In a move that has sent shockwaves through the mining industry, the Trump administration has blocked what would have been the largest copper, gold, silver, and molybdenum extraction site in the United States, after the DOJ filed a 143-page brief late Tuesday defending the Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2023 veto of the controversial Pebble Mine project in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.

If built, the Pebble mine would produce 6.4 billion lb. of copper, 7.4 million oz of gold, and 300 lb. of molybdenum – along with 37 million ounces of silver and 200,000 kg of rhenium over 20 years, according to a 2023 economic study cited by mining.com.

The DOJ argues that the EPA correctly found that discharges from the mining operation would cause unacceptable adverse affects on salmon fisheries. 

“This precedent will be used by future Democratic administrations to reverse all of the progress this administration has made with its pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-development agenda,” said Northern Dynasty president and CEO Ron Thiessen, calling the move “surprising.” 

As a result, the stock (NAK) is down as much as 45% in Wednesday trade.

History: 

2001: Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. acquires mining claims for the Pebble deposit, a large low-grade copper-gold-molybdenum ore body in the Bristol Bay watershed. PLP (Pebble Limited Partnership), a subsidiary, begins data collection for large-scale mining.

2010: The Obama EPA announces that it would be conducting a scientific assessment under the Clean Water Act to evaluate large-scale mining impacts on Bristol Bay’s water quality and salmon resources.

2014: BLOCKED! The EPA issues a Proposed Determination under Section 404(c) to restrict discharges in Pebble area waters due to risks to salmon habitat. 

2017: during the first Trump administration, the EPA reversed course – proposing a withdrawal of the 2014 determination, which was finalized in 2019 (the withdrawal). 

2022: The Biden EPA hits back, reversing the reversal – essentially putting the project on ice again. 

January 2023: The Biden EPA issues a final veto determination to kill the project.

July 2023: Alaska files a motion with the US Supreme Court to challenge the Biden EPA.

March 2024: Northern Dynasty files a separate complaint challenging the EPA. 

June 2024: Iliamna Natives Ltd. et al. (Alaska Native Corporations) file a complaint challenging the EPA. 

November 12, 2024: US District Court for Alaska consolidates the three cases

February 17, 2026: Trump DOJ files opposition brief defending the Biden EPA’s final determination. 

The longer version: 

The story starts in 2001, when Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. acquired mining claims for the Pebble deposit, a massive low-grade ore body estimated to hold billions of pounds of critical metals essential for green energy transitions and national security. Early exploration revealed its potential to become North America’s largest mine, but its location in the headwaters of Bristol Bay – home to diverse salmon populations and vital aquatic habitats – quickly raised red flags.

By 2010, the EPA launched a scientific assessment under Clean Water Act (CWA) Sections 104(a)-(b) to evaluate the risks of large-scale mining on the region’s water quality and fisheries, setting the stage for over a decade of scrutiny.

The environmental concerns crystallized in January 2014 with the release of the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (BBA), a comprehensive study highlighting potential negative impacts from mining discharges, including habitat loss for salmon. This led to a July 2014 Proposed Determination under CWA Section 404(c) to restrict waste disposal in the area. However, pushback was swift: In November 2014, a U.S. District Court in Alaska issued a preliminary injunction halting the process amid lawsuits from Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP). 

In 2017, Trump’s first term ushered in what investors in NAK thought was going to be a slam dunk. By July 2017, the EPA proposed withdrawing its 2014 determination – which was finalized in August 2019, clearing a path forward.

Progress accelerated in 2020. PLP revised its “2020 Mine Plan” in June, outlining a 20-year operation to extract 1.3 billion tons of ore, but acknowledging significant environmental costs: the loss of 8.5 miles of salmon-bearing streams, 91 miles of supporting streams, and over 2,000 acres of wetlands.

The Corps’ Final EIS in July detailed these impacts, yet the permit was denied in November 2020 for failing to comply with 404(b)(1) Guidelines and public interest standards. PLP appealed in January 2021.

Ping Pong Intensifies

The tide turned again in October 2021, when a court vacated the Trump EPA’s 2019 withdrawal, reviving the veto process. By January 2022, the Biden EPA announced a new 404(c) review, leading to a January 2023 Final Determination: a prohibition on discharges at the mine site in the South Fork Koktuli (SFK) and North Fork Koktuli (NFK) watersheds, and restrictions elsewhere in SFK, NFK, and Upper Talarik Creek (UTC) to protect salmon fishery areas.

