saudis did the same, and in multiple strike operations.
Reuters reports Tuesday that “Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the Middle East war, two Western officials briefed on the matter, and two Iranian officials said.”
“The Saudi attacks, not previously reported, mark the first time that the kingdom is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and show it is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival,” the report continues.
“The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said,” Reuters notes further. One of the sources described this military actions as “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi [Arabia] was hit.”
The revelation suggests that even as the Trump White House tried to present this is a very limited war, or even a mere US “excursion” – as Trump previously said, it was on the brink of spiraling into an all-out regional war involving Gulf allies hitting back directly at the Islamic Republic.
By and large the Gulf allies relied solely on the US and Israel to pummel Iran during the prior 38 days of heavy bombing which marked the peak of Operation Epic Fury.
This as the Gulf absorbed the bulk of Iran’s retaliation. Iran sent hundreds if not thousands of ballistic missiles and drones on Gulf energy, infrastructure, and even central areas of cities.
It had remained at the time an open question of whether countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait would actually then go on the offensive. It seems that to some degree they did, and the public didn’t know about it.
Neither the Saudis nor Emirates have publicly acknowledged direct attacks on Iran, and per the new Reuters reporting Tuesday:
Saudi Arabia has meanwhile sought to prevent the conflict from escalating and has stayed in regular contact with Iran, including via Tehran’s ambassador in Riyadh. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not directly address whether a de-escalation agreement had been struck with Iran, but said: “We reaffirm Saudi Arabia’s consistent position advocating de-escalation, self-restraint and the reduction of tensions in pursuit of the stability, security and prosperity of the region and its people.”
Iranian officials declared they were primarily targeting US assets and military bases, and further vowed to ‘punish’ these countries for ever hosting American bases in the first place.
But this new info showing that the Saudis and UAE in had already in effect joined the US military campaign marks yet more evidence of escalation. The ceasefire meanwhile seems effectively dead at this stage. NBC is now reporting the Pentagon actually considering re-naming Iran war ‘Sledgehammer’ if ceasefire collapses.
Minnesota wasn’t always a fixture in the national news cycle. Now, it seems every month there is a new headline about Minnesota. This time, it involves a mob of protestors assaulting a conservative journalist. If Minnesotans want to end the trend of political violence plaguing their state, they must take a stand against incidents like these.
Last month, Savanah Hernandez, a journalist with TPUSA, was mobbed and assaulted while filming an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis. Hernandez makes a living covering controversial events, so documenting this protest is nothing new for her. Things took a turn, however, when protestors assaulted Hernandez, shoving her several times, driving her to the ground.
By all accounts, it was merely Hernandez’s presence and reputation that drew the ire of the protestors. Nothing reported as of yet indicates she was the instigator of any violence. I won’t go into Ms. Hernandez’s views, because they couldn’t be less relevant to the issue at hand: There is no justification for what happened to her at that protest. Free speech and freedom of the press are foundational rights of our republic. Ms. Hernandez should not fear violence for coverage of an event that any journalist would cover. Her assailants should be held accountable to the fullest extent possible.
Unfortunately, political violence in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is nothing new. Beyond the violence of the past weekend, Minnesota has become a hotbed for this type of thing. Renee Good was tragically killed after physically obstructing ICE operations. She should still be alive today, yet this type of confrontation goes beyond typical First Amendment protests and heightens the risk of violent confrontation. The people of Minnesota have every right to voice anti-ICE opinions, but physical obstruction crosses a line. One that leads to unnecessary confrontations with law enforcement.
Yet Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey only make things worse through their frequent comparisons of ICE agents to Nazis and their threat to use the National Guard to interfere with federal agents.
Another example of this contempt for First Amendment freedoms came after a group of anti-ICE protestors stormed a church service they believed was led by an ICE agent. Not only did this group not tolerate disagreement, but they actively sought out people to intimidate. It’s one thing to be violent towards an attendee of a protest; it’s another to go into a church full of people who have nothing to do with the issue and impose your beliefs on them.
While the heat of this episode died down and ICE reduced its presence in the state, the assault on Ms. Hernandez suggests Minnesota’s political culture has markedly changed. Once known for its friendly “Minnesota Nice” culture, things have changed, especially in the past decade. The turning point for this change happened in the summer of 2020, when the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests, rioting, and looting.