Litigation intensified post-veto. Alaska sought Supreme Court intervention in July 2023 (denied January 2024), while Northern Dynasty filed its challenge in March 2024 (Case No. 3:24-cv-00059). The State of Alaska followed in April 2024 (No. 3:24-cv-00084), and Iliamna Natives Ltd. et al. in June 2024 (No. 3:24-cv-00132). The Corps denied PLP’s permit without prejudice on April 15, 2024, citing the EPA’s action. The EPA lodged its administrative record in August 2024, and the cases were consolidated on November 12, 2024.

Plaintiffs submitted summary judgment briefs on October 3, 2025, leading to the DOJ’s recent filing backing the Biden EPA and sticking a fork in the eye of NAK longs. 

Big Tech is considering supporting new uranium mining projects as companies need additional reliable power capacity for their huge data center expansion, according to the top executive of Canadian uranium miner NexGen Energy.     

“It’s coming. You’ve seen it with automakers. These tech companies, they’re under an obligation to ensure the hundreds of billions that they are investing in the data centres are going to be powered,” NexGen Energy’s CEO Leigh Curyer said at a Melbourne Mining Club luncheon on Wednesday, as carried by Reuters.

As OilPrice reports, NexGen Energy, which is developing Canada’s largest uranium project, Rook I in Saskatchewan, has held early talks with technology companies over potential financing from data center developers, Curyer said.   

The uranium developer has also discussed long-term uranium supply with data center firms.

Yet, potential funding or supply deals will not involve any changes to the control of NexGen Energy, the chief executive told Reuters.  

Global electricity demand increased by 3% annually in 2025, following growth of 4.4% in 2024, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its recent Electricity 2026 report.

Between 2026 and 2030, the annual average growth rate would be 3.6%, driven by higher consumption from industry, electric vehicles (EVs), air conditioning, and data centers, according to the agency.

Artificial intelligence, data centers, and advanced manufacturing support the return to growth in power demand in advanced economies, the IEA said.

U.S. electricity demand rose by 2.1% in 2025 and is expected to grow by nearly 2% annually through 2030. The rapid expansion of data centers will drive half of the increase, the agency noted. 

The U.S. is backing nuclear power generation to help meet rising electricity demand.

Nuclear energy will be one of the winners of the U.S. AI and data center boom, as Microsoft and other hyperscalers have been looking to purchase zero-carbon electricity to power up their data centers, which are consuming growing amounts of electricity.     

Apple learned the hard way that a $3,500 Apple Vision Pro is well out of reach for the average consumer, while the sub-$500 Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses sit in the sweet spot and have been in hot demand.

Vision Pro 

Vs. 

Meta smart glasses

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, citing people familiar with Apple’s product roadmap, reports that the company is accelerating work on three new wearables: smart glasses, a pendant-style device, and AirPods with expanded AI features, all centered around the Siri assistant.

However, Bloomberg reported last week that the latest upgraded version of Siri has encountered development headwinds, potentially delaying the release of several highly anticipated features.

Gurman’s report on new Apple smart glasses to take on Meta’s glasses follows a recent Omdia note saying Apple’s AR glasses are likely coming in 2028, while Meta could launch its version months earlier, likely in 2027.

We’ve long tracked the flop of Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro and have consistently argued that Meta’s more affordable smart glasses are the clear winner. More recently, we flagged the key supplier behind the Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses (see the note here).

Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

US tax filers may see bigger refunds in 2026 compared with previous years, a development one Wall Street strategist said may boost risk appetite for digital assets and tech stocks preferred among retail investors.

In a note cited by CNBC, Wells Fargo analyst Ohsung Kwon said the coming refund wave may help bring back the so-called “YOLO” trade, with as much as $150 billion potentially flowing into equities and Bitcoin by the end of March. Kwon said the extra cash could be most visible among higher-income consumers.

“Speculation picks up with bigger savings…we expect YOLO to return,” wrote Wells Fargo analyst Ohsung Kwon in a Sunday note seen by news outlet CNBC.

“Additional savings from tax returns, especially for the high-income consumer will flow back into equities, in our view,” he added.

Kwon said some of that liquidity could move into Bitcoin and into stocks popular with retail traders, including Robinhood and Boeing.

Cointelegraph contacted Wells Fargo for details on the assumptions behind the $150 billion estimate and how much of that total the bank expects could go to digital assets, but had not received a response by publication time.

Bitcoin demand depends on sentiment

While some of the taxpayer funds may flow into Bitcoin and digital assets, it’s important to consider the higher inflation and consumer spending compared to the period during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen, told Cointelegraph:

“If sentiment starts to come around and retail sees positive upwards momentum in crypto assets, I see that as increasing the likelihood of funds flowing in this direction.”

Conversely, retail investors may opt for other assets with “higher momentum and social stickiness,” if digital asset sentiment doesn’t improve in the near term, he said.

The larger tax returns are due to the passage of US President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which included numerous favorable provisions for 2025 tax filings.

Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4, 2025, saying it would cut as much as $1.6 trillion in federal spending.

Smart money bets on crypto market downside as whales quietly accumulate

Meanwhile, the whales, or large investors, continue their quiet spot accumulation of the leading cryptocurrencies, while the most profitable traders by returns, tracked as “smart money,” are betting on more crypto market downside.

Smart money trader positions through the Hyperliquid exchange, top tokens. Source: Nansen

Smart money traders were net short on Bitcoin for a cumulative $107 million, along with most of the leading cryptocurrencies excluding Avalanche, according to crypto intelligence platform Nansen.

Still, whales acquired over $41.9 million worth of spot Ether tokens across 22 wallets during the past week, marking a 1.7-fold increase in the spot purchases of this cohort.

Details of the much anticipated US-Japan trade mega deal have finally been revealed. First, Trump previewed in a Truth Social post on Tuesday: “Our MASSIVE Trade Deal with Japan has just launched!” He then boasted that “The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, TARIFFS.”

The total $550 billion commitment features Japanese plans to invest up to $36 billion in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects. On this, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi affirmed in a fresh statement: “We believe this initiative is fully aligned with its core objectives: promoting mutual benefits between Japan and the United States, ensuring economic security, and fostering economic growth,” she wrote.

This is to include a synthetic industrial diamond manufacturing facility located in the US state of Georgia. According to a newly published fact sheet to the US Commerce website, diamond grit, dust, and powder rank among the most essential inputs in American industrial manufacturing.

Commerce further explains that diamonds’ extreme hardness and superior wear resistance make them indispensable across a range of high-precision and heavy-duty applications, directly tying them to both economic strength and national security. Crucially, the materials play a central role in semiconductor fabrication, automotive production, and oil and gas exploration, where cutting, grinding, drilling, and polishing performance are mission-critical. 

But the most significant investment is a natural gas facility in Ohio. At an expected cost of $33 Billion and generation capacity of 9.2 GW, it is already being hailed as the among the largest natural gas generation projects in the world.

Trump has described it as “the largest in History” and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has listed SoftBank Group as the company overseeing the project. Japanese companies Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. have also expressed interest in participating in the gas project, per Tokyo officials. 

If the facility reaches full output, it would generate power comparable to nine nuclear reactors – roughly equal to the electricity demand of about 7.4 million homes served by the nation’s largest grid, according to Bloomberg, to be operated by PJM Interconnection LLC.

The second major initiative involves a deep water crude export terminal in the Gulf of America (previously Gulf of Mexico), according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The $2.1 billion Texas GulfLink project, to be operated by Sentinel Midstream, is projected to facilitate up to $30 billion in annual US crude exports at full capacity, the US fact sheet indicates.

The full Trump post…

President Trump had first announced in mid-July that he reached a “massive” trade deal with Tokyo that will set tariffs on Japanese imports at 15%. This weeks marks the first time that specific large projects have been confirmed as central to the deal.

Meanwhile, Rabobank comments that the rollout of these initial three projects “is much more significant than it looks: it’s proof of concept that the US can tell trade and security partners where to place their capital back into the US, rather than them just pushing it into US stocks or bonds. Some may knock this in the same way they do US non-FTA trade deals – but they are still paying those tariffs, so will likely invest as asked.”

China has been watching this unfold closely, given this for sure means deeper and deeper US military commitments to Japan – as has been a growing trend – at a moment Tokyo has been less ‘neutral’ regarding contested Taiwan’s status and what it might be willing to do to defend the self-ruled island.

By Michael Every of Rabobank

May The Warsh Be With You

After having written about AI for two days in a row, it wasn’t the intention to do so again today. However, developments on the ground are accelerating while those responsible for dealing with the fallout are failing to understand what the immediate implications are.