As a resident of the state during that time, I remember sitting in my parents’ living room, watching the city of Minneapolis in flames. How did Gov. Walz respond? Despite pleas from Mayor Frey, Walz waited to deploy the National Guard, allowing unnecessary destruction to take place. Frey asked Walz for National Guard help on Tuesday, June 2, but Walz didn’t deploy the guard until the following Friday; even then, it was only partially activated. The violence Walz permitted led to more than half a billion dollars’ worth of damage in what was the second most destructive riot in U.S. history.
This episode set the precedent that the Minnesota government would take a soft position on political violence, incentivizing people like those who attacked Hernandez to respond violently when faced with opposing views.
Thankfully, the rule of law is not dead in Minnesota. The family who assaulted Hernandez will be charged for their actions that day. To deter future incidents, the alleged assailants should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
More needs to be done to prevent future incidents like this. Although not responsible for the violence, Gov. Walz bears some of the blame for allowing this culture to fester. His term as governor is soon ending, and his successor must make clear that violence against political opponents will not be tolerated. Otherwise, incidents like this will happen more often.
Minnesota is well known for its natural beauty and friendly people. The attack on journalist Savanah Hernandez has called the latter into doubt. If Minnesotans don’t reject these incidents as antithetical to their values, violence will only increase. Minnesota must reject political violence and learn how to disagree respectfully.
US Unleashes Another Wave Of Crude From Strategic Reserve As Gas Prices Soar
The U.S. government will loan 53 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to petroleum companies in a bid to relieve elevated gas and oil prices amid the conflict with Iran.
In a news release on Monday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it would release the crude oil from its sites in Louisiana and Texas to contribute to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) move to stabilize the price of oil, which has often risen above $100 per barrel since the conflict started on Feb. 28.
As of Tuesday morning, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose slightly to $108.
“Deliveries will begin immediately as the Department continues to move swiftly to address short-term supply disruptions and strengthen U.S. energy security,” the agency said in a statement, adding that petroleum companies “may begin scheduling deliveries immediately.”
The DOE, according to the news release, will “evaluate market conditions and operational capacity as it advances additional steps to meet the full United States commitment under the coordinated international release.”
Trafigura is taking the largest haul of nearly 13 million barrels, followed by Marathon and Exxon Mobil Corp, the US Energy Department said Monday.
Near-record volumes of government oil are flowing to market in a bid to rein in prices at the pump ahead of the busy summer driving season.
As Jack Phillips reports for The Epoch Times, participating petroleum companies can also use President Donald Trump’s usage of the Jones Act waiver, a federal statute that requires all goods transported by water between U.S. ports to be carried on American ships with American crews, to help “accelerate critical near-term oil flows into the market,” the DOE release said.
The DOE has already loaned around 80 million barrels from the reserve in recent weeks, bringing the total to 172 million barrels.
The U.S. government had agreed to that larger amount in March in a pact with more than 30 countries in the IEA to release about 400 million barrels.
The oil will be released between June and August, when refiners crank up as gasoline demand peaks.
The decision is an attempt to mitigate the price increases caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes on a normal day. Iran has launched strikes and threatened commercial vessels in the strait, while it has also said it would create a legal framework to oversee the transportation of ships in the area.
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s director, has said the Iran war has created the biggest-ever energy crisis.
If supply disruptions from the war persist, the agency is ready to release additional oil from strategic reserves, Birol said on May 7.
So far, member countries have released 20 percent of available reserves, Birol said.
“This is indeed the biggest crisis in history,” Birol told France Inter radio in an interview broadcast on April 21.
“The crisis is already huge, if you combine the effects of the petrol crisis and the gas crisis with Russia.”
The SPR, held in caverns at four sites on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, currently holds about 393 million barrels.
The Trump administration committed to release 172 million barrels in a so-called exchange program, where oil is loaned to companies and must be returned in kind at a later date.
So far the US has agreed to release 133.1 million barrels.
It’s unclear if the energy department will hold another offer until it meets the 172 million-barrel target.
Not all the oil remains in the US. Part of it is being exported to Europe and South America.
The announcement from the DOE comes as Trump said on Monday at the White House that he rejected the latest peace proposal from the Iranian regime and signaled that a already-tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran is on “life support.”