Two short movies were just made with AI for pennies, in hours, both more entertaining than anything Hollywood has splurged onto our screens in some time. (The latest trailer for ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ underlines Hollywood no longer understands movie- and myth-making, or even The Force behind fonts.) Indeed, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Netflix are standing in a circle like the gunfighters at the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (which IS a great movie),… as a giant T-Rex in sunglasses parachutes in to a heavy metal soundtrack to eat them.

Another video showed Chinese robots doing acrobatic kung fu, when their Russian equivalent fell off the stage at its launch as if after too much vodka. Robots like that can do almost any job, 24/7, faster and better than humans. That includes soldiery. With AI, they can learn from us then teach themselves. That’s as serious as a giant T-Rex in sunglasses is trivial.

The Fed’s Barr and Daley addressed AI yesterday. The headline, written by Bloomberg AI, is that neither think this potential revolution makes the case for lower rates. That places them in stark opposition to Fed Chair nominee Warsh even before he gets appointed, and even before other areas of controversy arise within the FOMC, which they will.

Barr’s main argument is that AI means the demand for capital would rise because of strong business investment, while “household savings could fall due to expectations of stronger real wage growth and thus higher lifetime earnings.” Daley noted higher growth would dictate a higher neutral rate in “the standard model” because “the demand for investment would rise relative to the supply of savings.” Yet that analysis –which may well be copied and pasted around other institutions as if by AI agents– lacks sufficient human, let alone artificial intelligence.

Obviously, AI is going to be inflationary in some areas – it already is. However, it’s got nothing to do with constraints on CAPITAL in a fiat credit based system with an equity market where ludicrous P/E ratios are normal – indeed, US 10-year yields have been trending down even as AI action has heated up. The real world AI constraints are PHYSICAL: electricity, copper, memory chips, rare earths, etc.

Equally obviously, AI is going to be deflationary for many other areas. Barr echoes the gibberish early AIs spat out in predicting “expectations of strong wage growth and higher lifetime earnings.” Who is going to be earning more with AI? Hollywood types about to be replaced? The swathe of white collar workers going the same way? The blue collar workers who face competition from robots who can do back flips to the building site they labour away at 24/7?

Setting rates high vs AI would mean deeper disaster for those hit by it. Setting rates too low to help those hit by AI would inflame inflation in the areas boosted by it. In short, how the Fed works logically needs to change. However, at least two of the current members of the FOMC are instead producing the monetary policy equivalent of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ – reheated nonsense that undermines its own mythic power and collapses its fanbase. Or, maybe, they just don’t want to say ‘May The Warsh Be With You’(?) That could also be the way.

The RBNZ left rates on hold today and said it expects them to stay there – but said nothing about AI.

Meanwhile, the second round of US-Iran talks ended with the Iranians smiling and talking about deals within reach, and a third round pencilled in for two weeks from now to close gaps. Markets liked that. However, the US is still surging military equipment to the region; Iran also insulted and threatened the US yesterday, partially closing the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the 1980s; and both regional reports and Vice President Vance underlined that Tehran is playing for time while it tries to regain control of its restless population, and is ignoring core US demands. Recall in 2025, Iran offered the US the same deal it’s offering now – and got bombed.

On which note, India and France just upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership – which is a win for France but complicates the EU moving as one on foreign policy as we move towards a possible multi-tier Europe. It also has interesting implications given India’s closeness to Russia, and steely relations with Pakistan, which is in turn close to Saudi and Turkey. That’s as the UK PM, who gave a pugnacious speech in Munich and returned to push for 3% of GDP defense spending by 2029, suffered his latest of blow as Chancellor Reeves blocked that move.

The US also hardened its allegations that China just conducted a secret nuclear test, speaking to our tense geopolitical backdrop. In Peru, Congress ousted President Jeri after just four months in office because of China-linked meetings: another win for the Donroe Doctrine, it seems.

In geoeconomics, the US announced the first three projects under Japan’s $550bn trade deal, which will include around $33bn for an LNG-powered plant, a crude oil facility and a synthetic industrial diamonds plant. This is much more significant than it looks: it’s proof of concept that the US can tell trade and security partners where to place their capital back into the US, rather than them just pushing it into US stocks or bonds. Some may knock this in the same way they do US non-FTA trade deals – but they are still paying those tariffs, so will likely invest as asked.

The recent Trump-Milei trade pact is placing pressure on the EU to act on its Mercosur FTA, now only being applied provisionally. The Trump deal with Argentina overrides it in some places, underlining the argument that Donroe Doctrine > technocratic FTA when push comes to shove.

The EU is stating it could move ahead with a Russian oil services ban without G7 support, but Malta and Greece won’t back the measure unless the US also gets on board – so how does the EU ignore their lack of support?

In terms of key political developments, New York Mayor Mamdani just warned of a nearly 10% property-tax increase if he can’t soak the wealthy instead; Sergey Brin is backing a group trying to undercut California’s proposed billionaire tax; and the UK’s HMRC has hired 1,000 valuation officials ahead of its imposition of a ‘mansion tax’.

Also telling given AI hasn’t started to wreak havoc yet, Politico reports that ‘1 in 5 Europeans say dictatorship might be preferable’ – with the caveat that many don’t dislike it in principle, just how it works in practice. That’s OK then. The same media talks of ‘Macron’s mission: Le Pen-proof France before the 2027 election’, while warning that this undermines the neutrality of the institutions that will need to be seen as such if current political polarisation continues to grow.

Finally, the ‘rules-based order’ cheerleader Financial Times also has an op-ed arguing ‘Perhaps we should all be banned from social media’ because “Focusing only on under-16s obscures the lack of internet safeguards for everyone else”. One can start to pick up a certain Luddite-ism in the zeitgeist. That’s both understandable, and predictable. Yet it surely won’t apply globally, which will only increase the growing differences within and between our societies and economies.

Markets should prepare for far greater volatility – and not just because two people at the Fed don’t buy the Warsh case for lower rates.
 

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has increasingly made his frustrations with the Trump administration public, but he may have just crossed the line with the US President, who Zelensky admits can be tough and unbending.

Zelensky has newly complained amid the latest Geneva trilateral talks that the US delegation could pressure him to make “unsuccessful decisions” and he is urging Washington to back off, even using expletives to make his point.

For starters, he claims that the Ukrainian public won’t let him cede territory to Russia for the sake of peace even if he wanted to, as we highlighted previously.

But the latest colorful verbal broadside, cited by Axios on Tuesday as Russian and Ukrainian delegations convened in Geneva, saw Zelensky take direct aim at the head of Moscow’s negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky. Kiev’s frustration at the state of dialogue has been boiling over.

Medinsky has argued – along with numerous Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin – that the conflict’s historical roots must be addressed as part of any settlement, especially given the bulk of the Ukrainian population in the east (Donbas) has always been Russian speaking and looked to Moscow historically.

Zelensky dismissed that approach outright:

“We don’t have time for all this shit,” he told the outlet. “So we have to decide, and have to finish the war.”

Regardless, the Kremlin has lately made clear its aims to take the full Donbas either through talks or by force. Ukraine’s military still holds 10% of the Donbas, however, and Kiev is rejecting a US proposal for it to draw back its forces as part of a conflict freeze leading to settlement. 

The White House this month has finally appeared to be ratcheting up the pressure directly on Zelensky to make some kind of serious land concession.

This was evident in the latest comments by President Trump on the topic of Geneva issued near the start of the week. Frustration with Kiev was evident when he told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Well, we have big talks.” He stated that “It’s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Zelensky after this bitterly complained that it’s ‘not fair’ for Trump to take aim at Ukraine and not Russia, and suggested maybe it’s simply easer for Trump to do this given he doesn’t want to upset the far larger, more formidable country.

Meanwhile, Medinsky has said Wednesday that the U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva had been “difficult but business-like, and that a new round of talks would be held soon,” according to Reuters.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

We live in a lowest common denominator society.

For the last several decades, virtually every major institution in our society has become less civilized, and that is because our entire population has become less civilized. 20 years ago, a film entitled “Idiocracy” was released. It was about an average American that was selected for “a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive”. It was an incredibly stupid movie, but the truth is that we are living it right now. Did you see the Super Bowl halftime show? The FCC has ruled that it didn’t violate any federal decency regulations. Of course we might as well not have any decency regulations at all, because our television shows and our movies are filled with some of the raunchiest material imaginable and nobody ever seems to get in trouble for it.  Of course that is only part of the equation. Most of the “programming” that we constantly consume also seems to be specifically designed for people of extremely low intelligence. Sadly, this is not a coincidence. It has been said that art imitates life, and that is certainly accurate in this case.

In the “dumbed-down” environment that we find ourselves in today, it should be no surprise that “nude cruises” have been surging in popularity…

Imagine coming home from your next cruise with no tan lines.