Also on Monday, Trump said he would move to suspend the federal tax on gasoline in a bid to lower prices at the pump.
Millions Of Student Borrowers Are Defaulting: They Are 40 Years Old On Average
The NY Federal published its latest report on Household Debt and Credit for the first quarter: the report showed total household debt increased by $18 billion, just a 0.1% increase, in Q1 2026, to $18.8 trillion.
Some details:
Mortgage balances shown on consumer credit reports grew slightly by $21 billion during the first quarter of 2026 and totaled $13.19 trillion at the end of March.
Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) rose by $12 billion, marking the 16th consecutive quarterly increase. Outstanding HELOC balances now total $446 billion, $129 billion above the low reached in 2022Q1.
Non-housing debt balances declined by $15 billion, or 0.3%, from 2025Q4. This decline was driven primarily by a seasonal decrease in credit card balances, which fell by $25 billion and now stand at $1.25 trillion.
Student loan balances were essentially flat, decreasing by $6 billion and standing at $1.66 trillion.
Auto loan balances grew by $18 billion, to $1.69 trillion.
Other balances, which include retail cards and consumer finance loans, edged down by $2 billion to $562 billion.
The volume of newly originated credit held steady in the first quarter of 2026 for both mortgages and auto loans. Mortgage originations, measured as appearances of new mortgages on consumer credit reports and including both refinance and purchase originations, were largely steady with $530 billion newly originated in 2026Q1.
About 59,000 individuals had new foreclosures on their credit reports, a slight increase from the previous quarter.
There were $182 billion in new auto loans appearing on credit reports during the first quarter.
Aggregate limits on credit cards continued to rise, with a $60 billion (1.1%) uptick in the first quarter, to ~$5.5 trillion. Home equity lines of credit (HELOC) limits rose, albeit at a slightly slower pace, by $14 billion (1.4%), continuing an expansion in HELOCs that began in 2022.
The total balance of loans delinquent at least 30 days remained unchanged at 4.8% from the prior quarter after six quarters of steady increase. Still, the overall delinquency rate matched the highest level reported since 2017. Transition into early delinquency held steady for auto loans, but ticked down for credit cards, from 8.7% annually to 8.6%, and for mortgages from 3.9% to 3.8%.
“Aggregate household debt levels rose slightly, with modest increases in most debt types offsetting a seasonal decline in credit card balances,” said Daniel Mangrum, Research Economist at the New York Fed. “Delinquency transition rates were mostly steady, while student loan delinquencies are returning to pre-pandemic levels.”
More concerning is that the percentage of loan balances that are seriously delinquent and set to transition to default/discharge continues rising – student loan delinquency rate increased to 10.3% of balances 90+ days delinquent, up from the 9.6% observed in 2025Q4 – and while it hit a new post-covid high for student loans after the Biden moratorium ended last year, the credit card picture is most dire, with the percentage there on pace to surpass the financial crisis record in the next few quarters. As shown below, transition rates into serious delinquency were mostly unchanged for auto loans and credit cards, but increased slightly for mortgages from 1.4 % annually to 1.5%. The student loan delinquency rate increased to 10.3% of balances 90+ days delinquent, up from the 9.6% observed in Q4 2025.
Some more details:
The student loan transition rate into serious delinquency, measured as a four-quarter moving sum, declined from 16.2% in Q4 2025 to 10.9% this quarter, reflecting a slower pace of new student loan delinquencies in the first quarter relative to the previous year.
2.6 million student loan borrowers who were more than 120 days past due had their loans transferred to the U.S Department of Education’s Default Resolution Group.
About 124,000 consumers had a bankruptcy notation added to their credit reports in 2026Q1, a pace unchanged from the previous quarter. The percentage of consumers with a third-party collection account on their credit report worsened slightly to 5.0 percent
Taking a closer look at the army of defaulting “students”, the WSJ writes that millions of borrowers are defaulting on their student loans, and they are nearly 40 years old on average. That is nearly 2½ years older than the profile of a student-loan defaulter before the pandemic. Borrowers 50 and older are now at higher risk of default than younger borrowers.