Swimsuits are standard attire on many cruise ships, but some voyages don’t even require those. Nude cruises allow travelers to sail the high seas au naturel – and pack light. The American Association for Nude Recreation promotes the cruises as “a unique way to experience nude recreation, offering members options beyond traditional resort or club settings,” president Linda Weber told USA TODAY.

While the dress code might be non-restrictive, it doesn’t mean the sailings are a free-for-all on board; there is some etiquette that passengers should be familiar with before boarding.

While our society falls apart all around us, Americans are flocking to cruises that are filled with naked people.

What does that say about us?

Let me give you another example of what I am talking about.

A 20-year-old woman from California left her children in an extremely hot car while she got lip and butt injections.  By the time she was done with the procedures, her 1-year-old son had died…

A 20-year-old California mom was found guilty Wednesday in the death of her 1-year-old son, after reportedly leaving him in a sweltering car to receive lip and butt injections last June.

Maya Hernandez took a plea deal in the child endangerment case, ultimately dropping her first-degree murder charge in exchange for involuntary manslaughter.

On June 29, Bakersfield officers arrested and charged Hernandez after finding two young children left unattended in a vehicle for over two hours, according to a police report posted on a GoFundMe page. Authorities said the mother left the children unattended to undergo a cosmetic procedure inside a nearby medical spa.

What was she thinking?

In that case, it doesn’t appear that she intended to harm her children.

But in another case in New Mexico, a 38-year-old woman purposely killed her newborn child in a portable toilet…

A New Mexico woman is facing charges after she allegedly gave birth in a portable toilet and then killed the newborn by drowning them in the holding tank.

Sonia Cristal Jimenez, 38, arrived at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces at around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, when staff said she appeared as if she had just given birth, but she had no baby with her, Las Cruces Police said in a press release.

Hospital staff then notified police about the unusual encounter.

She didn’t want the baby, and so she killed it.

As a society, we have so little respect for life because we have been trained to have so little respect for life.

In Michigan, a 3-year-old boy was recently killed because a couple wanted to “make room for a child that the two of them could have together”…

A mum and her ex-boyfriend have been accused of killing her three-year-old son in order to “make room for a child that the two of them could have together”.

Little Matthew Maison was found dead in the bed of his home in Port Huron Township, Michigan, by his babysitters on February 18, 2018. His mum, Amanda Maison, and Maurice Houle, who was her boyfriend at the time of Matthew’s death, were arrested in connection with the killing. An autopsy showed that Matthew had died from blunt force trauma injuries and possible suffocation.

The ex-couple allegedly admitted to abusing the young boy when they were arrested, prosecutors have previously said. Maison, 33, has pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree homicide in relation to her son’s death, admitting as she appeared in court to enter her plea on November 5 that she abused Matthew.

These are not isolated incidents.

Every day there are even more signs that our society is rapidly degenerating.

Yes, we possess more advanced technology than previous generations, but in many ways that advanced technology is making things even worse.

For example, all over the country women are “marrying” AI husbands.  When an older version of ChatGPT was recently retired, it resulted in the “death” of one woman’s AI husband, and now she is in mourning…

A woman has been left in tears over the ‘death’ of her AI husband, after an old model of ChatGPT was retired this week – as she joins a slew of others ‘mourning’ their non-existent lovers’ deletion.

Speaking to the BBC, Rae (not her real name), who is based in Michigan, laid bare the heartbreak of saying goodbye to her virtual partner Barry, who she began chatting to last year – after going through divorce.

Initially, she turned to artificial intelligence for advice on self-improvement with things like skincare and workouts – but what first began as a ‘fantasy’ turned into real feelings, and they were ‘married’ within weeks.

Some surveys have shown that nearly 30 percent of Americans have engaged in a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot.

That is not a sign of an emotionally healthy society.

And even as we were all expressing outrage about the Epstein files, “sex dolls that look like kids” were being advertised on Facebook…

Sickening sex dolls that look like kids are being advertised for sale on Facebook.

A group of websites touting small models with overtly childlike features have published over 1,300 ads on the social media platform. They are alarmingly realistic in appearance and many ads use photos in sexualised poses, some holding balloons or teddy bears. The National Crime Agency warns the creepy imports “pose a significant risk to children”. And a former cop told us: “Anyone who buys one of these dolls should be a person of interest to the police.”

Thankfully, the offending ads were eventually taken down.

But this is the society that we live in now.

It is sick.

And even when people are arrested for criminal behavior, they are often dumped right back into the streets.

Needless to say, that can have tragic consequences.

In fact, one repeat offender in Seattle that had been arrested over and over again viciously attacked a 75-year-old woman with “a wooden board with nails in it”…

An elderly woman was savagely attacked in broad daylight by a man wielding a wooden board with nails in it.

Jeanette Marken, 75, was left permanently blinded in her right eye after being hit in the face with the makeshift weapon in Seattle, allegedly at the hands of repeat offender Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42.

Family members told KOMO that a screw sticking out of the board gouged out Marken’s eye, and after several surgeries she was told she will not recover her eyesight in the eye.

One police officer that is very familiar with Fale Vaigalepa Pea referred to him as “a regular”…

‘He’s a regular. He usually punches,’ the officer responds.

‘I guess today he decided to escalate from his usual.’

According to KOMO, Pea’s string of offenses dates back to 2011, when he stabbed two people at a party.

They have been dumping this guy back into the streets for well over a decade.

This sort of thing happens day in and day out in major cities all over the nation.

What would our founders think if they could see us today?

We will soon be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country, and we are literally committing societal suicide.  This is something that Abraham Lincoln once warned was a real possibility…

As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, we should remember Abraham Lincoln’s remark that no external enemy could by force take a drink from the Ohio River. “If destruction be our lot,” he said, “we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

If we keep going down the path that we are on, there is no future for us.

But if we make a choice to renounce what we have become and start embracing the values that early Americans held so dear, we could turn the ship in another direction.

Do you think that will actually happen?

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

US Durable Goods Orders dropped 1.4% MoM in preliminary December data (slightly better than the 2% decline expected) but well down from the +5.4% MoM surge in November…

Source: Bloomberg

The headline orders print was restrained by a decline in orders for aircraft.

Boeing said it received more orders for its planes in December than a month earlier, but the data don’t always correlate with the planemaker’s monthly figures.

That leaves Durable Goods Orders up 12.5% YoY in 2025 – one of the biggest annual increases ever.

Meanwhile, Core Durable Goods Orders (ex Transports) rose 0.9% MoM (triple the +0.3% MoM expected) and the ninth straight monthly increase…

Source: Bloomberg

Core Orders are up over 5% YoY in 2025 – the best YoY gain since Oct 2022 (and best annual gain since 2021).

Today’s data also showed the value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, surged by dramaticallly larger-than-forecast 0.9%.

Axios’ Barak Ravid, a journalist very close to the Israeli government, writes Wednesday that the Trump White House is now “closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.”

The sources he spoke to, which could be American or Israeli, say that such an operation would be a “massive” campaign at least weeks in sustained length. If it the campaign goes the way of Iraq or Afghanistan, or Syria, the conflict could eventually be measured in years and not just months.

Further, “The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that’s much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.”

All of this looks to be going down with no public or Congressional debate whatsoever: “With the attention of Congress and the public otherwise occupied, there is little public debate about what could be the most consequential U.S. military intervention in the Middle East in at least a decade,” notes Axios.

Both sides are citing ‘progress’ in the two rounds of indirect negotiations (in Oman and then Geneva) which have taken place thus far, however, there’s been nothing yet in the way of specific agreement. Washington’s commitment to see talks through even for weeks at this point is highly in quesiton.

The following was the initial Iranian assessment of how the talks led by Witkoff and Kushner in Geneva went this week:

Iran has said it has reached an understanding with the US on the main “guiding principles” to resolve their dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Speaking after indirect talks in Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that work still needed to be done. The US said “progress was made”.

Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of mediator Oman, said the negotiations “concluded with good progress towards identifying common goals and relevant technical issues”.

The Iranians have asked for two weeks to hammer out a detailed proposal, with an American official stating, “Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

Given President Trump has ordered a second US carrier group to the region, along with a huge number of support aircraft, does Iran really have two weeks to spare? 

Oil reaches HOD Wednesday soon on heels of Axios report, with WTI kissing $64/barrel…

To some degree, the Iranians are likely buying time, knowing that a surprise, unprovoked attack could be imminent. This would be similar to the June war, but unlike that scenario this would indeed be much bigger.

There’s reason to believe Trump may stay restrained, however, and give negotiations time. Fear of higher oil prices could ultimately be the deciding factor here, pushing Trump to settle with Iran and not spark another completely unpredictable, likely disastrous war in the Middle East.