Since a pandemic-era pause on student-loan repayments ended in 2023, the federal government has been pushing people to start repaying their loans. In the fourth quarter of last year, those who failed to restart payments began defaulting, meaning they hit 270 days past due on their payments. The New York Fed estimated that more than 3.5 million people defaulted between October and March.
The Fed report offers a look at who is defaulting:
Most recently, the share of student-loan balances past due increased to just over 10%, nearing prepandemic levels.
The average borrower in default is more likely to live in the South, though borrowers are defaulting across the country.
Most of the newly defaulted borrowers weren’t past due on their student loans before the pandemic.
Borrowers who have defaulted on their student loans are struggling to make other debt payments, too. Nearly 40% of those with auto loans are past due, 56% with at least one credit card are past due and 20% with a mortgage are past due. Loan delinquencies have been broadly trending higher.
Some of these borrowers are likely parents who borrowed on behalf of their children, New York Fed researchers said.
The report found that Gen X borrowers, including those age 50 to 61, have the highest average student-loan balance of any age group. Many of them either reached college age as the modern federal student-loan system was forming or borrowed later, likely on behalf of their children.
Just as concerning is that in late 2024, borrowers who missed their student-loan payments saw steep drops in their credit scores for the first time in years.
The Trump administration has been revamping the federal student-loan system, emphasizing repayment. It is a reversal from the Biden administration, which pushed policies to reduce monthly payments for borrowers and get them closer to student-loan forgiveness.
The biggest consequence for defaulted borrowers is that they could have their wages, tax returns and Social Security garnished. But the Education Department has delayed its garnishment plans.
Finally, the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, or SAVE, one of the more affordable student-loan repayment plans introduced by the Biden administration, is ending, forcing millions of borrowers to transition to new plans. The new Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, is being introduced in July. As millions of borrowers transition out of SAVE, they will see their monthly payments increase under other income-based repayment plans. Many of them could also default on their student loans in the coming months, according to the Fed.
A public interest law firm announced Monday it was suing Illinois over its use of race in drawing congressional maps.
The lawsuit accuses the state of violating the 15th Amendment, which prohibits government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling, which found district boundaries drawn primarily with racial considerations are unconstitutional.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit May 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois after the high court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29.
“States may not use race to allocate power,” the group’s president and general counsel, John Christian Adams, said.
The suit specifically named Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the Illinois State Board of Elections, and its executive director Bernadette Matthews as defendants.
None immediately responded to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
Pritzker signed a new congressional map for his state in 2021, and he said at the time that the “Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 ensures redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power. The maps signed into law today meet those requirements to adequately preserve minority representation and reflect the diversity of our state.”
The Public Interest Legal Foundation argued in the lawsuit that this statement from the governor is a direct admission to violating federal law in using race to draw districts.
Furthermore, the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 illegally mandated a racial map, ordering districts to be created as crossover, coalition, or influence districts, the group said.
According to the state’s legislation, a crossover district is where majority voters vote with the racial or language minority to elect their preferred candidate.
A coalition district is where more than one group of racial or language minorities can form a coalition to elect a candidate of all of their choice. An influence district is where a racial or language minority can impact the outcome of an election even if its preferred candidate cannot be elected.
All three types of districts in Illinois require “drawing district lines to preserve deliberate racial percentages, racial majorities, and the deliberate preservation of racial influence districts,” the lawsuit read.
The public interest law firm is representing Jeanne Ives, an Illinois resident, voter, and former state legislator. Attorneys for Ives said she has seen the state’s redistricting up close and how it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation is also currently challenging California’s congressional map, using the Louisiana v. Callais decision to try to invalidate it.
Since that Supreme Court ruling, Republican-led states have leapt at the opportunity to redraw their congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections this year with the GOP’s House majority on the line.
The coast-to-coast redistricting battle has shifted further in favor of Republicans following the high court’s ruling.
On May 8, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that would authorize a new primary election if a court ruled favorably on the state’s redistricting litigation. Alabama also filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to rule in its case, which was granted Monday.
Tennessee already passed redistricting legislation to carve up the state’s only blue district.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Sunshine State’s new map into law on May 4.
A South Carolina plan for redistricting is also advancing through the state’s legislature.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down an attempt at a new map favoring Democrats. The state has now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation’s lawsuit against Illinois and California’s maps, if successful, could tip the scales toward Republicans and set an example for other Democratic-run states.
